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Atopic eczema is a highly pruritic, chronic inflammatory skin disease with a high socioeconomic burden. Different individually relevant exacerbating factors influence the clinical course of the disease. Current therapeutic paradigms call for maintaining or enhancing the epidermal barrier by continuous emollient therapy, which is combined with anti-inflammatory topical treatment applied to all affected areas as they appear. An alternative approach is proactive therapy, which involves long-term, low-dose intermittent topical anti-inflammatory therapy for previously affected areas with subclinical inflammation. The immunodermatological background to this approach is the ongoing epidermal barrier dysfunction, the residual inflammatory skin infiltrate and the persistent immunological abnormalities which are all present but clinically invisible. This manuscript summarizes the immunodermatological and behavioral background, the study data of controlled clinical trials and our personal experience in a special atopic dermatitis clinic. The clinical advantages of proactive therapy are fewer exacerbations, an improved quality of life and--in severe cases--lower treatment costs.

Changes in microcirculation have been recognized as central to many disease processes. The aim of this study was to evaluate factors, which influence the microcirculation of the skin during the first month of life in premature infants. Red blood cell (RBC) velocity, vessel diameter, and functional small vessel density (FSVD) were measured daily for the first 30 d on the upper arm in preterm infants with gestational age Ͻ30 wk. Orthogonal polarization spectral (OPS) images were analyzed off-line with the CapiScope-Image program. In 25 infants, FSVD decreased significantly from week 1 (mean Ϯ SD 236 Ϯ 33 cm/cm 2 ) to week 4 (207 Ϯ 30 cm/cm 2 ) and correlated directly with Hb levels and incubator temperature. Vessel diameters and RBC velocity did not change significantly, nor did clinical parameters such as blood pressure, heart rate or body temperature. Microvascular parameters were not dependent on gestational or postnatal age. The microcirculation of the skin might be an easily accessible window to obtain better understanding of circulatory changes in the postnatal period. Our data are essential as basis for further studies in this field. Hb levels and possible incubator temperatures have a substantial influence on functional small vessel density and therefore need to be taken in account. D isturbances of the microcirculation play a key role in many disease states (1-4). The recent development of new technologies has helped to investigate these changes in adult patients with sepsis (5-7). Previous studies have shown that parameters of microcirculation such as microvessel diameter, red blood cell velocity, and functional small vessel density (FSVD) can be measured in the skin of term and preterm infants by Orthogonal Polarization Spectral (OPS) imaging in the first week of life (8) and that FSVD increases after elective blood transfusion in anemic neonates (9). The microcirculation of the skin plays an important role in maintaining a constant body temperature and in regulating the fluid balance (10,11). Adequate function of the microcirculation is a prerequisite for tissue nutrition and oxygen supply (12). The microcirculation of the skin in neonates differs in several aspects from that of an adult. The regular architecture has been found to be poorly developed in the newborn (13). At birth, the skin shows a disorderly capillary network and no papillary loops in almost all areas, except the palms, soles, and nail folds. The skin is richly supplied by a dense subepidermal plexus demonstrating relatively little regional variation (14).Functional capillary density (FCD) is one of the parameters that delineate the microcirculation. FCD is defined as the length of red cell-perfused capillaries per observation area and is given as cm/cm 2 . FCD has been used as an indicator of the quality of tissue perfusion (15). In neonates capillary vessels, arterioles, and venules cannot clearly be differentiated in the OPS images, so that the expression FSVD is used.The aim of the study was to determine whether tissue pe...

ABSTRACT:In adults with severe sepsis, the disturbances of the sublingual microcirculation can be quantified with orthogonal polarization spectral imaging. We investigated the cutaneous microcirculation of preterm infants with proven infection (PosInf) and with suspected but unproven infection (NegInf). In 25 infants, orthogonal polarization spectral images were obtained daily, videos of the images were blinded, and analyzed off-line. Functional small vessel density (FSVD) was prospectively calculated from day 3 to day 30 of life. There were 17 episodes of proven and nine episodes of suspected but unproven nosocomial late onset infection. Four infants remained healthy. The data were analyzed for the 5 d before the start of antibiotics (day Ϫ5 until day Ϫ1). FSVD varied widely, but in the PosInf-group, we found a 10% decline from day Ϫ5 to day Ϫ1 (p ϭ 0.013). There was no significant change over time in the NegInfgroup (p ϭ 0.58). Thus, in infants with proven infection, FSVD decreases already 1 d before changes in laboratory parameters. However, these changes in FSVD during infection are not represented by absolute values, but must be identified by daily intraindividual observation. (Pediatr Res 66: 461-465, 2009) V ery low-birth weight infants are at increased risk for episodes of nosocomial infection, which contributes significantly to mortality and morbidity (1). Early diagnosis and prompt administration of appropriate antibiotics are crucial to improve outcome but clinical signs of infection are very unspecific. White blood cell count has not been shown to improve early diagnosis; C-reactive protein (CRP) is quite specific but not very sensitive for neonatal infection. Cytokines such as interleukine (IL)-6 increase early in neonatal infection before the rise of CRP, and the combination of both increases sensitivity and specificity (2). The need for early treatment in combination with nonspecific clinical signs leads to significant iatrogenic blood loss (3) and an increased exposure to antibiotics.Most clinical signs of infection such as change of skin color, a prolonged capillary filling time, and temperature instability are caused by altered microcirculation. Changes in microcirculation play an important role in the development of septic organ dysfunction (4,5) and the severity of change may even predict outcome (6). Improved technology has made observation and quantification of microcirculatory parameters possible. One of the most promising instrumentation in the regard is the orthogonal polarization spectral (OPS) imaging technique, which allows new insights in the human microcirculation and semiquantified assessment. This method provides high-resolution images of the microvascular architecture to a depth of 1 mm. OPS has been validated by multiple studies in animals and humans (7,8). Using OPS Sakr et al. (6) recently found an association between microcirculatory alterations, organ dysfunction, and death in patients with septic shock. We have previously shown that OPS imaging and measurement of small vess...

Empirical oral antibiotic treatment may be performed with oral cephalosporines, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin or moxifloxacin, as these antimicrobials have high in vitro activity against the majority of the isolated microorganisms and reach high concentrations in the relevant tissue.

Linear skin diseases may follow Blaschko's lines, Langer's relaxed skin tension lines or head zones (dermatomes), thus indicating an embryogenic, hematogenic or neuronal aspect in their pathogenesis. Köbner phenomenon describes the eruption of an inflammatory skin disease following mechanical alteration of the skin. Renbök phenomenon describes an area of non-involvement in an otherwise generalized skin disease. Wolf's isotopic response may be understood as a special subtype of Köbner phenomenon, in which one skin disease triggers a second one. Pathogenically unrelated skin diseases may follow a zosteriform distribution, if they are linked to a preceding herpes zoster by Köbner phenomenon, Renbök phenomenon or an isotopic response. We report three instructive patients diagnosed with Wegener's granulomatosis, cutaneous graft-versus-host disease and lichen planus, whose skin manifestations were following or sparing a zosteriform distribution pattern. Köbner phenomenon, Renbök phenomenon or Wolf's isotopic response may link pathogenically unrelated skin diseases to a zosteriform pattern, which may present diagnostic difficulties even for dermatologists.

Abstract. Risk factors should be part of the decision, of which patient should be offered venom immunotherapy (VIT) and how VIT should be performed. Risk factors for a severe systemic anaphylactic reaction (SAR) after a Hymenoptera field sting include a preceding less severe sting reaction, a wasp sting, an increased baseline serum tryptase concentration (BSTC), mastocytosis, older age, ACE inhibitor medication, and male gender. During VIT, treatment with honey bee venom is the most important risk factor for a SAR. Further risk factors include a high BSTC (for vespid VIT only), presence of venom specific IgE in serum, any antihypertensive medication during therapy, and an ultra-rush protocol for build-up. Treatment failure is more common in patients suffering from honey bee venom allergy, high BSTC (for vespid VIT only) or mastocytosis, and in those who had experienced side effects during VIT. Besides discontinuing antihypertensive medication or switching to a moderate type of dose increase during build-up, little can be done to minimize the risks associated with VIT. Increasing the maintenance dose may improve the efficacy of VIT. In patients with a particularly high risk for treatment failure, or in case of treatment failure, VIT should include an increased maintenance dose right from the beginning. Usually, 200 µg will be sufficient.

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