Oral pigmentations (OPs) are often neglected, although a meticulous examination of the oral cavity is important not only in the diagnosis of oral melanoma, but also for the detection of important clinical findings that may indicate the presence of a systemic disease. OPs may be classified into two major groups on the basis of their clinical appearance: focal and diffuse pigmentations, even though this distinction may not appear so limpid in some cases. The former include amalgam tattoo, melanocytic nevi, melanoacanthoma and melanosis, while the latter include physiological/racial pigmentations, smoker's melanosis, drug-induced hyperpigmentations, postinflammatory hyperpigmentations and OPs associated with systemic diseases. We will discuss the most frequent OPs and the differential diagnosis with oral mucosal melanoma (OMM), underlining the most frequent lesions that need to undergo a bioptic examination and lesions that could be proposed for a sequential follow-up.

Background Contact allergy and atopic dermatitis (AD) are both common inflammatory T cell‐mediated diseases and many factors may influence the prevalence of contact allergy in AD patients. In children, their possible correlation was debated with conflicting results. Objectives The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of contact sensitivity in children and to investigate the association with AD. Materials and methods A retrospective multicentre study on children aged from 0 to 14 years patch tested between January 2017 and December 2018 was performed. Children were consecutively patch tested with the SIDAPA (Società Italiana Dermatologia Allergologica Professionale Ambientale) baseline series. Results Among the 432 children investigated for contact allergy, 125 (28.9%) showed a positive reaction to at least one of the allergens tested, with a higher prevalence of positive patch test reactions in girls (32.3%) than in boys (25.0%). The most frequent contact allergens were nickel sulphate (10.2%), cobalt chloride (6.7%), methylisothiazolinone (3.7%), fragrance mix‐2 (3.2%), potassium dichromate (2.8%), fragrance mix‐1 (2.1%) and methylchloroisothiazolinone/methylisothiazolinone (2.1%). One‐hundred‐three children (23.8%) suffered from AD showing a higher prevalence of positive patch test (36.9%) compared to children without AD (26.4%). Conclusions Despite the topic being still controversial, the present study suggests a consistent prevalence of contact allergy among children with higher sensitivity rate among children with AD than without AD.

Mitochondria have been considered for long time as important determinants of cell aging because of their role in the production of reactive oxygen species. In this study we investigated the impact of mitochondrial metabolism and biology as determinants of successful aging in primary cultures of fibroblasts isolated from the skin of long living individuals (LLI) (about 100 years old) compared with those from young (about 27 years old) and old (about 75 years old) subjects. We observed that fibroblasts from LLI displayed significantly lower complex I-driven ATP synthesis and higher production of H2O2 in comparison with old subjects. Despite these changes, bioenergetics of these cells appeared to operate normally. This lack of functional consequences was likely due to a compensatory phenomenon at the level of mitochondria, which displayed a maintained supercomplexes organization and an increased mass. This appears to be due to a decreased mitophagy, induced by hyperfused, elongated mitochondria. The overall data indicate that longevity is characterized by a preserved bioenergetic function likely attained by a successful mitochondria remodeling that can compensate for functional defects through an increase in mass, i.e. a sort of mitochondrial “hypertrophy”.

Background Ultrasound (US) is a real‐time non‐invasive technique that has been demonstrated to support an early diagnosis and a more precise assessment of hidradenitis suppurativa (HS). Objectives To compare the clinical and US evaluation of a series of HS patients. Methods 434 HS patients (259 F, 175 M; mean age 33.82 ±13.31 years) observed across 19 Italian dermatology centres [members of the Italian Ultrasound Working Group (IUWG)] were enrolled in a retrospective study. Clinical staging was obtained by the Hidradenitis Suppurativa Physician's Global Assessment score (HS‐PGA), while the ultrasonographic staging was determined by the US HS‐PGA, based on the same scores as clinical HS‐PGA but performed with the aid of US. Results At the end of the study, the mean clinical and US HS‐PGA scores were 2.70 and 2.92, respectively. Direct comparison of clinical and ultrasonographic assessment revealed that a higher proportion of patients was classified as having moderate and very severe disease by US. In particular, 117 patients (26.96%) had a worse classification by US HS‐PGA compared to clinical assessment. Conclusion Our findings confirm that the use of clinical grading only to assess HS severity may underestimate the real disease severity. US examination can be considered an essential non‐invasive imaging tool available to dermatologists for a more accurate diagnosis, staging, treatment planning and monitoring of HS and should be included in the pathway to an optimal standard of care of HS.