The innovative spray formulation of ozonated oil and α-bisabolol combination shows promise as an important new therapeutic option in the adjuvant treatment of venous ulcers.

The place of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) among autoimmune bullous dermatoses is well known. In pemphigus, IgG autoantibodies are directed against desmogleins 1 and 3, which are part of the cadherin family of cell-cell adhesion molecules. These structures are responsible for maintaining the intercellular adherence in stratified squamous epithelia, such as the skin and oral mucosa. The incidence of autoimmune bullous dermatoses is steadily increasing, being associated with a high degree of morbidity. The pathophysiology of these dermatoses is very well understood, complemented by recent genetic studies. The gold standard for the diagnosis of pemphigus vulgaris is the detection of autoantibodies or complement component 3 by direct immunofluorescence microscopy of a perilesional biopsy. Early diagnosis and initiation of treatment are necessary in order to achieve a favorable prognosis. Although the first line of treatment is corticotherapy, there are no clear guidelines on dosing regimens, and long-term adverse effects are important. Corticosteroid-sparing adjuvant therapies have been employed in the treatment of PV, aiming to reduce the necessary cumulative dose of corticosteroids. In addition, therapies with anti-CD20 antibodies are used, but antigen-specific immune suppression-based treatments represent the future.

Plaque psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated disease, which has a multifactorial etiopathogenesis. Practical non-invasive techniques to monitor plaque psoriasis progression and treatment are necessary. Imaging techniques available for psoriasis assessment may vary in terms of resolution, depth of penetration and visual representation. This review summarizes the current developments in the field of psoriasis non-invasive imaging techniques, such as dermoscopy, conventional ultrasound and high frequency ultrasonography (HFUS), videocapillaroscopy (VC), reflectance confocal microscopy (RCM), optical microangiography (OMAG), laser Doppler imaging (LDI), multiphoton tomography (MPT) and optical coherence tomography (OCT). The aim was to collect and analyze data concerning types, indications, advantages and disadvantages of modern imaging techniques for in vivo psoriasis assessment. We focused on two main methods, videodermoscopy and HFUS, which can be included in daily dermatologists' practice and which may assist in establishing diagnosis, as well as monitoring response to topical and/or systemic therapy of psoriasis. Dermoscopy may be useful for a first evaluation and may offer an understanding of the type and distribution of blood vessels, as well as the color of the scale and the background of the lesion. Videodermoscopy allows magnification and offers a detailed evaluation of the vessel type. The utility of HFUS consists mainly in monitoring therapy response. These methods may be comparable with virtual histopathology. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Dermoscopy and videodermoscopy as non-invasive techniques in the diagnosis of psoriasis vulgaris 3. High frequency ultrasonography in monitoring therapeutic response in plaques psoriasis 4. Other imaging techniques 5. Conclusions

Trichodysplasia spinulosa (TS) is a rare and only recently characterized cutaneous disease occurring in immunocompromised patients. The disease is characterized by spiny follicular papules on clinical examination and by the presence of viral inclusions at ultrastructural examination. In the last year, this virus has been identified as a new member of the polyomavirus family and designated as TS-associated polyomavirus (TSPyV). We report two organ transplant patients with this disease in which we were able to identify the TSPyV at ultrastructural and molecular level from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded biopsies of lesional skin. Similar to prior described cases, the patients presented with follicular papules which were concentrated on the central face and associated with alopecia. Histopathology of both cases showed dilated follicular infundibula plugged with cornified eosinophilic cells containing large trichohyaline granules. Transmission electron microscopy on paraffin-embedded tissue in case 1 showed 28-nm intracellular viral particles morphologically consistent with polyoma virus. For both cases the presence of TSPyV was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction with virus-specific primers followed by identification by direct sequencing. These two cases show the presence of the newly described TSPyV in TS further establishing its association with this distinctive disease.