Background Psoriasis (Ps) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease associated with pruritus in 64–98% of patients. However, few modestly sized studies assess factors associated with psoriatic pruritus. Objective To investigate factors associated with Ps pruritus intensity. Methods Psoriasis patients 18 years or older seen in one of 155 centres in Italy between September 2005 and 2009 were identified from the Italian PsoCare registry. Patients without cutaneous psoriasis and those with missed information on pruritus were excluded. Results We identified 10 802 patients, with a mean age 48.8 ± 14.3 years. Mild itch was present in 33.2% of patients, moderate in 34.4%, severe in 18.7% and very severe in 13.7%. Higher itch intensity was associated with female gender, lower educational attainment compared to university degree, pustular psoriasis, psoriasis on the head, face, palmoplantar areas, folds and genitalia, more severe disease, disease duration <15 years, and no or few prior systemic treatments. Limitations Effects of specific medication on itch were not assessed. Conclusions Pruritus should be evaluated during psoriasis visits, and physicians should be aware of patients at higher risk for itch. Further studies are needed to assess the effects of medications on itch, and establish therapy for psoriasis patients with persistent itch.

Male sex and seropositivity for Helicobacter pylori are the major risk factors for peptic ulcer in cirrhosis.

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(Scheuer, 1973): nodular regeneration, fragmentation of the biopsy with fibrosis at the margins and wide postnecrotic collapse with an abnormal relationship between portal tracts and central veins, and evidence of active liver-cell hyperplasia.In order to compare the findings by the two methods, only the cases diagnosed as cirrhosis by one or both procedures were selected. Necropsy was performed in 16 of these cases, confirming the diagnosis made. ResultsThe combination of both methods yielded a diagnosis of cirrhosis in 152 out of the 473 patients examined. A positive histological and peritoneoscopic diagnosis was obtained in 111 (73 %), and in 41 cases only one of the two procedures yielded the diagnosis. In the remaining 321 patients cirrhosis was excluded after the examination.Among the 41 cases in which a discrepancy was found, cirrhosis was diagnosed histologically in 27 and peritoneoscopically in 14. Thus the total number of 'apparent' positive results of peritoneoscopy was 125 (82.3 %) and of liver biopsy 138 (90.7 %/). The percentage of 'apparent' false-negative results is 17-7 % for peritoneoscopy and 9.3 % for liver biopsy.

SUMMARYBackground: Helicobacter pylori-associated peptic ulcer is a frequent complication in cirrhotic patients and its morbidity rate is high. In spite of this, diagnostic methods for H. pylori infection have not been fully evaluated in these patients. Aim: To evaluate H. pylori diagnostic methods in patients with liver cirrhosis. Methods: One hundred and one cirrhotic patients were included in the study. Three antral and two corpus biopsies were obtained for rapid urease test of the antral mucosa, and Giemsa stain and immunohistochemistry were performed for both the corpus and antrum.