Monthly Archives: September 2013

LEO Pharma announce the completion of the Phase III FIELD Study 1, evaluating one year treatment outcomes of actinic keratosis

LEO Pharma has announced the completion of the Phase III FIELD Study 1 - the largest[1-3] ever, one year evaluation of field treatment with ingenol mebutate gel for actinic keratosis (AK) after initial cryosurgery of individual AK lesions, compared to cryosurgery followed by a vehicle gel.

Important wound-healing process discovered

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered an important process by which special immune cells in the skin help heal wounds. They found that these skin-resident immune cells function as "first responders" to skin injuries in part by producing the molecule known as interleukin-17A (IL-17A), which wards off infection and promotes wound healing...

Designing a safer ingredient for common cosmetic and sunblock

Using a particular type of titanium dioxide - a common ingredient in cosmetics, food products, toothpaste and sunscreen - could reduce the potential health risks associated with the widely used compound. The report on the substance, produced by the millions of tons every year for the global market, appears in the ACS journal Chemical Research in Toxicology...

What is anhidrosis? What hypohidrosis?

Anhidrosis, sometimes referred to as hypohidrosis, sudomotor dysfunction or sweating dysfunction, is an abnormal lack of sweat in response to heat - the person's body is unable to sweat normally. Anhidrosis is the complete absence of sweating, while hypohidrosis is sweating less than normal. If the human body cannot sweat properly it cannot cool itself, which is potentially harmful...

Trade-offs for fair skin

The proclivity of Spaniards to bask in regions like the Costa del Sol while their northern European counterparts must stay under cover to protect their paler skin or risk skin cancer is due in large part to the pigment producing qualities of the MC1R gene locus. The MC1R gene, expressed in skin and hair follicle cells, is more diverse in Eurasian populations compared to African populations...

Shingles symptoms may be caused by neuronal short circuit

The pain and itching associated with shingles and herpes may be due to the virus causing a "short circuit" in the nerve cells that reach the skin, Princeton researchers have found. This short circuit appears to cause repetitive, synchronized firing of nerve cells, the researchers reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences...

Warts prevalent among Dutch school children, half of cases resolve within one year despite any treatment

Examining the natural course of cutaneous warts and treatment decisions among primary school children, researchers found a high prevalence of warts, half of which resolved within one year despite any treatment. In the study of 1,099 Dutch children aged 4 to 12 years, researchers found 33 percent of children had cutaneous warts at baseline...