BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Alopecia areata is a common disease of unknown etiology; it causes significant cosmetic and psycho-social distress for most of the people it affects. We report on an innovative form of treatment in two patients with typical alopecia areata on the capillitium. STUDY DESIGN/PATIENTS AND METHODS We successfully treated two patients whose alopecia areata had worsened pro...

Introduction. Alopecia areata (AA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that involves hair follicles, and sometimes nails, caused by a T-cell mediated autoimmune mechanism. Current treatment modalities include corticosteroids (oral, topical or intralesional), minoxidil, contact sensitizers (DNCB, DPCP and SADBE), immunosuppressants (methotrexate or azathioprine), DMARDs (sulfasalazine), and photot...

A naphthalene-based bichromophoric fluorescent sensor 2,2'-[oxy-bis(2-oxatetramethyleneoxy)]-bis[N-(2-naphthyl)-benzamide)] (1) was synthesized and characterized. Fluorescence decay for 1 in alcoholic solvents in the region of 415-460 nm revealed bi-exponential behavior. The faster component of the decay can be attributed to the formation of dimers. Above 480 nm, besides the dimer, there is als...

Excitation energy transfer in perylene-3,4:9,10-bis(dicarboximide) (PDI) aggregates is of interest for light-harvesting applications of this strongly absorbing and π-π stacking chromophore. Here we report the synthesis and characterization of two PDI dimers in which the chromophores are covalently linked by a redox-inactive triptycene bridge in orientations that are cofacial (1) and slip-stacke...

BACKGROUND Exfoliative cheilitis is a condition of unknown etiology characterized by hyperkeratosis and scaling of vermilion epithelium with cyclic desquamation. It remains largely refractory to treatment, including corticosteroid therapy, antibiotics, antifungals, and immunosuppressants. OBJECTIVE We sought to evaluate the safety and efficacy of excimer laser therapy and narrowband ultraviol...

Palmoplantar psoriasis is a chronic disease, which is very resistant to treatment and often leads to severe disabilities. Photochemotherapy employing psoralens combined with UVA irradiation (PUVA) is a well-accepted therapy for palmoplantar psoriasis. Its topical application (bath PUVA; cream PUVA) avoids the typical side effects of orally applied psoralens. We compared the efficacy of cream PU...

Four new linear oligoesters containing a diphenylacetylene unit were prepared by fragment coupling sequences and the ion channel forming ability of the compounds was investigated. Activity in vesicles was very strongly controlled by overall length; the longest compound was effectively inactive. Planar bilayer studies established that all compounds are able to form channels, but that regular ste...

The electrical and optical characteristics of GaN:Mg irradiated by a pulsed KrF ~248 nm! excimer laser have been studied. When an as-grown Mg-doped GaN film was irradiated by an excimer laser at an energy density of 590 mJ/cm in a nitrogen atmosphere, the hole concentration was drastically increased up to 4.42310 cm. Furthermore, a GaN:Mg thin film, which was treated by laser irradiation follow...