OBJECTIVE To compare the efficacy of oral psoralen-UV-A (PUVA) with that of narrowband-UV-B (NB-UVB) phototherapy in patients with nonsegmental vitiligo. DESIGN Double-blind randomized study. SETTING Phototherapy unit in a university hospital. PATIENTS Fifty-six patients with nonsegmental vitiligo. Interventions Twice-weekly therapy with PUVA or NB-UVB. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The change ...

The kinetics of photooxidation tetrahydrobiopterin was investigated, the quantum yields formation dihydropterin dimers were calculated when using a xenon lamp, tunable UV laser and LED as radiation sources. A comparative analysis effectiveness these sources for process allowed us to conclude that most effective purposes vitiligo phototherapy are, apparently, with emission maxima in region 325 n...

Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) promotes angiogenesis and plays important roles both in physiological and pathological conditions. VEGF receptors (VEGFRs) are high-affinity receptors for VEGF and are originally considered specific to endothelial cells. We previously reported that VEGFRs were also constitutively expressed in normal human keratinocytes and overexpressed in psoriatic epi...

UVB phototherapy of atopic dermatitis was investigated in two paired-comparison studies. In study I, 17 patients were treated for 8 weeks with ultraviolet B radiation (UVB) on one half of the body and with visible light (placebo) on the other. A severity score based on eight clinical variables was determined before, during and after treatment. The total score, pruritus score and overall evaluat...

Even before the recent development of biological agents, a long list of effective treatments has been available for patients with psoriasis. Topical therapies such as corticosteroids, vitamin D analogues, and retinoids are used for localised disease. Phototherapy including broadband ultraviolet B (UVB), narrowband UVB, PUVA, and climatotherapy are effective for more extensive disease. Systemic ...

Narrowband ultraviolet B (NB-UVB) induces different immunological features from broadband ultraviolet B and is effective for the treatment of various cutaneous diseases. UV exposure alters the morphology and function of epidermal Langerhans cells (LCs), which can elicit cutaneous immunosuppressive responses. Recent studies have proposed that LCs serve as immunoregulatory cells in UV-induced imm...