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Topical treatment is the mainstay for mild or moderate psoriasis, but patients are generally little satisfied. Calcipotriol/betamethasone dipropionate (Cal/BD) cutaneous foam has shown to improve signs and symptoms in plaque psoriasis patients. This study assessed patient's satisfaction with Cal/BD foam in a real-life Italian dermatological clinical practice. A multicenter, 4-week observational prospective cohort study enrolled, in 17 Italian dermatology clinics, adult patients with plaque psoriasis on the body and/or scalp. Treatment satisfaction was assessed by 9-item Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication (TSQM-9), preference over previous treatments by Patient Preference Questionnaire (PPQ), and change in disease state by Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI). Overall 256 patients were eligible, with a mean (SD) age of 55.6 (15.4) years, 59.4% were males. Psoriasis severity was mild in 52.0% of patients, moderate in 43.3%, and severe in 4.7%. Scalp involvement was present in 36.7% of patients. Previous antipsoriatic treatments had been received by 80.5% of patients. TSQM-9 median (25th-75th percentile) scores were 83.3 (66.7-88.9) for effectiveness, 77.8 (66.7-88.9) for convenience, and 78.6 (64.3-92.9) for global satisfaction. Mean (SD) PASI value decreased from 7.3 (4.8) to 2.1 (2.7) after 4 weeks. More than 90% of patients previously treated for psoriasis evaluated the Cal/BD foam more effective, easier to use and better tolerated compared to previous topical treatments at PPQ. This observational study provides real-life evidence of a high level of satisfaction with effectiveness and convenience of the Cal/BD foam in a cohort of plaque psoriasis patients, with an objective improvement in PASI.

HIV protease inhibitors have been shown to exert antiangiogenic and antitumor actions independently from their antiretroviral effect. Based on these studies, HIV-seronegative patients with classic Kaposi's sarcoma were treated with indinavir and followed for clinical evolution, drug pharmacokinetics and Kaposi's sarcoma biomarkers. A favorable clinical course was associated with high drug plasma levels, reduced production of basic fibroblast growth factor, lower numbers of circulating endothelial cells, and a decrease in antibody titers against human herpesvirus 8.

Adalimumab is a fully human monoclonal antibody directed against tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, which is effective for the treatment of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis (PsA). The aim of this study is to determine whether the response of psoriasis to adalimumab treatment might be influenced by certain particular factors, such as body mass index (BMI), history of biologic therapy, blood hypertension and metabolic comorbidities. For this reason, an exploratory analysis was conducted on 144 patients with psoriasis and concomitant PsA treated with adalimumab 40 mg every other week, evaluating the influence of such factors on the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) response rate at week 12. Our preliminary results suggest that the response rate at week 12, in terms of both PASI-50 and PASI-75, appeared to be independent of the presence of hypertension and/or metabolic comorbidities. The PASI-50 response was observed more frequently in patients with BMI less than 30 as compared to obese patients (79% vs 58%, p = 0.02). Previous use of anti-TNF biologics did not appear to affect per se the rate of responders, although it was associated with a lower PASI-75 rate among responders.

To test the reliability of a new enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to identify anti-RNA polymerase III (RNAP III) positive sera from Italian patients with Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) and other chronic inflammatory disorders.A comparison between the new ELISA for anti-RNAP III and the gold standard technique, immunoprecipitation (IP), was first performed on 106 SSc patients, 16 patients with other connective tissue diseases and 10 healthy subjects. A further ELISA evaluation was performed on 224 SSc patients, 120 subjects with other rheumatic or infectious diseases, and 81 healthy controls.Plotting ELISA and IP data in a Receiver Operator Characteristic curve, the ELISA cut-off value providing the best specificity (99.1%) and sensibility (100%) was 28 U/ml (AUC=0.999; p0.0001). Using this cut-off in the second analysis, anti-RNAP III positive results were found in 41 (18.3%) SSc patients, all negative for anticentromere or anti-topoisomerase I antibodies, while only 3 subjects tested positive among the 120 sera collected from other patients. All the healthy subjects were negative.This new ELISA for anti-RNAP III is highly accurate when a proper cut-off value is employed and represents a valid substitute to IP in a clinical setting.

The "Euro-Lupus Cohort" is composed by 1,000 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) that have been followed prospectively since 1991. These patients have been gathered by a European consortium - the "Euro-Lupus Project Group". This consortium was originated as part of the network promoted by the "European Working Party on SLE", a working group created in 1990 in order to promote research in Europe on the different problems related to this disease. The "Euro-Lupus Cohort" provides an updated information on the SLE morbidity and mortality characteristics in the present decade as well as defines several clinical and immunological prognostic factors.