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The article reports on the clinical meeting of the British Association of Dermatology held at Royal Newcastle Hospital in New South Wales on February 29, 1964 and it was presided by Dr. John Rae. The topic of the meeting was skin diseases. It presents the details of the case history of the patients, their examination, biopsy and investigative results. The report is followed by the comments of several dermatologists and their conclusive diagnosis of the disease. The cases referred to include severe cases of lesions.

The article focuses on a dermatological syndrome that consists of the presence of multiple nævoid basal cell carcinomata associated with an appearance on the palms and the soles called dyskeratosis. This nævoid basal cell carcinomata of the syndrome differs from those that are usually seen in many ways and no subjective symptoms have been found as such. The appearance does not vary at all once the condition has developed except that fresh lesions may appear. The treatment of each case should be considered very carefully, indicatively through radiotherapy and the use of surgery or the electrocautery.

The article focuses on the mechanism of the formation of ulcers. &Oelig;dema is usually the first condition to appear, at first sight, but gradually increasing in extent. At this point œdema by itself apparently is not sufficient to cause leg ulceration, as the ulceration does not occur even in gross cardiac or renal œdema and lymphœdema. The difference in the reactions to the latter œdemata and that which causes ulceration seems to lie in the increased venous pressure which apparently leads to the diapedesis of cells and proteins into the tissue.

A clinical meeting of the British Association of Dermatology was held at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney on 10th September, 1958. Nine case reports were discussed there. Two of them have been discussed in the article. First case is of a male patient with Pseudo Xanthoma Elasticum. He developed a rash on the sides of the neck, groins and on the lower abdomen. After three months of treatment, there was definite improvement in abdominal lesions. Another case is of a White male patient infected with Tinea Imbricta. He had rashes all over legs, lower body and left arm for many months. It was found that Tinea Imbricta is notoriously resistent to treatment.

The article presents information on systemic lupus erythematosus. The disease may exhibit a predilection for damaging certain tissues or organs of an individual, the lesions of these tissues may undergo repair, later, other tissues or organs may be involved. According to authors, in some cases the disease may manifest itself very early in life and may cover a whole life's span never threatening life, or perhaps not doing so until it ends in the myocarditis or nephritis of old age. The factors responsible for triggering or exacerbating some episodes are exposure to sunlight, the exhibition of many drugs and antibiotics, and the injection of sera, acute mental stress, pregnancy, the menopause and surgical procedures.

The article presents information on skin carcinoma of the lower extremity. The author reports that the occurrence of carcinoma of those areas of the skin not normally exposed to sunlight is comparatively rare and carcinoma of the lower leg and foot is exceedingly rare. He points out that all patients studied by him had a common ancestry of Scottish stock. All of them, except one, had red hair and non-pigmenting, freckled and rather xerodermatous skin. All were blue-eyed and all had, at one time in their lives, a common occupation and a common contact with tar. All had been in the habit of going without boots and had bad their feet frequently exposed to the sun.

This study is based on facts elicited during a survey of the incidence of skin neoplasms in private and hospital practice. The project is a long-range one, undertaken to assess: the incidence of skin neoplasm in a cross-section of population, aetiological factors governing this incidence, and the results of varying types of treatment. In spite of these widely varying methods of treatment, nowhere has one been able to discover any method of evaluation of results except as cured or recurrence. Nowhere is any mention made of the next most important consideration, namely cosmetic and functional results.

The article focuses on the relationship between sun-baths and the increasing number of cases of dermatologic melanoma, or skin cancer. For over sixty years a wealth of evidence has produced a general consensus of opinion that the action of ultra violet light plays a major part in the production of most cases of carcinoma of the skin. However, the mechanism by which ultra violet light produces skin damage has not been completely elucidated. The Australian morbidity and mortality is the highest in the world showing a total 458 deaths during 1963 from malignant melanoma and skin carcinoma. The average age for their development is sixty and the areas affected are the face, the ears and neck and the dorsa of the hands. There is, however, no evidence that the longer the exposure to the alleged carcinogen the greater the incidence of the tumors.

Apparently reproducible preparations of molecular weight 30,000 have been obtained from cortical-cell residues (from acid digestion) by treating cold reduced solutions with acrylonitrile under nitrogen. The yield is 15 to 20% of the original wool or 20 to 30% of the isolated cortical-cell residues. This recovered product is lower in sulphur and in amino nitrogen content than either the original wools or the cortical-cell residues. The product of molecular weight 30,000 is provisionally related to the α1-keratose fraction of oxidized wool, or corresponding kerateine fractions, by hydrolytic fission of, on the averages not more than two peptide bonds per chain. The low-molecular-weight, high-sulphur fraction that is lost by dialysis or failure to precipitate is related to the γ-keratose fraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A family with the naevoid basal cell carcinoma syndrome is described. Three affected members in one sibship suffered from anosmia. One member has shown a most severe constellation of defects including cataracts, hypertelorism, and anosmia, together with hypogonadism secondary to partial pituitary dysfunction. It is suggested that this latter also represents a previously unreported manifestation of the syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]