The etiology of benign cutaneous lymphadenosis is described. This condition is a skin response to exogenous factors and is presented by accumulation of lymphocytes and other inflammatory cells in the focus of exposure; it is classified as B-cell cutaneous pseudolymphoma. The dermatosis develops in the majority of cases in response to skin trauma (tattoo, insect bites, microinjuries, acupuncture, silicone implants, ear rings, piercing) and infection agents. Lymphocytomas often develop in the presence of scabies, after vaccination, under conditions of Borrelia burgdorferi, varicella zoster, HIV, Leishmania donovani infection. A case with lymphocytoma unfolding in the presence of chronic sinusitis is presented.

The expression of microRNA (hsa-miR-146a, hsa-miR-150, hsa-miR-196a, hsa-miR-218) in biopsy specimens from patients with melanocytic tumors of the skin was studied by RT-PCR. The expression of miR-196a and miR-218 was lower in skin melanoma than in benign skin melanocytic tumors. No relationship between the level of analyzed microRNA expression and clinical morphologicalforms of melanoma and its metastatic potential (according to AJCC classification) was detected. The detected changes in the levels of microRNA in skin melanoma indicated disorders in the gene expression levels at the posttranscription level, essential for the development of new approaches to the diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis of this disease.

A case with Kaposi’s sarcoma is described. Marked clinical polymorphism of skin changes, frequent atypical location, and uncommon manifestations of this disease impede its diagnosis and require special attention and alertness of clinicists.

Extracorporeal photochemotherapy (EPCT) was added to combined treatment protocols for patients with circumscribed scleroderma (CS). Fifty observed patients with CS were divided into 2 groups. The main group patients received standard therapy supplemented by EPCT, controls received only standard therapy. The EPCT method is based on the photosensitizing effect of 8-methoxypsoralene and UV irradiation of the mononuclear cells, isolated by cytapheresis. Significant clinical effect was attained in 96% patients of the main group: hyperemia, induration, and area of lesions decreased. The improvement in controls was significantly less. Hence, the method proved to be highly effective adjuvant therapy for CS.

Differential diagnosis of two most incident autoimmune bullous dermatoses is described: true acantholytic pemphigus and Lever’s bullous pemphigoid. Clinical picture, laboratory methods for differential diagnosis are described - classical and new ones, including noninvasive methods: life-time confocal laser scanning microscopy, optical coherent tomography, ultrasonic dermascanning, etc., and some of their modifications. Differential diagnostic criteria of true acantholytic pemphigus and Lever’s bullous pemphigoid by clinical signs are presented and the main laboratory diagnostic methods for each condition are enumerated. The advantages and limitations of the methods, potentialities of new and modified classical methodsfor differential diagnosis of the two diseases are discussed.

Angiitis (skin vasculitis) is a dermatosis the key component of which is nonspecific inflammation of the dermal and hypodermal blood vessels of different diameters. Infection and drug hypersensitivity are the most significant factors triggering the disease development. This paper presents a case with polymorphic dermal angiitis - a combination of the hemorrhagic and ulcerative necrotic form, unfolding under conditions of rituksimab therapy in a 53-year-old female patient with chronic lymphoid leukemia (CLL). Painful eruptions on the skin of both legs emerged after the 5 th intravenous injection of rituksimab. The skin process progressed during several days, the pain in the foci augmented. Rituksimab is a drug based on synthetic (gene engineering) chimerical human/mouse monoclonal antibodies specific to CD20 antigen, detected on the surface of normal and malignant B lymphocytes. The drug is used in therapy for B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas in adult patients.

A clinical case of cutaneous sarcoidosis in a child is presented. The prevalence of this disease is not amply studied. According to the data available, sarcoidosis in adults is more friquent in the northern countries than in the South; young and middle-aged women predominate among the patients. Sarcoidosis is rare in infants and is characterized by involvement of the skin, joints, and eyes, and by noncasefied granulomas (in biopsy of the skin, conjunctiva, and synovial membranes), while in older age the lungs, lymph nodes, and eyes are mainly involved (similarly as in adults). The clinical case presented in this paper demonstrates the difficulties in the diagnosis of sarcoidosis in children because of its low incidence and rarity for pediatric dermatologist.

Porphyrin measurements are carried out in 145 patients with porphyria cutanea tarda. The fractions are measured in the urine, feces, and plasma with due consideration for seasonal stages of the disease. The highest porphyrin levels are recorded during the active phase. Elevation of uroporphyrin in the urine and plasma is one of the early signs preceding a clinical relapse. The coproporphyrin/uroporporphyrin proportion is one of the important prognostic criteria. Dynamic progressive reduction of uroporphyrin fraction in the presence of rather high coproporphyrin level can indicate active hepatic cirrhosis.

The efficiency of the method, based on limited use of drug therapy in combination with transcranial stimulation physiotherapy on an AMO-ATOS-E device, was demonstrated in the theatment of 53 patients with different forms ofpsoriasis. The treatment efficiency was evaluated by the time course of PASI values and by the results of instrumental and laboratory studies. Control group received traditional therapy and placebo sessions of transcranial physiotherapy. The treatment efficiency in the main group was 66.6-78.9%, which was 22.2-42.1% higher than in the control group. Microcirculation and immune status improved, the number of flares over a year decreased 2.5-3 times.

Published data on the etiology, pathogenesis, and modern classifications of cutaneous T-cell lymphomas are reviewed and statistical data of the global incidence of this condition in the world are presented. Clinical manifestations in moderate and aggressive course of the disease are described in detail. The need of accurate and in time verification of the diagnosis is emphasized.

Therapy for onychomycosis is a difficult problem, as the patients suffering from this disease are often elderly, with severe concomitant diseases, and systemic antimycotic therapy is contraindicated for them. All these factors necessitate search for new therapeutic methods, one of them is laser therapy. A clinical case is presented. A female patient was previously ineffectively treated with various systemic and topical means. Laser therapy was carried out as follows: a session every 2 weeks during 6 months using Q-Switched modules 1064/532 nm and ND:YAG: 1064 nm on a multitechnological platform of Harmony XL Alma Lasers (Israel). The patient received 9 sessions. Examination 1 year after the beginning of laser therapy showed clinical cure, which was confirmed by negative results of microscopic and culture testing for pathogenic fungi. Hence, laser therapy of onychomycosis proved to be an effective and safe therapy.

Published data on the regulation of hair growth cycles are reviewed. A hair follicle undergoes cyclic transformations from the resting phase (telogen) to the growth phase (anagen), which is characterized by rapid proliferation of follicular keratinocytes, elongation and thickening of the hair shaft. The regression phase (catagen) leads to involution of the hair follicle. These cyclic changes are associated with rapid remodeling of the epithelial and dermal components, regulated by numerous factors: sex hormones, neutrophils, FGF, TGF, BMP, VEGF, Sonic Hedgehog, SHH, and other signalmolecules.

The incidence of sexually transmitted infections, including syphilis, remains high. Recent reports discuss syphilis pathomorphosis, difficulties in the differential diagnosis, and changes in the incidence of clinical manifestations. A total of 1304 cases with syphilis are analyzed in order to detect the specific features of clinical course of the disease. Syphilis is highly prevalent in subjects of reproductive age. Latent forms predominate in the morbidity structure, the leading form is early latent syphilis. Characteristics ofprimary syphilis are demonstrated: erosive hard chancre, complicated forms such as balanopostitis, a lesser incidence of regional lymphadenitis, extragenital location of the infection. The course of secondary syphilis is characterized by a lesser incidence of hard chancre rudiments and of local scleradenitis, predominance of the papular form, lesser incidence of the palmar and plantar syphilids, wide condylomata, involvement of the buccal and lingual mucosa.

Before organization of Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases at the University, these diseases were presented by therapists and surgeons. The Department of Skin and Venereal Diseases was created at the Moscow University on May 27, 1869. At the end of the 19 th century N.P.Mansurov found a sponsor for the constraction of the clinical base of the Department - Gavriil Gavriilovich Solodovnikov, a merchant. The Clinic of Skin and Venereal Diseases was opened on February 19, 1895, and in 1897 at the International Congress of Physicians in Moscow it was unanimously acknowledged to be the best in Europe. The first head of the Clinic was A.I.Pospelov The clinic continued working during the Great Patriotic War. In 2013-2014 the building was reconstructed at the initiative of the University and is now working again.