Skin diseases

waltky

Wise ol' monkey
Feb 6, 2011
26,211
2,590
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Okolona, KY
Disease causes skin to melt away...
:eek:
Brazilians suffer skin-melt disease
Wed, May 07, 2014 - CURSE: In a Brazilian village founded by a few families, 20 of 800 residents have a disease which has been passed down the generations through intermarriage
This is a village where the people melt away. Tucked into the sunbaked rolling hills of Brazil’s midwest, Araras is home to what is thought to be the largest single group of people suffering from a rare inherited skin disease known as xeroderma pigmentosum, or “XP.” Those with the disease are extremely sensitive to ultraviolet rays from sunlight and highly susceptible to skin cancers — the condition robs victims of the ability to repair the damage caused by the sun. That is a particularly vexing burden in Araras, a tropical farming community where outdoor work is vital for survival. “I was always exposed to the sun — working, planting and harvesting rice and caring for the cows,” said Djalma Antonio Jardim, 38. “As the years passed, my condition got worse.” Agriculture is no longer a real option for Jardim. He survives on a small Brazilian government pension and meager earnings from an ice-cream parlor he runs. XP shows early signs that it has taken hold of its victims.

Jardim says he was just nine when a large number of freckles and small lumps started appearing on his face — the tell-tale signs that experts say signal that XP is present in children. The medical community is calling for serious precautions to be taken against the sun. Such precaution was not taken for Jardim, who now wears a large straw hat in an effort to protect his face, but it has helped little. He has undergone more than 50 surgeries to remove skin tumors. In an effort to camouflage how the disease has eaten away the skin on his lips, nose, cheeks and eyes, Jardim wears a rudimentary orange-tinted mask, its stenciled-in right eyebrow not matching his bushy real one that remains. Beyond skin damage and cancers that XP patients get, about one in five may also suffer from deafness, spastic muscles, poor coordination or developmental delays, according to the US-based National Cancer Institute.

More than 20 people in this community of about 800 have XP. That is an incidence rate of about one in 40 people — far higher than the one in 1 million people in the US who have it. For years, nobody could tell Jardim or the others what was afflicting them. “The doctors I went to said I had a blood disorder. Others said I had a skin problem, but none said I had a genetic disease,” Jardim said. “It was only in 2010 that my disease was properly diagnosed.” Experts say Araras has such a high incidence rate because the village was founded by only a few families and several were carriers of the disease, meaning it was passed to future generations as villagers intermarried. For instance, both of Jardim’s parents were carriers of the defective gene that causes the disease, largely ensuring he would have it.

Gleice Machado, a village teacher whose 11-year-old son, Alison, has XP, has studied its history in the area and says she found cases of people having the disease 100 years ago. She has started an association that educates locals about XP and how to care for children, even if they may not have outward signs of the illness. “The sun is our biggest enemy and those affected must change day for night in order to live longer,” Machado said. “Unfortunately, that is not possible.”

Brazilians suffer skin-melt disease - Taipei Times
 
Lab-grown skin sprouts hair and glands...

Promising lab-grown skin sprouts hair and grows glands
Fri, 01 Apr 2016 - Scientists create artificial skin, made from mouse stem cells, that integrates successfully and even sprouts hairs when transplanted into another mouse.
Scientists in Japan have successfully transplanted mice with lab-grown skin that has more of the organ's working parts in place than ever before. Starting with stem cells made from a mouse's gums, they managed to craft skin with multiple layers - as well as hair follicles and sweat glands. When implanted into a "nude mouse" with a suppressed immune system, it integrated well and sprouted hairs. Researchers say this success will take 5-10 years to translate into humans. But eventually, the team hopes their system will lead to perfectly functioning skin that can be grown from the cells of burns victims and transplanted back on to them.

Personalised organs

This would be vastly superior to the culturing and grafting techniques that are currently available, which produce skin without many of the the biological components and functionality that we are used to. The technique could also be adapted to manufacture realistic skin samples that drug or cosmetics companies could use to test their products - instead of using animals. The findings, reported in the journal Science Advances, have been greeted with enthusiasm by other scientists working in this field.

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Takashi Tsuji is the paper's senior author. He said the dream of re-growing personalised organs was beginning to materialise: "Up until now, artificial skin development has been hampered by the fact that the skin lacked the important organs, such as hair follicles and exocrine glands, which allow the skin to play its important role in regulation. "With this new technique, we have successfully grown skin that replicates the function of normal tissue. "We are coming ever closer to the dream of being able to recreate actual organs in the lab for transplantation."

Dr Tsuji, from the Riken Centre for Developmental Biology in Kobe, conducted the research with colleagues in Tokyo, Sagamihara and Sendai. They began their experiments by taking cells from the gums of a mouse and converting them into "induced pluripotent stem cells" or iPSCs.

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Skin bacteria stays largely unchanged over time...

Skin bacteria stay 'stable over time'
Fri, 06 May 2016 - Everyone has their own personal range of bacteria living on their skin that stays largely unchanged over time, a US study suggests.
It found sites of oily skin, such as backs and ears, had the most stable microbial fingerprints. But even exposed dry sites such as palms were relatively stable. Feet were among the areas that changed most in their microbial make-up, perhaps due to factors such as personal hygiene. Human skin is home to a wide range of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Most are harmless or even beneficial, but some have been linked with skin disorders such as acne, psoriasis and eczema.

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possum took dis pic o' Granny's toes with a flower in `em​

Research into how skin bugs vary across the body helps explain why eczema tends to affect moist sites such as the bends of the arms, while psoriasis commonly occurs on dry exposed areas such as the elbows. But it has been unclear how communities of bacteria, viruses and fungi found across the skin vary over time and how these changes might affect health.

Microbial signatures

In a study published in the journal, Cell, researchers took skin samples from 12 healthy people at three times over a period of one month to two years, encompassing 17 areas of the body. Heidi Kong, of the National Cancer Institute, and Julie Segre, of the National Human Genome Research Institute, found healthy individuals kept their own unique microbial signatures despite exposure to clothes, washing, other people and the outside world. However, the stability of skin bugs varied among individuals and microbial strains, with some showing more changes than others.

In the future, the scientists plan to study patients with eczema and other conditions to look at how microbes might vary with disease. "Future studies can use the knowledge of the relative stability of the skin microbial communities in healthy adults to understand how various exposures or disease state may alter these skin microbes," said Dr Segre. "For example, studies in acne patients could explore whether specific strains bloom during adolescent acne flares or change with medications such as antibiotics."

Skin bacteria stay 'stable over time' - BBC News
 
Youthful 'second skin' to hide wrinkles...

Scientists make 'second skin' to hide wrinkles
Mon, 09 May 2016 - Scientists say they have developed an invisible elastic film that can be applied to the skin to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and eye bags.
Scientists claim to have developed an invisible elastic film that can be applied to the skin to reduce the appearance of wrinkles and eye bags. Once applied, the formula dries to form a film that "mimics the properties of youthful skin", Nature Materials reports after a series of small trials. At the moment it is being explored as a commercial cosmetic product. But the US scientists say their "second skin" might eventually be used to deliver medicines and sun protection.

Second skin

The team from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have tested their prototype product on a handful of volunteers, applying the formula to their under-eye bags, forearms and legs. The polysiloxane polymer was made in the lab using molecules of silicone and oxygen as the building blocks. Although it's synthetic, it's designed to mimic real skin and provide a breathable, protective layer. According to the researchers, the temporary film locks in moisture and helps boost skin elasticity. They performed several tests, including a recoil test where the skin was pinched and then released to see how long it takes to ping back into position. As skin ages, it becomes less firm and less elastic and so performs less well in this sort of test. Skin that had been coated with the polymer was more elastic than skin without the film. And, to the naked eye, it appeared smoother, firmer and less wrinkly.

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The researchers, who have a spin-off company that could eventually market their patented formula, say the film is essentially invisible, can be worn all day without causing irritation and can withstand things like sweat and rain. But more studies are needed before then. The polymer would also need safety approval from regulators. Dr Tamara Griffiths of the British Association of Dermatologists says bags under the eyes are caused by the protrusion of fat pockets associated with ageing. While entirely natural, some people see it as undesirable and seek ways to reverse it - sometimes resorting to surgery. Dr Griffiths said: "The results [with the polymer film] appear to be comparable to surgery, without the associated risks. Further research is needed, but this is a novel and very promising approach to a common problem. I will follow its development with interest."

Prof Robert Langer, who led the work at MIT, said: "Developing a second skin that is invisible, comfortable and effective in holding in water and potentially other materials presents many different challenges. "It has to have the right optical properties, otherwise it won't look good, and it has to have the right mechanical properties, otherwise it won't have the right strength and it won't perform correctly. "We are extremely excited about the opportunities that are presented as a result of this work and look forward to further developing these materials to better treat patients who suffer from a variety of skin conditions."

Scientists make 'second skin' to hide wrinkles - BBC News
 
Hey waltky looks like our new friend JeanneJackson dug up one of your old threads about skin and bacteria.

Decomposition makes skin melt, and bacteria can kill skin and make it decompose.
 
people often do not realize the skin is your largest organ
Actually, I have another organ that is 100 times bigger than that.

It's even bigger than my cock!
Skin is the largest single organ.

Blood is not an organ per se but there is about 1 gallon in each of us, slightly less in women, half as much in kids, and slightly more in men. So blood is 2nd.

Lungs are 3rd.

Small intestine is 4th.

Large intestine is 5th.

Liver is 6th.

Stomach is 7th.

Brain is 8th.

Then come kidneys, spleen, pancreas.

You cock and testicles are probably the smallest, Muhammed .
 

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