Taking medical history, physical examination, and performing some in vivo and in vitro TESTS are necessary for the diagnosis of allergy. SKIN prick test (SPT) is considered as the standard method and first-line approach for the detection of allergic sensitization. Although mainly SPT is used for the detection of allergic sensitization, intradermal SKIN test (IDST) may be necessary, especially in patients with a negative SPT result. IDST is quite safe; however, is nowadays seldom used for detection of inhalant allergy and its value remains controversial. We aimed to investigate whether IDST is useful and necessary in diagnosis of respiratory allergies or not. This study involved 4223 patients with allergic rhinitis (AR) and/or bronchial asthma (BA). SPT results were positive in 2419 patients (57%) and negative in 1804 (43%). IDST was applied to 344 patients with marked allergic symptoms and with negative SPT results. Out of 344 patients, 152 (44%) showed allergic sensitization to IDST. The most commonly encountered allergic response was against the house dust mite (HDM) (32. 6%). Allergic response against fungal spores was also relatively high (22%), while the pollen allergy rate (4. 3%) was quite low. In BA patients with negative prick test, IDST made a significant contribution to the diagnosis of HDM allergy (p=0. 003). To avoid missed diagnosis of AR and BA, particularly regarding the HDM allergy, application of IDST may be beneficial; therefore, IDST should be considered as the next step after SPT for diagnosis of allergy prior to in vitro or provocation TESTS.

Background and aim: Diabetes mellitus is a metabolic disease with multiple complications. SKIN tag is a pedunculated papule, which is more common in women and has been suggested as a cutaneous marker of diabetes mellitus. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of diabetes mellitus in patients with SKIN tags.Materials and methods: This descriptive study was done on 100 patients with SKIN tags. The investigation included fasting blood sugar (FBS) and glucose tolerance test (OTT).Results: 66 patients had normal FBS, 27 had diabetes mellitus, 5 had impaired OTT and 2 had impaired fasting glucose. Over all, 34 had abnormal glucose metabolism, 7 were unaware of their metabolic abnormality. Among 40 hospitalized patients 50% had abnormal glucose metabolism meanwhile 23.3% of 60 outpatients had this abnormality (p<0.01). No association was seen between BMI, obesity, gender, location and number of SKIN tags with abnormal metabolism of glucose.Conclusion: It is recommended to consider SKIN tags as a cetaceous marker for abnormality of glucose metabolism.

Background and aim: Non-melanoma SKIN cancers (NMSC) are one of the most prevalent malignancies of the human. Although the morality rate is not high for these cancers, they may cause high morbility for the patients. In addition to the SKIN type, factors such as sun exposure, head and neck radiotherapy, inappropriate use of sunscreen and cultural changes may increase the incidence of these cancers. The objective of this study was to determine NMSC in Isfahan.Materials and Methods: We used data of the cancer resistery center for performing this study and the incidence of NMSC per 100,000 populations was determined. Results: Overall 1681 cases were registered. The incidence of NMSC was calculated to be 10.67/100,000population. The most common site for BCC and SCC was middle face. Conclusion: NMSC incidence in Isfahan is lower than west countries although this incidence is 10.67/100,000in a year. It means that 5-6 thousand cases of NMSC occur in Iran each year. We can prevent its morbidity and mortality by early correct diagnosis.

World Health organization (WHO) has reported that out of more than 10,000 of 250,000 tuberculosis afflicted children die annually. Pulmonary tuberculosis is a research priority in our country, and diagnosing this disease especially in children who are known as the major transmitter of the disease is rather difficult. As a result, it was decided to conduct an overall assessment on this age group in order to determine the importance of the findings of chest radiography and SKIN test in diagnosing the disease. The present descriptive study was carried out based on the findings of a health plan in Fasa , a Iranian town, during 1995 and 1996, on 2 groups: first-grade students of Fasa elementary schools. Among 2263 students, 102 (4.5%) cases had a positive SKIN test. According to the radiographic findings, tuberculosis was reported in seven (6.9%) of them. The diagnosis of tuberculosis is more difficult in children; this is because taking sputum samples for laboratory examination is rather difficult especially in children lower than 10 years. In this group, diagnosis is made based on the symptoms like cough, weight loss, history of contact with a TB patient and other diagnostic procedures including chest radiographies and SKIN test.

Background: Total serum IgE measurement and SKIN prick TESTS are the most common tools for allergy diagnosis. This investigation was conducted to evaluate total serum IgE and SKIN prick test relationship in Iranian atopic children with respiratory manifestations. Materials and Methods: A history of allergic rhinitis, bronchial asthma and atopic dermatitis was obtained in 232 children (aged 1 to 15 years). SKIN prick testing was performed using commercial preparation of the common allergens. The patients' sera were also analyzed for determining total IgE. Results: More than 95% (n=221) of the patients had positive SKIN prick test (mean wheal diameter  ³3mm) to one allergen or more. Among the patients 46% (n=107) had elevated total serum lgE levels (³150 lU/ml). Conclusion: The study showed close relationship of SKIN test positivity with reported allergic symptoms, but no correlation was found between total IgE and SKIN prick test. This study revealed that SKIN testing and total serum IgE measurement may be considered complementary to one another in diagnosing allergic respiratory disorders.

Background & Aims: Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common types of chronic disease leading to serious complications such as blindness, end stage renal disease (ESRD), neuropathy and cardiac disorders. SKIN tag is a common benign SKIN tumor that its association with impaired carbohydrate metabolism has been reported in some studies. The aim of this study was to compare the frequency of diabetes and other carbohydrate metabolism disorders in patients with and without SKIN tag.Methods: In a case- control study on 200 individuals over 30 years old referring to Dermatology Clinic of Afzalipour Hospital, 100 individuals with at least 3 SKIN tags as case group and 100 individuals without SKIN tag as control group underwent FBS and standard GTT TESTS.Results: There was no significant difference between case and control groups in the frequency of diabetes (19% vs. 10%), IGTT (11%vs.13%) and IFG (19% vs. 15%).Mean FBS and GTT were significantly higher in the case group compared to the control group.There was a positive correlation between the total number of SKIN tags and mean FBS (r= 0.33, P= 0.001) and GTT (r= 0.37, P= 0.000). The frequency of diabetes in patients with at least 20 SKIN tags was 45.8%. Positive predictive value, negative predictive value, sensitivity and specificity of SKIN tag for the diagnosis of diabetes were 19%, 90%, 52% and 65% respectively. Conclusion: This study revealed that patients with SKIN tags are at a higher risk of carbohydrate metabolism disorders. Therefore, screening of patients with SKIN tag for carbohydrate metabolism disorders is recommended.

Background and Objectives: Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease and about one-third of the world population are infected with latent TB infection. Active TB infection may develop in 5 to10 percent of individuals with latent infection; therefore, detection of latent infection is of great importance in the control of the disease. The aim of this study was to develop a specific SKIN test based on low molecular weight proteins secreted by M. tuberculosis for detection of M. tuberculosis infection. Methods: At this study, after extraction of secreted proteins from shortterm culture filtrate of M. tuberculosis, low molecular weight proteins, were purified by Sephadex-G75 gel chromatography. For SKIN test, several groups of guinea pigs were sensitized with M. tuberculosis, M. bovis BCG, and M. avium strains, and then SKIN test were performed using purified proteins and PPD. Results: According to SKIN test data, unlike PPD, purified proteins showed a positive response in animals exposed to M. tuberculosis, but no significant SKIN responses was observed in the guinea pigs sensitized with M. bovis BCG and M. avium strains. Conclusion: The results of this study demonstrated that new SKIN test is specific compared to PPD in the detection of M. tuberculosis infection, and could be replaced as a more specific SKIN test for detection of TB in large animals or human.

This prospective study was conducted to find out The accuracy of Pathergy test, which is the hyperactivity of SKIN to needle trauma, in patients with behcets disease, and to compare the results with current universal method, using disposable sharp needles in patients with (BD) in South West of Iran.The study was done during April 1996 - August 1998 in Behcets Disease Research clinic in Shiraz university of Medical Sciences.The pathergy phenomenon was tested simultaneously on the SKIN of forearm on 104 (71 female and 33 male) BD patients with active disease and on 100 healthy persons as control group. two methods for pathergy test were used: 1- the old method, using the blunted needles that were non-disposable, sterilized 21 gauge (G) needles and 2- the new current standard method with sharp-disposable needles, in three different gauges including: 21G, 23G plus intradermal injection of 0.1cc normal saline (N/S) and SKIN scratches by 25G needles. The SKIN reactions were checked 24-48 hours later by the same physician for possible developing erythema of more than 2mm in diameter, papules or pustules at the sites of needle insertion (called positive pathergy test). At the end of 17 months, the data were analyzed to compare the sensitivity and specificity of the both tested pathergy phenomenon by blunt and sharp needles.By using the blunt needles, positive pathergy test was seen in 85 out of 104 BD patients and in 3 out of 100 of healthy control group, (sensitivity of 80.7% and specificity of 97%).The pathergy test with more traumatic method, that is using intradermal injection of 0.1 cc N/S with 23G sharp needle insertion, resulted 69 out of 104 patients with positive test and 3 out of 100 in healthy control persons (sensitivity of 66% and specificity of 97 %).In this study we observed that using non-disposable, sterile blunt needle in performing the pathergy test in BD patients (old method) increases the sensitivity of pathergy test to 80.7% in comparison to current standard method in which disposable-sharp needle is being used.

Background and aims: The hospital staff services due to their jobs are daily exposed with disinfectant and cleaning substances and the exposure with these materials will cause dermatitis. The aim of this study was to determine the affection risk to SKIN symptoms in hospital staff services due to continuous exposure to detergents and disinfectants.Methods: In this cross-sectional study 170 male and female staff services in both Educational hospitals of Yazd were evaluated. Using Nordic questionnaire about the frequency of SKIN symptoms including: SKIN redness, swelling, scaling and small blisters, scaly and itching on the hands, forearms, and between the fingers of the employees were collected and analyzed by SPSS v.16.Results: In this study the overall prevalence of hand dermatitis among the staff service was 36.8 percent. The most common symptom of SKIN dermatitis was scaling of the hands, forearms or fingers along with cracking (25.5 percent). Symptoms of redness and itching of the SKIN, hands, forearms or fingers with cracked SKIN were more in women than men.Symptoms of red SKIN and scaly hands, forearms or fingers and cracking of SKIN were more in individuals with less work experience.Conclusion: The results showed a strong correlation between exposure in the workplace and SKIN dermatitis among workers in the service. In order to reduce exposure to detergents and reducing the incidence of SKIN dermatitis symptoms, use of appropriate gloves and proper training required in their use is recommended.