The influence of uric acid treatments on liver glutathione system prevent oxidative damages in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis mice

Recently we reported that antioxidant system in brain and spinal cord in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice is mainly affected at early stages of the disease [M. Zargari, A. Allameh, M.H. Sanati, T. Tiraihi, S.H. Lavasani, O. Emadyan, Relationship between the clinical scoring and demyelination in central nervous system with total antioxidant capacity of plasma during experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis development in mice, Neurosci. Lett. 412 (2007), 24–28]. The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of uric acid (UA) on antioxidant system in liver and plasma of EAE mice. EAE was induced in C57/BL6 mice (n = 60), followed by i.p. administration of UA (10 mg/kg BW) in 30 mice at three distinct clinical stages (A: prior to onset, B: after onset, C: after development of EAE). Livers were removed and processed for measurement of lipid peroxidation products, reduced glutathione (GSH), and glutathione S-transferase (GST) and total antioxidant capacity of plasma (FRAP). The results showed that lipid peroxidation products in liver of EAE mice was increased significantly (∼85%) as compared to normal. UA administration to EAE mice caused a significant suppression of liver lipid peroxidation products (∼45%) at early stages (A and B). There was an inverse relationship between lipid peroxidation and cellular GSH in liver. GSH was significantly depleted in mice liver during the EAE progression, but it was recovered (∼29%) when UA was injected before the onset of the disease (groups A and B). Plasma total antioxidant capacity was significantly decreased during the development of EAE, however it was subsided in mice treated with UA as compared to the corresponding controls (21%) in groups A and B. Elevated liver GST as a result of EAE induction was reversed in mice treated with UA particularly in groups A and B. These results indicate that hepatic glutathione system, particularly GST plays a major role in modulation of oxidative damages to central nervous system (CNS) during EAE induction. The positive response of antioxidant system to UA administration in EAE mice was corroborated with improvement of clinical manifestation of the animals.     

Lipopolysaccharides,but not Angiotensin ll,lnduces Direct Pro‐lnflammatory Effects in Cultured Mouse Arteries and Human Endothelial and Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells

Angiotensin II (Ang II) might induce pro‐inflammatory effects directly in the vascular wall independently of its haemodynamic effects. The aim of our study was to investigate the putative direct pro‐inflammatory and vasomotor effects of Ang II and compare to those of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) in mouse isolated mesenteric resistance‐sized arteries (MRA) supported by experiments in cultured human primary endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells. Results showed that 24‐hr organ culture of mouse MRA with 10 nM Ang II had, unlike 100 ng/mL LPS, no effects on IL‐6 or MCP‐1 secretion, VCAM1 mRNA expression or endothelial function, while Ang II significantly decreased maximal vasomotor responses to phenylephrine. In support, 24‐hr organ culture of mouse MRA significantly suppressed Agtr1a mRNA and augmented Tlr4 mRNA along with attenuated vasomotor responses to Ang II. Moreover, contrary to LPS and TNF‐α, Ang II and [Sar1]‐Ang II had no concentration‐ or time‐dependent effects on IL‐6 and MCP‐1 secretion in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) and human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMC). AGTR1 or AGTR2 mRNA expression was undetectable in HUVEC, whereas HASMC expressed only AGTR1 mRNA. In summary, contrary to previous studies and the observed effects of LPS, we could not demonstrate direct vascular pro‐inflammatory effects of Ang II ex vivo or in vitro. As indicated by our results, down‐regulation or desensitization of AT₁R during culture may explain our findings.     

Serum IgE reactivity to Malassezia furfur extract and recombinant M. furfur allergens in patients with atopic dermatitis

IgE reactivity to the opportunistic yeast Malassezia furfur can be found in patients with atopic dermatitis (AD). We have previously cloned and expressed 6 recombinant allergens (rMal f 1, rMal f 5-9) from M. furfur. In the present study, we used ImmunoCAP to investigate whether these rMal f allergens can be useful in the diagnosis of M. furfur-associated AD compared with the M. furfur extract. A total of 156 adult patients with a clinical diagnosis of AD participated in the study. Sixty-four percent had increased total serum IgE levels, 79% had specific IgE antibodies to common inhalant allergens and 47% had IgE antibodies to M. furfur extract. IgE antibodies to any of the rMal f allergens were detected among 86 (55%) of the patients, 14 (16%) of whom did not react to the M. furfur extract. Any individual rMal f allergen detected between 32% and 89% of the patients ImmunoCAP-positive to the M. furfur extract, with the highest sensitivity for rMal f 9. Therefore, a couple of individual rMal f allergens can improve the diagnosis of M. furfur-associated IgE allergies in patients with AD.     

Lesion area assessment in psoriasis patients

Psoriasis is an autoimmune skin disease, afflicting skin with red plaques that are usually accompanied by silvery-white scales. Various medical treatments are used, with different impacts on the patients, but there is no definite cure for the disease. The PASI standard is employed to measure the performance of the treatments. It includes four parameters, namely area, erythema, scaliness and skin thickness. The PASI parameters are usually measured manually by physicians through subjective clinical observations which are imprecise, time consuming and in some cases lead to diverse results. This paper presents a computer-based automatic method to measure the area parameter in the PASI standard. In the proposed method, the YCbCr colour space is used to differentiate the plaques from the skin by applying an optimal threshold method. Performance evaluation results indicate that the proposed method is able to determine lesion areas with accuracy higher than 96% for 18 out of 20 cases and higher than 92% for another case. As well as high accuracy the proposed method has another advantage over previous methods: it can automatically detect plaques with silvery-white scales, plaques on hairy skins and tiny plaques, as well as simple (scale-less) plaques.     

Atopy patch test reactions to Malassezia allergens differentiate subgroups of atopic dermatitis patients

BACKGROUND: The yeast Malassezia is considered to be one of the factors that can contribute to atopic dermatitis (AD). OBJECTIVES: To investigate the reactivity to Malassezia allergens, measured as specific serum IgE, positive skin prick test and positive atopy patch test (APT), in adult patients with AD. METHODS: In total, 132 adult patients with AD, 14 with seborrhoeic dermatitis (SD) and 33 healthy controls were investigated for their reactions to M. sympodialis extract and three recombinant Malassezia allergens (rMal s 1, rMal s 5 and rMal s 6). RESULTS: Sixty-seven per cent of the AD patients, but only one of the SD patients and none of the healthy controls, showed a positive reaction to at least one of the Malassezia allergens (extract and/or recombinant allergens) in at least one of the tests. The levels of M. sympodialis-specific IgE in serum correlated with the total serum IgE levels. Elevated serum levels of M. sympodialis-specific IgE were found in 55% and positive APT reactions in 41% of the AD patients with head and neck dermatitis. A relatively high proportion of patients without head and neck dermatitis and patients with low total serum IgE levels had a positive APT for M. sympodialis, despite lower proportions of individuals with M. sympodialis-specific IgE among these groups of patients. CONCLUSIONS: These results support that Malassezia can play a role in eliciting and maintaining eczema in patients with AD. The addition of an APT to the test battery used in this study reveals a previously overlooked impact of Malassezia hypersensitivity in certain subgroups of AD patients.     

伊朗皮肤病患者对应用网络作为医学资源的态度

背景:在伊朗,网络应用飞速发展,但关于伊朗网络使用者通过该媒介收集医学信息的相关资料未见报道。目的:研究伊朗慢性皮肤病患者将网络作为医学资源的使用情况。方法:作者对2003年7月至9月间就诊于一私人皮肤病诊所的20～40岁慢性皮肤病患者进行了结构性面谈。结果:共有205例患     

Plasma leptin levels in patients with floppy eyelid syndrome

PURPOSE: To determine the range of plasma leptin levels in patients with floppy eyelid syndrome (FES). METHODS: This was a retrospective, noninterventional case series of 11 patients with FES. Charts were reviewed for patient age, sex, plasma leptin level, body mass index (BMI), presence or absence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and diabetes mellitus, and any treatments for OSA. RESULTS: Charts of 11 patients were reviewed (10 male, 1 female). Plasma leptin levels were elevated in 7 of 11 patients (64%). Mean plasma leptin concentration was 49.5 ng/ml in male patients (range, 5 to 120 ng/ml) compared with a normal range of 1 to 35 ng/ml. Plasma leptin level in the female patient was 180 ng/ml (normal range, 4 to 72 ng/ml). Five patients had a known diagnosis of OSA. Four of these patients received continuous positive airway pressure during leptin level measurement. Plasma leptin levels averaged 110.0 ng/ml in the continuous positive airway pressure group. Average BMI was 37.4 kg/m (range, 24.9 to 57.1 kg/m). All patients with elevated leptin levels had a high BMI. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with FES demonstrate elevated plasma leptin levels, which correlate with BMI. Hyperleptinemia may play a role in the pathogenesis of FES.