Detection of the K?bner phenomenon of the skeleton of patients with psoriasis]

Psoriasis is a humorally controlled systemic disease. The degree of "eruptive strength" of manifestation results from hereditary factors (disposition) and environmental factors (provocation). We were able to demonstrate that the well-known K?bner phenomenon of the skin also occurs on the skeleton of patients suffering from psoriasis. We analysed 83 patients in whom bone scans were carried out. Our results indicate that provocation factors such as bacterial foci and/or trauma correlate with a significantly higher number of pathological scintigraphic findings, ranging up to "hot spots". Furthermore, not only did bone fractures remained scintigraphically positive for an unusually long time, traumas of the end phalanx could be demonstrated in 70% of psoriatic patients compared with 21% of a control group. Obviously, one factor alone or a combination of factors triggers the involvement of the skeleton as a "deep K?bner phenomenon". In psoriatic patients the response of bone metabolism to disturbance differs from that of non-psoriatic patients in that there is a long-lasting dysregulation. This explains the high correlation between skin and skeletal manifestation in psoriatics. Therefore the manifestation of psoriatic disease is due not to a single-stranded linear causal interrelation but to a multicausal "network pathogenesis". Bone scintigraphy is the diagnostic method of choice in patients with psoriatic osteoarthropathy and allows an objective evaluation of therapeutic success.     

What is the purpose of launching the World Journal of Transplantation?

Congratulations to the publisher, members of the editorial board of the journal, all the authors and readers for launching the World Journal of Transplantation (WJT) as a new member of the World series journal family. Transplantations are rapidly evolving and share knowledge with a number of basic and clinical sciences: molecular biology, stem cell investigators, immune system, pharmacology, biotechnology, surgery and physicians of different organs such as the kidneys, liver, heart, lung, bone marrow and so on. The WJT is a peer reviewed open access journal centered on the different fields involved in transplant activity. If you want to share your experiences and new findings in the field of transplantation with your peers you will find the WJT a good media to publish your papers.     

What is the purpose of launching the World Journal of Dermatology?

Congratulations to the publisher, members of the editorial board of the journal, all the authors and readers for launching the World Journal of Dermatology (WJD) as a new member of the World series journal family! Scientific advances and important breakthroughs have been facilitated by well developed ideas, hypothesis and innovative techniques and any misleading findings and theories are exclusively attributable to certain methodological defects. Thus, the role of new and innovative investigations related to skin care, skin health, various cutaneous diseases and their preventive or treatment strategies and the need for inaugurating this new journal is self-evident. The WJD is a peer-reviewed open-access periodical centered in biomedical sciences but with multidisciplinary coverage. If the readers or investigators want to share any new investigations, clinical experience or improvement of such experiences, and any cutaneous research-related academic issues with your peers, you will find the WJD a good platform or media to publish your papers!     

What is the purpose of launching the World Journal of Nephrology?

The launch of the World Journal of Nephrology(WJN) has distinct purposes. Its main purpose is to incorporate the fields of diabetes, hypertension, urology, cardiology and neurology, which are related to kidney disease, and to make all of our readers, contributors and allied health professionals feel at home with the WJN. The WJN aims to rapidly report new theories, methods and techniques for prevention, diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation and nursing skill in the field of nephrology. The WJN will cover diagnostic imaging, disorders of kidney development, renal obstruction, atrophy and regeneration, kidney tumors, renal pharmacology and therapy, renal replacement therapies including transplantation, and Chinese herbal medicine. The WJN issues will include an editorial, frontier, invited review of articles and commentaries in addition to original articles submitted. The WJN will solicit articles from investigators in areas of diabetes and hypertension, and high priority will be given to those articles with an emphasis on the prevention of dialysis. Final decision for publication will be based on the merit of the article, language and lucidity.     

Pentoxifylline--efficient in the treatment of venous ulcers in the absence of compression?

The aim of the study was to test the efficacy and tolerability of pentoxifylline on the healing of venous ulcers in the absence of standard limb compression. The study used a prospective randomized, open, controlled, comparative, parallel group design. The study included 80 eligible patients with confirmed venous ulcers (with clinical and photoplethysmography findings). The patients received either pentoxifylline 1200 mg per day (3 x 400 mg) orally in addition of local therapy, or the same local therapy alone. The main outcome measures were complete healing of ulcers, change in the ulcer area over the six-month observation period, and tolerability of the drug. The results showed that complete healing occurred in 23 (57.5%) patients receiving pentoxifylline and 11 (27.5%) patients without pentoxifylline (log rank test =2.49, p=0.013). Unwanted effects of pentoxifylline occurred in 11/40 (27.5%) patients but were mild. Pentoxifylline is concluded to be efficacious in healing of venous ulcers in patients unable to tolerate compression therapy.     

Comparative study of two kinds of real-time PCR for the detection of the methylation status of DNA北大核心

Objective: To use two kinds of real-time PCR to detect the methylation status of p16 gene in CD4+ T cell derived from SLE patients and compare the effect of the two methods. Methods: P16 promotor methylation in CD4+ T cell was detected with both the Taqman probe based real-time PCR technology and the SYBR Green I based real-time PCR technology (method 2) in 40 SLE patients and 20 healthy controls. Results: The result of Taqman probe method showed that the rate of p16 gene hypermethylation was higher in SLE patients(35.7%) than in that of the controls (10%)(χ2=4.11, P=0.04<0.05). The result of SYBR Green method showed that there was no significant difference between the patients and controls (P>0.05). Conclusions: Taqman probe method can effectively eliminate the effect of the primer-dimers (PDs) and nonspecific amplication on the process of PCR, and increase the specificity and accuracy of the result. This method can be used to detect the the methylation status of DNA.     

Tacrolimus: the drug for the turn of the millennium?

BACKGROUND: Tacrolimus has been shown to be a powerful suppressor of the immune system. It was introduced into clinical use to prevent allograft rejection and is now routinely used in kidney, liver, and heart transplantation. Recently, 2 double-blind multicenter studies demonstrated the therapeutic efficacy of topical and systemic tacrolimus in the inflammatory skin diseases atopic dermatitis and psoriasis. DATA SOURCE: MEDLINE was searched for relevant publications and combined with our own clinical, in vitro, and in vivo studies. STUDY SELECTION: All studies dealing with tacrolimus and dermatology were reviewed. DATA EXTRACTION: Publications with clinically relevant data were included in this review. CONCLUSIONS: Topical tacrolimus is a safe and effective therapeutic agent that may open a new era in the treatment of inflammatory skin diseases, particularly for patients with atopic dermatitis. Before its full potential in dermatology can be assessed, more clinical experience in treating children and comparison with the criterion standard of anti-inflammatory therapy, glucocorticosteroids, are needed.     

Relevance of the low-affinity type of the Fcγ-receptor IIIa-polymorphism in bullous pemphigoid

Bullous pemphigoid (BP) is mediated by autoantibodies directed against molecules of the basement membrane zone. The biological function of antibodies involves binding to Fc-receptors expressed on human leucocytes. Recent studies suggested that a functional single-nucleotide-polymorphism of the Fcγ-receptor IIIa (FcγRIIIa = CD16) at nucleotide 559 might predispose to the development of antibody-associated autoimmune disorders. This allelic difference affects the level of receptor affinity by predicting either a phenylalanine (F 158, low-affinity) or valine (V 158, high-affinity). We investigated if inherited frequencies of the high- and low-affinity FcγRIIIa polymorphism differed between patients with BP and healthy subjects. Genomic DNA from peripheral white blood cells was analyzed regarding FcγRIIIa polymorphism at nucleotide 559 by an established polymerase chain reaction. Sixty-seven Caucasian patients with BP and 88 healthy controls were included into the study. There was no significant difference in the distribution of the homozygous high-affinity FcγRIIIa-allotype (V/V) between BP-patients (14.9%) and healthy control subjects (20.5%). In contrast, 58.2% of the BP-patients were homozygous for the low-affinity FcγRIIIa-allotype (F/F), compared to 28.4% of the healthy controls (P = 0.001, OR 3.51). The frequencies of the polymorphism in the control group were in range of formerly published frequencies for healthy Caucasian subjects. Thus, the FcγRIIIa (158 F/V) polymorphism may modulate the susceptibility to acquire BP.