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Objective To analyze the rate and distribution of positive provocative tests in patients with inducible urticaria,and to investigate the role of provocative tests in the etiological diagnosis of chronic urticaria.Methods Among patients who visited the special clinic for urticaria in the Department of Dermatology of the Third Affiliated Hospital,Sun Yat-sen University from January 2016 to December 2017,127 patients with suspected inducible urticaria were selected,and underwent 6 provocative tests for inducible urticaria,including delayed pressure urticaria provocative test (DPUPT),symptomatic dermographism provocative test (SDPT),vibratory angioedema provocative test (VAEPT),cold urticaria provocative test (CUPT),heat urticaria provocative test (HUPT),and aquagenic urticaria provocative test (AUPT).Statistical analysis was carried out by chi-square test for comparison of positive rates between male and female patients.Results Among the 127 patients with suspected inducible urticaria,106(83.46％) showed one or more positive provocative tests.The positive rate of SDPT was the highest (79.53％,101/127),followed by HUPT (22.05％,28/127) and CUPT (9.45％,12/127).The positive rate of HUPT was significantly higher in female patients (30.14％,22/73) than in male patients (11.11％,6/54;X2 =4.301,P ＜ 0.05).The patients with positive DPUPT,VAEPT and AUPT all showed positive SDPT responses.Among the 12 patients with positive CUPT reactions,11 showed positive SDPT responses.Among the 28 patients with positive HUPT reactions,26 showed positive SDPT responses.Of the 48 patients with one or more positive non-SDPT provocative tests,the patients with 2 positive non-SDPT provocative tests accounted for 18.75％ (9/48).Conclusion Provocation tests for inducible urticaria are of great clinical significance for the etiological diagnosis of chronic urticaria.
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Objective To evaluate the efficacy and safety of omalizumab on the treatment of chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU) by systemic review and meta-analysis.Methods Electronic databases,such as PubMed,Clinicaltrials.gov,the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews,and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials,were searched to collect randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about the efficacy and safety of omalizumab in the treatment of CSU.Two reviewers independently screened RCTs according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria,extracted data,and assessed the quality of the included RCTs.And then,a meta-analysis was carried out by using RevMan 5.3 software for comparisons of the efficacy and safety of the 75-,150-,300-,600-mg omalizumab groups versus the placebo group after 1-month treatment,as well as the total omalizumab group versus the placebo group.Results A total of 7 RCTs involving 1 365 patients were included in this meta-analysis.The results showed that the total omalizumab group and different omalizumab subgroups were superior in improving the urticaria activity score of 7 days (UAS7) and wheal number score of 7 days to the placebo group (all P ＜ 0.05).For the improvement in the itch severity score (ISS) of 7 days and complete response rate for main symptoms (UAS7 =0),the total omalizumab group,75-,150-and 300-mg omalizumab groups were superior to the placebo group (all P ＜ 0.05),but there were no significant differences between the 600-mg omalizumab group and the placebo group (P =0.07).The dermatology life quality index (DLQI) was better in the total omalizumab group,150-and 300-mg omalizumab groups than in the placebo group (all P ＜ 0.05),but no significant difference was observed between the 75-mg omalizumab group and the placebo group (P =0.50).There were no significant differences in the incidence of common adverse events or serious adverse events between the total omalizumab group as well as the 75-,150-and 300-mg omalizumab subgroups and the placebo subgroup (all P ＞ 0.05).Conclusions Omalizumab can improve clinical symptoms and life quality of patients with CSU,and is effective in improving the UAS,ISS,wheal number score,DLQI and complete response rate for main symptoms (UAS =0) with high safety.Subcutaneous injection of omalizumab at a dose of 150 or 300 mg/month shows the best efficacy in improving the clinical symptoms and life quality of patients with CSU.
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A 38-year-old woman presented with a 20-year history of yellow papules and band-like atrophy on the right neck. The lesions developed slowly and were asymptomatic. There was no history of long-term sun exposure or family history of similar diseases. Skin examination revealed multiple irregularly sized yellow papules and plaques on the right anterior neck following cleavage lines, multiple pin cap-sized perifollicular papules on the posterior right neck. Well-defined band-like atrophic patches with fine wrinkling were observed in the whole right neck, giving an aged appearance. The skin of the left neck was nearly normal. Pathological examination of biopsy specimens from the yellow papules showed a normal epidermis, scant lymphohistiocytic and melanophage infiltrates around the vessels in the superficial dermis without solar degradation. The collagen bundles in the mid dermis were slightly thickened and arranged tightly in parallel to the skin surface with the absence of inflammatory infiltrate. Verhoeff-van Giesen's staining confirmed a nearly complete absence of elastic fibers in the mid dermis as well as obvious swelling and breakage of resident scant elastic fibers. Von Kossa's staining was negative. Based on the above findings, the diagnosis was made as unilateral mid-dermal elastolysis.
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A 48-year-old man presented with a 4-day history of fever and 10-year history of papulovesicles on the face, neck, trunk and limbs which had been aggravated 10 days prior to the presentation.Skin biopsy showed a dermal infiltration of numerous small- to medium-sized atypical lymphocytes, which was mainly located around blood vessels or appendages, with the involvement of subcutaneous fat tissue and destruction of blood vessels. The infiltrating atypical cells stained positive for CD45RO, CD8, CD56, T-cell intracellular antigen-1, granzyme B, Epstein-Barr virus-encoded small nuclear RNAs (EBER), but negative for CD20, CD79a, CD3, CD4 or CD30. Cytoplasmic CD3ε was also observed in these cells. Laboratory examinations on admission revealed a progressive decrease in peripheral erythrocytes, white cells and platelets, persistent increase in serum aminotransferase and bilirubin, and decline in serum fibrinogen and hypertriglyceridemia. The B-mode ultrasound of the abdomen showed hepatosplenomegaly. Based on the above findings,the diagnosis was made as extranodal nasal type NK/T-cell lymphoma of skin complicated by hemophagocytic syndrome.
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Objective To investigate the expression of cathepsin B in photoaging skin and its signifi-cance.Methods Skin specimens were obtained from the right forearm(sun-exposed sites)and buttock (unexposed sites)of 6 healthy volunteers with informed consent and subjected to immunohistochemistry for the detection of cathepsin B expression.Primary human fibroblasts derived from the prepuce of children aged 3 to 6 years were cultured in vitro;after 10 to 15 passages,cells were divided into four groups to be treated with methoxsalen of 50 mg/L for 24 hours followed by ultraviolet A(UVA)exposure(premature senescence group),phosphate buffered saline(PBS)only(control group),UVA exposure only(UVA group),methoxsalen only(methoxsalen group).Then,the protein and mRNA expressions of cathepsin B were detected by Western blot and RT-PCR,respectively,in these fibroblasts 1,2,3 weeks after the treatment.Results Cathepsin B was observed in both exposed and unexposed sites of all volunteers,and the average absorbence of cathepsin B was significantly lower in exposed sites than in unexposed sites(0.2130±0.7997 vs 0.4520±0.5921,t=5.37,P<0.05).Decreased protein expression of cathepsin B was also noted in the premature senescence group compared with the other three groups.Moreover,the gray ratio between cathepsin B protein and glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase(GAPDH)in premature senescence group reduced from 28.099±O.054 before treatment to 25.1 03±0.102 in week 1 and 17.693±0.099 in week 3 after UVA exposure.RT-PCR revealed that the mRNA expression level of cathepsin B in fibroblasts of premature senescence group decreased by 36 percent compared with that in the control group.Conclusions The expression of cathepsin B decreases in photoaged skin as well as in UVA-exposed fibroblasts in a time-dependent manner,which may be associated with the self-repair of photoaged skin.
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Objective To investigate the therapeutic effect of oral viaminate(a vitamine A acid derivative)on acne and its effect on the expression of androgen receptor.Methods Two hundred and eigh-teen patients with acne were allocated to treatment group and control group at random:treatment group was treated by oral viaminate;control group was treated by oral minocycline.The treatment lasted for four weeks.The effect of viaminate on the expression of androgen receptor was studied in COLO-16cells in vitro by using Northern blot or Western blot.Results The therapeutic effect of oral viaminate in treatment group was higher than that in control group(P