A Surgical Management for Severe Rhinophyma With Five-Blade Scratcher.

ABSTRACT: Rhinophyma, the final stage of acne rosacea, severely influences the patient's appearance and can only be treated by surgical methods. This case reports a simple, safe, effective, and economical surgical method-five-blade scratcher. After the surgical treatment, the overall nasal contour of the patient, a male with severe rosacea, was restored without scar formation. Thus, this surgical method reported in this case is feasible and easy to operate, and worthy of clinical promotion.

Oxymatrine Sensitizes the HaCaT Cells to the IFN-γ Pathway and Downregulates MDC, ICAM-1, and SOCS1 by Activating p38, JNK, and Akt.

Decreased interferon (IFN)-γ levels and increased levels of macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC) and intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM)-1 are known to be involved in allergic skin diseases, such as eczema and atopic dermatitis. Activation of the IFN-γ and its downstream interleukin-12 (IL-12) pathway can correct these diseases. Suppressor of cytokine signaling 1 (SOCS1) is a cytokine signaling inhibitor that blocks downstream pathways of IFN-γ by blocking the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and protein kinase B (Akt) signaling pathways. Oxymatrine (OMT), a quinolizidine alkaloid extracted from the herbal medicine Radix Sophorae flavescentis, is used to treat allergic skin diseases in China. The non-cytotoxic concentrations of OMT in HaCaT cells were determined through 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays. Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and IFN-γ were used to stimulate HaCaT cells, and OMT was added to this system with tacrolimus (FK506) as a positive control. The mRNAs of cytokines, MDC, ICAM-1, IL-12p35, IL-12p40, and IFN-γ receptor (IFN-γR)α were detected by RT-PCR. Western blot analyses were performed to assess activation of the MAPK (p38, Jun N-terminal kinase, and extracellular signal-regulated kinase) and Akt signaling pathways. OMT increased the mRNA levels of the IL-12 and IFN-γRα, reduced the mRNA levels of ICAM-1, MDC, and SOCS1. But FK506 increased the mRNA levels of IL12 and inhibited the expression of ICAM-1 mRNAs and had no effects on the IFN-γRα, MDC, and SOCS1 mRNA in HaCaT cells stimulated with TNF-α and IFN-γ. Thus, the mechanisms through which OMT and FK506 ameliorate allergic skin diseases differ.

Efficacy of topical administration of Radix Euphorbiae Ebracteolatae on multiple plantar warts: A parallel randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical efficacy of Radix Euphorbiae Ebracteolatae in treating multiple plantar warts. METHODS: Twenty-eight patients with multiple plantar warts on both left and right feet were recruited. Warts on the left feet (treatment group) of all patients were externally treated with moderate ethanol extract of Radix Euphorbiae Ebracteolatae which was made of 30 g Radix Euphorbiae Ebracteolatae putting into 100 mL of medical ethanol (75%). For the control group, moderate dose of 0.1% vitamin A acid ointment was externally applied onto the right-foot warts. The topical application of each treatment was conducted 3 times a day for both groups. After 4 and 8 weeks, the efficacy and side effects including skin erythema and blister were evaluated and observed. RESULTS: Compared with the pre-treatment, warts size of the control group was reduced after 8-week treatment (P<0.05). After 4 and 8 weeks, the average wart size in the treatment group was both significantly reduced respectively (P<0.01). There were significant differences in warts size and total effective rate between the two groups after 4-week treatment respectively (P<0.05 or P<0.01). More significant differences in wart size and total effective rate were observed after 8-week treatment (P<0.05 or P<0.01). The percentage reduction in wart size was significantly different between the two groups after 4 and 8-week treatment (P<0.01). CONCLUSION: Radix Euphorbiae Ebracteolatae was significantly superior to vitamin A acid ointment in treating multiple plantar warts.

Recent highlights of Chinese herbs in treatment of allergic disease: Acting via mitogen-activated protein kinase signal pathway.

The histamine receptor antagonists in the treatment of allergic disease have limitations. The treatments of Chinese herbs have some curative effects on allergic skin lesions. Present research indicates that the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway might be equally important in allergic reactions. It was found that the inhibition of MAPK signaling pathways might relieve allergy symptoms, and some herbs can inhibit the MAPK pathway, which yields anti-allergy effects. Chinese medicines (CMs) have immense potential in the development of treatments for allergic disease.

Exploring the host parasitism of the migratory plant-parasitic nematode Ditylenchus destuctor by expressed sequence tags analysis.

The potato rot nematode, Ditylenchus destructor, is a very destructive nematode pest on many agriculturally important crops worldwide, but the molecular characterization of its parasitism of plant has been limited. The effectors involved in nematode parasitism of plant for several sedentary endo-parasitic nematodes such as Heterodera glycines, Globodera rostochiensis and Meloidogyne incognita have been identified and extensively studied over the past two decades. Ditylenchus destructor, as a migratory plant parasitic nematode, has different feeding behavior, life cycle and host response. Comparing the transcriptome and parasitome among different types of plant-parasitic nematodes is the way to understand more fully the parasitic mechanism of plant nematodes. We undertook the approach of sequencing expressed sequence tags (ESTs) derived from a mixed stage cDNA library of D. destructor. This is the first study of D. destructor ESTs. A total of 9800 ESTs were grouped into 5008 clusters including 3606 singletons and 1402 multi-member contigs, representing a catalog of D. destructor genes. Implementing a bioinformatics' workflow, we found 1391 clusters have no match in the available gene database; 31 clusters only have similarities to genes identified from D. africanus, the most closely related species to D. destructor; 1991 clusters were annotated using Gene Ontology (GO); 1550 clusters were assigned enzyme commission (EC) numbers; and 1211 clusters were mapped to 181 KEGG biochemical pathways. 22 ESTs had similarities to reported nematode effectors. Interestedly, most of the effectors identified in this study are involved in host cell wall degradation or modification, such as 1,4-beta-glucanse, 1,3-beta-glucanse, pectate lyase, chitinases and expansin, or host defense suppression such as calreticulin, annexin and venom allergen-like protein. This result implies that the migratory plant-parasitic nematode D. destructor secrets similar effectors to those of sedentary plant nematodes. Finally we further characterized the two D. destructor expansin proteins.