Factors aggravating acne vulgaris during the COVID-19 pandemic in China: a web-based cross-sectional survey.

OBJECTIVE: Acne vulgaris is a common skin disease worldwide. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many patients with acne complained of worsening symptoms. This investigation was designed to survey the impact of COVID-19 regulations on acne and guide patients with acne on symptom management during the pandemic. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From April 7th to April 21st, 2020, an anonymous, self-completed, web-based questionnaire was distributed to patients previously diagnosed with acne (via the Chinese internet medical software). Information collected included patients' mask-wearing routines and behavioral factors including dietary habits, sleep habits, facial hygiene, and make-up use habits. RESULTS: 508 qualified questionnaire responses were collected. During the COVID-19 outbreak in China, there was an overall worsening of patients' acne symptoms (152, 29.9%). Behaviors including intake of sweets (34.9% vs. 16.0%, p<0.01), dairy consumption (32.9% vs. 23.3%, p<0.05), greasy (19.1% vs. 11.2%, p<0.05) and spicy food intake (30.3% vs. 14.3%, p<0.01) and mask-wearing frequency (>28 hours per week) (25.0% vs. 15.3%, p<0.05) presented a statistically significant difference between the acne aggravated and non-aggravated groups. Longtime mask-wearing (>28 hours per week), rather than the mask type, was significantly associated with acne symptom deterioration during the COVID-19 outbreak (odds ratio [OR]: 2.164; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.232-3.801). CONCLUSIONS: Besides the well-known risk factors, such as sweets intake, dairy consumption, and greasy and spicy food intake, wearing masks appears to trigger or aggravate acne during the COVID-19 pandemic. Limiting overall mask-wearing time may help to manage acne.

Clinical characteristics of 161 cases of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Changsha.

OBJECTIVE: In December 2019, a new type of coronavirus-infected pneumonia broke out in Wuhan and spread rapidly to other parts of the country. The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical features of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the confirmed cases of COVID-19, who were admitted to the North Hospital of Changsha first Hospital (Changsha Public Health treatment Center) from January 17 to February 7, 2020. RESULTS: The median age of COVID-19 patients was 45 years (range 33.5-57). The male patients accounted for 49.7%, 64.6% of the patients had a history of exposure in Wuhan, and 31.7% had family aggregation. The median days of onset were six, and the incidence of severe illness was 18.6%. Compared with the non-severe group, the severe group showed statistical significance in older age, hypertension, bilateral lung plaque shadow, decrease in lymphocyte count, increase in C-reactive protein (CRP), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase. CONCLUSIONS: Age, combined hypertension, oxygenation index, double lung patch, decreased lymphocyte count, and elevated levels of C-reactive protein, aspartate aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and creatine kinase can be used as predictors of the disease severity.

Testes-specific protease 50 promotes cell proliferation via inhibiting activin signaling.

Testes-specific protease 50 (TSP50), a novelly identified oncogene, has the capacity to induce cell proliferation, cell invasion and tumor growth. Further studies indicated that CAGA-luc (an activin-responsive reporter construct) reporter activity could be significantly suppressed by TSP50 overexpression, implying that the activin signaling may participate in TSP50-mediated cell proliferation. Here, we reported that TSP50 had an inhibitory effect on activin signaling. Mechanistic studies revealed that TSP50 could interact with ActRIIA, inhibit activin typeIreceptor (ActRIB) phosphorylation, repress Smad2/3 nuclear accumulation and finally promote cell proliferation by reducing the expression of activin signal target gene p27. Additionally, we found that ActRIB activation could reverse TSP50-mediated cell proliferation and tumor growth. Furthermore, analysis of human breast cancer specimens by immunohistochemistry indicated that TSP50 expression was negatively related to p-Smad2/3 and p27 protein levels. Most importantly, breast cancer diagnosis-related indicators such as tumor size, tumor grade, estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) levels, were correlated well with TSP50/p-Samd2/3 and TSP50/p27 expression status. Thus, our studies revealed a novel regulatory mechanism underlying TSP50-induced cell proliferation and provided a new favorable intervention target for the treatment of breast cancer.

A posteromedial approach for open reduction and internal fixation of posteromedial tibial plateau fracture.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical outcomes of patients with posteromedial tibial plateau fractures treated by open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) through a posteromedial approach. Thirty-six patients with posteromedial tibial plateau fracture underwent ORIF through a posteromedial approach and were retrospectively analyzed. Pre-operative X-ray pictures and CT images were -obtained. And there were 11 cases of posteromedial tibial plateau fracture and 25 cases of posteromedial and posterolateral tibial plateau fracture. All the -patients were treated surgically with posteromedial approach. The clinical outcomes were assessed -according to the Rasmussen knee function grading system. The patients were followed-up for an average of 17.5 months (range, 12-32 months). All the fractures attained satisfactory reduction. No major complications were observed. According to the Rasmussen knee function grading system, the results were graded as excellent in 21 cases, good in 13 cases, fair in 2 cases. The rate of excellent and good results was 94.4%. The posteromedial approach in our opinion is the best option to treat the posteromedial tibial plateau fractures because it can provide direct visualization of the fracture site and avoid dissection of neurovascular bundle in the popliteal fossa area with minimal soft tissue injury.

Altered mean platelet volume in patients with polymyositis and its association with disease severity.

Polymyositis (PM) is an autoimmune disease characterized by chronic inflammation in skeletal muscle. Mean platelet volume (MPV), a marker in the assessment of systemic inflammation, is easily measured by automatic blood count equipment. However, to our knowledge, there are no data in the literature with respect to MPV levels in PM patients. Therefore, in this study we aimed to investigate MPV levels in patients with PM. This study included 92 newly diagnosed PM patients and 100 healthy individuals. MPV levels were found to be significantly lower compared with healthy controls (10.3±1.23 vs 11.5±0.74 fL, P<0.001). Interestingly, MPV was found to be positively correlated with manual muscle test (MMT) score and negatively correlated with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) in patients with PM (r=0.239, P=0.022; r=-0.268, P=0.010, respectively). In addition, MPV was significantly lower in active PM patients compared with inactive PM patients (9.9±1.39 vs 10.6±0.92 fL, P=0.010). MPV was independently associated with PM in multivariate regression analyses, when controlling for hemoglobin and ESR (OR=0.312, P=0.031, 95%CI=0.108 to 0.899). The ROC curve analysis for MPV in estimating PM patients resulted in an area under the curve of 0.800, with sensitivity of 75.0% and specificity of 67.4%. Our results suggest that MPV is inversely correlated with disease activity in patients with PM. MPV might be a useful tool for rapid assessment of disease severity in PM patients.

Hepatitis B virus infection is associated with gastric cancer in China: an endemic area of both diseases.

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection was demonstrated to be a risk factor of several cancers of the digestive system. In addition, liver cirrhosis, which could possibly result from chronic HBV infection, was associated with a higher risk of gastric cancer. However, the association of HBV infection and gastric cancer has not been investigated. METHODS: A retrospective case-control study with 580 cases and 580 controls matched for age, sex and year of diagnosis was conducted. The associations between gastric cancer and HBV infection were explored with univariate and multivariate unconditional logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) was positively associated with gastric cancer (AOR (95% CI): 1.49 (1.06-2.10)). This association remained significant in patients without family history of gastric cancer (AOR (95% CI): (1.06-2.11)). For HBsAg-negative population, being anti-HBc positive/anti-HBs negative, which possibly indicated occult HBV infection, was also found to have some associations with gastric cancer. In addition, some synergistic effects between HBV infection and blood type A in gastric cancer were identified. CONCLUSIONS: The HBV infection was positively related with gastric cancer, especially for patients without family history of gastric cancer. Further prospective studies are warranted to confirm this relationship.

Sensitive detection of PrPSc by Western blot assay based on streptomycin sulphate precipitation.

Transmissible spongiform encephalopathies, also termed prion diseases, are fatal neurodegenerative disorders that affect both humans and animals, which are characterized by presences of protease-resistance disease-associated prion protein (PrP(Sc)) in brains. In the present study, we optimized the Western blot assay for PrP(Sc) with a precipitation procedure of streptomycin sulphate. After incubated with suitable amount of streptomycin sulphate, the detective sensitivity for PrP(Sc) was remarkably improved. The precipitation of PrP(Sc) was obviously influenced by pH value in the solution. Employs of PrP(Sc) stock sample into various mimic specimens, including normal hamster brain homogenate, human cerebrospinal fluid and urine, demonstrated that streptomycin precipitation markedly increased the detective sensitivity of PrP(Sc), regardless in low concentration or in large volume. In addition, the PrP(Sc) from a human brain tissue of familiar Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (fCJD) was efficiently precipitated with streptomycin sulphate. As a sensitive, specific, rapid and flexible protocol for PrP(Sc), the protocol in this study has the potential, alone or combined with other techniques, to detect low levels of PrP(Sc) in the specimens not only from central nerve system, but also from peripheral organs or fluids.