Epidemiology of Psoriasis and Comorbid Diseases: A Narrative Review.

Psoriasis is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disease that remains active for a long period, even for life in most patients. The impact of psoriasis on health is not only limited to the skin, but also influences multiple systems of the body, even mental health. With the increasing of literature on the association between psoriasis and extracutaneous systems, a better understanding of psoriasis as an autoimmune disease with systemic inflammation is created. Except for cardiometabolic diseases, gastrointestinal diseases, chronic kidney diseases, malignancy, and infections that have received much attention, the association between psoriasis and more systemic diseases, including the skin system, reproductive system, and oral and ocular systems has also been revealed, and mental health diseases draw more attention not just because of the negative mental and mood influence caused by skin lesions, but a common immune-inflammatory mechanism identified of the two systemic diseases. This review summarizes the epidemiological evidence supporting the association between psoriasis and important and/or newly reported systemic diseases in the past 5 years, and may help to comprehensively recognize the comorbidity burden related to psoriasis, further to improve the management of people with psoriasis.

Epidemiological characteristics of gonorrhea and its influential meteorological factors: a 14-year retrospective assessment in China.

This study aimed to investigate the seasonal variation of gonorrhea in China, and to analyze the relationship between the incidence of gonorrhea and meteorological factors. Data from gonorrhea cases were obtained from the Disease Prevention and Control Bureau and the Data-Center for China Public Health Science, Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and the incidence of gonorrhea in China from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2019 was analyzed. Meteorological data from the same period were obtained from the South China Meteorological Data Sharing Center, including the average monthly temperature, relative humidity, atmospheric pressure, sunshine hours, number of rainy days, and precipitation. The ratio-to-moving average method and seasonal subseries plots were used to analyze the seasonality of gonorrhea cases. The distributed lag non-linear model and attribution risks were used to investigate the effects of meteorological indexes on gonorrhea cases. The number of gonorrhea cases showed seasonal variation, with a peak in the third quarter and a decline in the first quarter. The Spearman assay showed that the reported number of patients with gonorrhea was positively correlated with the monthly temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, and number of rainy days. The risk of gonorrhea onset was highest at 6-11 °C, and the highest risk occurred when the average monthly temperature was 7 °C (resulting in an increase of 14.5% compared with 13 °C); a similar result was found regarding the cumulative risk of gonorrhea onset in relation to temperature. The attribution score of temperature to the onset of gonorrhea was 5.02% (95% confidence interval: - 3.84%, 13.88%). The study findings suggest that increased emphasis should be placed on screening for gonorrhea during summer and autumn, and that education on safe sexual behavior should be promoted during these times.

Association of fine particles with respiratory disease mortality: a meta-analysis.

Short-time exposure to high levels of fine particles (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter≤2.5 µm; PM2.5) may trigger respiratory disease, but this association has not been determined. The objective of this study was to evaluate and quantify the short-time exposure to fine particles on respiratory disease mortality. Published articles were obtained from electronic databases and a validity assessment was used. The meta-analysis was conducted with the incorporation of good-quality studies. After applying the inclusion criteria, 9 articles were included in the study. The methodological qualities of the published studies were good, and every study achieved a score of 3. Fine particles were significantly associated with an increase in respiratory mortality risk (for every 10 µg/m3 increment, rate difference [RD]=1.32%, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.95%-1.68%; p=.000). These findings indicate that short-time exposure to fine particles could increase the risk of respiratory disease mortality.

Mycoplasmas infection in male HIV/AIDS patients in Jiangsu, China.

Mycoplasmas are widely distributed among animals, plants, and human. The four species namely, Mycoplasmas genitalium(Mg), Mycoplasmas fermentans(Mf), Mycoplasmas pentrans(Mpe), Mycoplasmas pirum(Mpi) are also called AIDS-associated mycoplasmas due to their involvement in the development and outcome of AIDS. To investigate the infection prevalence of Mg, Mf, Mpe and Mpi among male HIV/AIDS patients in Jiangsu Province and to analyze the relationship between pathogenic mycoplasmas and cellular immune function of them. First void urine and venous blood samples were collected and epidemiology questionnaires were administered after informed consent. Nested PCR was performed to determine the infection of Mg, Mf, Mpe and Mpi while ELISA assay was applied to detect interleukin-2(IL-2), interferon-γ(IFN-γ) and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α). SAS 9.0 software was applied to analyze the data. A total of 713 HIV/AIDS patients were recruited in this study. The overall infection rates of Mg, Mf, Mpe and Mpi are 27.9%, 9.7%, 1.0% and 18.4% respectively. Generally, the infection rates of Mg(χ(2) = 10.311, P = 0.006) and Mpi were declined as the CD4+ cell counts increased, while Mf infection was higher in CD4+ T cell>350/µl group. The levels of cytokines are different with the variance of mycoplasmas infection. Mycoplasma infection among male HIV/AIDS patients is associated with changes in cellular immune response (cytokines). However, the affect of mycoplasmas on the immune function is complex, further studies are still required to elucidate whether mycoplasmas interact with HIV by interfering host immune system.

[Analysis on Mycoplasma pirum infection in male HIV/AIDS patients and related 16S rRNA genes in Jiangsu province].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prevalence of Mycoplasma pirum (Mpi) in male HIV infected patients, and to identify the 16S rRNA gene of Mpi. METHODS: The first void urine of male HIV/AIDS patients in Jiangsu province was collected for Mpi detection. Purified 16S rRNA gene PCR production was sequenced for analysis on its identification, homogeneity and phylogenetic tree. P1 protein sequence of Mpi was analyzed by Vector NTI Advance 11.0 to calculate the coded amino acid sequence. Homogeneity analysis was conducted between the theoretical amino acid sequence of Mpi and other Mycoplasmas. RESULTS: The prevalence of Mpi in male HIV/AIDS patients was 21.5% while the Mpi prevalence rates in different age groups were significantly different (χ² Mpi = 124.63, P < 0.01). The homogeneity of 18 strains of Mpi was higher than 90%. CONCLUSION: The Mpi prevalence seemed much higher than the results from previous detection on HIV/AIDS patients, suggesting that more attention should be paid on AIDS treatment. More bioinformatic research on gene/nucleotide sequence analysis and forecast should be carried out to identify the molecular characteristics of Mpi.