A retrospective analysis for facial telangiectasia treatment using pulsed dye laser and intense pulsed light configured with different wavelength bands.

BACKGROUND: Facial telangiectasia is one of the common skin vascular lesions characterized by dilated cutaneous vasculatures. The variety of diameters and difference in depths of lesional blood vessels are the major challenges for effective treatments for Facial telangiectasia. AIMS: To compare the efficacy and safety profiles of pulsed dye laser (PDL, 595 nm) with intense pulsed light (IPL) configured by three different wavelength bands in the treatment for facial telangiectasia in Asian populations. PATIENTS/METHODS: A retrospective analysis of hospital records and review on photographs were performed for those subjects with facial telangiectasia (n = 160) who were treated in our department from January 2017 to January 2019. Patients were received two sessions of one of the four following laser treatments: PDL (595 nm, n = 38), IPL with M22 vascular filter (530-650 nm and 900-1200 nm, n = 39), M22 560 (560-1200 nm, n = 42), and M22 590 (590-1200 nm, n = 41). RESULTS: The patients in all the four groups showed an overall and significant improvement of indexes of lesional severity and subjective discomfort as well as improvement score of facial telangiectasia after treatment as compared to baseline. In addition, PDL (595 nm) and IPL with vascular filter (530-650 nm and 900-1200 nm) treatments showed significantly better indexes of lesional severity, subjective discomfort, and improvement score of facial telangiectasia as compared with other two treatments. CONCLUSION: Light devices with various wavelength ranges showed different efficacies of treatment for facial telangiectasia, among which PDL (595 nm) and IPL with M22 vascular filter (530-650 nm and 900-1200 nm) had similar and the best clinical efficacy as compared to IPL with other wavelength bands.

Inorganic arsenic induces pyroptosis and pancreatic ß cells dysfunction through stimulating the IRE1α/TNF-α pathway and protective effect of taurine.

Low-level inorganic arsenic (iAs) in drinking water is a risk factor for ß cells dysfunction. Taurine (Tau) is a kind of semi-essential ß amino acid, and beneficial for ß cell function. However, the effects of Tau on arsenic trioxide (As2O3) induced ß cells dysfunction and related mechanisms are still uncertain. Here, we found that Tau relieved As2O3-induced endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress, inflammation and pyroptosis in rat pancreas. In INS-1 cells, with NOD-like receptor family pyrin domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inhibitor pretreatment, As2O3-induced activation of pyroptosis was decreased; with tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) inhibitor pretreatment, As2O3-induced activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis were decreased; further, with the inositol-requiring enzyme 1 alpha (IRE1α) inhibitor, As2O3-induced induction of TNF-α was decreased. Tau markedly protected As2O3-induced ß cells dysfunction by reducing the phosphorylation of IRE1α, production of TNF-α, activation of NLRP3 inflammasome and pyroptosis. Our results revealed that ER stress dependent inflammation and pyroptosis are critical pathogenic components of As2O3-induced ß cell dysfunction. Moreover, TNF-α was a critical signaling node that linked As2O3-induced ER stress and pyroptosis. Tau was an effective supplement against As2O3-induced ß cells dysfunction through the pathway as mentioned above.

Taurine attenuates arsenic-induced pyroptosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis by inhibiting the autophagic-inflammasomal pathway.

Arsenic exposure causes nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Inflammation is a key contributor to the pathology of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), including NASH. However, it is unclear how arsenic induces inflammation. In mouse livers, we show that arsenic trioxide (As2O3) induced NASH, increased autophagy and NLRP3 inflammasome activation, increased lipid accumulation, and resulted in dysregulation of lipid-related genes. Supplemented with taurine (Tau) attenuated the inflammation and autophagy caused by As2O3. In HepG2 cells, we found that As2O3-induced pyroptotic cell death was dependent upon the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome, which was CTSB-dependent. In addition, inhibiting autophagy alleviated the As2O3-induced increase of cytosolic CTSB expression and subsequent release of LDH, activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, and pyroptosis. Moreover, we found that Tau alleviated As2O3-induced elevation of autophagy, CTSB expression, and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, and reduced the release of LDH, pyroptotic cell death, and inflammation. Interestingly, As2O3-induced lipid accumulation could not be alleviated by either inhibition of autophagy nor by inhibition of CTSB. Additionally, neither inhibition of the NLRP3 inflammasome or Tau treatment could alleviate lipid accumulation. These results demonstrated that As2O3-induced pyroptosis involves autophagy, CTSB, and the NLRP3 inflammasome cascade, and that Tau alleviates As2O3-induced liver inflammation by inhibiting the autophagic-CTSB-NLRP3 inflammasomal pathway rather than decreasing lipid accumulation. These findings give insight into the association of autophagy, inflammation, pyroptosis, and NASH induced by As2O3.

A Retrospective Study on Efficacy of Pulsed Dye Laser and Intense Pulsed Light for the Treatment of Facial Telangiectasia.

Both pulsed dye laser (PDL) and intense pulsed light (IPL) systems have been demonstrated to be effective for treatment of facial telangiectasia, however there have been very few comparative studies between both treatments involving purely Asian patient populations. In this study, we performed a retrospective analysis to compare the efficacy of PDL and IPL systems for the treatment of facial telangiectasia. A total of 416 patients with facial telangiectasia who were treated by PDL or IPLs in our department from August 2012 to March 2015 were included in this study. The subjects received one of the following five treatments: PDL 595 nm (9-12 J/cm2), MaxG (500-670 nm & 870-1200 nm, 30-46 J/cm2), IPL (560-1200 nm, 18-24 J/cm2), M22 560 (560-1200 nm, 15-18 J/cm2), and M22 590 (590-1200 nm, 15-20 J/cm2). Each treatment had two sessions with 6-week intervals. The improvement percentage score in facial telangiectasia after the final treatment was evaluated by two non-treating physicians. We found almost all patients (less than 95.00%) had marked improvements or nearly complete clearance of the lesions after PDL 595 nm or MaxG treatment, as compared to 41.38%-56.58% patients in the other three groups that showed similar degrees of improvements. Both PDL 595 nm (9-12 J/cm2) and MaxG (500-670 nm & 870-1200 nm, 30-46 J/cm2) treatments resulted in significantly superior vessel clearance than the IPL systems with other wavelength bands (560-1200 nm or 590-1200 nm) and relatively lower fluence (15-24 J/cm2). Our results also suggested fluence levels account for the significant differences in the effectiveness delivered by different IPL systems. We concluded that PDL 595 nm and MaxG showed comparable clinical efficacy and both treatments resulted in most beneficial outcomes.

J Drugs Dermatol. 2017;16(11):1112-1116.

[Study on processing technology and processing principles of atractrylodis macrocephalae rhizoma].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the rule about changes on main active compositions of Atractrylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma before and after being processed, and to explore its processing principle. METHOD: The HPLC method was employed to determine the content of atractrylone, atractrylode I, II, III and total volatile oil of Atractrylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma with different processes. The processing principle before and after processing of Atractrylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma was investigated. RESULT: Compared with Atractrylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma, the contents of atractrylone in different processed products of Atractrylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma were decreased by some extent. The lowest content was 0.33% in Atractrylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma of stir-fried with dirt, reduced by 25.4%; the content of atractylenolide I, III were significantly increased, the highest content were 0.069% and 0.078% in Atractrylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma of stir-fried with bran, respectively; the content of atractylenolide II was increased slightly, the highest content was 0.066% in Atractrylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma of stir-fried with dirt; the content of total volatile oil was significantly reduced, the lowest content was 0.64% in Atractrylodis Macrocephalae Rhizoma of stir-fried with dirt. CONCLUSION: The content of atractylon is significantly reduced after processing, which changed into atractrylode I, II, III by some extent, and improve the effective cure of Atractrylodis Macrocephala Rhizoma.