Prevalence and risk factors of atopic dermatitis in Chinese children aged 1-7 years: a systematic review and meta analysis.

Introduction: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common, chronic, recurrent inflammatory skin disease. To date, no meta-analysis have been conducted on the prevalence and risk factors of AD in children aged 1-7 years in Mainland China. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis of the prevalence and risk factors of AD among children aged 1-7 years in China. Chinese and English publications were searched in Chinese and English databases on AD epidemiology published between 1999 and 2023. Two researchers independently screened the literature, extracted the data, and evaluated their quality. A meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model (I2 > 50%) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the forest plots. Data were processed using the RevMan 5.3. Results: Nineteen studies (data from 127,660 samples) met the inclusion criteria. The pooled prevalence of AD in Chinese children aged 1-7 years was 8%. Over the last decade, the prevalence of AD has increased. The prevalence of AD among children in southern China was higher than that in northern China and was the highest at the provincial level in Zhejiang, Shanxi, and Anhui. The prevalence of AD was dependent on the family history of allergy, passive smoking, households with pets, plush toys, and residential area. Discussion: The prevalence of AD in children (age 1-7 years) in China has increased. Further studies are needed to monitor the prevalence of AD in Chinese children. Therefore, early prevention and screening should be performed for children with a family history of AD, and their living environment should be improved to reduce allergen stimulation, thus reducing the development of AD.

Efficacy and Safety of Secukinumab for the Treatment of Psoriasis: A Meta-Analysis of Pivotal Phase III Trials.

BACKGROUND: Secukinumab, a fully humanized monoclonal antibody against IL-17A, was approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in the USA and European Union in 2015. OBJECTIVES: Secukinumab, a fully humanized monoclonal antibody against IL-17A, was approved for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in the USA and European Union in 2015. The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the efficacy and safety of secukinumab for the treatment of moderate and severe plaque psoriasis and provide an evidence-based reference for clinical practice. METHODS: PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane Library, and Clinical Trials databases were searched. Pivotal phase III clinical trials were analysed. RevMan was used for the statistical analysis of the data. RESULTS: Seven pivotal phase III clinical trials were analysed. All trials evaluated secukinumab in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis and had two common primary end points: the proportion of respondents to the Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and the proportion of respondents to the Investigator's Global Assessment (IGA). The total response ratios of PASI and IGA respondents in the secukinumab group were 82.8 and 71.3%, respectively, compared to placebo. Secukinumab was superior to etanercept, with risk ratios of 1.7 and 2.1, respectively. Secukinumab was generally well tolerated during the 1-year trial period. However, adverse events also occurred. CONCLUSION: Secukinumab was found to be more effective than etanercept and had an acceptable safety profile. Since psoriasis is an autoimmune disease that requires lifelong treatment, attention should be paid to its adverse effects.

Calcium hydroxide recycled from waste eggshell resources for the effective recovery of fluoride from wastewater.

In the hunt of waste recovery pathways, eggshells emerged as a potential adsorbent for fluoride because they contain plenty of calcium. However, as the main component, calcite has weak interaction with fluoride. In this study, calcium hydroxide was derived from waste eggshells successfully by an aging treatment with moisture for fluoride recovery from water. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) and infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analyses indicate that CaO in calcined egg shells (AEG900) is completely converted to calcium hydroxide. The adsorption experiments showed that the adsorption capacity of AEG900 for fluoride was improved by nearly 29.21% compared with the calcined eggshells without the aging treatment. In the batch experiment, the temperature effect is the most significant for the adsorption process, and nearly a half increment of removal rate is achieved by increasing the temperature by 30 °C. Further research revealed that the adsorption process fitted well with the pseudo-second order model and the Langmuir-Freundlich isotherm model, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 370.15 mg g-1. Moreover, precipitation was regarded as the main step for fluoride removal mechanism based on the calculated results of the surface complexation model. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results showed that the stable fluorite formed in situ of AEG900 avoids calcium loss in water. Finally, AEG900 was applied in fluoride removal with real-life groundwater and industrial wastewater, and the results showed that the final fluoride concentration could meet the WHO requirement and industrial wastewater discharge standard.

Claudin 19 inhibits the malignant potential of breast cancer cells by modulating extracellular matrix-associated UBE2C/Wnt signaling.

Claudin proteins are a major component of the tight junctions between cells, which are involved in a variety of human diseases, including cancer. This study aimed to investigate the functional role of claudin 19 (CLDN19) in human breast cancer progression. Here, we firstly found that CLDN19 was downregulated in breast tumor tissues than normal control, and loss of CLDN19 predicted poor patient survival in patients with breast cancer, by utilizing the Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) dataset analysis. To further validate the tumor suppressive effects of CLDN19, we established CLDN19 overexpressed MDA-MB-231 and T47D cells. And overexpression of CLDN19 resulted in suppression of cell growth/migration in breast cancer cells cultured in 3D environment or in vivo. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that CLDN19 downregulated ubiquitin conjugating enzyme E2 C (UBE2C) expression, which further suppressed Wnt/ß-catenin pro-survival signaling pathway activation induced by extracellular matrix (ECM), in 3D environment or in vivo. Altogether, our study revealed a tumor suppressive role of CLDN19, which hindered ECM/UBE2C/Wnt signaling activation in breast cancer, and offered novel insight for tumor diagnosis and targeted therapy.

Inhibitory effect of Tanshinone IIA on inverted formin-2 protects HaCaT cells against oxidative injury via regulating mitochondrial stress.

Context: Epidermal cells play an important role in regulating the regeneration of skin after burns and wounds. Objective: The aim of our study is to explore the role of Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) in the apoptosis of epidermal HaCaT cells induced by H2O2, with a focus on mitochondrial homeostasis and inverted formin-2 (INF2). Materials and methods: Cellular viability was determined using the MTT assay, TUNEL staining, western blot analysis and LDH release assay. Adenovirus-loaded INF2 was transfected into HaCaT cells to overexpress INF2 in the presence of Tan IIA treatment. Mitochondrial function was determined using JC-1 staining, mitochondrial ROS staining, immunofluorescence and western blotting. Results: Oxidative stress promoted the death of HaCaT cells and this effect could be reversed by Tan IIA. At the molecular levels, Tan IIA treatment sustained mitochondrial energy metabolism, repressed mitochondrial ROS generation, stabilized mitochondrial potential, and blocked the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway. Furthermore, we demonstrated that Tan IIA modulated mitochondrial homeostasis via affecting INF2-related mitochondrial stress. Overexpression of INF2 could abolish the protective effects of Tan IIA on HaCaT cells viability and mitochondrial function. Besides, we also reported that Tan IIA regulated INF2 expression via the ERK pathway; inhibition of this pathway abrogated the beneficial effects of Tan IIA on HaCaT cells survival and mitochondrial homeostasis. Conclusions: Overall, our results indicated that oxidative stress-mediated HaCaT cells apoptosis could be reversed by Tan IIA treatment via reducing INF2-related mitochondrial stress in a manner dependent on the ERK signaling pathway.

Effectiveness comparisons of acupuncture for psoriasis: A Bayesian network meta-analysis protocol.

BACKGROUND: Psoriasis is an immune-mediated polygenic hereditary skin disease quality of the patients' life because of the great trouble it causes to patients. Whereas there is variability when we regard the selection of acupuncture treatments in practice and most choices are made based on personal experience or preference of clinician. This study uses network meta-analysis to compare the effectiveness of different forms of acupuncture for psoriasis and assesses the evidence with the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) approach. METHODS: We will search for PubMed, Cochrane Library, AMED, EMbase, WorldSciNet; Nature, Science online and China Journal Full-text Database (CNKI), China Biomedical Literature CD-ROM Database (CBM), and related randomized controlled trials included in the China Resources Database. The time is limited from the construction of the library to April 2019. The quality of the included RCTs will be evaluated by the risk of bias (ROB) tool and the evidence will be evaluated by GRADE. STATA 13.0 and WinBUGS 1.4.3 through the GeMTC package will be used to perform a network meta-analysis to synthesize direct and indirect evidence. RESULTS: The results of this network meta-analysis (NMA) will be submitted to a peer-reviewed journal for publication. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: PROSPERO CRD42019123437.