A retrospective evaluation of laboratory parameters and hyperuricemia in patients with acne vulgaris under systemic isotretinoin treatment.

BACKGROUND: Acne vulgaris is a chronic inflammatory disease affecting the pilosebaceous unit. Systemic isotretinoin (SI) is an effective, synthetic vitamin A derivative in the treatment of resistant acne or nodulocystic acne. This study aimed to investigate uric acid levels and laboratory parameters in patients receiving isotretinoin treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 114 patients who were under SI treatment of 0.2-0.5 mg/kg/day aged between 17 and 44 years old. We retrospectively evaluated total cholesterol, triglyceride, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea, creatinine, creatinine kinase, uric acid, thrombocyte (Plt), and leucocyte (WBC) levels prior and on the fourth month of the treatment from the patients' records and compared these data statistically. RESULTS: The AST, creatinine kinase, cholesterol, triglyceride, and thrombocyte levels were significantly different (p<.001, p<.001, p<.001, p<.001, and p=.02, respectively), and no statistically significant differences were noted among the uric acid, creatinine, ALT, and WBC levels in the comparison of the baseline values and values at the fourth month of treatment (p>.05). CONCLUSIONS: SI treatment of 0.2-0.5 mg/kg/day did not make significant alterations on serum uric acid levels. Besides, all alterations occurred within normal ranges.

New pattern hair loss in young Turkish women; What's wrong in their daily life?

BACKGROUND: The application of heat, used to straighten the typically coiled hair, has long been hypothesized to play a role in the etiologic factor for central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia (CCCA). The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of thermal hair straightening on hair loss pattern in Asian women exist. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty-five patients with hair loss who have been using hair straightening devices and 25 patients with telogen effluvium were enrolled in this prospective study. Laboratory analysis and dermatoscopic findings were used to compare these groups. RESULTS: The peripilar white halo around hairs, peripilar dark/gray halo around follicular orifices, the predominance of a single hair perifollicular unit (FU), hair diameter diversity, the thin miniaturized hair, interfollicular pinpoint white dots, and white patches were statistically higher in hair straightener group (P < 0.001). White patches of the scalp increased by the time of the application of these devices (P < 0.01). White patches of vertex region were significantly higher than the midfrontal region (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The common side effects of thermal hot comb strengtheners' were summarized as damage to the hair shaft; decreasing in the brightness of the hair, burns, and scars on the scalp; and lastly CCCA-like hair loss.

Association of paraoxonase 1 (PON1) L55M and PON1 Q192R gene polymorphisms and risk of psoriasis.

BACKGROUND: Although there have been significant advances for clarifying the pathogenesis of psoriasis, exact pathogenic mechanism of the disease is still unknown. Oxidative stress is considered to be a new etiopathogenetic key factor in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, as a result of the studies performing the association between psoriasis and paraoxonase 1 (PON1) activity. In this study, we aimed to examine the possible associations between the both PON1 L55M and PON1 Q192R polymorphisms and psoriasis susceptibility and disease progression in Turkish population. METHODS: The study group consisted of 100 unrelated patients with psoriasis and 153 unrelated healthy controls with no psoriatic lesions in their personal history or on clinical examination. Genomic DNA was extracted from peripheral leukocytes from EDTA-anticoagulated blood using the High Pure Polymerase Chain Reaction Template Preparation Kit. To identify PON1 L55M and Q192R single-nucleotide polymorphisms, genotyping was performed using commercially synthesized primers and fluorescently labeled probes and the LightCycler 480 II Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction System. The genotyping method was based on methods developed previously for genotyping both PON1 55 and 192 polymorphisms using LightCycler real-time polymerase chain reaction technology, which relies on fluorescence resonance energy transfer. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the PON1 L55M genotype distributions and allele frequencies of the psoriasis patients and the control group. There was a statistically significant difference between distributions of the genotype or allele frequencies of the PON1 Q192R of the patient groups and control subjects (P=0.0018 and P=0.0001, respectively). PON192Q/R polymorphisms have been found to be associated with susceptibility to psoriasis. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report simultaneously investigating the possible associations between the PON1 L55M and PON1 Q192R polymorphisms and psoriasis susceptibility and disease progression in Turkish population. We provide evidence that PON1 Q192R polymorphisms may have an effect on the risk of psoriasis in the Turkish population.

Association between MEFV gene mutations and recurrent aphthous stomatitis in a cohort of Turkish patients.

Recurrent aphthous stomatitis (RAS) has a multifactorial etiopathogenesis, an interaction between predisposing factors and/or systemic conditions and immunological components in genetically predisposed subjects. The Mediterranean fever (MEFV) gene has already been identified as being responsible for familial Mediterranean fever. Because the association between MEFV gene mutations and Behçet's disease has been reported before in several studies, we considered that the role of MEFV gene mutations should be studied in patients with RAS, because of the clinical similarities of both diseases. The aim of this study was to explore the frequency and clinical significance of MEFV gene mutations in a cohort of Turkish patients with RAS. The study population comprised 100 unrelated patients with a clinical diagnosis of RAS and 156 healthy controls. Genomic DNA was isolated and genotyped using polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism for the four MEFV gene mutations (M694V, M680I, V726A and E148Q). There were statistically significant differences of the MEFV gene mutation carrier rates and allele frequencies between RAS patients and healthy controls (P = 0.042, odds ratio [OR] = 1.9, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01-3.41; and P = 0.039, OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.02-3.14, respectively). Even if it is not statistically significant, the E148Q allele frequency was higher in patients with RAS than the control group. A statistically significant increased prevalence of MEFV variants in RAS patients was found. This is the first study to report that missense mutations of MEFV is associated with RAS in the Turkish population.