Efficacy and Safety of Oxymatrine in the Treatment of Patients with Erythrodermic Psoriasis.

INTRODUCTION: The management of erythrodermic psoriasis (EP), a rare but severe type of psoriasis, is challenging, especially in patients with concomitant chronic hepatitis B (CHB). We previously demonstrated that oxymatrine treatment alleviated severe plaque psoriasis, but its therapeutic potential in treating EP remains unexplored. This study was to assess the efficacy and safety of oxymatrine for the treatment of EP, with attention to concomitant CHB. METHODS: In this investigator-initiated clinical trial, four consecutive patients with EP, including two (A and B) with concomitant CHB, were treated with intravenous administration of oxymatrine as monotherapy for 8 weeks, and scheduled to be followed up for a minimum of 24 weeks. The primary outcome was at least 75% improvement in the psoriasis area and severity index (PASI 75) at week 32. Secondary outcomes included the body surface area (BSA) score, dermatology life quality index (DLQI)], and safety. RESULTS: Patients A, B, and C achieved PASI 75 at treatment completion and week 32, demonstrating improvements of 77.4%, 97.2%, and 100% in PASI, respectively. Their BSA and DLQI were also improved significantly at week 32 and throughout follow-up of 37, 57, and 105 weeks, respectively. The viral loads in patients A and B with CHB decreased modestly. Patient D discontinued after follow-up for 19 weeks, and the primary outcome could not be analyzed. No adverse events were reported during treatment and follow-up. CONCLUSION: Oxymatrine appears to be efficacious and safe for the treatment of patients with EP, including those with concomitant CHB. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This study was registered at the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ( www.chictr.org.cn ; Registration number ChiCTR-TRC-14004301).

An Untethered Soft Crawling Robot Driven by Wireless Power Transfer Technology.

Soft robots based on flexible materials have attracted the attention due to high flexibility and great environmental adaptability. Among the common driving modes, electricity, light, and magnetism have the limitations of wiring, poor penetration capability, and sophisticated equipment, respectively. Here, an emerging wireless driving mode is proposed for the soft crawling robot based on wireless power transfer (WPT) technology. The receiving coil at the robot's tail, as an energy transfer station, receives energy from the transmitting coil and supplies the electrothermal responsiveness to drive the robot's crawling. By regulating the WPT's duration to control the friction between the robot and the ground, bidirectional crawling is realized. Furthermore, the receiving coil is also employed as a sensory organ to equip the robot with localization, ID recognition, and sensing capabilities based on electromagnetic coupling. This work provides an innovative and promising strategy for the design and integration of soft crawling robots, exhibiting great potential in the field of intelligent robots.

Microbiome and Metabolome Analyses Reveal Novel Interplay Between the Skin Microbiota and Plasma Metabolites in Psoriasis.

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease that affects millions of people worldwide. There is still no effective approach for the clinical treatment of psoriasis. This is largely due to the lack of understanding of the pathological mechanism. Here, we comprehensively characterized the skin microbiome and plasma metabolome alterations of psoriasis patients. We observed that some pathogenic bacteria, including Vibrio, were significantly increased in psoriasis patients. The metabolomics results showed alterations in some metabolic pathways, especially pathways for lipid metabolism. In addition, microbiome-specific metabolites, including bile acids and kynurenine, were significantly changed. Correlation analysis revealed the interplay between the skin microbiota and plasma metabolites, especially between Vibrio and several lipids. Our results provide new evidence for the interplay between the skin microbiome and plasma metabolites, which is dramatically disrupted in psoriasis patients. This study also revealed the mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of psoriasis.

Association between serum visfatin levels and psoriasis and their correlation with disease severity: a meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between serum visfatin levels and psoriasis and to evaluate the correlation between serum visfatin levels and the severity of psoriasis. METHODS: The electronic databases PubMed®, Embase® and the Cochrane Library were searched for articles published from inception to 1 May 2020. Data were extracted and then standard mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for pooled estimates. RESULTS: A total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria and were included (448 patients diagnosed with psoriasis and 377 controls). This meta-analysis demonstrated that patients with psoriasis had significantly higher levels of visfatin than the controls (SMD = 0.90, 95% CI 0.52, 1.28). Subgroup analyses showed that differences in serum visfatin levels between the patient group and the control group were associated with ethnicity, Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) and body mass index. Additionally, a meta-analysis of correlations showed that visfatin levels in patients with psoriasis were positively correlated with PASI (r = 0.51, 95% CI 0.14, 0.75). CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis showed that serum visfatin levels in patients with psoriasis were significantly higher than those in the controls and a positive correlation between serum visfatin levels and psoriasis severity was observed.

Alcohol industry and governmental revenue from young Australians.

Objective The aim of the present study was to estimate the revenues collected by government and industry from alcohol consumption by young Australians in 2010. Methods Statistical analyses were performed on data from the Australian National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2010 and alcohol data collected from an online retailer to calculate the proportion, frequency, quantity and revenues from alcohol consumption by young Australians. Results One-third of adolescents (12-17 years old) and 85% of young adults (18-25 years old) consume alcohol. More than half the adolescents' alcohol consumption is from ready-to-drink spirits. Revenue generated from alcohol consumption by 12-25 year olds is estimated at $4.8 billion in 2010 (2014 Australian dollars): $2.8 billion to industry (sales) and $2.0 billion to government (taxes). Conclusions Alcohol consumption by young Australians is prevalent, and young Australian drinkers consume alcohol in substantial amounts. The industry and taxation revenue from young drinkers is also considerable. It would be in the public interest to divert some of this revenue towards health initiatives to reduce drinking by young people, especially given the high societal costs of alcohol consumption. What is known about the topic? Australian adolescents aged 12-17 years consume substantial amounts of alcohol, and substantial amounts of revenue are generated from alcohol sales to them. What does this paper add? This paper provides recent estimates of alcohol consumption and revenue generated by Australian adolescents, and extends estimates to young adults aged 18-25 years. What are the implications for practitioners? A substantial proportion of Australian young people consume alcohol. The sales and taxation revenue generated from young people's drinking is substantial at A$4.8 billion in 2010 and is higher in real terms than estimates from previous studies. Some of the alcohol taxation revenue could be diverted to health promotion and education for young people, because the costs of alcohol consumption in terms of health outcomes and productivity losses for these age groups are expected to be especially high.

Price Elasticities of Food Demand: Compensated vs Uncompensated.

Two recent studies have provided a comprehensive review/summary of a large number of estimates of the price elasticity of food consumption using a meta-regression approach. In this letter, we introduce a way of removing the income effect from these elasticities to recover the compensated elasticities. Although the income effect is small, the compensated elasticities vary by income group. Both types of elasticity should possibly be considered when assessing the impact of policy changes on food consumption. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.