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Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is an inflammatory skin condition, often multifactorial in origin, and most commonly manifests during childhood. Although there remains a deficit in literature, current data suggest Honduras may have the highest prevalence and severity of AD among all Latin American countries. Objective: To assess the current prevalence of pediatric AD in Honduras and evaluate existing gaps in available literature to monitor disease burden. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed in March 2023. Articles were removed if they were published before 2007, were of the incorrect study design, or were focused on countries outside of Honduras. The articles were independently reviewed by 2 authors. Results: The initial literature search yielded 174 studies, of which 7 met inclusion criteria. AD prevalence rates in children in Honduras ranged from 0.7% to 40.0%. Limitations: Limitations include elements of study design, analytic methods, study populations, and limited articles. Conclusion: There appears to be a disproportionately higher prevalence and disease burden of pediatric AD in Honduras. Future research should acquire accurate data to further understand the prevalence, incidence, and severity of AD in Honduras.

Objective: Psoriatic disease remains underdiagnosed and undertreated. We developed and validated a suite of novel, sensor-based smartphone assessments (Psorcast app) that can be self-administered to measure cutaneous and musculoskeletal signs and symptoms of psoriatic disease., Methods: Participants with psoriasis (PsO) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and healthy controls were recruited between June 5, 2019, and November 10, 2021, at 2 academic medical centers. Concordance and accuracy of digital measures and image-based machine learning models were compared to their analogous clinical measures from trained rheumatologists and dermatologists., Results: Of 104 study participants, 51 (49%) were female and 53 (51%) were male, with a mean age of 42.3 years (SD 12.6). Seventy-nine (76%) participants had PsA, 16 (15.4%) had PsO, and 9 (8.7%) were healthy controls. Digital patient assessment of percent body surface area (BSA) affected with PsO demonstrated very strong concordance (Lin concordance correlation coefficient [CCC] 0.94 [95% CI 0.91-0.96]) with physician-assessed BSA. The in-clinic and remote target plaque physician global assessments showed fair-to-moderate concordance (CCC erythema 0.72 [0.59-0.85]; CCC induration 0.72 [0.62-0.82]; CCC scaling 0.60 [0.48-0.72]). Machine learning models of hand photos taken by patients accurately identified clinically diagnosed nail PsO with an accuracy of 0.76. The Digital Jar Open assessment categorized physician-assessed upper extremity involvement, considering joint tenderness or enthesitis (AUROC 0.68 [0.47-0.85])., Conclusion: The Psorcast digital assessments achieved significant clinical validity, although they require further validation in larger cohorts before use in evidence-based medicine or clinical trial settings. The smartphone software and analysis pipelines from the Psorcast suite are open source and freely available., (Copyright © 2024 by the Journal of Rheumatology.)

Objective: The aim of this systematic review and metaanalysis is to summarize evidence regarding the relationship between psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and sleep problems., Methods: We identified 36 eligible studies-26 cross-sectional, 7 cohort, and 3 interventional studies-in PubMed and Embase., Results: The prevalence of self-reported sleep problems in patients with PsA ranged from 30% to 85%. A metaanalysis of 6 studies that used the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index revealed a prevalence of poor sleep quality for patients with PsA of 72.9% (95% CI 63-81.8; I 2 = 78%), which was statistically higher than in healthy controls (26.9%, 95% CI 11.7-45.4; I 2 = 81%) but not significantly different than in patients with psoriasis (59.8%, 95% CI 46.9-72.1; I 2 = 51%). Sleep disturbance was ranked in the top 4 health-related quality of life domains affected by PsA. One study suggested a bidirectional relationship between PsA and obstructive sleep apnea. Predictors of sleep problems included anxiety, pain, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, depression, fatigue, physical function, and tender or swollen joint count. Tumor necrosis factor inhibitors, guselkumab, and filgotinib (a Janus kinase inhibitor) were associated with improved sleep outcomes., Conclusion: Poor sleep quality is prevalent in patients with PsA. Objective sleep measures (ie, actigraphy and polysomnography) have not been used in PsA studies, and evidence on the validity of patient-reported sleep measures in PsA is lacking. Future studies should validate self-reported sleep measures in PsA, explore how sleep quality relates to PsA disease activity and symptoms using both objective and subjective sleep measures, assess the efficacy of strategies to manage sleep problems, and assess the effects of such management on symptoms and disease signs in patients with PsA.

Background: This article describes the first Community Assessment for Public Health Emergency Response (CASPER) rapid needs assessment project to be conducted in Wisconsin. The project focused on extreme heat preparedness., Methods: Fifteen teams conducted household surveys in 30 census blocks in the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin., Results: Survey results indicated that the majority of households were unaware of the location of a nearby cooling center. Although the vast majority of households reported some form of air conditioning in their house, over half felt too hot inside their home sometimes, most of the time, or always., Discussion: The community partnerships ensured that this project was conducted with local partner input and that the data could be used to inform extreme heat response., (Copyright© Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and The Medical College of Wisconsin, Inc.)

Colour variation in the peppered moth Biston betularia was long accepted to be under strong natural selection. Melanics were believed to be fitter than pale morphs because of lower predation at daytime resting sites on dark, sooty bark. Melanics became common during the industrial revolution, but since 1970 there has been a rapid reversal, assumed to have been caused by predators selecting against melanics resting on today's less sooty bark. Recently, these classical explanations of melanism were attacked, and there has been general scepticism about birds as selective agents. Experiments and observations were accordingly carried out by Michael Majerus to address perceived weaknesses of earlier work. Unfortunately, he did not live to publish the results, which are analysed and presented here by the authors. Majerus released 4864 moths in his six-year experiment, the largest ever attempted for any similar study. There was strong differential bird predation against melanic peppered moths. Daily selection against melanics (s ≈ 0.1) was sufficient in magnitude and direction to explain the recent rapid decline of melanism in post-industrial Britain. These data provide the most direct evidence yet to implicate camouflage and bird predation as the overriding explanation for the rise and fall of melanism in moths.

The lack of easily isolated autologous endothelial cell (EC) sources is one of the major challenges with vascular tissue engineering interventions. This article examines the isolation and expansion of late-outgrowth endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) from 50-mL samples of peripheral blood drawn from patients with significant coronary artery disease (CAD) and healthy young adult volunteers. In cases in which late-outgrowth EPCs were successfully isolated, the cells were assayed in vitro for their expression of EC markers, proliferation potential and ability to endothelialize synthetic materials, form new blood vessels, and produce nitric oxide. Late-outgrowth EPCs from patients with CAD and healthy volunteers exhibited critical EC markers and morphological characteristics that were analogous to a control population of human aortic ECs. To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the suitability of late-outgrowth EPCs from patients with CAD for autologous endothelialization applications.

Insect body color polyphenisms enhance survival by producing crypsis in diverse backgrounds. While color polyphenisms are often indirectly induced by temperature, rearing density, or diet, insects can benefit from immediate crypsis if they evolve polyphenisms directly induced by exposure to the background color, hence immediately deriving protection from predation. Here, we examine such a directly induced color polyphenism in caterpillars of the geometrid peppered moth (Biston betularia). This larval color polyphenism is unrelated to the genetic polymorphism for melanic phenotypes in adult moths. B. betularia caterpillars are generalist feeders and develop body colors that closely match the brown or green twigs of their host plant. We expand on previous studies examining the proximal cues that stimulate color development. Under controlled rearing conditions, we manipulated diets and background reflectance, using both natural and artificial twigs, and show that visual experience has a much stronger effect than does diet in promoting precise color matching. Their induced body color was not a simple response to reflectance or light intensity but instead specifically matched the wavelength of light to which they were exposed. We also show that the potential to change color is retained until the final (sixth) larval instar. Given their broad host range, this directly induced color polyphenism likely provides the caterpillars with strong protection from bird predation.

Parallel evolutionary changes in the incidence of melanism are well documented in widely geographically separated subspecies of the peppered moth (Biston betularia). The British melanic phenotype (f. carbonaria) and the American melanic phenotype (f. swettaria) are indistinguishable in appearance, and previous genetic analysis has established that both are inherited as autosomal dominants. This report demonstrates through hybridizations of the subspecies and Mendelian testcrosses of melanic progeny that carbonaria and swettaria are phenotypes produced by alleles (isoalleles) at a single locus. The possibility of close linkage at two loci remains, but the simpler one-locus model cannot be rejected in the absence of contrary evidence.

Industrial melanism in peppered moths has been studied most intensively in Britain. The first melanic phenotype (effectively solid black) was recorded near Manchester in 1848. By 1895 about 98% of the specimens near Manchester were melanic, and this once rare phenotype had spread across regions of the country blackened by industrial soot. In rural, unpolluted regions, well away from industrial centers, the pale phenotype (peppered with white and black scales) remained the predominant form. During the latter half of the 20th century, following legislation designed to improve air quality, melanics began to decline in frequency and are now rare where once they had been common. Similar evolutionary changes have occurred elsewhere, but records from outside Britain are fragmentary. We have extended previous surveys of American peppered moth populations and present a composite picture of the recent decline in melanism in northern industrial states-Michigan and Pennsylvania-where melanic phenotypes decreased from more than 90% in 1959 to 6% by 2001. We contrast these changes to the near absence of melanism in a southern state-Virginia-during that same period. As in Britain, the decline in melanism in American peppered moths followed clean air legislation.

Background: T-cell receptor gamma (TCR-gamma) is involved in maintaining host cell integrity and homeostasis of the human immune system. We hypothesize that polymorphism of the TCR-gamma complex may be involved in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer., Methods: The microsatellite markers D7S1818 and D7S2206 located within the TCR-gamma antigen locus on chromosome 7p were amplified by polymerase chain reaction, and genotypes were determined for 22 patients with early onset of colorectal cancer (<60 years old) and for 38 population-based control subjects., Results: Genotype BC of D7S1818 (P = .049) and haplotype AC of D7S1818/D7S2206 (P < or = .003) were associated with colorectal cancer as compared with the control population (extended Fisher's exact test)., Conclusions: This study identifies a novel genetic and clinical association between TCR-gamma and early-onset colorectal cancer. Many young patients do not fulfill the criteria for hereditary colorectal cancer syndromes and are therefore not identified by established screening programs. Markers such as D7S1818 and D7S2206 may become useful in the identification of patients at risk of developing colorectal cancer and permit earlier therapeutic intervention.

It is now accepted that caveolin plays a key role in signal transduction by directly binding to and regulating the function of molecules involved in transmembrane signaling, such as ras, suggesting that the amount of caveolin within cells may be an important factor in determining the cellular signaling. We investigated the ontogenic changes in the protein amount of caveolin subtypes, as well as ras protein expression in various organs (the heart, lungs, and muscles) obtained from aging rats (neonates, young and old adults). Our results demonstrated that caveolin protein expression changed ontogenically in a subtype-dependent manner. In lungs, for example, caveolin-1 expression changed in an opposite manner to caveolin-3 expression, while in the heart caveolin-1 and -3 changed in parallel. Ras expression showed an ontogenic increase in lungs and a decrease in muscles, which were both parallel to caveolin-1 expression. Our results suggest that the regulation of transmembrane signaling by caveolin may differ among developmental stages and caveolin subtypes.

Over the last three decades the frequency of the dark melanic form carbonaria of the peppered moth Biston betularia has declined in Britain. Data have been examined which show the intermediate phenotype insularia, controlled by alleles at the same locus, to have increased or remained level in frequency. Phenotype frequency of insularia does not always track allele frequency accurately because it is recessive to its alternative when carbonaria is common but dominant to the alternative when typical is common. It is shown that if insularia fitness lies between that of carbonaria and typical, and melanics replace typicals or vice versa, there will be a rise and fall in insularia allele frequency during a transitory period. The path followed is strongly affected by initial gene frequencies. During the high melanic period in Britain, differences in insularia frequency between localities may have been influenced by history of arrival of the novel morphs as well as by local selective conditions.

Background: This study hypothesizes that predicted polymorphism of the interferon-gamma receptor 1 gene may play an important role in infection after trauma as supported by microsatellite analysis., Methods: DNA was extracted from the peripheral leukocytes of 38 trauma patients with Injury Severity Scores greater than 16. D6S471, a microsatellite marker on chromosome 6 near interferon-gamma receptor 1, was amplified with polymerase chain reaction, and genotypes were determined., Results: The mean Injury Severity Score was 32, and 63% of patients (24 of 38) developed major infection. Three alleles and 5 genotypes were identified for D6S471. Twenty-six percent of patients (10 of 38) had genotype AA, all of whom developed major infection (P =.004). Genotype BB accounted for 57% of the uninfected population (8 of 14) but only 21% of the infected group (P =.028). Allele A had a frequency of 33%, of which 22 alleles (88%) were found in infected patients (P =.001). In addition, allele B accounted for 61% of the uninfected group (17 of 28) but only 23% (11 of 48) of the infected group (P =.001). Allele C demonstrated no correlation., Conclusions: Microsatellite polymorphism correlates strongly with infection. These findings portend polymorphism in the receptor itself and thereby represent a genetic basis for the development of infection. We suggest this identifies a high-risk group who could benefit from more specific therapy that may have the potential to overcome this receptor insufficiency.

Immunodetection of the adenylyl cyclase isoforms has been difficult in tissues because of its low quantity of protein expression. We have developed a one-step cellular protein purification method that enables a simple immunodetection of the adenylyl cyclase isoforms. The type I isoform was detected exclusively in the brain. The type III isoform was detected in the brain and lungs. Further, the protein expression of type III adenylyl cyclase in lungs changed ontogenically and was the lowest in neonates. Thus, the comparison of the amount of certain adenylyl cyclase isoforms protein in each tissue is now feasible using our method.