Search

Since March 2020, the UK and Ireland have entered a series of lockdowns in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic with restrictions resulting in the closure of nonessential retail, hospitality and sports with employees encouraged to work from home. In this retrospective study we have demonstrated a significant decrease in DLQI values, increase in the number of 'not relevant' responses (NRRs) in the DLQI and change between DLQI and the modified DLQI‐R during the pandemic. Given the restrictions imposed on our patients, it is important for clinicians to identify the number of NRRs in the DLQI and acknowledge the potential effect on treatment decisions and data collection for disease registries and clinical trials during the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study related to measurement of adherence to systemic treatments in moderate-to-severe psoriasis with identification of predictors of adherence. Topics discussed include inverse relationships between depression and adherence and anxiety and adherence, no correlation between adherence and sex, smoking status, medication use and age as positive predictor of adherence and high educational attainment.

Linked Article: Prens et al. Br J Dermatol 2021; 185:177–184. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 32-year-old man diagnosed with superficial spreading malignant melanoma (MM) of the penis. A melanocytic lesion was showed through histological examination of a punch biopsy from squamous mucosa. Also mentioned is the positive cosmetic and functional outcome of the excision.

Human faecal waters from 35 healthy non-smoking volunteers (23 from England and 12 from Sweden) consuming their habitual diet were screened for genotoxicity by the single-cell gel electrophoresis (comet) assay using a human colon adenocarcinoma cell line (CACO-2) as the target. Hydrogen peroxide induced DNA damage was categorized as low, intermediate or high for tail moments greater than 5, 17 and 32, respectively: 11 samples were highly genotoxic, four were intermediate, one was low and 19 showed no activity. Endonuclease III treatment significantly increased DNA damage for all except the non-genotoxic faecal waters, suggesting that faecal water genotoxicity may be due, at least in part, to oxidative damage. Faecal water cytotoxicity has previously been attributed to the bile and fatty acid content. In the comet assay no DNA damage was induced by deoxycholate or lithocholate at normal physiological concentrations, suggesting that the genotoxicity of faecal water was due to other substances. Both bile acids induced DNA damage above 300 microM, levels often found in patients with colonic polyps and there was a significant increase in genotoxicity after endonuclease III treatment indicative of oxidative DNA damage. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Germ-free rats colonised with a human intestinal flora were fed diets containing high risk (HR) or low risk (LR) factors for colorectal cancer, and putative biomarkers were evaluated in the colonic mucosa; (i) proliferation, (ii) 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH)-induced aberrant crypt foci and (iii) DMH-induced DNA damage. The HR diet was high in fat (45% of calories) and low in calcium and fibre, reflecting levels characteristic of typical western diets. The LR diet was low in fat (<5% of calories), and high in calcium and fibre. The nutrient/energy ratio of the two diets were similar. Mucosal crypt cell proliferation, assessed after microdissection, was higher on the LR diet (mean number of mitoses per crypt was 2.65 on the LR diet, and 1.62 on the HR diet; P < 0.05). Aberrant crypt foci (ACF) were assessed in the mucosa 12 weeks after DMH treatment. On the HR diet there were significantly more small ACF with 1 and 2 crypts per focus, but fewer ACF with 3, 5 and 7 or more crypts per focus. There was no significant difference in total ACF or the total number of crypts. The effect of diet on DNA damage in the colon was assessed in vivo by the comet assay. Animals were fed a HR or LR diet for 12 weeks before treatment with DMH or saline. For carcinogen-treated animals, DNA damage was significantly higher in colon cells from animals on the HR diet. On the LR diet both DNA damage and the induction of small ACF were reduced despite an increase in cell proliferation. The increase in large ACF on the LR diet may be attributable to elevated crypt cell proliferation possibly increasing crypt fission rates. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Linked Article: Albrecht et al. Br J Dermatol 2019; 180:749–755. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 57-year-old woman who experienced hydroxychloroquine retinal toxicity after receiving hydroxychloroquine treatment for discoid lupus erythematosus. The patient was examined using high-quality multifocal electroretinography and identified an attenuation of responses from the foveal and parafoveal segments in both eyes with blunting of the foveal peak in one eye.