Clinical and demographic characteristics of pemphigus vulgaris patients

Pemphigus is an autoimmune disease characterized by intraepithelial bullae and erosions in the skin and mucosa. We aimed to evaluate the clinical and demographic characteristics of pemphigus vulgaris (PV) patients who presented to our Department. Patients who presented to our Department between May 2013 and May 2014, were examined dermatologically and diagnosed with PV based on clinical, histological and direct immunofluorescent findings. Name, family name, and gender of the patients, their complaint at presentation, onset time and location of the lesions, the number of lesions, systemic treatments received by patients and patients’ medication histories were recorded. Forty-nine PV patients were included in our study. Among these, 22 (44.9%) were female and 27 (55.1%) male. The mean age of the patients was 53.28±14.70 (range 23 to 79) years. The mean duration of the disease was 44.45±45.68 (range 1 to 180) months. The most common complaints at presentation were lesion in the mouth (47/49) and lesion/blister in the skin (39/49). The onset locations of the lesions were the oropharynx (63.3%), the skin and oropharynx combined (16.3%), the skin (18.4%) and the anus (2%). The chronological order for the sites of involvement were as follows: first the oropharynx then the skin (42.9%), first the skin then the oropharynx (18.4%), and the oropharynx and the skin combined (16.3%). Ten patients (20.4%) had mucosal involvement and one (2%) had skin involvement alone, whereas both mucosal and skin involvements were observed in 38 patients (77.6%). Forty-seven patients (95.9%) had not used any medications that could have led to pemphigus. One patient had a history of beta-blocker use and another had a history of ACE inhibitor prior to the emergence of the pemphigus lesions. The clinical and demographic results of the PV patients in our region were consistent with those from other studies.</p

Prevalence and Dermoscopic Patterns of Acral Melanocytic Nevi in Turkey

Although nevi are frequently encountered in the acral region, very limited studies have reported their prevalence in specific populations. We aimed to determine the prevalence of acral nevi, their dermoscopic patterns, and evaluate patient awareness in a Turkish population. We prospectively examined 2644 patients admitted to the outpatient dermatology clinics between October 2016 and October 2017. The characteristics of the detected acral nevi and dermatoscopic images were recorded. A questionnaire of demographic characteristics was completed from all patients. Two hundred six of the 2644 patients had at least one acral nevus. Two hundred sixty nevi were examined. The general prevalence of acral nevi was 7.8%. Women were more likely to have acral nevi than men (8.7% vs. 6.3%; P=0.028). Moreover, darker-skinned patients were also had significantly more acral nevi (8.6% in skin type III-IV vs. 6.0% in skin type I-II; P<0.001). The prevalence of acral nevi was 9.4% before the age of 20, 9.5% in patients aged 20-40 years, and 4.6% after the age of 40. In addition, 51.5% of all nevi exhibited a parallel furrow, 13.5% were lattice-like, and 7.7% had a homogeneous pattern. The overall nevus awareness rate was 73.8% and was significantly higher in women at 78.3%. Our study is the first large-scale study of that showed the prevalence of acral nevi in Turkey. According to our study, the prevalence of acral nevi was higher in patients with female sex and darker skin type. We also found that the prevalence of acral nevi decreased over 40 years of age. The general awareness of nevi was higher in women

HLA-E*0101/0103X is associated with susceptibility to pemphigus vulgaris: a case-control study

Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) is a life-threatening, autoimmune blistering disease of the skin and mucous membranes. The relationship between PV and human leukocyte antigen (HLA) has been studied in several reports. Previous reports have demonstrated that HLA-E polymorphisms may have a role in the susceptibility to various autoimmune diseases. Our aim was to evaluate the role of HLA-E gene polymorphisms in the pathogenesis of PV in a Turkish population. A total of 49 patients with PV and 50 healthy subjects were enrolled into the study. We sequenced and analyzed the HLA-E gene from genomic DNA obtained from peripheral blood samples of the study groups. HLA-E haplotyping was performed by Sanger sequencing of PCR products of the HLA-E gene and HLA-E alleles determined by using SeqScape® software according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Nomenclature Committee for Factors of the HLA System. The frequency of the HLA-E*0101/*0103X genotype in male patients with PV was found to be significantly higher than in men in the control group (P=0.023). In addition, the frequency of the HLA-E*0103X/*0103X genotype was significantly lower in patients with PV than the control group (P=0.040). We also detected that the frequency of the HLA-E*0101/*0103X genotype in patients with mucocutaneous type PV and the frequency of the HLA-E*0101/*0101 genotype in patients with mucosal type PV was significantly higher than those in other types of PV (P=0.001 and P=0.006). The results of this study indicate that carrying the HLA-E*0101/0103X genotype may increase the risk of PV in male patients.  </p

Incidence and Prognosis of COVID-19 in Patients with Psoriasis: A Multicenter Prospective Study from the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey

COVID-19 infection can have a poor prognosis, especial- ly in patients with chronic diseases and those receiving immunosup- pressive or immunomodulating therapies. This study aimed to investigate the severity of COVID-19 infection in patients with psoriasis and compare the infection severity for sys- temic treatments and comorbidities. We conducted a study in the dermatology clinics of five different centers in the Eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. Four hundred and eighty-eight patients were included, and 22.5% were confirmed as having COVID-19 infection. In our study, the frequency of hospitalization rates due to COVID-19 infection were similar (15.4%, 25.9% respectively) in patients receiv- ing biological treatment and receiving non-biological systemic treat- ment (P=0.344). Hospitalization rates were higher in patients with hypertension, androgenetic alopecia, and acitretin use (P=0.043, P=0.028, P=0.040). In conclusion, current biologic treatments and non-biologic system- ic treatments in patients with psoriasis did not appear to increase the risk of the severe form of COVID-19, except for acitretin

Adsorption properties of low-cost biomaterial derived from Prunus amygdalus L. for dye removal from water

The capability of Prunus amygdalus L. (almond) shell for dye removal from aqueous solutions was investigated and methyl orange was used as a model compound. The effects of operational parameters including pH, ionic strength, adsorbent concentration and mesh size, dye concentration, contact time, and temperature on the removal of dye were evaluated. The adsorption kinetics conformed to the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The equilibrium data pointed out excellent fit to the Langmuir isotherm model with maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 41.34 mg g −1 at 293 K. Thermodynamic analysis proved a spontaneous, favorable, and exothermic process. It can be concluded that almond shell might be a potential low-cost adsorbent for methyl orange removal from aqueous media

Assessing the autoantibody levels in relation to disease severity and therapy response in pemphigus patients

Background: In pemphigus, autoantibodies are directed against adhesion molecules, which make the junctions between keratinocytes, and thus determining their level can reflect the disease activity. Aim: The purpose of this study is to determine the clinical significance of the autoantibody levels in pemphigus management. Materials and Methods: The clinical features of 47 pemphigus vulgaris patients were assessed and patients&#x2032; sera were investigated by indirect immunofluorescence using monkey esophagus as a substrate for autoantibody levels. Results: We found a significant correlation between antibody titers and mucosal severity scores. Initial antibody titers of the patients with at least one mucosal lesion at the end of the first month of the therapy were found significantly higher than the patients who had no mucosal lesion. With the therapy, lesions resolved earlier than the antibody titers. Conclusion: In patients with pemphigus, especially in cases who were not treated before, sera antibody levels are a valuable tool in evaluating disease severity and choosing initial treatment. In patients who had been taking any systemic treatment, it is difficult to make a relationship between antibody levels and disease severity, because therapy improves disease earlier than the antibody titers. However, estimating antibody levels can be helpful for clinicians in disease management, in reducing or ceasing treatment dosage and anticipating recurrence