Laugier-Hunziker Syndrome: A Case Report

Laugier-Hunziker syndrome (LHS) is a rare, acquired mucocutaneous hyperpigmentation often associated with longitudinal melanonychia. It is important to differentiate this condition from the pigmentary disorders of the oral mucosa. The correct clinical identification avoids the need for invasive investigations. A 32-year-old female presented with a number of variably sized, hyperpigmented macules over the oral mucosa and longitudinal melanonychia. Herein, we report a case of LHS and discuss the conditions related with pigmented mucocutaneous lesions

Chronic Inducible Urticaria: Part II

Physical urticaria (PU) is a subgroup of acquired, chronic inducible urticaria which is associated with a known physical trigger. In PU, the symptoms are induced by exogenous physical triggers, such as friction, pressure, vibration, cold, heat, or solar radiation. All the PUs may manifest with both wheals and angioedema at the sites of the triggers with the exceptions that urticaria factitia (UF) (symptomatic dermatographism) presents with wheals only and pressure urticaria presents with angioedema only. More than one form of physically induced urticarias can be present in one patient

Dermatitis Herpetiformis

Dermatitis herpetiformis is an autoimmune skin disease, which is strongly related to coeliac disease. Moreover, some authors accept it as the skin manifestation of coeliac disease. It is a chronic, recurrent disease with polymorphic skin eruptions and pruritus. Dermatitis herpetiformis is a disease of the young adults mostly, but can be seen at any age. It is characterized by papules, vesicles, excoriations, and urticarial plaques clinically. Histopathological examination reveals subepidermal separation, and with this finding, it needs to be differentiated from linear IgA bullous dermatitis and bullous pemphigoid. In this case, direct immunofluorescence is helpful. Granular deposition of IgA is pathognomonic for dermatitis herpetiformis. Dermatitis herpetiformis can accompany other autoimmune disorders such as type I diabetes mellitus, thyroid diseases, vitiligo, and collagen tissue diseases. Dermatitis herpetiformis is, usually, successfully treated with dapsone and gluten-free diet

Designing Genes that Encode Proteins for Biomedical Applications

DNA is a crucial component of all known life. It encodes in genes the structure of the proteins necessary to perform many of the functions in a cell. Proteins are biological polymers consisting of a chain of amino acids. The specific sequence of the amino acids determines the structure and therefore function of the protein. The sequence of the amino acids of a protein is coded in DNA via triplets of the nucleotide bases known as codons, which each can represent only one amino acid. However, an amino acid can be represented by more than one codon, so there are many combinations of DNA that can code for any given protein. The efficiency of expressing a protein from a gene can be affected by the DNA sequence, so to optimize protein production, we want an optimal sequence of DNA. Particularly, we would like to be able to design ab initio, optimized genes that code for protein-based materials for biological applications. We are working to develop a computer program to generate DNA code from an amino acid sequence. The ultimate goal is to optimize the sequence by using codons in an efficient way and removing unwanted patterns in the gene.https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/u_poster_2016/1047/thumbnail.jp

Clinical effects of COVID-19 vaccines on chronic spontaneous urticaria patients: a study on two Turkish centers

BackgroundThe relationship between CSU and vaccines is reported in the literature. The post-vaccine clinical effect of COVİD-19 vaccines on CSU patients is still unclear. we aimed to evaluate clinical effects of COVID-19 Vaccines on CSU patients.Materials and methodsCSU patients under treatment and follow-up in our outpatient clinic were evaluated retrospectively. To determine disease activity the urticaria activity score over seven days (UAS7) was used. The details of demographic information, CSU treatment, history of COVID-19 infection and exacerbation of urticaria during infection, COVID-19 vaccinations, type of vaccine, side effect reaction time after vaccination, hospital admission requirement were also assessed.ResultsTotal of 190 patients with a mean age of The mean age of patients was 41,7±14,0 years (range = 18–72) were enrooled. The patient sample consisted of 50 males and 140 females (male/female ratio 1:2.8). 181 (CoronaVac 77, Pfizer-BioNTech 104) patients were vaccinated. Urticarial exacerbation was occurred in 25 patients. The median UAS value was 5 before vaccination, it was 12 in patients with post-vaccine urticaria. Two patients had angioedema and one patient had anaphylaxis after vaccinated with Pfizer-BioNTech.ConclusionCOVID-19 vaccination in the CSU can be considered safe. Cases with urticarial exacerbation appear to be transient and can be managed by antihistamine and/or systemic steroid therapies. More extensive studies are needed for the relationship with CSU and post-coronavirus vaccination anaphylaxy

Epidemiology of pemphigus in Turkey: One-year prospective study of 220 cases

Pemphigus is a group of rare and life-threatening autoimmune blistering diseases of the skin and mucous membranes. Although they occur worldwide, their incidence shows wide geographical variation, and prospective data on the epidemiology of pemphigus are very limited. Objective of this work is to evaluate the incidence and epidemiological and clinical features of patients with pemphigus in Turkey. All patients newly diagnosed with pemphigus between June 2013 and June 2014 were prospectively enrolled in 33 dermatology departments in 20 different provinces from all seven regions of Turkey. Disease parameters including demography and clinical findings were recorded. A total of 220 patients were diagnosed with pemphigus during the 1-year period, with an annual incidence of 4.7 per million people in Turkey. Patients were predominantly women, with a male to female ratio of 1:1.41. The mean age at onset was 48.9 years. Pemphigus vulgaris (PV) was the commonest clinical subtype (n=192; 87.3%), followed by pemphigus foliaceus (n=21; 9.6%). The most common clinical subtype of PV was the mucocutaneous type (n=83; 43.2%). The mean Pemphigus Disease Area Index was 28.14±22.21 (mean ± Standard Deviation).  The incidence rate of pemphigus in Turkey is similar to the countries of South-East Europe, higher than those reported for the Central and Northern European countries and lower than the countries around the Mediterranean Sea and Iran. Pemphigus is more frequent in middle-aged people and is more common in women. The most frequent subtype was PV, with a 9-fold higher incidence than pemphigus foliaceus.   </p