Acne Vulgaris: The Influence of Marriage, Pregnancy and Childbirth

SUMMARY. 1). It is difficult, time consuming, and in many cases impossible to get the co-operation of a large group of patients in a large industrial town, where movement of population is bound to be great, particularly in the 15-25 age group. Many of the questionnaires, though very simply worded were inadequately filled in. 827 addresses were collected, over 1100 letters were sent out and almost 100 homes visited personally, yet only 415 forms were finally collected. 2). The treatment given by a skin department, where only relatively stubborn and rather severely affected cases are treated would seem to shorten the duration of acne vulgaris, an important consideration in reassuring young women of marriageable age. See Table I. 3). Disfiguring scarring would appear to lessen a girl's chance of marriage. See Table II. 4). Marriage has an undeniable influence on the course of acne vulgaris. 43.4% in the series improved, 53%, however, noted no change in their skin condition, only 3.6% deteriorated following matrimony. The widely held belief of a universally beneficial influence of marriage on this complaint, while certainly true in a considerable percentage of women, has not been confirmed by this survey. See Table III. 5), Pregnancy, on the other hand, has a markedly beneficial influence on acne vulgaris according to this survey. See Table IV, This isthought to be due to an increase in secretion of oestrogens, progesterone and gonadotrophins during gestation, all of which have a beneficial effect on acne by suppressing the activity of the pilosebacecus apparatus. Androgen, the hormone which stimulates sebaceous gland activity is at a lower level than normal during gestation. The psychological, possibly hypothalamic influence of pregnancy leading to a happier, better balanced out-look would all appear to bring about an amelioration and often a permanent remission of acne vulgaris. 6). The largest percentage of patients improved after the birth of their baby. See table VI. Lactation appeared not to have further influenced the course of events. See Table VII. An analogy can be drawn between dysmenorrhoea and acne vulgaris, both conditions of varied aetiology, commonest in adolescents and both in many instances finally cured by child-birth. It is postulated that this final cure of acne vulgaris is due to a finally established ideal hormonal balance, only achieved by the hormonal stimuli of pregnancy and parturition. Other aetiological factors would appear to be only of secondary importance. A suggestion is made to qualify Plenck's dictum "Matrimonium varos curat" to "Non matrimonium sed infantes varos in feminas curant". 7). From experience in this and other skin departments the results of hormonal therapy are often disappointing and unpredictable and may give rise to unpleasant, though rarely dangerous side-effects. More, and if at all possible, controlled trials are necessary in this field, to find a more satisfactory and safer approach to the internal and external treatment of acne vulgaris with hormonal substances. 8). It is stressed that acne vulgaris must not be taken lightly, the presence of a disfiguring and usually all too obvious skin condition in a susceptible adolescent not only leads to psychological upset and trauma, but also may interfere with a young person's work and career, as well as jeopardizing a girl's chances in marriage

Hepatic Response of Magnesium-Restricted Wild Type Mice

Magnesium-deficiency is implicated in many metabolic disorders, e.g., type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, representing risk factors for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). This study aims to investigate the contribution of magnesium-restriction to the development of NAFLD. Magnesium-deficiency was induced in C57BL/6 mice by feeding a magnesium-deficient-diet. Metabolic markers as well as markers of inflammation and liver function were assessed. Furthermore, liver tissue was examined histopathologically and compared with specimens from high-fat-diet fed and control mice. Finally, the hepatic inflammatory response was quantified by determining hepatic IL-6, TNFα, and MCP-1. Magnesium-restriction resulted in at least a 2-fold significant reduction of serum magnesium levels compared to the high-fat-diet fed and control mice, whereas the hepatic magnesium content was decreased due to high-fat-diet feeding. No changes in metabolic markers in magnesium-restricted mice were observed, while the cholesterol content was elevated in high-fat-diet fed mice. Magnesium-restricted mice additionally featured inflammation and enlarged hepatocytes in liver histology. Furthermore, magnesium-restricted and high-fat-diet fed mice exhibited elevated hepatic TNFα levels compared to control mice. Accordingly, our data suggest that magnesium is involved in hepatic inflammatory processes and hepatocyte enlargement, key histological features of human NAFLD, and may therefore contribute to development and progression of the disease

Assessment of blood-brain barrier function and the neuroinflammatory response in the rat brain by using cerebral open flow microperfusion (cOFM).

Blood-brain barrier (BBB) impairment in systemic inflammation leads to neuroinflammation. Several factors including cytokines, chemokines and signal transduction molecules are implicated in BBB dysfunction in response to systemic inflammation. Here, we have adopted a novel in vivo technique; namely, cerebral open flow microperfusion (cOFM), to perform time-dependent cytokine analysis (TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-10) in the frontal cortex of the rat brain in response to a single peripheral administration of lipopolysaccharide (LPS). In parallel, we monitored BBB function using sodium fluorescein as low molecular weight reporter in the cOFM sample. In response to the systemic LPS administration, we observed a rapid increase of TNF-alpha in the serum and brain, which coincides with the BBB disruption. Brain IL-6 and IL-10 synthesis was delayed by approximately 1 h. Our data demonstrate that cOFM can be used to monitor changes in brain cytokine levels and BBB disruption in a rat sepsis model

Clinical Validation of a Blood Filtration Element for Plasma Separation at the Point of Care

In this contribution we present our work on filtration of plasma from whole blood in a polymer-based microfluidic system. The absorption of pathogens was found to be low; therefore our system is valid for clinical trials. The blood filtration element is capable of extracting 8–15μL volume of plasma from 100μL of whole blood in 7 minutes

Measurement of TNF-α concentration in the frontal cortex and serum after LPS injection (i.p.).

<p><b>A</b>: Control animals (n = 7) received normal sterile saline (0.5 ml; i.p.) after the collection of baseline cOFM samples, whereas the LPS-treated group (n = 7) were injected with LPS (i.p.; 5 mg/kg dissolved in 0.5 ml normal sterile saline) after baseline cOFM sample collection. TNF-alpha concentration in the control animals and in the baseline cOFM sample as well as 1 h after LPS injection was very close to the lower limit of quantification (0.004 ng/ml). <b>B</b>: Serum TNF-alpha concentration in control animals and in the baseline sample of the LPS-treated group was below the lower limit of quantification. The serum level of TNF-alpha was found to be significantly elevated from 2 to 6 h after LPS injection. Results are shown as mean ± SEM. (* p<0.05; ** p<0.01).</p

Measurement of IL-6 concentration in the frontal cortex and serum after LPS injection (i.p.).

<p><b>A</b>: Control animals (n = 7) received normal sterile saline (i.p.; 0.5 ml) after collection of the baseline cOFM sample, whereas the LPS-treated group (n = 7) were injected with LPS (i.p.; 5 mg/kg dissolved in 0.5 ml normal sterile saline) after baseline cOFM sample collection. <b>B</b>: Serum IL-6 concentration in control animals was below the lower limit of quantification (0.009 ng/ml). The serum level of IL-6 was found to be significantly elevated from 2 to 6 h after LPS injection. Results are shown as mean ± SEM. (* p<0.05).</p

Measurement of IL-10 concentration in the frontal cortex and serum after LPS injection (i.p.).

<p><b>A</b>: Control animals (n = 7) received normal sterile saline (i.p.; 0.5 ml) after collection of the baseline cOFM sample, whereas the LPS-treated group (n = 7) were injected with LPS (i.p.; 5 mg/kg dissolved in 0.5 ml normal sterile saline) after baseline cOFM sample collection. <b>B</b>: Serum IL-10 concentration in control animals was below the lower limit of quantification (0.005 ng/ml). The serum level of IL-10 was found significantly elevated from 2 to 6 h after LPS injection. Results are shown as mean ± SEM. (* p<0.05).</p

LPS-induced changes in BBB permeability.

<p>BBB permeability was measured in terms of Naf accumulation in cOFM samples. Control animals (n = 6) received normal sterile saline (0.5 ml) after the collection of the baseline cOFM sample whereas the LPS-treated group (n = 6) were injected (i.p.) with LPS (5 mg/kg dissolved in 0.5 ml normal sterile saline) after baseline cOFM sample collection. In both groups, a bolus injection of Naf (11 mg/kg dissolved in normal sterile saline) was injected through the femoral vein followed by a continuous infusion of Naf (11 mg/kg/h). Proteins were removed from the cOFM samples by precipitation. Part of the cOFM sample (25 µl) was then mixed with the same volume of acetonitrile at room temperature and Naf concentration was measured. Results are given as mean ± SEM (* p<0.05).</p

Schematic diagram of cOFM probe with dummy (A) and cOFM probe with inflow/outflow tubing (B).

<p>Schematic diagram of cOFM probe with dummy (A) and cOFM probe with inflow/outflow tubing (B).</p