Clinical and Genetic Risk Factors Associated with Psoriatic Arthritis among Patients with Psoriasis.

IntroductionPsoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic, inflammatory arthritis that affects an estimated 30% of patients with psoriasis. PsA is underdiagnosed in primary care and dermatology clinics due to a variety of reasons, including failure of healthcare providers to ask about symptoms, overlap of symptoms and signs with other rheumatologic conditions, and lack of a specific diagnostic test. A delay in PsA diagnosis and treatment, even as short as 6 months, can lead to decreased quality of life, increased joint damage, and worse long-term physical function. In this study, we sought to identify the clinical and genetic factors that help discriminate patients with PsA from those with cutaneous psoriasis only.MethodsWe analyzed a cohort of 974 psoriasis patients at an academic medical center, of whom 175 had confirmed PsA, and performed univariate, multivariate, and predictive modeling to determine factors associated with PsA.ResultsThe univariate analysis revealed significant positive associations of PsA with age, nail involvement, scalp involvement, skin fold involvement, elbow/knee involvement, psoriasis severity, plaque subtype, erythrodermic subtype, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and coronary artery disease, and a significant negative association of PsA with the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-C*06:02 allele. In the multivariate analysis, nail involvement, type 2 diabetes, and pustular psoriasis remained significantly associated with PsA, while HLA-C*06:02 positivity remained protective. There was a trend towards an association of PsA with older age, younger age of psoriasis onset, and skin fold involvement, while there was protective trend for smoking. A predictive model including both clinical and genetic factors showed reasonable discriminative ability between psoriasis and PsA, with an area under the curve of 0.87 for a receiver operating characteristic curve.ConclusionThis study identified a number of clinical and genetic features that could help stratify patients who are at higher risk for having PsA and for whom rheumatology referral may be beneficial

Berberine induces caspase-independent cell death in colon tumor cells through activation of apoptosis-inducing factor

Berberine, an isoquinoline alkaloid derived from plants, is a traditional medicine for treating bacterial diarrhea and intestinal parasite infections. Although berberine has recently been shown to suppress growth of several tumor cell lines, information regarding the effect of berberine on colon tumor growth is limited. Here, we investigated the mechanisms underlying the effects of berberine on regulating the fate of colon tumor cells, specifically the immorto Min mouse colonic epithelial (IMCE) cells carrying the Apcmin mutation, and of normal colon epithelial cells, namely young adult mouse colon (YAMC) epithelial cells. Berberine decreased colon tumor colony formation in agar, and induced cell death and LDH release in a time- and concentration-dependent manner in IMCE cells. In contrast, YAMC cells were not sensitive to berberine-induced cell death. Berberine did not stimulate caspase activation, and PARP cleavage and berberine-induced cell death were not affected by a caspase inhibitor in IMCE cells. Rather, berberine stimulated a caspase-independent cell death mediator, apoptosis-inducing factor (AIF) release from mitochondria and nuclear translocation in a ROS production-dependent manner. Amelioration of berberine-stimulated ROS production or suppression of AIF expression blocked berberine-induced cell death and LDH release in IMCE cells. Furthermore, two targets of ROS production in cells, cathepsin B release from lysosomes and PARP activation were induced by berberine. Blockage of either of these pathways decreased berberine-induced AIF activation and cell death in IMCE cells. Thus, berberine-stimulated ROS production leads to cathepsin B release and PARP activation-dependent AIF activation, resulting in caspase-independent cell death in colon tumor cells. Notably, normal colon epithelial cells are less susceptible to berberine-induced cell death, which suggests the specific inhibitory effects of berberine on colon tumor cell growth

Monitoring insulator contamination level under dry condition with a microwave reflectometer

—Build-up of surface contamination on high voltage insulators can lead to an increase in leakage current and partial discharge, which may eventually develop into flashover. Conventional contamination level monitoring systems based on leakage current, partial discharge, infrared and ultraviolet camera are only effective when the contamination layer has been wetted by rain, fog or condensation; under these conditions flashover might occur before there is time to implement remedial measures such as cleaning. This paper describes studies exploring the feasibility of applying microwave reflectometry techniques to monitor insulator contamination levels. This novel method measures the power generated by a 10.45 GHz source and reflected at the insulator contamination layer. A theoretical model establishes the relationship between equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD) levels, dielectric properties and geometry of contamination layers. Experimental results demonstrate that the output from the reflectometer is able to clearly distinguish between samples with different contamination levels under dry conditions. This contamination monitoring method could potentially provide advance warning of the future failure of wet insulators in climates where insulators can experience dry conditions for extended periods

The metabolomics of psoriatic disease.

Metabolomics is an emerging new "omics" field involving the systematic analysis of the metabolites in a biologic system. These metabolites provide a molecular snapshot of cellular activity and are thus important for understanding the functional changes in metabolic pathways that drive disease. Recently, metabolomics has been used to study the local and systemic metabolic changes in psoriasis and its cardiometabolic comorbidities. Such studies have revealed novel insights into disease pathogenesis and suggest new biochemical signatures that may be used as a marker of psoriatic disease. This review will discuss common strategies in metabolomics analysis, current findings in the metabolomics of psoriasis, and emerging trends in psoriatic metabolomics

Design of a microwave radiometer for monitoring high voltage insulator contamination level

Microwave radiometry is a novel method for monitoring contamination levels on high voltage insulators. The microwave radiometer described measures energy emitted from the contamination layer and could provide a safe, reliable, contactless monitoring method that is effective under dry conditions. The design of the system has focused on optimizing accuracy, stability and sensitivity using a relatively low cost architecture. Experimental results demonstrate that the output from the radiometer is able to clearly distinguish between samples with different contamination levels under dry conditions. This contamination monitoring method could potentially provide advance warning of the future failure of wet insulators in climates where insulators can experience dry conditions for extended periods

Subjectivity in bio-logging science: do logged data mislead?

Logging of data using animal-attached archival units (bio-logging) involves potential sources of subjectivity that are reviewed in the present paper. Subjectivity may be the result of technical limitations of which the selection of the correct sampling frequency is particularly critical. Mistakes or aberrant data can also result from transitory defaults in the loggers functioning. Similarly, the use of purpose-written software to pre-process logged data before analysis is another step during which substantial modification of the raw data can occur. Apart from technical limitations, bio-logging devices are also known to modify the behaviour of the animal studied. Finally, arbitrary conclusions can eventually be drawn out from the \u27visual\u27 analysis of logged-data. The second part of this review proposes a non-exhaustive list of precautions so as to enhance objectivity in bio-logging approach. Among these precautions, assessment of the impact that data-logger may have on the animal, appropriate calibrations (for example for transformation of the raw measurements into useable variables) and multi-data sampling are useful steps in bio-logging utilization