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Psoriasis is an immune-mediated genetic skin disease. The underlying pathomechanisms involve complex interaction between the innate and adaptive immune system. T cells interact with dendritic cells, macrophages, and keratinocytes, which can be mediated by their secreted cytokines. In the past decade, biologics targeting tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-23, and IL-17 have been developed and approved for the treatment of psoriasis. These biologics have dramatically changed the treatment and management of psoriasis. In contrast, various triggering factors can elicit the disease in genetically predisposed individuals. Recent studies suggest that the exacerbation of psoriasis can lead to systemic inflammation and cardiovascular comorbidity. In addition, psoriasis may be associated with other auto-inflammatory and auto-immune diseases. In this review, we summarize the risk factors, which can be divided into two groups (namely, extrinsic and intrinsic risk factors), responsible for the onset and exacerbation of psoriasis in order to facilitate its prevention.

Underdiagnosis and underreporting of scrub typhus has increasingly affected public health in Bhutan since its initial detection in 2008. Identifying scrub typhus risk factors would support early diagnosis and treatment for this nonspecific febrile disease, reducing the incidence of potentially fatal complications. We conducted a hospital-based, case‒control study during October‒December 2015 in 11 scrub typhus‒prone districts. We identified harvesting cardamom as the major risk factor (odds ratio 1,519; p<0.001); other factors were traditional housing, largely caused by an outside toilet location, as well as owning a goat and frequently sitting on grass. Harvesting vegetables, herding cattle in the forest, and female sex were protective. Age had a nonlinear effect; children and the elderly were more likely to seek treatment for clinical scrub typhus. This study has informed public health policies and awareness programs for healthcare workers through development of National Guidelines for Prevention, Treatment and Control of Scrub Typhus in Bhutan.

Postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) is common, occurring in around 10-54% of individuals within first few weeks after surgery. Although the majority of POCD is less commonly persistent later than 3 months following surgery, the condition increases length of stay (LOS), mortality and long-term cognitive decline, raising the need for a broad screening to identify individuals at risk for POCD during the perioperative period. In this narrative review, we summarize preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative risk factors for POCD reported in last 5 years and discuss neuropsychological tools and potential biomarkers and time points for assessment that might be suitable for clinical use. We aim to provide crucial information for developing a strategy of routine screening for POCD, which may assist with better identification of at-risk individuals for early interventions. Very importantly, the utilization of a standardized strategy may also allow higher consistency and comparability across different studies.

Police kill more than 300 black Americans—at least a quarter of them unarmed—each year in the USA. These events might have spillover effects on the mental health of people not directly affected. In this population-based, quasi-experimental study, we combined novel data on police killings with individual-level data from the nationally representative 2013–15 US Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to estimate the causal impact of police killings of unarmed black Americans on self-reported mental health of other black American adults in the US general population. The primary exposure was the number of police killings of unarmed black Americans occurring in the 3 months prior to the BRFSS interview within the same state. The primary outcome was the number of days in the previous month in which the respondent's mental health was reported as “not good”. We estimated difference-in-differences regression models—adjusting for state-month, month-year, and interview-day fixed effects, as well as age, sex, and educational attainment. We additionally assessed the timing of effects, the specificity of the effects to black Americans, and the robustness of our findings. 38 993 (weighted sample share 49%) of 103 710 black American respondents were exposed to one or more police killings of unarmed black Americans in their state of residence in the 3 months prior to the survey. Each additional police killing of an unarmed black American was associated with 0·14 additional poor mental health days (95% CI 0·07–0·22; p=0·00047) among black American respondents. The largest effects on mental health occurred in the 1–2 months after exposure, with no significant effects estimated for respondents interviewed before police killings (falsification test). Mental health impacts were not observed among white respondents and resulted only from police killings of unarmed black Americans (not unarmed white Americans or armed black Americans). Police killings of unarmed black Americans have adverse effects on mental health among black American adults in the general population. Programmes should be implemented to decrease the frequency of police killings and to mitigate adverse mental health effects within communities when such killings do occur. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and National Institutes of Health.

Background/aimConcussion, the most common injury in professional rugby union, occurs most commonly during the tackle. Thus, we investigated the association between tackle characteristics and concussion.Methods182 video clips of tackles leading to clinically diagnosed concussion and 4619 tackles that did not were coded across three professional rugby union competitions. A variable selection process was undertaken to identify the most important variables for interpretation. A multivariate generalised linear model was used to model the association between retained variables and concussion risk. Magnitude-based inferences provided an interpretation of the real-world relevance of the outcomes.ResultsThe four retained variables were: accelerating player, tackler speed, head contact type and tackle type. Overall, 70% of concussions occurred to the tackler and 30% to the ball carrier. There was a higher risk of concussion if the tackler accelerated into the tackle (OR: 2.49, 95% CI 1.70 to 3.64) or the tackler was moving at high speed (OR: 2.64, 95% CI 1.92 to 3.63). Head contact with the opposing player’s head (OR: 39.9, 95% CI 22.2 to 71.1) resulted in a substantially greater risk of concussion compared with all other head contact locations.ConclusionsInterventions that reduce the speed and acceleration of the tackler and reduce exposure to head-to-head contact would likely reduce concussion risk in professional rugby union.

Background: In the aging population, osteoporosis and related complications have become a global public health problem. Osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures are among the most common type of osteoporotic fractures and patients are at risk of secondary vertebral compression fracture. Objectives: To identify risk factors for secondary vertebral compression fracture following primary osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures. Study Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Department of Orthopedic, an affiliated hospital of a medical university. Methods: This retrospective cohort study evaluated the risk factors for secondary vertebral compression fracture in 317 consecutive patients with systematic osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures who received percutaneous vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty or conservative treatment. Patients were divided into secondary vertebral compression fracture (n = 43) and non- secondary vertebral compression fracture (n = 274) groups. We retrospectively analyzed clinical characteristics and radiographic parameters, including gender, age, body mass index, number of primary fractures, primary treatment (percutaneous vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty or conservative treatment), nonspinal fracture history before primary fracture, primary fracture at the thoracolumbar junction, steroid use, bisphosphonate therapy, and Hounsfield units value of L1. Results: Comparison between the groups showed significant differences in age (P = 0.001), nonspinal fracture history (P < 0.001), and Hounsfield units value of L1 (P < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic curves demonstrated that the optimal thresholds for age and Hounsfield units value of L1 were 75 (sensitivity: 55.8%; specificity: 67.5%) and 50 (sensitivity: 88.3%; specificity: 67.4%), respectively. In multivariate logistic regression analysis, nonspinal fracture history (OR = 6.639, 95% CI = 1.809 – 24.371, P = 0.004) and Hounsfield units value of L1 < 50 (OR = 15.260, 95% CI = 6.957 – 33.473, P < 0.001) were independent risk factors for secondary vertebral compression fracture. Limitations: The main limitation is the retrospective nature of this study. Conclusion: Patients with low Hounsfield units value of L1 or non-spinal fracture history are an important population to target for secondary fracture prevention. Key words: Risk factor, vertebral, secondary fracture, osteoporosis

Wenjing Xiao,1 Xinghe Sun,2 Hui Lv,3 Xiaohui Liu,2 Jihong Zhu1 1Emergency Department of Peking University People’s Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Cardiology, Peking University International Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of China; 3Healthcare Management Center, Peking University International Hospital, Beijing, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Jihong Zhu, Emergency Department of Peking University People’s hospital, No. 11 Xizhimen South Street, Beijing, 100044, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8613801398755, Email ZhuJiHong64@sina.com Xiaohui Liu, Department of Cardiology, Peking University International Hospital, Life Park Road No. 1 Life Science Park of Zhong Guancun, Beijing, 102206, People’s Republic of China, Tel +8613651327758, Email liuxiaohui@pkuih.edu.cnBackground: The association between Metabolic Dysfunction–Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) and the development of new carotid plaque in young adults requires further evidence from prospective studies.Methods:  In this study, young adults underwent abdominal and a carotid ultrasounds measurement were included. The carotid plaque progression was assessed in 2 years after baseline. MASLD is defined according to the liver ultrasound findings and self-reported alcohol consumption. Stepped adjusting multivariable logistic regression were employed to analyze the association between MASLD and the outcome. Subgroup analysis was conducted among sex and different amount of metabolic risk factors.Results: A total of 36.54% (2411/6598) of all participants had MASLD at baseline. Among them, 626 (9.49%) participants were found new onset of carotid plaque in two years. Subjects who had progression of plaque had higher proportion of MASLD (53.99% vs 34.71%, SMD=0.396). Statistically significant positive associations were observed in unadjusted logistic regression models in overall or each sex, respectively. After fully adjustment, the association was only significant among female (OR:2.19, 95% CI: 1.28– 3.72) and those had no metabolic risk factor (OR:1.67,95% CI:1.01– 2.76). No significant associations were identified in all male subgroups, whereas the associations were still existing among female subgroups.Conclusion: MASLD was found to be a risk factor of progression of carotid plaque among females and those who had not suffered from metabolic risk factor. Prevention should be focused on young adults who have MASLD at physical examination to reduce their risk of future atherosclerosis.Keywords: MASLD, atherosclerosis, risk factor

The main objective for this study was to assess the association of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and subsequent short sleep duration among adults. This cross-sectional examination used data from the 2011 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, a nationwide telephone-administered survey. Participants completed a standardized questionnaire to report childhood experiences of abuse, neglect, household challenges, and sleep time. Multinominal logistic regression analyses included survey weighting procedures and adjusted for age, race, education, income, sex, and body mass index; associations were also examined by age strata, using age as a proxy for time since ACEs occurred. Complete data were available for 22 403 adults (mean age = 46.66 years) including 14 587 (65%) with optimum sleep duration (7-9 h/night) and 2069 (9%) with short sleep duration (<6 h/night). Compared with adults with optimum sleep duration, the number of ACEs was associated with the odds of short sleep duration (odds ratio [OR] = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.16 to 1.28), and the odds increased as the number of ACEs increased. The association held for each decade of age until the 60s, although the magnitude attenuated. Mental health challenges or poor physical health did not account for the association. ACEs increased the odds of chronic short sleep duration during adulthood and showed both a time-dependent and dose-response nature. These associations were independent of self-reported mental health challenges or poor physical health. The association of ACEs with short sleep duration throughout the adult lifespan emphasizes the importance of child health and identifying underlying psychological challenges in adults with sleep difficulties.

A direct relationship between serum uric acid levels and hypertension, cardiovascular, renal and metabolic diseases has been reported in many basic and epidemiological studies. Among these, high blood pression is one of the most common features associated with hyperuricemia. In this regard, several small-scale interventional studies have demonstrated a significant reduction in blood pressure in hypertensive or prehypertensive patients on uric acid-lowering drugs. These observation or intervention studies have led to affirm that there is a causal relationship between uric acid and hypertension. While the clinical association between uric acid and high blood pressure is notable, no clear conclusion has yet been reached as to whether lowering uric acid is beneficial to prevent cardiovascular and renal metabolic diseases. Recently, several prospective randomized controlled intervention trials using allopurinol and other uric acid-lowering drugs have been reported, and the results from these trials were almost negative, suggesting that the correlation between hyperuricemia and cardiovascular disease has no causality. However, it is important to note that in some of these recent studies there were high dropout rates and an important fraction of participants were not hyperuricemic. Therefore, we should carry caution in interpreting the results of these studies. This review article presents the results of recent clinical trials using uric acid-lowering drugs, focusing on hypertension and cardiovascular and renal metabolic diseases, and discusses the future of uric acid therapy.

The vitamin D receptor (VDR), primarily known as a crucial mediator of calcium homeostasis and metabolism, has been shown to play a significant role in various cancer entities. Previous studies have focused on vitamin D and its receptor in gynecological cancers, noting that the receptor is upregulated in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The aim of this study is to analyze the prognostic impact of VDR and its functional significance in ovarian cancer. Through immunohistochemistry, VDR staining was examined in 156 ovarian cancer samples. Evaluation of VDR staining was conducted in the nucleus and the cytoplasm using the semi-quantitative immunoreactive score, and the scores were classified into high- and low-level expressions. Expression levels were correlated with clinical and pathological parameters as well as with overall survival to assess for prognostic impact. Differences in cytoplasmic VDR expression were identified between the histological subtypes (p = 0.001). Serous, clear cell, and endometrioid subtypes showed the highest staining, while the mucinous subtype showed the lowest. Cytoplasmic VDR correlated with higher FIGO stage (p = 0.013; Cc = 0.203), positive lymph node status (p = 0.023; Cc = 0.236), high-grade serous histology (p = 0.000; Cc = 0.298) and grading from the distinct histological subtypes (p = 0.006; Cc = − 0.225). Nuclear VDR did not correlate with clinicopathological data. High cytoplasmic expression of VDR was associated with impaired overall survival (HR 2.218, 32.5 months vs. median not reached; p < 0.001) and was confirmed as a statistically independent prognostic factor in the Cox regression multivariate analysis. Additional knowledge of VDR as a biomarker and its interactions within the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway could potentially improve the prognosis of therapeutic approaches for specific subgroups in EOC.