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NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) is overexpressed in most solid cancers, emerging as a promising target for tumor-selective killing. β-Lapachone (β-Lap), an NQO1 bioactivatable drug, exhibits significant antitumor effects on NQO1-positive cancer cells by inducing immunogenic cell death (ICD) and enhancing tumor immunogenicity. However, the interaction between β-Lap-mediated antitumor immune responses and neutrophils, novel antigen-presenting cells (APCs), remains unknown. This study demonstrates that β-Lap selectively kills NQO1-positive murine tumor cells by significantly increasing intracellular ROS formation and inducing DNA double strand breaks (DSBs), resulting in DNA damage. Treatment with β-Lap efficiently eradicates immunocompetent murine tumors and significantly increases the infiltration of tumor-associated neutrophils (TANs) into the tumor microenvironment (TME), which plays a crucial role in the drug’s therapeutic efficacy. Further, the presence of β-Lap-induced antigen medium leads bone marrow-derived neutrophils (BMNs) to directly kill murine tumor cells, aiding in dendritic cells (DCs) recruitment and significantly enhancing CD8+ T cell proliferation. β-Lap treatment also drives the polarization of TANs toward an antitumor N1 phenotype, characterized by elevated IFN-β expression and reduced TGF-β cytokine expression, along with increased CD95 and CD54 surface markers. β-Lap treatment also induces N1 TAN-mediated T cell cross-priming. The HMGB1/TLR4/MyD88 signaling cascade influences neutrophil infiltration into β-Lap-treated tumors. Blocking this cascade or depleting neutrophil infiltration abolishes the antigen-specific T cell response induced by β-Lap treatment. Overall, this study provides comprehensive insights into the role of tumor-infiltrating neutrophils in the β-Lap-induced antitumor activity against NQO1-positive murine tumors.

A common life-threatening hereditary disease, Cystic Fibrosis (CF), affects primarily Caucasian infants. High sweat-salt levels are observed as a result of a single autosomal mutation in chromosome 7 that affects the critical function of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR). For establishing tailored treatment strategies, it is important to understand the broad range of CFTR mutations and their impacts on disease pathophysiology. This study thoroughly investigates the six main classes of classification of CFTR mutations based on their functional effects. Each class is distinguished by distinct molecular flaws, such as poor protein synthesis, misfolding, gating defects, conduction defects, and decreased CFTR expression at the apical membrane. Furthermore, this paper focuses on the emerging field of CFTR modulators, which intend to restore CFTR function or mitigate its consequences. These modulators, which are characterized by the mode of action and targeted mutation class, have the potential to provide personalized therapy regimens in CF patients. This review provides valuable insights into the genetic basis of CF pathology, and highlights the potential for precision medicine methods in CF therapy by thoroughly investigating CFTR mutation classification and related modulators.

Immunotherapy is a promising therapeutic tool that promotes the elimination of cancerous cells by a patient’s own immune system. However, in the clinical setting, the number of cancer patients benefitting from immunotherapy is limited. Identification and targeting of other immune subsets, such as tumor-associated macrophages, and alternative immune checkpoints, like Mer, may further limit tumor progression and therapy resistance. In this review, we highlight the key roles of macrophage Mer signaling in immune suppression. We also summarize the role of pro-inflammatory (M1) and anti-inflammatory (M2) phenotypes in tumor onset and progression and how Mer structure and activation can be targeted therapeutically to alter activation state. Preclinical and clinical studies focusing on Mer kinase inhibition have demonstrated the potential of targeting this innate immune checkpoint, leading to improved anti-tumor responses and patient outcomes.

Low oxygen tension, or hypoxia is the driving force behind tumor aggressiveness, leading to therapy resistance, metastasis, and stemness in solid cancers including breast cancer, which now stands as the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in women. With the great advancements in exploring the regulatory roles of the non-coding genome in recent years, the wide spectrum of hypoxia-responsive genome is not limited to just protein-coding genes but also includes multiple types of non-coding RNAs, such as micro RNAs, long non-coding RNAs, and circular RNAs. Over the years, these hypoxia-responsive non-coding molecules have been greatly implicated in breast cancer. Hypoxia drives the expression of these non-coding RNAs as upstream modulators and downstream effectors of hypoxia inducible factor signaling in the favor of breast cancer through a myriad of molecular mechanisms. These non-coding RNAs then contribute in orchestrating aggressive hypoxic tumor environment and regulate cancer associated cellular processes such as proliferation, evasion of apoptotic death, extracellular matrix remodeling, angiogenesis, migration, invasion, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition, metastasis, therapy resistance, stemness, and evasion of the immune system in breast cancer. In addition, the interplay between hypoxia-driven non-coding RNAs as well as feedback and feedforward loops between these ncRNAs and HIFs further contribute to breast cancer progression. Although the current clinical implications of hypoxia-driven non-coding RNAs are limited to prognostics and diagnostics in breast cancer, extensive explorations have established some of these hypoxia-driven non-coding RNAs as promising targets to treat aggressive breast cancers, and future scientific endeavors hold great promise in targeting hypoxia-driven ncRNAs at clinics to treat breast cancer and limit global cancer burden.

Recent advances in oncology research have highlighted the promising synergy between low-dose radiation therapy (LDRT) and immunotherapies, with growing evidence highlighting the unique benefits of the combination. LDRT has emerged as a potent tool for stimulating the immune system, triggering systemic antitumor effects by remodeling the tumor microenvironment. Notably, LDRT demonstrates remarkable efficacy even in challenging metastatic sites such as the liver (uveal) and brain (cutaneous), particularly in advanced melanoma stages. The increasing interest in utilizing LDRT for secondary metastatic sites of uveal, mucosal, or cutaneous melanomas underscores its potential efficacy in combination with various immunotherapies. This comprehensive review traverses the journey from laboratory research to clinical applications, elucidating LDRT's immunomodulatory role on the tumor immune microenvironment (TIME) and systemic immune responses. We meticulously examine the preclinical evidence and ongoing clinical trials, throwing light on the promising prospects of LDRT as a complementary therapy in melanoma treatment. Furthermore, we explore the challenges associated with LDRT's integration into combination therapies, addressing crucial factors such as optimal dosage, fractionation, treatment frequency, and synergy with other pharmacological agents. Considering its low toxicity profile, LDRT presents a compelling case for application across multiple lesions, augmenting the antitumor immune response in poly-metastatic disease scenarios. The convergence of LDRT with other disciplines holds immense potential for developing novel radiotherapy-combined modalities, paving the way for more effective and personalized treatment strategies in melanoma and beyond. Moreover, the dose-related toxicities of immunotherapies may be reduced by synergistic amplification of antitumor efficacy with LDRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The glycoprotein alpha-1-antichymotrypsin (AACT), a serine protease inhibitor, is mainly synthesized in the liver and then secreted into the blood and is involved in the acute phase response, inflammation, and proteolysis. The dysregulation of AACT and its glycosylation levels are associated with tumor progression and recurrence, and could be used as a biomarker for tumor monitoring. In this review, we summarized the expression level, glycosylation modification, and biological characteristics of AACT during inflammation, neurodegenerative or other elderly diseases, and tumorigenesis, as well as, focused on the biological roles of AACT in cancer. The aberrant expression of AACT in cancer might be due to genetic alterations and/or immune by bioinformatics analysis. Moreover, AACT may serve as a diagnostic or prognostic biomarker or therapeutic target in tumors. Furthermore, we found that the expression of AACT was associated with the overall survival of patients with human cancers. Decreased AACT expression was associated with poor survival in patients with liver cancer, increased AACT expression was associated with shorter survival in patients with pancreatic cancer, and decreased AACT expression was associated with shorter survival in patients with early lung cancer. The review confirmed the key roles of AACT in tumorigenesis, suggesting that the glycoprotein AACT may serve as a biomarker for tumor diagnosis and prognosis, and could be a potential therapeutic target for human diseases.

Abstract Background Breast cancer (BC), the most common cause of cancer death in women, overtook lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer worldwide in 2020. Although many studies have proposed KIN17 as a biomarker of tumorigenesis in different cancer types, its role in tumor metastasis, particularly in BC metastasis, has been underexplored. This study aimed to explore the role of KIN17 in BC metastasis. Methods Survival analyses was performed to identify the association between KIN17 expression and BC patient survival in silico. Using lentivirus constructs, we developed bidirectional KIN17 expression (KD, knockdown; OE, overexpression) cellular models of luminal‐A (Lum‐A) breast cancer MCF‐7 cells. We performed in vitro wound healing, transwell with and without Matrigel assays, and in vivo tail‐vein metastasis assay to evaluate the migration and invasion abilities of MCF‐7 with stable KIN17 knockdown or overexpression. Western blotting was performed to compare the changes in protein expression. Results We found that KIN17 expression was associated with poor overall survival (OS), relapse‐free survival (RFS), distant metastasis‐free survival (DMFS) and post‐progression survival (PPS), particularly in Lum‐A breast cancer patients. Later, we found that KIN17 knockdown inhibited migration and invasion of MCF‐7 cells via regulating EMT‐associated signaling pathways in vitro and decreases metastatic spread of the disease in vivo. In contrast, KIN17 overexpression promoted migration and invasion of MCF‐7 cells in vitro and increased the metastatic spread of the disease in vivo. Conclusions Overall, our findings provide preliminary data which suggests KIN17 of importance to target in metastatic Lum‐A patients.

Introduction: Effective infiltration of chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells into solid tumors is critical for achieving a robust antitumor response and improving therapeutic outcomes. While CAR-T cell therapies have succeeded in hematologic malignancies, their efficacy in solid tumors remains limited due to poor tumor penetration and an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. This study aimed to evaluate the potential of low-dose radiotherapy (LDRT) administered before T-cell therapy to enhance the antitumor effect by promoting CAR-T cell infiltration. We hypothesized that combining LDRT with T-cell therapy would improve tumor control and survival compared to either treatment alone. Methods: We investigated this hypothesis using two NSG mouse models bearing GSU or CAPAN-2 solid tumors. The mice were treated with engineered CAR-T cells targeting guanyl cyclase-C (GCC) or mesothelin as monotherapy or in combination with LDRT. Additionally, we extended this approach to a C57BL/6 mouse model implanted with MC38-gp100+ cells, followed by adoptive transfer of pmel+ T cells before and after LDRT. Tumor growth and survival outcomes were monitored in all models. Furthermore, we employed atomic force microscopy (AFM) in a small cohort to assess the effects of radiotherapy on tumor stiffness and plasticity, exploring the role of tumor nanomechanics as a potential biomarker for treatment efficacy. Results: Our results demonstrated enhanced tumor control and prolonged survival in mice treated with LDRT followed by T-cell therapy across all models. The combination of LDRT with CAR-T or pmel+ T-cell therapy led to superior tumor suppression and survival compared to monotherapy, highlighting the synergistic impact of the combined approach. Additionally, AFM analysis revealed significant changes in tumor stiffness and plasticity in response to LDRT, suggesting that the nanomechanical properties of the tumor may be predictive of therapeutic response. Discussion: The findings of this study highlight the transformative potential of incorporating LDRT as a precursor to adoptive T-cell therapy in solid tumors. By promoting CAR-T and pmel+ T-cell infiltration into the tumor microenvironment, LDRT enhanced tumor control and improved survival outcomes, offering a promising strategy to overcome the challenges associated with CAR-T therapy in solid tumors. Additionally, the changes in tumor nanomechanics observed through AFM suggest that tumor stiffness and plasticity could be biomarkers for predicting treatment outcomes. These results support further investigation into the clinical application of this combined approach to improve the efficacy of cellbased therapies in patients with solid tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To determine the frequency of physiological changes in skin during pregnancy. Methods This Cross-sectional observational study consisted of pregnant women attending anti-natal clinic of Gynecology & Obstetrics and Dermatology Department at Sahiwal Teaching Hospital, Sahiwal. Demographic data of patients and complete history was taken. General physical and cutaneous examination was done for physiological changes in skin during pregnancy. Relevant systemic examination and laboratory investigations were performed. The data was analyzed by using SPSS version 25. Results A total 271 pregnant female were enrolled, mean and SD of age was 28.24±5.3 and majority of them (61%) were multigravida and (69.7%) were in 3rd trimester. Most frequent skin change observed during pregnancy was stria gravidarum n=144 (53.7%) followed by melasma (45.4 %), linea nigra (41.7 %), increased activity of eccrine gland/sweating (28.8%), pigmentation of areola, increased brittleness of nail(23.6%), increased activity of sebaceous gland /Acne Vulgaris (22.1%), palmar erythema (21.6%) and diffuse hair loss(20.3%). Cutaneous changes mostly noticed were during third trimester of pregnancy. Conclusion The timely recognition of common physiological skin changes during antenatal period helps in improving the patient care during pregnancy, thus reducing maternal and fetal morbidity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neutrophils, the most copious leukocytes in human blood, play a critical role in tumorigenesis, cancer progression, and immune suppression. Recently, neutrophils have attracted the attention of researchers, immunologists, and oncologists because of their potential role in orchestrating immune evasion in human diseases including cancer, which has led to a hot debate redefining the contribution of neutrophils in tumor progression and immunity. To make this debate fruitful, this review seeks to provide a recent update about the contribution of neutrophils in immune suppression and tumor progression. Here, we first described the molecular pathways through which neutrophils aid in cancer progression and orchestrate immune suppression/evasion. Later, we summarized the underlying molecular mechanisms of neutrophil-mediated therapy resistance and highlighted various approaches through which neutrophil antagonism may heighten the efficacy of the immune checkpoint blockade therapy. Finally, we have highlighted several unsolved questions and hope that answering these questions will provide a new avenue toward immunotherapy revolution.

Objective To compare the frequency of nail changes in Chronic Kidney Disease patients undergoing haemodialysis with patients on maintenance therapy. Methods This analytical cross-sectional study was carried out at Dermatology and Nephrology Department, Sahiwal Teaching Hospitals, Sahiwal, after approval from Institutional Ethical Review Committee. A total of 158 patients with chronic kidney disease of either sex and age were divided into two groups: Group A (patients under regular haemodialysis) Group B (patients on oral therapy). Patient's demographic, clinical and laboratory data were recorded in predesigned proforma. Data were analyzed by using SPSS version 28. Results Out of total 158 patients, male female ratio was 1.1:1 and majority of patients (63.3%) were above age of 40 years. Most commonly reported nail changes in both groups were absence of lunula (65%, 57%), longitudinal ridging (54%, 58%) and onycholysis (45%, 35%) but variations were observed in their frequencies. There was no statistically significant difference in nail changes of both groups. Conclusion Patients with CKD undergoing HD therapy have slight higher frequency of nail changes compared to patients on maintenance therapy. Further studies with large sample size may elaborate Results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the leading cause of cancer associated deaths worldwide. Independent studies have proposed altered DNA methylation pattern and aberrant microRNA (miRNA) levels leading to abnormal expression of different genes as important regulators of disease onset and progression in HCC. Here, using systems biology approaches, we aimed to integrate methylation, miRNA profiling and gene expression data into a regulatory methylation-miRNA–mRNA (meth-miRNA–mRNA) network to better understand the onset and progression of the disease. Methods Patients’ gene methylation, miRNA expression and gene expression data were retrieved from the NCBI GEO and TCGA databases. Differentially methylated genes, and differentially expressed miRNAs and genes were identified by comparing respective patients’ data using two tailed Student’s t-test. Functional annotation and pathway enrichment, miRNA–mRNA inverse pairing and gene set enrichment analyses (GSEA) were performed using DAVID, miRDIP v4.1 and GSEA tools respectively. meth-miRNA–mRNA network was constructed using Cytoscape v3.5.1. Kaplan–Meier survival analyses were performed using R script and significance was calculated by Log-rank (Mantel-Cox) test. Results We identified differentially expressed mRNAs, miRNAs, and differentially methylated genes in HCC as compared to normal adjacent tissues by analyzing gene expression, miRNA expression, and methylation profiling data of HCC patients and integrated top miRNAs along with their mRNA targets and their methylation profile into a regulatory meth-miRNA–mRNA network using systems biology approach. Pathway enrichment analyses of identified genes revealed suppressed metabolic pathways and hyperactive cell cycle signaling as key features of HCC onset and progression which we validated in 10 different HCC patients’ datasets. Next, we confirmed the inverse correlation between gene methylation and its expression, and between miRNA and its targets’ expression in various datasets. Furthermore, we validated the clinical significance of identified methylation, miRNA and mRNA signatures by checking their association with clinical features and survival of HCC patients. Conclusions Overall, we suggest that simultaneous (1) reversal of hyper-methylation and/or oncogenic miRNA driven suppression of genes involved in metabolic pathways, and (2) induction of hyper-methylation and/or tumor suppressor miRNA driven suppression of genes involved in cell cycle signaling have potential of inhibiting disease aggressiveness, and predicting good survival in HCC.

Background: Inflammatory myofibroblastic tumor (IMT) is a rare mesenchymal tumor with intermediate malignancy that tends to affect children primarily. To date, no standardized therapies exist for the treatment of IMT. This study aimed to share experience from China Children’s Medical Center for the explorative treatment of IMT. Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed IMT between January 2013 and December 2018 were included. Patients were grouped according to surgical margins and Intergroup Rhabdomyosarcoma Study Group (IRSG) staging. The clinical characteristic, therapeutic schedules, treatment response and clinical outcome were described. Results: Six patients were enrolled in this study, including two boys and four girls, with a median age of 57 months (range 10–148 months). Among them, five patients were anaplastic lymphoma kinase positive. Four patients achieved complete remission and two patients attained partial remission after treatment with this protocol. All patients were alive after a median follow-up of 4 years (range 3–7 years). The most common treatment-related adverse reaction was myelosuppression. Conclusion: In this study, we demonstrated that IMT has a good prognosis and the treatment selected according to risk stratification was effective and feasible.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is ranked the third deadliest cancer worldwide whose molecular pathogenesis is not fully understood. Although deregulated metabolic pathways have been implicated in HCC onset and progression, the mechanisms triggering this metabolic imbalance are yet to be explored. Here, we identified a gene signature coding catabolic enzymes (Cat-GS) involved in key metabolic pathways like amino acid, lipid, carbohydrate, drug, and retinol metabolism as suppressed in HCC. A higher expression of deregulated Cat-GS is associated with good survival and less aggressive disease state in HCC patients. On the other hand, we identified mTOR signaling as a key determinant in HCC onset and progression, whose hyperactivation is found associated with poor survival and aggressive disease state in HCC patients. Next, out of Cat-GS, we established two key regulators of alcohol metabolism, alcohol dehydrogenase 1A (ADH1A) and aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), as being transcriptionally suppressed by histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) at the downstream of mTORC1 signaling. Suppressed ADH1A and ALDH2 expression aligns well with HCC-specific molecular profile and can efficiently predict disease onset and progression, whereas higher ADH1A and ALDH2 expression is associated with good survival and less aggressive disease state in HCC patients. Overall, our in silico findings suggest that transcriptional suppression of alcohol metabolism regulators, ADH1A and ALDH2, at the downstream of mTOR signaling is, in part, responsible for triggering oncogenic transformation of hepatocytes resulting in disease onset and progression in HCC.

Background and objectiveCognitive impairments have been reported in patients with hyperprolactinemia; however, there is a lack of knowledge of brain structure alterations relevant to hyperprolactinemia in prolactinomas. Thus, we aimed to identify changes in brain structure in prolactinomas and to determine whether these changes are related to cognitive performance and clinical characteristics.MethodsParticipants were 32 female patients with prolactinomas and 26 healthy controls (HC) matched for age, sex, education, and handedness. All participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging brain scans, neuropsychological assessments, and clinical evaluations. Voxel-based morphometry analysis was used to identify changes in gray matter volume (GMV). Partial correlation analysis and multiple linear regression were performed to determine the relationship between GMV, cognition, and clinical characteristics.ResultsCompared to HC, patients with prolactinomas demonstrated a decrease in GMV in the left hippocampus, left orbitofrontal cortex, right middle frontal cortex (MFC), and right inferior frontal cortex (IFC). In addition, patients performed worse than controls on tests for verbal memory and executive function, and this was significantly related to the GMV of the left hippocampus and right MFC, respectively. Moreover, in the patients, we found a negative relationship between serum prolactin levels and the GMV of the left hippocampus and right IFC, whereas a positive relationship was found between the GMV of the left hippocampus and serum levels of estradiol and luteinizing hormone.ConclusionIn patients with prolactinomas, specific brain structure abnormalities have been identified and are associated with cognitive impairments and dysfunctional hormones. This study enhances our understanding of brain structure changes that may occur with prolactinomas and provides novel and fundamental evidence for previous behavioral findings relevant to hyperprolactinemia.

Sarcoidosis is a chronic granulomatous disease of unknown etiology involving multiple organs of body. Cutaneous sarcoidosis varied in morphology with follicular, papular, nodular plaque, lupus pernio and erythema nodosum are the commonest forms. We herein present a case of a middle age male who presented with micropapular lesion on photo exposed areas which turn out to be cutaneous sarcoidosis on histopathology. There was no systemic involvement. Multidisciplinary and comprehensive management approach is required in such cases. Patients' clinical features improved considerably after treatment with topical and systemic corticosteroids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Meta-analysis was performed for three major foliar diseases with the aim to find out the total number of QTL responsible for these diseases and depict some real QTL for molecular breeding and marker assisted selection (MAS) in maize. Furthermore, we confirmed our results with some major known disease resistance genes and most well-known gene family of nucleotide binding site (NBS) encoding genes. Our analysis revealed that disease resistance QTL were randomly distributed in maize genome, but were clustered at different regions of the chromosomes. Totally 389 QTL were observed for these three major diseases in diverse maize germplasm, out of which 63 QTL were controlling more than one disease revealing the presence of multiple disease resistance (MDR). 44 real-QTLs were observed based on 4 QTL as standard in a specific region of genome. We also confirmed the Ht1 and Ht2 genes within the region of real QTL and 14 NBS-encoding genes. On chromosome 8 two NBS genes in one QTL were observed and on chromosome 3, several cluster and maximum MDR QTL were observed indicating that the apparent clustering could be due to genes exhibiting pleiotropic effect. Significant relationship was observed between the number of disease QTL and total genes per chromosome based on the reference genome B73. Therefore, we concluded that disease resistance genes are abundant in maize genome and these results can unleash the phenomenon of MDR. Furthermore, these results could be very handy to focus on hot spot on different chromosome for fine mapping of disease resistance genes and MAS.

As a second messenger, Ca(2+) plays a major role in cold induced transduction via stimulus-specific increases in [Ca(2+)]cyt, which is called calcium signature. During this process, CAXs (Ca(2+)/H(+) exchangers) play critical role. For the first time, a putative Ca(2+)/H(+) exchanger GhCAX3 gene from upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum cv. 'YZ-1') was isolated and characterized. It was highly expressed in all tissues of cotton except roots and fibers. This gene may act as a regulator in cotton's response to abiotic stresses as it could be up-regulated by Ca(2+), NaCl, ABA and cold stress. Similar to other CAXs, it was proved that GhCAX3 also had Ca(2+) transport activity and the N-terminal regulatory region (NRR) through yeast complementation assay. Over-expression of GhCAX3 in tobacco showed less sensitivity to ABA during seed germination and seedling stages, and the phenotypic difference between wild type (WT) and transgenic plants was more significant when the NRR was truncated. Furthermore, GhCAX3 conferred cold tolerance in yeast as well as in tobacco seedlings based on physiological and molecular studies. However, transgenic plant seeds showed more sensitivity to cold stress compared to WT during seed germination, especially when expressed in N-terminal truncated version. Finally, the extent of sensitivity in transgenic lines was more severe than that in WT line under sodium tungstate treatment (an ABA repressor), indicating that ABA could alleviate cold sensitivity of GhCAX3 seeds, especially in short of its NRR. Meanwhile, we also found that overexpression of GhCAX3 could enhance some cold and ABA responsive marker genes. Taken together, these results suggested that GhCAX3 plays important roles in the cross-talk of ABA and cold signal transduction, and compared to full-length of GhCAX3, the absence of NRR could enhance the tolerance or sensitivity to cold stress, depending on seedling's developmental stages.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic, autoimmune disorder involving multiple organ systems with variability in its clinical features and complexity of disease course. Ocular manifestations occur in one-third of SLE patients. Vision-threatening retinal vasculitis may be the initial eye presentation in such cases. We herein present a case of a teenage girl who exhibits signs and symptoms of retinal vasculitis after the initial diagnosis of SLE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To assess the frequency of alopecia areata associated with other autoimmune disorder in a tertiary care hospital. Study Design: Prospective Cross Sectional study. Setting: Department of Dermatology GHAQ/DHQ Teaching Hospital/Sahiwal Medical College, Sahiwal. Period: January 2020 to December 2020. Material & Methods: A total of 24 patients fulfilling criteria were entered in the study. After taking informed consent, demographic data was recorded. History was taken and general physical and systemic examination was performed. Laboratory investigations were carried out where needed, for determination of factors associated with alopecia areata. Results: This study comprised of 24 patients with male n=12 (50%) and female n=12 (50%) in equal ratio 1:1. Mean age of patients of alopecia areata with SD was 19.75 ± 9.90 years. Most of the study patients were unmarried n=17 (70.8%). More than two third of patients had mild and moderate severity of disease n=18 (75%). Most common autoimmune disorder associated with alopecia areata was Diabetes Mellitus n=6 (20.9%) followed by atopic dermatitis n=3 (12.5%), anemia n=3 (12.5%) and thyroid disorders (hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism) n=2 (8.3%). The p value in various autoimmune diseases was found to be non-significant. (> 0.05). Conclusion: Patients presenting with alopecia areata may have associated other autoimmune disorders which needs to be investigated, thus helping in the management of disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective To determine the frequency of depression, anxiety and stress among acne vulgaris patients. Methods This cross-sectional study was conducted in Department of Dermatology at DHQ/ GHAQ Teaching Hospital/ Sahiwal Medical College, Sahiwal after approval from ethical review committee. A total of 100 patients of acne vulgaris filling the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled. Acne severity was graded into three grades mild, moderate and severe. DASS (Depression Anxiety Stress Score) questionnaire (21 Questions) was translated and filled on proforma. Data was analyzed by SPSS. Results In 100 patients, there were 58 females and 42 males. Mean age was 21 years in both genders. There was significant number of patients (39%) with family history of acne vulgaris. Majority of them were students (59%) and unmarried (82%). Mild (47%) and moderate (43%) severity of acne vulgaris constitute 90% of total patients and rest of patients (10%) belonged to severe form. Depression was observed in most cases (62%) as compared to anxiety (51%) and stress (40%) in different severity of acne patients. Moderate degree of depression 48% (n=30) and anxiety 49% (n=25) cases and mild degree of stress 50% (n=20) cases were noticed in majority among different severity of acne vulgaris. Conclusion There is significant impact of psychological issues on acne vulgaris patient as shown by frequency of depression, anxiety and stress in this study. Thus, highlight the need of close liaison of dermatologist and psychiatrist in management of acne vulgaris. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Tocompare the efficacy and safety of topical tacrolimus ointment with topical clobetasol ointment in vitiligo patients. Methods: This quasi-experimental study was carried out in outpatient, Department of Dermatology Unit-II, KMEU/ Mayo Hospital, Lahore. Sixty patients above 12 years were selected by nonprobability purposive sampling method and were divided into two equal groups. Patients having lesions of less than 2 years of duration were included. After obtaining an informed consent, patients in group I were treated with twice daily application of 0.1% tacrolimus ointment and group II with clobetasol ointment for a period of six months. If no response was obtained, treatment was stopped after three months. Results: Repigmentation was seen in 15 (50%) patients in tacrolimus group and 27 (90.0%) in clobetasol group. Contact dermatitis was noted in one patient in each group and acneiform eruption was recorded in one patient in the clobetasol group. Conclusion:Topically, clobetasol remains to be an effective therapy in vitiligo. Topical tacrolimus was not effective in our patients. Intermittent use of clobetasol is as safe as continuous use of tacrolimus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]