Nicotine dependence is associated with an increased risk of developing chronic, non-communicable inflammatory disease: a large-scale retrospective cohort study.

Introduction: Chronic, non-communicable inflammatory diseases (CIDs) affect a large portion of the population, imposing a significant morbidity, encompassing a substantial mortality. Thus, they are a major medical burden with a high unmet need. CIDs develop over the span of several years, and the risk of developing CIDs has been linked to genetic and environmental factors.

Large-scale analysis highlights obesity as a risk factor for chronic, non-communicable inflammatory diseases.

Background: Overweight and obesity are a global pandemic, contributing to death and disability-adjusted life-years. Obesity is a major factor in the onset of chronic inflammatory diseases (CIDs). Yet, several knowledge gaps remain: For several CIDs, inconsistent results have been reported, relating to their obesity-imposed risk, data on most rare CIDs remain unavailable, sex differences and racial disparities remain mostly unaddressed.

Meeting Report on "The International Congress on Autoimmune Pre-disease (2024)".

The International Congress on Autoimmune Pre-Disease was organized by the German Research Foundation-founded Research Training Group "Autoimmune Pre-Disease" and took place at the University of Lübeck, Germany, on September 16-17, 2024. The event featured various talks and posters from young researchers and international experts and emphasized early interventions and prevention in autoimmune diseases with a focus on systemic rheumatic diseases, pemphigus, and pemphigoid diseases.

The cardiometabolic safety of dupilumab in atopic dermatitis: A global large-scale cohort study.

Background: A low risk of cardiovascular and metabolic outcomes was found in the randomized clinical trials of dupilumab in atopic dermatitis (AD). Dupilumab-associated real-life long-term cardiometabolic risk relative to other systemic agents is yet to be precisely investigated.

Objective: To assess the risk of cardiometabolic outcomes in patients with AD treated with dupilumab relative to those treated with methotrexate and cyclosporine.

Facultatively Anaerobic Staphylococci Enable Anaerobic Species to Grow and Form Biofilms Under Aerobic Conditions.

Facultatively anaerobic spp. and anaerobic spp. are among the most prominent bacteria on human skin.

Mortality in adult patients with chronic spontaneous urticaria: A real-world cohort study.

Background: Chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), a common and debilitating disease, is widely held not to be life limiting, but the mortality of CSU has not been investigated.

Objective: We sought to assess all-cause mortality in patients with CSU, risk for comorbidities that are leading causes of death, and impact of guideline-recommended urticaria treatments on mortality rates.

Methods: This was a retrospective population-based cohort study of electronic health records of 272,190 adult patients with CSU and 12,728,913 controls without urticaria from the US collaborative network TriNetX.

Biological, as opposed to classic antipsoriatic drug or apremilast, treatment mitigates the risk of death and cardiovascular disease in psoriasis.

Background: Cardiovascular comorbidity increases morbidity and mortality in psoriasis. Systemic treatments, particularly biologics, are effective in alleviating skin and joint inflammation. Conversely, the impact of systemic therapy on cardiovascular disease risk and mortality in psoriasis remains uncertain.

COVID-19 infection is associated with an elevated risk for autoimmune blistering diseases while COVID-19 vaccination decreases the risk: A large-scale population-based cohort study of 112 million individuals.

Background: Numerous diseases associated with COVID-19 infection and vaccination have been reported, including conditions such as the autoimmune blistering diseases (AIBDs) pemphigus and pemphigoid. However, robust evidence supporting these associations is lacking.

Objective: To investigate the risk of developing AIBD following COVID-19 infection and vaccination.

Alopecia Areata and malignancies: uncertainties clarified by a large-scale population-based study.

The association of AA with malignancies has been a scope of controversy as the current literature is highly inconsistent in this regard. To evaluate the association between AA and hematological malignancies (HMs) and solid malignancies (SMs) using a large-scale, real-life computerized database. A cross-sectional study was conducted to compare the prevalence of HMs and SMs among patients with AA relative to age-, sex-, and ethnicity-matched control subjects.

Dispersin B: The Quintessential Antibiofilm Enzyme.

The extracellular matrix of most bacterial biofilms contains polysaccharides, proteins, and nucleic acids. These biopolymers have been shown to mediate fundamental biofilm-related phenotypes including surface attachment, intercellular adhesion, and biocide resistance. Enzymes that degrade polymeric biofilm matrix components, including glycoside hydrolases, proteases, and nucleases, are useful tools for studying the structure and function of biofilm matrix components and are also being investigated as potential antibiofilm agents for clinical use.

The risk of psychiatric disorders in finasteride users with benign prostatic hyperplasia and androgenetic alopecia: A population-based case-control study.

Background: There is a long-standing debate if finasteride, a medication used to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) and androgenetic alopecia (AGA), can cause psychiatric side effects.

Objective: The goal of this large-scale population-based study was to determine whether finasteride therapy for BPH and AGA is associated with the emergence of mental health conditions.

Methods: This observational case-control study compared the data from patients with BPH who received finasteride 5 mg daily and patients with AGA who received finasteride 1 mg daily with age- and gender-matched controls.

Hematological malignancy-associated pyoderma gangrenosum: evaluating the magnitude of the association.

Background: Hematologic malignancies (HMs) are well-known underlying comorbidities of pyoderma gangrenosum (PG). However, studies quantifying the likelihood of PG after HMs are yet to be performed.

Objective: To investigate the bidirectional association between PG and several HMs, namely acute leukemia, chronic leukemia, Hodgkin lymphoma, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.

The cardiovascular risk in bullous pemphigoid: Insights from a population-based study.

Background: The risk of life-threatening major cardiovascular outcomes among patients with bullous pemphigoid (BP) is inconsistent in the current literature.

Objective: To evaluate the risk and prognostic outcomes of myocardial infarction (MI), cerebrovascular accident (CVA), peripheral vascular disease (PVD) and pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients with BP. We additionally aimed to explore the influence of different therapeutic approaches on the risk of these outcomes.

A bidirectional autoimmune cluster between vitiligo and rheumatoid arthritis: a large-scale population-based study.

A knowledge gap exists regarding the association between vitiligo and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) due to the absence of large-scale cohort studies designed to investigate this association. To investigate the bidirectional epidemiological association between vitiligo and RA. A population-based study was conducted using Clalit Health Services (CHS) database (2002-2019) using both a cohort study and a case-control study design.

Clarifying the association between Parkinson's disease and vitiligo: a population-based large-scale study.

Objective: Our knowledge about the association between vitiligo and Parkinson's disease (PD) is sparse. We sought to investigate the bidirectional epidemiological association between vitiligo and PD.

Methods: A population-based study was conducted using Clalit Health Services (CHS) database (2002-2019) using both a cohort study and a case-control study design.