Publications by authors named "Rachel Lin"

Article Synopsis
  • Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) is a skin condition caused by an autoimmune response, part of the broader lupus family.* -
  • Current treatments, including systemic immunosuppressants and topical options, often provide only moderate relief for symptoms like itching and skin discoloration, leaving patients with unmet needs.* -
  • Recent advancements in biologics and other systemic medications have improved options for dermatologists and rheumatologists in managing CLE effectively.*
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  • The acid mantle is a protective buffer system in the upper layer of the skin that helps maintain an acidic environment, which is important for skin health.
  • Skin pH plays a critical role in maintaining the epidermal barrier, and changes in pH can lead to skin issues and influence dermatological diseases.
  • The review discusses how skin pH affects skin conditions and suggests that therapies targeting pH levels could improve the treatment of these conditions.
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  • - Systemic sclerosis, or scleroderma, is a challenging autoimmune disease that causes damage to connective tissues, resulting in issues like fibrosis and vascular damage; however, hyaluronidase has emerged as a potential treatment option.
  • - A systematic review was conducted to analyze the use of hyaluronidase in systemic sclerosis, focusing on articles published between 2013 and 2023 that discussed its therapeutic effects in human subjects.
  • - The review found that intradermal hyaluronidase treatment improved oral aperture in patients with systemic sclerosis-associated microstomia, although multiple injections were required, and further research with larger studies and standardized methods is necessary.
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  • Environmental exposures negatively affect hair follicles (HFs), which are sensitive to contaminants absorbed through the skin or circulated in the bloodstream.
  • Pollutants like particulate matter can cause inflammation and are linked to hair loss conditions such as alopecia areata, while substances like tobacco smoke and heavy metals also impact hair health.
  • Research on how these environmental factors affect hair pathology is ongoing and highlights the need for more in-depth studies.
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Occupational dermatitis (OD) is an inflammatory skin disease stemming from exposure to specific substances within a work setting. As the second most prevalent occupational health concern in 2020, affecting 1.8 per 10,000 workers, OD poses a significant challenge to workforce well-being and imposes a substantial economic burden through lost wages, decreased productivity, and increased healthcare spending.

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  • - A recent study found that only 16.6% of TikTok videos about sun protection were made by board-certified dermatologists, with the majority coming from beauty bloggers (38.7%) and consumers (33.7%).
  • - The analysis was conducted by examining the top 100 videos associated with hashtags like #sunscreen and #sunprotection from August 25-27, 2023, raising concerns about the credibility of the information provided.
  • - Additionally, only 2.8% of the videos addressed skin of color, indicating a lack of diversity and inclusivity in skincare content on TikTok and highlighting a need for dermatologists to contribute more educational content on the platform.
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  • Limited research has examined the impact of social determinants of health on urban-rural disparities in skin cancer prevalence, especially among individuals with Skin of Color.
  • A study analyzing data from five states found that rural populations generally have a higher likelihood of a positive skin cancer history compared to their urban counterparts across various social determinants, including race and income.
  • Notably, while most rural racial groups showed higher odds of skin cancer, this disparity diminished among those with a household income above $100,000, highlighting the influence of socioeconomic factors on health outcomes.
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  • Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) can cause serious side effects, including a severe skin condition called epidermal necrosis, which can resemble Stevens-Johnson syndrome (SJS) and toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN).
  • In a study of 98 cases of ICI-associated epidermal necrosis, it was noted that symptoms can develop anywhere from 1 day to 3 years after starting treatment, with more severe cases often showing a preceding rash and mucosal involvement linked to fatal outcomes.
  • Most patients recover, but young age was associated with worse outcomes in extensive disease, highlighting that ICI-associated epidermal necrosis may be different from other drug-induced skin conditions.
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  • - The study aimed to determine the prevalence of carbapenemase-producing Enterobacterales (CPE) in pets by analyzing fecal samples from various veterinary labs across the US, finding a low prevalence of 0.21%.
  • - Researchers conducted surveillance by screening approximately 2,393 fecal specimens from dogs and cats, identifying 196 isolates, with five confirmed as carbapenemase producers through genomic sequencing.
  • - The findings highlight a genetic similarity between certain CPE isolates from pets and those found in humans, suggesting the need for continued monitoring of CPE in companion animals.
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Despite wide reporting of a right ear (RE) advantage on dichotic listening tasks and a right visual field (RVF) advantage on visual half-field tasks, we know very little about the relationship between these perceptual biases. Previous studies that have investigated perceptual asymmetries for analogous auditory and visual consonant-vowel tasks have indicated a serendipitous finding: a RE advantage and a left visual field (LVF) advantage with poor cross-modal correlations. In this study, we examined the possibility that this LVF advantage for visual processing of consonant-vowel strings may be a consequence of repetition by examining perceptual biases in analogous auditory and visual tasks for both consonant-vowel strings and words.

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Background: Colorectal cancer (CRC) screening can prevent disease by early identification. Existing disparities in CRC screening have been associated with factors including race, socioeconomic status, insurance, and even geography. Our study takes a deeper look into how social determinants related to zip code tabulation areas affect CRC screenings.

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Additive manufacturing, or three-dimensional (3D) printing, has garnered significant interest in recent years towards the fabrication of sub-millimeter scale devices for an ever-widening array of chemical, biological and biomedical applications. Conventional 3D printed fluidic systems, however, still necessitate the use of non-portable, high-powered external off-chip sources of fluidic actuation, such as electro-mechanical pumps and complex pressure-driven controllers, thus limiting their scope towards point-of-need applications. This work proposes entirely 3D printed sources of human-powered fluidic actuation which can be directly incorporated into the design of any 3D printable sub-millifluidic or microfluidic system where electrical power-free operation is desired.

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Increasing evidence supports a role for abnormal immune activation and inflammatory responses in Huntington disease (HD). In this study, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of laquinimod (1 and 10 mg/kg), a novel immunomodulatory agent shown to be protective in a number of neuroinflammatory conditions, in the YAC128 mouse model of HD. Treatment with laquinimod for 6 months rescued atrophy in the striatum, in certain cortical regions, and in the corpus callosum of YAC128 HD mice.

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Abnormal monoamine oxidase A and B (MAO-A/B) activity and an imbalance in monoamine neurotransmitters have been suggested to underlie the pathobiology of depression, a major psychiatric symptom observed in patients with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Huntington disease (HD). Increased MAO-A/B activity has been observed in brain tissue from patients with HD and in human and rodent HD neural cells. Using the YAC128 mouse model of HD, we studied the effect of an irreversible MAO-A inhibitor, clorgyline, on the levels of select monoamine neurotransmitters associated with affective function.

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Purpose: To understand the relationship between the risk of opioid-related gastrointestinal adverse effects (AEs) and exposure to tapentadol and oxycodone as well as its active metabolite, oxymorphone, using pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic models.

Methods: The analysis was based on a study in patients with moderate-to-severe pain following bunionectomy. Population PK modeling was conducted to estimate population PK parameters for tapentadol, oxycodone, and oxymorphone.

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In a chemical screening, we tested the antiangiogenic effects of fumagillin derivatives and identified fumagillin as an inhibitor of definitive hematopoiesis in zebrafish embryos. Fumagillin is known to target methionine aminopeptidase II (MetAP2), an enzyme whose function in hematopoiesis is unknown. We investigated the role of MetAP2 in hematopoiesis by using zebrafish embryo and human umbilical cord blood models.

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Chondroitin sulphate proteoglycans (CSPGs) upregulated in the glial scar inhibit axon regeneration via their sulphated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). Chondroitin 6-sulphotransferase-1 (C6ST-1) is upregulated after injury leading to an increase in 6-sulphated GAG. In this study, we ask if this increase in 6-sulphated GAG is responsible for the increased inhibition within the glial scar, or whether it represents a partial reversion to the permissive embryonic state dominated by 6-sulphated glycosaminoglycans (GAGs).

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