Efficacy and safety of topical corticosteroid treatment under occlusion for severe alopecia areata in children: a single-centre retrospective analysis.

Background: Alopecia areata (AA) has a poor clinical course in children. There are no reliable therapeutic options for children with severe AA, including alopecia totalis (AT) and alopecia universalis (AU).

Objectives: We evaluated the efficacy and adverse effects of a potent topical corticosteroid (TCS) under occlusion in paediatric patients with severe AA.

Comparison of anthropometric, metabolic, and body compositional abnormalities in Korean children and adolescents born small, appropriate, and large for gestational age: a population-based study from KNHANES V (2010-2011).

Purpose: The impacts of growth restriction and programming in the fetal stage on metabolic and bone health in children and adolescents are poorly understood. Moreover, there is insufficient evidence for the relationship between current growth status and metabolic components. Herein, we compared the growth status, metabolic and body compositions, and bone mineral density in Korean children and adolescents based on birth weight at gestational age.

Biochemical and molecular identification of a novel hepcidin type 2-like antimicrobial peptide in the skin mucus of the pufferfish Takifugu pardalis.

Fish skin mucus is considered to act as the first line of defense against waterborne pathogens and to be potential source of novel antimicrobial components. Here we report the purification and characterization of a novel hepcidin type 2-like antimicrobial peptide (TpHAMP2) from the skin mucus of the pufferfish Takifugu pardalis. The purified TpHAMP2 comprised of 23 amino acids (AAs) with eight Cys residues that form four intramolecular disulfide bonds.

Identification of a novel antimicrobial peptide from the sea star Patiria pectinifera.

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are components of innate immunity found in many forms of life. However, there have been no reports of AMPs in sea star (Phylum Echinodermata). Here we report the isolation and characterization of a novel antimicrobial peptide from the coelomic epithelium extract of the sea star Patiria pectinifera.

Defensin-neurotoxin dyad in a basally branching metazoan sea anemone.

Recent studies suggest that vertebrate and invertebrate defensins have evolved from two independent ancestors, and that both defensins could share origins with animal toxins. Here, we purified novel sea anemone neurotoxin (BDS)-like antimicrobial peptides (AMPs)-Crassicorin-I and its putative homolog (Crassicorin-II)-from the pharynx extract of an anthozoan sea anemone (Urticina crassicornis). Based on structural analyses and cDNA cloning, mature Crassicorin-I represents a cationic AMP likely generated from a precursor and comprising 40 amino acid residues, including six cysteines forming three intramolecular disulfide bonds.