Background: Growing evidence shows a significant association between intestinal flora and allergic diseases, specifically atopic dermatitis (AD), allergic rhinitis (AR), and allergic asthma (AA). However, the causality has not yet been clarified.Objective: We conducted a bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization (TSMR) analysis to study the causal relationships between intestinal flora classification and AD, AR, or AA.Materials and methods: We obtained summary data of intestinal flora, AD, AR, and AA from a genome-wide association research. The inverse-variance weighted method is the primary method for analyzing causality in the TSMR analysis. Several sensitivity analyses were conducted to examine the stability of TSMR results. Reverse TSMR analysis was also performed to assess whether there was a reverse causality.Results: A total of 7 bacterial taxa associated with AD, AR, and AA were identified by the current TSMR analysis. Specifically, the genus Dialister(P=0.034)and genus Prevotella(P=0.047)were associated with a higher risk of AD, whereas class Coriobacteriia (P=0.034) and its child taxon, order Coriobacteriales (P=0.034) and family Coriobacteriaceae (P=0.034), all had a protective effect on AR. In addition, the family Victivallaceae (P=0.019) was identified as a risk factor for AR. We also noticed a positive association between the genus Holdemanella (P=0.046) and AA. The reverse TSMR analysis didn’t suggest any evidence of reverse causality from allergic diseases to the intestinal flora.Conclusion: We confirmed the causal relationship between intestinal flora and allergic diseases and provided an innovative perspective for research on allergic diseases: targeted regulation of dysregulation of specific bacterial taxa to prevent and treat AD, AR, and AA.

Psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated skin disorder involving hyperproliferation of the keratinocytes in the epidermis. As complex as its pathophysiology, the optimal treatment for psoriasis remains unsatisfactorily addressed. Though systemic administration of biological agents has made an impressive stride in moderate-to-severe psoriasis, a considerable portion of psoriatic conditions were left unresolved, mainly due to adverse effects from systemic drug administration or insufficient drug delivery across a highly packed stratum corneum via topical therapies. Along with the advances in nanotechnologies, the incorporation of nanomaterials as topical drug carriers opens an obvious prospect for the development of antipsoriatic topicals. Hence, this review aims to distinguish the benefits and weaknesses of individual nanostructures when applied as topical antipsoriatics in preclinical psoriatic models. In view of specific features of each nanostructure, we propose that a proper combination of distinctive nanomaterials according to the physicochemical properties of loaded drugs and clinical features of psoriatic patients is becoming a promising option that potentially drives the translation of nanomaterials from bench to bedside with improved transdermal drug delivery and consequently therapeutic effects.

Psoriasis Vulgaris (PV) not only affects patients' skin health but also increases the risk of coronary heart disease and diabetes, which brings both physical and mental harms. Its pathogenesis is complex, and the multi-target effect of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is especially advantageous. Because a considerable number of randomized controlled trials related to TCM exhibit design defects, small sample size or inadequate intervention time, so the status of TCM in the treatment of PV cannot be fully clarified. We reviewed the controlled clinical trials published over the past decade and selected 17 high-quality articles from over 2000 papers. The results suggest that TCM might be beneficial for decrease in PASI scores, thus, TCM might be an effective alternative therapy for PV management. The safety of TCM on PV was also assessed in our analysis. The more strictly designed and long-term observations of TCM for PV are supposed to be conducted in the future.

The aim of this meta-analysis was to determine the prevalence of sleep disorders among patients with atopic dermatitis (AD) and to explore the association between AD and sleep disorders. This meta-analysis was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines and was prospectively registered in the International Prospective Systematic Review Registry (PROSPERO) database (registration number: CRD42024498045). Only English-written cross-sectional studies reporting the prevalence of sleep disorders in patients with AD were included in this analysis. We searched four databases: EMBASE, Web of Science, PubMed and the Cochrane Library as of 9 February 2025. Studies were screened using EndNote X9.1. Data were analyzed using STATA V15.0 software. Initially, a total of 861 studies were searched from databases. Ultimately, 32 studies including 85,921 participants were included in this meta-analysis. The prevalence of sleep disorders among individuals with AD was estimated using a random-effects model. The degree of heterogeneity was assessed by I² statistic. If significant heterogeneity was detected, the source of heterogeneity was determined by meta-regression, and sensitivity analyses were then conducted by sequentially excluding each study to assess the robustness of the findings. This analysis revealed that the combined prevalence of sleep disorders among patients with AD was 43.4% (95% confidence interval: 39.7%-47.1%). Subgroup analyses were conducted according to region, data source, year of publication, severity of AD, sleep disorder assessment scales, classification of sleep problems, nocturnal awakenings, and number of days of sleep disorders experienced per week.

Chronic itch is one of the most common irritating sensations, yet its mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Although some studies have revealed relationships between itching and brain function, the structural changes in the brain induced by chronic itching, such as those accompanying chronic spontaneous urticaria (CSU), remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to explore the potential changes in brain structure and the associated functional circuitry in CSU patients to generate insights to aid chronic itch management. Forty CSU patients and forty healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. Seven-day urticaria activity score (UAS7) values were collected to evaluate clinical symptoms. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analysis were used to assess structural changes in the brain and associated changes in functional circuitry. Compared with HCs, CSU patients had significantly increased grey matter (GM) volume in the right premotor cortex, left fusiform cortex, and cerebellum. UAS7 values were positively associated with GM volume in the left fusiform cortex. In CSU patients relative to HCs, the left fusiform cortex as extracted by VBM analysis demonstrated decreased functional connectivity with the right orbitofrontal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), premotor cortex, primary motor cortex (MI), and cerebellum and increased functional connectivity with the right posterior insular cortex, primary somatosensory cortex (SI), and secondary somatosensory cortex (SII). The left cerebellum as extracted from VBM analysis demonstrated decreased functional connectivity with the right supplementary motor area (SMA) and MI in CSU patients relative to HCs. Our findings indicate that patients suffering from chronic itching conditions, such as CSU, are likely to demonstrate altered GM volume in some brain regions. These changes may affect not only the sensorimotor area but also brain regions associated with cognitive function.