BACKGROUND: Chronic nodular prurigo (CNPG) is a chronic, inflammatory skin disease, characterized by intense and debilitating pruritus. The pathophysiology is not fully understood, and the condition is difficult to treat with no targeted therapies. The aim of this systematic review was to review the evidence of therapies for non-atopic CNPG and conduct a meta-analysis of the results.
CONCLUSIONS: We conducted a systematic review of the literature concerning effect of treatment for non-atopic CNPG. Due to few randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and case series, the literature was unfortunately too sparse to conduct a meta-analysis of the results. Instead, we thoroughly report important data from the three existing RCTs and 6 case studies with more than 15 patients. Evaluated therapies include nemolizumab, aprepitant, topical therapy with hydrocortisone and pimecrolimus, thalidomide, UVA phototherapy, pregabalin, and naltrexone. Included RCTs and case studies all had a heterogeneous methodology making direct comparison almost impossible.
CONCLUSIONS: There is sparse evidence for the currently used therapies for non-atopic CNPG. Several RCTs on new therapies are running or in the pipeline, hopefully providing new, effective, and targeted treatment possibilities for CNPG patients both with and without an atopic predisposition.

Bacterial infections of skin and wounds may seriously decrease the quality of life and even cause death in some patients. One of the largest concerns in their treatment is the growing antimicrobial resistance of bacterial infectious agents and the spread of resistant strains not only in the hospitals but also in the community. This trend encourages researchers to seek for new effective and safe therapeutical agents. The pharmaceutical industry, focusing mainly on libraries of synthetic compounds as a drug discovery source, is often failing in the battle with bacteria. In contrast, many of the natural compounds, and/or the whole and complex plants extracts, are effective in this field, inactivating the resistant bacterial strains or decreasing their virulence. Natural products act comprehensively; many of them have not only antibacterial, but also anti-inflammatory effects and may support tissue regeneration and wound healing. The European legislative is in the field of natural products medicinal use formed by European Medicines Agency (EMA), based on the scientific work of its Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products (HMPC). HMPC establishes EU monographs covering the therapeutic uses and safe conditions for herbal substances and preparations, mostly based on folk medicine, but including data from scientific research. In this review, the medicinal plants and their active constituents recommended by EMA for skin disorders are discussed in terms of their antibacterial effect. The source of information about these plant products in the review is represented by research articles listed in scientific databases (Science Direct, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, etc.) published in recent years.

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic T cell-mediated inflammatory condition affecting a considerable proportion of psoriasis (PSO) patients and a small segment of the general population. Recent studies have shown that patients with PsA are prone to premature atherosclerosis and are at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) events, but the extent and prevalence of this are unknown. Our objective was to evaluate the prevalence and extent of subclinical atherosclerosis by measuring the intima-media thickness (IMT) of arteries in adult patients with PsA, as well as identify cardiovascular (CV) risk factors associated with PsA. An extensive literature search was conducted using PubMed as our main database. The articles exploring the association between PsA and subclinical atherosclerosis were included. We also searched other databases like MEDLINE and PubMed Central (PMC). A total of 2,561 studies published between 2005-2021 were obtained by searching the databases, and after the screening process, a total of nine studies were included for review and an additional 22 studies for comparison and backup evidence. As for results, our review included a total of 542 patients with PsA from nine different studies. All the reviewed studies showed a significant association between subclinical atherosclerosis and PsA, as endothelial functions were found to be impaired in PsA patients as deduced by measuring the carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT). PsA patients exhibited greater IMT than healthy controls. Increased IMT independently correlated with parameters of disease activity and conventional risk factors of atherosclerosis. An increased prevalence of CV risk factors such as hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome was also found in PsA patients.

BACKGROUND: Skin erythema may present due to many causes. One of the common causes is prolonged exposure to sun rays. Other than sun exposure, skin erythema is an accompanying sign of dermatological diseases such as acne, psoriasis, melasma, post inflammatory hyperpigmentation, fever, as well as exposure to specific electromagnetic wave bands.
METHODS: Quantifying skin erythema in patients enables the dermatologist to assess the patient\'s skin health. Therefore, quantitative assessment of skin erythema was the target of several studies. The clinical standard for erythema evaluation is visual assessment. However, the former standard has some imperfections. For instance, it is subjective, and unqualified for precise color information exchange. To overcome these shortcomings, the past three decades witnessed various methodologies that aimed to achieve erythema objective assessment, such as diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS), and both optical and non-optical systems.
CONCLUSIONS: This review article reports on the studies published in the past three decades where the performance, the mathematical tactics for computation, and the capabilities of erythema assessment techniques for cutaneous diseases are discussed. In particular, the achievements and limitations of the current techniques in erythema assessment are presented.
CONCLUSIONS: The profits and development trends of optical and non-optical methods are displayed to provide the researcher with awareness into the present technological advances and its potential for dermatological diseases research.

Hyaluronic acid (HA) plays multifaceted role in regulating various biological processes and maintaining homeostasis into the body. Numerous researches evidenced the biomedical implications of HA in skin repairmen, cancer prognosis, wound healing, tissue regeneration, anti-inflammatory, immunomodulation. The present review was aimed to summarize and critically appraise the recent developments and efficacy of HA for treatment of inflammatory skin and joint diseases. A thorough analysis of the literature revealed that HA based formulations (i.e., gels, creams, autologous graft, thin sheets, soaked gauze, gauze pad, tincture, injection) have shown remarkable efficacy in treating a wide range of inflammatory skin diseases. The safety, tolerability, and efficacy of HA (as intra-articular injection) have also been well-documented for treatment of various types of joint disease including knee osteoarthritic, joint osteoarthritis, canine osteoarthritis, and meniscal swelling. Intra-articular injection of HA produces remarkable reduction in joint pain, synovial inflammation, and articular swelling. A remarkable improvement in chondrocyte density, territorial matrix appearance, reconstitution of superficial amorphous layer of the cartilage, collagen remodelling, and regeneration of meniscus have also been evident in patients treated with HA. Conclusively, we validate that the application/administration of HA is a promising pharmacotherapeutic regimen for treatment of inflammatory skin and joint diseases.

Inflammation is a physiological part of the complex biological response of tissues to counteract various harmful signals. This process involves diverse actors such as immune cells, blood vessels, and nerves as sources of mediators for inflammation control. Among them serine proteases are key elements in both physiological and pathological inflammation.
Serine protease inhibitors to treat inflammatory diseases are being actively investigated by various industrial and academic institutions. The present review covers patent literature on serine protease inhibitors for the therapy of inflammatory diseases patented between 2011 and 2016.
Serine proteases regulating inflammation are versatile enzymes, usually involved in proinflammatory cytokine production and activation of immune cells. Their dysregulation during inflammation can have devastating consequences, promoting various diseases including skin and lung inflammation, neuroinflammation, and inflammatory arthritis. Several serine proteases were selected for their contribution to inflammatory diseases and significant efforts that are spread to develop inhibitors. Strategies developed for inhibitor identification consist on either peptide-based inhibitor derived from endogenous protein inhibitors or small-organic molecules. It is also worth noting that among the recent patents on serine protease inhibitors related to inflammation a significant number are related to retinal vascular dysfunction and skin diseases.