Psoriasis is a chronic, immune-mediated inflammatory disease that affects around 125 million people worldwide. Several studies concerning the gut microbiota composition and its role in disease pathogenesis recently demonstrated significant alterations among psoriatic patients. Certain parameters such as Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio or Psoriasis Microbiome Index were developed in order to distinguish between psoriatic and healthy individuals. The “leaky gut syndrome” and bacterial translocation is considered by some authors as a triggering factor for the onset of the disease, as it promotes chronic systemic inflammation. The alterations were also found to resemble those in inflammatory bowel diseases, obesity and certain cardiovascular diseases. Microbiota dysbiosis, depletion in SCFAs production, increased amount of produced TMAO, dysregulation of the pathways affecting the balance between lymphocytes populations seem to be the most significant findings concerning gut physiology in psoriatic patients. The gut microbiota may serve as a potential response-to-treatment biomarker in certain cases of biological treatment. Oral probiotics administration as well as fecal microbial transplantation were most reported in bringing health benefits to psoriatic patients. However, the issue of psoriatic bacterial gut composition, its role and healing potential needs further investigation. Here we reviewed the literature on the current state of the relationship between psoriasis and gut microbiome.

There is a growing quantity of evidence on how skin and gut microbiome composition impacts the course of various dermatological diseases. The strategies involving the modulation of bacterial composition are increasingly in the focus of research attention. The aim of the present review was to analyze the literature available in PubMed (MEDLINE) and EMBASE databases on the topic of microbiome modulation in skin diseases. The effects and possible mechanisms of action of probiotics, prebiotics and synbiotics in dermatological conditions including atopic dermatitis (AD), psoriasis, chronic ulcers, seborrheic dermatitis, burns and acne were analyzed. Due to the very limited number of studies available regarding the topic of microbiome modulation in all skin diseases except for AD, the authors decided to also include case reports and original studies concerning oral administration and topical application of the pro-, pre- and synbiotics in the final analysis. The evaluated studies mostly reported significant health benefits to the patients or show promising results in animal or ex vivo studies. However, due to a limited amount of research and unambiguous results, the topic of microbiome modulation as a therapeutic approach in skin diseases still warrants further investigation.

Background Localized scleroderma (LoS) is an inflammatory fibrosing disease of the connective tissue, whose esthetic sequelae are atrophic skin lesions with hyperpigmentation. The key element of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures is the assessment of the disease's severity and damage. The study objective was to analyze the usefulness of narrow-band reflectance spectrophotometry (NBRS) to assess erythema and hyperpigmentation in LoS lesions. Materials and Methods Erythema indexes (EI) and melanin indexes (MI) were determined with the use of DermaLab Combo skin colour probe for LoS lesions and symmetrically located areas of normal skin. Then, relative percentage differences were determined for EI and MI, which were compared with the visual assessments of erythema and hyperpigmentation according to the Localized Scleroderma Cutaneous Assessment Tool (LoSCAT). Results A total of 84 LoS lesions were studied in 41 patients. The study showed a moderate correlations between the spectrophotometric measurements and clinical assessments of erythema as well as hyperpigmentation (Spearman correlation coefficient, r), r = 0.37; p = 0.00047 and r = 0.55; p=0.0000001, respectively. Conclusion NBRS seems to be a useful tool to assess the severity of erythema and hyperpigmentation in LoS lesions. Further studies are required in order to compare the spectrophotometric results with other objective methods.

Gastric cancer is a malignant neoplasm of the gastrointestinal tract, with one of the standard treatment methods remaining gastrectomy. The authors conducted a systemic review of the Medline and Embase databases concerning the serum vitamin D level in post-gastrectomy gastric cancer patients, regarding all articles published until 22 May 2022 according to the PRISMA guidelines. 18 studies with a total number of 908 gastric cancer survivors were included in the analysis. The initial rate of vitamin D deficiency in gastric cancer patients undergoing gastrectomy appears to be similar to the global population deficiency. In post-gastrectomy survivors, the level of 25(OH)D may remain stable or decrease, while the level of 1, 25(OH)2D remains normal. Supplementation with vitamin D results in an improvement in its serum concentration and positively affects bone mineral density, which is gradually reduced in post-gastrectomy survivors. Combining vitamin D supplementation with calcium and bisphosphonates enables us to obtain better results than vitamin D and calcium only. The type of surgery influences the level of serum vitamin D and its metabolites, with total or partial gastrectomy and maintenance of the duodenal food passage remaining the most important factors. There is a strong need for randomized, controlled trials that would investigate this matter in the future.

Inflammation and atherogenic dyslipidaemia are often observed in skin diseases and represent an increased risk of cardiovascular disorders. Proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 plays an important role in the regulation of serum low-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. Its biological role, however, seems to go much beyond the regulation of cholesterol metabolism. The article presents potential pathophysiological links between inflammatory process and lipid disorders based on the example of psoriasis and systemic lupus erythematosus.