The pathogenesis of psoriasis: insight into a complex “Mobius Loop” regulation process

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with a complex mechanism, which is believed to be mainly based on immune disorders and activation of inflammatory pathways. However, we have combed through the literature and found that the pathogenesis of psoriasis might involve a “mobius loop” of “immunity-inflammation-oxidative stress-proliferation” process. The disordered immune environment of the skin might act as the basis, the outbreak of inflammatory factors as the mediator, and the imbalance of oxidative stress homeostasis as the activator. These factors work together, leading to abnormal proliferation of keratinocytes and further immune abnormalities, finally aggravating psoriasis. Therefore, here we review the latest evidence and advance in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, trying to contribute to further understanding and treatment of psoriasis.

STAT3 Promotes Schistosome-Induced Liver Injury by Inflammation, Oxidative Stress, Proliferation and Apoptosis Signal Pathway

Schistosomiasis is a parasitic helminth disease that can cause organ lesions leading to health damage. During a schistosome infection, schistosome eggs can flow into the liver along the portal vein. Numerous inflammatory cells gather around the eggs, causing granulomas and fibrosis in the liver. In this process, many molecules are involved in the initiation and regulation of the fibrous scar formation. However, the precise molecular mechanisms that explain the progression of granuloma formation and fibrosis initiation caused by schistosome infection have not been extensively studied. In this study, C57BL/6 wild-type mice and signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (Stat3)flox/flox Alb-Cre mice were infected with cercariae of Schistosoma japonicum. Liver injury, effector molecule levels and RNA transcriptome resequencing of liver were detected at 4, 5, and 6 weeks postinfection. We investigated the role of STAT3 in Schistosoma-induced liver injury in mice. After 6 weeks postinfection, there has obvious liver fibrosis. A sustained pathological process such as inflammation, oxidative stress, proliferation and apoptosis occurred in S. japonicum-induced liver fibrosis initiation. Meanwhile, we found the activation of the STAT3 pathway in hepatic injury during S. japonicum infection by RNA transcriptome resequencing. Liver p-STAT3 deficiency alleviated infection-induced liver dysfunction, hepatic granuloma formation and fibrosis initiation. It also promoted STAT3-dependent apoptosis and reduced liver inflammation, oxidative stress and proliferation. Our results suggest that STAT3 signal pathway and its mediating inflammation, oxidative stress, proliferation and apoptosis are involved in S. japonicum-induced liver injury and may be a new potential guideline for the treatment of schistosomiasis.

Maternal Differential Treatment and Psychological Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Marital Tension and Sibling Tension?

Objectives Past research used equity theory and social comparison theory to explain the direct effect of maternal differential treatment (MDT) on psychological well-being. However, this focus on psychological pathways ignores possible social pathways, such as indirect effects of MDT on well-being through disrupting other family relationships. This study uses stress proliferation theory to argue that MDT, as a primary stressor in mother–child relationships, can produce secondary stressors in other family relationships (e.g., sibling tension and marital tension), which in turn leads to lower psychological well-being. Methods To investigate this mechanism, we conducted multilevel mediation analysis using data collected from 720 adult children nested within 308 families, as part of the Within-Family Differences Study. Results We found that sibling tension mediates the association between adult children’s perceptions of maternal disfavoritism and their psychological well-being—a process we call the stress proliferation of maternal disfavoritism. In contrast, adult children’s perceptions of maternal favoritism cannot trigger this stress proliferation process of producing marital tension nor sibling tension. Discussion The evaluation of the stress proliferation process of maternal favoritism and disfavoritism can help us to understand the difference in effects across various dimensions of MDT. This study contributes to the literature on social relationships as social determinants of health by investigating how intergenerational relationships are connected to other family relationships to affect family members’ health.

Person–Work Mismatch, Retirement Context, and the Progression of Depressive Symptoms Over Mid-Later Years: A Dyadic Analysis of Couples in Enduring Marriages

Objectives: This study investigates how person–work mismatch (PWM) and subsequent pre-retirement work circumstances lead to poor mental health in later years for husbands and wives in enduring marriages. Methods: Data from 224 dual-earner couples in enduring marriages who participated over 27 years (1991–2015) in their middle to their later years were used to test the conceptual model. Results: PWM was related to depressive symptoms in middle years, which continued into later years (a cumulative pathway). In addition, PWM contributed to a stressful pre-retirement work context, which, in turn, influenced depressive symptoms in later years (a stress proliferation pathway). Partner effects were also noted between husbands and wives. Discussion: The present study enhances knowledge about how middle-aged couples’ PWM is related to their mental health in later years through their stressful pre-retirement work context with implications for national- and state-level policies.

Stress Proliferation? Precarity and Work–Family Conflict at the Intersection of Gender and Household Income

We theorize a stress proliferation process whereby the stress of job precarity translates into the stress of work-to-family conflict (WFC). We test whether this process differs by gender and household income. Using four cross-sectional waves of the General Social Survey ( N = 2,340), we find a positive association between job insecurity and WFC for women but not men. Examined by household income levels, the association is found only for respondents in the lowest income tercile. Furthermore, gender intersects with household income to shape the stress proliferation process. While the insecurity–WFC relationship holds for women across all household income levels, for men this relationship shifts from positive for men in the lowest income tercile to negative for men in the highest income tercile. Our findings suggest that entrenched gendered expectations around work and family may lead women (regardless of household income) and lower-class men to be most vulnerable to stress proliferation.