This study supported that amorolfine nail lacquer provided promising efficacy in the treatment of Neoscytalidium onychomycosis as a novel monotherapy regimen which were superior to topical urea cream with occlusion in every aspect.

BackgroundThe Long Form and Short Form of the German (original) version of the Urticaria Control Test (UCT) have shown to be valid and reliable instruments for assessing patients with all types of chronic urticaria (CU). The cutoff scores for identifying patients with well-controlled disease were ≥ 24 and ≥ 12 for Long and Short Forms, respectively. However, the sensitivity to change and minimal clinically important difference (MCID) of the UCT have never been systematically evaluated. This study aimed to investigate the validity, reliability, screening accuracy, sensitivity to change and MCID of the linguistically validated translation of the UCT into the Thai language for assessing CU in the Thai population.MethodsA structured translation and pre-testing were done to cross-culturally adapt the UCT for the Thai language. All measurement properties of both forms of the Thai UCT were validated in 169 patients with CU.ResultsThere were strong correlations between the Thai UCT score and disease activity, health-related quality of life impairment, and disease control (all correlations ≥ 0.7). Good internal consistency and excellent intra-rater reliability were demonstrated. The same cutoff scores to define patients with well-controlled disease should be used as those recommended for the original UCT version. MCIDs equated to increase in scores of 6 and 3 for the Long and Short Forms, respectively, of the Thai UCT should be used to identify patients who had minimal responses. Score increments of ≥10 and ≥ 6 for Long and Short Forms, respectively, should be used to define patients who had marked responses.ConclusionsThis study confirmed the applicability of the UCT for use in Thailand, a country that has a very different language and cultural setting than that of Germany and the United States. Further studies are required to examine the suitability of the UCT for use in the pediatric population.

BackgroundThe Angioedema Quality of Life (AE-QoL) is the first patient reported outcome measure developed for the assessment of quality of life (QoL) impairment in patients with recurrent angioedema (RAE). This study aimed to evaluate the clinimetric properties of the AE-QoL in Thai patients and to establish categories of QoL impairment assessed by the AE-QoL.MethodsThe validated Thai version of the Dermatology Life Quality Index (DLQI) and Patient Global Assessment of Quality of Life (PGA-QoL) were used to comparatively evaluate the Thai version of AE-QoL. Spearman correlations between the Thai AE-QoL and two other standard measurements (DLQI and PGA-QoL) were investigated to determine convergent validity. The Thai DLQI and PGA-QoL were used to categorize patients according to their QoL. Known-group validity of the Thai AE-QoL was later analyzed. The reliability of the Thai AE-QoL was investigated using Cronbach’s alpha and intraclass correlation. Three different approaches including the distribution method, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, and the anchor based-method were used for the interpretability.ResultsA total of 86 patients with RAE with a median age of 38.0 ± 15.1 years (range 18–76) were enrolled. Of those, 76 patients (88%) had RAE with concomitant wheals, and 10 patients (11.6%) had RAE only. The AE-QoL assessed RAE-mediated QoL impairment with high convergent validity and known-groups validity, high internal consistency and test-retest reliability, and good sensitivity to change. Although the AE-QoL did not differentiate between patients with moderate and large effect as measured by PGA-QoL or DLQI in this study, AE-QoL total values of 0–23, 24 to 38, and ≥ 39 could define patients with “no effect”, “small effect”, and “moderate to large effect” of RAE on their QoL, respectively.ConclusionsThis study supports the validity and reliability of the Thai version of the AE-QoL, which is a very different language from the original version. Categories allow to classify the effect of RAE on patients’ QoL as “none”, “small”, and “moderate to large”. Further studies are needed to confirm the applicability of AE-QoL in other Asian populations”.

The Angioedema Activity Score (AAS) is recommended by the EAACI/GA2LEN/EDF/WAO guidelines for urticaria as the standard measure for assessing disease activity in patients with recurrent angioedema (RAE). To date, it has been translated into 80 languages for use in 52 countries, but it has not been formally validated in Asian patient populations. As RAE may be different in Asian and non-Asian patients, it is important to validate and characterize the reliability of tools to assess RAE disease activity in Asian patients. This study proposed to demonstrate the validity and reliability of the AAS in Asian patients. Accordingly, this study aimed to generate and validate the Thai version of the AAS and to characterize its reliability in Asian patients, specifically in Thailand. A structured translation was conducted with approval from the original authors. The Patient Global Assessment of Disease Activity (PGA-DA) was used as an instrument to compare with the Thai version of the AAS. In total, 86 patients with RAE participated in the study. Seventy-six (88%) patients had RAE with chronic spontaneous urticaria. The Thai AAS was found to be a valid and reliable instrument, with high convergent and known-groups validities, excellent internal consistency, and good test-retest reliability. The validity and reliability of the AAS for assessing RAE disease activity in Asian patients have been demonstrated by our study, making it the first to do so. This will help promote the use of the AAS, in clinical trials and practice, in Asia. It will also facilitate the comparison of disease activity in patients with RAE inside and outside Asia in future studies. However, a limitation of this study was its small number of patients.

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Summary Background Direct immunofluorescence (DIF) findings in patients with livedoid vasculopathy (LV) may have benefits for disease differentiation when clinical presentations and/or histopathological findings are inconclusive. Aim To investigate DIF findings in patients with a clinical and histopathological diagnosis of LV. Methods DIF findings of 62 patients with LV were analysed, and the published literature in the PubMed database was also reviewed and summarized. Results This study demonstrated deposition of immunoreactants in blood vessels (BVs) in 59 of the 62 patients (95.2%), and almost all cases were positive for a combination of multiple immunoreactants. Complement C3 and IgM formed the most common combination. The most common pattern was deposition in BVs and at the dermoepidermal junction (DEJ) (59.3%), followed by deposition in BVs alone (40.7%). Immunoreactant deposition in BVs involved superficial BVs with or without deep BVs. The median age of patients with positive DIF findings was significantly higher than that of patients with negative DIF findings for LV (P < 0.03). More recent lesions (present for < 6 months) had a significantly higher percentage of positive results than older lesions (present for ≥ 6 months) (85.2% vs. 14.8%, respectively; P < 0.001). Conclusion In both the present study and in the published literature, DIF study in patients with LV showed positive immunoreactants ranging from 42.9% to 100%. C3 and IgM were the most common immunoreactants deposited in BVs, while the most common pattern was immunoreactant deposition in BVs and at the DEJ. Older patients and those with more recent lesions (< 6 months) had a significantly higher percentage of positive DIF results for LV than did younger patients and those with older lesions (≥ 6 months).

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Sixty novice Buddhist monks with tinea capitis confirmed according to clinical presentation and mycological laboratory finding were included in this study. Mixed-type clinical presentation was observed in approximately half of all cases, together with scarring alopecia (95%) and superficial fungal skin infection at locations other than the scalp (43.3%). The major isolated organism was Trichophyton violaceum, and mixed-organism infection was found in 27 cases (45%). Slow-onset presentation and an extensive area of infection were significantly associated with mixed-type clinical presentation.