A CASE OF BEHÇET'S DISEASE AND SYSTEMIC SCLEROSIS DEVELOPING AFTER AN EARTHQUAKE DISASTER

Autoimmune Diseases Following Environmental Disasters: A Narrative Review of the Literature

Environmental disasters are extreme environmental processes such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, landslides, tsunamis, floods, cyclones, storms, wildfires and droughts that are the consequences of the climate crisis due to human intervention in the environment. Their effects on human health have alarmed the global scientific community. Among them, autoimmune diseases, a heterogeneous group of disorders, have increased dramatically in many parts of the world, likely as a result of changes in our exposure to environmental factors. However, only a limited number of studies have attempted to discover and analyze the complex association between environmental disasters and autoimmune diseases. This narrative review has therefore tried to fill this gap. First of all, the activation pathways of autoimmunity after environmental disasters have been analyzed. It has also been shown that wildfires, earthquakes, desert dust storms and volcanic eruptions may damage human health and induce autoimmune responses to inhaled PM2.5, mainly through oxidative stress pathways, increased pro-inflammatory cytokines and epithelial barrier damage. In addition, it has been shown that heat stress, in addition to increasing pro-inflammatory cytokines, may also disrupt the intestinal barrier, thereby increasing its permeability to toxins and pathogens or inducing epigenetic changes. In addition, toxic volcanic elements may accelerate the progressive destruction of myelin, which may potentially trigger multiple sclerosis. The complex and diverse mechanisms by which vector-borne, water-, food-, and rodent-borne diseases that often follow environmental diseases may also trigger autoimmune responses have also been described. In addition, the association between post-disaster stress and the onset or worsening of autoimmune disease has been demonstrated. Given all of the above, the rapid restoration of post-disaster health services to mitigate the flare-up of autoimmune conditions is critical.

Using hierarchical similarity to examine the genetics of Behçet's disease

OBJECTIVE

Behçet's disease (BD) is a multisystem inflammatory disease that affects patients along the historic silk road. Thus far, the pathogenesis of the disease has proved elusive due to the complex genetic interactions of the disease. In this paper, we seek to clarify the genetic factors of the disease while also uncovering other diseases of interest that present with a similar genotype as BD.

RESULTS

To do this, we employ a convergent functional genomics approach by leveraging the hierarchical similarity tool available in Geneweaver. Through our analysis, we were able to ascertain 7 BD consensus genes and 16 autoimmune diseases with genetic overlap with BD. The results of our study will inform further research into the pathogenesis of Behçet's disease.

Impact of Climate Change on Eye Diseases and Associated Economical Costs

Climate change generates negative impacts on human health. However, little is known about specific impacts on eye diseases, especially in arid and semi-arid areas where increases in air temperatures are expected. Therefore, the main goals of this research are: (i) to highlight the association between common eye diseases and environmental factors; and (ii) to analyze, through the available literature, the health expenditure involved in combating these diseases and the savings from mitigating the environmental factors that aggravate them. Mixed methods were used to assess the cross-variables (environmental factors, eye diseases, health costs). Considering Southern Spain as an example, our results showed that areas with similar climatic conditions could increase eye diseases due to a sustained increase in temperatures and torrential rains, among other factors. We highlight that an increase in eye diseases in Southern Spain is conditioned by the effects of climate change by up to 36.5%; the economic burden of the main eye diseases, extrapolated to the rest of the country, would represent an annual burden of 0.7% of Spain's Gross Domestic Product. In conclusion, the increase in eye diseases has a strong economic and social impact that could be reduced with proper management of the effects of climate change. We propose a new concept: disease sink, defined as any climate change mitigation action which reduces the incidence or morbidity of disease.

Peptic Ulcers in Fukushima Prefecture Related to the Great East Japan Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Accident

Objective Due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred in March 2011, many residents of Fukushima Prefecture were affected by a radiation accident in addition to suffering loss or damage from the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami. The aim of this study was to evaluate the actual condition of patients with peptic ulcers related to the disaster. Methods Patients with peptic ulcers at six hospitals in three different regions of Fukushima Prefecture during the two months following the disaster and the corresponding period of the year before and the year after the disaster were enrolled in this study. Changes by period and region in the number of esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) examinations and the number of peptic ulcer patients were evaluated as the primary endpoints. Changes in the frequencies of hemorrhagic ulcers were evaluated by period and by region as secondary endpoints. Results The numbers of EGDs and peptic ulcer cases compared to the previous year decreased in 2011 and then increased in 2012. However, the ratio of hemorrhagic ulcers to peptic ulcers was higher in 2011 (51.9%) than in 2010 (38.1%) and 2012 (31.1%), and the 2011 hemorrhagic ulcer ratio was the highest at 63.6% in the coastal area. Regarding bleeding cases during 2011, the rate at 1 month after the disaster (64.1%) was higher than the rate at 2 months after the disaster (40.5%) (p=0.033). Conclusion The number of patients with peptic ulcers did not increase immediately following the disaster in Fukushima Prefecture. However, the rate of bleeding patients increased soon after the disaster, especially in the coastal area.