Donald Liu

The University of Edinburgh | UoE · Department of Dermatology

Biofilms of Cutibacterium (C.) acnes (formerly Propionibacterium acnes) are responsible for the persistence and antibiotic resistance of acne vulgaris. In addition to the standard treatments for acne vulgaris, a common adjunctive treatment is the topical administration of nicotinamide (NAM). However, the effects of NAM on biofilms of C. acnes have...

Cigarette smoking is associated with an increased risk of melanoma metastasis. Smokers show higher PD-L1 expression and better responses to PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors than nonsmokers. Here, we investigate whether nicotine, a primary constituent of tobacco, induces PD-L1 expression and promotes melanoma cell proliferation and migration, which is mediated...

The purpose of this review is to explore the effectiveness of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in the treatment of adult androgenic alopecia (AGA). A systematic search of studies on LLLT for AGA was conducted mainly in Pubmed, Embase, and Cochrane Systematic Reviews. The standardized mean difference (SMD) in the changes of hair density treated by LLL...

Malassezia folliculitis (MalF) mimics acne vulgaris and bacterial folliculitis in clinical presentations. The role of Gram staining in rapid diagnosis of MalF has not been well studied. In our study, 32 patients were included to investigate the utility of Gram staining for MalF diagnosis. The final diagnoses of MalF were determined according to cli...

Typical cutaneous non-tuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections show a histopathology pattern of granulomas with admixed Langhans giant cells, and abscesses may be observed in acute lesions. Herein, we describe a patient carrying a high titer of autoantibodies to interferon (IFN)-γ with disseminated Mycobacterium kansasii infection presenting with...

The incidence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease correlates with latitude and rises in winter. The molecular basis for this remains obscure. As nitric oxide (NO) metabolites are abundant in human skin we hypothesised that exposure to UVA may mobilise NO bioactivity into the circulation to exert beneficial cardiovascular effects independentl...

NO effect produced by UVA irradiation of skin is independent of NOS and temperature D Liu, N Lang, B Fernandez, P Dunne, K Tinkler, K McBride, M Feelisch, D Newby, R Weller Introduction: Ultraviolet-A (UVA) is known to induce nitrite photolysis, forming nitric oxide. Recent studies have shown that UVA irradiation of human subjects reduces blood pr...

Humans evolved being exposed for about half of the day to the light of the sun. Nowadays, exposure to sunlight is actively discouraged for fear of skin cancer, and contemporary lifestyles are associated with long hours spent under artificial light indoors. Besides an increasing appreciation for the adverse effects of these life-style-related behavi...