Rapid treatment of full‐thickness skin loss using ovine tendon collagen type I scaffold with skin cells

The full‐thickness skin wound is a common skin complication affecting millions of people worldwide. Delayed treatment of this condition causes the loss of skin function and integrity that could lead to the development of chronic wounds or even death. This study was aimed to develop a rapid wound treatment modality using ovine tendon collagen type I (OTC‐I) bio‐scaffold with or without noncultured skin cells. Genipin (GNP) and carbodiimide (EDC) were used to cross‐link OTC‐I scaffold to improve the mechanical strength of the bio‐scaffold. The physicochemical, biomechanical, biodegradation, biocompatibility, and immunogenicity properties of OTC‐I scaffolds were investigated. The efficacy of this treatment approach was evaluated in an in vivo skin wound model. The results demonstrated that GNP cross‐linked OTC‐I scaffold (OTC‐I_GNP) had better physicochemical and mechanical properties compared with EDC cross‐linked OTC‐I scaffold (OTC‐I_EDC) and noncross‐link OTC‐I scaffold (OTC‐I_NC). OTC‐I_GNP and OTC‐I_NC demonstrated no toxic effect on cells as it promoted higher cell attachment and proliferation of both primary human epidermal keratinocytes and human dermal fibroblasts compared with OTC‐I_EDC. Both OTC‐I_GNP and OTC‐I_NC exhibited spontaneous formation of bilayer structure in vitro. Immunogenic evaluation of OTC‐I scaffolds, in vitro and in vivo, revealed no sign of immune response. Finally, implantation of OTC‐I_NC and OTC‐I_GNP scaffolds with noncultured skin cells demonstrated enhanced healing with superior skin maturity and microstructure features, resembling native skin in contrast to other treatment (without noncultured skin cells) and control group. The findings of this study, therefore, suggested that both OTC‐I scaffolds with noncultured skin cells could be promising for the rapid treatment of full‐thickness skin wound.     

Prognostic value of immunological profile based on CD8+ and FoxP3+ T lymphocytes in the peritumoral and intratumoral subsites for renal cell carcinoma

International Urology and Nephrology - We aimed to assess an “Immunological Profile (IP)” including CD8+ and FoxP3+ T lymphocytes for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) to evaluate its effects...     

Clinical and cognitive insight in patients with acute-phase psychosis: Association with treatment and neuropsychological functioning

Background: The severity of psychopathology cannot fully explain deficits in the multi-dimensional construct of insight.

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the correlates and associations of clinical and cognitive insight in patients in an acute phase of psychosis and to analyse the impact of acute treatment on these variables.

Methods: This study examined 47 inpatients who were recently hospitalized with acute exacerbation of schizophrenia. All subjects were assessed at both admission and discharge with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), Schedule for the Assessment of Insight-Expanded Version (SAI-E), Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS), and a neurocognition battery.

Results: Patients with schizophrenia gained clinical insight after treatment. Cognitive insight did not change significantly after treatment. Insight showed significant negative correlations with positive symptoms and general psychopathology, but not with negative symptoms. Clinical insight was not associated with neuropsychological functioning in this cohort.

Conclusion: Gaining clinical insight in the acute phase of illness was associated with the remission of positive symptoms, but not with neuropsychological functioning. Some significant correlations between clinical and cognitive insights were detected, which suggests that cognitive insight contributes to clinical insight but is not treatment-dependent. Long-term treatment may be required to understand the contribution of insight to the outcome of patients with schizophrenia.     

The effect of oral and parenteral vitamin D supplementation in the elderly: a prospective, double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled study

Hypovitaminosis D in the elderly causes falls and fractures as a result of impaired neuromuscular functions and also may be a reason for nonspecific musculosceletal pain. The aim of this study is to investigate the benefits of a single dose per os or parenterally administrated vitamin D on increasing the quality of life and functional mobility and decreasing the pain in the elderly. The community-dwelling elderly subjects over 65?years age were included in the study. The subjects were given 300.000?IU Vitamin D via per os and parenteral route and assessed after 4?weeks. The serum creatinine, calcium, phosphorous, ALT, ALP, 24-h urine calcium excretion, PTH, and vitamin D levels, as well as VAS (visual analog scale) for pain assessment, functional mobility with TUG (timed up and go test) and quality of life with SF-36 before and after the treatment were evaluated. The serum vitamin D levels were measured by the RIA method. The subjects were divided into four groups each consisting of 30 subjects. The 1st group took i.m. vitamin D, the 2nd group took i.m. placebo, the 3rd group took p.o. vitamin D, and the 4th group took p.o. placebo. The mean age of all the participants was 70.1?±?4.3?years. There was no difference in the age and gender between the groups (P?>?0.05). After treatment, the PTH level of first group was decreased (P?=?0.0001) and the vitamin D level increased (P?=?0.0001) significantly. In the third group, the PTH level of first group was decreased (P?=?0.0001) and the vitamin D level increased (P?=?0.004) and the 24-h calcium excretion in urine (P?=?0.015) increased significantly. When the pain, the functional mobility, and the quality of life were evaluated, in the first group, the TUG (P?=?0.0001) and the VAS (P?=?0.0001) decreased significantly, whereas the SF-36 subtitles: physical functioning (P?=?0.0001), role physical (0.006), bodily pain (P?=?0.0001), general health (P?=?0.007), social functioning (P?=?0.05), and mental health (P?=?0.048) increased significantly. In group two, the VAS (P?=?0.001) decreased, the role physical (P?=?0.009), and role emotional (P?=?0.034) increased significantly; In group three, the TUG (P?=?0.0001) and the VAS (P?=?0.002) decreased, whereas the physical function (P?=?0.0001) and role physical (0.001) increased significantly; In group four, the VAS (P?=?0.007) decreased significantly. The megadose vitamin D administration increases quality of life, decreases pain, and improves functional mobility via po or im route in the elderly.     

Leveling the Playing Field in Homozygosity Mapping Using Map Distances

Studies of linkage disequilibrium (LD) and its variation in the genome are of central importance for understanding evolutionary history, population structure, and selective sweeps. Extreme forms of the latter may result in runs of homozygosity (ROH). In human gene mapping, long ROHs are the basis for homozygosity mapping (HM) with length measured in terms of Mb (10⁶ base pairs physical distance). LD varies greatly over the human genome so that long ROHs tend to occur preferentially in regions of high LD and ROHs of the same length in different regions are not strictly comparable. Thus, in human gene mapping, LD appears as a confounder that needs to be taken into account in the interpretation of ROHs. The effect of varying LD can be mitigated by working on a scale of centimorgans (cM, genetic distance) instead of Mb. We demonstrate this effect for HapMap 3 data on chromosome 19 and show examples with different ROH lengths depending on whether physical or genetic lengths are used. These results suggest that HM should preferably be done on genetic rather than physical distances.     

Acute aortic dissection mimicking acute abdomen in a 14‐year‐old boy

Aortic dissection is extremely rare in children. Although it usually presents with severe chest pain, atypical clinical presentations mimicking various illnesses may cause misdiagnosis. In this report, the case of a 14‐year‐old boy with symptoms suggestive of acute abdomen, which was finally diagnosed as aortic dissection, is discussed.