Systematic review of the use of honey as a wound dressing

Objective  

To investigate topical honey in superficial burns and wounds though a systematic review of randomised controlled trials.     

Wound contraction effects and antibacterial properties of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tualang</Emphasis> honey on full-thickness burn wounds in rats in comparison to hydrofibre

Background  

Full-thickness burn wounds require excision and skin grafting. Multiple surgical procedures are inevitable in managing moderate to severe full-thickness burns. Wound bed preparations prior to surgery are necessary in order to prevent wound infection and promote wound healing. Honey can be used to treat burn wounds. However, not all the honey is the same. This study aims to evaluate the wound contraction and antibacterial properties of locally-produced Tualang honey on managing full-thickness burn wounds in vivo.     

Using ordinal logistic regression to evaluate the performance of laser-Doppler predictions of burn-healing time

Background  

Laser-Doppler imaging (LDI) of cutaneous blood flow is beginning to be used by burn surgeons to predict the healing time of burn wounds; predicted healing time is used to determine wound treatment as either dressings or surgery. In this paper, we do a statistical analysis of the performance of the technique.     

Larvicidal,antimicrobial and brine shrimp activities of extracts from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cissampelos mucronata</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tephrosia villosa</Emphasis> from coast region,Tanzania

Background  

The leaves and roots of Cissampelos mucronata A. Rich (Menispermaceae) are widely used in the tropics and subtropics to manage various ailments such as gastro-intestinal complaints, menstrual problems, venereal diseases and malaria. In the Coast region, Tanzania, roots are used to treat wounds due to extraction of jigger. Leaves of Tephrosia villosa (L) Pers (Leguminosae) are reported to be used in the treatment of diabetes mellitus in India. In this study, extracts from the roots and aerial parts of C. mucronata and extracts from leaves, fruits, twigs and roots of T. villosa were evaluated for larvicidal activity, brine shrimps toxicity and antimicrobial activity.     

Co-receptor tropism prediction among 1045 Indian HIV-1 subtype C sequences: Therapeutic implications for India

Background   

Understanding co-receptor tropism of HIV-1 strains circulating in India will provide key analytical leverage for assessing the potential usefulness of newer antiretroviral drugs such as chemokine co-receptor antagonists among Indian HIV-infected populations. The objective of this study was to determine using in silico methods, HIV-1 tropism among a large number of Indian isolates both from primary clinical isolates as well as from database-derived sequences.     

Potentials of leaves of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aspilia africana</Emphasis> (Compositae) in wound care: an experimental evaluation

Background  

The potentials of the leaves of the haemorrhage plant, Aspilia africana C. D Adams (Compositae) in wound care was evaluated using experimental models. A. africana, which is widespread in Africa, is used in traditional medicine to stop bleeding from wounds, clean the surfaces of sores, in the treatment of rheumatic pains, bee and scorpion stings and for removal of opacities and foreign bodies from the eyes. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the potentials for use of leaves of this plant in wound care.     

Medical informatics in an undergraduate curriculum: a qualitative study

Background  

There is strong support for educating physicians in medical informatics, and the benefits of such education have been clearly identified. Despite this, North American medical schools do not routinely provide education in medical informatics.     

Teaching statistics to medical students using problem-based learning: the Australian experience

Background  

Problem-based learning (PBL) is gaining popularity as a teaching method in UK medical schools, but statistics and research methods are not being included in this teaching. There are great disadvantages in omitting statistics and research methods from the main teaching. PBL is well established in Australian medical schools. The Australian experience in teaching statistics and research methods in curricula based on problem-based learning may provide guidance for other countries, such as the UK, where this method is being introduced.     

Cell Therapy for Wound Healing

In covering wounds, efforts should include utilization of the safest and least invasive methods with goals of achieving optimal functional and cosmetic outcome. The recent development of advanced wound healing technology has triggered the use of cells to improve wound healing conditions. The purpose of this review is to provide information on clinically available cell-based treatment options for healing of acute and chronic wounds. Compared with a variety of conventional methods, such as skin grafts and local flaps, the cell therapy technique is simple, less time-consuming, and reduces the surgical burden for patients in the repair of acute wounds. Cell therapy has also been developed for chronic wound healing. By transplanting cells with an excellent wound healing capacity profile to chronic wounds, in which wound healing cannot be achieved successfully, attempts are made to convert the wound bed into the environment where maximum wound healing can be achieved. Fibroblasts, keratinocytes, adipose-derived stromal vascular fraction cells, bone marrow stem cells, and platelets have been used for wound healing in clinical practice. Some formulations are commercially available. To establish the cell therapy as a standard treatment, however, further research is needed.

Graphical Abstract

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Shewanella infection of snake bites: a twelve-year retrospective study

OBJECTIVE:

Infections of snake bite wounds by Shewanella are rarely discussed in the medical literature. This study aims to characterize the presentation and management of Shewanella infections in snake bite wounds.

METHOD:

We retrospectively investigated the microbiology, clinical features, and outcomes of patients with Shewanella infected snake bite wounds admitted to a tertiary medical center from January 1998 to December 2009.

RESULTS:

Ten patients with Shewanella-infected snake bite wounds were identified. All of the snake bites were caused by cobras. The majority of patients had moderate to severe local envenomation and polymicrobial infections. Shewanella isolates are susceptible to ampicillin-sulbactam, piperacillin-tazobactam, third- and fourth-generation cephalosporins, carbapenems, aminoglycosides, and quinolones but are resistant to penicillin and cefazolin. All of the patients examined had favorable outcomes.

CONCLUSION:

It is recommended that Shewanella infection be considered in snake bite patients, especially when patients present with moderate to severe local envenomation.     

An epigenetic vaccine model active in the prevention and treatment of melanoma

Background  

Numerous immune genes are epigenetically silenced in tumor cells and agents such as histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi), which reverse these effects, could potentially be used to develop therapeutic vaccines. The conversion of cancer cells to antigen presenting cells (APCs) by HDACi treatment could potentially provide an additional pathway, together with cross-presentation of tumor antigens by host APCs, to establish tumor immunity.     

Graduate attributes in the disciplines of Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine: a survey of expert opinions

Background  

This study was completed as part of a project for the Quality Assurance Agency on the enhancement theme of 'Research teaching linkages: enhancing graduate attributes' in the disciplines of Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine. The aims of this investigation were to elucidate a list of desirable research related graduate attributes for the disciplines of Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine and provide evidence as to how they could be covered within such curricula.     

Are Psychologists Willing and Able to Promote Physical Activity as Part of Psychological Treatment?

Background  

Physical activity can provide psychological benefits, but there is little research on psychologists' promoting activity as part of psychological treatment.     

Modeling emergency department visit patterns for infectious disease complaints: results and application to disease surveillance

Background  

Concern over bio-terrorism has led to recognition that traditional public health surveillance for specific conditions is unlikely to provide timely indication of some disease outbreaks, either naturally occurring or induced by a bioweapon. In non-traditional surveillance, the use of health care resources are monitored in "near real" time for the first signs of an outbreak, such as increases in emergency department (ED) visits for respiratory, gastrointestinal or neurological chief complaints (CC).     

Democracy: the forgotten challenge for bioethics in the developing countries

Background  

Bioethics as a field related to the health system and health service delivery has grown in the second half of the 20^th century, mainly in North America. This is attributed, the author argues, to mainly three kinds of development that took place in the developed countries at a pace different than the developing countries. They are namely: development of the health system; moral development; and political development.     

The caCORE Software Development Kit: Streamlining construction of interoperable biomedical information services

Background  

Robust, programmatically accessible biomedical information services that syntactically and semantically interoperate with other resources are challenging to construct. Such systems require the adoption of common information models, data representations and terminology standards as well as documented application programming interfaces (APIs). The National Cancer Institute (NCI) developed the cancer common ontologic representation environment (caCORE) to provide the infrastructure necessary to achieve interoperability across the systems it develops or sponsors. The caCORE Software Development Kit (SDK) was designed to provide developers both within and outside the NCI with the tools needed to construct such interoperable software systems.     

Analysis of machine perfusion benefits in kidney grafts: a preclinical study

Background  

Machine perfusion (MP) has potential benefits for marginal organs such as from deceased from cardiac death donors (DCD). However, there is still no consensus on MP benefits. We aimed to determine machine perfusion benefits on kidney grafts.     

Wnt expression is not correlated with β-catenin dysregulation in Dupuytren's Disease

Background  

Dupuytren's contracture or disease (DD) is a fibro-proliferative disease of the hand that results in finger flexion contractures. Increased cellular β-catenin levels have been identified as characteristic of this disease. As Wnts are the most widely recognized upstream regulators of cellular β-catenin accumulation, we have examined Wnt gene expression in surgical specimens and in DD-derived primary cell cultures grown in two-dimensional monolayer culture or in three-dimensional FPCL collagen lattice cultures.     

Honey: a reservoir for microorganisms and an inhibitory agent for microbes

Background

Honey is an ancient remedy for the treatment of infected wounds, which has recently been ‘rediscovered’ by the medical profession. The use to which honey is put in medical care is increasing daily with many authors pointing out its importance and role in wound care. There have been reports that honey contains many microorganisms including bacteria and fungi.

Objective

The aim of this paper is to highlight the various uses, organisms commonly found in honey, how the organisms arrived in the honey and their effects on wounds and wound care. Would the presence of these organisms not constitute a limiting factor to the use of honey in wound management? This is what this review aims to answer

Methods

A literature search was done on honey using pubmed, google, local books and journals. Relevant journals were extracted and discussed with emphasis on the antimicrobial properties as well as microbial content of honey and the implications of these.

Results

The production of honey as well as the storing process account for the presence of microorganisims. Most of these organisms are said to be in inactive forms as they can hardly survive in honey because of its several properties including hygroscopicity, hyperosmolarity, acidity, peroxide content, antibiotic activities etc. However there is a need for caution in the use of honey in wound management.

Conclusion

We suggest that wounds to be treated with honey should be investigated i.e with a swab for the microorganisms present on the wound and their sensitivity to the honey before commencing honey treatment. This will help in carefully selecting wounds that might do well with honey treatment not withstanding other properties of honey that aid wound healing.     

Results of a content analysis of electronic messages (email) sent between patients and their physicians

Background  

Email is the most important mechanism introduced since the telephone for developing interpersonal relationships. This study was designed to provide insight into how patients are using email to request information or services from their healthcare providers.