Comparison of Smooth-Gel Hyaluronic Acid Dermal Fillers with Cross-linked Bovine Collagen: A Multicenter, Double-Masked, Randomized, Within-Subject Study

BACKGROUND A new family of next-generation non-animal hyaluronic acid (HA) dermal fillers was approved by the FDA in June 2006. Compared with other HA fillers available in the United States at the time of writing, these new fillers have a higher concentration of HA, higher concentration of cross-linked HA, and a smooth consistency—which should promote long-lasting corrections and a smooth, natural look and feel postinjection.
OBJECTIVE The objective was to compare the effectiveness and safety of these smooth-gel HA dermal fillers with bovine collagen for nasolabial fold (NLF) correction.
METHODS AND MATERIALS A total of 439 subjects with moderate or severe NLFs received one of three types of smooth-gel HA dermal filler (in one NLF) and cross-linked bovine collagen (in the other NLF) and were evaluated for ≤24 weeks.
RESULTS All three HA dermal fillers achieved considerably longer-lasting clinical correction than bovine collagen; 81% to 90% of HA dermal filler–treated NLFs maintained a clinically significant improvement from baseline for ≥6 months. Up to 88% of subjects preferred the HA dermal fillers over bovine collagen. All fillers were similarly well tolerated.
CONCLUSION The smooth-gel HA dermal fillers offer longer-lasting correction than bovine collagen—which may lessen the frequency that repeat treatments are needed. Also, they were preferred by the vast majority of subjects—which should promote patient satisfaction.     

Gestational hypothyroxinemia and cognitive function in offspring

The effects of gestational hypothyroxinemia on the neurointellectual prognosis of children in the first year of life living in an industrial city (megalopolis) with mild iodine deficiency were studied in 13 children of mothers with thyroid hormone-corrected gestational hypothyroxinemia in the first trimester and 10 children of mothers with normal levels of free thyroxine by assessing cognitive functions at ages six, nine, and 12 months using the Gnome mental development scale. The results showed that maternal free thyroxine levels at the early stages (5–9 weeks) of pregnancy correlated significantly with the coefficients of mental development among the children at ages 6, 9, and 12 months, i.e., represented one of the factors defining the neuropsychological development of offspring. Early (not later than nine weeks) correction of gestational hypothyroxinemia with levothyroxine at a mean daily dose of at lest 1.2 μg/kg improved the neurointellectual prognosis of the offspring, increasing the coefficient of mental development of children to 92–97 points during the first year of life, i.e., to the level of development of mental functions of children born to mothers with normal thyroxine levels. __________ Translated from Problemy éndokrinologii, Vol. 51, No. 5, pp. 27–31, September–October, 2005.     

Complex treatment of patients with lympho-venous insufficiency of the lower limbs

The article is concerned with the study of use of physical factors in the treatment of chronic lymphphleboid failure of lower limbs. As a result, it was able to show a significant positive dynamic under the complex approach of treating this disease. In patients with chronic lymphphleboid failure of lower limbs justified individual tactics, based on the use of a wide range of modern medicines, physical therapy techniques, therapeutic exercises, lymphatic massage of the lower limbs. This leads to early rehabilitation and improvement of quality of patients' life.     

Involvement of non-clostridial anaerobic microorganisms in pathogenesis of chronic osteomyelitis

The microbic pattern of osteomyelitic foci were analyzed in patients with chronic osteomyelitis on the AB Expression Analyzer by the 'BioMerieux" anaerobic cultivation and identification system (France). The osteomyelitis-focus microcenosis was shown to be of the mixed anaerobic-aerobic nature. Anaerobic microorganisms were isolated in 65.4% of examined patients and made 34% of the isolated bacterial cultures, which is indicative of an important role of anaerobes in the development and persistence of the purulent-inflammatory process in chronic osteomyelitis. Thus, it is feasible to prescribe the antibacterial drugs, which are active in respect to both aerobic and anaerobic bacteria.     

Causes of increased intraoperative blood loss during operations on "dry" heart under deep hypothermia in patients with acquired heart defects

Based on an examination of 100 patients with acquired heart diseases operated upon under conditions of nonperfusion hypothermia (28-24 degrees C) the authors have proved the key role of the square of the wound surface of the injury of the chest wall and traumatized (dissected) adhesions as well as time of circulation of heparin in blood at the stages of nonperfusion heating facilitating increased blood loss.     

Treatment with L-dopa in early life restored pituitary-adrenocortical response to emotional stress in adult rats with inherited arterial hypertension.

This study investigates the function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical system (HPAS) in adult rats with inherited stress-induced arterial hypertension (ISIAH rats) whose arterial blood pressure was lowered by the dopamine precursor L-DOPA treatment during early development (on days 21-25 of life). The response of the HPAS induced by emotional stress was significantly lower in intact ISIAH rats than in normotensive Wistar animals. Injections of L-DOPA on days 21-23 or 21-25 of postnatal life were followed by a long-lasting complete restoration of the emotional stress response in adult ISIAH rats. The restoring effect of L-DOPA was produced through enhancement of synthesis of the brain noradrenaline and, perhaps, adrenaline. The effect was associated with a normalization of the response of the brain adrenergic system to noradrenaline and did not relate to an increase of the plasma corticosterone level after L-DOPA administration in early ontogeny.