A cut above the rest: Trimming as a painless depilatory

Shaving and other modes of epilation can cause undue anxiety, pain, or skin irritation in children. Here, we present hair trimming as a safe, painless, and cost‐effective alternative for patients with unwanted hair which may be performed indefinitely or until the child is old enough to direct management. In select cases, removing unwanted hair using this technique may facilitate dermatologic surveillance.     

Japanese Versus Non-Japanese Patients with Transient Ischemic Attack or Minor Stroke: Subanalysis of TIA registry.org

BackgroundTIAregistry.org is an international cohort of patients with transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke within 7 days before enrollment in the registry. Main analyses of 1-year follow-up data have been reported.⁵ We conducted subanalysis on the baseline and 1-year follow-up data of Japanese patients.MethodsThe patients were classified into 2 groups based on Japanese ethnicity, Japanese (345) and non-Japanese (3238), and their baseline data and 1-year event rates were compared. We also determined risk factors and predictors of 1-year stroke.ResultsCurrent smoking, regular alcohol drinking, intracranial arterial stenosis, and small vessel occlusion; and hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary artery disease, and extracranial arterial stenosis were more and less common among Japanese patients, respectively. Stroke risk was higher and TIA risk was lower at 1-year follow-up among Japanese patients. The baseline risk factors for recurrent stroke were diabetes, alcohol drinking, and large artery atherosclerosis. Independent predictors of 1-year stroke risk were prior congestive heart failure and alcohol consumption.ConclusionsThe two populations of patients featured differences in risk factors, stroke subtypes, and outcome events. Predictors of recurrent stroke among Japanese patients included congestive heart failure and regular alcohol drinking. Strategies to attenuate residual risk of stroke aside from adherence to current guidelines should take our Japanese-patient specific findings into account.     

Experimental evaluation of three osteosynthesis devices used for stabilizing condylar fractures of the mandible.

INTRODUCTION: The purpose of the study is to evaluate experimentally the quality of the primary stability achieved in treating low subcondylar fractures by means of three different osteosynthesis devices. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The devices, a standard four-hole plate, an axial lag screw and a three-dimensional rectangular plate were tested on fresh isolated human mandibles. Testing was done on a test bench by reproducing static biting exercises between the first molars on the side of the fracture. The quality of the osteosynthesis was assessed by measuring the macroscopic amount of fragment displacement and on the device's ability to diffuse the mechanical strain within the fractured area by photoelastic stress analysis. RESULTS: The straight plates provided the worst restoration. This was explained by the unfavourable position of the plate along compression lines. The axial lag screws allowed average stability. This was due to the difficulty of intra-medullary positioning of the screw, and by the compression of the fracture line. Rectangular plates allowed good stability associated with rather good restitution of the strains. These good results were assigned to the shape of the plate, one of its arms approximating the tensile strain lines. CONCLUSION: Positioning and shape of the osteosynthesis device are of prime importance for condylar fracture stabilization. None of the three tested devices was optimal but the three-dimensional plate was the best. There is a need to develop the geometry of new plates.     

Characterization and Development of UCI 107, a Primary Human Ovarian Carcinoma Cell Line

We introduce a new epithelial ovarian carcinoma cell line (UCI 107) from a patient with papillary adenocarcinoma of the ovary who had not been previously treated. The growth characteristics, chemosensitivity, tumorgenicity, cytogenetics, antigen expression, and receptor status were examined. A standardized photometric assay was implemented to determine the response to single drug agents including doxorubicin (ADR), cisplatin (CDDP), and Taxol. Tumorgenicity was determined utilizing female athymic mice implanted either subcutaneously (sc) or intraperitoneally (ip) with 1 × 10⁷ UCI 107 cells. UCI 107 cells grow rapidly in culture with lag phase of approximately 48 hr, population doubling time of 24-36 hr, and saturation density of 4.8 × 10⁵ cells/cm². The 50% inhibitory concentration values for the chemotherapeutic agents were 0.170, 0.029, and 0.330 μM for ADR, Taxol, and CDDP, respectively. Nude mice produced ip tumors within 15 days, resulting in death from carcinomatosis 40-45 days postimplantation. Subcutaneous tumor nodules (100 mm³ were observed in nude mice 12-13 days post-tumor implantation reaching a maximum tumor volume of approximately 10,000 mm³ by Day 30. The cytogenetic composite karyotype is as follows: 46, X, der (X) t (X;7) (p11;q22), inv dup (1) (q12;q32), t (6;6;11;22) (p21.3;q16;q23.3;q13.3), del (13) (q14.1). The cell line expresses progesterone receptor, increased levels of p53 protein, and cytokeratins. It does not appear to express Her-2/neu protein, estrogen receptor, nor the CA 125 tumor marker. In conclusion, UCI 107 displays unique cellular properties which make it an attractive model for the study of ovarian cancer.     

Direct assessment of the role of NK cells in autoimmune diabetes.

Considerable indirect evidence implicates participation of natural killer cells (NK) in the pathogenesis of diabetes in BB rats. The most convincing evidence derives from studies showing that anti-CD8 antibody effectively prevents both primary disease onset and autoimmune damage to transplanted islets. However, anti-CD8 treatment depletes both NK and cytotoxic T cells (CTL) since both cell types express the CD8 marker. To study directly the role of NK in diabetic BB rats we used MCA 3.2.3, a monoclonal antibody which selectively depletes normal Lewis rats of NK cells but not CTL. A regimen of ip injected antibody achieved rapid reduction of NK cells in diabetic and nondiabetic BB rats by FACS analysis. NK cell activity remained low in rats treated weekly as evidenced by YAC tumor cell killing. We next studied the effect of NK depletion on disease incidence in diabetes-prone BB rats of which about one half are expected to develop diabetes. Onset and incidence of diabetes in 3.2.3-treated and control antibody-treated aged matched litter mates were equal. These studies suggest that NK cells are not necessary for autoimmune islet destruction in spontaneously diabetic BB rats and support a role for CTL in pathogenesis of the disease.