Searching for the Favorable Donor Site for Fat Injection: In Vivo Study Using the Nude Mice Model

BACKGROUND: The use of suctioned fat grafts for correction of soft tissue defects is a widespread procedure in esthetic and reconstructive surgery. The main disadvantage of this simple and sensible procedure is the unpredictable absorption rate of the fat graft. A lot of research has been performed aiming for enhancement of the take of the fat grafts. OBJECTIVE: Our study was performed to find if there is any favorable donor site for fat harvesting. METHODS: This in vivo experiment using the nude mice model enables the study of the long-term survival of human fat in an animal model. The fat was harvested from three donor areas: the thigh, abdomen, and breast of a 48-year-old woman who came for an elective esthetic procedure. After centrifugation, 1 cc of fat was injected subcutaneously into the scalp of the nude mouse. There were 15 mice in each of the three groups, according to the selected donor sites. The animals were sacrificed 16 weeks after the procedure. The extracted fat was evaluated in terms of weight, volume, and six histologic parameters: integrity, vascularization, cyst formation, fibrosis, necrosis, and inflammation. RESULTS: This study could not find any statistically significant differences between the three investigated donor sites in the evaluated parameters. CONCLUSION: On the basis of this study, there is no favorable area for harvesting fat grafts. The donor site can be chosen according to the preference of the surgeon and the patient.     

Loss-of-function mutations in caspase recruitment domain-containing protein 14 (CARD14) are associated with a severe variant of atopic dermatitis

1. Download high-res image (356KB)
2. Download full-size image

     

Diagnostic mesothelioma biomarkers in effusion cytology

Malignant mesothelioma is a rare malignancy with a poor prognosis whose development is related to asbestos fiber exposure. An increasing role of genetic predisposition has been recognized recently. Pleural biopsy is the gold standard for diagnosis, in which the identification of pleural invasion by atypical mesothelial cell is a major criterion. Pleural effusion is usually the first sign of disease; therefore, a cytological specimen is often the initial or the only specimen available for diagnosis. Given that reactive mesothelial cells may show marked atypia, the diagnosis of mesothelioma on cytomorphology alone is challenging. Accordingly, cell block preparation is encouraged, as it permits immunohistochemical staining. Traditional markers of mesothelioma such as glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) and insulin-like growth factor 2 mRNA-binding protein 3 (IMP3) are informative, but difficult to interpret when reactive proliferations aberrantly stain positive. BRCA1-associated protein 1 (BAP1) nuclear staining loss is highly specific for mesothelioma, but sensitivity is low in sarcomatoid tumors. Cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A (CDKN2A)/p16 homozygous deletion, assessed by fluorescence in situ hybridization, is more specific for mesothelioma with better sensitivity, even in the sarcomatoid variant. The surrogate marker methylthioadenosine phosphorylase (MTAP) has been found to demonstrate excellent diagnostic correlation with p16. The purpose of this review is to provide an essential appraisal of the literature regarding the diagnostic value of many of these emerging biomarkers for malignant mesothelioma in effusion cytology.     

Emotional reactivity to war stressors: An experience sampling study in people with and without different psychiatric diagnoses

There is a lack of knowledge regarding real-time emotional reactivity to high-intensity stressors, particularly in people with mental illness, a potentially vulnerable population. The current study aimed to examine negative emotional reactions to recurring high-intensity stressors within a continuous war situation, in people with different psychiatric diagnosis types. Experience sampling method was used to examine emotional reactions among 143 civilians exposed to rockets during the 2014 Israel–Gaza war, of them 18.2% with psychosis, 14.7% with anxiety or depression and 67.1% without mental illness. Participants reported exposure to rocket warning sirens and the levels of 10 negative emotions twice a day for 30 days. Negative emotional levels were higher on most emotions following high-intensity stressors (sirens), that is, emotional reactivity was demonstrated in real-time during war. Overall, no difference in reactivity was found among the three study groups. Moreover, people with anxiety/depression were less reactive than people without mental illness on sadness and being overwhelmed. The findings indicate similar and sometimes lower emotional reactivity to high-intensity stressors in people with mental illness compared to the general population. Nevertheless, people with mental illness seem to have significant emotional needs during war, to be addressed in prevention and intervention efforts.     

Right but not left angular gyrus modulates the metric component of the mental body representation: a tDCS study

The parietal lobes contribute to body-space representation. The present work aims at characterizing the functional role of the inferior parietal lobe in body-space representation and at studying the different roles of the angular gyrus in the right and left hemisphere. We conducted three separate transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) experiments using “tactile distance task” as an implicit measure of body representation. Whereas anodal tDCS on the right angular gyrus influences vocal reaction times (vRT) for stimuli delivered on the ipsilateral body parts without changes of accuracy, right tDCS improved both vRT and accuracy for tactile stimuli on the contralateral limbs. Sham or left parietal anodal tDCS had no effect. These evidences support the view that right parietal areas have a crucial role in the metric component of the body representation.     

A real-life setting evaluation of the effect of remdesivir on viral load in COVID-19 patients admitted to a large tertiary centre in Israel

ObjectivesThe effectiveness of remdesivir, a Food and Drug Administration-approved drug for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been repeatedly questioned during the current coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Most of the recently reported studies were randomized controlled multicentre clinical trials. Our goal was to test the efficiency of remdesivir in reducing nasopharyngeal viral load and hospitalization length in a real-life setting in patients admitted to a large tertiary centre in Israel.MethodsA total of 142 COVID-19 patients found to have at least three reported SARS-CoV-2 quantitative RT-PCR tests during hospitalization were selected for this study. Of these, 29 patients received remdesivir, while the remaining non-treated 113 patients served as controls.ResultsAmong the tested parameters, the control and remdesivir groups differed significantly only in the intubation rates. Remdesivir treatment did not significantly affect nasopharyngeal viral load, as determined by comparing the differences between the first and last cycle threshold values of the SARS-CoV-2 quantitative RT-PCR tests performed during hospitalization (cycle threshold 7.07 ± 6.85 vs. 7.08 ± 7.27, p 0.977 in the control and treated groups, respectively). Remdesivir treatment shortened hospitalization length by less than a day compared with non-treated controls and by 3.1 days when non-intubated patients from both groups were compared. These differences, however, were not statistically significant, possibly because of the small size of the remdesivir group.DiscussionRemdesivir was not associated with nasopharyngeal viral load changes, but our study had a significant disease severity baseline imbalance and was not powered to detect viral load or clinical differences.