Quantification of myocardial fibrosis using noninvasive T2-mapping magnetic resonance imaging: Preclinical models of aging and pressure overload

Noninvasive imaging of cardiac fibrosis is important for early diagnosis and intervention in chronic heart diseases. Here, we investigated whether noninvasive, contrast agent-free MRI T₂-mapping can quantify myocardial fibrosis in preclinical models of aging and pressure overload. Myocardial fibrosis and remodeling were analyzed in two animal models: (i) aging (15-month-old male CF-1 mice vs. young 6- to 8-week-old mice), and (ii) pressure overload (PO; by transverse aortic constriction in 4- to 5-month-old male C57BL/6 mice vs. sham-operated for 14 days). In vivo T₂-mapping was performed by acquiring data during the isovolumic and early diastolic phases, with a modified respiratory and ECG-triggered multiecho TurboRARE sequence on a 7-T MRI. Cine MRI provided cardiac morphology and function. A quantitative segmentation method was developed to analyze the in vivo T₂-maps of hearts at midventricle, apex, and basal regions. The cardiac fibrosis area was analyzed ex vivo by picro sirius red (PSR) staining. Both aged and pressure-overloaded hearts developed significant myocardial contractile dysfunction, cardiac hypertrophy, and interstitial fibrosis. The aged mice had two phenotypes, fibrotic and mild-fibrotic. Notably, the aged fibrotic subgroup and the PO mice showed a marked decrease in T₂ relaxation times (25.3 ± 0.6 in aged vs. 29.9 ± 0.7 ms in young mice, p = 0.002; and 24.3 ± 1.7 in PO vs. 28.7 ± 0.7 ms in shams, p = 0.05). However, no significant difference in T₂ was detected between the aged mild-fibrotic subgroup and the young mice. Accordingly, an inverse correlation between myocardial fibrosis percentage (FP) and T₂ relaxation time was derived (R² = 0.98): T₂ (ms) = 30.45 – 1.05 × FP. Thus, these results demonstrate a statistical agreement between T₂-map–quantified fibrosis and PSR staining in two different clinically relevant animal models. In conclusion, T₂-mapping MRI is a promising noninvasive contrast agent-free quantitative technique to characterize myocardial fibrosis.     

Oncological and aesthetic outcome following surgical management of orbito-palpebral skin cancers: A retrospective study of 132 patients

BackgroundThe incidence of facial skin cancers continues to rise, with major studies on their impacts still lacking in the literature. This study reports on the oncological and aesthetic results following surgical management of an orbito-palpebral skin cancer.MethodsThis retrospective, monocentric study included patients treated for a non-melanoma skin cancer of the eyelid and orbit. Risk factors, location, histological type, invaded or insufficient margins, healing time, surgical management by excision and direct closure, skin graft or local flaps, self-evaluated aesthetics, and quality of life results were all compared.ResultsThe study included 132 patients operated for basal cell carcinoma (71.9%), squamous cell carcinoma (22.9%), or for another type (5.2%) between November 2011 and January 2017. Average tumor size was 9.6 ± 6.3 mm. Surgical management resulted in excision and open healing (9.1%), excision and direct closure (3.9%), skin graft (31.1%), local flap (21.9%), or another type of reconstruction (3.0%). Significant links between invaded or insufficient margins and basal cell type (OR = 3.37, p = 0.014), tumor size over 7 mm (OR = 2.7, p = 0.011), double location (OR = 8.44, p = 0.04), flap-based reconstruction (OR = 0.290, p = 0.02), and female gender (OR = 0.418, p = 0.034) were reported throughout our multivariate analysis.ConclusionsThis study brings out consequential information on factors linked with invaded or insufficient excision margins. Larger cohorts should evaluate the aesthetic outcomes in such a population.     

肿瘤性复杂性胸壁缺损的修复策略及对肿瘤治疗的积极影响

复杂性胸壁缺损的修复一直是一项极具挑战性的工作。肿瘤性复杂性胸壁缺损的修复决策及其执行困难是限制胸壁肿瘤治疗方法选择及影响预后的重要因素之一。皮瓣解剖学研究的深入、胸壁支持结构重建技术的进步、显微外科技术的发展、麻醉护理的发展、对综合治疗的重视和治疗手段的进步等,使传统认为不可切除的胸壁肿瘤得以彻底地切除和安全有效地修复,从而使与缺损修复相关的肿瘤切除及辅助治疗的禁忌证缩减到最小程度,有效地提高了胸壁肿瘤患者的生存质量,并很大程度上延长了生存率。作者以湖南省肿瘤医院整形外科15年565例胸壁肿瘤切除后修复重建的临床资料为依据,充实了胸壁肿瘤切除及修复的策略:(1)可靠的胸壁骨性支架重建;(2)有效的软组织修复;(3)麻醉及护理与手术团队的合作;(4)系统有序的综合治疗。并进一步明确了复杂胸壁肿瘤切除及重建的细节理念,包括胸部肿瘤治疗中加强多学科合作的密切性和科学性,整形外科医生参与肿瘤治疗整体规划的主动性和时机前移等。     

眼睑分裂痣的手术整形研究

目的：探究眼睑分裂痣的不同手术方法和治疗效果。方法随机选取该院在2014年1月—2015年12月收治的60例需要进行眼睑分裂痣手术治疗的患者作为观察对象,将其按照抽签法随机分为A组(n=20)、B组(n=20)和C组(n=20),A组患者采用全厚皮片移植术；B组患者采用转移或推进皮瓣术；C组患者采用皮片移植+皮瓣转移术。首先对3组患者的治疗效果进行观察,然后比较3组患者在治疗后的不良反应发生情况,对比不良反应的发生率。结果3组患者的治疗效果均较好,所有患者的上伤口在1期即全部愈合,未出现明显的睑缘切痕；A组患者中,出现不良反应的患者有1例,占5.0%。B组中,无患者出现不良反应,不良反应发生率为0.0%。C组中,出现不良反应的患者有1例,占5.0%。3组患者之间差异无统计学意义(P﹥0.05)。结论治疗眼睑分裂痣的方法较多,全厚皮片移植术、转移或推进皮瓣术以及皮片移植+皮瓣转移术均有较好的效果,患者无明显的不良反应,并且痊愈的效果较好,手术的操作也较为简便易行,具有较高的安全性和可行性,值得临床推广。     

A Simple Dressing Technique Following Dermofasciectomy and Full Thickness Skin Grafting of the Fingers in the Treatment of Severe Dupuytren’s Contracture

Dupuytren’s disease with severe finger contractures and recurrent contractures following previous surgery often have extensive skin involvement. In these severe cases, excision of the diseased chord along with the involved skin is a good option to reduce the risk of recurrance. The resulting skin defect can be covered with a full thickness skin graft (FTSG) or a cross finger flap. Cross finger flaps have donor finger morbidity and hence a full thickness graft is usually preferred. The FTSG extending to the midlateral margins on both sides of the finger reduces the risk of joint contracture due to graft shrinkage. Once the FTSG is sutured in place, the standard practice is to compress and secure the graft to its recipient bed with a tie-over dressing and this can be time consuming. We present a simple dressing technique to secure the FTSG without the need for a tie-over dressing.     

The curvilinear relationship of early-life adversity and successful aging: the mediating role of mental health

Objectives: The steeling effect suggests that early-life adversity can have a beneficial impact later in life. However, little is known about its underlying mechanisms and long-term outcomes . The study aimed to examine the role of early-life adversity (ELA) on successful aging, and whether this relationship can be explained by mental and physical health.

Method: Socio-demographics, early-life adversity (ELA), individual quality of life (iQoL), and mental and physical health of 270 individuals (M_age = 66.82 years, 71.5% female) were assessed. Polynomial regressions and mediation analyses were conducted.

Results: Significant inverse U-shaped associations were found between ELA and iQoL (β = ?.59, p = .005) and between ELA and mental health (β = ?.64, p = .002), but not between ELA and physical health. Furthermore, mental health significantly mediated the relationship between ELA and iQoL (b = ?.84, BCa CI [?1.66, ?.27]).

Conclusion: Highest level of individual quality of life (i.e. successful aging) was related to a moderate amount of ELA. Additionally, mental health significantly mediated this relationship. These findings suggest that some amount of ELA could be beneficial for successful aging. Resource-focused interventions are needed to improve health and promote successful aging for an underdetected, at-risk subgroup with low early-life adversity.     

Increased alpha suppression with age during involuntary memory retrieval

Recent work suggests that while voluntary episodic memory declines with age, involuntary episodic memory, which comes to mind spontaneously without intention, remains relatively intact. However, the neurophysiology underlying these differences has yet to be established. The current study used electroencephalography (EEG) to investigate voluntary and involuntary retrieval in older and younger adults. Participants first encoded sounds, half of which were paired with pictures, the other half unpaired. EEG was then recorded as they listened to the sounds, with participants in the involuntary group performing a sound localization cover task, and those in the voluntary group additionally attempting to recall the associated pictures. Participants later reported which sounds brought the paired picture to mind during the localization task. Reaction times on the localization task were slower for voluntary than involuntary retrieval and for paired than unpaired sounds, possibly reflecting increased attentional demands of voluntary retrieval and interference from reactivation of the associated pictures respectively. For the EEG analyses, young adults showed greater alpha event-related desynchronization (ERD) during voluntary than involuntary retrieval at frontal and occipital sites, while older adults showed pronounced alpha ERD regardless of intention. Additionally, older adults showed greater ERD for paired than unpaired sounds at occipital sites, likely reflecting visual reactivation of the associated pictures. Young adults did not show this alpha ERD memory effect. Taken together, these data suggest that involuntary memory is largely preserved with age, but this may be due to older adults' greater recruitment of top-down control even when demand for such control is limited.     

Caveolin-1 in skin aging – From innocent bystander to major contributor

Caveolin-1 (Cav-1) appears to be both a pathophysiological contributor and a target in different inflammatory and hyperproliferative skin conditions as well as in skin aging. Skin fibroblasts demonstrate an up-regulation of Cav-1 expression both in chronological and UV-induced aging, and such an up-regulation was observed both in vitro and in vivo. Typical alterations in aging skin involve a reduction of the dermis thickness, a significant expansion of the dermal white adipose tissue as well as modifications of the content and distribution of hyaluronan, impairment of autophagic flux, a reduction of collagen expression and an increase in tissue inflammation. All of these phenomena can be connected with changes in Cav-1 expression in the aging skin. Modified expression of Cav-1 can also significantly influence the mechanical properties of individual skin layers, thus changing the total mechanical stability of the layered composite skin/WAT, leading to typical structural modifications of the skin surface in the aging skin. Selective reduction of Cav-1 expression has the potential to exert anti-aging effects on the skin.