Successful and quick treatment of nevus of Ota with 755nm picosecond laser in Chinese.

Nevus of Ota, also known as nevus fusco-caeruleus ophthalmo-maxillaris, is a benign dermal melanocytosis. In the past, this disease was usually treated by Q-switched laser therapy, but the course of treatment was relatively long. In recent years, it has been reported that 755nm picosecond laser, which was firstly reported to treat tattoos, is also effective in the treatment of nevus of Ota. Here, we report six cases of nevus of Ota which were treated with 755nm picosecond laser in Chinese people. We find amazingly that these lesions almost disappeared after only one or two sessions of treatment.

Demographic and clinical characteristics and risk factors for Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome in Hunan.

OBJECTIVE: To realize the risk factors, clinical features, and treatments of Staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS).
 METHODS: The clinical features, laboratory findings, and treatment were retrospectively analyzed in 290 patients from Hunan Children's Hospital.
 RESULTS: Of the 290 patients, less than 3 years old children were 76.6%. One hundred and nine patients had induced factors, and 177 patients had elevated white blood cell count. There were 168 patients with SSSS accompanied with fever, 34 patients accompanied with diarrhea, and 58 patients associated with septicemia. Eighty-five patients performed the bacterial cultures of the skin secretions, 21 did the throat swab, and 13 did both of the skin secretions and throat swab. Bacterial culture results showed that 119 samples were positive for Staphylococci. All patients were cured after antimicrobial therapy. The skin lesions were improved in 3.26 d. The mean hospital stay was 6.55 d. Recovery time of the body temperature was 3.48 d in average.
 CONCLUSION: SSSS predominates in infants and children under 3 years old, and has tendency to combine with multi-organ symptoms. The early diagnosis and active antimicrobial treatment are the keys of successful treatments.

Mitochondrial aerobic respiration is activated during hair follicle stem cell differentiation, and its dysfunction retards hair regeneration.

Background. Emerging research revealed the essential role of mitochondria in regulating stem/progenitor cell differentiation of neural progenitor cells, mesenchymal stem cells and other stem cells through reactive oxygen species (ROS), Notch or other signaling pathway. Inhibition of mitochondrial protein synthesis results in hair loss upon injury. However, alteration of mitochondrial morphology and metabolic function during hair follicle stem cells (HFSCs) differentiation and how they affect hair regeneration has not been elaborated upon. Methods. We compared the difference in mitochondrial morphology and activity between telogen bulge cells and anagen matrix cells. Expression levels of mitochondrial ROS and superoxide dismutase 2 (SOD2) were measured to evaluate redox balance. In addition, the level of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase (PDK) and pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) were estimated to present the change in energetic metabolism during differentiation. To explore the effect of the mitochondrial metabolism on regulating hair regeneration, hair growth was observed after application of a mitochondrial respiratory inhibitor upon hair plucking. Results. During HFSCs differentiation, mitochondria became elongated with more abundant organized cristae and showed higher activity in differentiated cells. SOD2 was enhanced for redox balance with relatively stable ROS levels in differentiated cells. PDK increased in HFSCs while differentiated cells showed enhanced PDH, indicating that respiration switched from glycolysis to oxidative phosphorylation during differentiation. Inhibiting mitochondrial respiration in differentiated hair follicle cells upon hair plucking repressed hair regeneration in vivo. Conclusions. Upon HFSCs differentiation, mitochondria are elongated with more abundant cristae and show higher activity, accompanying with activated aerobic respiration in differentiated cells for higher energy supply. Also, dysfunction of mitochondrial respiration delays hair regeneration upon injury.