Quantitative Assessment of New Frontiers in Dermatochalasis and Periorbital Hyperpigmentation Treatment: The Role of Cross-Linked Porcine Collagen.

BACKGROUND: Collagen dermal fillers have shown efficacy in addressing age-related changes in facial appearance. However, their potential in rejuvenating the periorbital region remains unexplored. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness, clinical safety, and patient satisfaction associated with the utilization of collagen dermal fillers in individuals with dermatochalasis and periorbital hyperpigmentation. METHODS: This study was reviewed and approved by the institutional review board of China Medical University Hospital (IRB No. CMUH107-REC2-157). Adults diagnosed with dermatochalasis or periorbital hyperpigmentation received periorbital injections of a sterile cross-linked highly-purified specific antigen free porcine dermal collagen (FACIALGAIN® Collagen Implant with Lidocaine, Sunmax Biotechnology Co. Ltd., Taipei, Taiwan) and were assessed for hydration, elasticity, pigmentation index, redness index, lightness value, and density with the DermaLab® Combo Multiparameter Skin Analysis System (Cortex Technology, Hadsund, Denmark) and Cutometer® Dual MPA 580 (Courage+Khazaka electronic GmbH, Köln, Germany). Data was collected prior to injection and at 1 week, 4 weeks, and 12 weeks after injection. Patient satisfaction on volume augmentation, decrease in hyperpigmentation, persistence, and overall satisfaction were also recorded. RESULTS: A total of 12 samples each were recruited for dermatochalasis and periorbital hyperpigmentation. For dermatochalasis subjects, hydration of the periorbital tissue significantly increased at week 1 and 4 (p = 0.011 and p = 0.015). Elasticity decreased by week 4 and persisted until week 12 (p = 0.001 and 0.014). For periorbital hyperpigmentation patients, lightness value increased significantly starting week 1 (p = 0.016), tapering off at week 12. Elasticity decreased by week 4 and persisted until week 12 (p = 0.002 and p = 0.002). Median overall patient satisfaction was 4 out of 5 for the dermatochalasis group and 4.5 out of 5 for the periorbital hyperpigmentation group, with a mild but insignificant decrease by week 12. CONCLUSIONS: DermaLab® Combo and Cutometer® Dual MPA 580 are considered effective methods for evaluating patients undergoing dermal filler injections. The utilization of cross-linked porcine collagen dermal filler injections can serve as a minimally invasive approach to enhance skin laxity in dermatochalasis and address discoloration in periorbital hyperpigmentation. However, it is important to note that regular treatments may be necessary to sustain the desired outcomes. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE IV: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/0026 .

Enhancing radiologist's detection: an imaging-based grading system for differentiating Crohn's disease from ulcerative colitis.

BACKGROUND: Delayed diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is common, there is still no effective imaging system to distinguish Crohn's Disease (CD) and Ulcerative Colitis (UC) patients. METHODS: This multicenter retrospective study included IBD patients at three centers between January 2012 and May 2022. The intestinal and perianal imaging signs were evaluated. Visceral fat information from CT images was extracted, including the ratio of visceral to subcutaneous fat volume (VSR), fat distribution, and attenuation values. The valuable indicators were screened out in the derivation cohort by binary logistic regression and receiver working curve (ROC) analysis to construct an imaging report and data system for IBD (IBD-RADS), which was tested in the validation cohort. RESULTS: The derivation cohort included 606 patients (365 CD, 241 UC), and the validation cohort included 155 patients (97 CD, 58 UC). Asymmetric enhancement (AE) (OR = 87.75 [28.69, 268.4]; P < 0.001), perianal fistula (OR = 4.968 [1.807, 13.66]; P = 0.002) and VSR (OR = 1.571 [1.087, 2.280]; P = 0.04) were independent predictors of CD. VSR improved the efficiency of imaging signs (AUC: 0.929 vs. 0.901; P < 0.001), with a threshold greater than 0.97 defined as visceral fat predominance (VFP). In IBD-RADS, AE was the major criterion, VFP and perianal fistula were auxiliary criteria, and intestinal fistula, limited small bowel disease, and skip distribution were special favoring items as their 100% specificity. Grade 3 to 5 correctly classified most CD patients (derivation: 96.5% (352/365), validation: 98.0% (95/97)), and 98% of those were eventually diagnosed with CD (derivation: 97.8% (352/360), validation: 98.0% (95/97)). CONCLUSIONS: IBD-RADS can help radiologists distinguish between CD and UC in patients with suspected IBD.

METTL3 governs thymocyte development and thymic involution by regulating ferroptosis.

Given its central role in immune aging, it is important to identify the regulators of thymic involution. While conventional programmed cell death has a fundamental role in thymocyte development, how cell death pathways contribute to thymic involution are unclear. In this study, we found that CD4+CD8+ double-positive (DP) thymocytes acquired the characteristics of senescence in aged mice undergoing thymic involution, while expression of the m6A methyltransferase-like protein 3 (METTL3), which is enriched in DP cells from young mice, decreased with aging. By conditionally deleting METTL3 in T cells, we revealed a critical role for METTL3 in DP cell survival and in restraining the features of aging in DP thymocytes by preventing ferroptosis signaling through glutathione peroxidase 4. Mechanistically, glutathione peroxidase 4 was maintained by METTL3 at the translational level, independently of its methyltransferase activity. Furthermore, we found that pharmacological inhibition of ferroptosis promoted DP cell survival and attenuated the features of aging in DP thymocytes. These findings uncover a role for METTL3-regulated ferroptosis in thymic involution and identify strategies to restore thymic function.

Advancing the Effect-Directed Identification in Combined Pollution: Using Pathways to Link Effects and Toxicants.

The difficulty in associating diverse pollutants with mixture effects has led to significant challenges in identifying toxicants in combined pollution. In this study, pathways were used to link effects and toxicants. By pathways evaluated by the concentration-dependent transcriptome, individual effects were extended to molecular mechanisms encompassing 135 pathways corresponding to 6 biological processes. Accordingly, mechanism-based identification of toxicants was achieved by constructing a pathway toxicant database containing 2413 chemical-pathway interactions and identifying pathway active fragments of 72 pathways. The developed method was applied to two different wastewaters, industrial wastewater OB and municipal wastewater HL. Although lethality and teratogenesis were both observed at the individual level, different molecular mechanisms were revealed by pathways, with cardiotoxicity- and genotoxicity-related pathways significantly enriched in OB, and neurotoxicity- and environmental information processing-related pathways significantly enriched in HL. Further suspect and nontargeted screening generated 59 and 86 causative toxicants in OB and HL, respectively, among which 29 toxicants were confirmed, that interacted with over 90% of enriched pathways and contributed over 50% of individual effects. After upgrading treatments based on causative toxicants, consistent removal of toxicants, pathway effects, and individual effects were observed. Mediation by pathways enables mechanism-based identification, supporting the assessment and management of combined pollution.

Precise Control of Intracellular Trafficking and Receptor-Mediated Endocytosis in Living Cells and Behaving Animals.

Intracellular trafficking, an extremely complex network, dynamically orchestrates nearly all cellular activities. A versatile method that enables the manipulation of target transport pathways with high spatiotemporal accuracy in vitro and in vivo is required to study how this network coordinates its functions. Here, a new method called RIVET (Rapid Immobilization of target Vesicles on Engaged Tracks) is presented. Utilizing inducible dimerization between target vesicles and selective cytoskeletons, RIVET can spatiotemporally halt numerous intracellular trafficking pathways within seconds in a reversible manner. Its highly specific perturbations allow for the real-time dissection of the dynamic relationships among different trafficking pathways. Moreover, RIVET is capable of inhibiting receptor-mediated endocytosis. This versatile system can be applied from the cellular level to whole organisms. RIVET opens up new avenues for studying intracellular trafficking under various physiological and pathological conditions and offers potential strategies for treating trafficking-related disorders.

3D bioprinted in vitro epilepsy models for pharmacological evaluation in temporal lobe epilepsy.

This study introduces a novel in vitro model for intractable temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) utilizing 3D bioprinting technology, aiming to replicate the complex neurobiological characteristics of TLE more accurately . Primary neural cell constructs were fabricated and subjected to epileptiform-inducing conditions, fostering synaptic proliferation and neuronal loss. Systematically electrophysiological and immunofluorescent analyses indicated that significant synaptic connectivity and sustained epileptiform activities within the constructs akin to those observed in human epilepsy models. Notably, the model responded to treatments with phenytoin and tetrodotoxin, illustrating its potential utility in drug response kinetics studies. Furthermore, we performed drug permeability simulations using COMSOL Multiphysics to analyze the diffusion characteristics of these drugs within the constructs. These results confirm that our 3D bioprinted neural model provides a physiologically relevant and ethically sustainable platform, which is beneficial for studying TLE mechanisms and developing therapeutic strategies with high accuracy and clinical relevance. .

Overloading And unpacKing (OAK) - droplet-based combinatorial indexing for ultra-high throughput single-cell multiomic profiling.

Multiomic profiling of single cells by sequencing is a powerful technique for investigating cellular diversity. Existing droplet-based microfluidic methods produce many cell-free droplets, underutilizing bead barcodes and reagents. Combinatorial indexing on microplates is more efficient for barcoding but labor-intensive. Here we present Overloading And unpacKing (OAK), which uses a droplet-based barcoding system for initial compartmentalization followed by a second aliquoting round to achieve combinatorial indexing. We demonstrate OAK's versatility with single-cell RNA sequencing as well as paired single-nucleus RNA sequencing and accessible chromatin profiling. We further showcase OAK's performance on complex samples, including differentiated bronchial epithelial cells and primary retinal tissue. Finally, we examine transcriptomic responses of over 400,000 melanoma cells to a RAF inhibitor, belvarafenib, discovering a rare resistant cell population (0.12%). OAK's ultra-high throughput, broad compatibility, high sensitivity, and simplified procedures make it a powerful tool for large-scale molecular analysis, even for rare cells.

Inert Liquid Exfoliation and Langmuir-Type Thin Film Deposition of Semimetallic Metal Diborides.

Graphite is one of only a few layered materials that can be exfoliated into nanosheets with semimetallic properties, which limits the applications of nanosheet-based electrodes to material combinations compatible with the work function of graphene. It is therefore important to identify additional metallic or semimetallic two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials that can be processed in solution for scalable fabrication of printed electronic devices. Metal diborides represent a family of layered non-van der Waals crystals with semimetallic properties for all nanosheet thicknesses. While previous reports show that the exfoliated nanomaterial is prone to oxidation, we demonstrate a readily accessible inert exfoliation process to produce quasi-2D nanoplatelets with intrinsic material properties. For this purpose, we demonstrate the exfoliation of three representative metal diborides (MgB2, CrB2, and ZrB2) under inert conditions. Nanomaterial is characterized using a combination of transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, IR, and UV-vis measurements, with only minimal oxidation indicated postprocessing. By depositing the pristine metal diboride nanoplatelets as thin films using a Langmuir-type deposition technique, the ohmic behavior of the networks is validated. Furthermore, the material decomposition is studied by using a combination of electrical and optical measurements after controlled exposure to ambient conditions. Finally, we report an efficient, low-cost approach for sample encapsulation to protect the nanomaterials from oxidation. This is used to demonstrate low-gauge factor strain sensors, confirming metal diboride nanosheets as a suitable alternative to graphene for electrode materials in printed electronics.

Case report: Xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis successfully treated with antibiotics.

Xanthogranulomatous inflammation (XGI) is an uncommon benign inflammatory disease process characterized by aggregation of lipid laden foamy macrophages, among other inflammatory cells. XGI affecting the kidney and renal pelvis is otherwise known as xanthogranulomatous pyelonephritis (XGP), which has been reported to be present in approximately 5% of all reported xanthogranulomatous cases. The clinical relevance of this disease is that it often mimics malignancy, and preoperative imaging is unable to differentiate between the two. Our case report demonstrated a renal lesion that mimicked malignancy and ultimately required histopathological examination for the diagnosis of XGP. Current consensus remains that surgery is the mainstay form of treatment. However, this case report showed that use of antibiotics alone can be successful as the patient showed significant improvement and resolution on interval imaging.

A Plant Strategy: Irrigation, Nitrogen Fertilization, and Climatic Conditions Regulated the Carbon Allocation and Yield of Oilseed Flax in Semi-Arid Area.

The injudicious use of water and fertilizer to maximize crop yield not only leads to environmental pollution, but also causes enormous economic losses. For this reason, we investigated the effect of nitrogen (N) (N0 (0), N60 (60 kg ha-1), and N120 (120 kg ha-1)) at different irrigation levels (I0 (0), I1200 (budding 600 m3 ha-1 + kernel 600 m3 ha-1), and I1800 (budding 900 m3 ha-1 + kernel 900 m3 ha-1)) on oilseed flax in the Loess Plateau of China in 2019 and 2020. The objective was to establish appropriate irrigation and fertilizer management strategies that enhance the grain yield (GY) of oilseed flax and maximize water and N productivity. The results demonstrated that irrigation and N application and their coupling effects promoted dry matter accumulation (DMA) and non-structural carbohydrate (NSC) synthesis, and increased the GY of oilseed flax. The contents of NSC in various organs of flax were closely related to grain yield and yield components. Higher NSC in stems was conducive to increased sink capacity (effective capsule number per plant (EC) and thousand kernel weight (TKW)), and the coupling of irrigation and N affected GY by promoting NSC synthesis. Higher GY was obtained by the interaction of irrigation and N fertilizer, with the increase rate ranging from 15.84% to 35.40%. Additionally, in the increased yield of oilseed flax, 39.70-78.06%, 14.49-54.11%, and -10.6-24.93% were contributed by the application of irrigation and nitrogen and the interaction of irrigation and nitrogen (I × N), respectively. Irrigation was the main factor for increasing the GY of oilseed flax. In addition, different climatic conditions changed the contribution of irrigation and N and their interaction to yield increase in oilseed flax. Drought and low temperature induced soluble sugar (SS) and starch (ST) synthesis to resist an unfavorable environment, respectively. The structural equation model showed that the key factors to increasing the GY of oilseed flax by irrigation and nitrogen fertilization were the differential increases in DMA, EC, and TKW. The increases in EC and TKW were attributed to the promotion of DMA and NSC synthesis in oilseed flax organs by irrigation, nitrogen fertilization, and their coupling effects. The I1200N60 treatment obtained higher water use efficiency (WUE) and N partial factor productivity (NPFP) due to lower actual evapotranspiration (ETa) and lower N application rate. Therefore, the strategy of 1200 m3 ha-1 irrigation and 60 kg ha-1 N application is recommended for oilseed flax in semi-arid and similar areas to achieve high grain yield and efficient use of resources.

Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion for the Treatment of Pincer Cervical Spondylotic Myelopathy: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.

BACKGROUND: Anterior and posterior compression of the cervical spinal cord is usually called pincer cervical spondylotic myelopathy (p-CSM), and surgery is generally recommended; however, there is some controversy about the choice of surgical approach because single anterior or posterior surgery cannot effectively relieve contralateral compression, and combined surgery may cause problems related to trauma and effects on cervical spine function. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the feasibility and indications of single anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF) for the treatment of p-CSM. METHODS: The data of 21 p-CSM patients who were treated with ACDF at a single center from 2019 to 2022 were collected. Neurologic status was evaluated by the Japanese Orthopedic Association scoring system. The radiologic parameters included the percentage of space occupied by the spinal canal, the cervical sagittal Cobb angle, and the cross-sectional area of the spinal cord before and after the operation. Complications and spinal cord compression rates were also observed. Correlations between the decompressive effects and various prognostic factors were statistically analyzed. RESULTS: The mean follow-up period was 24.1 ± 3.55 months. The average Japanese Orthopedic Association score significantly increased, with a mean recovery rate of 65.88 ± 8.97%. The fusion rate was satisfactory. Correlation analysis revealed that the number of operation segments and age were important predictors of decompressive effects. There was no further deterioration of spinal cord function after the operation. CONCLUSIONS: ACDF is an effective method for treating pincer spinal cord compression in terms of neurologic recovery, radiologic parameters, fusion rates, and complications, especially for patients younger than 60 years of age with single operative segments.

Fusarium graminearum spores disrupt gut microbiota and metabolome via the lung-gut axis in mice.

Fusarium graminearum, the primary pathogen responsible for wheat Fusarium head blight, can induce pulmonary damage through its spores. However, the detailed mechanism by which these spores cause intestinal injury is not yet fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the impact of exposure to fungal spores on the intestinal microbiota using a mice model that mimics the effects of fusarium graminearum spores on the gut microbiota and its metabolic profile. The study utilized 16S rRNA sequencing and metabolomics methodologies to analyze the contents of the cecum and feces in mice. The results showed that exposure to fungal spores led to significant changes in the composition of the intestinal microbiota in mice, characterized by an increase in Akkermansia and Staphylococcus populations. A non-targeted metabolomics analysis identified 316 metabolites associated with various metabolic pathways, particularly galactose metabolism. Pre-exposure to antibiotics before fungal spore exposure resulted in a decrease in the metabolic capacity of the intestinal microbiota in mice. This research demonstrates that fusarium graminearum spores can disrupt the intestinal microbiota and metabolome via the lung-gut axis. These findings provide valuable insights into the intestinal damage caused by fungal spores and offer important support for the development of therapeutic strategies for intestinal diseases.

Combined effects of polyvinyl chloride or polypropylene microplastics with cadmium on the intestine of zebrafish at environmentally relevant concentrations.

Cadmium (Cd) is a common additive in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and polypropylene (PP) plastics. Aquatic organisms were inevitably co-exposed to PVC/PP microplastics (MPs) and Cd, but their combined toxicity is still unknown. In this study, adult zebrafish were exposed to 200 µg/L MPs (PVC or PP) and 10 µg/L Cd alone or in combination for 28 days to investigate their toxicity and mechanisms. Results showed that combined exposure with PVC/PP enhanced the Cd accumulation in the zebrafish intestine. Subsequently, toxicology analyses showed that both PVC and PP possessed synergistic toxicity with Cd, manifested by the exfoliation and necrosis of intestinal epithelial cells, and increased levels of interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and malondialdehyde (MDA). PP exhibited a stronger synergistic effect than PVC. Integration of non-targeted metabolomics and 16S rRNA gene sequencing revealed that combined exposure to PVC and Cd induced intestine toxicity mainly through bile acid (BA) biosynthesis, fructose (Fru) and mannose (Man) metabolism, and pentose phosphate pathway (PPP). The combined exposure of PP and Cd induced toxicity through the arginine (Arg) and glutathione (GSH) metabolisms. Meanwhile, combined exposure of PVC/PP and Cd increased the abundance of intestinal Proteobacteria and pathogen Vibrio, and decreased the abundance of Gemmobacter. These changes indrectly promoted the synergistic toxicity of PVC/PP and Cd through metabolites, such as indole-3-pyruvate (IPyA), chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA), and cholic acid (CA). These findings highlighted that more attention should be paid to the toxicity of chemicals at environmentally relevant concentrations, particularly those co-existing with MPs.

The impact of wastewater treatment plants on the composition and toxicity of pollutants in urban rivers in Nanjing, China.

Widespread wastewater pollution is one of the biggest challenges threatening the ecological health of rivers. It is crucial to identify the toxic changes of effluents after entering urban rivers as well as the toxic substances in the complex chemical mixtures found in these urban rivers. This study used HepG2 cell line for cytotoxicity test to evaluate the ecological impact of effluents on urban rivers. Water samples were collected from the Xingwu River and Yunliang River in Nanjing, China. The bacterial communities in the lower reaches of urban rivers were altered due to the differences in total nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen. The complex chemical mixtures collected in the urban rivers were divided into 10 fractions, >100 chemicals were screened in each fraction. The substances with LC50 < 1000 mg/L were listed as toxic substances, and the number of toxic substances dominated the toxicity of urban rivers. Our study highlights toxicity as a comprehensive indicator for assessing river pollutants and reveals relationship between the number of toxic substance and river toxicity. These findings have direct implications for the monitoring and management of environmental stressors and the protection of aquatic organisms and human health.

The effects of primary cilia-mediated mechanical stimulation on nestin+-BMSCs during bone-tendon healing.

INTRODUCTION: Mechanical stimulation has been proven to promote bone-tendon interface (BTI) healing, but the mechanism remains unclear. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effects of mechanical stimulation on the biological behavior of nestin+-bone mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) during the BTI healing, and to reveal the mechanisms of mechanical stimulation affecting BTI healing by primary cilia on the nestin+-BMSCs. METHODS: Transgenic tracing mice (nestin creERT2:: IFT88fl/fl/ROSA26 YFP) with primary cilia on nestin+-BMSCs conditioned knocked out were constructed, and the littermates (nestin creERT2:: ROSA26 YFP) with normal cilia on nestin+-BMSCs were the control. After establishing mouse supraspinatus insertion injury models, samples were collected at week-2 (n = 5 per group), 4 and 8 (n = 15 per group, respectively). In vivo, the repair efficiency was evaluated by histology, imaging, biomechanics, and the migration of nestin+-BMSCs, detected by immunofluorescence staining. In vitro, nestin+ BMSCs were sorted and stimulated by tensile force to study the mechanisms of primary cilium-mediated mechanosensitive basis. RESULTS: Mechanical stimulation (MS) accelerated the recruitment of nestin+-BMSCs and promoted osteogenic and chondrogenic capacity. Histological, imaging and biomechanical results showed that the BTI healing quality of the IFT88+/+, MS group was better than that of the other groups. After the conditionally knockout IFT88 in nestin+-BMSCs, the repair ability of the BTI was obviously deteriorated, even though mechanical stimulation did not increase significantly (IFT88-/-, MS group). In vitro results showed the tensile loading enhanced the proliferation, migration and osteogenic or chondrogenic gene expression of nestin+-BMSCs with normal cilia. On the other hand, osteogenesis and chondrogenic expression were significantly decreased after inhibiting actin- Hippo/YAP pathway components. CONCLUSION: The primary cilia mediated mechanical stimulation regulated osteogenic and chondrogenic differentiation potential of nestin+-BMSCs through the actin- Hippo/YAP pathway, and then promoted the BTI healing process.

Feature Selection and Spectral Indices for Identifying Maize Stress Types.

This study aims to identify different types of stress on maize leaves using feature selection and spectral index methods. Spectral data were collected from leaves under heavy metal, water, fertilizer stress, as well as under normal healthy conditions. Preprocessing steps such as continuum removal (CR), standard normal variable (SNV) transformation, multiple scattering correction (MSC), detrend correction (DT), and first-order derivative (FOD) were applied to the raw spectra. Various feature selection methods including ReliefF, chi-square test, recursive feature elimination (FRE), mutual information (MI), random forest (RF), and gradient boosting tree (GBT) were employed to determine the importance scores of different spectral bands, thus identifying sensitive spectral features capable of distinguishing various stress types. Spectral indices for stress type differentiation were constructed using label correlation method. Classification models were built using support vector machine (SVM), K-nearest neighbors (KNN), Gaussian naive Bayes (GNB), extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), RF, and adaptive boosting (AdaBoost) algorithms. Results indicate that the characteristic spectral bands for differentiating stress types are primarily distributed around the red edge (near 700-800 nm) and water absorption valley (near 1900 nm). Spectral indices constructed using combinations of spectral bands around the near-infrared plateau absorption valley (near 1185 nm) and water absorption valley (near 1460 nm) effectively differentiate maize stress types. Among the modeling classification algorithms, RF and AdaBoost algorithms exhibited optimal performance, demonstrating high classification accuracy on both training and validation sets. These findings hold promise for providing new technical support for maize stress monitoring and diagnosis in agricultural production.

Defining the Treatment Window: Early Versus Late Pulsed Dye Laser Therapy for Posttraumatic and Surgical Scars in Asian Patients.

OBJECTIVES: This retrospective study evaluates the effectiveness of pulsed dye laser (PDL) treatment in early versus late treatment groups for traumatic or postoperative scars. The study aims to determine the threshold between early and late treatment. Additionally, it investigates factors that may influence wound healing outcomes. METHODS: The medical records of 147 patients who underwent PDL treatment at our institution between January 2018 and December 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. Inclusion criteria were patients receiving PDL treatment for traumatic or postoperative scars. Out of these patients, we selected those who were willing to receive telephone interviews or re-visit at a scheduled time. Eventually, 52 participants were included in our study. A standardized questionnaire was administered to all participants during telephone interviews, encompassing inquiries regarding their medical history, treatment experiences, and the patient component of the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale. Among the enrolled patients, 38 were contacted and interviewed via telephone, while the remaining 14 patients attended follow-up visits where photographs of their current skin condition were captured. The pretreatment and latest follow-up photographs obtained from the clinical database were independently scored in a blinded manner by two dermatologist reviewers using both the Vancouver Scar Scale and the Manchester Scar Scale. RESULTS: Among the 52 patients, 43 (82.7%) were successfully treated with good response. The correlation coefficients between week-to-treatment initiation and posttreatment MSS and VSS among patients with good response were 0.50 (p < 0.001) and 0.46 (p = 0.002), respectively. Given these findings, we established a treatment initiation threshold of 10 weeks, distinguishing patients into early and late treatment groups. The early treatment group showed borderline significantly lower posttreatment MSS and VSS scores than the late treatment group (MSS: 7.5 ± 2.1 vs. 9.3 ± 2.5, p = 0.011; VSS: 2.8 ± 2.0 vs. 4.5 ± 2.3, p = 0.011). Furthermore, both MSS and VSS of posttreatment showed significantly greater improvement in the early treatment group (4.4 ± 1.6 vs. 3.2 ± 1.9; p = 0.03 and 3.8 ± 1.8 vs. 2.8 ± 1.4; p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: Early intervention using a PDL within 10 weeks post-injury achieved better outcomes in treating traumatic and postoperative scars based on both clinical and patient opinions.

Thermoresponsiveness Across the Physiologically Accessible Range: Effect of Surfactant, Cross-Linker, and Initiator Content on Size, Structure, and Transition Temperature of Poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide) Microgels.

The influence of surfactant, cross-linker, and initiator on the final structure and thermoresponse of poly(N-isopropylmethacrylamide) (pNIPMAM) microgels was evaluated. The goals were to control particle size (into the nanorange) and transition temperature (across the physiologically accessible range). The concentration of the reactants used in the synthesis was varied, except for the monomer, which was kept constant. The thermoresponsive suspensions formed were characterized by dynamic light scattering, small-angle X-ray scattering, atomic force microscopy, and rheology. Increasing surfactant, sodium dodecyl sulfate content, produced smaller microgels, as expected, into the nanorange and with greater internal entanglement, but with no change in phase transition temperature (LCST), which is contrary to previous reports. Increasing cross-linker, N,N-methylenebis acrylamide, content had no impact on particle size but reduced particle deformability and, again contrary to previous reports of decreases, progressively increased the LCST from 39 to 46 °C. The unusual LCST trends were confirmed using different rheological techniques. Initiator, potassium persulfate, content was found to weakly influence the outcomes. An optimized content was identified that provides functional nanogels in the 100 nm (swollen) size range with controlled LCST, just above physiological temperature. The study contributes chemistry-derived design rules for thermally responsive colloidal particles with physiologically accessible LCST for a variety of biomedical and soft robotics applications.