Sequential therapy with "vacuum sealing drainage-artificial dermis implantation-thin partial thickness skin grafting" for deep and infected wound surfaces in children.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy of a "vacuum sealing drainage (VSD) - artificial dermis implantation (ADI) - thin partial thickness skin grafting (TSG)" sequential therapy for deep and infected wounds in children. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-three pediatric patients with deep and infected wounds were treated with sequential VSD-ADI-TSG therapy. The efficacy of this treatment was compared with that of the surgical debridement-change dressings-thin partial thickness skin grafting previously performed on 20 patients. Survival of tissue grafts, color and flexibility, subcutaneous fullness and scar formation of the graft site were examined and compared. RESULTS: The sequential therapy combined the advantages of the VSD treatment, in reducing tissue necrosis and infection on the wound surfaces and promoting the growth of granulation tissue, with the enhancement of grafting by artificial dermis. Compared with the 20 controls, skin grafted on the artificial dermis was more smooth and glossy, while the textures of the region were more elastic, and the scars were significantly lighter in Vancouver scale. CONCLUSION: The sequential VSD-ADI-TSG therapy is a simple and effective treatment for children with deep and infected wounds. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV.

Host genetic susceptibility to oral cancer: evidence from meta-analyses and pooled analyses.

BACKGROUND: A large number of meta-analyses and pooled analyses have been published on the topic of the genetic variants for oral cancer, and many positive results have been identified; however, there might be some false-positive results. The aim of this study was to identify the 'true positive' (noteworthy) results using the method of false-positive report probability (FPRP). METHODS: The PubMed database, Embase database, CNKI database, and Wanfang database were searched to retrieve the meta-analyses, pooled analyses, and genome-wide association studies (GWAS), which addressed the associations between genetic polymorphisms and the risk of oral cancer. The significant associations were further analyzed using the method of FPRP. RESULTS: A total of 14 variants were identified from meta-analyses and pooled analyses, which concern the associations between oral cancer and genetic variants. Among these 14 variants, 9 variants were reported to be significantly associated with the risk of oral cancer (CYP1A1-MspI, CYP2E1-RsaI/PstI, MTHFR-C677T, p73-G4C14-to-A4T14, XRCC1-Arg194Trp, CYP1A1-Ile462Val, GSTM1-±, and NAT2 slow vs rapid). After assessing the results of FPRP, none of the nine statistically significant associations were noteworthy (true positive). In addition, no noteworthy results were identified from GWAS. CONCLUSIONS: In summary, this study found no noteworthy associations between variants and the risk of oral cancer. Further candidate genes associations studies should be performed to explore the etiology of oral cancer.

Images of interlayer josephson vortices in Tl2Ba2CuO6+delta

The strength of the interlayer Josephson tunneling in layered superconductors is an essential test of the interlayer tunneling model as a mechanism for superconductivity, as well as a useful phenomenological parameter. A scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) microscope was used to image interlayer Josephson vortices in Tl2Ba2CuO6+delta and to obtain a direct measure of the interlayer tunneling in a high-transition temperature superconductor with a single copper oxide plane per unit cell. The measured interlayer penetration depth, lambdac, is approximately 20 micrometers, about 20 times the penetration depth required by the interlayer tunneling model.