Efficacy evaluation of True Lift®, a nonsurgical facial ligament retightening injection technique: Two case reports.

BACKGROUND: With aging, four major facial retaining ligaments become elongated, leading to facial sagging and wrinkling. Even though synthetic fillers are popular, however, it cannot address the problems of soft tissue descent alone, and injection of these fillers requires knowledge of the injection technique including the selection of injection sites, the amount of filler, and the dosage used per injection site. CASE SUMMARY: This report aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of a nonsurgical retightening technique to lift and tighten the true ligaments of the face, to improve age-related skin sagging and wrinkling. We objectively quantified the aesthetic lifting effect of a nonsurgical facial retightening procedure that strategically injected high G' fillers into the base of the true retaining ligaments of the face in two female patients. Facial images were recorded with a three-dimensional facial imaging system for comparison of the clinical outcome. The primary efficacy outcome was the change in facial anthropometric measurements obtained prior to and after injection. The patients were followed for 6 mo after the procedure. Skin retightening was observed, with an evident lift in the orbital, zygomatic, and mandibular regions, and the lifting effect was still observable at the 6-mo follow-up. Few mild adverse events, such as mild-to-moderate pain, tenderness, and itching, occurred during the 1st week after the procedure. No adverse events were reported 1 mo post-procedure. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrated that our nonsurgical retightening procedure with strategically placed high G' fillers achieved quantifiable aesthetic improvements in the orbital, zygomatic, and mandibular regions of two patients. Future research with a larger sample could provide a more in-depth evaluation and validation of the aesthetic improvements observed in this study.

New insights into the influences of baking and storage on the nonvolatile compounds in oolong tea: A nontargeted and targeted metabolomics study.

A nontargeted and targeted metabolomics method was applied to comprehensively investigate the influences of baking and storage on chemical constituents in fresh-, strong-, and aged-scent types of Foshou oolong teas. The contents of N-ethyl-2-pyrrolidone-substituted flavanols (EPSFs), flavone C-glycosides, gallic acid, and most lipids increased after baking and storage, while the contents of cis-flavanols, alkaloids, flavonol O-glycosides, and most amino acids decreased. Degradation, epimerization, and interaction with theanine were main pathways for the decrease in cis-flavanols. Approximately 20.7%, 12.8%, and 11.6% of epigallocatechin gallate were degraded, epimerized, and interacted with theanine after baking, respectively; 22.5% and 8.71% of epigallocatechin gallate were degraded and interacted with theanine after 10-year storage, respectively. Simulated reactions confirmed that the increases in EPSFs and apigenin C-glycosides were caused by interactions between theanine and flavanols and between apigenin aglycone and glucose, respectively. This study offers novel insights into chemical changes during baking and storage of oolong tea.

[Characterization of Au-Ag nanoparticles biosynthesized by fungus Mariannaea sp. HJ].

Biosynthesis of gold-silver alloy nanoparticles (Au-AgNPs) is a simple operation and ecological friendly, but with limited reports on the availability of fungal resources. In this study, cell-free extracts of Mariannaea sp. HJ was used to synthesize Au-AgNPs, and the effects of the different ratios of Au and Ag ion concentrations on the synthesis of Au-AgNPs were also studied. The results clearly showed that the ratio of Au and Ag ion concentrations had an impact on the composition of Au-AgNPs. With the Ag ion increasing, the color of culture supernatant changed from light purple to brown and an obvious blue shift of characteristic absorption peak was observed in UV-vis spectra, indicating an increase of the percentage of Ag in the Au-AgNPs. Transmission electron microscope showed that the morphologies of the Au-AgNPs were mainly spherical and pseudo spherical, and the average particle sizes of the Au-AgNPs at three different ion concentrations, including 0.5:0.5, 0.5:1.5 and 0.5:3.0, were 19.24 nm, 15.99 nm and 19.33 nm, respectively. X-ray diffraction results showed that the Au-AgNPs had a surface-centered cubic structure. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy was used to characterize and speculate the involvement of -OH, -NH3 and -COOH functional groups in the reduction and stability process of Au-AgNPs. Furthermore, 4-nitrophenol (4-NP) was used to explore catalytic activity of Au-AgNPs. Catalytic experiments demonstrated that the Au-AgNPs had a good catalytic activity on 4-NP reduction with a catalytic reaction rate constant of 7.85×10⁻³ s⁻¹. In brief, the present study suggested that Mariannaea sp. HJ could synthesize Au-AgNPs with good dispersity, and had a potential application in the catalytic reduction of nitro aromatic hydrocarbons.

Characterization of biogenic selenium nanoparticles derived from cell-free extracts of a novel yeast Magnusiomyces ingens.

A facile one-pot and effective green process for biogenic selenium nanoparticles (SeNPs) was obtained using the cell-free extracts of a novel yeast Magnusiomyces ingens LH-F1. The corresponding absorption peak of SeNPs was observed at ~ 560 nm by UV-vis spectrophotometer. In the present study, SeO2 2 mM, protein 500 mg L-1 and pH 7 were preferable to the biosynthesis of SeNPs. The effects of pH, SeO2 concentration and protein concentration on the synthesis process were different. Transmission electron microscopy image exhibited that all the SeNPs were spherical and quasi-spherical with the diameters mainly distributed in 70-90 nm (average particles size was 87.82 ± 2.71 nm). X-ray diffraction suggested that the nanoparticles were composed of standard hexagonal crystalline Se with high purity. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated that some biomolecules such as hydroxyl, carboxyl and amino groups in the yeast cell-free extracts might be involved in the formation of SeNPs. Analyses of sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis revealed that two proteins with low molecular weight approximately ~ 16 and ~ 21 kDa were detected on the surface of SeNPs and in the extracts, which could play the role of natural stabilizers and confer stability to synthesized SeNPs; whereas, unbound proteins on the SeNPs surface could act as reducing agents. Antibacterial analysis showed that the SeNPs could inhibit Arthrobacter sp. W1 (Gram positive) but not E. coli BL21 (Gram negative), which could provide reference for antimicrobial application of biogenic SeNPs.

Improvement on lipid production by Scenedesmus obliquus triggered by low dose exposure to nanoparticles.

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs), α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles (nano Fe2O3) and MgO nanoparticles (nano MgO) were evaluated for the effects on algae growth and lipid production. Nano Fe2O3 promoted cell growth in the range of 0-20 mg·L-1. CNTs, nano Fe2O3 and nano MgO inhibited cell growth of Scenedesmus obliquus at 10, 40 and 0.8 mg·L-1 respectively. Neutral lipid and total lipid content increased with the increasing concentration of all tested nanoparticles. The maximum lipid productivity of cultures exposed to CNTs, nano Fe2O3 and nano MgO was observed at 5 mg·L-1, 5 mg·L-1 and 40 mg·L-1, with the improvement by 8.9%, 39.6% and 18.5%. High dose exposure to nanoparticles limited increase in lipid productivity, possibly due to the repression on cell growth caused by nanoparticles-catalyzed reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, finally leading to reduction in biomass and lipid production. Reduced accumulation of fatty acids of C18:3n3, C18:3n6 and C20:2 was observed in cells exposed to nanoparticles.

Influence of Interaction Between α-Fe2O3 Nanoparticles and Dissolved Fulvic Acid on the Physiological Responses in Synechococcus sp. PCC7942.

The ecotoxicity of α-Fe2O3 nanoparticles (NPs) and its interaction with a typical natural organic matter (NOM), fulvic acid (FA) on the physiological responses of Synechococcus sp. PCC7942 was studied. α-Fe2O3 NPs inhibited the algae growth at concentration higher than 10 mg L-1 and induced oxidative stress, indicated by enhanced antioxidant enzymes activities, elevated protein and sugar content. FA could efficiently recover cell growth and reduce antioxidant enzyme activities which induced by α-Fe2O3 NPs, indicating the toxicity of NPs was alleviated in the presence of FA. α-Fe2O3 NPs could form large aggregates coating on cell surface and inhibit cell growth. FTIR spectra verified FA interacted with α-Fe2O3 NPs through carboxyl groups, partly replaced the binding sites of α-Fe2O3 NPs on algal cell walls, thus reduced NPs aggregates coating on cell surface. This favors reducing the oxidative stress caused by direct contact and increasing light availability, thus mitigate NPs toxicity.

Breeding of high biomass and lipid producing Desmodesmus sp. by Ethylmethane sulfonate-induced mutation.

To improve the biomass yield and lipid productivity, two desert microalgae, Desmodesmus sp. S81 and G41 were induced mutagenesis by Ethylmethane sulfonate (EMS), and obtained two potential mutants, Desmodesmus sp. S5 and G3 from the mutagenic clones for their greatly promoted biomass and lipid production. The results showed that the biomass yield, lipid content and lipid productivity of the mutant strains S5 and G3 were 778.10mg·L(-1), 48.41% and 19.83mg·L(-1)·d(-1), 739.52mg·L(-1), 46.01%, and 17.92mg·L(-1)·d(-1), respectively, which presented the increment of 45.50%, 8.00% and 74.24%, 20.67%, 10.35% and 55.77% than those of S81 and G41. Comparing with the wild strains, the mutants showed reduced PUFAs and glycol lipids, elevated MUFAs and neutral lipids contents, which were appropriate for biodiesel production.