Maggot therapy for repairing serious infective wound in a severely burned patient.

The larvae of musca domestica were put in use to discard the dead tissue of a case of severe burn. A total of 50 000 aseptic maggots were put onto the infective wound surface, and aseptic dressings overlaid the surface. Three days later, another 20 000 maggots were put onto the wound for the second therapy. After twice maggot debridement, most necrotic muscle tissues of the wound were cleaned up, and eventually fresh granulation tissue grew and later the wound was covered and healed by 3 times of skin grafting. The result demonstrates that maggot therapy is safe and effective with no adverse complications except pain.

"Liquid Knife" to Fabricate Patterning Single-Crystalline Perovskite Microplates toward High-Performance Laser Arrays.

A facile and effective "liquid knife" is created by controlling the dewetting process of the liquid precursor, yielding patterning single-crystalline perovskite microplates with uniform size, precise positioning, high quality, and low lasing thresholds. The sizes and location of single-crystalline perovskite are controllable, leading to mode-tunable lasing emission and patterned lasers.

[Impact of different pneumoperitioneal pressure on pathomorphism and function of intestines following laparoscopic radical gastrectomy].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of different pressures of CO2 pneumoperitioneum on pathomorphism and function of intestines following laparoscopic gastrectomy (LG). METHODS: Forty-eight gastric cancer patients were prospectively enrolled in the study. Among them, 36 patients scheduled for elective LG were randomly assigned to low pressure group (LP), middle pressure (MP), and high pressure group (HP) with 12 cases in each group. The CO2 pneumoperitoneum pressure was maintained at 8-10 mmhg in LP, 11-13 mmhg in MP, and 14-16 mmhg in HP. The control group was open gastrectomy group (OG) in 12 cases. The intestinal pathomorphism and level of plasma D-lactic acid before, during and after operation, and postoperative intestinal function of four groups were examined and compared. RESULTS: There were no statistical differences in preoperative data among the four groups(all P>0.05). LG group was associated with a lower rate of surgical complications than OG (8.3% vs. 41.7%, P<0.05). No obvious damage of intestinal mucosa was found in OG group. Damage degree of intestinal mucosa after operation in LP, MP and HP groups was 0-1, 1-2, and 2-3 respectively. There was significant change in intestinal pathomorphism after operation in both HP and MP groups. The levels of D-lactic acid before operation were not significantly different among all the four groups, but increased significantly in each group after operation (all P<0.05). HP group had the highest level of plasma D-lactic acid and presented with delayed bowel sound return (4.5 d), time to first flatus (5.4 d), and intake (6.0 d) as compared to the other 3 groups (all P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic radical gastrectomy is safe and minimally invasive. Higher pneumoperitoneal pressure is harmful to the recovery of intestinal mucosa and function. Therefore the pneumoperitioneum pressure should be maintained as low as possible under clear visualization during operation.

[Oral propranolol in the management of periorbital proliferating phase infantile hemangioma].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the efficacy and safety of oral propranolol in the treatment of periorbital proliferating phase infantile hemangioma. METHODS: A retrospective review of patient medical records was performed. 12 patients (9 female, 3 male; 1.5-8.5 months, average 3.3 months) with periorbital proliferating phase infantile hemangioma underwent oral propranolol therapy. The dosage was slowly increased to 2 mg/kg daily in divided doses for a mean duration of 16 weeks (range 4 weeks-41 weeks). Therapeutic outcomes and safety were established by evaluating colour, size of lesion, duration of treatment and side-effects of treatment before and after treatment. RESULTS: Of these, 9 had a signification reduction in colour and size of the lesions, 2 had no further growth. 1 is stopped therapy due to hypotension after drug administration. 11 other patients, although mild adverse effects were noted, no symptoms were severe enough to discontinue treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Propranolol appears to be a safe and effective treatment in the management of periorbital proliferating phase infantile hemangioma.