A Retrospective Study of 105 Patients with Elastolytic Giant Cell Granuloma and a Proposal for a New Clinical Classification.

Elastolytic giant cell granuloma, an idiopathic granulomatous dermatosis, is characterized by annular plaques on sun-exposed areas, and has been termed actinic granuloma or annular elastolytic giant cell granuloma. Many atypical clinical manifestations and lesions involving sun-protected areas have been reported. The aims of this retrospective study of 105 patients were to summarize the clinical and histological features of patients with this condition; to provide evidence for the viewpoint that elastolytic giant cell granuloma is a better term to include all clinical morphological types presenting with elastolysis, elastophagocytosis, and an infiltrate of multinucleated giant cells histologically; and to establish a new clinical classification. The varying clinical manifestations were further categorized into annular, papular, giant, mixed and generalized forms. The pathological manifestations were classified into giant cell, necrobiotic, histiocytic, sarcoidal and mixed patterns. Diabetes mellitus or impaired glucose tolerance were the most commonly identified comorbidities. Oral low-dose corticosteroid may be an effective treatment.

Systematic Evaluation of Different Coating Chemistries Used in Thin-Film Microextraction.

A systematic evaluation of eight different coatings made of solid phase extraction (SPE) and carbon-based sorbents immobilized with polyacrylonitrile in the thin-film microextraction (TFME) format using LC-MS/MS was described. The investigated coatings included graphene, graphene oxide, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), carboxylated MWCNTs, as carbon-based coatings, and polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PS-DVB), octadecyl-silica particles (C18), hydrophilic-hydrophobic balance particles (HLB) and phenyl-boronic acid modified particles (PBA), as SPE-based coatings. A total of 24 compounds of diverse moieties and of a wide range of polarities (log P from -2.99 to 6.98) were selected as probes. The investigated coatings were characterized based on their extraction performance toward the selected probes at different pH values and at optimized desorption conditions. In the case of SPE-based coatings, PS-DVB and HLB exhibited a balanced extraction for compounds within a wide range of polarities, and C18 showed superior extraction recoveries for non-polar analytes. Carbon-based coatings showed high affinity for non-polar compounds given that their main driving force for extraction is hydrophobic interactions. Interestingly, among the studied carbon-based coatings, graphene oxide showed the best extraction capabilities toward polar compounds owing to its oxygen-containing groups. Overall, this work provided important insights about the extraction mechanisms and properties of the investigated coatings, facilitating the coating selection when developing new TFME applications.

Conjugation of bone grafts with NO-delivery dinitrosyl iron complexes promotes synergistic osteogenesis and angiogenesis in rat calvaria bone defects.

Craniofacial/jawbone deformities remain a significant clinical challenge in restoring facial/dental functions and esthetics. Despite the reported therapeutics for clinical bone tissue regeneration, the bioavailability issue of autografts and limited regeneration efficacy of xenografts/synthetic bone substitutes, however, inspire continued efforts towards functional conjugation and improvement of bioactive bone graft materials. Regarding the potential of nitric oxide (NO) in tissue engineering, herein, functional conjugation of NO-delivery dinitrosyl iron complex (DNIC) and osteoconductive bone graft materials was performed to optimize the spatiotemporal control over the delivery of NO and to activate synergistic osteogenesis and angiogenesis in rat calvaria bone defects. Among three types of biomimetic DNICs, [Fe2(µ-SCH2CH2COOH)2(NO)4] (DNIC-COOH) features a steady kinetics for cellular uptake by MC3T3-E1 osteoblast cells followed by intracellular assembly of protein-bound DNICs and release of NO. This steady kinetics for intracellular delivery of NO by DNIC-COOH rationalizes its biocompatibility and wide-spectrum cell proliferation effects on MC3T3-E1 osteoblast cells and human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). Moreover, the bridging [SCH2CH2COOH]- thiolate ligands in DNIC-COOH facilitate its chemisorption to deproteinized bovine bone mineral (DBBM) and physisorption onto TCP (ß-tricalcium phosphate), respectively, which provides a mechanism to control the kinetics for the local release of loaded DNIC-COOH. Using rats with calvaria bone defects as an in vivo model, DNIC-DBBM/DNIC-TCP promotes the osteogenic and angiogenic activity ascribed to functional conjugation of osteoconductive bone graft materials and NO-delivery DNIC-COOH. Of importance, the therapeutic efficacy of DNIC-DBBM/DNIC-TCP on enhanced compact bone formation after treatment for 4 and 12 weeks supports the potential for clinical application to regenerative medicine.

Conjugation of quantum dots with graphene for fluorescence imaging of live cells.

It is difficult to achieve fluorescent graphene-quantum dots (QDs) conjugation because graphene quenches the fluorescence of the QDs. In the present study, the conjugation of graphene (reduced graphene oxide, RGO) with QDs via a bridge of bovine serum albumin (BSA) provides a novel highly fluorescent nano probe for the first time. BSA capped QDs are firmly grafted onto polyethylenimine (PEI)/poly(sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) (PSS) coated RGO (graphene-QDs) via electrostatic layer by layer assembly. The strong luminescence of the graphene-QDs provides a potential for non-invasive optical in vitro imaging. The graphene-QDs are used for in vitro imaging of live human carcinoma (Hela) cells. Graphene-QDs could be readily up-taken by Hela cells in the absence of specific targeting molecules, e.g., antibodies or folic acid, and no in vitro cytotoxicity is observed at 360 µg mL(-1) of the graphene-QDs. The results for the imaging of live cells indicated that the cell-penetrating graphene-QDs could be a promising nano probe for intracellular imaging and therapeutic applications.

The Prevalence of Erosive Tooth Wear and Related Risk Factors in 6- to 12-Year-Old Students.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of erosive tooth wear in primary school students aged 6-12 in Jinzhou, including: prevalence, severity, extent, intraoral distribution and associated risk factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The data collection consists of two parts: the first part is the clinical examination of the participants. All erupted teeth were clinically assessed by three calibrated examiners, and classified according to the basic erosive wear examination (BEWE); The second part is a questionnaire about demographic information, parafunctional movement and lifestyle, completed by the parents or their guardians. RESULTS: A total of 1,469 children were included in this experiment; erosive tooth wear (ETW) prevalence (BEWE ≥ 1) was 54.9%. According to cumulative BEWE index, the proportion of different ETW severity (high, medium, low, none) was 6.8%, 16.3%, 27.0% and 49.9%, respectively. In an analysis of risk factors, family factor, age, gender, extracurricular study time, oral hygiene habit, bruxism, unilateral mastication and acid diet was associated with the prevalence of ETW. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that ETW has a high prevalence in students aged 6-12, and more common in deciduous molars and deciduous canine. Abrasion, attrition and erosion play an important role in ETW.

Preparation of Neogambogic Acid Nanoliposomes and its Pharmacokinetics in Rats.

OBJECTIVE: To prepare neogambogic acid nanoliposomes (GNA-NLC) and study its pharmacokinetics (PK) in rats. STUDY DESIGN: An experimental study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang, China, from January 2016 to October 2017. METHODOLOGY: GNA-NLC was prepared by emulsion evaporation-low temperature solidification. The entrapment efficiency, average particle size, and zeta potential were investigated. Male Wistar rats were injected with 1 mg/mL gambogic acid and GNA-NLC into the caudal vein respectively, and the plasma concentration was determined by UPLC- MS/MS. The pharmacokinetic parameters of the two agents were compared. RESULTS: GNA-NLC prepared in this study were mostly spherical spheroids with an average particle size of 146.35 ±1.72 nm, polydispersity coefficient of 0.26 ±0.02, zeta potential of -28.24 ±0.13 MV, entrapment efficiency of 84.63%, and drug loading capacity of 4.23%. DSC showed that neogambogic acid nanoparticles had formed and neogambogic acid was amorphous in the matrix. The pharmacokinetics results in rats showed that GNA-NLC plasma concentration was significantly higher than that of common preparation of gambogic acid, with a half-life period of 10.14 ±0.03 hours, 4.57 times that of gambogic acid. AUC0 ~ 24h of gambogic acid in GNA-NLC lipidosome was 58.36 ±0.23 μg/h/mL, 4.83 times that of gambogic acid. CONCLUSION: GNA-NLC can be prepared successfully by emulsion evaporation-low temperature solidification. The method is simple and easy to control. The GNA-NLC has a long cycle, and high blood concentration, sustained release compared with the raw material gambogic acid.

Periosteal Osteogenic Capacity Depends on Tissue Source.

Periosteal osteogenic capacity can be exploited to enhance bone formation in the fields of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. Despite this importance, there have been no studies examining the composition, structure, and osteogenic capacity of periostea from different bone sources. In this study, structure and osteogenic factor content were compared among periostea from rib, calvarial, femoral, and tibial bones, in which the native bones of these four regions were harvested and subjected to histological analysis. The osteogenic capacity of grafted periosteum was evaluated using an in vivo vascularized pedicle model of bone tissue engineering. Poly(ethylene glycol)-poly(l-lactic acid) (PEG-PLLA) copolymer hydrogels were seeded with bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells and implanted with grafted periosteum harvested from either calvarial or tibial bone, which were representative of thin and thick native periostea, respectively. The cambium layer thickness of periostea from the femoral and tibial bones (36.9% ± 2.5% and 36.8% ± 2.6%) was greater than that from the calvarial and rib bones (26.8% ± 2.4% and 25.5% ± 1.9%). The osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase levels were comparatively higher in the femoral and tibial periostea than those in periostea harvested from the calvarial and rib bones. The construct implanted with grafted tibial periosteum resulted in greater neo-bone regeneration and higher osteocalcin and alkaline phosphatase expression. This study is the first investigation of the osteogenic capacity of periostea from diverse sources. The results can be used to guide clinical strategies that exploit periostea for tissue engineering and clinical applications.