Alleviation of radiation combined skin injury in rat model by topical application of ascorbate formulation.

PURPOSE: This research endeavor was undertaken to elucidate the impact of an innovative ascorbate formulation on the regeneration process of full-thickness excision wounds in a rat model exposed to whole-body gamma irradiation, replicating conditions akin to combat or radiation emergency scenarios. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We established a comprehensive rat model by optimizing whole body γ-radiation doses (5-9 Gy) and full-thickness excision wound sizes (1-3 cm2) to mimic radiation combined injury (RCI). The developed RCI model was used to explore the healing potential of ascorbate formulation. The study includes various treatment groups (i.e., sham control, radiation alone, wound alone, radiation + wound, and radiation + wound + formulation). The ascorbate formulation was applied twice daily, with a 12-hour gap between each application, starting 1 hour after the initiation of the wound. The healing potential of the formulation in the RCI context was evaluated over 14 days through hematological, molecular, and histological parameters. RESULTS: The combination of a 5 Gy radiation dose and a 1 cm2 wound was identified as the optimal setting to develop the RCI model for subsequent studies. The formulation was used topically immediately following RCI, and then twice daily until complete healing. Treatment with the ascorbate formulation yielded noteworthy outcomes and led to a substantial reduction (p < .05) in the wound area, accelerated epithelialization periods, and an increased wound contraction rate. The formulation's localized healing response improved organ weights, normalized blood parameters, and enhanced hematopoietic and immune systems. A gene expression study revealed the treatment up-regulated TGF-ß and FGF, and down-regulated PDGF-α, TNF-α, IL-1ß, IL-6, MIP-1α, and MCP-1 (p < .05). Histopathological assessments supported the formulation's effectiveness in restoring cellular architecture and promoting tissue regeneration. CONCLUSION: Topical application of the ascorbate formulation in RCI resulted in a significant improvement in delayed wound healing, leading to accelerated wound closure by mitigating the expression of inflammatory responses.

Severe Disease Burden and the Mitigation Strategy in the Arsenic-Exposed Population of Kaliprasad Village in Bhagalpur District of Bihar, India.

The present study was carried out in the village Kaliprasad of Bhagalpur district of Bihar to know the arsenic exposure effect in the exposed population. A total of n = 102 households were studied, and their water and biological samples such as urine and hair were collected and analyzed in a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer (GF-AAS). The assessment of arsenic-exposed village population reveals that the villagers were suffering from serious health-related problems such as skin manifestations (hyperkeratosis and melanosis in their palm and soles), breathlessness, general body weakness, mental disorders, diabetes, hypertension (raised blood pressure), hormonal imbalance, neurological disorders, and few cancer cases. About 77% of household hand pump water had arsenic level more than the WHO recommended level of 10 µg/L, with highest level of 523 µg/L. Moreover, in 60% individual's urine samples, arsenic concentration was very high with maximum 374 µg/L while in hair 64% individuals had arsenic concentration above the permissible limit with maximum arsenic concentration of 11,398 µg/kg. The hazard quotient (HQ) was also calculated to know the arsenic risk percentage in children as 87.11%, in females as 83.15%, and in males as 82.27% by groundwater. This has surpassed the threshold value of 1 × 10 - 6 for carcinogenic risk (CR) in children, female, and male population group in the village. Hence, the exposed population of Kaliprasad village are at very high risk of the disease burden.

Challenges and Opportunities for Commercializing Technologies in the Pulmonary Arena: An Official American Thoracic Society Report.

"Translational medicine" has been a buzzword for over two decades. The concept was intended to be lofty, to reflect a new "bench-to-bedside" approach to basic and clinical research that would bridge fields, close gaps, accelerate innovation, and shorten the time and effort it takes to bring novel technologies from basic discovery to clinical application. Has this approach been successful and lived up to its promise? Despite incredible scientific advances and innovations developed within academia, successful clinical translation into real-world solutions has been difficult. This has been particularly challenging within the pulmonary field, because there have been fewer U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved drugs and higher failure rates for pulmonary therapies than with other common disease areas. The American Thoracic Society convened a working group with the goal of identifying major challenges related to the commercialization of technologies within the pulmonary space and opportunities to enhance this process. A survey was developed and administered to 164 participants within the pulmonary arena. This report provides a summary of these survey results. Importantly, this report identifies a number of poorly recognized challenges that exist in pulmonary academic settings, which likely contribute to diminished efficiency of commercialization efforts, ultimately hindering the rate of successful clinical translation. Because many innovations are initially developed in academic settings, this is a global public health issue that impacts the entire American Thoracic Society community. This report also summarizes key resources and opportunities and provides recommendations to enhance successful commercialization of pulmonary technologies.

Early cutaneous inflammatory response at different degree of burn and its significance for clinical diagnosis and management.

A complete characterization of the burn wound based on cutaneous architectural changes and inflammatory response is extremely important to provide evidence for progressive changes in the burn wound. Burn wounds are highly susceptible to conversion into deeper wounds, which need special care and attention; thereby, the complete characterization of burn wound type and their subsequent inflammatory status in the cutaneous system at the earliest is of paramount importance. Inflammatory markers at different degrees will help clinicians devise better and more specific treatment strategies for each burn type. The present study is carried out to profile pro-inflammatory gene expression along with immune cell quantification, vascular perfusion, and histopathological assessment in the cutaneous system of murine models. The study revealed that burn injury caused an immediate increase in vascular perfusion in superficial and partial-thickness burns, whereas there was a decrease in vascular perfusion in full-thickness burns. An influx of lymphocytes at the edges of burn wounds in each type of burn injury was well-orchestrated with the event of vascular perfusion. Further, pro-inflammatory gene expression profiling revealed significant upregulation vis-à-vis upregulation of TNF-α and MCP-1 genes, with an increase in the number of neutrophils following 72 h of injury that evidently cemented the conversion of superficial burn into partial-thickness burn. The molecular findings were profoundly supported by the histopathological changes. Thus, our foundational studies show distinct characteristic cutaneous changes correlated with the expression of key pro-inflammatory genes in three different types of burn injuries. Characterization of these cutaneous inflammatory responses provides a promising future for medical interventions involved with different degrees of burn injury, and it will also help in the pre-clinical testing of therapies for burn injury.

Combined radiation burn injuries: A note.

Combined radiation injury occurs when radiation is accompanied by any other form of trauma. The past experiences of Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Chernobyl have revealed that a large number of victims of such nuclear accidents or attacks suffer from combined radiation injuries. The possibility of a nuclear attack seems very far-fetched, but the destruction that would occur in such an event would be massive, with a huge lossof lives. Therefore, preparedness for the same should be done beforehand. The severity of combined radiation depends upon various factors, such as radiation dose, type, tissues affected, and traumas. The article focuses on combined radiation burn injury (CRBI) which may arise due to the combination of ionising radiation with thermal burns. CRBI can have varied effects on different organs like the hematopoietic, digestive, lymphatic, cardiovascular, and respiratory systems. Some of the most profound lethal effects are hematopoietic dysfunction, gastrointestinal leakage, bacterial translocation to other organ sites, pulmonary fibrosis, and pneumonitis. In this article, we have attempted to accumulate the knowledge of ongoing research on the functioning of different organ systems, which are affected due to CRBI and possible countermeasures to minimize the effects, thus improving survival.

Assessment of arsenic exposure in the population of Sabalpur village of Saran District of Bihar with mitigation approach.

Arsenic poisoning through groundwater is the world's greatest normal groundwater catastrophe which got an immense effect on worldwide general wellbeing. India is confronting the outcomes of arsenic poisoning in the zone of Ganga Brahmaputra alluvial plains. In Bihar, out of 38 districts, 18 districts are exceptionally influenced with groundwater arsenic defilement. In the present study, we have assessed the current situation of arsenic exposure in Sabalpur village of Saran district of Bihar after reporting of breast, renal, skin and thyroid cancer cases from this village along with typical symptoms of arsenicosis. Such cancer patients were identified at our institute and were taken for the study. The present investigation deals with the quantification of arsenic in groundwater, hair and nail samples of subjects as well as the survey of entire village to know the overall health status of the village people. A total of n=128 household handpump water samples as well as n=128 human hair and nail samples were collected from over n=520 households. Using the graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometer (GF-AAS), all the samples were analysed. The investigation resulted that the 61% of the analysed samples particularly the groundwater had the arsenic levels more than the permissible limit of WHO (> 10 µg/L) with 244.20 µg/L as the highest arsenic contamination in one of the handpump water sample. The exposure effect of hair sample was worst as 88% of all the collected samples were having high arsenic levels more than the permissible limit (> 0.2 mg/Kg). In case of nail samples, 92% of the samples were having high arsenic concentration more than the permissible limit (> 0.5 mg/Kg). The health survey study revealed high magnitude of disease burden in the exposed population with symptoms such as asthma, anaemia, hepatomegaly, diabetes, cardiac problem, skin fungal infections, breathlessness and mental disability. Few cancer cases of renal, skin, breast and cervix were also found among the exposed population of this village. The percentage of cancer cases in this village was 0.94% that was low, but it would be an aggravated situation in the near future if people will continue drinking arsenic-contaminated water. Therefore, a mitigation intervention was carried out in March 2020 by installing an arsenic filter plant. The health situation in the village in the present scenario is hope to improve in the coming years. However, motivation and awareness among the village population are still required.

Prevalence and determinants of the dangerous selfie among medical and nursing students: a cross-sectional study from eastern India.

BACKGROUND: Globally, there has been an exponential rise in smartphone use and selfie taking among youth. To make selfies exciting, dangerous selfies are often taken that may lead to catastrophic consequences, including death. This study aims to estimate the prevalence of dangerous selfies and to determine the factors associated with dangerous selfies among medical and nursing students in India. METHODS: The study was conducted at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Bhubaneswar, India, in April-August 2018. The inclusion criteria were students enrolled in the Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) and nursing courses of AIIMS, Bhubaneswar. Students who did not use smartphones were excluded from the study. The interview schedule and Selfitis Behaviour Scale (SBS) were used to collect information on sociodemographic variables, smartphone use and variables related to selfies and dangerous selfies. Forward stepwise logistic regression was undertaken with the probability of entry and removal as 0.05 and 0.10, respectively. RESULTS: Of 633 eligible participants, 595 were included in the study. The mean (SD) age of the participants was 21.2 (1.6) years. More than half (56.8%) of the participants were female, 384 (64.5%) were medical students and 211 (35.5%) were nursing students. Nearly two-thirds of the participants (70.6%) preferred to take selfie. One hundred thirty three (40.3%) of the participants posted selfies on social media daily. The prevalence of dangerous selfies was 8.74% (95% CI: 6.73-11.28). Eight injury episodes while taking selfies were reported by seven (1.2%) participants. Being male (AOR 4.96, 95% CI 2.53-9.74), posting selfies on social media daily (AOR 3.33, 95% CI 1.71-6.47) and an SBS score > 75 (AOR 4.97, 95% CI 1.43-17.28) were independent predictors of dangerous selfies. CONCLUSION: Nearly one in ten medical and nursing students reported having taken a dangerous selfie, and one in one hundred reported having been injured while attempting to take a selfie. Being male, posting selfies on social media daily and an SBS score > 75 were independent predictors of dangerous selfies. Further research is required to identify the community burden of dangerous selfies and to develop strategies to prevent selfie-related fatalities among youths.