Mortality rates among 5321 patients with burns admitted to a burn unit in China: 1980-1998.

A retrospective study was conducted on 5321 burn patients hospitalized in a burn center in Jinzhou, China during the period 1980-1998. Of the 5321 patients, 57.8% were between 15 and 44 years old and 3.4% were > or =60 years old. Ninety-six percent had burns covering less than half of body surface area and 31.7% had only full thickness skin burn. The number of patients in the 1990s was three times that of the 1980s. Overall mortality rate was 0.86%. LA(50) for total body burn area (TBSA) and only full thickness skin burn (FTSB) was 94 and 87%, respectively. The high survival rate, may relate primarily to the low percentages of older patients and of patients with severe burns. Inhalation injuries, infection and MOD are the main causes of deaths in our patients and would be key targets to improve clinical care and in future study.

Study on expression of endothelin in experimental cerebral concussion in rats / 中国组织工程研究

Objective To study changes and significance of endothelin(ET) in rat cerebral concussion.Methods 80 Wistar male rats were used for animal model of cerebral concussion,which were sacrificed on 1,3,7,14 and 30 days after injury and the brain tissue were taken off. The expression of ET was studied in the course of cerebral concussion by means of immunohistochemistry.Results Typical clinical manifestation was observed in the 100 g group in which the pathological changes included cerebral vascular constriction and dilatation,congestion and edema of cerebral tissue,neuronal degeneration,necrosis,and obviously decreased even disappeared Nissl bodies.Increased expression of ET was observed on the first day,the positive area was seen in the plasma of endothelial cells in cerebral cortex,hippocampus,cerebellum and thalamus.ET expression peak occurred on the 7th day,the positive area was also found in the plasma of Purkinje cells in the cerebellum.Decreased ET expression was found on 14th day and returned to normal level on the 30th day.Conclusion The main pathological changes of cerebral concussion contained blood circulation disorder,and degeneration and necrosis of substantial cells.ET was involved in the brain tissue injury during the pathological process of cerebral concussion and might be related to regulation of cerebral vascular reaction,and neuron degeneration and necrosis.

The influence of Matrine on apoptosis of fibroblasts and the expression of apoptotic modulation related protein in hypertrophic scar of rabbit ear / 中华烧伤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of Matrine on apoptosis of fibroblasts and the expression of apoptotic modulation related protein in the hypertrophic scar.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Hypertrophic scar was produced on the ear of 24 New Zealand white rabbits, which were employed as the model, and were randomly and equally divided into control (CC) and Matrine (M) groups (12 in each group). Matrine (50 g/L) was injected into the ear scar in M group and with normal saline in C group once every four days. At 2, 4, 6, 8 and 12 weeks after the injection, the apoptotic fibroblast count in the scar was determined by TUNEL method, and the expressions of apoptosis related modulation proteins p53, bcl-2, bax were detected by immunohistochemistry method.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The apoptotic fibroblast count was much larger in M group than that in C group at all test time points (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the bax expression was increased and that of p53 and bcl-2 was decreased significantly in M group. In adding, the scar became flat in M group.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Matrine might obviously enhance the fibroblast apoptosis in rabbit ear hypertrophic scar, and up-regulate the expression of apoptosis related modulation protein bax and down-regulate the expression of p53 and Bcl-2.</p>

The relationship between intestinal bifidobacteria and bacteria/endotoxin translocation in scalded rats / 中华烧伤杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the potential role of intestinal bifidobacteria in the pathogenesis of gut-origin bacteria/endotoxin translocation in scalded rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Wistar rats inflicted with 30% III degree scalding on the back were employed as the model with the rats undergoing sham injury as the control. The intestinal bacteria/endotoxin translocation and the changes in cecal mucosal microflora were determined by routine methods. And the plasma IL-6 concentration was measured with ELISA.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The incident of bacterial translocation into internal organs increased markedly in scalded rats (P = 0.001). The plasma LPS levels on 1, 3 and 5 postburn days (PBDs) in scalded rat group were much higher than those in sham injury group. The number of bifidobacteria decreased sharply 20 - 250 fold, the fungi increased 5 - 60 fold and E. coli increased 0.5 - 30 fold in the caecal mucosal microflora in the scalding group. The ratio of bifidobacteria to E. coli in the scalding group (4 - 800:1) was much lower than that in the sham injury group (25000:1). Furthermore, the plasma IL-6 level increased evidently in the scalding group. It was indicated by further analysis that compared with the rats without bacterial translocation, the bifidobacteria decreased 120 fold, the fungal number increased 50 fold and the E. coli number increased 30 fold in the scalded rats. The bifidobacterial number in the caecal mucosal microflora was negatively correlated with the plasma concentrations of IL-6 and LPS (P < 0.01) in the scalding rat group, and the plasma concentration of IL-6 was significantly and positively correlated with that of LPS.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Severe scalding injury could lead to an the imbalance of intestinal microflora and the increased intestinal translocation of bacteria and LPS. The decrease of the ratio and number of bifidobacteria in the caecal mucosal microflora might be a contribute to the occurrence of postburn intestinal bacteria/endotoxin translocation.</p>