Comparative effectiveness study between negative pressure wound therapy and conventional wound dressing on perforator flap at the Chinese tertiary referral teaching hospital.

BACKGROUND: Perforator flap techniques with conventional wound dressing have being extensively used in the management of soft-tissue defects. However; the flap's survival rate is not always guaranteed and the wound healing time always long. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical effectiveness use of a freshly transplanted perforator flap in conjunction with Vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) for better clinical outcomes. METHODS: A prospective, randomized, effectiveness study comparing the clinical outcomes of VAC versus traditional wrap and bandages for the treatment of open wounds that required hospital admission and operative debridement using perforator flaps, was carried out from March 1, 2014 to March 31, 2016 at Wuhan University Zhongnan Hospital. Fifty-one eligible patients were randomized into two groups; study group (perforator flaps covered by VAC) and control group (perforator flaps covered by traditional wrap and bandages). The measured clinical endpoints included the time of the first post-operative dressing change, pain visual analogical scale, perforator flap infection rate, 95% perforator flap healing time and percentage of survived perforator flap. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in the demographic profiles in the two cohorts. There were statistically significant differences in the clinical endpoints in the two groups (p < 0.001; p < 0.05, Table 2). CONCLUSIONS: In summary, VAC combining with perforator flap technique, can diminish accumulated exudation of the transferring flap, protect against postoperative infection, prolong the interval between perforator flap relocation and first postoperative dressing change, decrease pain during removal of dressing, increase perforator flap survival rate, and shorten wound healing time, with a good aesthetic outcome, a good mobility and a satisfactory therapeutic result.

Advances in Etiopathological Role and Control of HPV in Cervical Cancer Oncogenesis.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) is a well-known oncovirus whose causal link in the occurrence and development of several cancers, such as cervical cancer (CC), has been well established. Indeed, numerous researches depicted the etiological role of HPV in CC pathogenesis in such a way as to develop efficient strategies, including early diagnoses and HPV vaccination, to mitigate HPV infection and CC occurrence. Despite the effectiveness of these strategies in preventing HPV infection, its persistence, and the progression to precancerous lesions and cancers, extensive work that could give a better understanding of other unknown factors favoring oncogenesis is much more needed. In this last decade, scarce or few but crucial and strategic studies have been carried out to improve and deepen our understanding of the etiopathological role of HPV in the progression towards the development of CC. In this review, we highlighted the recent findings on the pathological role of HPV in CC occurrence and the advances in novel adopted strategies to reduce HPV infection and prevent CC occurrence more effectively.

Clinical Effectiveness of Dorsal Branch Skin Flap of Proper Palmar Digital Artery with Distal Pedicle in Repairing of Fingertip Soft Tissue Defect: A 1-Year Prospective Study in a Chinese Tertiary Referral Teaching Hospital.

Background: Digital island flap remains among the most useful types of providing soft-tissues coverage for defect on the fingertip accompanied with underlying structures exposure. Nevertheless, its trends of functional and aesthetic issues such as the limited length of advancement and the limited flap size are the essential disadvantages. The main objective of the study was to assess the clinical effectiveness of dorsal branch skin flap of proper palmar digital artery with distal pedicle in repairing of fingertip soft tissue defect accompanied with underlying structures exposure. Methods: This is a 1-year prospective study, in which 21 patients (24 fingers) with traumatic fingertip skin and soft tissue defects had undergone emergency repair with dorsal skin flap of proper palmar digital artery with distal pedicle. The starting point of the dorsal proper palmar digital artery which is at the connection of distal interphalangeal joint with the digital midline was selected as the rotation point of the surgical skin flap, with an incision area of 1.1 cm × 1.4 cm-2.7 cm × 2.0 cm, the pedicle of 0.8-1.7 cm and disposition of 90°-120° to cover the fingertip. Results: All flaps had completely healed postoperatively. In 2 cases, tension blisters of the flap and partial necrosis were observed, which survived after change in dressing and rational administration vasodilator medication. Patients were followed up to 6 months. Favorable appearance and function were restored, and satisfactory recovery of the sensory functions of the fingers had been achieved. The two-point discrimination of skin flap with anastomosis of nerve could reach 4.5-9.4 mm (mean, 6.80 mm). Conclusions: Repairing the fingertip skin and soft tissue defect of 2nd-5th finger via primary surgical repair with dorsal distal pedicle or proper palmar digital artery skin flap is a good technique. The high survival rate of the flap, the favorable flap's appearance, and the satisfactory recovery of the sensory functions of the fingers are among the advantages of this reconstructive technique.

Epidemiology and Burden of Human Papillomavirus and Related Diseases, Molecular Pathogenesis, and Vaccine Evaluation.

Diagnosed in more than 90% of cervical cancers, the fourth deadliest cancer in women, human papillomavirus (HPV) is currently the most common pathogen responsible for female cancers. Moreover, HPV infection is associated with many other diseases, including cutaneous and anogenital warts, and genital and upper aerodigestive tract cancers. The incidence and prevalence of these pathologies vary considerably depending on factors including HPV genotype, regional conditions, the study population, and the anatomical site sampled. Recently, features of the cervicovaginal microbiota are found to be associated with the incidence of HPV-related diseases, presenting a novel approach to identify high-risk women through both blood and cervical samples. Overall, the HPV repartition data show that HPV infection and related diseases are more prevalent in developing countries. Moreover, the available (2-, 4-, and 9-valent) vaccines based on virus-like particles, despite their proven effectiveness and safety, present some limitations in terms of system development cost, transport cold chain, and oncogenic HPV variants. In addition, vaccination programs face some challenges, leading to a considerable burden of HPV infection and related diseases. Therefore, even though the new (9-valent) vaccine seems promising, next-generation vaccines as well as awareness programs associated with HPV vaccination and budget reinforcements for immunization are needed.

Review of clinical studies of Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. and its isolated bioactive compounds.

Polygonum multiflorum Thunb. (PMT), officially listed in the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, is one of the most popular perennial Chinese traditional medicines known as He shou wu in China and East Asia, and as Fo-ti in North America. Mounting pharmacological studies have stressed out its key benefice for the treatment of various diseases and medical conditions such as liver injury, cancer, diabetes, alopecia, atherosclerosis, and neurodegenerative diseases as well. International databases such as PubMed/Medline, Science citation Index and Google Scholar were searched for clinical studies recently published on P. multiflorum. Various clinical studies published articles were retrieved, providing information relevant to pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics analysis, sleep disorders, dyslipidemia treatment, and neurodegenerative diseases. This review is an effort to update the clinical picture of investigations ever carried on PMT and/or its isolated bio-compounds and to enlighten its therapeutic assessment.

Rhein Elicits In Vitro Cytotoxicity in Primary Human Liver HL-7702 Cells by Inducing Apoptosis through Mitochondria-Mediated Pathway.

Objective. To study rhein-induced apoptosis signaling pathway and to investigate its molecular mechanisms in primary human hepatic cells. Results. Cell viability of HL-7702 cells treated with rhein showed significant decrease in dose-dependent manner. Following rhein treatment (25 µM, 50 µM, and 100 µM) for 12 h, the detection of apoptotic cells was significantly analyzed by flow cytometry and nuclear morphological changes by Hoechst 33258, respectively. Fatty degeneration studies showed upregulation level of the relevant hepatic markers (P < 0.01). Caspase activities expressed significant upregulation of caspase-3, caspase-9, and caspase-8. Moreover, apoptotic cells by rhein were significantly inhibited by Z-LEHD-FMK and Z-DEVD-FMK, caspase-9 inhibitor, and caspase-3 inhibitor, respectively. Overproduction of reactive oxygen species, lipid peroxidation, and loss of mitochondrial membrane potential were detected by fluorometry. Additionally, NAC, a ROS scavenger, significantly attenuated rhein-induced oxidative damage in HL-7702 cells. Furthermore, real-time qPCR results showed significant upregulation of p53, PUMA, Apaf-1, and Casp-9 and Casp-3 mRNA, with no significant changes of Fas and Cytochrome-c. Immunoblotting revealed significant Cytochrome-c release from mitochondria into cytosol and no change in Fas expression. Conclusion. Taken together, these observations suggested that rhein could induce apoptosis in HL-7702 cells via mitochondria-mediated signal pathway with involvement of oxidative stress mechanism.