The use of a protein network analysis to explore the complexity of early skin inflammation after oronasal mask application- A pilot study.

Medical devices, such as non-invasive ventilation masks, save lives in health care settings but can be a cause of tissue injuries due to the pressure and shear loads on skin and soft tissue. These pressure injuries could be painful for the individual and cause a significant economic impact on healthcare providers. In the etiology of device related pressure ulcers, inflammation plays an important role.

Association between cardiovascular risk profile and impaired microvascular function in a Swedish middle-aged cohort (the SCAPIS study).

Aims: The aim was to investigate the relationship between microvascular function, cardiovascular risk profile, and subclinical atherosclerotic burden.

Methods And Results: The study enrolled 3809 individuals, 50-65 years old, participating in the population-based observational cross-sectional Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study. Microvascular function was assessed in forearm skin using an arterial occlusion and release protocol determining peak blood oxygen saturation (OxyP).

Absorption and reduced scattering coefficients in epidermis and dermis from a Swedish cohort study.

Significance: Knowledge of optical properties is important to accurately model light propagation in tissue, but reference data are sparse.

Aim: The aim of our study was to present skin optical properties from a large Swedish cohort including 3809 subjects using a three-layered skin model and spatially resolved diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (Periflux PF6000 EPOS).

Approach: Diffuse reflectance spectra (475 to 850 nm) at 0.

Microvascular dysfunction in women with a history of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy: A population-based retrospective cohort study.

Objective: To evaluate microvascular function in women with previous hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP).

Design: Retrospective population-based cohort study.

Setting: Linköping, Sweden.

Nurses' strategies to enable continuous positive airway pressure therapy in a general medical ward context: A qualitative study.

Background: Continuous positive airway pressure is a non-invasive therapy beneficial for patients with acute respiratory failure. The need for this therapy outside intensive care units is growing, but nurses face many challenges to enable this therapy in general medical wards.

Aims And Objectives: The aim of the study was to explore nurses' strategies for enabling continuous positive airway pressure therapy in a general medical ward context.

Small Cajal body-associated RNA 2 (scaRNA2) regulates DNA repair pathway choice by inhibiting DNA-PK.

Evidence that long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) participate in DNA repair is accumulating, however, whether they can control DNA repair pathway choice is unknown. Here we show that the small Cajal body-specific RNA 2 (scaRNA2) can promote HR by inhibiting DNA-dependent protein kinase (DNA-PK) and, thereby, NHEJ. By binding to the catalytic subunit of DNA-PK (DNA-PKcs), scaRNA2 weakens its interaction with the Ku70/80 subunits, as well as with the LINP1 lncRNA, thereby preventing catalytic activation of the enzyme.

Biallelic mutations in WRAP53 result in dysfunctional telomeres, Cajal bodies and DNA repair, thereby causing Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome.

Approximately half of all cases of Hoyeraal-Hreidarsson syndrome (HHS), a multisystem disorder characterized by bone marrow failure, developmental defects and very short telomeres, are caused by germline mutations in genes related to telomere biology. However, the varying symptoms and severity of the disease indicate that additional mechanisms are involved. Here, a 3-year-old boy with HHS was found to carry biallelic germline mutations in WRAP53 (WD40 encoding RNA antisense to p53), that altered two highly conserved amino acids (L283F and R398W) in the WD40 scaffold domain of the protein encoded.

Assessment of oxygenation with polarized light spectroscopy enables new means for detecting vascular events in the skin.

Introduction: Impaired oxygenation in the skin may occur in disease states and after reconstructive surgery. We used tissue viability imaging (TiVi) to measure changes in oxygenation and deoxygenation of haemoglobin in an in vitro model and in the dermal microcirculation of healthy individuals.

Materials And Methods: Oxygenation was measured in human whole blood with different levels of oxygenation.

Normative data and the influence of age and sex on microcirculatory function in a middle-aged cohort: results from the SCAPIS study.

The objective of this study was to assess normative values for comprehensive forearm skin microcirculatory function: oxygen saturation, tissue fraction of red blood cells (RBCs), and speed-resolved perfusion. Furthermore, to examine the influence of age and sex on microcirculatory function. Measurements were performed using a noninvasive probe-based system, including diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and laser-Doppler flowmetry, yielding output data in absolute units.

The Cajal Body Protein WRAP53β Prepares the Scene for Repair of DNA Double-Strand Breaks by Regulating Local Ubiquitination.

Proper repair of DNA double-strand breaks is critical for maintaining genome integrity and avoiding disease. Modification of damaged chromatin has profound consequences for the initial signaling and regulation of repair. One such modification involves ubiquitination by E3 ligases RNF8 and RNF168 within minutes after DNA double-strand break formation, altering chromatin structure and recruiting factors such as 53BP1 and BRCA1 for repair via non-homologous end-joining (NHEJ) and homologous recombination (HR), respectively.

Long-term effectiveness of arthrocentesis with and without hyaluronic acid injection for treatment of temporomandibular joint osteoarthritis.

This study evaluated the long-term effectiveness of intra-articular temporomandibular joint arthrocentesis for patients with osteoarthritis and compared arthrocentesis/lavage alone with arthrocentesis/lavage and injected hyaluronic acid. Forty patients met the inclusion criteria, and 37 completed long-term follow-up (approximately 4 years). The patients were randomly allocated to two groups: arthrocentesis with lavage alone (A-group, n = 17) or combined with hyaluronic acid treatment (AS-group, n = 20).

In vivo characterization of light scattering properties of human skin in the 475- to 850-nm wavelength range in a Swedish cohort.

We have determined in vivo optical scattering properties of normal human skin in 1734 subjects, mostly with fair skin type, within the Swedish CArdioPulmonary bioImage Study. The measurements were performed with a noninvasive system, integrating spatially resolved diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and laser Doppler flowmetry. Data were analyzed with an inverse Monte Carlo algorithm, accounting for both scattering, geometrical, and absorbing properties of the tissue.

The relationship between forearm skin speed-resolved perfusion and oxygen saturation, and finger arterial pulsation amplitudes, as indirect measures of endothelial function.

Objective: Endothelial function is important for regulating peripheral blood flow to meet varying metabolic demands and can be measured indirectly during vascular provocations. In this study, we compared the PAT finger response (EndoPAT) after a 5-minutes arterial occlusion to that from forearm skin comprehensive microcirculation analysis (EPOS).

Methods: Measurements in 16 subjects with varying cardiovascular risk factors were carried out concurrently with both methods during arterial occlusion, while forearm skin was also evaluated during local heating.

Skin microvascular endothelial dysfunction is associated with type 2 diabetes independently of microalbuminuria and arterial stiffness.

Skin and kidney microvascular functions may be affected independently in diabetes mellitus. We investigated skin microcirculatory function in 79 subjects with diabetes type 2, where 41 had microalbuminuria and 38 not, and in 41 age-matched controls. The oxygen saturation, fraction of red blood cells and speed-resolved microcirculatory perfusion (% red blood cells × mm/s) divided into three speed regions: 0-1, 1-10 and above 10 mm/s, were assessed during baseline and after local heating of the foot with a new device integrating diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and laser Doppler flowmetry.

Temporal and spatiotemporal variability in comprehensive forearm skin microcirculation assessment during occlusion protocols.

Forearm skin hyperemia during release after brachial occlusion has been proposed for evaluating peripheral arterial disease and endothelial dysfunction. We used a novel fiberoptic system integrating Laser Doppler Flowmetry and Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy for a comprehensive pointwise model based microcirculation characterization. The aim was to evaluate and compare the temporal and the spatiotemporal variabilities in forearm skin microcirculation parameters (speed resolved perfusion; low speed <1mm/s, Perf; mid-speed 1-10mm/s, high speed >10mm/s, and total perfusion (Perf); the concentration and oxygenation of red blood cells, C and S).

Blood flow responses over sacrum in nursing home residents during one hour bed rest.

Objectives: To describe individual BF responses in a nursing home resident population for one-hour periods of bed rest.

Methods: BF was measured for one hour over the sacrum in 0° supine position and 30° supine tilt position in 25 individuals aged 65 y or older while lying on a pressure-redistributing mattress. Measurements were made at three tissue depths (1, 2, and 10 mm) using the noninvasive optical techniques, LDF and PPG.

Cyclosporin promotes neurorestoration and cell replacement therapy in pre-clinical models of Parkinson's disease.

Background: The early clinical trials using fetal ventral mesencephalic (VM) allografts in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients have shown efficacy (albeit not in all cases) and have paved the way for further development of cell replacement therapy strategies in PD. The preclinical work that led to these clinical trials used allografts of fetal VM tissue placed into 6-OHDA lesioned rats, while the patients received similar allografts under cover of immunosuppression in an α-synuclein disease state. Thus developing models that more faithfully replicate the clinical scenario would be a useful tool for the translation of such cell-based therapies to the clinic.

Microcirculatory responses of sacral tissue in healthy individuals and inpatients on different pressure-redistribution mattresses.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the interaction between interface pressure, pressure-induced vasodilation, and reactive hyperaemia with different pressure-redistribution mattresses.

Method: A cross-sectional study was performed with a convenience sample of healthy young individuals, and healthy older individuals and inpatients, at a university hospital in Sweden. Blood flow was measured at depths of 1mm, 2mm, and 10mm using laser Doppler flowmetry and photoplethysmography.

Nursing staff induced repositionings and immobile patients' spontaneous movements in nursing care.

The aim of this study was to investigate nursing staff induced repositionings and the patients' spontaneous movements during the day and night among older immobile patients in nursing care. Furthermore, the aim was to identify factors associated with the nursing staff induced repositionings and the patients' spontaneous movement frequency. An observational cross-sectional design was used.

Pressure-induced vasodilation and reactive hyperemia at different depths in sacral tissue under clinically relevant conditions.

Objective: To characterize PIV and RH at different sacral tissue depths in different populations under clinically relevant pressure exposure.

Methods: Forty-two subjects (<65 years), 38 subjects (≥65 years), and 35 patients (≥65 years) participated. Interface pressure, skin temperature, and blood flow at tissue depths of 1, 2, and 10 mm (using LDF and PPG) were measured in the sacral tissue before, during, and after load in a supine position.

The effects of different lying positions on interface pressure, skin temperature, and tissue blood flow in nursing home residents.

Background: Although repositioning is considered an important intervention to prevent pressure ulcers, tissue response during loading in different lying positions has not been adequately explored.

Aim: To compare the effects of different lying positions on interface pressure, skin temperature, and tissue blood flow in nursing home residents.

Method: From May 2011 to August 2012, interface pressure, skin temperature, and blood flow at three tissue depths were measured for 1 hr over the sacrum in 30° supine tilt and 0° supine positions and over the trochanter major in 30° lateral and 90° lateral positions in 25 residents aged 65 years or older.

Where pain meets action in the human brain.

Pain's complex influence on behavior implies that it involves an action component, although little is known about how the human brain adaptively translates painful sensations into actions. The consistent activation of premotor and motor-related regions during pain, including the midcingulate cortex (MCC), raises the question of whether these areas contribute to an action component. In this fMRI experiment, we controlled for voluntary action-related processing during pain by introducing a motor task during painful or nonpainful stimulation.

Altered C-tactile processing in human dynamic tactile allodynia.

Human unmyelinated (C) tactile afferents signal the pleasantness of gentle skin stroking on hairy (nonglabrous) skin. After neuronal injury, that same type of touch can elicit unpleasant sensations: tactile allodynia. The prevailing pathophysiological explanation is a spinal cord sensitization, triggered by nerve injury, which enables Aβ afferents to access pain pathways.

Different lying positions and their effects on tissue blood flow and skin temperature in older adult patients.

Aim: To report a study to compare the effects of different lying positions on tissue blood flow and skin temperature in older adult patients. This article reports the evaluation of study design and procedures.

Background: To reduce risk of pressure ulcers, repositioning of immobile patients is a standard nursing practice; however, research into how different lying positions effect tissue microcirculation is limited.