Augmentation gluteoplasty with dermal-fat autografting from the lower abdomen.

Background: Although the use of dermal-fat grafts (adipose tissue grafted with the inclusion of dermis) is an established technique in plastic surgery, to our knowledge, the technique has not been utilized in the gluteal region.

Objective: The authors examined the use of dermal-fat grafts taken from the lower abdomen for gluteal augmentation.

Methods: A novel surgical instrument, composed of a cannula and "crochet-hook"-like thread-puller, was developed especially for introduction of dermal-fat grafts.

Silicone versus nonsilicone gel dressings: a controlled trial.

Background: Silicone gel dressings decrease scar volume and soften hypertrophic tissue, allowing it to be more easily controlled by other methods. Although silicone does not appear to be an essential component of the treatment, nonsilicone dressings have been reported to cause no change in physical parameters during a 2-month treatment period.

Objective: To compare silicone and nonsilicone gel dressings in the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars, including a control group, and to evaluate the effectiveness of these treatments using two new assessment techniques.

Autosomal dominant craniometaphyseal dysplasia is caused by mutations in the transmembrane protein ANK.

Craniometaphyseal dysplasia (CMD) is a rare skeletal disorder characterized by progressive thickening and increased mineral density of craniofacial bones and abnormally developed metaphyses in long bones. Linkage studies mapped the locus for the autosomal dominant form of CMD to an approximately 5-cM interval on chromosome 5p, which is defined by recombinations between loci D5S810 and D5S1954. Mutational analysis of positional candidate genes was performed, and we describe herein three different mutations, in five different families and in isolated cases, in ANK, a multipass transmembrane protein involved in the transport of intracellular pyrophosphate into extracellular matrix.

The gene for cherubism maps to chromosome 4p16.

Cherubism is an autosomal dominant disorder that may be related to tooth development and eruption. It is a disorder of age-related bone remodeling, mostly limited to the maxilla and the mandible, with loss of bone in the jaws and its replacement with large amounts of fibrous tissue. We have used a genomewide search with a three-generation family and have established linkage to chromosome 4p16.

Capsular contracture and silicone gel: experimental study.

Wistar rats were used to study the effects, if any, of membrane thickness and implant volume of a silicone gel prosthesis on the development of fibrous capsule contraction. A total of 30 miniprosthesis with three different membrane thicknesses and two different volumes were implanted in the subcutaneous space of five animals. One hundred eighty days later the fibrous capsule was resected and histologically analyzed.