Establishing Consensus of Best Practice for CEA Use in Treatment of Severe Burns: A US Burn Provider Delphi Study.

The goal of this study was to inform standards of best practice in the use of cultured epidermal autograft (CEA), manufactured in the United States, for the treatment of patients with severe burns. The study was designed using the modified Delphi technique, a method for structuring group communication among experts to promote the development of consensus-based recommendations. Known areas of variability related to the stages of CEA treatment were identified by literature review prior to the study and were confirmed through qualitative interview with the experts.

Concomitant Pediatric Burns and Craniomaxillofacial Trauma.

This study is the first to investigate pediatric craniomaxillofacial (CMF) trauma patients that present with concomitant burns. The authors aim to identify differing etiologies, presentations, facial fracture patterns, interventions, and outcomes between pediatric CMF trauma patients with versus without concomitant burns. In this retrospective cohort study of a tertiary care center between the years 1990 and 2010, concomitant burns were identified among pediatric patients presenting with CMF fractures.

Endothelial cells are a source of Nestin expression in Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension.

Uncontrolled proliferation of endothelial cells is essential to the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Both proliferation and cytoskeleton reorganization are associated with upregulation of the intermediate filament protein Nestin. Recently, accumulation of Nestin-expressing cells was found in pulmonary vascular lesions of PAH patients.

Toll-like Receptor 3 Is a Therapeutic Target for Pulmonary Hypertension.

Rationale: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is characterized by vascular cell proliferation and endothelial cell apoptosis. TLR3 (Toll-like receptor 3) is a receptor for double-stranded RNA and has been recently implicated in vascular protection.

Objectives: To study the expression and role of TLR3 in PAH and to determine whether a TLR3 agonist reduces pulmonary hypertension in preclinical models.

To heal and restore broken bodies: a retrospective, descriptive study of the role and impact of pastoral care in the treatment of patients with burn injury.

Introduction: Despite advances in resuscitation, resurfacing, and reconstruction, recovery in burn patients often depends upon emotional, psychosocial, and spiritual healing. We characterized the spiritual needs of burn patients to help identify resources necessary to optimize recovery.

Methods: We performed a retrospective review of all patients admitted to a regional, accredited burn center, in 2011.

Achieving low cleft palate fistula rates: surgical results and techniques.

Objectives: To prospectively evaluate and reduce fistula rate after primary cleft palate repair in an academic setting.

Methods: After noting an institutional palate fistula rate of 35.8%, when a majority of palatoplasties were performed using the Furlow double-opposing Z-plasty, the decision was made to re-evaluate the surgical techniques used for palate repair.

Green fluorescent protein-adenoviral construct as a model for transient gene therapy for human cultured keratinocytes in an athymic mouse model.

Background: The goal of gene therapy for cultured keratinocyte grafts is to accelerate growth and wound healing following engraftment without producing long-term complications from the delivered gene. We studied a Green Fluorescent Protein-Adenoviral construct (GFP-ADV) to determine the characteristics of gene expression in human cultured keratinocyte grafts.

Methods: Twelve GFP-ADV grafts and twelve control grafts were transplanted to the flanks of 24 athymic mice.

Stimulation of nonclonal hematopoiesis and suppression of the neoplastic clone after treatment with recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor in a patient with therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome.

A complete hematologic remission was achieved in a patient with therapy-related preleukemia and transfusion-dependent pancytopenia after treatment with recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). The patient remained in remission for nearly 1 year despite the discontinuation of GM-CSF treatment. Several lines of evidence suggest that normal hematopoiesis was restored after GM-CSF treatment.

Electron microscope investigation of soft tissue ingrowth into Dacron velour with dogs.

Electron microscopic and light microscopic analyses were performed on Dacron velour covered percutaneous devices implanted in the dorsum of canines for periods between 1 week and 9 months. The results indicated that although the capsular region around the implant was mature collagen after the 1st week of implantation, the tissue ingrowth region remained mostly immature collagen through 9 months of implantation. It appears that increasing the diameter of the fibres, which would decrease the chronic inflammatory response, and increasing the average distance between fibres should increase the amount of mature collagen between the velour fibres.