Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty in class III obesity: Efficacy, safety, and durability outcomes in 404 consecutive patients.

Background: Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) is an effective therapy for class I-II obesity, but there are knowledge gaps in the published literature about its implementation in patients with class III obesity [body mass index (BMI) ≥ 40 kg/m].

Aim: To evaluate the safety, clinical efficacy, and durability of ESG in adults with class III obesity.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study that used prospectively collected data on adults with BMI ≥ 40 kg/m who underwent ESG and longitudinal lifestyle counseling at two centers with expertise in endobariatric therapies from May 2018-March 2022.

Patient Comfort, Safety, and Effectiveness of Resilient Hyaluronic Acid Fillers Formulated With Different Local Anesthetics.

Background: Maximizing patient comfort during hyaluronic acid gel injection is a common concern that is usually addressed by selecting fillers with lidocaine.

Objective: Two randomized, double-blinded, split-face trials aimed to demonstrate noninferiority of specific hyaluronic acid fillers incorporating mepivacaine (RHA-M) versus their lidocaine controls, at providing pain relief.

Methods: Thirty subjects per trial received injections of RHA R -M versus RHA R , and RHA4-M versus RHA4, respectively, in the perioral rhytids (PR) and nasolabial folds (NLF).

Creation and validation of a photonumeric scale for assessment of lip fullness.

Background: Validated, objective clinical scales are needed to assess aesthetic improvement of the lips after augmentation with dermal fillers.

Objective: To develop a lip fullness rating scale and establish its reliability for grading subjects in clinical trials or routine practice, and sensitivity for detecting clinically meaningful changes.

Methods: The Teoxane Lip Fullness Scale (TLFS), a proprietary, 5-grade photonumeric scale, was developed by clinical experts based on real subject photographs and was validated through both photographic and live subjects' evaluation.

Efficacy and Safety of a New Resilient Hyaluronic Acid Filler in the Correction of Moderate-to-Severe Dynamic Perioral Rhytides: A 52-Week Prospective, Multicenter, Controlled, Randomized, Evaluator-Blinded Study.

Background: The perioral region is highly mobile and subject to multifactorial changes during aging. Resilient Hyaluronic Acid Redensity (RHAR), an RHA filler, was developed with the aim of optimizing outcomes in dynamic facial areas.

Objective: This randomized, blinded, multicenter clinical study aimed to demonstrate superiority of RHAR over no-treatment control for correction of moderate-to-severe dynamic perioral rhytides.

Safety and Effectiveness of an Intragastric Balloon as an Adjunct to Weight Reduction in a Post-Marketing Clinical Setting.

Background And Objectives: Obesity and its related comorbidities are associated with serious health risks. This trial evaluated the safety and effectiveness of the ORBERA® Intragastric Balloon System (IGB) as an adjunct to lifestyle intervention in a post-marketing clinical setting.

Methods And Materials: In this multicenter study, 258 adults with a body mass index of 30-40 kg/m were treated with the IGB as an adjunct to weight reduction and followed for up to 12 months.

Primary care physician practice styles and quality, cost, and productivity.

Objectives: To assess quality, cost, physician productivity, and patient experience for 2 primary care physician (PCP) practice styles: the focused, who typically address only the patient's acute problem, versus the max-packers, who typically address additional conditions also.

Study Design: Retrospective observational study using administrative data, electronic health record (EHR) data, and patient surveys. Data represent 285 PCPs (779 PCP-years) in a large, multispecialty group practice during 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Histologic Characterization of Polymethylmethacrylate Dermal Filler Biostimulatory Properties in Human Skin.

Background: Little literature exits on the mechanism of action of implanted polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) filler.

Objective: To characterize PMMA-induced dermal extracellular matrix production in the skin.

Materials And Methods: Single-center, open-label prospective study in healthy volunteers undergoing removal of redundant skin was injected intradermally and subdermally with PMMA dermal filler (Bellafill).

Polymethylmethacrylate Collagen Gel-Injectable Dermal Filler for Full Face Atrophic Acne Scar Correction.

Background/objectives: This trial evaluated the effectiveness and safety of Bellafill for full-face acne scar treatment.

Patients And Methods: In this open-label, nonrandomized, multicenter pilot study investigating the use of polymethylmethacrylate for full-face atrophic acne scar correction, 42 adult subjects with a mean age of 43 years were treated and assessed for safety and effectiveness at Months 4 and 7. There were no hypersensitivity reactions to pretreatment skin testing or during scar treatments.

Health Outcomes and Explant Rates After Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding: A Phase 4, Multicenter Study over 5 Years.

Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the real-world safety and effectiveness of the LAP-BAND (Apollo Endosurgery Inc., Austin, Texas) adjustable gastric banding system (LBS) for 5 years following implantation.

Methods: This prospective, longitudinal, phase 4, multicenter study involved 652 patients who had implantation of the LBS system.

Does Increasing the Dose of Abobotulinumtoxina Impact the Duration of Effectiveness for the Treatment of Moderate to Severe Glabellar Lines?

Objective: To evaluate the duration of effect of a single dose of 120 units of abobotulinumtoxinA for the treatment of moderate to severe glabellar lines.

Design: Investigator-initiated, prospective, multi-center, open-label study.

Material And Methods: This open-label trial of thirty subjects with moderate to severe glabellar lines at maximum frown was per- formed at 2 private plastic surgery clinics.

Lower levels of interleukin-1β gene expression are associated with impaired Langerhans' cell migration in aged human skin.

Langerhans' cells (LC) play pivotal roles in skin immune responses, linking innate and adaptive immunity. In aged skin there are fewer LC and migration is impaired compared with young skin. These changes may contribute to declining skin immunity in the elderly, including increased skin infections and skin cancer.

Systemic injection of the DAD1 antagonist SCH 23390 reduces saccharin seeking in rats.

Conditioned cues can elicit drug- and sucrose-seeking behaviors that have been shown to depend on dopamine (DA) D1 receptors. If DAD1 receptors are also involved in seeking behavior in general, blocking these receptors should reduce seeking behavior for a non-caloric, non-drug of abuse reinforcer such as saccharin. Forty-six male Long-Evans rats lever pressed for 0.

Current Concepts in the Use of Bellafill.

As demonstrated by American Society of Plastic Surgeons statistics (2013), patients seeking nonsurgical facial rejuvenation are increasing. A variety of temporary and semipermanent soft-tissue fillers, such as hyaluronic acid, poly-L-lactic acid, and calcium hydroxylapatite, are readily available; however, they have not been proven effective in treating facial acne scarring. Patient tolerance for the inconvenience and repeat cost of short-term, temporary fillers is waning as newer generation fillers with longer durations are coming on the market.

Effects of acute or chronic environmental enrichment on regional Fos protein expression following sucrose cue-reactivity testing in rats.

Exposure to environmental enrichment (EE) reduces sucrose seeking by rats with a history of sucrose self-administration. The present experiment examined whether acute or chronic EE also reduces brain Fos levels, a protein marker indicative of neuronal activation. Fos levels were also examined after either 1 or 30 days of forced abstinence to examine whether Fos levels vary with the incubation of sucrose craving.

Skin sensitization induced Langerhans' cell mobilization: variable requirements for tumour necrosis factor-α.

Upon antigen/allergen recognition, epidermal Langerhans' cells (LC) are mobilized and migrate to the local lymph node where they play a major role in initiating or regulating immune responses. It had been proposed that all chemical allergens induce LC migration via common cytokine signals delivered by TNF-α and IL-1β. Here the dependence of LC migration on TNF-α following treatment of mice with various chemical allergens has been investigated.

The XS106 cell: a Langerhans' cell surrogate with a selective type 2 phenotype.

Epidermal Langerhans' cells (LC) play important roles in initiating and regulating cutaneous immune responses. However, LC comprise less than 3% of all epidermal cells and consequently are difficult to study ex vivo. In the current investigations, we have examined the utility of the XS106 cell line, a dendritic cell (DC) line derived from mouse epidermis, as a surrogate for LC.

Evaluation of resveratrol and N-acetylcysteine for cancer chemoprevention in a Fanconi anemia murine model.

Fanconi anemia (FA) patients suffer from progressive bone marrow failure and often develop cancers. Previous studies showed that antioxidants tempol and resveratrol (RV) delayed tumor onset and reduced hematologic defects in FA murine models, respectively. Here we tested whether antioxidants N-acetylcysteine (NAC) or RV could delay cancer in tumor prone Fancd2(-/-) /Trp53(+/-) mice.

Standardizing primary care physician panels: is age and sex good enough?

Objectives: To determine if patient clinical conditions need to be considered when assessing primary care physician (PCP) workload in the context of standardizing panel sizes.

Study Design: Work resource value units (wRVUs) were used to standardize PCP panel workload. Standardized panels were created using (1) age and sex- and (2) clinical condition-based risk indicators.

Fancd2-/- mice have hematopoietic defects that can be partially corrected by resveratrol.

Progressive bone marrow failure is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in human Fanconi Anemia patients. In an effort to develop a Fanconi Anemia murine model to study bone marrow failure, we found that Fancd2(-/-) mice have readily measurable hematopoietic defects. Fancd2 deficiency was associated with a significant decline in the size of the c-Kit(+)Sca-1(+)Lineage(-) (KSL) pool and reduced stem cell repopulation and spleen colony-forming capacity.

Therapeutic liver reconstitution with murine cells isolated long after death.

Background & Aims: Due to the shortage of donor organs, many patients needing liver transplantation cannot receive one. For some liver diseases, hepatocyte transplantation could be a viable alternative, but donor cells currently are procured from the same sources as whole organs, and thus the supply is severely limited.

Methods: Here, we investigated the possibility of isolating viable hepatocytes for liver cell therapy from the plentiful source of morgue cadavers.

Embryonic lethality after combined inactivation of Fancd2 and Mlh1 in mice.

DNA repair defects are frequently encountered in human cancers. These defects are utilized by traditional therapeutics but also offer novel cancer treatment strategies based on synthetic lethality. To determine the consequences of combined Fanconi anemia (FA) and mismatch repair pathway inactivation, defects in Fancd2 and Mlh1 were combined in one mouse model.

Tempol protects against oxidative damage and delays epithelial tumor onset in Fanconi anemia mice.

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a genetic disorder characterized by congenital abnormalities, bone marrow failure, and marked cancer susceptibility. FA patients have an elevated risk of developing hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. Using Fancd2(-/-) knockout mice as a model of FA, we examined the potential of tempol, a nitroxide antioxidant and a superoxide dismutase mimetic, as a tumor-delaying agent for solid tumors.