Intramyocardial hemorrhage drives fatty degeneration of infarcted myocardium.

Sudden blockage of arteries supplying the heart muscle contributes to millions of heart attacks (myocardial infarction, MI) around the world. Although re-opening these arteries (reperfusion) saves MI patients from immediate death, approximately 50% of these patients go on to develop chronic heart failure (CHF) and die within a 5-year period; however, why some patients accelerate towards CHF while others do not remains unclear. Here we show, using large animal models of reperfused MI, that intramyocardial hemorrhage - the most damaging form of reperfusion injury (evident in nearly 40% of reperfused ST-elevation MI patients) - drives delayed infarct healing and is centrally responsible for continuous fatty degeneration of the infarcted myocardium contributing to adverse remodeling of the heart.

Lasers, lights, and compounds for hair loss in aesthetics.

Hair loss is a common complaint that is often stressful for patients and a challenge for practitioners to treat. Fortunately, innovations in the field have contributed to growing evidence for several promising topical, oral, and light and energy-based therapies. We have reviewed the current literature about the efficacy of these treatments, including topical agents (finasteride, latanoprost, spironolactone, caffeine, and metformin), oral minoxidil, nutraceuticals, platelet-rich plasma, low-level laser therapy, fractional lasers, and laser-assisted drug delivery.

Intramyocardial Hemorrhage and the "Wave Front" of Reperfusion Injury Compromising Myocardial Salvage.

Background: Reperfusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction (MI) is lifesaving. However, the benefit of reperfusion therapy can be paradoxically diminished by reperfusion injury, which can increase MI size.

Objectives: Hemorrhage is known to occur in reperfused MIs, but whether hemorrhage plays a role in reperfusion-mediated MI expansion is not known.

The erythema Q-score, an imaging biomarker for redness in skin inflammation.

Physician rating of cutaneous erythema is central to clinical dermatological assessment as well as quantification of outcome measures in clinical trials in a number of dermatologic conditions. However, issues with inter-rater reliability and variability in the setting of higher Fitzpatrick skin types make visual erythema assessment unreliable. We developed and validated a computer-assisted image-processing algorithm (EQscore) to reliably quantify erythema (across a range of skin types) in the dermatology clinical setting.

Hair Transplantation Controversies.

Background: Hair transplant surgery creates consistently natural appearing transplanted hair for men. It is increasingly popular procedure to restore natural growing hair for men with hair loss.

Objective: To review some current controversies in hair transplant surgery.

Efficacy and safety of ustekinumab treatment in adults with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis.

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common inflammatory skin disease, but treatment options for moderate-to-severe disease are limited. Ustekinumab is an IL-12/IL-23p40 antagonist that suppresses Th1, Th17 and Th22 activation, commonly used for psoriasis patients. We sought to assess efficacy and safety of ustekinumab in patients with moderate-to-severe AD.

A mild topical steroid leads to progressive anti-inflammatory effects in the skin of patients with moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis.

Background: Topical glucocorticosteroids are considered an efficient treatment option for atopic dermatitis (AD), but a global assessment of glucocorticosteroid responses on key disease circuits upon weeks to months of treatment is currently lacking.

Objective: We sought to assess short (4 weeks) and long-term (16 weeks) application of topical glucocorticosteroids on AD skin and define response biomarkers.

Methods: The effects of triamcinolone acetonide cream 0.

Port wine stain treated with a combination of pulsed dye laser and topical rapamycin ointment.

Background And Objective: A port wine stain (PWS) is a type of capillary vascular malformation composed of malformed, dilated blood vessels within the papillary and reticular dermis. Currently, pulsed dye laser (PDL) is considered the therapeutic gold standard, although greater than 90% of lesions may be refractory to treatment. Studies have shown that a delay in treatment results in a higher proportion of patients who develop hypertrophy and nodularity within lesions that become more resistant to therapy.

Petrolatum: Barrier repair and antimicrobial responses underlying this "inert" moisturizer.

Background: Petrolatum is a common moisturizer often used in the prevention of skin infections after ambulatory surgeries and as a maintenance therapy of atopic dermatitis (AD). However, the molecular responses induced by petrolatum in the skin have never been assessed.

Objective: We sought to define the cutaneous molecular and structural effects induced by petrolatum.

Non-ablative fractional resurfacing in the treatment of scar contracture.

Background And Objectives: A 28-year-old female presented with extensive scarring after a traumatic injury to her right lower extremity. She had been hit by a vehicle one year prior to presentation and had several open fractures with extensive overlying cutaneous damage, which required multiple surgeries and skin grafts. She had limited range of motion of the affected limb secondary to scar contracture.

Patients with atopic dermatitis have attenuated and distinct contact hypersensitivity responses to common allergens in skin.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common inflammatory disease. The prevalence of allergic contact dermatitis to allergens (eg, fragrance) is higher in patients with AD, despite a trend toward weaker clinical allergic contact dermatitis reactions. The role of the AD skin phenotype in modulating allergic sensitization to common sensitizers has not been evaluated.

Cyclosporine in patients with atopic dermatitis modulates activated inflammatory pathways and reverses epidermal pathology.

Background: Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common inflammatory disease. Evolving disease models link changes in epidermal growth and differentiation to T(H)2/T(H)22 cytokine activation. However, these models have not been tested by in vivo suppression of T-cell cytokines.

Molecular profiling of contact dermatitis skin identifies allergen-dependent differences in immune response.

Background: Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is the most common occupational disease. Although murine contact hypersensitivity provides a framework for understanding ACD, it carries important differences from its human counterpart. Unlike the contact hypersensitivity model, which is induced by potent sensitizers (ie, dinitrofluorobenzene), human ACD is induced by weak-to-moderate sensitizers (ie, nickel), which cannot induce reactions in mice.

Inhibition of lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase beta disrupts proliferative and survival signals in normal cells and induces apoptosis of tumor cells.

Lysophosphatidic acid acyltransferase beta (LPAAT-beta) is an intrinsic membrane protein that catalyzes the synthesis of phosphatidic acid (PA) from lysoPA. Given that PA is a cofactor in a number of signaling cascades that are constitutively active in tumors, we evaluated the role of PA produced by LPAAT-beta in Xenopus oocyte meiotic maturation assays and an isoform-specific inhibitor of LPAAT-beta in mammalian cell assays. We found that ectopic overexpression of LPAAT-beta cooperates in activation of the Ras/Raf/Erk pathway in Xenopus oocytes and that inhibition of LPAAT-beta inhibits signaling in both the Ras/Raf/Erk and PI3K/Akt pathways.