Appropriate and Effective Dosage of BMP-2 for the Ideal Regeneration of Calvarial Bone Defects in Beagles.

Background: Although bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) is a potent growth factor, the appropriate and effective dosages for ideal bone formation according to defect size and type remain to be established. This study was designed to measure the effects of BMP-2 on calvarial defects in the beagle dog, by means of three-dimensional computed tomographic imaging.

Methods: Eight beagles of equal age and weight were divided into one control and three experimental groups.

Method to help ensure survival of a very small skin paddle of pectoralis major musculocutaneous flap in head and neck reconstruction.

Background: When the required dimension of skin paddle of a pectoralis major musculocutaneous (PMMC) flap is very small, its survival often becomes questionable. We introduce a simple technique which enlarges the practical dimension of a very small skin paddle, leading to ensure the survival of a PMMC flap.

Method And Result: A PMMC flap size of 1.

Midfacial degloving approach for resectioning and reconstruction of extensive maxillary fibrous dysplasia.

Objective: The traditional unilateral or bilateral buccogingival or bicoronal approach often seems to impose limitations on achieving complete resection and reconstruction of the extensive midfacial fibrous dysplasia. Therefore, we hypothesized that the midfacial degloving approach could be used for the correction of maxillary fibrous dysplasia, which has been primarily used for paranasal sinus lesions or nasopharyngeal tumor.

Methods: The study involved 5 maxillofacial fibrous dysplasia patients who underwent a midfacial degloving surgical procedure.

Recipient vessel selection in immediate breast reconstruction with free abdominal tissue transfer after nipple-sparing mastectomy.

Background: Nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) is gaining popularity due to its superior aesthetic results. When reconstructing the breast with free abdominal tissue transfer, we must readdress the recipient vessel, because NSM can cause difficulty in access to the chest vessel.

Methods: Between June 2006 and March 2011, a total of 92 women underwent NSM with free abdominal tissue transfer.

A new 2-imino-1,3-thiazoline derivative, KHG22394, inhibits melanin synthesis in mouse B16 melanoma cells.

During our on-going attempts to develop a new skin-whitening agent, we identified a novel candidate compound KHG22394, a 2-imino-1,3-thiazoline derivative. Our data show that KHG22394 significantly inhibits melanin production in a dose-dependent manner, but that it does not directly inhibit tyrosinase, the rate limiting melanogenic enzyme. It has been reported that the activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) reduces melanin synthesis by downregulating microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (Mitf).

Signal transduction mechanism via adenosine A1 receptor in the cat esophageal smooth muscle cells.

We investigated what adenosine receptor type exists and the signaling pathways on the contraction of circular muscle cells isolated by enzymatic digestion from the cat esophagus. Adenosine or the selective A1 receptor agonist R-PIA causes a concentration-dependent contraction. After pretreatment with A1 receptor antagonist, DPCPX, adenosine-mediated contraction was abolished.