Vascular Basement Membrane Fragmentation in Keloids and the Expression of Key Basement Membrane Component Genes.

Background: Keloids are growing scars that arise from injury to the reticular dermis and subsequent chronic local inflammation. The latter may be promoted by vascular hyperpermeability, which permits the ingress of chronic inflammatory cells/factors. Cutaneous capillaries consist of endothelial cells that generate, and are anchored by, a vascular basement membrane (VBM).

Multilayered Silver-containing Polyurethane-foam (Mepilex Ag) for Tie-over Bolster Fixation of a Skin Graft.

Tie-over bolster fixation is the most common method of securing a skin graft. The bolster material can consist of various materials, including sterilized polyurethane foam. Mepilex Ag is a silver-containing polyurethane-foam wound-dressing material that has a broad-spectrum antibiotic effect.

High-frequency Power Doppler Ultrasonography in Predicting Burn Depth: A Preliminary Case Report.

Accurate burn depth assessment is essential to decide an appropriate surgical procedure. However, most cases of burn depth are diagnosed with subjective judgment by an experienced plastic surgeon. There is a need for a simple, noninvasive, and accurate diagnostic method.

Umbilical cord extracts improve diabetic abnormalities in bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells and increase their therapeutic effects on diabetic nephropathy.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) has been applied as the most valuable source of autologous cell transplantation for various diseases including diabetic complications. However, hyperglycemia may cause abnormalities in intrinsic BM-MSC which might lose sufficient therapeutic effects in diabetic patients. We demonstrated the functional abnormalities in BM-MSC derived from both type 1 and type 2 diabetes models in vitro, which resulted in loss of therapeutic effects in vivo in diabetic nephropathy (DN).