Search

Aim: Negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) is based on the principle that a negative pressure inside the wound can suction fluids and approximate wound edges. This therapy has been used for many years in the treatment of acute and hard-to-heal wounds. Despite the potential benefits of NPWT, there is also some evidence that NPWT can have a negative impact on QoL and can lead to serious restrictions in the physical, psychological and social domains of QoL. This case series aimed to describe treatment effects and experiences of patients who switched from negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) to a rapid capillary action dressing (RCAD). Method: Ten consecutive patients who prematurely terminated NPWT were recruited. When NPWT was terminated, treatment was continued with RCAD. Results / Discussion: Mean time to complete wound closure was 87.3 days (SD 38.3). Median duration of NPWT was 14 days (IQR 24). Mean duration of treatment with RCAD was 57.3 days (SD 30.3). The main reasons for terminating NPWT were maceration of the skin caused by the film and patient discomfort. All patients preferred RCAD, mainly because of better mobility and no noise, compared to the NPWT device. Conclusion: This is, to our knowledge, the first case series utilizing RCAD in patients with hard-to-heal wounds. RCAD appears to be a promising treatment modality. The promising results of this case series indicate the value of conducting an RCT comparing the efficiency of RCAD compared to NPWT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We hypothesize that biological perturbations due to exposure to ambient air pollution are reflected in gene expression levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells.Methods: We assessed the association between exposure to ambient air pollution and genome-wide gene expression levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells collected from 550 healthy subjects participating in cohorts from Italy and Sweden. Annual air pollution estimates of nitrogen oxides (NOx) at time of blood collection (1990-2006) were available from the ESCAPE study. In addition to univariate analysis and two variable selection methods to investigate the association between expression and exposure to NOx, we applied gene set enrichment analysis to assess overlap between our most perturbed genes and gene sets hypothesized to be related to air pollution and cigarette smoking. Finally, we assessed associations between NOx and CpG island methylation at the identified genes.Results: Annual average NOx exposure in the Italian and Swedish cohorts was 94.2 and 6.7 µg/m, respectively. Long-term exposure to NOx was associated with seven probes in the Italian cohort and one probe in the Swedish (and combined) cohorts. For genes AHCYL2 and MTMR2, changes were also seen in the methylome. Genes hypothesized to be downregulated due to cigarette smoking were enriched among the most strongly downregulated genes from our study.Conclusion: This study provides evidence of subtle changes in gene expression related to exposure to long-term NOx. On a global level, the observed changes in the transcriptome may indicate similarities between air pollution and tobacco induced changes in the transcriptome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our research contributes to the study of Roman urbanization in the Italian peninsula, both in the central Adriatic area and beyond. It focuses on the integrated use of archaeological field methods and non-destructive techniques. The study of the urban layout of the city of Potentia is an example of the use of low altitude aerial detection combined with regular grid-walking and geophysical survey to intensively investigate abandoned classical town sites. Information can be combined in a new approach to the study of urbanization processes in the heartland of the Roman world, and this integrated methodology can be applied to any large archaeological site with regular patterning such as orthogonal street layouts and planned civic centers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]