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Skin wrinkles are an inevitable phenomenon that is brought about by aging due to the degradation of scleroprotein fibers and significant collagen reduction, which is the fundamental basis of anti-wrinkle technology in use today. Conventional treatments such as lasering and Botulinum toxin have some drawbacks including allergic skin reactions, cumbersome treatment procedures, and inefficient penetration of the anti-wrinkle products into the skin due to the high resistance of stratum corneum. Bearing this in mind, the cosmetic industry has exploited the patient-compliant technology of microneedles (MNs) to treat skin wrinkles, developing several products based on solid and dissolvable MNs incorporated with antiwrinkle formulations. However, drug administration via these MNs is limited by the high molecular weight of the drugs. Hollow MNs (HMNs) can deliver a wider array of active agents, but that is a relatively unexplored area in the context of antiwrinkle technology. To address this gap, we discuss the possibility of bioinspired 3D printed HMNs in treating skin wrinkles in this paper. We compare the previous and current anti-wrinkling treatment options, as well as the techniques and challenges involved with its manufacture and commercialization.

In this paper, creativity of students in interdisciplinary (ID) teams during the divergent (brainstorming and idea generation) phase is studied. The background of the students varied between undergraduate and graduate studies, and the creativity was stimulated amidst a discussion involving innovative solutions for the future of existing technologies In addition, the effect of knowledge heterogeneity and -synthesis is discussed. The study is conducted via a survey among the participants of the Delft/CERN IdeaSquare eSummer School 2020, held online from June 2020 to August 2020. The surveyed cohort was asked about the quantity of the generated ideas and their agreement to different statements, regarding size of the knowledge gap, effort to communicate and provide feedback, enjoyment, productivity and composition of their teams. The majority of the responding students believed they would produce the same or more ideas in ID teams, compared to that during monodisciplinary team work. We compared the agreement (between 0% and 100%) with the number of individual ideas and found a correlation for each mentioned category. This study is a first step to show that ID teams in a technological setting can be more productive. Further research should be done to repeat the experiment in a more controlled environment and solidify the hypothesis.

Background : Head injury, severe acidosis, hypothermia, massive transfusion and hypoxia often complicate traumatic coagulopathy. First line investigations such as prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, thrombin time, fibrinogen level, platelet count and D-dimer levels help in the initial assessment of coagulopathy in a trauma victim. Aim : To study the coagulation profile in patients of orthopedic trauma. Settings and Design : Prospective study. Patients and Methods : Patients with head injury, severe acidosis, massive transfusion and severe hypoxia were excluded from the study. Coagulation parameters were evaluated at three intervals, at the time of admission, intra operatively and in the postoperative period. Statistical Analysis : Chi-square test was used for analysis of categorical variables. For comparison between groups, two- way ANOVA was used. Results and Conclusions : Of the 48 patients studied, 38 (80%) had normal DIC scores upon admission and only 10 (20%) had mild DIC scores at the time of admission. The median Injury Severity Score was 34 and they did not correlate with DIC scores. Fibrinogen levels alone were significantly different, increased progressively (mean pre op, intra op and post op levels 518 ± 31,582 ± 35 and 643 ± 27 respectively; P ≤ 0.02) since the time of admission in these patients. All the other parameters remained unchanged. Further large scale prospective studies would be required to correlate elevated fibrinogen levels with the type of trauma or surgery.

Listeria infection is still a dominant infectious problem in Iran, particularly in abortion. Looking for a paraclinical technique other than bacterial methods (which is not always available) lead to serological survey indicating estimation anti listeria antibody by Immunoflourescent test. Unfortunately the false positive results due to cross reaction between "listeria monocytogenesis" and certain gram positive cocci, made it an unacceptable technique. Here we performed a test to extract the Listeria M. (Stranin 4a and 1b) soluble antigen and detecting the antibody by counter immunoelectrophoresis (CEI). The results indicated that of four bacterial soluble antigen fractions F1 and F3 were significantly positive with patients sera. We will discuss using the soluble antigen by CEI technique may be helpful to omit the false positive reactions.

Highlights from the article: Strategies and Outcome in Small for Size Grafts in Living Donor Liver Transplant However, grafts with lower GRWR (<0.8) can give equally good outcomes with portal inflow modulation (IM). B Conclusions: b Inflow modulation based on GRWR and PP results in acceptable recipient outcomes in small for size grafts and overall patient survival is comparable to grafts with GRWR>=0.8.

To determine the association of adenoid hypertrophy with allergic rhinitis in pediatric patients based on Simplified Visual Analog Scale and serum IgE levels. The present study was conducted in our tertiary care centre on 130 patients planned for adenoidectomy from May 2022 to June 2023. Children were divided into two groups based on IgE levels and Allergic history- Group I: who had raised immunoglobulin E levels with allergic rhinitis (according to ARIA guidelines) before adenoidectomy ( n  = 69) and Group II: who had normal immunoglobulin E levels pre-operatively ( n  = 72). VAS scoring was done in both groups and compared pre and post operatively. In our study it was found that the adenoid volume was more in patients with allergic history and increased IgE levels as compared to those with normal IgE levels ( p  < 0.05) pre-operatively. Also, the difference between pre-operative VAS score among Group I and Group II was statistically significant ( p  = 0.046). Also, the difference between postoperative VAS score among Group I and group II was also statistically significant ( p  = 0.043). There was statistically significant higher change in VAS score in Group II post-operatively ( p  = 0.027). sOur study demonstrates that children with allergic rhinitis tend to present earlier with symptoms of adenoid hypertrophy. In addition, children without allergic history show better post-operative VAS scores as the allergic component still prevails in children with allergic history., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestNot applicable., (© Association of Otolaryngologists of India 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Myxobacteria are non-photosynthetic bacteria distinguished among prokaryotes by a multicellular stage in their life cycle known as fruiting bodies that are formed in response to nutrient deprivation and stimulated by light. Here, we report an entrained, rhythmic pattern of Myxococcus macrosporus fruiting bodies, forming consistently spaced concentric rings when grown in the dark. Light exposure disrupts this rhythmic phenotype, resulting in a sporadic arrangement and reduced fruiting-body count. M. macrosporus genome encodes a red-light photoreceptor, a bacteriophytochrome (BphP), previously shown to affect the fruiting-body formation in the related myxobacterium Stigmatella aurantiaca. Similarly, the formation of M. macrosporus fruiting bodies is also impacted by the exposure to BphP-specific wavelengths of light. RNA-Seq analysis of M. macrosporus revealed constitutive expression of the bphP gene. Phytochromes, as light-regulated enzymes, control many aspects of plant development including photomorphogenesis. They are intrinsically correlated to circadian clock proteins, impacting the overall light-mediated entrainment of the circadian clock. However, this functional relationship remains unexplored in non-photosynthetic prokaryotes. Genomic analysis unveiled the presence of multiple homologs of cyanobacterial core oscillatory gene, kaiC, in various myxobacteria, including M. macrosporus, S. aurantiaca and M. xanthus. RNA-Seq analysis verified the expression of all kaiC homologs in M. macrosporus and the closely related M. xanthus, which lacks bphP genes. Overall, this study unravels the rhythmic growth pattern during M. macrosporus development, governed by environmental factors such as light and nutrients. In addition, myxobacteria may have a time-measuring mechanism resembling the cyanobacterial circadian clock that links the photoreceptor (BphP) function to the observed rhythmic behavior., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Purpose: To evaluate the potency and efficacy of a library of dopamine receptor D2 (D2R) antagonists in the mitigation of fibrotic activation in retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells. Methods: ARPE-19 cells were cultured and treated with methotrexate or 27 district D2R antagonists using a fibronectin deposition assay. The most potent compounds were then further assessed in assays measuring cellular proliferation, cellular migration, and profibrotic gene expression. Results: The previously established antifibrotic D2R antagonist loxapine exerted a robust and dose-dependent inhibition of fibronectin deposition, whereas methotrexate exerted minimal inhibition. The most potent D2R antagonist identified, fluphenazine, effectively blocked in vitro models of fibrosis at 300-1,000 nM concentrations. Conclusions: Here we found multiple FDA-approved D2R antagonists that potently block RPE cell fibrogenesis. These findings further support the potential of D2R antagonism as a potential therapeutic for retinal fibrotic disease.

Purpose: Autologous serum is widely used for the treatment of severe ocular surface disease with mixed efficacy. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small membrane bound structures present in all body fluids, including serum. This study compared the proteomic, metabolomic, and inflammatory cytokine composition of serum-derived EVs (SDEVs) to that of the soluble free protein fraction and the subsequent capacity of SDEVs to induce corneal epithelial cell migration and inflammation., Methods: SDEVs were isolated from human serum using size exclusion chromatography. SDEVs were analyzed using nanoparticle tracking analysis, transmission electron microscopy, and western blotting. The effects of SDEVs on corneal epithelial cell migration were tested using a standard scratch assay. Inflammatory cytokines in SDEVs and the free protein fraction were quantified using a microarray. A mutli-omics approach was further used to define SDEV cargo. The ability of SDEVs to modulate inflammation in corneal epithelial cells was quantified using ELISAs., Results: Western blot and TEM confirmed the presence of SDEVs. Proinflammatory cytokines, along with complement proteins and TGF-β, were decreased in SDEVs compared to serum. Metabolites present in SDEVs were mostly involved in amino acid biosynthesis, the TCA cycle and oxidative phosphorylation. SDEVs exhibited pro-migratory effects similar to serum however, SDEVs did not induce secretion of IL-6 or IL-8., Conclusions: SDEVs exhibit reduced levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines while retaining the beneficial wound healing properties of serum. Unlike serum, SDEVs do not induce inflammation. SDEVs may represent an alternative option for patients with severe ocular surface disease where traditional autologous serum has failed., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None of the authors of this manuscript have any conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) needs "Mercedes Benz" or "J-shaped" incision, causing short and long-term complications. An upper midline incision (UMI) is less invasive alternative but technically challenging. Reporting UMI for recipients in LDLT vs. conventional J-shaped incision. Retrospective analysis, July 2021 to December 2022. Peri-operative details and post-transplant outcomes of 115 consecutive adult LDLT recipients transplanted with UMI compared with 140 recipients with J-shaped incision. Cohorts had similar preoperative and intraoperative variables. The UMI group had significant shorter time to ambulation (3 ± 1.6 vs. 3.6 ± 1.3 days, p = 0.001), ICU stay (3.8 ± 1.3 vs. 4.4 ± 1.5 days, p = 0.001), but a similar hospital stay (15.6±7.6 vs. 16.1±10.9 days, p = 0.677), lower incidence of pleural effusion (11.3% vs. 27.1% p = 0.002), and post-operative ileus (1.7% vs. 9.3% p = 0.011). The rates of graft dysfunction (4.3% vs. 8.5% p = 0.412), biliary complications (6.1% vs. 12.1% p = 0.099), 90-day mortality (7.8% vs. 12.1% p = 0.598) were similar. UMI-LDLT afforded benefits such as reduced pleuropulmonary complications, better early post-operative recovery and reduction in scar-related complaints in the medium-term. This is a safe, non-inferior and reproducible technique for LDLT., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Rastogi, Gupta, Bansal, Kollanta Valappil, Yadav, Chaudhary, Bhangui, Dhampalvar, Choudhary, Saraf and Soin.)