Incipient plasticity and fully plastic contact behavior of copper coated with a graphene layer

Cu coated with a graphene layer increases the elastic modulus from 163.4 GPa to 176.7 GPa, as analyzed for the initial elastic loading during nanoindentation by the Hertzian contact theory. This is attributed to stiffening, due to the ultra-high elastic modulus of the graphene layer, and the compressive in-plane residual stresses in the Cu surface volume introduced by the lattice mismatch between graphene and Cu. The graphene layer induces incipient plasticity, manifested by pop-in events during nanoindentation loading, at shallower indentation depths. This could be due to the compressive in-plane residual stress in the Cu surface volume; however, this compressive stress does not significantly change the critical resolved shear stress for the incipient plasticity. Even in the fully plastic contact region, at an indentation depth of 100 nm, the graphene layer affects the stress distribution underneath the indenter, resulting in a lower pile-up height. When considering this reduced pile-up height, the graphene layer is found to enhance elastic modulus by 5%, whereas it has no effect on hardness

Hair transplantation in patients with hair loss or scar deformity in the side hairline after midfacelifting surgery

Background Successful aesthetic plastic surgery is devoid of both unsightly scarring and postoperative disfigurement. Patients undergoing midface-lifting surgery are very often disconcerted by an altered side hairline, including sideburns, despite considerable amelioration of facial wrinkles. This study was conducted to identify an effective means of approaching an altered hairline and the unavoidable scarring arising from midface-lifting surgery. Methods A total of 37 patients who underwent corrective surgery with hair transplantation for hair loss or scar deformity arising from midface-lifting surgery from June 2014 to June 2017, and were observed for more than 6 months thereafter, were enrolled in the study. Prior to corrective surgery, the patients were administered a multiple-choice survey regarding their dissatisfaction arising from midface-lifting surgery. Among the 37 patients, 24, 12, and one underwent donor harvesting by the strip method, non-shaven follicular unit extraction, and partial shaving follicular unit extraction, respectively. Additionally, 33 of the 37 patients underwent hair transplantation in the frontotemporal recess area along with hairline correction surgery. The average number of transplanted grafts was 1,025. Results Surgery resulted in a natural and satisfactory appearance in all patients. The average patient and physician subjective satisfaction scores were 4.6 and 4.8, respectively. No adverse events such as folliculitis occurred. Conclusions Side-hairline correction surgery by hair transplantation can be considered an effective method of realigning an altered hairline accompanied by scars following midfacelifting surgery

Comparison of postoperative pain according to the harvesting method used in hair restorative surgery

Background Postoperative pain is one of the most common concerns of patients undergoing hair transplantation surgery. Because most patients are satisfied with the cosmetic improvement after transplantation, amelioration of postoperative pain would help to increase patient accessibility to hair restorative surgery and greatly impact patient satisfaction with the final cosmetic results. This study was performed to investigate postoperative pain after hair transplantation. Methods In total, 241 patients (202 who underwent follicular unit transplantation [FUT] and 39 who underwent follicular unit extraction [FUE]) were eligible for the study. Postoperative pain was evaluated on postoperative days 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 using the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Scale. The patients’ medical records were retrospectively reviewed for information on the harvesting method, number of transplanted grafts, size of donor design, and laxity, elasticity, and glidability of the scalp in relation to postoperative pain. Results Postoperative pain after hair transplantation, assessed with the Wong-Baker Faces Pain Scale, seemed to provide very subjective results. None of the variables were correlated with postoperative pain in the FUT group. Such pain, however, tended to disappear by postoperative day 3. Patients in the FUE group experienced significantly less severe pain than those in the FUT group. Conclusions Postoperative pain was significantly less severe in patients whose donor hair was harvested by the FUE than FUT method. Postoperative pain had almost disappeared by postoperative day 3 in the FUT group, whereas only minimal pain was present even on postoperative day 1 in the FUE group

The anti-angiogenic herbal composition Ob-X inhibits adipose tissue growth in obese mice

Objective: The growth and development of adipose tissue are thought to be associated with angiogenesis and extracellular matrix remodeling. Since the composition of the herbal extract called Ob-X has been shown to have both anti-angiogenic and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-inhibiting activities, we hypothesized that growth of adipose tissue can be regulated by Ob-X. Materials and Methods: The effects of Ob-X on angiogenesis and extracellular matrix remodeling were measured using in vitro and ex vivo assays. The effects of Ob-X on adipose tissue growth were investigated with nutritionally obese mice. Results: Ob-X inhibited angiogenesis in a dose-dependent manner in the human umbilical vein endothelial cell (HUVEC) tube formation assay in vitro and the rat aortic ring assay ex vivo. Ob-X also suppressed MMP activity in vitro. Administration of Ob-X to high fat diet-induced obese mice produced significant reductions in body weight gain and adipose tissue mass, compared to controls. The mass of both subcutaneous (SC) and visceral (VSC) fat was reduced in Ob-X-treated mice. The size of adipocytes in SC and VSC adipose tissues was also significantly reduced in Ob-X-treated mice. Ob-X treatment decreased the blood vessel density and MMP activity in VSC adipose tissues of nutritionally obese mice. Ob-X reduced mRNA levels of angiogenic factors (VEGF-A and FGF-2) and MMPs (MMP-2 and MMP-9), whereas it increased mRNA levels of angiogenesis inhibitors (TSP-1 and TIMP-2) in SC and VSC adipose tissues of nutritionally obese mice. Conclusion: Ob-X, which has anti-angiogenic and MMP-inhibitory activities, reduces adipose tissue mass in nutritionally induced obese mice, providing evidence that adipose tissue growth and development may be prevented by inhibiting angiogenesis. In addition, these data suggest that regulation of adipose tissue growth by inhibiting angiogenesis may alter the expression of genes involved in angiogenesis and the MMP system

Novel Natural Polymer/Medicinal Plant Extract Electrospun Nanofiber for Cosmeceutical Application

Zein produced from maize is a hydrophobic protein, which holds great potential for a number of industrial applications, for example, food packaging, pharmaceutical, cosmetic, and biomedical industry. Sorghum, known as important cereal crop worldwide, is a good source of various phytochemicals such as tannins, phenolic acids, anthocyanins, phytosterols, and policosanols, and these phytochemicals have great impact on human health. Poria cocos, a well‐known traditional East‐Asian medicinal plant, is found around the roots of pine trees in Korea and China. As a rapid and efficient process, electrospinning has drawn huge interest among scientists to produce nanostructured polymer materials with excellent properties. In this work, we studied the influence of co‐solvent ratio and concentration of zein/medicinal plant extract on the morphologies of nanostructured zein/medicinal plant extract nanomaterials prepared by electrospinning technique from ethanol/water solution. The zein/medicinal extract nanofibers were characterized by field‐emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and differential scanning calorimetric technique. And we were to incorporate medicinal plant resources into the electro‐spun zein nanofibers by electrospinning technique to investigate the effect of medicinal extract on the morphologies, antibacterial, antioxidant, and other properties. Zein/medicinal plant extract might have a practical use as a new preservative for cosmeceutical applications

Management of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type 1 With Total Spinal Block

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a painful and disabling disorder that can affect one or more extremities. Unfortunately, the knowledge concerning its natural history and mechanism is very limited and many current rationales in treatment of CRPS are mainly dependent on efficacy originated in other common conditions of neuropathic pain. Therefore, in this study, we present a case using a total spinal block (TSB) for the refractory pain management of a 16-year-old male CRPS patient, who suffered from constant stabbing and squeezing pain, with severe touch allodynia in the left upper extremity following an operation of chondroblastoma. After the TSB, the patient's continuous and spontaneous pain became mild and the allodynia disappeared and maintained decreased for 1 month