Short test evaluation of the anti-wrinkles efficacy of topical adhesive pads

Introduction. In the last decades, in dermo-cosmetic field, a lot of cosmetic products, invasive treatments and medical devices were popping up to improve aged skin. Recently several cheap and innovative products called anti-wrinkle pad adhesive appeared but their efficiency against winkles is not really certain. Theoretically this product is intended to reduce local muscular contraction getting a reduction of the existing winkles and forming new dynamical winkles. Commercial advertisements claims that the utilization of pads can temporarily delete winkles with just an application and last longer with a continuous application. A recent study demonstrated that using this product for a month don’t have any positive effect on forehead wrinkles but still not demonstrate if this pad have the real ability to temporarily reduce wrinkles (Ryan 2009). For this reason this work focus on the efficiency of this pad in crow’s feet temporarily reduction. Materials and Methods. The anti-wrinkles efficiency was valued on 20 volunteers at baseline and 15, 30, 60 minutes after short time (30 minutes) application of the anti?wrinkles pad using Cutometer MPA580® (Courage + Khazaka Electronic GmbH, Köln, Germany) and siliconic replica technique analized with SEM FEI Quanta 200 in low vacuum and profilometric analysis software 3D MEX® (Alicona Imaging, Graz, Austria). Pads are made out of plastic with a vertical strong support fixed at a soft membrane covered by adhesive gel made by emollient and anti-wrinkles materials. Roughness and elasticity differences on values after pads application were valued using analysis of variance (ANOVA). Results. The short time application of the pad caused a relevant reduction of all roughness standards parameters (Ra, Rt, Rz, Rp, Rv) till 15 minutes after the treatment (p <0,001). These changes not happened in the contralateral area (non treatment control test). Within 30 minutes after the treatment, all roughness parameters reverted to normal baseline values. Analysing the elastometric measure average, it was not noticed any relevant standards changes (R0, R5, R6 e R7) after the treatment. Conclusions. Finally results obtained demonstrate that the sporadically application for 30 minutes of anti-wrinkle pad have the capacity to stretch temporarily the skin. Ryan WR, Most SP. A Prospective Evaluation of the Efficacy of Topical Adhesive Pads for the Reduction of Facial Rhytids. Arch Facial Plast Surg. 2009 Jul-Aug;11(4):252-6

Hydration, pH, pigmentation, sebum and skin texture: an in vivo non invasive study in centenaries

Skin is the largest organ of the human body and during aging it shows easily modifications caused by the senescence. Hydration, pH, pigmentation, sebum and skin texture may undergo modifications, above all in centenaries. We can find some papers that analyse the modifications induced by aging (Marrakchi et al., 2007); but no one of these studies people in the range 90-110 years old. Thus, our work has the aim to verify how these parameters can change. In our study we recruited 80 volunteers of Sardinian population divided in two groups: young and old people. We analyzed levels of sebum, hydration, pigmentation and pH with instruments of Courage + Khazaka electronic GmbH. Then we prepared the imprint that must be observed at SEM. The microscope used was a FEI INSPECT S, wherewith we took some photos of each imprint. The modifications are: hydration and sebum decrease significantly in centenaries; pigmentation and pH levels were higher in the old volunteers like demonstrated by other authors (Stucker et al., 2002). Studying skin texture, we found a diminution of furrows in old people. We can say that decrease of hydration and sebum is mainly linked to low level of hormones, such as estrogens and androgens, while the augmentation of pigmentation is due to the thinness of skin; the higher values of pH have probably a relation with a minor presence of sebum and water in cutaneous surface. Furthermore, accuracy of the pictures taken with SEM demonstrates that the study of skin texture associated with analysis of pH, sebum, pigmentation and hydration can help the comprehension of skin aging

www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms Role of Btg2 in the Progression of a PDGF-Induced Oligodendroglioma Model

Abstract: Tumor progression is a key aspect in oncology. Not even the overexpression of a powerful oncogenic stimulus such as platelet derived growth factor-B (PDGF-B) is sufficient per se to confer full malignancy to cells. In previous studies we showed that neural progenitors overexpressing PDGF-B need to undergo progression to acquire the capability to give rise to secondary tumor following transplant. By comparing the expression profile of PDGF-expressing cells before and after progression, we found that progressed tumors consistently downregulate the expression of the antiproliferative gene Btg2. We therefore tested whether the downregulation of Btg2 is sufficient and necessary for glioma progression with loss and gain of function experiments. Our results show that downregulation of Btg2 is not sufficient but is necessary for tumor progression since the re-introduction of Btg2 in fully progressed tumors dramatically impairs their gliomagenic potential. These results suggest an important role of Btg2 in glioma progression. Accordingly with this view, the analysis of public datasets of human gliomas showed that reduced level of Btg2 expression correlates with a significantly worse prognosis