Wound contraction effects and antibacterial properties of Tualang honey on full-thickness burn wounds in rats in comparison to hydrofibre

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Full-thickness burn wounds require excision and skin grafting. Multiple surgical procedures are inevitable in managing moderate to severe full-thickness burns. Wound bed preparations prior to surgery are necessary in order to prevent wound infection and promote wound healing. Honey can be used to treat burn wounds. However, not all the honey is the same. This study aims to evaluate the wound contraction and antibacterial properties of locally-produced <it>Tualang </it>honey on managing full-thickness burn wounds <it>in vivo</it>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Thirty-six female <it>Sprague Dawley </it>rats were randomly divided into three groups. Under anaesthesia, three full-thickness burn wounds were created on the dorsum of the rats. The full-thickness burn wounds were inoculated with a specific organism (10⁴), namely <it>Pseudomonas aeruginosa </it>(n = 12), <it>Klebsiella pneumoniae </it>(n = 12), or <it>Acinetobacter baumannii </it>(n = 12). The three burn wounds were dressed with <it>Tualang </it>honey, hydrofibre and hydrofibre silver respectively. Swab samples were obtained every 3 days (day 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18 and 21) for quantitative and semi-quantitative microbiological analyses. Clinical assessments, including observations concerning the appearance and wound size, were measured at the same time.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There was a rapid 32.26% reduction in wound size by day 6 (<it>p </it>= 0.008) in the <it>Tualang </it>honey-treated wounds, and 49.27% by day 15 (<it>p </it>= 0.005). The wounds remained smaller by day 18 (<it>p </it>< 0.032). <it>Tualang </it>honey-treated rats demonstrated a reduction in bacterial growth in <it>Pseudomonas aeruginosa </it>inoculated wounds (<it>p </it>= 0.005). However, hydrofibre silver and hydrofibre-treated wounds are superior to honey-treated wounds with <it>Acinetobacter baumannii </it>(<it>p </it>= 0.035). There was no statistical significant of antibacterial property in <it>Klebsiella pneumonia </it>inoculated wounds.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p><it>Tualang </it>honey has better results with regards to its control of <it>Pseudomonas aeruginosa </it>and its wound contraction effects on full-thickness burn wound <it>in vivo</it>.</p

Climate simulations for 1880-2003 with GISS modelE

We carry out climate simulations for 1880-2003 with GISS modelE driven by ten measured or estimated climate forcings. An ensemble of climate model runs is carried out for each forcing acting individually and for all forcing mechanisms acting together. We compare side-by-side simulated climate change for each forcing, all forcings, observations, unforced variability among model ensemble members, and, if available, observed variability. Discrepancies between observations and simulations with all forcings are due to model deficiencies, inaccurate or incomplete forcings, and imperfect observations. Although there are notable discrepancies between model and observations, the fidelity is sufficient to encourage use of the model for simulations of future climate change. By using a fixed well-documented model and accurately defining the 1880-2003 forcings, we aim to provide a benchmark against which the effect of improvements in the model, climate forcings, and observations can be tested. Principal model deficiencies include unrealistically weak tropical El Nino-like variability and a poor distribution of sea ice, with too much sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere and too little in the Southern Hemisphere. The greatest uncertainties in the forcings are the temporal and spatial variations of anthropogenic aerosols and their indirect effects on clouds.Comment: 44 pages; 19 figures; Final text accepted by Climate Dynamic

Reduction of self-quenching effect in organic electrophosphorescence emitting devices via the use of sterically hindered spacers in phosphorescence molecules

The reduction of self-quenching effect by introduction of sterically hindered spacers in phosphorescence molecules was analyzed for a electrophosphorescence emitting device. The iridium complex of tris-ortho-cycloetalated compound exhibits a strong green phosphorescence emission with a photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield of 0.71 in solutions and a short lifetime in solids. Self-quenching is reduced significantly due to sterically hindered pinene spacers which provides minimum bimolecular interaction.link_to_subscribed_fulltex

Modeling East Asian Dust and Its RadiativeFeedbacks in CAM4-BAM

East Asian dust and its radiative feedbacks are analyzed by the use of the fourth version of the Community Atmosphere Model (CAM4) with a bulk aerosol model parameterization (BAM) for the dust size distribution (CAM4‐BAM). Two numerical experiments are conducted and intercompared: one with (Active) and one without (Passive) the radiative effects of dust aerosols. This CAM4‐BAM captures the main spatial distribution of the dust aerosol optical depth (AOD) and the dust surface concentrations over East Asia, with positive correlations with the local observational data on annual and seasonal means. A comparative analysis of the Active and Passive experiments reveals that consideration of the dust‐radiation interaction can significantly reduce dust emissions, loading, transport, and dry and wet depositions over East Asia, which is opposite to the enhanced dust cycle over North Africa. Further analysis of the contrasting dust‐radiation feedbacks between North Africa and East Asia shows that over North Africa, the dust radiative forcing significantly increases the surface temperature and 10&nbsp;m wind speed, whereas it decreases the surface temperature and the surface wind speeds over East Asia. These contrasting radiative effects, in turn, result in distinct dust cycle changes over these two regions. Mechanistic analysis reveals that the radiative contrasts between East Asia and North Africa are mainly due to the differences in their regional surface albedo, dust vertical distribution, and size distribution

Abstract 4641: Cumulative body burdens of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons associate with estrogen bioactivation in pregnant women: Protein adducts as biomarker of exposure

Abstract The objective of this research was to develop a biochemical assay to simultaneously analyze protein adducts of quinonoid metabolites of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and endogenous estrogen in pregnant women in Taiwan and to explore the correlations among them. The methodology, which employs trifluoroacetic acid anhydride (TFAA) and methanesulfonic acid (MSA) to selectively cleave cysteinyl adducts, had previously been applied to measure benzene and naphthalene adducts in albumin (Alb). In this study, we refined the assay to allow measurements of both naphthoquinone- and estrogen quinone-derived adducts in serum albumin derived from pregnant women in Taiwan. The isomeric forms of cysteinyl adducts of naphthoquinones, including 1,2-naphthoquinone (1,2-NPQ) and 1,4-naphthoquinone (1,4-NPQ) as well as estrogen quinones, including estrogen-2,3-quinones (E2-2,3-Q) and estrogen-3,4-quinones (E2-3,4-Q), are characterized by using isotopically-labelled bound internal standards after adducts cleavage by the TFAA/MSA derivatization procedure. We applied this method to analyze the background levels of cysteinyl adducts of naphthalene- and estrogen-derived quinones on human serum albumin(Alb)derived from healthy pregnant women (n=40) and their respective umbilical cords (n=40). Results showed that the background levels of cysteinyl adducts of 1,2-NPQ and 1,4-NPQ on human serum albumin were at levels ranging from 89-941 and 33-615 pmol/g, respectively. Logged levels of 1,2-NPQ-Alb were correlated with logged levels of 1,4-NPQ-Alb (correlation coefficient r=0.500, p&amp;lt;0.001). In addition, cysteinyl adducts of E2-2,3-Q-1-S-Alb, E2-2,3-Q-4-S-Alb and E2-3,4-Q-2-S-Alb were detected in most of the subjects with median levels at 325, 457, and 592 pmol/g, respectively. We also found a significantly positive relationship between logged levels of E2-2,3-Q-4-S-Alb and those of E2-3,4-Q-2-S-Alb (r = 0.537, p&amp;lt;0.001). We noticed that logged levels of 1,2-NPQ-Alb are positively and significantly associated with increasing logged levels of E2-3,4-Q-2-S-Alb (r = 0.539, p&amp;lt;0.001). This evidence suggests that environmental exposure to PAHs may enhance the production of reactive quinone species of endogenous estrogen in human. Overall, we conclude that the methodology developed in this study may be applied to epidemiological study to serve as biomarkers of environmental exposure to PAHs and other modulators of estrogen homeostasis. (This work was supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan, through grant NSC99-2314-B-005-001-MY3) Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 102nd Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2011 Apr 2-6; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2011;71(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 4641. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2011-4641</jats:p

Cumulative body burdens of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons associated with estrogen bioactivation in pregnant women: Protein adducts as biomarkers of exposure

The objective of this research was to simultaneously analyze protein adducts of quinonoid metabolites of naphthalene and endogenous estrogen in serum albumin (Alb) derived from healthy pregnant women in Taiwan and to explore the correlations among them. The isomeric forms of cysteinyl adducts of naphthoquinones, including 1,2-naphthoquinone (1,2-NPQ) and 1,4-naphthoquinone (1,4-NPQ) as well as estrogen quinones, including estrogen-2,3-quinones (E2-2,3-Q) and estrogen-3,4-quinones (E2-3,4-Q), are characterized after adduct cleavage. Results showed that the median levels of cysteinyl adducts of 1,2-NPQ and 1,4-NPQ on serum albumin were 249-390 and 16.0-24.8 pmol g(-1), respectively. Logged levels of 1,2-NPQ-Alb were correlated with logged levels of 1,4-NPQ-Alb (correlation coefficient r = 0.551, P < 0.001). Cysteinyl adducts of E2-2,3-Q-1-S-Alb, E2-2,3-Q-4-S-Alb, and E2-3,4-Q-2-S-Alb were detected in all subjects with median levels at 275-435, 162-288, and 197-254 pmol g(-1), respectively. We also found a positive relationship between logged levels of E2-2,3-Q-4-S-Alb and those of E2-3,4-Q-2-S-Alb (r = 0.770, P < 0.001).We noticed that median levels of E2-2,3-Q-derived adducts (E2-2,3-Q-1-S-Alb plus E2-2,3-Q-4-S-Alb) in pregnant women were greater than those of E2-3,4-Q-2-S-Alb (∼2-3-fold). Taken together, this evidence lends further support to the theme that cumulative concentration of E2-3,4-Q is a significant predictor of the risk of breast cancer. Furthermore, we noticed that levels of 1,2-NPQ-Alb are positively associated with levels of E2-3,4-Q-2-S-Alb (r = 0.522, P < 0.001) and those of E2-2,3-Q-4-S-Alb (r = 0.484, P < 0.001). Overall, this evidence suggests that environmental exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons may modulate estrogen homeostasis and enhance the production of reactive quinone species of endogenous estrogen in humans