A Study on Role of Flap Tacking in Post-Mastectomy Seroma Reduction in Carcinoma Breast

BACKGROUND: Seroma, is the most frequent post operative complication after breast cancer surgery/modified radical mastectomy (MRM), developing in approximately 30% of cases. The pathophysiology and mechanism of seroma formation in breast cancer surgery remains controversial and not fully understood, as little attention has been paid in the literature to etiologic factors. AIMS & OBJECTIVES: 1. To know and assess the effect of flap tacking in modified radical mastectomy patients of carcinoma breast 2. To compare the role of flap tacking and with that of standard wound closure in reducing postmastectomy seroma METHODS: Patients with breast cancer undergoing Modified Radical Mastectomy were included in the study. The proportions were compared using unpaired t test was used to determine the statistical difference. The data was analyzed using SPSS package. RESULTS: 52 patients were enrolled in this study and in this 24 patients underwent conventional closure and 28 patients underwent flap tacking and the average day of drain removal was 8 days in patients of flap tacking and the quantity of seroma was less whereas the average day of drain removal was more in patients of conventional closure. CONCLUSION: The patients who underwent flap tacking was found to have significant seroma reduction than patients who underwent conventional closure. Thus the role of flap tacking in Modified Radical Mastectomy has reduced the seroma formation significantly and has led to reduced early removal of drains, instituition of 1st cycle of chemotherapy before discharge and thus reducing the stay in hospital. It has also led to reduced incidence of flap necrosis post operatively. However, further studies are needed to stratify whether flap tacking is solely responsible for the reduction in seroma

TOF-SIMS analysis of curcuminoids and curcumin crystals crystallized from their pure and impure solutions

TOF-SIMS can provide quantitative information on the composition of structurally similar impurities and their locations on the surface of crystals grown in impure solutions

In vitro anticancer activity of Sargassum sp. polysaccharides against MCF-7 cell lines

1267-1273Seaweed polysaccharides are compounds with promising chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic activities. In this study, polysaccharides isolated from Sargassum seaweeds were tested for their efficiency in cancer therapy. Polysaccharides were isolated, purified, and characterized using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR); and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometric (MALDI-MS). It was found that the polysaccharides from Sargassum sp. branches are sulfated galactose–fucose disaccharides and sulfated galactose monosaccharides attached to the main chain through (1–4) linkages. Further, the polysaccharides were tested for cytotoxicity and anticancer activity against human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7) using the Annexin-V/propidium iodide (PI) staining method

Nonclassical crystal growth and growth rate hysteresis observed during the growth of curcumin in impure solutions

During the growth of crystals in impure solution, impurities can pin the flow of the elementary steps and decrease the growth rate or even arrest the crystal growth. In this work, for the first time, we showed that curcumin crystals can grow in impure solution that contains two structurally similar impurities, following a non-classical crystallisation pathway that deviates from the pinning mechanism. We showed that, in a highly impure solution that contains 20 wt% of impurities, a high supersaturation can initiate the crystal growth via sympathetic nucleation that involves the formation of new growth surfaces on the seed crystals. These new surfaces formed on the seed crystals at the expense of higher supersaturation act like active growth surfaces and dictate the entire crystal growth kinetics especially at lower supersaturations. We showed that, if we can artificially create new surfaces that look like giant macrosteps at the micron scale on the crystal surface, then these macrosteps can not only speed-up the crystallisation rate but also control the rate of transfer of impurities into the bulk crystals

Thermal comfort properties of knitted fabrics produced from bamboo/polyester core-spun yarns

The influence of polyester content, twist and loop length on the comfort properties of single jersey knitted fabrics produced from 100% bamboo, 80:20 bamboo/polyester and 60:40 bamboo/polyester core-spun yarns has been studied. Comfort properties, such as air permeability, moisture vapour transmission, thermal conductivity and thermal resistance properties have been analyzed with three different twist levels and loop lengths. Box–Behnken, a three level three factorial design software, has been used to study the interactive effect of core-sheath ratio, twist and loop length on the comfort properties of single jersey knitted fabrics, response surface equations are derived and the design variables are optimized. It is found that the increase in bamboo content in the core yarns having high twist and loop length increases the moisture vapour transmission and thermal conductivity of the knitted fabrics. The air permeability and thermal resistance of the knitted fabrics are found to be higher as the polyester component is increased. High twist and loop length increase the thermal comfort properties of knitted fabrics

Dotted crystallisation: nucleation accelerated, regulated, and guided by carbon dots

Crystallisation from solution is an important process in pharmaceutical industries and is commonly used to purify active pharmaceutical ingredients. Crystallisation involves phase change and the mechanisms involved are random which makes the process stochastic. This creates a variation in the time required to reach a fixed percentage of yield from batch to batch. It is essential to regulate the batch crystallisation process and make it more predictable for industrial applications for the ease of process chain scheduling of upstream and downstream unit operations. In this work, we propose a new technique called dotted crystallisation, where carbon dots are used to dictate and regulate events associated with nucleation and crystallisation processes. Following the rules of two-step nucleation theory, the carbon dots intentionally added to a supersaturated solution of curcumin anchors the crystallising compound to form prenucleation clusters that evolve into stable nuclei. Using curcumin as a model compound, we showed that the nucleation of this compound in isopropanol can be regulated, and the nucleation rate can be improved via addition of small quantities of carbon dots to the supersaturated solution. Our results confirmed that the nucleation rate of curcumin by dotted crystallisation was roughly four times higher than the nucleation rate by conventional cooling crystallisation and produced smaller sized crystals with a narrow size distribution