Autologous Fat Grafting Reduces Pain in Irradiated Breast: A Review of Our Experience

Introduction. Pain syndromes affect women after conservative and radical breast oncological procedures. Radiation therapy influences their development. We report autologous fat grafting therapeutical role in treating chronic pain in irradiated patients. Materials and Methods. From February 2006 to November 2014, we collect a total of 209 patients who meet the definition of "Postmastectomy Pain Syndrome" (PMPS) and had undergone mastectomy with axillary dissection (113 patients) or quadrantectomy (96 patients). Both procedures were followed by radiotherapy. We performed fat grafting following Coleman's procedure. Mean amount of adipose tissue injected was 52\u2009cc (\ub18.9\u2009cc) per breast. Seventy-eight in 209 patients were not treated surgically and were considered as control group. Data were gathered through preoperative and postoperative VAS questionnaires; analgesic drug intake was recorded. Results. The follow-up was at 12 months (range 11.7-13.5 months). In 120 treated patients we detected pain decrease (mean \ub1 SD point reduction, 3.19 \ub1 2.86). Forty-eight in 59 patients stopped their analgesic drug therapy. Controls reported a mean \ub1 SD decrease of pain of 1.14 \ub1 2.72. Results showed that pain decreased significantly in patients treated (p < 0.005, Wilcoxon rank-sum test). Conclusion. Our 8-year experience confirms fat grafting effectiveness in decreasing neuropathic pain

Self-Referential Noise and the Synthesis of Three-Dimensional Space

Generalising results from Godel and Chaitin in mathematics suggests that self-referential systems contain intrinsic randomness. We argue that this is relevant to modelling the universe and show how three-dimensional space may arise from a non-geometric order-disorder model driven by self-referential noise.Comment: Figure labels correcte

Psychological Safety: A Meta‐Analytic Review and Extension

Although psychological safety research has flourished in recent years, and despite the empirical support for the important role of psychological safety in the workplace, several critical questions remain. In order to address these questions, we aggregate theoretical and empirical works, and draw on 136 independent samples representing over 22,000 individuals and nearly 5,000 groups, to conduct a comprehensivemeta-analysis on the antecedents and outcomes of psychological safety. We not only present the nomological network of psychological safety but also extend this research in 4 important ways. First, we compare effect sizes to determine the relative effectiveness of antecedents to psychological safety. Second, we examine the extent to which psychological safety influences both task performance and organizational citizenship behaviors over and beyond related concepts such as positive leader relations and work engagement. Third, we examine whether research design characteristics and national culture alter validities within the nomological network, thus promoting a more accurate and contextualized understanding of psychological safety. Finally, we test the homology assumption by comparing the effect sizes of the antecedents and outcomes of psychological safety across individual and group levels of analysis. We conclude with a discussion of the areas in need of future examination

Human adipose-derived stromal cells transplantation prolongs reproductive lifespan on mouse models of mild and severe premature ovarian insufficiency

Background Although recent studies have investigated the ability of Mesenchymal Stromal Cells (MSCs) to alleviate short-term ovarian damage in animal models of chemotherapy-induced Premature Ovarian Insufficiency (POI), no data are available on reproductive lifespan recovery, especially in a severe POI condition. For this reason, we investigated the potential of MSCs isolated from human adipose tissue (hASCs), since they are easy to harvest and abundant, in ameliorating the length and performance of reproductive life in both mild and severe chemotherapy-induced murine POI models. Methods Mild and severe POI models were established by intraperitoneally administering a light (12 mg/kg busulfan + 120 mg/kg cyclophosphamide) or heavy (30 mg/kg busulfan + 120 mg/kg cyclophosphamide) dose of chemotherapy, respectively, in CD1 mice. In both cases, a week later, 1 × 106 hASCs were transplanted systemically through the tail vein. After four additional weeks, some females were sacrificed to collect ovaries for morphological evaluation. H&amp;E staining was performed to assess stroma alteration and to count follicle numbers; immunofluorescence staining for αSMA was used to analyse vascularization. Of the remaining females, some were mated after superovulation to collect 2-cell embryos in order to evaluate their pre-implantation developmental capacity in vitro, while others were naturally mated to monitor litters and reproductive lifespan length. F1 litters’ weight, ovaries and reproductive lifespan were also analysed. Results hASC transplantation alleviated ovarian weight loss and size decrease and reduced alterations on ovarian stroma and vasculature, concurrently preventing the progressive follicle stockpile depletion caused by chemotherapy. These effects were associated with the preservation of the oocyte competence to develop into blastocyst in vitro and, more interestingly, with a significant decrease of chemotherapy-induced POI features, like shortness of reproductive lifespan, reduced number of litters and longer time to plug (the latter only presented in the severe POI model). Conclusion Human ASC transplantation was able to significantly reduce all the alterations induced by the chemotherapeutic treatment, while improving oocyte quality and prolonging reproductive functions, thus counteracting infertility. These results, strengthened by the use of an outbred model, support the potential applications of hASCs in women with POI, nowadays mainly induced by anticancer therapies

Thermal stability landscape for Klenow DNA polymerase as a function of pH and salt concentration

The thermal denaturation of Klenow DNA polymerase has been characterized over a wide variety of solution conditions to obtain a relative stability landscape for the protein. Measurements were conducted utilizing a miniaturized fluorescence assay that measures Tm based on the increase in the fluorescence of 1,8-anilinonaphthalene sulfonate (ANS) when the protein denatures. The melting temperature (Tm) for Klenow increases as the salt concentration is increased and as the pH is decreased. Klenow\u27s Tm spans a range of over 20 °C, from 40 to 62 °C, depending upon the solution conditions. The landscape reconciles and extends previously measured Tm values for Klenow. Salt effects on the stability of Klenow show strong cation dependence overlaid onto a more typical Hofmeister anion type dependence. Cationic stabilization of proteins has been far less frequently documented than anionic stabilization. The monovalent cations tested stabilize Klenow with the following hierarchy: NH4+ \u3e Na+ \u3e Li+ \u3e K+. Of the divalent cations tested: Mg+2 and Mn+2 significantly stabilize the protein, while Ni+2 dramatically destabilizes the protein. Stability measurements performed in combined Mg+2 plus Na+ salts suggest that the stabilizing effects of these monovalent and divalent cations are synergistic. The cationic stabilization of Klenow can be well explained by a model postulating dampening of repulsion within surface anionic patches on the protein. © 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Identification of histone modifications in biomedical text for supporting epigenomic research

Corinna K, Klinger R, Hofmann-Apitius M. Identification of Histone Modifications in Biomedical Text for Supporting Epigenomic Research. BMC Bioinformatics. 2009;10(Suppl 1):S28

Physical Origin of the Boson Peak Deduced from a Two-Order-Parameter Model of Liquid

We propose that the boson peak originates from the (quasi-) localized vibrational modes associated with long-lived locally favored structures, which are intrinsic to a liquid state and are randomly distributed in a sea of normal-liquid structures. This tells us that the number density of locally favored structures is an important physical factor determining the intensity of the boson peak. In our two-order-parameter model of the liquid-glass transition, the locally favored structures act as impurities disturbing crystallization and thus lead to vitrification. This naturally explains the dependence of the intensity of the boson peak on temperature, pressure, and fragility, and also the close correlation between the boson peak and the first sharp diffraction peak (or prepeak).Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, An error in the reference (Ref. 7) was correcte

Precision measurements of Linear Scattering Density using Muon Tomography

We demonstrate that muon tomography can be used to precisely measure the properties of various materials. The materials which have been considered have been extracted from an experimental blast furnace, including carbon (coke) and iron oxides, for which measurements of the linear scattering density relative to the mass density have been performed with an absolute precision of 10%. We report the procedures that are used in order to obtain such precision, and a discussion is presented to address the expected performance of the technique when applied to heavier materials. The results we obtain do not depend on the specific type of material considered and therefore they can be extended to any application.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure

Morphology and Orientation Selection of Non-Metallic Inclusions in Electrified Molten Metal

The effect of electric current on morphology and orientation selection of non-metallic inclusions in molten metal has been investigated using theoretical modelling and numerical calculation. Two geometric factors, namely the circularity (fc) and alignment ratio (fe) were introduced to describe the inclusions shape and configuration. Electric current free energy was calculated and the values were used to determine the thermodynamic preference between different microstructures. Electric current promotes the development of inclusion along the current direction by either expatiating directional growth or enhancing directional agglomeration. Reconfiguration of the inclusions to reduce the system electric resistance drives the phenomena. The morphology and orientation selection follows the routine to reduce electric free energy. The numerical results are in agreement with our experimental observations