Osseointegrated finger prostheses using a tripod titanium mini-plate

BACKGROUND: Digital amputation is a common upper extremity injury and can cause significant impairment in hand function, as well as psychosocial stigma. Currently, the gold standard for the reconstruction of such injuries involves autologous reconstruction. However, when this or other autologous options are not available, prosthetic reconstruction can provide a functionally and aesthetically viable alternative. This study describes a novel technique, known as a tripod titanium mini-plate, for osseointegrated digit prostheses, and reviews the outcomes in a set of consecutive patients. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients who underwent 2-stage prosthetic reconstruction of digit amputations was performed. Demographic information, occupation, mechanism of injury, number of amputated fingers, and level of amputation were reviewed. Functional and aesthetic outcomes were assessed using the quick disabilities of the arm, shoulder, and hand (Q-DASH) scale and a visual analog scale (VAS) score, respectively. In addition, complications during the postoperative period were recorded. RESULTS: Seven patients were included in this study. Their average age was 29 years. Five patients had single-digit amputations and 2 patients had multiple-digit amputations. Functional and aesthetic outcomes were assessed using the Q-DASH score (average, 10.4) and VAS score (average, 9.1), respectively. One episode of mild cellulitis was seen at 24 months of follow-up. However, it was treated successfully with oral antibiotics. No other complications were reported. CONCLUSIONS: When autologous reconstruction is not suitable for digit reconstruction, prosthetic osseointegrated reconstruction can provide good aesthetic and functional results. However, larger series with longer-term follow-up are required in order to rule out the possibility of other complications

Early markers of angiogenesis and ischemia during bowel conduit neovascularization

Background Bowel flaps are a good and reliable method to restore the continuity of the aerodigestive tract. Radiated fields, contaminated recipient sites, or depleted recipient vessels may increase the risk for ischemic injury after transfer. During ischemic events, we believe that bowel conduits with serosa have a delayed neovascularization process at its new recipient site. We conducted an ischemia/reperfusion murine model to understand the difference among bowel conduits with and without serosa. Materials and Methods Two groups of rats were compared: control group (jejunal conduit with serosa) and a target group (jejunal conduit without serosa). These conduits were harvested from the peritoneal cavity and transferred into a subcutaneous pocket. After 72 hours of transfer and pedicle ligation, histological changes related to ischemia/reperfusion were assessed. In addition, tissue markers of angiogenesis (CD34), ischemia (lactate dehydrogenase [LDH]), and inflammation (interleukin [IL]-1β and IL-6) were analyzed. Results Two groups (n = 20) of male rats were analyzed. Histology showed intact jejunal mucosa in the target group. The control group showed decreased number of mucin, globet cells, decreased height, and fragmentation of villi with the absence of intestinal glands. Markers of angiogenesis (CD34) were higher in the target group. In addition, markers of ischemia (LDH) (p = 0.0045) and inflammation (IL-1b, p = 0.0008, and IL-6, p = 0.0008) were significantly lower in the target group as compared with the control group. Conclusions In circumstances in which the recipient site does not offer an adequate and healthy bed or a vascular insult occurs, bowel flaps with less amount of serosa may be able to neovascularize faster thereby increasing its chances of survival

Validación de una metodología analítica para la cuantificación de polifenoles totales, en procesos de extracción asistida por microondas sobre frutos de la especie colombiana Vaccinium meridionale

En este trabajo se muestra el desarrollo y la validación de un método analítico para la cuantificación de polifenoles totales con el reactivo de Folin-Ciocalteu (F–C),en procesos de extracción asistida por microondas (MAE), sobre frutos de la especie colombiana Vaccinium meridionale. Los resultados obtenidos en los parámetros selectividad, linealidad, repetibilidad y exactitud muestran que la metodología propuesta es confiable para evaluar el efecto de las condiciones de extracción sobre la cantidad de polifenoles removidos.The in vitro pharmacological model of P. falciparum culture is crucial in the initial screening for substances or plant extracts with possible antiplasmodial activity. The parasite density can be determined by varied methods, however have been described numerous advantages and disadvantages associated with each of them.The incubation time required for staining and the use of synchronous or asynchronous cultures were assessed for optimal settings; showing optimal time of 2 h, and lower limits of detection and quantification in asynchronous cultures. Employing the FCB2 and FCR3 strains, was evidenced a background noise of 12% and 38% respectively; linearity showed a good correlation, r2 of 0.9644 (FCR3) and 0.9841 (FCB2) and a slope of 1761.8 and 852.4, respectively. It was evidenced agreement between the methods, fluorometric with SYBR Green I (SYBRG I) and microscopic with Giemsa, the mean difference was 0.00002% and 0.09109% respectively for FCR3 and FCB2, The limits of detection and quantification were 0.5% and 1.5% of parasitaemia. The Z factor was 0.376 with FCB2, whereas with FCR3 reached 0.702. The inhibitory concentration 50 (IC50) against P. falciparum FCR3, generated by chloroquine (CQ), was 0.37 mcg/mL by microscopy and 0.35 mcg/mL by fluorometry.Our findings suggest that the SYBRG I fluorescence based assay, by using fluorometers commonly available in many laboratories, is precise, robust, fast and accurate; for the in vitro evaluation of substances or extracts with possible antiplasmodial activity

Determinación del tamaño de nanopartículas de óxido de zinc sintetizadas empleando la ecuación de Scherrer

The purpose of this study was to determine the size of zinc oxide nanoparticles (NPs-ZnO) synthesized by the chemical precipitation method from the precipitation reaction between zinc acetate and sodium hydroxide. Then, characterization was made by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The characterization results obtained by this instrumental method correspond to the zincite structure (ZnO) of the hexagonal system, whose crystalline structural data is registered in the ICDD file PDF 01-075-0576. The determination of the size of NPs-ZnO was performed using the Scherrer equation with data obtained from the diffraction data of the most important planes of the crystal structure of the synthesized nanoparticles. The size of the crystallites determined was approximately 21 nm. This method of determining the size of nanoparticles is not very exact, however, in laboratories that do not have electron microscopy equipment it is useful to obtain approximations of the size of the synthesized nanoparticles.La finalidad del presente estudio es determinar el tamaño de las nanopartículas de óxido de zinc (NPs-ZnO), sintetizadas por el método de la precipitación química a partir de la reacción de precipitación entre el acetato de zinc e hidróxido de sodio. Se realizó la respectiva caracterización por difracción de rayos X (DR-X), los resultados obtenidos por este método instrumental corresponden a la estructura zincita (ZnO) del sistema hexagonal, cuyos datos estructurales cristalinos se encuentran registrados en la ficha ICDD PDF 01-075-0576. La determinación del tamaño de NPs-ZnO se realizó empleando la ecuación de Scherrer con datos obtenidos de los registros de difracción de los planos más importantes de la estructura cristalina de las nanopartículas sintetizadas. El tamaño de los cristalitos determinados aproximadamente fue de 21 nm. Este método de determinación del tamaño de nanopartículas no es muy exacto, sin embargo, en laboratorios que no cuenten con equipos de microscopía electrónica resulta útil para obtener aproximaciones del tamaño de las nanopartículas sintetizadas

Impact of common cardio-metabolic risk factors on fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular disease in Latin America and the Caribbean: an individual-level pooled analysis of 31 cohort studies

Background: Estimates of the burden of cardio-metabolic risk factors in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) rely on relative risks (RRs) from non-LAC countries. Whether these RRs apply to LAC remains un- known. Methods: We pooled LAC cohorts. We estimated RRs per unit of exposure to body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), total cholesterol (TC) and non-HDL cholesterol on fatal (31 cohorts, n = 168,287) and non-fatal (13 cohorts, n = 27,554) cardiovascular diseases, adjusting for regression dilution bias. We used these RRs and national data on mean risk factor levels to estimate the number of cardiovascular deaths attributable to non-optimal levels of each risk factor. Results: Our RRs for SBP, FPG and TC were like those observed in cohorts conducted in high-income countries; however, for BMI, our RRs were consistently smaller in people below 75 years of age. Across risk factors, we observed smaller RRs among older ages. Non-optimal SBP was responsible for the largest number of attributable cardiovascular deaths ranging from 38 per 10 0,0 0 0 women and 54 men in Peru, to 261 (Dominica, women) and 282 (Guyana, men). For non-HDL cholesterol, the lowest attributable rate was for women in Peru (21) and men in Guatemala (25), and the largest in men (158) and women (142) from Guyana. Interpretation: RRs for BMI from studies conducted in high-income countries may overestimate disease burden metrics in LAC; conversely, RRs for SBP, FPG and TC from LAC cohorts are similar to those esti- mated from cohorts in high-income countries