A comparative study between electrocautery and steel scalpel in making abdominal wall incision in caesarean section

Background: Electrocautery is commonly used in surgical practice. However, its use has been limited in skin due to the fear of tissue scarring, impaired wound healing and wound infection due to damaged tissue. To evaluate and compare the use of electrocautery and steel scalpel in making abdominal skin and deeper tissue incisions in caesarean section pfannenstiel incision with regard to operating time and postoperative wound complication rate.Methods: The study was a prospective randomized type conducted in the Department of Gynaecology, Government Hospital, Gandhi Nagar, Jammu. 120 patients undergoing caesarean section were divided into two groups, scalpel group in which skin and deeper tissue of abdominal wall were cut by scalpel and cautery group with electrocautery. Comparison was made between the two groups based on the above objectives.Results: In this study, we find that the operating time was less in electrocautery group and postoperative wound complications were comparable between two groups.Conclusions: The study demonstrates that electrocautery can be used as an alternative to steel scalpel for making abdominal skin incisions

Cancer informatics analysis indicates high CHAC2 associated with unfavorable prognosis in breast cancer

Breast cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer worldwide and exhibits a poor prognosis. The induction of genetic changes deregulates several genes that increase the disposal towards this life-threatening disease. CHAC2, a member of the glutathione degrading enzyme family has been shown to suppress gastric and colorectal cancer progression, however, the expression of CHAC2 in breast cancer has not been reported. We did an analysis of CHAC2 expression in breast cancer patients from various online tools like UALCAN, GEPIA2, GENT2, TIMER2, and bcGenExminer v4.8. Further, we used the Kaplan-Meier plotter to establish the significance of CHAC2 in BC patient survival and prognosis while TISIDB and TIMER databases were used to investigate the filtration of immune cells. The results showed that CHAC2 levels were high in breast cancer patients and elevated CHAC2 was associated with low overall survival. Taken together, the results of the present study show that like its paralog CHAC1, CHAC2 may also be an important biomarker and could have a potential therapeutic implication in breast cancer

Database analysis reveals endophilin A expression as a marker of metastasis and prognosis in breast cancer

Abstract Background Endophilin A, a family of Bin-Amphoterisin-Rvs (BAR) domain-conserved proteins, is found in several tissues and is associated with disease pathogenesis. In patients with breast cancer, endophilin A expression pertains to boosted tumour cell endocytosis, migration, and invadopodia formation, potentially linked to a poor prognosis. Methods This study aimed to determine the expression of endophilin A isoforms (SH3GL1, SH3GL2, and SH3GL3) in breast cancer using databases like UALCAN, GEPIA2, TIMER 2.0, geneMANIA, Enrichr, Km Plotter, and GENT2. Results We report the elevated expression of SH3GL1 in TNBC and HER2 subtypes of breast carcinoma, and that positively correlated with advancing stage as well as lymph node metastasis, compared to SH3GL2 and SH3GL3. Additionally, the study demonstrates that in contrast to SH3GL1 and SH3GL3, elevated SH3GL2 transcript levels were positively associated with improved Overall Survival (OS), Relapse Free Survival (RFS), and Distance Metastasis Free Survival (DMFS compared to low expression levels among the breast cancer patients. Further, we also show the associated immune filtration with each endophilin isoform and link the expression of endophilin A isoform with p53 expression. Conclusions Based on our findings, it is possible to conclude that endophilin A isoforms—long recognised for orchestrating endocytosis and metastatic behaviour—may represent a critical molecular fulcrum in breast cancer progression. In particular, elevated expression of endophilin A2 (SH3GL1) and SH3GL2 strongly correlates with poor prognosis and node-positive breast cancer, highlighting their potential as promising biomarkers for breast cancer assessment

Wild-type p53 suppresses formin-binding protein-17 (FBP17) to reduce invasion

Abstract Invading tumor cells develop membrane protruding structures called invadopodia to invade and metastasize. Previously, we have reported the role of formin-binding protein-17 (FBP17) in extracellular matrix degradation and invadopodia formation in breast cancer cells. Here, we report a novel axis between tumor-suppressor p53 and FBP17. We observed that cell lines with mutant p53 express FBP17 to a higher level. The expression of FBP17 was reduced upon stabilizing wild-type p53. Furthermore, the immunohistochemistry analysis of breast cancer tissue microarrays demonstrated the correlation between the accumulation of p53 and enhanced FBP17 staining in invasive ductal carcinomas. The double knockdown of p53 and FBP17 showed the contribution of FBP17 in the invasion of cancer cells where p53 lost the regulatory control over FBP17. Taken together, these studies indicate that FBP17 may be a marker to understand the invasion propensity of breast cancer.</jats:p

Clinicoepidemiological study of post burn contractures at a tertiary care centre in western India

Background: Burn injuries are one of the commonest form of trauma globally with long term consequences in the form of contractures. The management takes a troll of time, money and stress, despite that the agony remains with the patient only. We intended to study the clinicoepidemiopathological aspects of post burn contractures for a better understanding and management purpose.Methods: This study was conducted from October 2014 to February 2017 in a tertiary care hospital in western India and includes 51 patients.Results: In this study, we observed that the mean age of patients was 21.7 years and females formed 51% of the patient pool. Most of the patients came from a rural background with a mean distance of 77.72 kilometres from the treating hospital. Flame burns contributed to 78% of the cases, with hand (35.7%) being the most commonly involved area, 52.9% patients did not receive splinting or physiotherapy at the initial treatment of burns. Most cases were treated by split skin grafting (64.2%) and the most common complication seen in our study was infection, noted in 15.7% of cases whereas recurrence was seen in only one patient.Conclusions: We observed that young adults were the predominant group of patients with a slight female preponderance. Factors like increased distance from the treating hospital, rural background of patients, poor healthcare facilities with poor rehabilitative facilities and irregular follow up of patients contributed to increased incidence of post burn contractures. We also noted that majority cases can be treated by contracture release with split skin grafting without major complications.</jats:p

Comparative study of silver-sulfadiazine-impregnated collagen dressing versus conventional burn dressings in second-degree burns

Background: The advantages of biological skin dressings like collagen are well-known. It makes wound impermeable to bacteria and creates the most physiological interface between the wound surface and the environment. Silver-sulfadiazine-impregnated collagen (SIC) is a type 1 collagen impregnated with silver sulfadiazine (SSD)-loaded alginate microspheres to deliver SSD in a controlled fashion to manage infected burn wounds for an extended period of time with lesser dressing changes. Materials and Methods: In this study, we used SIC for the treatment of second-degree burn wounds in 25 patients and compared with similar burn wounds in 25 patients treated with conventional dressings. Results: For SIC-treated group, we observed improved wound healing in all the patients after 7 days except two patients who required skin grafting, and none of them had any serious complications. For conventionally treated group, improved wound healing was seen in 14 patients, whereas the rest of the patients required prolong dressing or skin grafting. All the patients who were treated with SIC were satisfied with healing of wound and pain relief. Conclusion: Second-degree burn wounds are well-treated with SIC in the form of good healing, control of infection, and reducing pain without any serious complications when compared with conventional dressing