not all values of literary texts should be sought for in their artistic aspects . there have been many lower-ranked literary texts that have shed light on numerous scientific, historical, social, and cultural issues. although poetic views are involved while raising such issues, it needs to be taken into account that not all poets have perceived the scientific principles of the topics tackled in...

recent studies have proposed that a decline in bacterial infections such as tuberculosis is a factor underlying the rising prevalence and severity of atopic disorder in developed countries. there are conflicting ideas about the inverse relationship between bcg (bacillus calmette-guerin) vaccination and asthma. stronger response to tuberculin test as an indicator of more potent th1 response is s...

BACKGROUND In animal cells, GTPase signaling pathways are thought to generate cellular protrusions by modulating the activity of downstream actin-regulatory proteins. Although the molecular events linking activation of a GTPase to the formation of an actin-based process with a characteristic morphology are incompletely understood, Rac-GTP is thought to promote the activation of SCAR/WAVE, where...

BACKGROUND A hypertrophic scar is a unique fibrotic disease that only exists in humans. Despite advances in burn care and rehabilitation, as well as progress in the management during these decades, the hypertrophic scar remains hard to cure following surgical methods and drugs for treatment. In this study, we are looking forward to finding the multitude of possible traumatic mechanisms and the ...

Special emphasis is placed on the clinical management of facial scarring because of the profound physical and psychological impact of facial burns. Noninvasive methods of facial scar management include pressure therapy, silicone, massage, and facial exercises. Early implementation of these scar management techniques after a burn injury is typically accepted as standard burn rehabilitation pract...

We present the case of a patient with severe postoperative scarring from surgical treatment for gastroschisis, with the intestine located immediately under the dermal scar. Although many patients are unsatisfied with the results of scar repair treatment, few reports exist regarding severe or difficult cases involving the surgical repair of postoperative scar contracture. We achieved an excellen...

AIMS During epicardial electroanatomical mapping (EAM), it is difficult to differentiate between fibrosis and fat, as both exhibit attenuated bipolar voltage (BV). The purpose of this study was to assess whether unipolar voltage (UV), BV, and electrogram characteristics (EC) can distinguish fibrosis from viable myocardium and fat during epicardial EAM for ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation i...

Twenty patients with failed back surgery syndrome were analyzed prospectively with MR imaging. In addition, 10 of these patients were analyzed with high-dose contrast-enhanced CT or gadopentetate dimeglumine-enhanced MR imaging. Imaging results were compared with surgical and pathologic findings in all cases. In the 10-patient subset, abnormal epidural soft-tissue specimens were also assessed w...

Excessive contraction of hypertrophic scar and subsequent contracture formation are a formidable problem after thermal injury. A comparison between fibroblasts from hypertrophic scar and normal skin was made with the use of fibroblast-populated collagen lattices as a measure of cellular generated contractile forces. Hypertrophic scar and normal skin fibroblasts were mixed with soluble tendon co...

BACKGROUND Breast reduction is one of the most commonly performed plastic surgery procedures. Many approaches to breast reduction have been described, including inverted-T and vertical scar techniques and various types of dermoglandular pedicle for the nipple. OBJECTIVE This study compares the outcomes of patients undergoing vertical scar medial pedicle versus inferior pedicle inverted-T scar...