BACKGROUND Hypertrophic scar following a burn is caused by the excessive deposit of collagen resulting in an exaggerated wound healing response. The burn patient complains of pain and itching over the scar, which can give rise to cosmetic and functional problems. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical and histological correlation of a hypertrophic burn scar for itchin...

BACKGROUND Hypertrophic scar is one of the most common complications and often causes the disfigurement or deformity in burn or trauma patients. Therapeutic methods on hypertrophic scar treatment have limitations due to the poor understanding of mechanisms of hypertrophic scar formation. To throw light on the molecular mechanism of hypertrophic scar formation will definitely improve the outcome...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Assess long-term patient satisfaction with conventional thyroidectomy scars and the impact of thyroidectomy scars on patient quality of life. STUDY DESIGN Validated survey administration and retrospective review of clinical and demographic data. METHODS Patients who underwent conventional thyroidectomy through years 2000 to 2010 were identified and administered the val...

OBJECTIVES To compare the scar outcome of video-assisted parathyroidectomy (VAP) with traditional bilateral cervical exploration (BCE) using previously validated scar assessment scales, and to examine the feasibility of introducing VAP into a general otolaryngology-head and neck practice. DESIGN A retrospective review of medical records from a prospectively obtained database of patients and l...

Under normal conditions, the Arp2/3 complex activator SCAR/WAVE controls actin polymerization in pseudopods, whereas Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome protein (WASP) assembles actin at clathrin-coated pits. We show that, unexpectedly, Dictyostelium discoideum SCAR knockouts could still spread, migrate, and chemotax using pseudopods driven by the Arp2/3 complex. In the absence of SCAR, some WASP relocate...

BACKGROUND The association of local electrogram features with scar morphology and distribution in nonischemic cardiomyopathy has not been investigated. We aimed to quantify the association of scar on late gadolinium-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance with local electrograms and ventricular tachycardia circuit sites in patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathy. METHODS AND RESULTS Fifteen pati...

Scar revision is one of the fundamental techniques in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery. Local flaps, such as a Z-plasty, W-plasty, or geometric broken-line closure, have been used for scar revision. Camouflaging a scar during scar revision for marginal scars from skin grafts and flaps, trapdoor scars, and linear scars is difficult. We describe our experience with the use of modif...

BACKGROUND Characterization of sudden cardiac death (SCD) risk remains a challenge in the application of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy. Late gadolinium enhancement cardiac MRI (LGE-CMR) can accurately identify myocardial scar. We performed a retrospective, single-center observational study to evaluate the association between the extent and distribution of left ventricular...

PURPOSE To identify the fetal stem cell (FSC) response to maternal renal injury with emphasis on renal integrity improvement and Y chromosome detection in damaged maternal kidney. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eight non-green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic Sprague- Dawley rats were mated with GFP-positive transgenic male rats. Renal damage was induced on the right kidney at gestational day 11. ...

Pericytes are interstitial mesenchymal cells found in many major organs. In the kidney, microvascular pericytes are defined anatomically as extensively branched, collagen-producing cells in close contact with endothelial cells. Although many molecular markers have been proposed, none of them can identify the pericytes with satisfactory specificity or sensitivity. The roles of microvascular peri...