BACKGROUND The patient and observer scar assessment scale (POSAS) recently emerged as a promising method, reflecting both observer's and patient's opinions in evaluating scar. This tool was shown to be consistent and reliable in burn scar assessment, but it has not been tested in the setting of skin graft scar in skin cancer patients. OBJECTIVE To evaluate facial skin graft scar applied to PO...

In this paper we investigate Q(n) = Q λ′,μ′ (n) = P ν c(nλ + λ;nμ+ μ, ν) as a function of n and show that Q(n) is bounded above if and only if λ/μ is a partition or rotated partition. Here c(λ;μ, ν) is the LittlewoodRichardson coefficient. So Q(n) counts the number of LR tableaux of shape (nλ + λ)/(nμ + μ) or the total number of irreducible characters in the skew character [(nλ+ λ)/(nμ + μ)]. W...

In the cross-bridge theory, contractile force is produced by cross-bridges that form between actin and myosin filaments. However, when a contracting muscle is stretched, its active force vastly exceeds the force that can be attributed to cross-bridges. This unexplained, enhanced force has been thought to originate in the giant protein titin, which becomes stiffer in actively compared with passi...

In this paper, we study a class of interconnection networks for multiprocessors, called the Stretched-G network, which is based on a base graph G by replacing each edge of the base network with an array of processors. Two interesting features of the proposed topology are its area-efficient VLSI layout and superior scalability over the underlying base network while preserving most of its desirab...

OBJECTIVES A growing number of studies suggest that the incomplete healing of the CS scar in the uterus increase the risk of uterine dehiscence or rupture during subsequent pregnancies. Thus, the factors that affect wound healing should be evaluated. We aimed to determine whether the morphology of the CS scar in non-pregnant women after one elective CS was affected by the site of the uterine in...

In 2014, about 26 million people were suffering from heart failure. Symptomatic heart failure is treated by cardiac resynchronization therapy. However, 30 % to 50 % do not clinically respond after the implantation of a biventricular pacemaker. To improve the success rate, the quantification of a patient’s scar burden is very important. Lategadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging is used ...

Hypertrophic scar is characterized by the overgrowth of fibroblasts and often considered as a kind of benign skin tumor, thus chemotherapeutic drugs have been used to treat scars. In view of the similarity, this study aims to investigate whether drug resistance in cancer that contributes to the failure of chemotherapy also exists in hypertrophic scar, and what is the possible mechanism. Fibrobl...

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) with late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) can provide unique data on the transmural extent of scar/viability. We assessed the prevalence of dysfunctional myocardium, including partial thickness scar, which could contribute to left ventricular contractile dysfunction in patients with heart failure and ischaemic heart disease who denied angina sympt...

OBJECTIVES To describe changes in Cesarean section (CS) scars longitudinally throughout pregnancy, and to relate initial scar measurements, demographic variables and obstetric variables to subsequent changes in scar features and to final pregnancy outcome. METHODS In this prospective observational study we used transvaginal sonography (TVS) to examine the CS scar of 320 consecutive pregnant w...

OBJECTIVE To determine if performing parathyroidectomy surgery through minimal access (MA) incisions has any notable aesthetic or quality-of-life impact on patients compared with conventional access (CON) techniques. DESIGN Paired cohort with (1) a prospective MA incision and scar cohort and (2) a sex- and age-matched (within 3 years) retrospective CON incision and scar cohort. SETTING Tert...