Activation and/or recruitment of the host plasmin, a fibrinolytic enzyme also active on extracellular matrix components, is a common invasive strategy of bacterial pathogens. Yersinia pestis, the bubonic plague agent, expresses the multifunctional surface protease Pla, which activates plasmin and inactivates fibrinolysis inhibitors. Pla is encoded by the pPla plasmid. Following intradermal inoc...

Ectopic lymphoid tissues (ELT) can be found in multiple sclerosis (MS) and other organ-specific inflammatory conditions. Whether ELT in the meninges of central nervous system (CNS) autoimmune disease exhibit local germinal center (GC) activity remains unknown. In an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model of CNS autoimmunity, we found activation-induced cytidine deaminase, a GC-defining...

Prolyl hydroxylase enzymes (PHDs) sense cellular oxygen upstream of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) signaling, leading to HIF degradation in normoxic conditions. In this study, we demonstrate that adipose PHD2 inhibition plays a key role in the suppression of adipocyte lipolysis. Adipose Phd2 gene ablation in mice enhanced adiposity, with a parallel increase in adipose vascularization associated...

Tissue expansion has gained wide application in the reconstruction of scalp defects in adults and children. However, the main concern in the use of scalp expansion in the paediatric population has been the risk of skull deformation. This study shows the application of 40 expanders in 32 patients in different skull areas in the paediatric age group from 2 to 7 years. The effect of expansion on t...

Tissue expansion is a common surgical procedure to grow extra skin through controlled mechanical over-stretch. It creates skin that matches the color, texture, and thickness of the surrounding tissue, while minimizing scars and risk of rejection. Despite intense research in tissue expansion and skin growth, there is a clear knowledge gap between heuristic observation and mechanistic understandi...

OBJECTIVE In this work, the authors review recent data on the different methods and techniques of TE/implant-based reconstruction to determine the complication profiles and the advantages and disadvantages of the different techniques. This information will be valuable for surgeons performing breast reconstructions. MATERIALS AND METHODS A thorough literature review was conducted by the author...

MATERIALS AND METHODS The technique uses a breast expander following mastectomy, which is then filled regularly until the desired expansion is reached (Fig. 1); the expander is then deflated by approximately 100–150 cc of saline to allow the same or slightly greater amount of purified adipose tissue to be transferred to the mammary region; with an approximately 6-month interval in between sessi...

We aimed to evaluate a new technique for intraoral expansion of soft tissue with a self-inflatable expander in rabbits. We placed a self-inflatable soft tissue expander bilaterally in eight rabbits under the periosteum of the mandible through an extraoral approach. The expander was left to self-inflate for two weeks, after which the animals were killed and specimens collected for histological e...

MitoNEET is an outer mitochondrial membrane protein that, upon overexpression in white adipose tissue (WAT), exerts a positive impact on tissue expansion and whole-body lipid and carbohydrate homeostasis by altering mitochondrial matrix iron metabolism. Here we determine the key transcriptional events in subcutaneous WAT of mice in response to mitoNEET overexpression and a high-fat diet (HFD). ...

Artificial inflation of corpora cavernosa from the nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus) showed that the expansion of the tunica albuginea during erection increases both components of flexural stiffness: the second moment of area and Young's modulus of elasticity. Folded tissue and crimped collagen fibers in the tunica albuginea permit its expansion during erection. As the tunica albugin...