Intact skin provides a protective barrier between the body and its environment. The frequent application and removal of stoma appliances can damage skin by stripping away the epidermal layer. Hydrocolloid flanges in either a one- or two-piece appliance hold moisture in the mass and are therefore more skin friendly than older appliances with acrylic adhesives, making hydrocolloid the choice for ...

BACKGROUND Previous studies of epidermal kinetics in psoriasis have relied on invasive biopsy procedures or the use of radioactive labels. We previously developed a non-invasive method for measuring keratin synthesis in human skin using deuterated water labeling, serial collection of tape strips and measurement of deuterium enrichment in protein by mass spectrometry. This powerful method can be...

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES Prior studies have demonstrated that both the skin surface pH and epidermal permeability barrier function vary with skin pigmentation types. Although melanin deficiency is the main feature of vitiligo, alterations in cutaneous biophysical properties in vitiligo have not yet been well defined. In the present study, stratum corneum (SC) hydration, the skin surface pH and epi...

Whole brain segmentation, referred to as skull stripping, is an important technique in neuroimaging. Many applications, such as presurgical planning, cortical surface reconstruction and brain morphometry, depend on the ability to accurately segment brain from non-brain tissue, i.e. remove extra-cerebral tissue such as skull, sclera, orbital fat, skin, etc. However, despite the clear definition ...

Microalgae are able to convert nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) from wastewater into biomass and bio-products, thus improving the sustainability of wastewater treatment. In High Rate Algal Ponds (HRAP), biomass productivity and water treatment efficiency are highly dependent on environmental parameters such as temperature, light intensity and photoperiod. The influence of temperature and pho...

Abstract Leucine-rich α-2 glycoprotein (LRG), one of the acute phase proteins mainly produced by liver, similar to C-reactive protein, has been recognized as an inflammatory biomarker for rheumatoid arthritis and bowel diseases. We recently demonstrated that LRG was also increased in sera psoriasis patients correlated well with disease activity a sensitivity specificity much higher than protein...

Combined ATR-FTIR (attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy and tape-stripping experiments in vitro on porcine ear skin were used to investigate the spatial distribution of different surfactants in the stratum corneum (SC). To reveal a possible connection between the size of the formed micelles and skin penetration, dynamic light-scattering measurements of the aqueou...

Trans-follicular (TF) vaccination has recently been studied as a unique route for non-invasive transcutaneous vaccination. The present study aims to extensively characterize the immune responses triggered by TF vaccination using ovalbumin loaded chitosan-PLGA (poly lactic-co-glycolic acid) nanoparticles without skin pre-treatment to preserve skin integrity. The impact of formulation composition...