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Au-Yeung, Ching. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2010. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 108-126). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / ABSTRACT --- p.II / DEDICATION --- p.IV / ACKNOWLEDGMENTS --- p.IV / Chapter 1 --- INTRODUCTION TO KELOID SCARRING - THE PATHOGENESIS AND TREATMENT --- p.3 / Chapter 1.1 --- The Pathogenesis of Keloid Scarring --- p.3 / Chapter 1.2 --- The Impact of Keloid Scarring --- p.6 / Chapter 1.3 --- The Treatment of Keloid Scarring --- p.7 / Chapter 1.4 --- Summary --- p.12 / Chapter 1.5 --- Aim of the study --- p.14 / Chapter 2 --- APOPTOSIS AND KELOID PATHOLOGY --- p.15 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.15 / Chapter 2.2 --- Material and methods --- p.25 / Chapter 2.3 --- Results --- p.34 / Chapter 2.4 --- Discussions --- p.41 / Chapter 2.5 --- Summary --- p.64 / Chapter 2.6 --- Conclusions --- p.66 / Chapter 2.7 --- Further research plans --- p.67 / Chapter 3 --- LASER INTERACTION IN KELOID SCARRING --- p.68 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.68 / Chapter 3.2 --- Material and method --- p.86 / Chapter 3.3 --- Results --- p.89 / Chapter 3.4 --- Discussions --- p.94 / Chapter 3.5 --- Summary and conclusion --- p.102 / Chapter 3.6 --- Further research plans --- p.105 / Chapter 4 --- CONCLUSIONS --- p.106 / REFERENCES --- p.108

Thesis (M.Tech-:Chiropractic)-Dept. of Chiropractic, Durban Institute of Technology, 2005 xv, 121 leaves ; ill. ; 30 cm / According to research, continuing symptoms of pain, instability, crepitus, weakness, stiffness (Pellow and Brantingham, 2001) and swelling (Patel and Warren, 1999:332) commonly follow an acute ankle sprain. The cause of these symptoms is often attributed to the development of a tight sensitive scar (Reid, 1992:251) within the injured ligament. The treatment options available include scar tissue debridement (Bassewitz and Shapiro, 1997), manipulation (Edmond, 1993:164), mobilization, (Hockenbury and Sammarco, 2001) and ultrasound (Thomson, Skinner & Piercy, 1991:43-44). Transverse friction massage could also be used to reduce adhesions (Kessler, 1990:85) and improve mobility of the tissues (Kessler, 1990:140). The Graston Technique Instrument Assisted Soft Tissue Mobilization (GTIASTM) comprises a set of stainless steel instruments (Carey 2003:2) designed to detect and reduce scar tissue and adhesions (Carey 2003:7) by bringing about an area of controlled microtrauma (Hammer, 2003(b):1) and inflammation (Carey 2003:32) through a mechanism similar to that of friction massage.

Pseudocercospora is currently separated from Cercospora largely on the basis of its unthickened scars. The principal aim of this study was to test the validity of this criterion by studying the ultrastructural characteristics of scars of cercosporoid fungi growing on Australian native plants. Transmission electron microscope studies demonstrated considerable variation in scar morphology among species of Pseudocercospora. Scars varied from substantially thickened (as in P. loranthi) to unthickened (as in P. correae), with intermediate types. The external deposit can be too thin to be usually visible under the light microscope, as in Pseudocercospora clematidis, P. hardenbergiae and the Pseudocercospora on Eucalyptus macrorhyncha. The description of Pseudocercospora needs to be modified to permit the inclusion of species with external scar thickening. Wall involvement in conidiophore and conidium ontogeny were also studied at the ultrastructural level for species of Pseudocercospora and Verrucisporota. Conidiophores were generally holoblastic, but enteroblastic ontogeny was observed in several conidiophores of P. correae and P. platylobii. Conidia were always holoblastic, and secession was schizolytic. Proliferation of the conidiogenous cell was variously enteroblastic sympodial, pseudopercurrent or holoblastic sympodial.

Orientador: Paulo Eduardo Neves Ferreira Velho / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-10T23:55:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Herreros_FernandaOliveiraCamargo_D.pdf: 4370286 bytes, checksum: 0e6f9cf2e309de5fa2e57c9c899541ac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: A intradermoterapia é um processo terapêutico com poucas publicações científicas em revistas indexadas. Em 2005, um estudo duplo-cego randomizado demonstrou os benefícios proporcionados para a pele, cabelos e unhas de mulheres com fotoenvelhecimento pelo consumo de um suplemento oral de silanol. Frente a esses dados, realizou-se um estudo com o objetivo de comparar as alterações histológicas entre a pele humana que recebeu injeção intradérmica de silanol e as encontradas na pele em que foi injetado soro fisiológico. Dez mulheres caucasianas, sadias, com grau moderado de fotoenvelhecimento, voluntariamente receberam dez sessões semanais de injeções com salicilato de silanol 0,1% no antebraço esquerdo, e injeções de soro fisiológico no antebraço direito. No momento da biópsia, duas semanas depois, três pacientes recusaram-se a realizar o procedimento. Os achados histológicos nas áreas injetadas com silanol e com soro fisiológico, encontrados em biópsias, foram avaliados e comparados por um pesquisador de forma cega e as fibras colágenas e elásticas de cada lado foram quantificadas. A análise da textura da derme foi feita a partir das imagens microscópicas digitalizadas, por meio da dimensão fractal de Sarkar e do cálculo das amplitudes (valores de inércia), após a transformada rápida de Fourier. A área injetada com silanol revelou um aumento estatisticamente significativo da densidade de fibras colágenas e elásticas. A análise de textura revelou uma distribuição mais compacta e mais homogênea das fibras de colágeno. O resultado desse estudo sugere que a aplicação de um silício orgânico pode estimular a síntese das fibras elásticas e colágenas, levando a um remodelamento da estrutura da derme, o que pode explicar a melhora da aparência da pele, observada em estudos clínicos. Com base nestes resultados, relatou-se o caso de uma paciente com cicatrizes atróficas resultantes de micobacteriose atípica tratada com doxiciclina por seis meses. A paciente havia se submetido à hidrolipoclasia por ultra-som e a infecção desenvolveu-se nos locais do procedimento. Esta complicação ainda não havia sido descrita na literatura médica associada a tal procedimento. As cicatrizes foram submetidas a cinco sessões de intradermoterapia com salicilato de silanol, apresentando melhora parcial da aparência / Abstract: Mesotherapy is a technique that lacks scientifical clinical trials. In 2005, a controlled double-blind study in patients with photo-aged facial skin demonstrated the beneficial role of oral intake of silanol for skin, hair and nails. Facing it, a study was developed to compare histological alterations in human skin that received intradermal injections of silanol. Ten healthy female caucasian volunteers with a moderate degree of photoaged skin received ten sessions of weekly injections of 0.1% salicylate silanol in the left ventral lateral forearm and physiological solution injections on the right forearm. At biopsy time, three patients denied to receive this procedure. The histological features of punch biopsies of the treated area and the nontreated contralateral arm were compared and the collagen and elastic fibers were quantified by a blind physician. Texture analysis was performed on digitalized microscopic images by analyzing the Sarkar fractal dimension and amplitudes (inertia values) after Fast Fourier transformation. The treated area revealed a statistically significant increase of the density of both collagen and elastic fibers. Texture analysis showed more compact and homogenously distributed collagen fibers after silicon injection. This result suggests that the application of silicon may stimulate the production of collagen and elastic fibers leading to remodeling of the dermal fiber architecture, which may explain the improvement of the skin surface observed in clinical studies. Also, a case report illustrates a mycobacteria infection following an ultrasound hydrolipoclasia procedure, complication not previously reported in medical literature. After the antibiotic treatment, the patient developed atrophic scars, that received five sessions of mesotherapy with silanol, with some improvement in scar appearance / Doutorado / Clinica Medica / Doutor em Clínica Médica

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The Florida manatee (Trichechus manatus latirostris) is native to Florida and the Indian River Lagoon. Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute (HBOI) is located in Indian River Lagoon and is frequently visited by manatees. The Manatee Project was created in 2009 to document and photograph the manatees visiting HBOI. Analyzing photographs of 146 manatee that visited HBOI showed that a majority of the injuries sustained were caused by boats. 97% of the manatee had at least one propeller injury and 31% of the manatee had at least one skeg injury. Other non-boat related injuries seen in the images included cold stress and entanglement injuries. This study looked at the prevalence of scar by anatomical region, the cause of injury, and compared injury locations between male and female manatees. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.S.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2018. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

A high percentage of unrecognized myocardial infarctions (UMIs) seen at delayed-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DE-MRI) are not detected by ECG. DE-MRI-detected UMIs are independent predictors of cardiovascular events in patients with coronary artery disease. In an elderly population, subjects with DE-MRI-detected UMIs do not have increased Framingham risk score or increased prevalence of artery stenosis in whole-body MR angiography as patients with recognized myocardial infarctions (RMI). Further investigation on the pathogenesis of DE-MRI-detected UMIs focus on the need to decide the management of these subjects. From the Prospective Investigation of the Vasculature in Uppsala Seniors, 248 subjects underwent cardiac MRI at age 70 and from these, 185 underwent a 5-year follow-up MR. DE-MRI-detected UMIs had lower signal intensity than RMIs probably reflecting different composition of their tissues. Subjects with UMI scar had increased levels of NT-proBNP, a predictor of increased risk of cardiovascular events. After 5 years, UMI scars were in their majority seen on the same location and with the same size, and their prevalence increased. Subjects with an UMI did not differ from subjects without a scar in terms of coronary stenosis assessed by computed tomography angiography or signs of ischemia on exercise test. In conclusion, DE-MRI-detected UMI scars are a frequent finding in an elderly population and its prevalence increases with age. The increased levels of NT-proBNP indicate that subjects with an UMI might have an increased rate of future cardiovascular events but the findings that these scars might have a different contrast distribution volume on MRI and that they are not related to CAD are indicators that they probably have a different etiology from RMIs. The prognosis of DE-MRI detected UMI scars in the general population is still unknown and therefore the clinical management of these individuals is yet to be defined.

In the past few decades, wildfires have increased in size and severity in the Southwest and across the western US. These recent trends in fire behavior are a drastic change in arid, ponderosa pine and mixed conifer forests of the Southwest compared with tree-ring records of fire history for the past ~ 400 years. This study presents a late Holocene record (~ 3,000 years) of fire history and related changes in fire regimes with climate variability over annual to multi-decadal time scales. Tree-ring and alluvial-sediment sampling sites were paired in four small, tributary basins located in the western San Juan Mountains of Colorado. In our study sites, tree-ring records show that fire return intervals were longer and fire behavior was more severe on the north-facing slopes with relatively dense mixed conifer stands. Increased fire barriers and steep topography decreased the fire frequency and extent relative to gentle terrain elsewhere in the range and leading to a lack of synchrony among fire years in different parts of the study area. The alluvial-sediment record showed four peaks in high-severity fire activity over the past 3,000 years ranging between 200 - 400 years in length. The timing of peaks coincided with decadal-length drought episodes and were often preceded by multiple decades of above average winter precipitation. The sampling of alluvial-sediment and tree-ring data allowed for site-level comparisons between recent alluvial deposits and specific fire years interpreted from the tree-ring records. We found good correspondence between the type of fire-related sediment deposit (i.e. geomorphic response) in the alluvial record and the extent of mixed and high-severity fire estimated from the tree-ring record, and the correspondence was well-supported by the debris flow probability model results. The two paleofire data tend to represent particular components of the historical fire regime, with alluvial-sediments biased towards infrequent, high-severity events during recent millennia, and the tree-ring record biased toward lower severity fires during recent centuries. The combined analyses of different paleofire proxy types in the same study sites, therefore, can enhance and expand our understanding of fire and climate history beyond what is possible with either proxy alone.

Keloid scars (KS) are a type of abnormal scarring which is unique to humans. They extend beyond the confines of the original wound margins, do not regress over time and invade the surrounding unaffected skin. The mechanisms involved in the formation of KS remain largely unknown. Clinical observation has shown that in areas where increased tension occurs, such as the sternum, there is a greater propensity for developing KS. However, the precise relationship between skin tension and KS development is yet to be identified. In view of this, I hypothesize that skin tension plays a significant role in KS development by affecting tension-related biomarkers that may alter the phenotype of KS. Therefore, the objective of this research was to investigate the effect of skin tension in the formation of KS. To this end, the first aim was to identify possible targets among biomarkers that might contribute to the differentiation between KS and hypertrophic scars in tissue and cells obtained from diverse anatomical locations. The second aim was to investigate the effect of tension-related biomarkers on extracellular matrix (ECM) steady-state synthesis in keloid fibroblasts (KF) extracted from a highly tensioned body region (the sternum). The third aim was to develop a 3D in-vitro model to mimic in-vivo tension and to evaluate KF behaviour and ECM synthesis under tension. To achieve these aims 21 biomarkers were selected from published microarray and in-house microarray studies, the inclusion criteria was based on up-regulation of the genes in KS in relation to fibrosis, apoptosis and tension. For this purpose, samples from normal skin and KS were used to perform qRT-PCR screening in tissue and cells, as well as protein analysis by Western and In-cell Western blot. The siRNA knockdown technique was employed to evaluate the functional role of the tension-related markers in keloid fibroblasts. Finally, a photogrammetry technique was employed to evaluate skin tension in-vivo; the results from this evaluation were used in the development and design of a novel in-vitro 3D-model. The first biomarker screening in tissue showed convincing up-regulation of five tension-related targets (Hsp27, PAI-2 and α2β1-integrin, MMP-19 and CPRP). In addition, the expression of the above-mentioned targets was significantly higher in samples from the sternum compared to samples from other anatomical locations. To further validate these findings, the screening of the 21 biomarkers was assessed in KS and KF taken from the sternum. The results demonstrated over expression of 3 of the 5 tension-related targets (Hsp27, PAI-2 and α2β1-Integrin). It was also demonstrated that Hsp27, PAI-2 and α2β1-Integrin performed a functional role in terms of regulation of extracellular matrix production and deposition in KF when their expression was down-regulated by siRNA knockdown. Using the newly created 3D model, it was shown that mechanical tension significantly induced the expression of Hsp27, PAI-2 and α2β1-Integrin as well as ECM components such as Collagen I. Furthermore, the results showed that the knockdown of the expression of Hsp27, PAI-2 and α2β1-integrin in fibroblast populated collagen lattices subjected to tension influenced not only the ECM synthesis but also adhesion and spreading genes in keloid and normal fibroblasts. In summary, this research convincingly shows that skin tension alters keloid fibroblast behaviour, morphology, mechano-responsive gene expression and extracellular matrix production. The findings from my thesis offer insight into keloid pathobiology and provide options for targeted treatment of specific genes affected in keloids by biomechanical stress.