SUMMARY OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic performance of CT findings in differentiating causes of pneumatosis intestinalis (PI), including benign and life-threatening causes. METHODS: All CT reports containing the word “pneumatosis” were queried from June 1st, 2006 to May 31st, 2015. A total of 42 patients with PI were enrolled (mean age, 63.4 years; 23 males and 19 females) and divided into two groups on based on electronic medical records: a benign group (n=24) and a life-threatening group (n=18). Two radiologists reviewed CT images and evaluated CT findings including bowel distension, the pattern of bowel wall enhancement, bowel wall defect, portal venous gas (PVG), mesenteric venous gas (MVG), extraluminal free air, and ascites. RESULTS: CT findings including bowel distension, decreased bowel wall enhancement, PVG, and ascites were more commonly identified in the life-threatening group (all p<0.05). All cases with PVG were included in the life-threatening group (8/18 patients, 44.4%). Bowel wall defect, extraluminal free air, and mesenteric venous gas showed no statistical significance between both groups. CONCLUSION: PI and concurrent PVG, bowel distension, decreased bowel wall enhancement, or ascites were significantly associated with life-threatening causes and unfavorable prognosis. Thus, evaluating ancillary CT features when we encountered PI would help us characterize the causes of PI and determine the appropriate treatment option.
Skin wounds are continuously exposed to bacteria and can easily become infected. Infected wounds require antibiotic treatment, and infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria are an important public health problem. Antimicrobial peptides have broad-spectrum antibacterial activity, induce little or no drug resistance and may be suitable for treating skin infections caused by drug-resistant bacteria. We previously reported the design and function of myxinidin and myxinidin analogues. Here we showed that myxinidin2 and myxinidin3 exhibit antimicrobial and anti-biofilm activities against antibiotic-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa in high salt environments and in gelatin. Moreover, these peptides facilitated infected wound healing by decreasing inflammation through suppression of IL-6, IL-8, and TNF-α and regulation of downstream mediators such as STAT3, p38, JNK, and EGFR. In a mouse skin wound model infected with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, myxinidin2 and myxinidin3 eliminated the infection and enhanced wound healing. We therefore propose the use of these peptides for treating infected wounds and burns.
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Introduction: To compare pretreatment quantitative CT parameters between patients with well-controlled and those with poorly controlled bronchial asthma after treatment. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 785 patients with clinical diagnosis of bronchial asthma from January 2009 to April 2015. Of these, 43 patients underwent high-resolution CT and pulmonary function tests at initial diagnosis. According to the Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) 2015 guidelines, the patients were classified into two groups (well-controlled (GINA1), n = 18; poorly controlled (GINA2 and GINA3), n = 25). Quantitative measurements for airways (total cross-sectional area (TA), lumen area (LA), wall area (WA) and wall area percentage (WA%)), air trapping and emphysema were performed on initial pretreatment CT scans. We compared CT measurements for airways between well-controlled and poorly controlled groups and also compared those between ever-smokers and never-smokers. The significant quantitative CT parameters were evaluated with multiple regression analysis. Results: The TA and the WA demonstrated significantly higher values in the poorly controlled than in the well-controlled patient group (TA in RB1 and LB1, each P < 0.05; WA in RB1 and RB8, each P < 0.05). Quantitative parameters for air trapping and emphysema did not show significant differences between the two patient groups. On multiple regression analysis, the TA and the WA were statistically significant in comparison of two patient groups with an adjustment for age, sex, body mass index and smoking history (each P < 0.05). Significantly higher values of the WA and the WA% were revealed in the asthmatics with smoking history comparing to non-smokers (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Most of the quantitative CT measurements did not correlate significantly with clinical outcomes in patients with bronchial asthma. And, further research that supplements the limitations of this study is needed to support and validate the association between CT parameters and therapeutic response. This can be justified by the fact that a trend of higher values in airway measurements on initial pretreatment HRCT scan in the poorly controlled than in the well-controlled patient group.
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