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Background: Burns is a type of injury, caused by unintentional exposure to substances of high temperature, including hot liquid, solid, and objects radiating heat energy, placing a high burden not only on patients' families but also on national healthcare systems globally. It is difficult for policymakers and clinicians to formulate targeted management strategies for burns because data on current epidemiological patterns worldwide are lacking., Methods: Data on burns were obtained from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019 Study. The incidence, disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and deaths of burns in 204 countries and regions from 1990 to 2019 were calculated and stratified by sex, age, geographical location, and sociodemographic index (SDI). The estimated annual percentage change (EAPC) of incidence, DALYs, and deaths was calculated to evaluate the temporal trends. All analyses were performed using R software, version 4.1.1, with 2-sided P-values < .05 indicating a statistically significant difference., Results: A total of 8,378,122 new cases (95% UI, 6,531,887-10,363,109cases) of burns were identified globally in 2019, which is almost evenly split between men and women, and most of the new cases were concentrated in the 10-19-year age group. Besides, burns account for 111,292 deaths (95% UI, 132,392-88,188) globally in 2019, most of which were concentrated in those aged 1-4 years. The burden of burns measured in DALYs was 7,460,448.65 (95% UI, 5,794,505.89-9,478,717.81) in 2019, of which 67% and 33% could be attributed to YLLs and YLDs, respectively. The EAPC of incidence, DALYs, and deaths were negative, the age-standardized rate (ASR) of incidence, DALYs, and deaths were considered to be decreasing in most of the regions, and the EAPCs were negatively correlated with SDI levels, universal health coverage (UHC), and gross domestic product (GDP)., Conclusion: Globally, the age-standardized rates of burn incidence, DALYs, and mortality, as well as the number of burn DALYs and death cases will continuously decrease, but the number of new burn cases has an increasing tendency globally. In addition, the EAPCs of burns in incidence, DALYs, and deaths indicated that the burden of burns was considered to be decreasing in most of the regions. And from the relationship of EAPCs with SDI, UHC index, and GDP, indicate that prevention burns not only depend on health spending per capita but also depend on the education level per capita and healthcare system performance, but it does not mean higher health spending corresponds to higher UHC index, which needs high efficiency of translating health spending into individuals health gains., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Scar formation and chronic ulcers can develop following a skin injury. They are the result of the over- or underproduction of collagen. It is very important to evaluate the quality and quantity of the collagen that is produced during wound healing, especially with respect to its structure, as these factors are very important to a complicated outcome. However, there is no standard way to quantitatively analyse dermal collagen. As prior work characterised some potentially fractal properties of collagen, it was hypothesised that collagen structure could be evaluated with fractal dimension analysis. Small-angle X-ray scattering technology (SAXS) was used to evaluate the dermis of rats exposed to graft harvest, burn, and diabetic pathologic states. It was found that almost all collagen structures could be quantitatively measured with fractal dimension analysis. Further, there were significant differences in the three-dimensional (3-D) structure of normal collagen versus that measured in pathologic tissues. There was a significant difference in the 3-D structure of collagen at different stages of healing. The findings of this work suggest that fractal analysis is a good tool for wound healing analysis, and that quantitative collagen analysis is very useful for assessing the structure of dermal collagen., (© 2021 The Authors. International Wound Journal published by Medicalhelplines.com Inc (3M) and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Inflammation, initiated by polymorphonuclear neutrophil (PMNs) infiltration, is the first step in wound healing. The aim of this study is to investigate the function of neutrophils in a diabetes-impaired wound healing model and to explore the underlying mechanisms leading to neutrophil dysfunction. Superficial second-degree burns were created in the streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rat model, and the changes in the levels of advanced glycation end products (AGE), receptor of AGE (RAGE), inflammatory cytokines and oxidative markers, as well as cell apoptosis were determined. The effects of AGE on isolated PMNs were also determined in vitro. We found that deposition of AGE in diabetic rat skin activated the neutrophils before injury. However, the dense inflammatory band failed to form in the diabetic rats after injury. Compared with the controls, enhanced expression of RAGE and accelerated cell apoptosis were observed in the burned skin of diabetic rats. The altered expression pattern of inflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-8) and oxidative markers (glutathione peroxidase, myeloperoxidase, hydrogen peroxide, and malondialdehyde) between burned skin of diabetic and control rats revealed delayed neutrophil chemotaxis and respiratory burst. Furthermore, the results in vitro showed that exposure to AGE inhibited the viability of PMNs, promoted RAGE production and cell apoptosis, and prevented the migration of PMNs, consistent with the findings in vivo. Besides, AGE-treated neutrophils showed increased secretion of inflammatory cytokines and increased oxidative stress. Combined, our results suggest that an interaction between AGE and its receptors inhibits neutrophil viability and function in the diabetic rat burn model.

Objective: To observe the fibrosis of skin after damage to the fat dome structure in skin of pig., Methods: Totally 4 pieces of skin grafts of intermediate thickness in the size of 5 cm × 5 cm were obtained from both sides beside the spine of back in each of the 4 female red Duroc pigs with pedicle on one side with Humby knife performed by burn specialists, who were rich in clinical experience. These skin grafts were assigned as thin dermis group (TD). Pedicled tissue grafts in the size of 5 cm × 5 cm with the thickness of 1.5 mm were obtained within the wounds resulted from former incision with the same method mentioned above, and these tissue grafts were set as fat dome group (FD). The above-mentioned two groups of skin grafts were sutured back in situ immediately after completion of the former procedures. On post surgery day (PSD) 7, 14, and 21, 5 wounds were respectively selected according to the random number table for gross observation of the surgical areas. Tissue samples were obtained from corresponding surgical area deep to the deep fascia after gross observation at above-mentioned time points. Some of the tissue samples were used for observation of distribution of collagen fibers in the regions of operation of both groups of skin grafts with HE staining, and the breadth of fibrosis was measured; some of the tissue samples were used for observation of distribution of type I or III collagen fibers in the regions of incision of both two groups of skin grafts with Sirius red staining. Data were processed with two independent sample t test., Results: A little scab on the edge of wounds was observed on PSD 7; all the wounds were healed on PSD 14; a few hairs were observed growing in the surgical area on PSD 21. HE staining showed that traces of incision were observed in the superficial layer of dermis and at the junction between dermis and fat dome at each time point; profuse hyperplasia of collagen fibers with parallel and orderly arrangement were observed in the region of incision of skin grafts in groups TD and FD at each time point. The breadth of fibrosis of the region of incision of skin grafts was respectively (251 ± 31), (240 ± 3 7), and (342 ± 69) µm in group TD, (239 ± 36), (286 ± 61), and (332 ± 28) µm in group FD on PSD 7, 14, 21, without significantly statistical difference (with t values respectively 0.750, -1.971, and 0.375, P values above 0.05). Sirius red staining showed that large amount of type III collagen fibers and small amount of type I collagen fibers arranging parallelly were present in the region of incision of skin grafts in groups TD and FD at each time point., Conclusions: Under the circumstances of relatively intact restoration of dermal tissue, no excessive fibrosis was observed after simple incisional injury of fat dome in skin of pig.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of early tangential excision on the prevention of the progression of deep partial thickness burn wound., Methods: Twelve burn patients with deep partial thickness burn wound were enrolled and received tangential excision of the burn wound within 24 postburn hours (PBHs). The histological samples were harvested from the wound before and 5 - 7 postoperative days (PODs) after the operation and the wound without operation 5 - 7 postburn days (PBDs). The samples were observed by means of HE staining, Masson's staining and the labelling of Vimentin antigen positive cells by immunohistological skill., Results: The inflammatory reaction of the burn wound without operation aggravated progressively along with that of disease and the tissue necrosis area enlarged. And the residual skin appendages disappeared due to the enhanced inflammatory reaction. The brown area expanded and light green area shrinked by Masson's staining. The Vimentin antigen positive cell count decreased significantly. But in the burn wound being performed tangential excision within 24 PBHs, focal inflammatory reaction exhibited evident ligher than that in burn wound without operation. Moreover, there appeared fresh granulation formation and partial epithelial coverage with no enlarged necrotic tissue area in the operated wound when compared with that in non-operated wound (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the light green area exhibited no obvious shrinking by Masson's staining and the Vimentin antigen positive cell count was much more in the operation area than that in non-operative area (P < 0.05)., Conclusion: It might be beneficial to the host to perform tangential excision within 24 PBHs, which could remove burn wound necrotic tissue in time and hamper the progression of tissue degenerative injury. The healing process of deep partial thickness burn wound was therefore accelerated.

Objective: To evaluate the influence of necrotic tissue on progressive injury in deep partial thickness burn wounds., Methods: Tissue specimens were cultured both for estimation of IL-8, EGF, bFGF, PDGF-AB and histopathological examination, from the pre-operation, post-operation, and non-operation wounds from seven patients with deep partial thickness burn., Results: In seven specimens from the non-operation group, IL-8 release increased compared with those in the post-operation group (P < 0.001), while the levels of EGF, bFGF, PDGF-AB release were lower than those in the post-operation group. Histopathological examination revealed that in the non-operation group, the degree of neutrophil infiltration was enhanced, the extent of tissue necrosis enlarged, and residual skin appendages disappeared. In contrast, in the post-operation group, the degree of inflammatory response was decreased, with the formation of fresh granulation tissue and epithelialization., Conclusion: This study suggests that the presence of necrotic tissue could be the inhibitory factor in the wound healing process, as it might cause tissue progressive injury leading to the delay of wound healing. To promote wound healing, active tangential excision is recommended to remove necrotic tissue.

It is well known that collagen tissue, especially the collagen structure, plays an important role in wound healing. However, most research on collagen has been qualitative and morphological, based on sections, and cannot be used for real‐time monitoring and clinical prediction. There are no standardized methods of quantitative analysis based on the whole skin sample in three dimensions (3‐D). In order to explore a 3‐D quantitative analysis, we developed a method that was derived from that of material science and physics, combined with our previous technique, X‐ray scattering (SAXS). We hypothesized that the dermis might be analysed by fractal dimensions. To test this hypothesis, we performed the analysis in different pathological conditions, such as scar tissue, different time points after wounding, skin in different degrees of burns and skin in diabetes. The results showed that fractal dimension analysis could detect differences in different locations of the scar tissue, at different time points after wounding, and at a different extent of the severity of skin in diabetes. The research demonstrated that fractal dimension analysis can describe the 3‐D structure of the collagen tissue of the skin, which will be beneficial for studying wound healing and finding new clinical treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]