In his beautiful book,Consilience:The Unity of Knowledge,the eminent biologist Edward O Wilson,advocates the need for integration and reconciliation across the sciences.He defines consilience as“literally a‘jumping ...In his beautiful book,Consilience:The Unity of Knowledge,the eminent biologist Edward O Wilson,advocates the need for integration and reconciliation across the sciences.He defines consilience as“literally a‘jumping together’of knowledge with a linking of facts…to create a common groundwork of explanation”.It is the premise of this paper that as much as basic biomedical research is in need of data generation using the latest available techniques–unifying available knowledge is just as critical.This involves the necessity to resolve contradictory findings,reduce silos,and acknowledge complexity.We take the cornea and the lens as case studies of our premise.Specifically,in this perspective,we discuss the conflicting and fragmented information on protein aggregation,oxidative damage,and fibrosis.These are fields of study that are integrally tied to anterior segment research.Our goal is to highlight the vital need for Wilson’s consilience and unity of knowledge which in turn should lead to enhanced rigor and reproducibility,and most importantly,to greater understanding and not simply knowing.展开更多
Regenerative medicine has brought about refreshing new thinking about age old problems. However, some problems remain mostly untouched and are not being addressed. A point in question is the track of scar tissue left ...Regenerative medicine has brought about refreshing new thinking about age old problems. However, some problems remain mostly untouched and are not being addressed. A point in question is the track of scar tissue left behind post-operatively, which reveals the surgeon’s line of invasive incision. This confers on the patient an adverse psychological reminder and burden for the rest of his/her life. Most patients cannot afford corrective plastic surgery to ameliorate this skin defect. This paper seeks to ask whether biomedical scientists could play a role in arriving at a more pleasing cosmetic result, using a simple cell culture procedure of isolating un-manipulated autologous primary epidermal and dermal cells from a small skin tissue segment in close proximity to the surgeon’s incision line.展开更多
Background： Poor healing wounds or postoperative infection after open-heart surgery are most commonly seen, especially in secondary surgery for heart diseases, with an incidence rate of 2.2% after a valve replacement...Background： Poor healing wounds or postoperative infection after open-heart surgery are most commonly seen, especially in secondary surgery for heart diseases, with an incidence rate of 2.2% after a valve replacement surgery. If not treated in time or the infection progresses, it can lead to sternal infection, even mediastinal and pericardial infection, causing a higher mortality rate. It becomes a really troublesome and complicated case when a poor healing occurs in midsternal incision after the heart valve surgery and a higher medical cost may be needed. Methods From January 2009 to February 2013, 162 patients who underwent heart valve surgery through midsternal incision approach and had a poor healing of wound were observed for prospective randomized controlled trial. The patients were randomly assigned to a vacuum sealing drainage group （n = 81） who received vacuum sealing drainage for healing of the wound or a control group （n = 81） who received traditional treating for the infected wound. Their therapeutic effects, healing time and treatment costs, etc were compared. Results Two patients from the vacuum sealing drainage group came back to hospital for repair due to dehiscence of the incision after discharge, and no patient died. Six patients from the control group came back to hospital for repair due to dehiscence of the incision after discharge, two came back to hospital for surgery due to chronic osteomyelitis, and one patient died two weeks later after surgery due to severe chest infection. Wound healing time for vacuum sealing drainage group was 14.6 ± 3.6 days, which was significantly shorter than that of the control group （21.2 ± 7.8 days, P 〈 0.05）, while the medical costs showed no significant difference between the two groups （P 〉 0.05）. Seventy-eight patients （96.29%） in the vacuum sealing drainage group showed a good healing of the wound and sternum after a six-month follow-up. Conclusion The use of vacuum sealing drainage technique in poor-healing wounds after heart valve surgery through midsternal incision approach could achieve good therapeutic efficacy, with shorter wound healing time and similar costs as traditional treatment.展开更多
文摘In his beautiful book,Consilience:The Unity of Knowledge,the eminent biologist Edward O Wilson,advocates the need for integration and reconciliation across the sciences.He defines consilience as“literally a‘jumping together’of knowledge with a linking of facts…to create a common groundwork of explanation”.It is the premise of this paper that as much as basic biomedical research is in need of data generation using the latest available techniques–unifying available knowledge is just as critical.This involves the necessity to resolve contradictory findings,reduce silos,and acknowledge complexity.We take the cornea and the lens as case studies of our premise.Specifically,in this perspective,we discuss the conflicting and fragmented information on protein aggregation,oxidative damage,and fibrosis.These are fields of study that are integrally tied to anterior segment research.Our goal is to highlight the vital need for Wilson’s consilience and unity of knowledge which in turn should lead to enhanced rigor and reproducibility,and most importantly,to greater understanding and not simply knowing.
文摘Regenerative medicine has brought about refreshing new thinking about age old problems. However, some problems remain mostly untouched and are not being addressed. A point in question is the track of scar tissue left behind post-operatively, which reveals the surgeon’s line of invasive incision. This confers on the patient an adverse psychological reminder and burden for the rest of his/her life. Most patients cannot afford corrective plastic surgery to ameliorate this skin defect. This paper seeks to ask whether biomedical scientists could play a role in arriving at a more pleasing cosmetic result, using a simple cell culture procedure of isolating un-manipulated autologous primary epidermal and dermal cells from a small skin tissue segment in close proximity to the surgeon’s incision line.
基金supported by Medical Scientific Research Foundation of Guangdong Province(No. B2013019)grants from Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Guangdong Province (No. 20121258 & No. 20132075)
文摘Background： Poor healing wounds or postoperative infection after open-heart surgery are most commonly seen, especially in secondary surgery for heart diseases, with an incidence rate of 2.2% after a valve replacement surgery. If not treated in time or the infection progresses, it can lead to sternal infection, even mediastinal and pericardial infection, causing a higher mortality rate. It becomes a really troublesome and complicated case when a poor healing occurs in midsternal incision after the heart valve surgery and a higher medical cost may be needed. Methods From January 2009 to February 2013, 162 patients who underwent heart valve surgery through midsternal incision approach and had a poor healing of wound were observed for prospective randomized controlled trial. The patients were randomly assigned to a vacuum sealing drainage group （n = 81） who received vacuum sealing drainage for healing of the wound or a control group （n = 81） who received traditional treating for the infected wound. Their therapeutic effects, healing time and treatment costs, etc were compared. Results Two patients from the vacuum sealing drainage group came back to hospital for repair due to dehiscence of the incision after discharge, and no patient died. Six patients from the control group came back to hospital for repair due to dehiscence of the incision after discharge, two came back to hospital for surgery due to chronic osteomyelitis, and one patient died two weeks later after surgery due to severe chest infection. Wound healing time for vacuum sealing drainage group was 14.6 ± 3.6 days, which was significantly shorter than that of the control group （21.2 ± 7.8 days, P 〈 0.05）, while the medical costs showed no significant difference between the two groups （P 〉 0.05）. Seventy-eight patients （96.29%） in the vacuum sealing drainage group showed a good healing of the wound and sternum after a six-month follow-up. Conclusion The use of vacuum sealing drainage technique in poor-healing wounds after heart valve surgery through midsternal incision approach could achieve good therapeutic efficacy, with shorter wound healing time and similar costs as traditional treatment.
