Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Major burns are likely to have a strong impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We investigated the level of and predictors for quality of life at 6 months after acute burn. ⋯ Self-perceived HRQoL among acute burn patients at 6 months after injury seems to be mostly as good as in general population studies in Finland. The high standard of acute treatment and the inclusion of small burns (%TBSA<5) in the cohort may partly explain the weak effect of burn itself on HRQoL. Mental disorders strongly predicted HRQoL at 6 months.
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Chemical burns account for a small proportion of total burns in children, but may require specific first aid and different modes of prevention. ⋯ Chemical burns remain infrequent but potentially preventable. These burns mainly occur in the domestic setting due to non-intentional exposure of household chemicals in children <10, and due to deliberate self-harm in children ≥10. The use of child-resistant packaging, similar to that used for medications, and improved parental practices could help decrease the incidence of burns in children <10.
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Aquaporins (AQP) are a family of transmembrane proteins that transport water and small solutes such as glycerol across cell membranes. It is a mediator of transcellular water flow and plays an important role in maintaining intra/extracellular fluid homeostasis by facilitating water transport in response to changing osmotic gradients. In the skin, AQPs permit rapid, regulated, and selective water permeability and have been demonstrated to play a role in skin hydration, cell proliferation, migration, immunity, and wound healing. However, the expression of AQP-3 in the cutaneous burn wound has never been elucidated. We sought to assess the expression of AQP-3 in patients with burn wounds. ⋯ AQP-3 expression is increased in the burn wound following injury. While its role in wound healing has been defined, we report for the first time the effect of cutaneous burns on AQP-3 expression. Our data provides the first step in determining its functional role in burn wounds. We hypothesize that development of AQP3 targeted therapies may improve burn wound healing.
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Infections caused by multidrug resistant bacteria act as a risk factor for mortality in burns patients. So keeping in view the crucial importance of reliable therapeutic decisions of multidrug resistance bacteria and role of hospital environment in bacteria colonization, our study is based on the evaluation of distribution of Pseudomonas sp. and Bacillus sp. in burn patients and burn ward environment. ⋯ The major finding of our study is the predominance of B. cereus followed by P. aeruginosa in burn patients of Pt. B.D. Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, Haryana. While considering the role of hospital environment, no direct role of environmental isolates was observed in transfer of bacterial infection.
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In Australia and New Zealand (ANZ), health care is provided for ∼26 million people dispersed across the eight million square kilometres of the two countries. Providing optimal care prior to and during transfer across such vast distances is challenging. Lengthening the time taken to definitive burn care has a negative impact on burn outcome. The aims of this study were to determine if transfer time and admission pathway influenced burn mortality and to identify the factors predicting burn mortality in ANZ. ⋯ In ANZ, pre-hospital transport systems and peripheral hospital stabilisation were not associated with an increased risk of death due to burn except when inhalation injury was present. The results of this study indicate that burn patients with inhalation injury should be stabilised and transferred to a burn service within 16 h of burn.