Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
-
Burn injuries are the third leading cause of preventable death in children worldwide, resulting in over 100 000 annual hospitalisations. In the paediatric population, scalds are the commonest mechanism and burn injuries of greater than 40% total burn surface area (TBSA) are associated with a high mortality and morbidity rate. ⋯ Mortality has since declined and the prognosis for survival good, even in TBSA of greater than 90%. The investigations in fabric flammability led by Dr Thomas Pressley and Mr Murray Clarke prompted the rewriting of Australian standards for production of children's clothing. This, in combination with advances in paediatric resuscitation, surgical techniques as well as wound care has improved survival rates and outcomes in extensive burn injuries. Future studies focus to see not only better survival rates, but also better aesthetic and functional outcomes in burn survivors.
-
In burn patients, vitamin D has been studied primarily in the pediatric population and focused mainly on the correlation with bone marker measurements and incidence of fractures. There is an association between vitamin D deficiency and the development of sepsis in non-burn critically-ill patients. However, there is limited data on vitamin D concentrations and clinical outcomes in burn patients, such as sepsis. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of vitamin D concentrations on the incidence of sepsis in adult burn patients. ⋯ Patients with adequate vitamin D concentrations on admission had a reduction in the incidence of sepsis as compared to patients with insufficient vitamin D concentrations. Insufficient vitamin D concentrations may contribute to other worsened clinical outcomes in burn patients. Our findings set the stage for future, multicenter studies to determine the role of vitamin D supplementation in burn patients.
-
Electrospinning process has gained importance in the production of wound dressings in recent years. The wound dressings prepared by electrospinning method provide many advantages over conventional wound dressings. The aim of this study was to assess the histological, biochemical, and immunohistochemical evaluation of collagen/doxycycline loaded nanofiber wound dressing in both acute and chronic wound healing. ⋯ According to the biochemical analyses, it was concluded that the nanofiber wound dressing helps to increase antioxidant capacity and decrease lipid peroxidation. Immunohistochemical studies showed that nanofiber wound dressing enhanced angiogenesis and shortened the inflammatory phase. It was concluded that an effective and safe prototype nanofiber wound dressing, which has similar wound healing effect to the commercial product, has been developed to be used in acute or chronic wound treatment.