Burns : journal of the International Society for Burn Injuries
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Residential fires account for the majority of burn-related injuries and fatalities. Established risk factors for burn injury include male gender, racial minority, children and elderly individuals, poverty, and substandard housing characteristics. In North Carolina, the rate of residential fire injuries and deaths is higher than the national average. Therefore, we sought to describe residential fire hospitalizations at a large regional burn center and describe the neighborhoods in which they live. We hypothesized that patients living in areas with higher Area Deprivation Index (ADI) are more likely to have major residential burns. ⋯ Residential structure fires represent the major source of burns and fatalities. People who reside in the highest ADI quartile are more like to present with higher burn injury severity in terms of burn size and the presence of inhalation injury. The use of the ADI to target neighborhoods for burn prevention is imperative.
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Among downstream interleukin-18 (IL-18) targets, Fas ligand (FasL) in particular, has been strongly implicated in many conditions. Our study aims to explore the role of IL-18 in hypertrophic scar through enhancing FasL expression. ⋯ IL-18 curbs proliferation and promotes apoptosis of hypertrophic scar fibroblasts by enhancing FasL expression. IL-18is a potential target for treatment of hypertrophic scar.