ABSTRACT
Introduction: There has been an exponential increase in the number of young adults seeking tattoo removal in recentyears. The main reason is a prohibition of any form of tattoo in recruitment of army, paramilitary force, police, and otherjobs. Most studies done on tattoo removal are either on laser removal or have established results of only one particularsurgical method of tattoo removal. However, almost all known surgical methods of tattoo removal have been performed inthe present study.Aims and Objectives: The aim is to study the clinical outcome of various surgical methods of tattoo removal to search for anideal one.Materials and Methods: A study was conducted in 350 patients. Tattoo removal was done with surgical methods. The varioussurgical techniques used were excision and primary closure, serial excision, tangential split thickness excision, tangentialexcision with dermal over grafting, and excision with grafting. The factors which determined the choice of procedure weresize, site, shape, depth of tattoo, skin laxity, and presence of complication of tattooing or previously attempted tattoo removal.Patients were followed for 3 months.Results: Excision and primary closure were done in 26 tattoos. Serial excision in 9, split thickness tangential excision in 2,tangential excision with dermal over grafting in 179, and excision with grafting in 134 tattoos were done. Scar stretching, minimalcolor changes, and hypertrophy were seen after tattoo removal. Post-operative marginal hypertrophy was seen lesser in tangentialexcision with dermal over grafting (60%) than in excision with grafting (75%) though it could be managed conservatively. Patientsatisfaction levels were well achieved.Conclusion: All procedures resulted in complete tattoo removal, and each had its own application and limitations. It was difficultto label one procedure superior to the other.
ABSTRACT
Pisces are commonly used to study the effects of metals, including copper on the environment. However, until now only scant information is available about the responses induced by waterborne copper during early life stages and housekeeping gene expression in fishes. In the present study, we evaluated acute toxicity of copper sulphate on larvae of Catla catla and also the stability of expression of three housekeeping genes, beta-actin (β-actin), glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) and elongation factor 1 alpha (EF1α). The results have shown increased mortality of Catla catla larvae with the increased concentration of copper sulphate. The median lethal concentration (LC50) of copper sulphate at the end of 96 h exposure was 1.032 ppm. During the challenge test of copper sulphate, the minimal coefficient of variation (CV) and stability index were observed for GAPDH and maximum for β-actin indicating minimum variation of GAPDH and maximum variation of β-actin. With the results, it can be concluded that GAPDH is most stable during copper sulphate challenge test on Catla catla larvae, followed by EF1α and β-actin.
ABSTRACT
The decapod crustacean Penaeus monodon survives large fluctuations in salinity through osmoregulation in which Na+/K+-ATPase (NKA) activity in the gills plays a central role. Adult P. monodon specimens were gradually acclimatized to 5, 25 and 35‰ salinities and maintained for 20 days to observe long term alterations in NKA expression. Specific NKA activity assayed in gill tissues was found to be 3 folds higher at 5‰ compared to 25‰ (isosmotic salinity) and 0.48 folds lower at 35‰. The enzyme was immunolocalized in gills using mouse α-5 monoclonal antibody that cross reacts with P. monodon NKA α-subunit. At 5‰ the immunopositive cells were distributed on lamellar tips and basal lamellar epithelium of the secondary gill filaments and their number was visibly higher. At both 25‰ and 35‰ NKA positive cells were observed in the inter-lamellar region but the expression was more pronounced at 25‰. Gill architecture was normal at all salinities. However, the 1.5 fold increase in NKA α-subunit mRNA at 5‰ measured by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) using EF1α as reference gene was not statistically significant. The study confirms the osmoregulating ability of P. monodon like other crustaceans at lower salinities. It is likely that significant increase in NKA transcript level happens at an earlier time point. At higher salinities all three methods record only marginal or no change from isosmotic controls confirming the hypothesis that the animal largely osmoconforms in hyperosmotic environment.