Dakin's Solution: "One of the most important and far-reaching contributions to the armamentarium of the surgeons".

Henry Drysdale Dakin is a notable person in the history of surgery, wound care, military medicine and infectious disease control. Dakin is an exemplar scientist who in the midst of war forged an international collaboration with scientists in multiple fields to create and universalize an antiseptic utopia, which saved thousands lives during World War I, remarkably diminished functional disabilities from wounds and continues to be a "far-reaching armamentarium" of the surgeons and wound care specialists around the globe. Dakin investigated over 200 different antiseptic substances to finally conclude that a 0.5% buffered sodium hypochlorite solution satisfies his criteria for an ideal antiseptic. The only potential limitation was that the germicidal property of the solution was short lived, which meant the solution had to be used continuously or repeatedly delivered into wounds. Dakin's solution, still in use by modern wound care specialists around the globe, has laid the foundation for wound care management as we know it today. Nevertheless, Dakin contributed more to science than just his solution. In this article, Dakin's life story, his unique scientific career and his contributions to surgical literature are explored. The article also illustrates how a wartime necessity resulted in a medical discovery that is still in use to date.

Hazardous air pollutants and primary liver cancer in Texas.

The incidence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common primary liver cancer, is increasing in the US and tripled during the past two decades. The reasons for such phenomenon remain poorly understood. Texas is among continental states with the highest incidence of liver cancer with an annual increment of 5.7%. Established risk factors for HCC include Hepatitis B and C (HBV, HCV) viral infection, alcohol, tobacco and suspected risk factors include obesity and diabetes. While distribution of these risk factors in the state of Texas is similar to the national data and homogeneous, the incidence of HCC in this state is exceptionally higher than the national average and appears to be dishomogeneous in various areas of the state suggesting that other non-recognized risk factors might play a role. No population-based studies are currently available investigating the effect of exposure to Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) as a contributing risk factor for liver cancer. Incidence rate of liver cancer in Texas by counties for the time period between 2002 and 2012 was obtained from the Texas Cancer Registry (TCR). Through Principal Component Analysis (PCA) a subgroup of pollutants, explaining almost all the dataset variability, were identified and used to cluster Texas counties. The analysis generated 4 clusters showing liver cancer rate either higher or lower than national average in association with either high or low levels of HAPs emission in the environment. The study shows that the selected relevant HAPs, 10 among 253 analyzed, produce a significant correlation (P = 0.01-0.05) and some of these have been previously identified as carcinogens. An association between the increased production and consequent exposure to these HAPs and a higher presence of liver cancer in certain counties is suggested. This study provides a new insight on this complex multifactorial disease suggesting that environmental substances might play a role in the etiology of this cancer.

Biology and function of glypican-3 as a candidate for early cancerous transformation of hepatocytes in hepatocellular carcinoma (Review).

Glypican-3 (GPC-3), a transmembrane heparan sulfate proteoglycan (HSPG), has recently been investigated as a player in tissue-dependent cellular signaling, specifically as a regulator of growth. Noteworthy, the regulatory protein has been implicated in both stimulatory and inhibitory pathways involving cell growth. Initially, GPC-3 was thought to act as a cell cycle regulator, as a loss-of-function mutation in the gene caused a hyper-proliferative state known as Simpson-Golabi-Behmel (SGB) overgrowth syndrome. Additionally, certain cancer types have displayed a downregulation of GPC-3 expression. More recently, the protein has been evaluated as a useful marker for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) due to its increased expression in the liver during times of growth. In contrast, the GPC-3 marker is not detectable in normal adult liver. Immunotherapy that targets GPC-3 and its affiliated proteins is under investigation as these new biomarkers may hold potential for the detection and treatment of HCC and other diseases in which GPC-3 may be overexpressed. Studies have reported that an overexpression of GPC-3 in HCC predicts a poorer prognosis. This prognostic value further pushes the question regarding GPC-3's role in the regulation and progression of HCC. This review will summarize the current knowledge regarding the clinical aspects of GPC-3, while also synthesizing the current literature with the aim to better understand this molecule's biological interactions at a molecular level, not only in the liver, but in the rest of the body as well. Due to the existing gap in the literature surrounding GPC-3, we believe further investigation of function, structure and domains, cellular localization, and other subfields is warranted to evaluate the protein as a whole, as well as its part in the study of HCC.