Total Facial Autologous Fat Grafting for Treating Skin Manifestations in Scleroderma.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) or scleroderma, is a rare, systemic autoimmune connective tissue disease that can cause fibrosis of cutaneous tissue and visceral organs. Facial involvement can have a deleterious effect on patients' function, cosmetic appearance and quality of life. This study describes our experience and results with total facial autologous fat grafting for treating scleroderma. It includes 14 women and 3 men with SSc, at an average age of 51.3 years who underwent 32 autologous fat grafting surgeries between 2017-2022. The surgical technique is further described and demographic and surgical data, including preoperative and postoperative measurements were analyzed. Patients who had multiple surgeries ultimately received grafts with twice the volume of fat than in the first procedure. The oral opening increased an average of 33%. All patients reported improvement in quality of life and were very satisfied with the aesthetic outcomes. The use of autologous fat grafting to treat SSc patients successfully increased oral openings and improved facial manifestations. The procedure is reproducible, safe and leads to improvement in facial manifestations and patients' quality of life. It can be repeated over time to preserve or enhance the results.

Isolation and partial characterization of bean phytohemagglutinins

Los extractos de semillas de 21 variedades de caraota fueron ensayados para determinar la especificidad hemaglutinante y la actividad mitogénica. Entre las diferentes variedades de caraotas se pueden distinguir cuatro tipos, dos de los cuales son mitógenos. Se aislaron dos fracciones de lectinas (α y b) de cada uno de los cuatro tipos de caraotas. Sus PM fueron estimados por cromatografía de exclusión y los azúcares presentes por cromatografía en papel. La actividad hemaglutinante, la inhibición de la acción hemaglutinante por derivados de azúcares y glucopéptidos, así como la acción mitogénica, se determinaron para las ocho lectinas purificadas y las cuatro preparaciones control. Las fracciones α y b aisladas a partir de dos de los tipos de caraotas mostraron solamente acción mitogénica mínima, mientras que las de los otros dos tipos de caraotas y todas las preparaciones control fueron mitógenos potentes. Todas las preparaciones mitogénicas aglutinaron en altas diluciones tanto a los glóbulos rojos de vaca activados con tripsina como a los de hámster activados con pronasa; sin embargo, algunas preparaciones resultaron inactivas cuando se probaron con los glóbulos rojos humanos o de conejo(AU)

Extracts of seeds of 21 bean cultlvars were screened for hemagglutinating specifity and for mitogenic activity. Four types could be distinguished in different beans, two of which are mitogens. Two lectin fractions (a and β) were isolated from each of the four bean types. Their MW were estimated by exclusion chromatography and component sugars by paper chromatography. Hemagglutinating activity, inhibition of hemagglutinating action by sugar-derivatives and glyco-peptides as well as mitogenic action were determined for the eight purified lectins and four control preparations. The a and β-fractions isolated from two bean types had only minimal mitogenic action, while those from the other two bean types and all of the control preparations were potent mitogens. All the mitogenic preparations agglutinated trypsin-activated cow red blood cells and pronase-activated hamster red blood cells in high dilutions but some were inactlve when tested with human or rabbit red blood cells(AU)