Background Various methods were introduced to overcome the autograft shortage in burn wound care, including cell transplantation and tissue engineering. Aims To evaluate the healing effect of allogenic human Wharton's jelly stem cells (hWJSCs) seeded onto acellular dermal matrix (ADM) in rat burn injuries. Patients and Methods Human Wharton's jelly stem cells provided from umbilical cord tissue were characterized before transplantation, and the growth kinetic was determined. Skin samples from cosmetic surgeries were used for preparation of ADM. Forty male Sprague Dawley rats were randomly divided into 4 equal groups. Third‐degree burn was induced for all animals by exposing to hot water using a 2 cm ring for 10 seconds. Group 1 was burned rats that did not receive any treatment. After burn injury, the second group received silver sulfadiazine (SSD), the third group was treated just by using ADM, and the fourth group received 2 × 106 hWJSCs seeded onto ADM. The animals were euthanized for histologic evaluation after 7, 14, and 21 days. Results Human Wharton's jelly stem cells were characterized to be spindle shape and positive for osteogenic and adipogenic induction and for mesenchymal markers but lacked hematopoietic markers. Population doubling time (PDT) was 40.1 hours with an increasing growth trend until day 6th. Macro‐ and microscopically, the healing was mild in ADM group and moderate in ADM + hWJSCs group after 21 days. Conclusion Allogenic hWJSCs seeded onto ADM improved the healing process in burn wounds denoting to their therapeutic and anti‐inflammatory effects in burn wounds that can be added to the literature.

This is the first large-scale retrospective study of cataract surgery outcomes in the UK independent sector. The results indicate comparable or lower rates for most complications as compared with data collected in a previously published study.

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Interleukin-28B (IL-28B) is suspected to be associated with response to treatment and one of the basic immunological backgrounds in liver transplant candidate (LTC). We aimed to assess whether genotypes of IL-28B can play a role in therapeutic response or advanced stages of liver disease. A total of 364 subjects were genotyped for IL-28B rs12979860 and rs8099917 SNPs using PCR-RFLP assay. Moreover, IL-28 serum level, HCV loads, and genotype were performed. A significant increase was observed in the frequencies of unfavorable rs12979860 genotypes/CT + TT in the chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and LTC groups. In the case of rs8099917, CHC group had a significantly higher frequency of unfavorable genotypes/GT + GG compared to the healthy group. IL-28B serum level was also significantly higher in healthy group compared with the CHC and LTC groups. There were no differences in the distribution of the IL-28B genotypes and haplotypes between responder and non-responder patients. Our results suggest, for the first time, that unfavorable rs12979860 genotypes can be considered one of the important immunological backgrounds in the Iranian LTC population that was confirmed with the lower IL-28 serum level compared to healthy group. Besides, there was a possible association of favorable IL-28B genotypes with lower odds of susceptibility to CHC infection but no support for a positive association between analyzed SNPs and an outcome of therapy. Moreover, non-CT haplotypes may be regarded as a genetic risk factor that can increase the chance of infection with HCV and progression toward end-stage HCV-related liver disease.

Background:Cirrhosis is one of the most severe liver complications, with multiple etiologies. The torque teno virus (TTV), also known as transfusion transmitted virus, which has a high incidence in the world population, is one of the possible increasing risk factors in patients with idiopathic fulminant hepatitis and cryptogenic cirrhosis.Objectives:The aim of this study was to evaluate solitary and co-infection with TTV, in patients with cryptogenic and determined cause of cirrhosis.Patients and Methods:In this cross-sectional study, 200 liver transplant patients were consecutively recruited between years 2007 and 2011. Patients were classified, based on recognition of the etiology of cirrhosis to determined (n = 81) and cryptogenic (n = 119) patient groups. The existence of TTV infection was analyzed, using a semi-nested polymerase chain reaction method. The presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infective markers, including HBV DNA, hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg), hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg), hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb), and hepatitis B e antibody (HBeAb), was evaluated using qualitative polymerase chain reaction and enzyme linked immunosorbent assay protocols, respectively.Results:The TTV infection was found in 37 of 200 (18.5%) and 53 of 200 (26.5%) plasma and tissue samples of studied liver transplanted patients, respectively. The TTV genomic DNA was found in 32 (26.9%) and 28 (23.5%) of 119 liver tissue and plasma samples of transplanted patients with cryptogenic cirrhosis, respectively. The genomic DNA of TTV was also diagnosed in 21 (25.9%) and nine (11.1%) of the 81 liver tissue and plasma samples of patients with determined cirrhosis, respectively. Significant associations were found between TTV infection with HBV molecular and immunologic infective markers, in liver transplanted patients, with determined and cryptogenic cirrhosis.Conclusions:The diagnosis of the high frequency of solitary TTV and co-infection with HBV, in both liver transplanted patients with cryptogenic and determined cirrhosis, emphasized on the importance of TTV infection in the development of cirrhosis, especially in the cases of cryptogenic ones, prompting for further studies the confirm this agent in the etiology of determined cirrhosis.