Tattooing has been utilized by the medical community for precisely demarcating anatomic landmarks. This practice is especially important for identifying biopsy sites of nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC) due to the long interval (i.e., up to 3 months) between the initial diagnostic biopsy and surgical treatment. Commercially available tattoo pigments possess several issues, which include causing poor cosmesis, being mistaken for a melanocytic lesion, requiring additional removal procedures when no longer desired, and potentially inducing inflammatory responses. The ideal tattoo pigment for labeling of skin biopsy sites for NMSC requires (i) invisibility under ambient light, (ii) fluorescence under a selective light source, (iii) a finite intradermal retention time (ca. 3 months), and (iv) biocompatibility. Herein, we introduce cross-linked fluorescent supra-molecular nanoparticles (c-FSNPs) as a “finite tattoo” pigment, with optimized photophysical properties and intradermal retention time to achieve successful in vivo finite tattooing. Fluorescent supramolecular nanoparticles encapsulate a fluorescent conjugated polymer, poly[5-methoxy-2-(3-sulfopropoxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MPS-PPV), into a core via a supramolecular synthetic approach. FSNPs which possess fluorescent properties superior to those of the free MPS-PPV are obtained through a combinatorial screening process. Covalent cross-linking of FSNPs results in micrometer-sized c-FSNPs, which exhibit a size-dependent intradermal retention. The 1456 nm sized c-FSNPs display an ideal intradermal retention time (ca. 3 months) for NMSC lesion labeling, as observed in an in vivo tattoo study. In addition, the c-FSNPs induce undetectable inflammatory responses after tattooing. We believe that the c-FSNPs can serve as a “finite tattoo” pigment to label potential malignant NMSC lesions.

Injuries sustained due to attacks from explosive weapons are multiple in number, complex in nature, and not well characterised. Blast may cause damage to the human body by the direct effect of overpressure, penetration by highly energised fragments, and blunt trauma by violent displacements of the body. The ability to reproduce the injuries of such insults in a well-controlled fashion is essential in order to understand fully the unique mechanism by which they occur, and design better treatment and protection strategies to alleviate the resulting poor long-term outcomes. This paper reports a range of experimental platforms that have been developed for different blast injury models, their working mechanism, and main applications. These platforms include the shock tube, split-Hopkinson bars, the gas gun, drop towers and bespoke underbody blast simulators.

BackgroundIn Vietnam, injury is the leading cause of death in children under 18, and road traffic accidents are the fifth leading cause of death. Essential trauma care for road traffic injury (RTI) is very important in Vietnam.ObjectivesTo assess injury situation and the existing level of essential trauma care (ETC) capacity for RTI in five provinces.Design and SubjectsA cross-sectional study was conducted in 15 districts in 2008. We studied 17 district hospitals, 60 commune health stations, 3000 village health workers and volunteers (VHW).ResultsThe injury mortality in 2008 were different between provinces, ranged from 21.17 to 40.69/100 000 (year-1). Road traffic accidents were the leading cause of injury (41.6%). The 20–59 group had the highest proportion of injury (63.6%). Three out of five provinces have an emergency medical centre. Commune health stations and district hospitals provided trauma care for 8.5% and 30.7% of injured cases respectively. Less than 40% of district hospitals and 30% of commune health stations had enough equipment for ETC. From 8.8% to 37% of VHW were provided some basic first aid equipment. Only 36.7% of VHW had provided first aid for RTI and 31.2% of VHW were trained on first aid for RTI.ConclusionThe results reveal that RTI is a major health problem in five provinces and the ETC capacity for RTI is weak. Study results may assist decision-makers in identifying interventions to improve ETC capacity.