Healthy Neighbors Research Articles

Tree vigour influences secondary growth but not responsiveness to climatic variability in Holm oak

Many tree species from Mediterranean regions have started to show increased rates of crown defoliation, reduced growth, and dieback associated with the increase in temperatures and changes in the frequency and intensity of drought events experienced during the last decades. In this regard, Quercus ilex L. subsp. ballota [Desf.] (Holm oak), despite being a drought-tolerant species widely distributed in the Mediterranean basin, it has recently started to show acute signs of decline, extended areas from Spain being affected. However, few studies have assessed the role of climatic variability (i.e., temperature, precipitation, and drought) on the decline and resilience of Holm oak. Here, we measured secondary growth of seventy Holm oaks from a coppice stand located in central Spain. Sampled trees had different stages of decline, so they were classified into four vigour groups considering their crown foliar lost: healthy (0%), low defoliated (<25%), highly defoliated (25–70%), and dying (70–100%). Our results showed that during the study period (1980–2009) the highly defoliated and dying Holm oaks grew significantly less than their healthy and low defoliated neighbours, suggesting permanent growth reduction in the less vigorous individuals. Despite these differences, all four vigour groups showed similar responses to climatic variations, especially during winter and late spring – early summer seasons, and similar resilience after severe drought events, managing to significantly recover to pre-drought growth rates after only two years. Our findings, hence, illustrate that tree vigour influences secondary growth but not responsiveness to climatic variability in Holm oak. Still, as reduced growth rates are frequently associated with the process of tree mortality, we conclude that the less vigorous Holm oaks might not be able to cope with future water stress conditions, leading to increased mortality rates among this emblematic Mediterranean species.

Suppressing epidemic spreading in multiplex networks with social-support

Although suppressing the spread of a disease is usually achieved by investing in public resources, in the real world only a small percentage of the population have access to government assistance when there is an outbreak, and most must rely on resources from family or friends. We study the dynamics of disease spreading in social-contact multiplex networks when the recovery of infected nodes depends on resources from healthy neighbors in the social layer. We investigate how degree heterogeneity affects the spreading dynamics. Using theoretical analysis and simulations we find that degree heterogeneity promotes disease spreading. The phase transition of the infected density is hybrid and increases smoothly from zero to a finite small value at the first invasion threshold and then suddenly jumps at the second invasion threshold. We also find a hysteresis loop in the transition of the infected density. We further investigate how an overlap in the edges between two layers affects the spreading dynamics. We find that when the amount of overlap is smaller than a critical value the phase transition is hybrid and there is a hysteresis loop, otherwise the phase transition is continuous and the hysteresis loop vanishes. In addition, the edge overlap allows an epidemic outbreak when the transmission rate is below the first invasion threshold, but suppresses any explosive transition when the transmission rate is above the first invasion threshold.

Critical value for the contact process with random recovery rates and edge weights on regular tree

In this paper we are concerned with contact processes with random edge weights on rooted regular trees. We assign i.i.d weights on each edge on the tree and assume that an infected vertex infects its healthy neighbor at rate proportional to the weight on the edge connecting them. Under the annealed measure, we define the critical value \lambda_c as the maximum of the infection rate with which the process will die out and define \lambda_e as the maximum of the infection rate with which the process dies out at exponential rate. We show that these two critical values satisfy an identical limit theorem and give an precise lower bound of \lambda_e. We also study the critical value under the quenched measure. We show that this critical value equals that under the annealed measure or infinity according to a dichotomy criterion. The contact process on a Galton-Watson tree with binomial offspring distribution is a special case of our model.

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles for MR imaging of pancreatic cancer: Potential for early diagnosis through targeted strategies.

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPION)-based magnetic resonance imaging is a powerful, noninvasive tool in biomedical imaging. The recent embedding of SPIO in nanoencapsulations that had different controllable surface properties has now made it possible to use SPIO in the imaging of metabolic processes. The two major issues to realize maximized and selective SPIO cancer targeting are the minimization of macrophage uptake and the preferential binding to cancerous cells over healthy neighbor cells. The utility of SPIO has been shown in clinical applications using a series of marketed SPION-based contrast agents. Applications have ranged from detecting inflammatory diseases to the specific identification of cell surface markers expressed on tumors. This review focuses on iron-oxide-based nanoparticles, to include the physiochemical properties of SPION surface engineering and its synthetic methods as well as SPIO imaging applications and specifically targeted SPIO conjugates (e.g. targeted probes) for labeling cancerous, cell-surface molecules. As a specific application of this technology, we discuss its use in the imaging of pancreatic duct adenocarcinoma in addition to its potential for use in early diagnosis through targeted strategies.

Depression and disability in people with podoconiosis: a comparative cross-sectional study in rural Northern Ethiopia.

Little is known about depressive symptoms in podoconiosis despite the independent contribution of depression to worse health outcomes and disability in people with other chronic disorders. Two-hundred and seventy-one individuals with podoconiosis and 268 healthy neighbours (individuals from the nearest household in any direction) were investigated for depressive symptoms using a validated Amharic version of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). The WHO Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHODAS II) tool was used to measure disability. Logistic regression and zero inflated negative binomial regression were used to identify factors associated with elevated depressive symptoms, and disability, respectively. Among study participants with podoconiosis, 12.6% (34/269) had high levels of depressive symptoms (scoring 5 or more points on the PHQ-9, on two assessments two weeks apart) compared to 0.7% (2/268) of healthy neighbours (p<0.001). Having podoconiosis and being older were significantly associated with increased odds of a high PHQ-9 score (adjusted odds ratios [AOR] 11.42; 95% CI: 2.44-53.44 and AOR 1.04; 95% CI: 1.00-1.08, respectively). Significant predictors of a higher disability score were having podoconiosis (WHODAS II multiplier value: 1.48; 95% CI: 1.39-1.58) and having a high PHQ-9 score (1.07; 95% CI: 1.06-1.08). We recommend integrating evidence-based treatments for depression into podoconiosis interventions.

Inhibition of Sorbitol Dehydrogenase Increases Platelets Adhesion in Animals Mice with Fidarestat

BACKGROUNDDeep vein thrombosis (DVT) is multi-causal disease associated to a high morbi-mortality due to complications as pulmonary embolism and post-thrombotic syndrome. The identification of factors enrolled on the disease is important to better understand its pathophysiology. As the role of the platelets on DVT is still not completely defined, we previously performed a proteomic study on platelets from 3 DVT patients and compared to results obtained from 1 sibling and 1 neighbor for each patient in order to minimize the genetic and environmental interferences. These high-selected patients presented spontaneous and recurrent episodes of proximal DVT and mentioned a familiar history of thrombotic diseases. METHODSplatelets were washed, lysed, and their proteins were alkylated, reduced, precipitated with acetone and hydrolyzed by trypsin. 100mg of peptides were then separated by hydrophobicity using HPLC, and 8 fractions were obtained and directed to the LTQ-Orbitrap mass spectrometer. The proteins search was performed by Sorcerer-SEQUEST. In this analysis, sorbitol dehydrogenase (SORD) was present only in patients and absent in siblings and neighbors. In order to evaluate the SORD gene expression, qPCR was performed on platelets RNA from the same individuals applying specific primers after the evaluation of a minimal leukocyte contamination with specific primers to CD45. The influence of SORD on platelets adhesion was evaluated with the administration of a direct inhibitor (fidarestat) to 12 mice C57Bl6 by gavage at 10mg/kg and the results were compared to that obtained from 12 animals gavaged in a solution of 5% gum arabic. To the adhesion test, blood was obtained from cava veins in 3.8% sodium citrate and centrifuged at 100G/10’. Platelets were collected, pelleted and washed in Krebs buffer. Platelets at 1.2 x 108/μL were added to 96 wells plates pre-covered with fibrinogen 50μg/mL and their adhesion properties were evaluated with and without stimulation with 50mU of thrombin after incubation at 37°C for 30’. The percentage of adherent cells was calculated by comparing acid phosphatase activity to that of a standard curve with known numbers of platelets (0 – 100%) from the same group at 405nm. On the qPCR, the analyses were performed with fold change, and we considered significant results lower then 0.5x and higher then 1.5x. The Mann-Whitney test was applied to analyze the adhesion results, and P<0.05 were considered significant. RESULTSOn qPCR, the gene expression of SORD was increased in patients (1x) in comparison to siblings (0.51x), but similar to neighbors (0.77x). The adhesion of platelets unstimulated was similar between both groups of animals (Median fidarestat= 41.6; 2.5-91.6; SD=25.9; median controls = 45; 9.8-91.3; SD=22.6; P=0.69), but after stimulation with thrombin, platelets from treated animals presented increased adhesion (median = 74.4; 42.9-98.8; SD=24) when compared to controls (median = 43.9; 13.6-48.2; SD=12.1; P=0.0148). CONCLUSIONSSORD was present only in patients with DVT and absent in healthy siblings and neighbors on the proteomic analysis. The increase of SORD gene expression in patients in comparison to all the controls can corroborate the involvement of this protein on DVT physiology. The inhibition of this protein with fidarestat promoted the increase of platelets adhesion to plates covered with fibrinogen only after stimulation with thrombin. Our hypothesis is that SORD may be a protective protein based on the increase of the gene expression, protein levels and adherent properties after thrombogenic stimuli that could be an attempt to decrease the platelet function and minimize the damage. DisclosuresNo relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Susceptible–infected–susceptible model on quenched directed scale-free networks

The critical behavior of the susceptible–infected–susceptible model is investigated on quenched directed scale-free networks with the in-degree (k) distribution and the out-degree (ℓ) distribution, . The correlation 〈kl〉 of each node is controlled. In the model, an infected individual becomes healthy with unit rate and infects all healthy neighbors with rate λ. On quenched undirected networks with degree distribution P(q) ∼ q−γ, the system is always in an endemic state for any γ, so the critical threshold λc is always zero. Heterogeneous mean-field theory fails to predict the behavior of the quenched undirected networks. However, for quenched directed networks, we show via Monte Carlo simulations that the critical behavior of the directed quenched networks is well described by heterogeneous mean-field theory.

An outbreak of food-borne salmonellosis linked to a bread takeaway shop in Ben Tre City, Vietnam

To identify the vehicle, source, and causative agent of a community-wide food-borne outbreak of gastroenteritis. We conducted a case-control study. Cases were city residents diagnosed with gastroenteritis and hospitalized in Ben Tre City from 22 to 25 May 2013; 41 cases were selected randomly from a list of hospitalized patients. Controls were age- and gender-matched healthy neighbours of cases. Participants were interviewed using a standard questionnaire. Samples from patients and food were tested at reference laboratories. We used conditional logistic regression to calculate matched odds ratios (mORs) for the association of gastroenteritis with food items consumed. Of the 41 cases enrolled in the study, 61% were males and the median age was 33 years; cases resided in 12 wards of the City. Of 13 food items consumed by the cases, only stuffed bread was significantly associated with gastroenteritis (mOR 21.3, 95% confidence interval 6.3-71.8). Among the 29 cases who ate stuffed bread, the median time to illness onset was 9h. Patient stool samples and bread samples were positive for Salmonella species. Stuffed bread was the likely vehicle of the outbreak. The laboratory testing capacity for serotypes of Salmonella should be strengthened in Vietnam. Food-handler training in basic food safety measures should be improved.

Coverage with a Team of Wheeled Mobile Robots

This article presents a control system enabling coverage of a prescribed ground area by a team of wheeled mobile robots. The control system relies on equal balancing of the costs among the wheeled robots. Cost balancing leverages the intuition that a healthy neighbor could help a degraded robot to carry out its monitoring task simply by moving slightly towards the degraded robot. This feature allows the control system to support situations where vehicles have varying sensor characteristics. The article focuses on the design of the system and the results of experiments obtained with a small number of networked ground robots. The coverage control system is decentralized. Hence, no element of the system is a single point of failure, and the computations can be distributed. The experiments show (1) the satisfactory, yet suboptimal, performance of the coverage control system under healthy conditions, and the adaptation of the vehicles in case a team member is subject to a degraded condition of operation, and (2) the feasibility of the integration of the coverage control system with low-cost commercial wheeled mobile robot systems.

Heal thy neighbor: Mental health services recruit locals to help residents of poor and war‐torn countries

Heal thy neighbor: Mental health services recruit locals to help residents of poor and war‐torn countries

Cancer Prognosis

Cancer Prognosis

Quorum-Sensing Signal Disperses Bacteria from Biofilms

Biofilms are complex bacterial communities that range from bioluminescent pools in oceans to plaque buildup on teeth. These communities use quorum-sensing signals to modify their behaviors for optimal resilience against potential threats. Now researchers who study biofilms that cohabitate with marine sponges have discovered a quorum-sensing signal that controls the formation of the flagellum, a corkscrew-like appendage that rotates and allows bacteria to swim away from a biofilm.1 “It was a total surprise,” says Russell Hill, director of the University of Maryland’s Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology in Baltimore. Generally, bacterial signaling acts in the opposite way: Bacteria use flagella to swim into areas where they accumulate to high concentrations. Then quorum sensing causes them to lose motility and become fixed in place. Typically, Hill explains, “They form a biofilm rather than leave a biofilm.” Biofilms strongly adhere to surfaces and resist antibiotics and other antimicrobial agents. They can cause many problems, including contamination of catheters, heart valves, contact lenses, and other medical devices.2 They also infect the lungs of patients with cystic fibrosis3 and cause periodontal disease4 and otitis media.5 By one estimate, up to 60% of all human bacterial infections in developed countries are caused by biofilms.2 In industrial settings, biofilms corrode pipes, clog filters, foul ship hulls, and contaminate food-processing equipment.2 Hill and colleagues at Indiana University Bloomington and the University of Colorado Denver focused on N-acylhomoserine lactone quorum-sensing signaling molecules in the bacterium Ruegeria KLH11. This microbe lives symbiotically within the sponge Mycale laxissima, which the investigators collected from the sea near Key Largo, Florida. Marine sponges harbor complex and diverse bacterial communities, which can make up as much as 40% of the sponge’s biomass.6 “Sponges provide an excellent model system for understanding complex symbiosis and quorum sensing,” says Hill. The researchers genetically analyzed Ruegeria KLH11 and identified two sets of regulatory genes involved in quorum sensing, SsaRI and SsbRI. Further experiments with knockout mutants showed that SsaI produces quorum-sensing signals that control the formation of flagella and motility. The knockout mutants that lack flagella not only could not swim but also built biofilms up to twice the size of those built by normal Ruegeria KLH11. The authors suggest that the mutants’ loss of motility and inability to leave biofilms likely contributed to the increased biofilm formation.1 The marine sponge Mycale laxissima hosts the bacterium Ruegeria KLH11. The findings indicate that Ruegeria KLH11 uses quorum sensing in a previously unsuspected way, to activate “a dispersal mechanism that promotes the uniform distribution of these bacteria in the local environment when the population becomes too dense,” says coauthor Clay Fuqua, a professor of biology at Indiana University Bloomington. This process may have evolved to help maintain healthy symbiotic bacterial communities. The latest findings about bacterial communication “may be important in understanding how bacteria become pathogenic in humans or form biofilms on teeth or medical devices,” says Hill. However, he cautions that it’s much too early to extrapolate the results to solving any of these biofilm problems. “We are building a basic knowledge that may eventually have practical applications, but there is no clear path to a practical application just yet,” he says. The detailed mechanics of the quorum-sensing system described by Hill and colleagues “are of immense interest to researchers in far-reaching fields, including biotechnology, medicine, microbial ecology, microbial communication, and biofilm formation,” says Alison Buchan, an associate professor of microbiology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. They are a reminder that bacterial quorum-sensing systems and the microbial physiologies they influence are varied and complex, particularly for the control of biofilm formation. “Quorum sensing can either promote or inhibit biofilm formation, depending on the bacterial species,” Buchan says. “This suggests that there is no one silver bullet or universal approach to inhibit all bacterial biofilms.” Future studies of the microbial ecology of biofilms that live with sponges could benefit coral reefs as well as humans. Sponges are an important component of coral reefs, and diseases of sponges are increasing, perhaps due to rising water temperatures.7 “It could be that biofilms are more sensitive to temperature fluctuations than their host sponges, whose well-being depends on maintaining healthy microbial neighbors. So it’s important to understand in detail the bacterial communities associated with sponges,” says Hill.

New discovery about plant defense: plant-plant communication

Plants have developed sophisticated defense systems during their long-time interaction with insects. About three decades ago, it was found that insect-damaged plants can prime their neighbors to express defense proteins, and this phenomenon was called A series of studies have focused on this topic since then. Results indicate that green-leaf volatiles and terpenes are the main chemicals emitted from the infested plant to the healthy neighbor plants, while direct and indirect defenses of the neighbors may both be regulated. An im- portant consensus about plant-plant communication mechanisms until now is that the volatile organic chemicals do not induce resistance directly, but sensitize the receiver plant for augmented response to subsequent damages, which is called priming. However, the molecular mechanism of this phenomenon is unclear. We used Arabidop- sis thaliana genome arrays and mutants to examine the molecular mechanisms of plant-plant communication. Our results indicate that several volatiles are effective signals, and the active volatiles are correlated with their emis- sion rhythms to achieve the optimum effect. The ethylene pathway is indispensable for sensing the induction sig- nal in the early phase of induction, while Jasmonic acid signal can amplify the effects. As the mechanisms of plant-plant communication become clearer, future research may focus on the origin and evolution of this phe-

Best practices in cancer nanotechnology: perspective from NCI nanotechnology alliance.

Historically, treatment of patients with cancer using chemotherapeutic agents has been associated with debilitating and systemic toxicities, poor bioavailability, and unfavorable pharmacokinetics. Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems, on the other hand, can specifically target cancer cells while avoiding their healthy neighbors, avoid rapid clearance from the body, and be administered without toxic solvents. They hold immense potential in addressing all of these issues, which has hampered further development of chemotherapeutics. Furthermore, such drug delivery systems will lead to cancer therapeutic modalities that are not only less toxic to the patient but also significantly more efficacious. In addition to established therapeutic modes of action, nanomaterials are opening up entirely new modalities of cancer therapy, such as photodynamic and hyperthermia treatments. Furthermore, nanoparticle carriers are also capable of addressing several drug delivery problems that could not be effectively solved in the past and include overcoming formulation issues, multidrug-resistance phenomenon, and penetrating cellular barriers that may limit device accessibility to intended targets, such as the blood-brain barrier. The challenges in optimizing design of nanoparticles tailored to specific tumor indications still remain; however, it is clear that nanoscale devices carry a significant promise toward new ways of diagnosing and treating cancer. This review focuses on future prospects of using nanotechnology in cancer applications and discusses practices and methodologies used in the development and translation of nanotechnology-based therapeutics.

Volatile Dose and Exposure Time Impact Perception in Neighboring Plants

Volatiles emitted from stressed plants can induce resistance in healthy neighbors. It remains unknown, however, how plants perceive volatiles and convert them into internal signals. We exposed lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus L.) to different concentrations of either of two volatiles, nonanal and methyl salicylate (MeSA), over 6 or 24 h. Plant resistance to the bacterial pathogen, Pseudomonas syringae, was increased significantly after exposure to a headspace with two concentrations of nonanal for 6 h, and the same pattern emerged after an exposure over 24 h. By contrast, exposure to a low concentration of MeSA over 6 h did not significantly reduce bacterial infections, whereas exposure to the same concentration over 24 h significantly enhanced resistance. The dose-response relation that was apparent after 6 h of MeSA exposure disappeared in the 24 h treatment, in which the three tested concentrations caused indistinguishable, high levels of resistance to P. syringae. A low concentration of a potentially resistance-enhancing volatile sufficed to cause resistance to pathogens in the receiver plant only after long exposure time. Plant-plant signaling appears to involve the accumulation of volatiles in the receiver.

Modifiable Risk of Breast Cancer in Northeast Iran: Hope for the Future. A Case-Control Study

Background: Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women. Its prevalence is increasing annually by 2%. The determination of modifiable risk factors has been the subject of various studies. The aim of this study was to determine risk factors of breast cancer in women in Golestan Province. Patients and Methods: This case-control study was conducted among women with breast cancer recorded in the cancer registry system between 2004 and 2006 (n = 134), and their agematched healthy neighbors (n = 133). Data were statistically analyzed. Results: Age at marriage, menarche and pregnancy, breast feeding, positive family history, marital status, and educational level were not significantly correlated with risk of breast cancer, but age at menopause (< 46.6 years) was significantly correlated (95% confidence interval 1.15–7.37; p = 0.021). Live births, still births, and infant deaths were not significantly different between the 2 groups. For other variables, such as smoking history, no odds ratio was calculated. Conclusion: Results show that there is no significant correlation between variables and risk of breast cancer in our population, except for age at menopause. A large cohort study is recommended.

Cholera Outbreak in Village A, Tanjung Keling, Melaka, 2007

On 28 Feb 2007, a cholera case was notified from Village A, Melaka, Malaysia. An epidemiological investigation was conducted to assess the extent of the outbreak and establish control measures. Active case detection was conducted among the case’s family and neighbors, work contacts and related food handlers. Passive case detection was enhanced in 10 nearby clinics in the area. A case was defined as a person who developed at least three episodes of watery diarrhea with Vibrio cholerae positive stool culture. A case control study was done to identify risk factors. Controls were healthy household members or neighbors with stool culture negative for Vibrio cholerae. Water and food samples were taken for bacterial analysis. Control measures were immediately initiated and followed up. One hundred and forty two contacts were screened. Seven new diarrhea cases with epidemiological link were detected, clustered among two families with one positive stool culture with no fatality. All cases were Malays; six males and two females. Fifty percent had history of eating ice desserts prepared unhygienically by an infected food handler. Cases were seven times more likely to consume an ice dessert (95% CI = 1.1-44.1). No other food items or water sources were implicated. Immediate control measures effectively contained the outbreak.

Wild-Type Cone Photoreceptors Persist Despite Neighboring Mutant Cone Degeneration

In many retinal diseases, the malfunction that results in photoreceptor loss occurs only in either rods or cones, but degeneration can progress from the affected cell type to its healthy neighbors. Specifically, in human and mouse models of Retinitis Pigmentosa the loss of rods results in the death of neighboring healthy cones. Significantly less is known about cone-initiated degenerations and their affect on neighboring cells. Sometimes rods remain normal after cone death, whereas other patients experience a loss of scotopic vision over time. The affect of cone death on neighboring cones is unknown. The zebrafish is a cone-rich animal model in which the potential for dying cones to kill neighboring healthy cones can be evaluated. We previously reported that the zebrafish cone phosphodiesterase mutant (pde6c(w59)) displays a rapid death of cones soon after their formation and a subsequent loss of rods in the central retina. In this study we examine morphological changes associated with cone death in vivo in pde6c(w59) fish. We then use blastulae transplantations to create chimeric fish with a photoreceptor layer of mixed wild-type (WT) and pde6c(w59) cones. We find that the death of inoperative cones does not cause neighboring WT cone loss. The survival of WT cones is independent of transplant size and location within the retina. Furthermore, transplanted WT cones persist at least several weeks after the initial death of dysfunctional mutant cones. Our results suggest a potential for the therapeutic transplantation of healthy cones into an environment of damaged cones.

Occurrence and development of Colletotrichum acutatum on symptomless blueberry bushes

The anthracnose fungus Colletotrichum acutatum was detected in symptomless blueberry bushes (Vaccinium spp.) in a Japanese blueberry field. Naturally diseased bushes and their apparently healthy neighbours were selected, and C. acutatum was isolated from the symptomless tissues of each bush from February 2000 to January 2002. Analysis of the diseased bushes during the dormant period revealed that the fungus was able to survive on symptomless tissues, such as shoot bark and bud scales. Furthermore, C. acutatum was consistently isolated from symptomless leaves and shoots of several surrounding symptomless bushes. Arbitrarily primed PCR (ap-PCR) analyses of the fungal isolates obtained from the diseased and symptomless bushes revealed that most C. acutatum isolates were genotypically identical, regardless of their origins. Inoculation tests using leaves of various blueberry cultivars suggested that the presence or absence of symptoms on each bush can not always be explained by differences in cultivar susceptibility, and other factors may be associated with the appearance of symptoms.

Limiting burn extension by transient inhibition of Connexin43 expression at the site of injury

Extension of a burn wound over the first 24h following injury is recognised clinically, and leads to diagnostic and therapeutic dilemmas. In the central nervous system, a similar spread of damage, beyond the initial injury, can occur via the spread of death signals from injured cells to their healthy neighbours via Connexin43 (Cx43) gap junction channels. In the skin, Cx43 is expressed in the basal epidermis and in fibroblasts and dermal appendages. We have used Cx43 specific antisense oligodeoxynucleotide approach to transiently down-regulate Cx43 protein in the early stages of partial thickness cutaneous burn wound healing. Antisense ODNs reduce the spread of tissue damage and neutrophil infiltration around the wound following injury. Epithelial cell proliferation is increased and the rate of wound closure is accelerated, compared to controls. Resultant scarring is smaller with less granulation tissue and more dermal appendages than controls. These findings suggest that Cx43 antisense treatment speeds partial thickness burn wound healing and reduces scarring. We suggest that this approach may provide an effective adjunct to managing partial thickness burn wounds.