Daily Cosmetic Research Analysis

Double emulsions are highly structured dispersion systems that generate double-layered droplets. Double emulsions offer an effective platform for encapsulating liquid samples. Multilayer protection, controlled release of encapsulated materials, and stability make double emulsions superior to single emulsions in handling sensitive liquid samples. This technology is widely used in biology, food technology, cosmetics, and environmental sciences. Microfluidic emulsification is a promising method for producing highly monodisperse double-emulsion droplets with a high encapsulation efficiency. Well-controlled adjustment of the core size and shell thickness is critical for applications of double emulsions. Changing the flow rates of the fluid phases is the most straightforward method to control the emulsion sizes. However, monodisperse double-emulsions can only be generated within a small range of flow rates. Thus, producing monodisperse double emulsions with a wide size range without changing the device design or drastically altering the fluid properties is challenging. Here, we demonstrate a facile method to generate monodisperse double-emulsion droplets with tunable core size and shell thickness without changing the flow rates of the fluid phases. To address this challenge, we developed a proof-of-concept flexible and stretchable microfluidic device capable of controlling core size, shell thickness, and generation frequency by adjusting channel dimensions and stretching the microfluidic device. We incorporated three stretching cases to assess the feasibility of controlling the generation process of the double emulsion. We demonstrated that stretching increases the core size and shell thickness and decreases the generation frequency. Experimental results showed an ∼84% increase in core volume and an ∼23% increase in shell volume by applying ∼16% device strain. This innovative approach significantly advances the field of droplet-based microfluidics, providing on-site, real-time tunability for the generation of double-emulsion droplets with high precision and reproducibility.

BACKGROUND: In the current study, we surveyed the trend of breast cancer operations in the past two decades and compared mastectomy alone or with immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) with the measurement of the outcome reported by patients and oncologic safety evaluation. METHODS: A retrospective study surveyed the trends in breast cancer surgery methods at a single institution between January 2000 and December 2021. Clinical manifestations, outcomes, patient-reported outcome measures, and oncologic safety evaluations between mastectomy alone or with IBR were analyzed, with and without propensity score matching (PSM). RESULTS: The trend of breast cancer operations showed that breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and mastectomy with IBR were increasing while mastectomy alone was decreasing. Among the 3759 patients who underwent mastectomies, 1091 (29%) patients had mastectomy with IBR while 2668 (71%) received mastectomy alone. In multivariate analysis, age less than 45 years, breast magnetic resonance imaging before surgery, luminal A subtype, nipple-sparing mastectomy, oncoplastic reconstructive breast surgeon, and high-volume surgeon were important independent factors for mastectomy with IBR. Mastectomy with IBR was associated with better patient-reported cosmetic results than mastectomy alone and comparable to BCS. After PSM and a median follow-up of 106.1 months, there was no difference in Kaplan-Meier survival curve analysis between patients who underwent mastectomy alone or mastectomy with IBR in terms of locoregional recurrence, distant metastasis or overall survival. CONCLUSIONS: Mastectomy with IBR demonstrated better reported cosmetic outcomes and comparable oncologic safety compared to mastectomy alone. Independent factors promoting IBR were identified, which could help increase the breast reconstruction rate. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE III: This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors www.springer.com/00266.

The rising pollution from zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO-NPs) poses significant global concerns due to their widespread environmental presence and potential negative effects on human health. This study explores how ZnO-NPs impact migrasomes formation, a crucial process for cellular migration and communication. Our findings indicate that 28 nm ZnO-NPs enhance migrasomes formation, correlating with increased levels of phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate [PI(4,5)P2] and GTP-RhoA-essential molecules in migrasomes biogenesis. Additionally, ZnO-NPs help alleviate mitochondrial damage caused by carbonyl cyanide 3-chlorophenylhydrazone (CCCP) through mitocytosis, which removes dysfunctional mitochondria, thereby preserving cellular integrity. The migrasomes induced by ZnO-NPs were found to contain various cellular components, including mitochondria, lysosomes, lipid droplets, and the ZnO-NPs themselves. These results underscore the role of ZnO-NPs in promoting migrasomes formation and protecting mitochondrial function, revealing significant implications for cellular behavior, therapeutic applications, and environmental and health safety.