Prevalence,clinical profile,investigations, and visual outcome of sarcoid intermediate uveitis in a tertiary eye care center in South India

Purpose:To report the prevalence, clinical profile, investigations, and visual outcomes of sarcoid intermediate uveitis in a tertiary eye care center in South India.Methods: Retrospective, observational case series. Records of 29 patients with sarcoid intermediate uveitis were retrieved. Complete ophthalmic evaluation and systemic examination by a pulmonologist with appropriate laboratory investigations were done. Results were analyzed using SPSS software.Results: Mean age group was 42.14 ± 11.31 years. The bilateral presentation was more common and females were more affected than males. Anterior chamber cells and flares in 22.4% of cases (N = 11 eyes), posterior synechiae in 20.4% (N = 10 eyes), and both small and mutton fat keratic precipitates in 14.2% of cases (N = 7 eyes) were noted; only one eye had Busacca nodules similar to other granulomatous uveitis. Cystoid macular edemas were present in three eyes. Treatment with oral steroids and systemic immunosuppression resulted in good visual recovery. The mean presenting visual acuity in right and left eye were 0.2 and 0.3, respectively. The mean final visual acuity in right and left eye was 0.1 and 0.3, respectively.Conclusion: Sarcoid intermediate uveitis is quite common in a tuberculosis endemic country like India. A complete review of systems with appropriate investigations is essential to prevent visual complications.     

Morphological variation of layer III pyramidal neurones in the occipitotemporal pathway of the macaque monkey visual cortex

We compared the morphological characteristics of layer III pyramidal neurones in different visual areas of the occipitotemporal cortical 'stream', which processes information related to object recognition in the visual field (including shape, colour and texture). Pyramidal cells were intracellularly injected with Lucifer Yellow in cortical slices cut tangential to the cortical layers, allowing quantitative comparisons of dendritic field morphology, spine density and cell body size between the blobs and interblobs of the primary visual area (V1), the interstripe compartments of the second visual area (V2), the fourth visual area (V4) and cytoarchitectonic area TEO. We found that the tangential dimension of basal dendritic fields of layer III pyramidal neurones increases from caudal to rostral visual areas in the occipitotemporal pathway, such that TEO cells have, on average, dendritic fields spanning an area 5-6 times larger than V1 cells. In addition, the data indicate that V1 cells located within blobs have significantly larger dendritic fields than those of interblob cells. Sholl analysis of dendritic fields demonstrated that pyramidal cells in V4 and TEO are more complex (i.e. exhibit a larger number of branches at comparable distances from the cell body) than cells in V1 or V2. Moreover, this analysis demonstrated that the dendrites of many cells in V1 cluster along specific axes, while this tendency is less marked in extrastriate areas. Most notably, there is a relatively large proportion of neurones with 'morphologically orientation-biased' dendritic fields (i.e. branches tend to cluster along two diametrically opposed directions from the cell body) in the interblobs in V1, as compared with the blobs in V1 and extrastriate areas. Finally, counts of dendritic spines along the length of basal dendrites revealed similar peak spine densities in the blobs and the interblobs of V1 and in the V2 interstripes, but markedly higher spine densities in V4 and TEO. Estimates of the number of dendritic spines on the basal dendritic fields of layer III pyramidal cells indicate that cells in V2 have on average twice as many spines as V1 cells, that V4 cells have 3.8 times as many spines as V1 cells, and that TEO cells have 7.5 times as many spines as V1 cells. These findings suggest the possibility that the complex response properties of neurones in rostral stations in the occipitotemporal pathway may, in part, be attributed to their larger and more complex basal dendritic fields, and to the increase in both number and density of spines on their basal dendrites.      

Bicentric bipolar hip prosthesis: A radiological study of movement at the interprosthetic joint

Background:

The bipolar hip prostheses after some time functions as a unipolar device. There is a need to change the design of bipolar hip prostheses to make it function as a bipolar device over a prolonged period of time. A bicentric bipolar hip prosthesis was used as an implant for various conditions of the hip. We evaluated the movement of this newly developed prosthesis at the interprosthetic joint radiologically at periodic intervals.

Materials and Methods:

Fifty two cases were operarted with the Bicentric bipolar prosthesis for indications like fracture neck of femur and various other diseases of the hip and were followed up with serial radiographs at periodic intervals to evaluate, what fraction of the total abduction at the hip was occurring at the interprosthetic joint.

Results:

In cases of intracapsular fracture neck of femur, the percentage of total abduction occurring at the interprosthetic joint at 3 months follow-up was 33.74% (mean value of all the patients), which fell to 25.66% at 1.5 years. In indications for bipolar hemireplacement other than fracture neck of femur, the percentage of total abduction occurring at the interprosthetic joint at 3 months follow-up was 71.71% (mean value) and at 1.5 years it was 67.52%.

Conclusion:

This study shows the relative preservation of inner bearing movement in the bipolar hip prosthesis with time probably due its refined design. Further refinements are needed to make the prosthesis work better in patients of intracapsular fracture neck femur.     

Human immunodeficiency virus seroprevalence among blood product recipients in San Francisco before transfusion

To determine the incidence of transfusion-associated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection after routine screening of donated blood, a pilot study estimated the pretransfusion prevalence of HIV infection among blood product recipients in San Francisco. Among the 911 nonduplicate pretransfusion specimens from recipients without a clinical history of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) or AIDS-related complex (ARC), the overall prevalence of antibody to HIV was 2.9 percent (5.2% among males and 0.6% among females; p = 0.00002). If recipients in specifically defined or possible high-risk groups (n = 348) were excluded, a seropositivity rate of 1.8 percent (10/563) was detected, with all the positives occurring in men (10/242, 4.1%) and none in women (0/321, 0%). This demonstrated prevalence of HIV infection among blood product recipients in San Francisco before transfusion was substantially higher than the known 0.02 to 0.04 percent prevalence in the donor population. Therefore, the population of women without known risk for AIDS is the best in which to assess the risk of HIV infection in patients who are currently receiving seronegative blood transfusions.     

中国人胚胎肝组织来源纤溶酶原kringle5基因的克隆与序列分析

目的：分离、克隆和测定中国人纤溶酶原Kringle5功能区基因，为进一步研究其功能奠定基础。方法：实验于2002—06／2003-05在广州医学院金域医学检验中心完成。①实验材料：国人胚肝组织取自广州医学院第一附属医院的流产胚胎（取得家属同意，并经广州医学院第一附属医院伦理委员会批准）。pET21a（＋）载体购自Novagen公司，大肠杆菌BL21（DE3）为医学检验中心保存。引物均由上海生工合成。②实验方法：从国人胚肝组织中提取mRNA，用反转录-聚合酶链反应方法将人纤溶酶原Kringle5的cDNA扩增出来，克隆到pET21a（＋）载体中测序。（D实验评估：采用紫外分光光度仪和琼脂糖凝胶电泳分析胚肝组织总RNA的抽提结果；经琼脂糖凝胶电泳鉴定Kringle5的反转录-聚合酶链反应扩增结果；pET-Kringle5重组质粒的酶切鉴定；序列测定。结果：①胚肝组织提取总RNA结果：提取的总RNA经紫外分光光度仪测得A260nm/A80nm〉1．8，A60nm，A270nm〉1.2，表明无蛋白残留；电泳结果显示提取的总RNA有明显的28S、18S两条带，说明RNA基本完整。②Kringle5的反转录-聚合酶链反应扩增结果：人Kringle5 cDNA片段长为240bp，加上引物设计的2个酶切位点，总长度为258bp，聚合酶链反应产物长度与该长度一致，符合预期结果。③）pET-Kringle5重组质粒的构建和酶切鉴定结果：用引物所带的限制性内切酶BamH Ⅰ、NdeⅠ双酶切，结果有250bp左右条带出现。④序列测定结果：证实国人纤溶酶原Kringle5功能区基因被成功克隆，序列分析证实为该基因，未发现有基因突变或多态性现象，但第153位核苷酸与文献比较存在碱基替代现象，其组成的密码子由于遗传的简并性，所编码的氨基酸相同，并未造成氨基酸组成的改变。结论：中国人纤溶酶原Kringle5功能区cDNA基因编码序列与国外文献报道的相应序列可能存在碱基替代现象。