Evaluation of Verisyse and Artiflex phakic intraocular lenses during accommodation using Visante optical coherence tomography

PURPOSE: To perform a dynamic study of the relationship between Verisyse (AMO) and Artiflex (Ophtec B.V.) phakic intraocular lenses (pIOLs) and anterior chamber structures during accommodation using optical coherence tomography (OCT) (Visante, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc.) SETTING: Institutional practice. METHODS: Eleven myopic patients were randomly selected to have implantation of a Verisyse pIOL in 1 eye and an Artiflex pIOL in the other. Using a 2-dimensional image, dynamic measurements of the relationship between the anterior surface of the pIOL and the corneal endothelium, the posterior surface of the pIOL and the anterior surface of the crystalline lens, and the pupil diameter were performed using Visante OCT. Physiological accommodation was stimulated by adding lenses in 1.00 diopter (D) steps from +1.00 to -7.00 D. RESULTS: Both groups had a significant decrease in pupil diameter (P<.0001, generalized linear model [GLM]) and in the distance between the anterior surface of the pIOL and the corneal endothelium (P<.0001, GLM) with accommodation. There were no statistically significant changes in the distance between the posterior surface of either pIOL and the anterior surface of the crystalline lens (P = .2845, GLM). There were no statistically significant differences between the 2 pIOLs in any measurement (P>.05, GLM). CONCLUSIONS: The results fit with Helmholtz' theory of accommodation as forward movement of the diaphragm iris-crystalline lens was seen. There was a decrease in the distance between the pIOL and corneal endothelium and in the pupil diameter, whereas the distance between both pIOLs and the crystalline lens remained constant throughout the accommodation examination. This suggests that the risk for cataract from intermittent contact between the crystalline lens and IOL from accommodative effort is unlikely.     

Increased Radioresistance to Lethal Doses of Gamma Rays in Mice and Rats after Exposure to Microwave Radiation Emitted by a GSM Mobile Phone Simulator

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of pre-irradiation with microwaves on the induction of radioadaptive response. In the 1^st phase of the study, 110 male mice were divided into 8 groups. The animals in these groups were exposed/sham-exposed to microwave, low dose rate gamma or both for 5 days. On day six, the animals were exposed to a lethal dose (LD). In the 2^nd phase, 30 male rats were divided into 2 groups of 15 animals. The 1^st group received microwave exposure. The 2^nd group (controls) received the same LD but there was no treatment before the LD. On day 5, all animals were whole-body irradiated with the LD. Statistically significant differences between the survival rate of the mice only exposed to lethal dose of gamma radiation before irradiation with a lethal dose of gamma radiation with those of the animals pre-exposed to either microwave (p=0.02), low dose rate gamma (p=0.001) or both of these physical adapting doses (p=0.003) were observed. Likewise, a statistically significant difference between survival rates of the rats in control and test groups was observed. Altogether, these experiments showed that exposure to microwave radiation may induce a significant survival adaptive response.     

Labial Adhesion with Acute Urinary Retention Secondary to Bartholin's Abscess

Labial adhesions are usually seen in early childhood or in the postmenopausal years, but this clinical entity is rarely seen in the reproductive years. We report a case of labial adhesion with acute urinary retention secondary to Bartholin's abscess in a reproductive‐aged woman with normal menstrual periods. We emphasize the possible occurrence of labial adhesion following Bartholin's abscess in the reproductive years with normal estrogen levels.     

Androgen receptor YAC transgenic mice carrying CAG 45 alleles show trinucleotide repeat instability

X-linked spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy (SBMA) is caused by a CAG repeat expansion in the first exon of the androgen receptor (AR) gene. Disease-associated alleles (37-66 CAGs) change in length when transmitted from parents to offspring, with a significantly greater tendency to shift size when inherited paternally. As transgenic mice carrying human AR cDNAs with 45 and 66 CAG repeats do not display repeat instability, we attempted to model trinucleotide repeat instability by generating transgenic mice with yeast artificial chromosomes (YACs) carrying AR CAG repeat expansions in their genomic context. Studies of independent lines of AR YAC transgenic mice with CAG 45 alleles reveal intergenerational instability at an overall rate of approximately 10%. We also find that the 45 CAG repeat tracts are significantly more unstable with maternal transmission and as the transmitting mother ages. Of all the CAG/CTG repeat transgenic mice produced to date the AR YAC CAG 45 mice are unstable with the smallest trinucleotide repeat mutations, suggesting that the length threshold for repeat instability in the mouse may be lowered by including the appropriate flanking human DNA sequences. By sequence-tagged site content analysis and long range mapping we determined that one unstable transgenic line has integrated an approximately 70 kb segment of the AR locus due to fragmentation of the AR YAC. Identification of the cis - acting elements that permit CAG tract instability and the trans -acting factors that modulate repeat instability in the AR YAC CAG 45 mice may provide insights into the molecular basis of trinucleotide repeat instability in humans.      

Determinantes de la frecuentación en Atención Primaria en Cataluña

AimTo determine which variables determine the average annual attendance time per patient in Primary Care (PC) in Catalonia to improve the adequacy of the budget allocation.DesignCross-sectional ecological study.SettingThe Primary Care health centers (EAP) from the Institut Català de la Salut (ICS) in 2016.ParticipantsThe 285 EAPs from the ICS, which cover 75% of citizens over 14 years of age in Catalonia.Main measurementsAnnual average time of visits by a family doctor per patient for each EAP. It was studied how this time depended on potential explanatory variables, at the EAP level, using linear regression models.Resultsthe average visit time per patient/year was 49 minutes, varying between 23-87 minutes according to EAP. The EAPs with older population, more comorbidity, more home care, worse socioeconomic index, greater number of young pensioners and greater dispersion had more visiting time, while the EAPs with more population and more women expended less time to visit. These variables explained 64% of the visit time variability.ConclusionsThe budget allocation in PC can be based on a model that incorporates the main determinants of patient’ frequentation and adapts to their real needs. It would be necessary to deepen those factors that depend on the professional or health organizations to finish finding an optimal model of resource allocation in the PC.     

Effects of dipyridamole, soluflazine and related molecules on adenosine uptake and metabolism by isolated human red blood cells

Summary— The suggestion that adenosine may have beneficial effects on post reperfusion survival following cardiac ischaemia has led to the search for agents which increase the concentration of this substance in the ischemic region as a possible therapeutic approach to the treatment of angina and myocardial infarction. In the present study, dipyridamole, soluflazine and lidoflazine, known inhibitors of the nucleotide exchange system, have been shown using an HPLC method to prevent the decrease in the concentration od added adenosine outside human red blood cells in vitro. However, the results suggest that this effect was due to inhibition of adenosine deaminase rather than inhibition of nucleotide exchange as had previously been suggested. The selective inhibitor of adenosine deaminase erythro-9-(2 hydroxy-3-nonyl adenosine) exhibited the same profile of activity in the human red blood cell assay. pIC₅₀ values for the four compounds named above were found to be 6.80 ± 0.09, 6.95 ± .03, 6.10 ± 0.14 and 7.39 ± 0.05 vs adenosine disapearance observed in the extracellular incubation medium respectively. Thus, as the disappearance of adenosine outside the cells was not due to its uptake but to its catabolism, this in vitro method does not appear to be predictive for the ability of compounds to act on adenosine uptake into cardiac myocytes. Any antiischemic action of these agents is more readily explained by an inhibition of the catabolism of adenosine and not by the inhibition of its transport across the membrane of cardiac myocytes.     

白头翁中毛莨甙及合成毛茛甙的高效液相色谱测定法

白头翁为毛莨科属植物Pulsatilla chinensis,以根入药,其煎剂能抑制阿米巴原虫的生长、杀灭阴道滴虫等作用,用于细菌性痢疾和阿米巴痢疾的治疗。白头翁中主要成分有原白头翁素[protoanemonin,系由毛莨甙(ranunculin)酶解而得]、白头翁素(anemonin)等,其结构如下: