Visual acuity in an Australian Aboriginal population

Background: Australia is a developed country, However; Aboriginal Australians have rates of blindness comparable to Third World countries. There have been well-funded eye health programs for 15 years in Central Australia. This paper examines if there has been an improvement in visual disability of one traditional group of Aboriginal Australians. Methods: Results from an eye health survey of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara of South Australia in 1990 are presented. These data are compared with results for ‘blindness’ and ‘poor vision’ from a national survey undertaken in 1976. The two surveys were comparable in design, both were cross-sectional population-based prevalence surveys. Prevalence rates were adjusted for the size of the source population. Results: Young rural Aboriginal Australians have good visual acuity. Low vision and blindness (WHO definitions) occur in 19.6% and 10.4% of 60+ year olds, respectively. Women were more likely than men to be blind or have low vision (OR= 1.93; 1.06-3.58). There was a decline in ‘poor vision’ between surveys (OR=2.86; 1.86-4.75) but not in ‘blindness’. Conclusion: Although there has been a reduction in the prevalence of visual disability in rural Aboriginal Australians, improvements in the provision of eye care for the elderly need to occur.     

Seasonal variation in the occurrence of ischemic stroke and subarachnoid hemorrhage in Siberia, Russia. A population-based study

Epidemiological studies on the relationship between stroke occurrence and the seasons in different countries produced inconsistent results and little is known about these associations in a general population. We report a population-based study of 214 patients with first-ever ischemic stroke (IS, data for 1992) and 64 patients with first-ever subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) registered in the 25–74 years old population of Oktiabrsky District of Novosibirsk, Russia in 1982–92. IS and SAH incidence in four seasons (winter, spring, summer, autumn) was evaluated by means of a chi-square test. Poisson regression analysis was used to compute the rate ratios (RRs) and corresponding confidence intervals (CIs) for the occurrence ofIS and SAH in winter, spring, and autumn compared with summer. Seasonal variations in the occurrence of IS were significant for the group of young men (25–64 years) and the group of older women (65–74 years) only. The age and sex adjusted RR of the occurrence of IS in winter was 49% greater than in summer (95%CI 1–119%). When men and women were analyzed separately and the rates were adjusted for age, a significantly higher risk of IS was found only in men (RR = 2.48; 95% CI 1.27–4.83) in spring compared with summer. No seasonality was observed for the occurrence of SAH in both men and women. Our findings indicate that there is a significantly greater incidence of ischemic stroke during winter in Siberia, Russia, whereas the incidence of SAH does not show a seasonal variation.     

Improvements in pelvic exenteration: Factors responsible for reducing morbidity and mortality

Background: Since pelvic exenteration for the treatment of recurrent gynecologic malignancy first was described, reported rates of morbidity and mortality have declined steadily. However, the factors responsible for this decline have never been clearly delineated. Methods: We reviewed the charts of 154 patients who underwent pelvic exenteration for gynecologic malignancy between 1954 and 1994. Charts were abstracted for details of the surgical procedure, pathologic findings, postoperative management, short- and long-term complications, time to recurrence, and overall survival. Results: Seventy-two patients (47%) experienced 95 identifiable postoperative complications, resulting in death in 22 patients (14%). The rate of infectious complications declined to a statistically significant degree between the first two decades and latter two decades of the study (odds ratio [OR] 0.28, 95% CI 0.11–0.69). The use of routine prophylactic antibiotics was associated with this decline in infectious complications (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.07–0.83). The use of preoperative subcutaneous heparin was associated with a reduction in thrombotic complications from 5 of 100 patients to 0 of 54 patients (P=.11), as well as a significant reduction in overall risk of complications (OR 0.53, 95% CI 0.33–0.85) and risk of postoperative mortality (OR 0.19, 95% CI 0.05–0.80). There was a significant reduction in overall risk of postoperative complications with both intensive care unit monitoring postoperatively (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.43–0.99) and routine postoperative monitoring with a pulmonary artery catheter (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.38–0.98). Conclusions: Routine use of prophylactic antibiotics, prophylactic subcutaneous heparin, and intensive postoperative monitoring appear to have reduced morbidity from pelvic exenteration.     

Developmental defect of the veins of the cranial vault (sinus pericranii) involving the upper eyelid

Two rare observations of sinus pericranii are presented, characterized by a soft intumescence containing venous blood and growing in size if the head is bent or during tension. The condition may be diagnosed by local introduction of a contrast agent into the intumescence. Surgical treatment of this developmental venous defect is recommended.     

The involvement of intracellular calcium in the sensitization of command neurons in the defensive behavior of the edible snail

Examinations carried out on command neurons of defensive behaviour of snail carried out using electrophysiological methods and a chlorotetracycline fluorescent probe have revealed that a single sensitizing action induces alterations of electrical neuronal activity and bound calcium (Ca-C) level in cells. An initial increase of the Ca-c amount (the first 15-20 min after the sensitizing action) coincides in time with depolarization, enhancement of plasma membrane excitability as well as with a decrease of amplitude and duration of the IPSPs induced by sensory stimulations. Repeated pronounced increase of the Ca-c level develops 50-60 min after the sensitizing action and correlates with facilitation of neuronal responses to sensory stimuli. Alteration of the Ca-c level in command neurons of defensive behaviour in the course of sensitization development differed from the previously described Ca-c shifts in the same cells in the course of habituation development in dynamics and direction.     

The clinico-immunological efficacy of dioxidine in the combined treatment of acute abscessing pneumonias in persons who abuse alcohol

The results of clinico-immunologic studies of the efficacy of dioxidin in persons abusing alcohol have demonstrated that unlike antibiotics, dioxidin does not provoke any immunosuppressive disorders. It is recommended that dioxidin should be included into multimodality treatment of patients with acute lung abscesses, abusing alcohol.     

Core-shell silica nanoparticles as fluorescent labels for nanomedicine

Progress in biomedical imaging depends on the development of probes that combine low toxicity with high sensitivity, resolution, and stability. Toward that end, a new class of highly fluorescent core-shell silica nanoparticles with narrow size distributions and enhanced photostability, known as C dots, provide an appealing alternative to quantum dots. Here, C dots are evaluated with a particular emphasis on in-vivo applications in cancer biology. It is established that C dots are nontoxic at biologically relevant concentrations, and can be used in a broad range of imaging applications including intravital visualization of capillaries and macrophages, sentinel lymph node mapping, and peptide-mediated multicolor cell labeling for real-time imaging of tumor metastasis and tracking of injected bone marrow cells in mice. These results demonstrate that fluorescent core-shell silica nanoparticles represent a powerful novel imaging tool within the emerging field of nanomedicine.     

Effects of antisense oligonucleotides to mRNA for the early gene zif268 on the mechanisms of synapse-specific plasticity

Acquisition of nociceptive sensitization in common snails was accompanied by long-term facilitation of the responses of defensive behavior command neuron LPl1 to sensory stimulation of chemoreceptors on the head and mechanoreceptors on the head and foot. Acquisition of sensitization during intracellular administration of antisense oligonucleotides to mRNA encoding the early gene zif268 showed suppression of synaptic facilitation in the responses of neuron LPl1 to tactile and chemical stimulation of the snail’s head. Synaptic facilitation in the responses to tactile stimulation of the foot developed as in neurons of control sensitized animals. These results suggest that the early gene zif268 is selectively involved in the mechanisms of the specific regulation of the synaptic inputs of neuron LPl1 from sensory receptors on the snail’s head. __________ Translated from Zhurnal Vysshei Nervnoi Deyatel’nosti imeni I. P. Pavlova, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 499–505, July–August, 2006.