Early high-dose intravenous methylprednisolone is effective in preserving retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in patients with neuromyelitis optica

Background  

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a recurring inflammatory neurological disease characterized by severe optic neuritis and myelitis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT) is correlated with the clinical presentations in patients with NMO and to determine the clinical factors that lead to poor visual outcomes.     

The 30-year Natural History of Non-classic Fabry Disease with an R112H Mutation

Fabry disease is a rare X-linked lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in the alpha-galactosidase A (GLA) gene that results in deficiency of the enzyme GLA and leads to the accumulation of globotriaosylceramide (GL-3) in cells. The accumulation of GL-3 may lead to life-threatening complications. Significant advances in genetic sequencing technology have led to a better understanding of genotype-phenotype interactions in Fabry disease. Fabry disease with an R112H mutation is known as the non-classic type. However, the long-term clinical course of the disease remains unknown. We herein report a patient with a 30-year natural history of non-classic Fabry disease with an R112H mutation.     

Association of magnetic resonance imaging of anterior optic pathway with glaucomatous visual field damage and optic disc cupping

PURPOSE: To investigate the association of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of anterior optic pathway with glaucomatous visual field damage and optic disc cupping. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty-three healthy volunteers (controls) and 31 glaucoma patients (14 with primary open angle glaucoma and 17 with normal tension glaucoma) were enrolled. All the participants showed no abnormal signs in their intracranial space and optic tract causing optic nerve atrophy and visual field defect, as confirmed by MRI. Multislice T1-weighted spin-echo imaging was performed in the sagittal plane followed by the coronal plane. MRI enabled the evaluation of the diameter of the optic nerve located in the retro-bulb space and the height of the optic chiasm in an observer-masked fashion. The MRI data were compared with the mean deviation (MD) score of the full threshold static visual field test and the optic cup-disc ratio (C/D ratio). RESULTS: The optic nerve diameter was significantly smaller in glaucoma patients (2.25 +/- 0.33 mm) than in controls (2.47 +/- 0.24 mm) and the height of the optic chiasm was significantly shorter in glaucoma patients (2.12 +/- 0.37 mm) than in controls (2.77 +/- 0.36 mm). The optic nerve diameter showed significant correlation with MD score (r = 0.547, P = 0.001) and C/D ratio (r = 0.407, P = 0.009). These correlations are similar to that between MD score and C/D ratio (r = 0.490, P = 0.001). The height of the optic chiasm showed significant correlation with MD score (r = 0.503, P = 0.01) and low correlation with C/D ratio (r = 0.339, P = 0.113). CONCLUSION: Glaucoma affects the anterior visual pathway anterogradely at least up to the optic chiasm, and these morphologic changes in the anterior visual pathway are correlated with glaucomatous optic nerve damage. MRI of the anterior visual pathway may be a good tool for evaluating glaucomatous damage objectively.     

Obstetrical factors for death and brain injury among extremely-low-birth-weight infants

OBJECTIVE: To examine the obstetrical risk factors for death and brain injury among extremely-low-birth-weight (ELBW) infants (birth weight <1000 g). STUDY DESIGN: Study subjects were 121 ELBW infants born at a single tertiary perinatal center. Death among ELBW infants was considered to have occurred when subjects died within their corrected age of 40 weeks. In the sub-analysis of the 91 ELBW infants who survived their corrected age of 40 weeks, brain injury was defined as present when criteria based on ultrasound and/or MRI were substantiated. RESULTS: A birth weight of <800 g [adjusted odds ratio (OR), 14.57; 95% confidence interval (CI), 4.72-56.98], a younger gestational age of <26 weeks (adjusted OR, 4.64; 95% CI, 1.60-14.90), and a low Apgar score of <5 (adjusted OR, 3.88; 95% CI, 1.32-12.45) were significantly associated with death among ELBW infants. A maternal age of 30 years or older (adjusted OR, 3.71; 95% CI, 1.19-13.35) was only associated with brain injury among surviving ELBW infants. CONCLUSION: Obstetrical care should be aimed at preventing or predicting premature delivery especially at <26 weeks of gestation.     

Association of serum cytokine concentrations with psychological symptoms in midlife women

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of the present study was to clarify the association of serum cytokine concentrations, determined using a multiplexed cytokine assay, with psychological symptoms in midlife women. METHODS: Fifty-three peri- and post-menopausal women with and without psychological symptoms in Greene's climacteric scale were enrolled in this study. Levels of 17 cytokines in serum samples were measured simultaneously using a multiplexed human cytokine assay. RESULTS: Serum interleukin (IL)-6 concentration in women with psychological symptoms (2.71+/-047 pg/ml) was significantly (p=0.009) higher than that in women without psychological symptoms (0.98+/-0.18 pg/ml). Serum IL-8 concentration in women with psychological symptoms (33.4+/-8.17 pg/ml) was also significantly (p=0.022) higher than that in women without psychological symptoms (7.87+/-1.64 pg/ml). In addition, serum IL-10 concentration in women with psychological symptoms (0.74+/-0.26 pg/ml) was significantly (p=0.048) higher than that in women without psychological symptoms (0.07+/-0.04 pg/ml). Tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha in serum was detected only in women with psychological symptoms. Serum IL-2 concentration in women with psychological symptoms tended (p=0.066) to be higher than that in women without psychological symptoms. No significant differences were found between levels of other cytokines in women with and without psychological symptoms. CONCLUSION: Psychological stress manifested as climacteric symptoms in midlife women may be associated with increases in serum concentrations of IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF-alpha.     

Synthesis and photophysical properties of photostable 1,8-naphthalimide dyes incorporating benzotriazole-based UV absorbers

We developed a series of blue-emitting 1,8-naphthalimide dyes covalently attached to 2-(2-hydroxyphenyl)-2H-benzotriazoles that retard photodegradation of the fluorophore. The dyes displayed weaker fluorescence emissions than the parent 1.8-naphthalimide. Quantum chemical calculations suggested that the decreased fluorescence was caused by the nonradiative deactivation promoted through the excited state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) in benzotriazole components. The dyes'' phosphorescences in a degassed solution at 77 K were more efficient than that of the parent 1.8-naphthalimide, indicating a possible deactivation pathway through intersystem crossing. PMMA films doped with these dyes showed higher resistance against photoaging than the film doped with an equimolar mixture of constituent 1.8-naphthalimide and the benzotriazole derivatives. Thus, the covalently linked benzotriazole units slow fluorophore degradation not only by preferential absorption of harmful UV light, which is found in the film with a simple mixture of two components, but also by the nonradiative deactivation involved in benzotriazole units.

Highly photostable blue fluorescence dyes were developed by hybridization of 1,8-naphthalimides with benzotriazole-based UV absorbers enabling a non-radiative energy dissipation process of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT).