Microbial Keratitis After Penetrating and Endothelial Keratoplasty

Introduction: The purpose of this study is to review the incidence, risk factors, and outcomes of bacterial and fungal keratitis after penetrating keratoplasty (PK) and endothelial keratoplasty (EK). Methods: The medical records at Wills Eye Hospital were reviewed for all cases of confirmed microbial keratitis following PK or EK performed between May 1, 2007 and September 1, 2018. Charts were examined to obtain demographic information, past ocular history, details of the microbial keratitis, and graft outcomes. Results:A total of 2100 transplants (1269 PK and 831 EK) were performed in 1864 eyes of 1601 patients. The incidence of microbial keratitis after PK (7.5%) was significantly higher than after EK (1.3%) (p Discussion: : Microbial keratitis is a relatively common occurrence in patients with prior keratoplasty, and particularly in eyes with prior PK or multiple prior transplants. Infection is an important cause of graft failure and further surgical intervention. To the best of our knowledge, this is the largest review of microbial keratitis in cases of prior PK, and the only review in eyes with prior EK

The influence of organizational culture and climate on entrepreneurial intentions among research scientists

Over the past decades, universities have increasingly become involved in entrepreneurial activities. Despite efforts to embrace their ‘third mission’, universities still demonstrate great heterogeneity in terms of their involvement in academic entrepreneurship. This papers adopts an institutional perspective to understand how organizational characteristics affect research scientists’ entrepreneurial intentions. Specifically, we study the impact of university culture and climate on entrepreneurial intentions, including intentions to spin off a company, to engage in patenting or licensing and to interact with industry through contract research or consulting. Using a sample of 437 research scientists from Swedish and German universities, our results reveal that the extent to which universities articulate entrepreneurship as a fundamental element of their mission fosters research scientists’ intentions to engage in spin-off creation and intellectual property rights, but not industry-science interaction. Furthermore, the presence of university role models positively affects research scientists’ propensity to engage in entrepreneurial activities, both directly and indirectly through entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Finally, research scientists working at universities which explicitly reward people for ‘third mission’ related output show higher levels of spin-off and patenting or licensing intentions. This study has implications for both academics and practitioners, including university managers and policy makers

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies

Bradykinin 2 receptor antagonist LF 16-0687Ms reduces posttraumatic brain edema

Activation of the kallikrein-kinin system contributes to traumatic brain edema formation. Inhibition of bradykinin 2 (B2) receptors has been shown to successfully reduce brain edema formation. The purpose of this study was to investigate the protective effect of the novel nonpeptide B2 receptor antagonist LF 16-0687Ms in brain-injured rats. Contusion was produced in forty rats by controlled cortical impact injury. Five minutes after trauma rats received a single dose of 0, 3, or 30 mg/kg of LF 16-0687Ms. After 24 hours brain swelling and hemispheric water content were determined. Brain swelling was significantly decreased by 25% in the low and 27% in the high dose group compared to controls (p < 0.03). Water content of the traumatized hemisphere tended to be decreased (80.2 +/- 0.1 vs. 80.4 +/- 0.1%) while water content of the non-traumatized hemispheres tended to be increased after administering LF 16.0687Ms (79.3 +/- 0.1 vs. 79.0 +/- 0.1%). Single administration of the novel nonpeptide B2 receptor antagonist LF 16-0687Ms significantly reduces brain swelling. The missing significant reduction in water content of the traumatized hemisphere, however, could be related to an unspecific increase in water content due to LF 16.0687Ms as suggested by increased water content in the non-traumatized hemisphere

Funktionelle Schichten mittels DBE zur Steuerung der Haftung

Dieser Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Abscheidung unterschiedlicher Beschichtungen mittels Atmosphärendruck-Plasmaverfahren zur Steuerung der Haftung auf planaren und komplexen Oberflächen im Bereich der Medizintechnik, Neben dem Erhalt chemisch reaktiver Gruppen zur kovalenten Ankopplung von Biomolekülen, werden auch Möglichkeiten vorgestellt, Zell- und proteinabweisende Beschichtungen herzustellen. Anhand verschiedener Beispiele wird der Nutzen von Plasmapolymerschichten basierend auf Atmosphärendruck-Plasmaverfahren verdeutlicht