Dry Eye Diseases and Ocular Surgery: Practical Guidelines for Canadian Eye Care Practitioners

In 2014, the Canadian Dry Eye Disease Consensus Panel published Guidelines for screening, diagnosis and management of dry eye diseases (DED). These did not address the implications of DED for individuals who are being considered for or have recently undergone ocular surgery. DED is common in certain surgical cohorts, and the perisurgical setting poses specific challenges, both because surgery can complicate preexisting DED and because symptomatic and non-symptomatic DED place the patient at risk of poor surgical outcomes. The Consensus Panel has developed this Addendum to the 2014 Guidelines to offer guidance on DED care before and after ocular surgery

Towards IASI-New Generation (IASI-NG): impact of improved spectral resolution and radiometric noise on the retrieval of thermodynamic, chemistry and climate variables

Besides their strong contribution to weather forecast improvement through data assimilation, thermal infrared sounders onboard polar-orbiting platforms are now playing a key role for monitoring atmospheric composition changes. The Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI) instrument developed by the French space agency (CNES) and launched by Eumetsat onboard the Metop satellite series is providing essential inputs for weather forecasting and pollution/climate monitoring owing to its smart combination of large horizontal swath, good spectral resolution and high radiometric performance. EUMETSAT is currently preparing the next polar-orbiting program (EPS-SG) with the Metop-SG satellite series that should be launched around 2020. In this framework, CNES is studying the concept of a new instrument, the IASI-New Generation (IASI-NG), characterized by an improvement of both spectral and radiometric characteristics as compared to IASI, with three objectives: (i) continuity of the IASI/Metop series; (ii) improvement of vertical resolution; (iii) improvement of the accuracy and detection threshold for atmospheric and surface components. In this paper, we show that an improvement of spectral resolution and radiometric noise fulfill these objectives by leading to (i) a better vertical coverage in the lower part of the troposphere, thanks to the increase in spectral resolution; (ii) an increase in the accuracy of the retrieval of several thermodynamic, climate and chemistry variables, thanks to the improved signal-to-noise ratio as well as less interferences between the signatures of the absorbing species in the measured radiances. The detection limit of several atmospheric species is also improved. We conclude that IASI-NG has the potential for strongly benefiting the numerical weather prediction, chemistry and climate communities now connected through the European GMES/Copernicus initiative

Lignes directrices pratiques pour les professionnels canadiens des soins oculovisuels concernant la sécheresse oculaire et la chirurgie de l’œil

En 2014, le Groupe de consensus canadien sur la sécheresse oculaire a publié un document intitulé Dépistage, diagnostic et prise en charge de la sécher-esse oculaire : guide pratique à l’intention des optométristes canadiens. Ce guide pratique ne traitait pas des répercussions de la sécheresse oculaire chez les personnes en voie de subir une intervention chirurgicale de l’œil ou ayant récemment subi ce genre d’intervention. La sécheresse oculaire est courante dans certaines cohortes ayant subi une intervention chirurgicale, et le contexte périopératoire pose des problèmes précis; d’une part parce qu’une intervention chirurgicale peut compliquer une sécheresse oculaire préexistante et, d’autre part, parce la sécheresse oculaire symptomatique et asymptomatique expose le patient au risque d’obtenir des résultats chirur-gicaux médiocres. Le groupe de consensus a élaboré cet addenda au guide pratique de 2014 pour offrir des conseils sur les soins relatifs à la sécheresse oculaire avant et après une intervention chirurgicale aux yeux

Strategic research and innovation agenda on circular economy

CICERONE aims to bring national, regional and local governments together to jointly tackle the circular economy transition needed to reach net-zero carbon emissions and meet the targets set in the Paris Agreement and EU Green Deal. This document represents one of the key outcomes of the project: a Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for Europe, to support owners and funders of circular economy programmes in aligning priorities and approaching the circular economy transition in a systemic way

Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation for Severe Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome associated with COVID-19: An Emulated Target Trial Analysis.

RATIONALE: Whether COVID patients may benefit from extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) compared with conventional invasive mechanical ventilation (IMV) remains unknown. OBJECTIVES: To estimate the effect of ECMO on 90-Day mortality vs IMV only Methods: Among 4,244 critically ill adult patients with COVID-19 included in a multicenter cohort study, we emulated a target trial comparing the treatment strategies of initiating ECMO vs. no ECMO within 7 days of IMV in patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (PaO2/FiO2 <80 or PaCO2 ≥60 mmHg). We controlled for confounding using a multivariable Cox model based on predefined variables. MAIN RESULTS: 1,235 patients met the full eligibility criteria for the emulated trial, among whom 164 patients initiated ECMO. The ECMO strategy had a higher survival probability at Day-7 from the onset of eligibility criteria (87% vs 83%, risk difference: 4%, 95% CI 0;9%) which decreased during follow-up (survival at Day-90: 63% vs 65%, risk difference: -2%, 95% CI -10;5%). However, ECMO was associated with higher survival when performed in high-volume ECMO centers or in regions where a specific ECMO network organization was set up to handle high demand, and when initiated within the first 4 days of MV and in profoundly hypoxemic patients. CONCLUSIONS: In an emulated trial based on a nationwide COVID-19 cohort, we found differential survival over time of an ECMO compared with a no-ECMO strategy. However, ECMO was consistently associated with better outcomes when performed in high-volume centers and in regions with ECMO capacities specifically organized to handle high demand. This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives License 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

The horse pinworm (Oxyuris equi) in archaeology during the Holocene: Review of past records and new data.

International audienc

Hint2 is expressed in the mitochondria of H295R cells and is involved in steroidogenesis

Hint2 belongs to the superfamily of histidine triad hydrolase enzymes. Recently, it has been shown to influence the mitochondria-dependent apoptosis occurring in hepatocytes, but its mechanism of action is still obscure. Here, we demonstrate that Hint2 is expressed in the mitochondria of H295R cells and in normal adrenals, and that this protein is involved in steroidogenesis. The presence of Hint2 in H295R cells was revealed by RT-PCR and by immunoblot analysis of subcellular fractions. The protein appeared associated with mitochondrial membranes, probably facing the interior of the organelle. Hint2 overexpression in H295R cells had no effect on pregnenolone secretion elicited by angiotensin II or K+, whereas protein silencing with specific small interfering RNA resulted in a marked reduction of the steroidogenic response. The duration of the mitochondrial calcium signal induced by angiotensin II was also reduced upon Hint2 down-regulation with small interfering RNA, but not affected after its overexpression, suggesting that under basal conditions, Hint2 is optimally expressed, and not rate limiting in steroidogenesis. Moreover, Hint2 also appeared involved in Ca2+-independent pathways leading to steroid formation. Indeed, pregnenolone formation in response to either forskolin or a hydroxyl analog of cholesterol was markedly reduced after Hint2 silencing. Calcium-dependent and calcium-independent actions of Hint2 on steroidogenesis could be related to its ability to maintain a favorable mitochondrial potential. In conclusion, these data suggest that, in H295R cells, Hint2 is required for an optimal steroidogenic response, possibly because of a particular signalling function exerted within the mitochondria and that still remains to determine at the molecular level

Synthesis and radioligand binding studies of bis-(8-isopropylisoquinolinium) derivatives as ligands for apamin-sensitive sites on cloned SK2 and SK3 channels

A structure-activity relationship study of N-methyl-laudanosine, a SK channel blocker, has indicated that the 6,7-dimethoxy group could be successfully replaced by a hydrophobic moiety such as an isopropyl substituent in position 8 of the isoquinoline ring. In the present study, bis-(8-isopropyl-isoquinolinium) derivatives (2a-e) were synthesized and tested for their affinity for cloned SK2 and SK3 channels in comparison with their 6,7-dimethoxy analogues (4a-f). Several ligands were investigated, both in flexible (propyl, butyl and pentyl) and rigid (m- or p-xylyl) series, the m-xylyl derivative (2d) having the best profile in terms of affinity and selectivity for SK3/SK2 channels. Molecular studies showed that the optimal conformation of compound 2d fits well with our SK pharmacophore model.SK channel