Vitreous Bands Identified by Handheld Spectral-Domain Optical Coherence Tomography Among Premature Infants

Importance: Handheld spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) can provide insights into the complex interactions occurring at the vitreoretinal interface in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) to enhance our understanding of ROP pathology. Objective: To characterize vitreous bands in premature infants with use of handheld SD-OCT. Design, Setting, and Participants: Prospective cohort study conducted from July 7, 2015, to February 28, 2017, at 2 university-based neonatal intensive care units. Seventy-three premature infants who required routine ROP screening examination were recruited. Informed consent was obtained from all legal guardians. Trained graders who were masked to the clinical assessment analyzed each SD-OCT scan of the right eye for vitreoretinal findings. A third trained grader mediated disagreements. Main Outcomes and Measures: Associations between the presence of vitreous bands in premature infants with ROP diagnoses and the presence of other vitreoretinal SD-OCT findings were investigated. Results: Of the 73 infants recruited, 6 infants\u27 parents withdrew their children from the study, and 2 infants were too hemodynamically unstable for imaging, leaving a total of 65 participants. Of these, 32 (49%) were female, 36 (55%) were white, 10 (15%) were Hispanic, 3 (5%) were Native American, 4 (6%) were African American, 4 (7%) were Asian/Pacific Islander, and 8 (12%) were other. The mean (SD) gestational age was 28 (2.7) weeks, the mean (SD) birth weight was 997 g (286 g), and the mean (SD) postmenstrual age at imaging was 34 (3) weeks (mean [SD] total of 3 [2] imaging sessions). Comparing the 24 infants (37%) who had a right eye vitreous band at any time with the 41 (63%) who did not, no difference in mean birth weight, gestational age, postmenstrual age at imaging, sex, or race/ethnicity was identified. No associations with ROP stage (eg, in 6 [25%] infants with vitreous bands vs 4 [9.8%] in those without; P = .23), presence of plus disease (2 [8%] vs 2 [5%]; P = .84), or type 1 ROP (3 [12%] vs 3 [7%]; P = .66) were identified. Vitreous bands were associated with epiretinal membrane detected on SD-OCT (P = .001) with an odds ratio of 9.4 (95% CI, 2.8-31.3) in 15 [62%] infants with vitreous bands vs 6 [15%] in those without. Vitreous bands were also associated with cystoid macular edema (in 15 [62%] infants with vitreous bands vs 1 [27%] in those without; P = .005) with an odds ratio of 4.5 (95% CI, 1.5-13.3). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, the development of vitreous bands was associated with both cystoid macular edema and epiretinal membrane. These findings suggest a tractional pathogenesis to these entities among premature infants. This study did not find a direct association between vitreous bands and severe ROP. Additional study is needed to determine whether vitreous bands represent subclinical hyaloidal organization leading to retinal detachment in advanced ROP

Postharvest quality indices of different durian clones at ripening stage and their volatile organic compounds

The aim of the present work was to characterize the quality of durians at consumptions stage. Seven clones of durian namely “Musang King”, “D24″, “D88″, “IOI”, “XO”, “Red Prawn” and “Black Thorn” were characterized based on their physiochemical properties. The organic acid contents, sugar compositions and β-carotene of durian clones were measured by high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC), while the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were analyzed using headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC MS). There were significant differences on all the postharvest parameters in the selected durian clones. “Black Thorn” having orange pulp yieled the highest β-carotene content (4.55 × 10−5 kg/kg FW). The dominant sugars in the pulp of all durian clones were dominated by sucrose followed by glucose and fructose. Sulfur- and ester-containing compounds were the predominant VOCs found. Principal component analysis (PCA) allowed for the grouping of different durian clones based on VOCs

Identification of Novel Human Damage Response Proteins Targeted through Yeast Orthology

Studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae show that many proteins influence cellular survival upon exposure to DNA damaging agents. We hypothesized that human orthologs of these S. cerevisiae proteins would also be required for cellular survival after treatment with DNA damaging agents. For this purpose, human homologs of S. cerevisiae proteins were identified and mapped onto the human protein-protein interaction network. The resulting human network was highly modular and a series of selection rules were implemented to identify 45 candidates for human toxicity-modulating proteins. The corresponding transcripts were targeted by RNA interference in human cells. The cell lines with depleted target expression were challenged with three DNA damaging agents: the alkylating agents MMS and 4-NQO, and the oxidizing agent t-BuOOH. A comparison of the survival revealed that the majority (74%) of proteins conferred either sensitivity or resistance. The identified human toxicity-modulating proteins represent a variety of biological functions: autophagy, chromatin modifications, RNA and protein metabolism, and telomere maintenance. Further studies revealed that MMS-induced autophagy increase the survival of cells treated with DNA damaging agents. In summary, we show that damage recovery proteins in humans can be identified through homology to S. cerevisiae and that many of the same pathways are represented among the toxicity modulators

Comprehensive and Integrated Genomic Characterization of Adult Soft Tissue Sarcomas

Sarcomas are a broad family of mesenchymal malignancies exhibiting remarkable histologic diversity. We describe the multi-platform molecular landscape of 206 adult soft tissue sarcomas representing 6 major types. Along with novel insights into the biology of individual sarcoma types, we report three overarching findings: (1) unlike most epithelial malignancies, these sarcomas (excepting synovial sarcoma) are characterized predominantly by copy-number changes, with low mutational loads and only a few genes (, , ) highly recurrently mutated across sarcoma types; (2) within sarcoma types, genomic and regulomic diversity of driver pathways defines molecular subtypes associated with patient outcome; and (3) the immune microenvironment, inferred from DNA methylation and mRNA profiles, associates with outcome and may inform clinical trials of immune checkpoint inhibitors. Overall, this large-scale analysis reveals previously unappreciated sarcoma-type-specific changes in copy number, methylation, RNA, and protein, providing insights into refining sarcoma therapy and relationships to other cancer types

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

Resident Sleep During Traditional Home Call Compared to Night Float

Purpose This article aims to compare resident sleep while on night float with a traditional home call

Lamina depth and thickness correlate with glaucoma severity

Purpose: To evaluate the correlation between lamina cribrosa (LC) morphology and glaucoma severity in patients with primary forms of open-angle glaucoma (OAG) using enhanced depth imaging spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and Humphrey visual field test (HVF). Subjects and Methods: Patients with OAG (n = 166), divided into normal-tension glaucoma (NTG) and high-tension glaucoma (HTG) groups (n = 66 and n = 100), were imaged using SD-OCT to obtain horizontal B-scan images of the optic nerve head (ONH). Laminar depth (LD) and laminar thickness (LT) were measured at the center of ONH. Results: The mean (±standard deviation) values of LD, LT, and visual field mean deviation (MD) were 555.4 ± 142.3 μm, 179.9 ± 49.7 μm, and − 5.7 ± 6.4 dB, respectively. In the multivariate linear regression analysis, LD, LT, and intraocular pressure (IOP) were significantly correlated with MD (P = 0.007, P = 0.037, and P = 0.004, respectively). In the subgroup analyses, only LD was associated with MD in the NTG group (n = 66), whereas LT and IOP were correlated with MD in the HTG group (n = 100). Neither axial length nor central corneal thickness was associated with LD or LT. Conclusions: Glaucoma severity, as measured by HVF MD, shows significant correlations with LD and LT, with greater severity associated with increasing LD and decreasing LT. Normal- and high-tension OAG patients have different associations with LD and LT, which implies that the pathogenesis of these two entities might be different

Effects of Cdh23 single nucleotide substitutions on age-related hearing loss in C57BL/6 and 129S1/Sv mice and comparisons with congenic strains.

A single nucleotide variant (SNV) of the cadherin 23 gene (Cdh23(c.753A)), common to many inbred mouse strains, accelerates age-related hearing loss (AHL) and can worsen auditory phenotypes of other mutations. We used homologous recombination in C57BL/6 NJ (B6N) and 129S1/SvImJ (129S1) embryonic stem cells to engineer mouse strains with reciprocal single base pair substitutions (B6-Cdh23(c.753A\u3eG) and 129S1-Cdh23(c.753G\u3eA)). We compared ABR thresholds and cochlear pathologies of these SNV mice with those of congenic (B6.129S1-Cdh23(Ahl+) and 129S1.B6-Cdh23(ahl)) and parental (B6N and 129S1) strain mice. Results verified the protective effect of the Cdh23(c.753G) allele, which prevented high frequency hearing loss in B6 mice to at least 18 months of age, and the AHL-inducing effect of the Cdh23(c.753A) allele, which worsened hearing loss in 129S1 mice. ABR thresholds differed between 129S-Cdh23(c.753A) SNV and 129S1.B6-Cdh23(ahl) congenic mice, and a linkage backcross involving these strains localized a Chr 10 QTL contributing to the difference. These results illustrate the large effects that strain background and congenic regions have on the hearing loss associated with Cdh23(c.753)alleles. Importantly, the B6-Cdh23(c.753G)strain can be used to eliminate the confounding influence of the Cdh23(c.753A)variant in hearing studies of B6 mice and mutant mice on the B6 background. Sci Rep 2017 Mar 13; 7:44450

The flipped-classroom approach to teaching horizontal strabismus in ophthalmology residency: a pilot study

PurposeTo compare the flipped classroom (home pre-taped lectures followed by in-class group exercise) to the traditional classroom (home reading assignment followed by in-class lecture) for horizontal strabismus didactics in ophthalmology residency.MethodsAll PGY2-4 residents from four U.S. ophthalmology residencies without prior residency flipped-classroom experience were invited to esotropia and exotropia sessions sequentially, with random order and assignment to flipped and traditional classrooms. Content test scores before and after the two classrooms were compared. Surveys were administered to assess participant experience.ResultsA total of 40 residents attended each session. Likert scale evaluation of preparatory material and classroom activity did not differ between sessions; however, divided by year of training, 70% of senior residents (PGY3-4) and 39% of first-year (PGY2) residents preferred the flipped classroom over the traditional classroom. Pre- and post-test scores for the flipped classroom exceeded those of the traditional classroom for the exotropia course (P = 0.01 and P = 0.001, resp.) but not for the esotropia course. There was significant improvement between pre- and post-tests for both styles of learning.ConclusionsThe flipped classroom had a favorable effect on test scores for only one of the two strabismus subjects but was preferred over the traditional classroom among PGY3-4 residents