Diabetic retinopathy: current and future methods for early screening from a retinal hemodynamic and geometric approach

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a major disease and is the number one cause of blindness in the UK. In England alone, 4200 new cases appear every year and 1280 lead to blindness. DR is a result of diabetes mellitus, which affects the retina of the eye and specifically the vessel structure. Elevated levels of glucose cause a malfunction in the cell structure, which affects the vessel wall and, in severe conditions, leads to their breakage. Much research has been carried out on detecting the different stages of DR but not enough versatile research has been carried out on the detection of early DR before the appearance of any lesions. In this review, the authors approach the topic from the functional side of the human eye and how hemodynamic factors that are impaired by diabetes affect the vascular structur

Prevalence and pathology of ectoparasites of Mediterranean fish, reared under three different environmental and aquaculture conditions in Greece

Τσιπούρες (Spams aurata) και λαβράκια (Dicentrarchus labrax) συλλέχθηκαν από τρεις διαφορετικές περιοχές στην Ελλάδα (θαλασσινά ψάρια εκτροφής από δυο διαφορετικές τοποθεσίες και ψάρια από μια λιμνοθάλασσα), με σκοπό τη διερεύνηση της συχνότητας προσβολής τους από Μετάζωα παράσιτα, την ένταση των παρασίτων και τους παράγοντες που τη συνδέουν με τη συχνότητα προσβολής. Στη μονάδα 1 (Χίος) η συχνότητα προσβολής από εξωπαράσιτα ήταν 61,5% και 76,9% για τα Μονογενή, 0% για τα Ισόποδα και 0% και 23% για τα Κωπήποδα, για την τσίπουρα και το λαβράκι, αντίστοιχα. Στη μονάδα 2 (Επίδαυρος) η συχνότητα προσβολής ήταν 13,3% και 26,3% για τα Μονογενή, 13,7% και 20% για τα Ισόποδα και 0% και 13,6% για τα Κωπήποδα, για την τσίπουρα και το λαβράκι, αντίστοιχα. Στα βράγχια των Sparidae παρατηρήθηκαν αιμορραγίες, εξαιτίας των Μονογενών παρασίτων, αλλά και στο δέρμα και τους οφθαλμούς εξαιτίας των νεαρών σταδίων του Ισόποδου Ceratothoa oestroides και προκάλεσαν σοβαρή παθολογία. Τα παράσιτα Furnestiniaecheneis και Diplectanum aequans είναι ειδικά παράσιτα της τσιπούρας και του λαβρακιου, αντίστοιχα, και παρατηρήθηκαν σεόλα τα συστήματα εκτροφής. Η λιμνοθάλασσα είχε τη μεγαλύτερη ποικιλία παρασίτων μεταξύ όλων το συστημάτων που μελετήθηκαν, παρ'όλα αυτά δεν παρατηρήθηκαν σημαντικές συνέπειες στηνυγεία των μολυσμένων ψαριών από τα παράσιτα. Το Lernanthropus kroyeri είναι παράσιτο του λαβρακιου και βρέθηκε μόνο σε αυτό το είδος, αλλά και στις δυο μονάδες εκτροφής.Sea bream Spams aurata L. and sea bass Dicentrarchus labraxL. were sampled from three different locations in Greece (2 cage fish farms located in different geographic areas and a lagoon), in order to investigate the prevalence of Metazoa parasites, the intensity and the factors associated with the prevalence. In farm 1 (Eastern Greece) the prevalence of the ectoparasites was: 61.5% and 76.9% for Monogenea, 0% for Isopoda and 0% and 23% for Copepoda in sea bream and sea bass, respectively. In farm 2 the prevalence was: 13.3% and 26.3% for Monogenea, 13.7% and 20% for Isopoda and 0% and 13.6% for Copepoda in sea bream and sea bass, respectively. Lesions in the gills of Sparidae were due to monogeneans, but lesions in the skin and eyes were due to Ceratothoa oestroides larval stages causing severe pathology. Furnestinia. echeneis and Diplectanum aequans were host specific for sea bream and bass, respectively and showed persistence in all aquaculture systems. The Greek lagoon had the largest variety of parasites among the ecosystems studied, however, this variety did not significantly affect the health of infected fish. Lernanthropus kroyeri was host specific and was detected only in sea bass in both cage farms investigated

Anisotropic nanomaterials: structure, growth, assembly, and functions

Comprehensive knowledge over the shape of nanomaterials is a critical factor in designing devices with desired functions. Due to this reason, systematic efforts have been made to synthesize materials of diverse shape in the nanoscale regime. Anisotropic nanomaterials are a class of materials in which their properties are direction-dependent and more than one structural parameter is needed to describe them. Their unique and fine-tuned physical and chemical properties make them ideal candidates for devising new applications. In addition, the assembly of ordered one-dimensional (1D), two-dimensional (2D), and three-dimensional (3D) arrays of anisotropic nanoparticles brings novel properties into the resulting system, which would be entirely different from the properties of individual nanoparticles. This review presents an overview of current research in the area of anisotropic nanomaterials in general and noble metal nanoparticles in particular. We begin with an introduction to the advancements in this area followed by general aspects of the growth of anisotropic nanoparticles. Then we describe several important synthetic protocols for making anisotropic nanomaterials, followed by a summary of their assemblies, and conclude with major applications

Influence of salts on the coexistence curve and protein partitioning in nonionic aqueous two-phase micellar systems

Aqueous two-phase micellar systems (ATPMS) can be exploited in separation science for the extraction/purification of desired biomolecules. Prior to phase separation the surfactant solution reaches a cloud point temperature, which is influenced by the presence of electrolytes. In this work, we provide an investigation on the cloud point behavior of the nonionic surfactant C10E4 in the presence of NaCl, Li2SO4 and KI. We also investigated the salts' influence on a model protein partitioning. NaCl and Li2SO4 promoted a depression of the cloud point. The order of salts and the concentration that decreased the cloud point was: Li2SO4 0.5 M > NaCl 0.5 M ≈ Li2SO4 0.2 M. On the other hand, 0.5 M KI dislocated the curve to higher cloud point values. For our model protein, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), partitioning experiments with 0.5 M NaCl or 0.2 M Li2SO4 at 13.85 °C showed similar results, with KG6PD ~ 0.46. The lowest partition coefficient was obtained in the presence of 0.5 M KI (KG6PD = 0.12), with major recovery of the enzyme in the micelle-dilute phase (%Recovery = 90%). Our results show that choosing the correct salt to add to ATPMS may be useful to attain the desired partitioning conditions at more extreme temperatures. Furthermore, this system can be effective to separate a target biomolecule from fermented broth contaminants.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)University of São Paulo School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Department of Biochemical and Pharmaceutical TechnologyUniversidade Estadual Paulista School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Department of Bioprocess and BiotechnologyUniversidade Estadual Paulista School of Pharmaceutical Sciences Department of Bioprocess and Biotechnolog

Effects of sodium salts of lyotropic anions on low-temperature, ordered lipid monolayers

Electrolytes are known to impart considerable disorder to lipid assemblies, including monolayers at the air-water interface, bilayers, and vesicles. In the present work, we have investigated the disordering effect of sodium salts of monovalent anions that span the lyotropic series on the monolayers of 1,2-dipalmitoyl-sn-glycero-phosphocholine (DPPC) at 12 °C. Pressure-area isotherms, Brewster-angle microscopy (BAM), grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD), and infrared absorption-reflection spectroscopy (IRRAS) were used to investigate in complementary ways the salt effects on lipid monolayers. At 12 °C these effects were found to be quite dramatic, a major finding being that the liquid-expanded phase, which is not present at this temperature on a pure water subphase, reappears and dominates in the presence of electrolytes. Salts expand the monolayer, destroy the ordered phase that exists at zero pressure, and affect the ordering of the lipid chains and their tilt angle in the liquid condensed phase. Finally, very chaotropic anions force DPPC lipids to adopt an untilted conformation in the condensed phase, an unprecedented finding for nonmixed Langmuir monolayers of this phospholipid. A distinctly different behavior of very chaotropic anions from that of normal chaotropic ones thus emerges. The effect of the former is not just a limited perturbation of the lipid assembly but a major disruption of the structure, which arises from competition between the lipids and the ions for interfacial sites