Elevated Levels of Plasma IgA Autoantibodies against Oxidized LDL Found in Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy but Not in Nonproliferative Retinopathy

Aims. This study investigated the association of autoantibodies binding to oxidized low-density lipoproteins (oxLDL) in diabetic retinopathy (DR). Methods. Plasma from 229 types 1 and 2 patients with DR including diabetic macular edema (DME) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) was analysed with ELISA-based assay to determine IgA, IgG, and IgM autoantibody levels binding to oxLDL. The controls were 106 diabetic patients without retinopathy (NoDR) and 139 nondiabetic controls (C). Results. PDR group had significantly higher IgA autoantibody levels than DME or NoDR: mean 94.9 (SD 54.7) for PDR, 75.5 (41.8) for DME ( = 0.001), and 76.1 (48.2) for NoDR ( = 0.008). There were no differences in IgG, IgM, or IgA that would be specific for DR or for DME. Type 2 diabetic patients had higher levels of IgA autoantibodies than type 1 diabetic patients (86.0 and 65.5, resp., = 0.004) and the highest levels in IgA were found in type 2 diabetic patients with PDR (119.1, > 0.001). Conclusions. IgA autoantibodies were increased in PDR, especially in type 2 diabetes. The high levels of IgA in PDR, and especially in type 2 PDR patients, reflect the inflammatory process and enlighten the role of oxLDL and its autoantibodies in PDR

Elevated Levels of Plasma IgA Autoantibodies against Oxidized LDL Found in Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy but Not in Nonproliferative Retinopathy

Peer reviewe

Characterization of metabolic interrelationships and in silico phenotyping of lipoprotein particles using self-organizing maps

Peer reviewe

The images of psychiatry scale: development, factor structure, and reliability.

BACKGROUND: This analysis is based on a survey questionnaire designed to describe medical educators' views of psychiatry and psychiatrists. Our goals in this paper were to assess the psychometric properties of the survey questions by (a) using exploratory factor analysis to identify the basic factor structure underlying 37 survey items; (b) testing the resulting factor structure using confirmatory factor analysis; and (c) assessing the internal reliability of each identified factor. To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to use these techniques to psychometrically assess a scale measuring the strength of stigma that medical educators attached to psychiatry. METHODS: Survey data were collected from a random sample of 1,059 teaching faculty in 23 academic teaching sites in 15 countries. We conducted exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis to identify the scale structure and Cronbach's alpha to assess internal consistency of the resulting scales. RESULTS: Results showed that a two-factor solution was the best fit for the data. Following exploratory factor analysis, we conducted confirmatory factor analysis on a split half of the sample. Results highlighted several items with low loadings. Excluding factors with low correlations and allowing for several correlated variances resulted in a good fitting model explaining 95% of the variance in the data. CONCLUSIONS: We identified two unidimensional scales. The Images Scale contained 11 items measuring stereotypic content concerning psychiatry and psychiatrists. The Efficacy of Psychiatry Scale contained 5 items addressing perceptions of the challenges and effectiveness of psychiatry as a discipline

Delivering better outcomes through customer-led project management: the case of the major project BT 21st Century Network in the UK

Traditional approaches of major project management take the strategy of selecting a supplier-led prime/systems integrator. Although this strategy pushes a significant amount of risk to the supplier, project performance may suffer due to lower engagement of the customer in the anticipation of potential issues involving a major project. Thus, this research investigates the implications of the customer, as opposed to a selected external supplier, assuming the role of systems/prime integrator, as a Problem Structuring Method (PSM) to better deal with the soft side and uncertainties of the project. A case study approach is conducted on the major project BT 21st Century Network (BT21CN) to demonstrate that customer-led systems integration projects may provide more balance in the relationship and distribution of risks between supplier and customer, having a positive impact on project performance, accelerating the development of BT’s organisational capabilities, and producing better project outcomes in the long term

'Statins in retinal disease'

Statins are known for their blood cholesterol-lowering effect and are widely used in patients with cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Research over the past three decades shows that statins have diverse effects on different pathophysiological pathways involved in angiogenesis, inflammation, apoptosis, and anti-oxidation, leading to new therapeutic options. Recently, statins have attracted considerable attention for their immunomodulatory effect. Since immune reactivity has been implicated in a number of retinal diseases, such as uveitis, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy, there is now a growing body of evidence supporting the beneficial effects of statins in these retinopathies. This review evaluates the relationship between statins and the pathophysiological basis of these diseases, focusing on their potential role in treatment. A PubMed database search and literature review was conducted. Among AMD patients, there is inconsistent evidence regarding protection against development of early AMD or delaying disease progression; though they have been found to reduce the risk of developing choroidal neovascular membranes (CNV). In patients with retinal vein occlusion, there was no evidence to support a therapeutic benefit or a protective role with statins. In patients with diabetic retinopathy, statins demonstrate a reduction in disease progression and improved resolution of diabetic macular oedema (DMO). Among patients with uveitis, statins have a protective effect by reducing the likelihood of uveitis development

Correlation of iCare ic100 tonometry with iCare TA01i in screening of unselected population in Northern Finland Birth Cohort Eye study

Abstract Purpose: iCare tonometers are easy-to-use and portable devices for measuring the intraocular pressure (IOP). Purpose was to evaluate the IOP values measured by both novel iCare ic100 and conventional model TA01i devices in unselected population. Methods: IOP was measured with iCare ic100 and TA01i tonometers in 149 participants aged 32–33 years (born in 1985 or 1986) of the Northern Finland Birth Cohort Eye 2 study. The right eye of each participant was selected for analysis. We also collected data on axial length, corneal curvature and central corneal thickness (CCT). Bland-Altman plot was used for comparing the values obtained by these devices. Results: Mean IOP measured with the ic100 device was 13.8 (3.4) mmHg, with TA01i it was 12.5 (3.0) mmHg. The mean difference between these devices was 1.30 mmHg (p < 0.001) and R² was 0.694. In Bland-Altman analysis, the agreement between the two tonometers ic100 and TA01i was constantly good (mean difference −1.30, ic100 device showing higher measures). There was a correlation between IOP and CCT (r = 0.269, p < 0.001 for ic100 and r  = 0.255, p  = 0.002 for TA01i), but not with IOP and corneal curvature or IOP and axial length. Conclusions: In summary, we found ic100 rebound tonometry to be both reliable and effective, although CCT may influence IOP measurements with ic100 and TA01i. Therefore, iCare ic100 is suitable for IOP measurement in large cohort studies