Harada\u27s Disease (Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada Syndrome; VKH Syndrome)

We studied the course and outcome of 44 patients with Harada\u27s disease (17 males and 27 females) who were treated in the Department of Ophthalmology of Kawasaki Hospital, an affiliated hospital of Kawasaki Medical School, between April 1980 and March 1990. The age at onset ranged from 14 to 77 years with the mean age±SD being 46.5 ± 15.6 years. Thus the disease was frequent among the elderly. The posterior and optic types of the disease were most frequently found in our patients. As extraocular symptoms, perceptive deafness and an increase in the cell count of the cerebrospinal fluid were frequently observed, and these were important factors in the diagnosis of the disease. Systemic administration of steroids was the main treatment, with immunosuppressive agents being administereted to patiens with the delayed type of the disease. As for the visual prognosis, the final corrected visual acuity was 1.0 in 79% of the patients. As eye complications, cataracts and glaucoma were frequently noted, and various other lesions of the fundus were also observed with increasing age. Patients with the delayed type of the disease accounted for 34.1% of the patients studied

Protein Nanoparticle Formation Using a Circularly Permuted α‑Helix-Rich Trimeric Protein

We here report the production of highly spherical protein nanoparticles based on the domain-swapping oligomerization of a circularly permuted trimeric protein, major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II associated chaperonin. The size distribution of the nanoparticles can be adjusted to between 40 and 100 nm in diameter, and thus, these particles are suitable as drug carriers following purification under basic conditions. Our approach involves no harsh treatments and could provide an alternative approach for protein nanoparticle formation