A comparative study on safety and efficacy of travoprost and brimonidine/timolol fixed combination in patients of primary open angle glaucoma

Background: The purpose of this study was to compare and evaluate the clinical efficacy of topically applied travoprost 0.004% eye drops versus brimonidine/timolol fixed combination eye drops in the management of primary open-angle glaucoma.Methods: In this prospective, randomized study, 65 patients received either travoprost eye drops once daily in the morning (n=33) or brimonidine/timolol fixed combination eye drops twice daily (n=32). Intra ocular pressure (IOP) was assessed at 2, 4, 8, and 12 weeks. The primary outcome measure was mean reduction in IOP.Results: Thebaseline mean IOP values were similar between two groups. Mean reduction of IOP in the right eye for brimonidine/timolol fixed combination group was 9±2.9 mmHg, whereas in the left eye it was 10.9±2.8 mmHg. In the travoprost group, the reduction in IOP of the right eye was 7.8±2.9 mmHg (p=0.0002) and 7.5±3.4 mmHg (p=0.0001) in the left eye. The mean reduction of IOP for the brimonidine/timolol group was 9.95 mmHg and for the travoprost group it was 7.6 mmHg (p<0.0001) in both the eyes.Conclusions: The fixed combination brimonidine/timolol twice daily demonstrated superior mean IOP lowering efficacy compared to travoprost 0.004% in patients with open-angle glaucoma

Fusion transcripts in normal human cortex increase with age and show distinct genomic features for single cells and tissues

Fusion transcripts can contribute to diversity of molecular networks in the human cortex. In this study, we explored the occurrence of fusion transcripts in normal human cortex along with single neurons and astrocytes. We identified 1305 non-redundant fusion events from 388 transcriptomes representing 59 human cortices and 329 single cells. Our results indicate while the majority of fusion transcripts in human cortex are intra-chromosomal (85%), events found in single neurons and astrocytes were primarily inter-chromosomal (80%). The number of fusions in single neurons was significantly higher than that in single astrocytes (p <0.05), indicating fusion as a possible contributor towards transcriptome diversity in neuronal cells. The identified fusions were largely private and 4 specific recurring events were found both in cortex and in single neurons but not in astrocytes. We found a significant increase in the number of fusion transcripts in human brain with increasing age both in single cells and whole cortex (p <0.0005 and <0.005, respectively). This is likely one of the many possible contributors for the inherent plasticity of the adult brain. The fusion transcripts in fetal brain were enriched for genes for long-term depression; while those in adult brain involved genes enriched for long-term potentiation pathways. Our findings demonstrate fusion transcripts are naturally occurring phenomenon spanning across the health-disease continuum, and likely contribute to the diverse molecular network of human brain

Synthesis and characterization of divalent metal complexes with ligand derived from the reaction of 3-aminopyridine and biacetyl

Divalent cobalt, nickel and copper salts reacted in situ with 3-aminopyridine and biacetyl to form complexes of the type: [M(Ap2biac)2X2], where Ap2biac is the ligand and X=Cl, Br, NO3 or NCS. The complexes were analysed and characterized as distorted octahedral by conductance, molecular weight, magnetic, electronic and IR spectral studies. The electronic spectra were interpreted and tentative aassignments made. The infrared spectral studies revealed that two molecules of 3-aminopyridine were joined by molecules of biacetyl through a two carbon atom bridge and that the ligand coordinated through azomethine nitrogen atoms, whereas the pyridine nitrogen does not participate in the coordination. In the far infrared spectra, various metal–ligand vibrations were observed and are discussed

Caractéristiques épidémiologiques, cliniques, histo-pathologiques et thérapeutiques du Cancer du rein dans l’Ouest Algérien: à propos de 115 cas

Objectifs: Notre étude avait pour objectif d’effectuer une étude épidémiologique rétrospective afin de déterminer les caractéristiques histo-cliniques, pathologiques et thérapeutiques des cancers rénaux dans l’Ouest Algérien. Patients et Méthodes: Etude épidémiologique rétrospective incluant 115 cas de cancers rénaux diagnostiqués au sein des services d’oncologie et d’anatomopathologie du CHU de Sidi Bel Abbes et de l’Hôpital Militaire Régional Universitaire d’Oran (HMRUO) entre Janvier 2006 et Décembre 2013. Résultats: Il s’agissait de 65 hommes et 50 femmes. L’âge moyen de découverte était de 58,54 ans (extrêmes: 20 et 88 ans). Les facteurs de risques les plus fréquemment observés étaient l’hypertension artérielle (53,04%) suivi par le tabagisme (38,26%). L’hématurie était le signe révélateur le plus fréquemment noté chez 45,21% des cas. Le diagnostic a été basé sur la Tomodensitométrie chez 100% des patients. Les stades tumoraux T3 (38,26%) et T2 (27,82%) étaient les plus fréquents. Le principal type histologique des tumeurs rénales était le carcinome à cellules claires (79 cas). Des métastases étaient notées chez 22,60 des patients, touchant principalement le poumon (61,53%). La néphrectomie était le traitement de référence pour 70,44% des patients. Conclusion: Le cancer rénal dans notre population était une pathologie de sujets âgés, avec une prédominance masculine et symptomatologie polymorphe. Le carcinome rénal à cellules claires était le type histologique le plus fréquent avec dominance des stades T3, T2 et des grades II et III

A New Mode of Metal Encapsulation

All ten oxygen atoms of the acyclic oligomer 1 c participate in the coordination of Ba2⊕ in the “scorpion” complex 1c · Ba(SCN)2 · Me2CO. The eleventh coordination site is occupied by the acetone molecule. A further characteristic of the complex are strong OHċN hydrogen bonds to the thiocyanate counterion. The ligands 1 also exhibit a high selectivity for cations with ionic radii of 1.2–1.3 Å, which could be explained with the help of molecular modeling studies. (Figure Presented.) Copyright © 1990 by VCH Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, German

Gene-rich large deletions are overrepresented in POAG patients of Indian and Caucasian origins

PURPOSE: Large copy number variations (CNV) can contribute to increased burden for neurodegenerative diseases. In this study, we analyzed the genome-wide burden of large CNVs > 100 kb in primary open angle glaucoma (POAG), a neurodegenerative disease of the eye that is the largest cause of irreversible blindness. METHODS: Genome-wide analysis of CNVs > 100 kb were analyzed in a total of 1720 individuals, including an Indian cohort (347 POAG cases and 345 controls) and a Caucasian cohort (624 cases and 404 controls). All the CNV data were obtained from experiments performed on Illumina 660W-Quad (infinium) arrays. RESULTS: We observed that for both the populations CNVs > 1 Mb was significantly enriched for gene-rich regions unique to the POAG cases (P 1 Mb (39 calls) in patients influenced 125 genes while in controls 31 such CNVs influenced only 5 genes with no overlap. In both cohorts we observed 1.9-fold gene enrichment in patients for deletions compared to duplications, while such a bias was not observed in controls (0.3-fold). Overall duplications > 1 Mb were more than deletions (Del/Dup = 0.82) confirming that the enrichment of gene-rich deletions in patients was associated with the disease. Of the 39 CNVs > 1 Mb from Indian patients, 28 (72%) also were implicated in other neurodegenerative disorders, like autism, schizophrenia, sensorineural hearing loss, and so forth. We found one large duplication encompassing CNTN4 gene in Indian and Caucasian POAG patients that was absent in the controls. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, our study is the first report on large CNV bias for gene-rich regions in glaucomatous neurodegeneration, implicating its impact across populations of contrasting ethnicities. We identified CNTN4 as a novel candidate gene for POAG