The Safety and Efficacy of Transconjunctival Sutureless 23-gauge Vitrectomy

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of vitreoretinal surgery using a 23-gauge transconjunctival sutureless vitrectomy (TSV) system for various vitreoretinal diseases. METHODS: A retrospective, consecutive, interventional case series was performed for 40 eyes of 40 patients. The patients underwent vitreoretinal procedures using the 23-gauge TSV system, including idiopathic epiretinal membrane (n=7), vitreous hemorrhage (n=11), diabetic macular edema (n=10), macular hole (n=5), vitreomacular traction syndrome (n=5), diabetic tractional retinal detachment (n=1), and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (n=1). Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), and intra- and post-operative complications were evaluated. RESULTS: Intraoperative suture placement was necessary in 3 eyes (7.5%). The median BCVA improved from 20/400 (LogMAR, 1.21+/-0.63) to 20/140 (LogMAR, 0.83+/-0.48) at 1 week (p=0.003), 20/100 (LogMAR, 0.85+/-0.65) at 1 month (p=0.002), 20/100 (LogMAR, 0.73+/-0.6) at 3 months (p=0.001). In 1 eye, IOP was 5 mmHg at 2 hours and 4 mmHg at 5 hours, but none of the eyes showed hypotony after 1 postoperative day. No serous postoperative complications were observed during a mean follow-up of 8.4+/-3.4 months (range 3-13 months) CONCLUSIONS: The 23-gauge TSV system shows promise as an effective and safe technique for a variety of vitreoretinal procedures. It appears to be a less traumatic, more convenient alternative to 20-gauge vitrectomy in some indications

Cross Protection Against Influenza A Virus by Yeast-Expressed Heterologous Tandem Repeat M2 Extracellular Proteins

The influenza M2 ectodomain (M2e) is well conserved across human influenza A subtypes, but there are few residue changes among avian and swine origin influenza A viruses. We expressed a tandem repeat construct of heterologous M2e sequences (M2e5x) derived from human, swine, and avian origin influenza A viruses using the yeast expression system. Intramuscular immunization of mice with AS04-adjuvanted M2e5x protein vaccines was effective in inducing M2e-specific antibodies reactive to M2e peptide and native M2 proteins on the infected cells with human, swine, or avian influenza virus, mucosal and systemic memory cellular immune responses, and cross-protection against H3N2 virus. Importantly, M2e5x immune sera were found to confer protection against different subtypes of H1N1 and H5N1 influenza A viruses in naïve mice. Also, M2e5x-immune complexes of virusinfected cells stimulated macrophages to secrete cytokines via Fc receptors, indicating a possible mechanism of protection. The present study provides evidence that M2e5x proteins produced in yeast cells could be developed as a potential universal influenza vaccine

Lactobacillus plantarum DK119 as a Probiotic Confers Protection against Influenza Virus by Modulating Innate Immunity

Lactobacillus plantarum DK119 (DK119) isolated from the fermented Korean cabbage food was used as a probiotic to determine its antiviral effects on influenza virus. DK119 intranasal or oral administration conferred 100% protection against subsequent lethal infection with influenza A viruses, prevented significant weight loss, and lowered lung viral loads in a mouse model. The antiviral protective efficacy was observed in a dose and route dependent manner of DK119 administration. Mice that were treated with DK119 showed high levels of cytokines IL-12 and IFN-c in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids, and a low degree of inflammation upon infection with influenza virus. Depletion of alveolar macrophage cells in lungs and bronchoalveolar lavages completely abrogated the DK119-mediated protection. Modulating host innate immunity of dendritic and macrophage cells, and cytokine production pattern appeared to be possible mechanisms by which DK119 exhibited antiviral effects on influenza virus infection. These results indicate that DK119 can be developed as a beneficial antiviral probiotic microorganism

Mesenteric Pseudocyst of the Small Bowel in Gastric Cancer Patient: A Case Report

Mesenteric pseudocyst is rare. This term is used to describe the abdominal cystic mass, without the origin of abdominal organ. We presented a case of mesenteric pseudocyst of the small bowel in a 70-year-old man. Esophago-gastro-duodenoscopy showed a 3.5 cm sized excavated lesion on the posterior wall of angle. Endocopic biopsy confirmed a histologic diagnosis of the poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, which includes the signet ring cell component. Abdominal computed tomography scan showed a focal mucosal enhancement in the posterior wall of angle of the stomach, a 2.4 cm sized enhancing mass on the distal small bowel loop, without distant metastases or ascites in rectal shelf, and multiple gallbladder stones. The patient underwent subtotal gastrectomy with gastroduodenostomy, segmental resection of the small bowel, and cholecystectomy. The final pathological diagnosis was mesenteric pseudocyst. This is the first case report describing incidentally detected mesenteric pseudocyst of the small bowel in gastric cancer patients

A Pulmonary Paragonimiasis Case Mimicking Metastatic Pulmonary Tumor

Pulmonary paragonimiasis is a relatively rare cause of lung disease revealing a wide variety of radiologic findings, such as air-space consolidation, nodules, and cysts. We describe here a case of pulmonary paragonimiasis in a 27-year-old woman who presented with a 2-month history of cough and sputum. Based on chest computed tomography (CT) scans and fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) findings, the patient was suspected to have a metastatic lung tumor. However, she was diagnosed as having Paragonimus westermani infection by an immunoserological examination using ELISA. Follow-up chest X-ray and CT scans after chemotherapy with praziquantel showed an obvious improvement. There have been several reported cases of pulmonary paragonimiasis mimicking lung tumors on FDG-PET. However, all of them were suspected as primary lung tumors. To our knowledge, this patient represents the first case of paragonimiasis mimicking metastatic lung disease on FDG-PET CT imaging

The determination of dark adaptation time using electroretinography in conscious Miniature Schnauzer dogs

The optimal dark adaptation time of electroretinograms (ERG's) performed on conscious dogs were determined using a commercially available ERG unit with a contact lens electrode and a built-in light source (LED-electrode). The ERG recordings were performed on nine healthy Miniature Schnauzer dogs. The bilateral ERG's at seven different dark adaptation times at an intensity of 2.5 cd·s/m2 was performed. Signal averaging (4 flashes of light stimuli) was adopted to reduce electrophysiologic noise. As the dark adaptation time increased, a significant increase in the mean a-wave amplitudes was observed in comparison to base-line levels up to 10 min (p < 0.05). Thereafter, no significant differences in amplitude occured over the dark adaptation time. Moreover, at this time the mean amplitude was 60.30 ± 18.47 µV. However, no significant changes were observed for the implicit times of the a-wave. The implicit times and amplitude of the b-wave increased significantly up to 20 min of dark adaptation (p < 0.05). Beyond this time, the mean b-wave amplitudes was 132.92 ± 17.79 µV. The results of the present study demonstrate that, the optimal dark adaptation time when performing ERG's, should be at least 20 min in conscious Miniature Schnauzer dogs

Effects of topography and sea surface temperature anomalies on heavy rainfall induced by Typhoon Chaba in 2016

Typhoon Chaba made landfall on the Korean Peninsula in the fall of 2016, resulting in record-breaking rainfall in southeastern Korea. In particular, the Ulsan metropolitan region experienced the most severe floods due to heavy rainfall of 319 mm for just 3 h. The heavy rainfall was possibly associated with the mountainous southeastern Korea topography and the warm sea surface temperature (SST) anomaly in the East China Sea. In this study, the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model was used to investigate the effects of topography and SST anomalies through high-resolution numerical experiments. Simulation using original topography showed more rainfall on the windward and less on the leeward slope compared to the experiment with reduced topography around Ulsan. The moist flow in the typhoon was raised by orographic uplift, enhancing precipitation on the windward side and summits of the mountains. The orographically induced updraft extended to the mid-troposphere and contributed to the upward vertical moisture flux associated with rainfall. Therefore, the mountainous topography around Ulsan affected the local change in rainfall induced by the simulated typhoon. In addition, SST on the track of the typhoon controlled storm intensity and caused extreme precipitation changes. The experiment using the original SST in the East China Sea simulated less decayed typhoons and produced more precipitation compared to the experiment wherein the positive SST anomaly in the East China Sea was removed. The warm SST anomaly hindered the weakening of the typhoon moving northward to the mid-latitudes. At landfall, the stronger typhoon contained more water vapor, transported more moisture inland, and generated increased precipitation

Understanding the formation of the metastable ferroelectric phase in hafnia–zirconia solid solution thin films

Hf₁₋ₓZrₓO₂ (x ∼ 0.5–0.7) has been the leading candidate of ferroelectric materials with a fluorite crystal structure showing highly promising compatibility with complementary metal oxide semiconductor devices. Despite the notable improvement in device performance and processing techniques, the origin of its ferroelectric crystalline phase (space group: Pca2₁) formation has not been clearly elucidated. Several recent experimental and theoretical studies evidently showed that the interface and grain boundary energies of the higher symmetry phases (orthorhombic and tetragonal) contribute to the stabilization of the metastable non-centrosymmetric orthorhombic phase or tetragonal phase. However, there was a clear quantitative discrepancy between the theoretical expectation and experiment results, suggesting that the thermodynamic model may not provide the full explanation. This work, therefore, focuses on the phase transition kinetics during the cooling step after the crystallization annealing. It was found that the large activation barrier for the transition from the tetragonal/orthorhombic to the monoclinic phase, which is the stable phase at room temperature, suppresses the phase transition, and thus, plays a critical role in the emergence of ferroelectricity

A Pilot Study for the Neuroprotective Effect of Gongjin-dan on Transient Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion-Induced Ischemic Rat Brain

In this study, we investigated whether gongjin-dan improves functional recovery and has neuroprotective effects on reducing the infarct volume after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). Infarct volume was measured using TTC staining and glucose utilization by F-18 FDG PET. Functional improvement was evaluated with the Rota-rod, treadmill, Garcia score test, and adhesive removal test. At 14 days after MCAo, neuronal cell survival, astrocytes expansion, and apoptosis were assessed by immunohistofluorescence staining in the peri-infarct region. Also, the expression of neurotrophic factors and inflammatory cytokines such as VEGF, BDNF, Cox-2, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-1α was measured in ischemic hemisphere regions. The gongjin-dan-treated group showed both reduced infarct volume and increased glucose utilization. Behavior tests demonstrated a significant improvement compared to the control. Also in the gongjin-dan treated group, NeuN-positive cells were increased and number of astrocytes, microglia, and apoptotic cells was significantly decreased compared with the control group in the ischemic peri-infarct area. Furthermore, the expression of VEGF and BDNF was increased and level of Cox-2, TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-1α was decreased. These results suggest that gongjin-dan may improve functional outcome through the rapid restoration of metabolism and can be considered as a potential neuroprotective agent