An Overview on Dry Eye Treatment: Approaches for Cyclosporin A Delivery

Dry eye syndrome (DES, Keratoconjunctivitis sicca) is a common disorder of the tear film caused by decreased tear production or increased evaporation. Changes in tear composition also promote inflammation on the ocular surface by various mechanisms. Artificial tear drops, tear retention treatment, stimulation of tear secretion, or anti-inflammatory drugs may be used for dry eye treatment according to the severity of the disease. For untreated patients, the risk of ocular infection increases at considerable level and clinical course of the disease may proceed up to infection, corneal ulcer, and blindness. Artificial tears and/or punctual occlusions are used for tear replacement or preservation. New treatment approaches are designed to modify the underlying disease process. For the treatment of severe dry eye disease, cyclosporin A (CsA), the first one of the new generation immunomodulatory drugs, which has an anti-inflammatory effect, is frequently used. CsA has immunosuppressive effects following systemic application. Following local administration of CsA, it is expected to obtain effective drug concentration at the target area and to avoid the various side effects associated with systemic delivery. Microspheres, implants, and liposomes have been developed for administration of CsA subconjunctivally in order to enhance its efficiency

High Gain Ultra-Wideband Parabolic Reflector Antenna Design Using Printed LPDA Antenna Feed

Reflector antennas with log periodic dipole array (LPDA) feeds are ideal for applications that demand high gain, broadband operation. However, when the phase center of the LPDA is not fixed, mismatches at the focal point cause degradation and large ripple in gain. To overcome these issues, a printed LPDA is optimized for minimal phase center variation as a reflector antenna feed. The antenna is designed to operate at 1-19 GHz frequency band with voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) less than 3.0 and minimum gain of 17 dBi. Reflector size can be increased for further improvement in gain. Designed antenna parameters, radiation patterns, and aperture efficiencies over frequencies are presented and compared to previous studies.

Dendrimeric Systems and Their Applications in Ocular Drug Delivery

Ophthalmic drug delivery is one of the most attractive and challenging research area for pharmaceutical scientists and ophthalmologists. Absorption of an ophthalmic drug in conventional dosage forms is seriously limited by physiological conditions. The use of nonionic or ionic biodegradable polymers in aqueous solutions and colloidal dosage forms such as liposomes, nanoparticles, nanocapsules, microspheres, microcapsules, microemulsions, and dendrimers has been studied to overcome the problems mentioned above. Dendrimers are a new class of polymeric materials. The unique nanostructured architecture of dendrimers has been studied to examine their role in delivery of therapeutics and imaging agents. Dendrimers can enhance drug’s water solubility, bioavailability, and biocompatibility and can be applied for different routes of drug administration successfully. Permeability enhancer properties of dendrimers were also reported. The use of dendrimers can also reduce toxicity versus activity and following an appropriate application route they allow the delivery of the drug to the targeted site and provide desired pharmacokinetic parameters. Therefore, dendrimeric drug delivery systems are of interest in ocular drug delivery. In this review, the limitations related to eye’s unique structure, the advantages of dendrimers, and the potential applications of dendrimeric systems to ophthalmology including imaging, drug, peptide, and gene delivery will be discussed

XRCC4 rs6869366 polymorphism is associated with susceptibility to both nicotine dependence and/or schizophrenia

Background: Oxidative stress induced DNA damage has been assumed to contribute to the etiopathogenesis of schizophrenia (Sch). Smoking prevalence was more common in patients with Sch. The X-ray repair cross-complementation group 4 (XRCC4) gene plays an important role in the repair of DNA double-strand breaks. Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether XRCC4 rs6869366 polymorphism has a relationship both in nicotine dependence (ND) and Sch+ND risk. Methods: One hundred and four patients with Sch+ND, 133 subjects with ND only and 70 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. XRCC4 rs6869366 polymorphism was analyzed using PCR-RFLP assay. Results: The frequency of XRCC4 rs6869366 GG genotype was more common in the ND and Sch+ND group than controls (p = 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). XRCC4 rs6869366 TT genotype was lower in both ND and Sch+ND group compared to controls (p = 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). Also, XRCC4 rs6869366 G allele was higher in Sch+ND group than controls (p = 0.001) while XRCC4 rs6869366 T allele was lower in ND group than healthy controls (p=0.001). XRCC4 rs6869366 GT genotype was lower in ND group than control group (p = 0.003). Discussion: These results suggested that the XRCC4 rs6869366 polymorphism G related genotype/allele was associated with susceptibility to both ND and Sch+ND in a Turkish population

Antiproliferative Activity of Some Medicinal Plants on Human Breast and Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cell Lines and their Phenolic Contents

Purpose: To determine the phenolic composition and antiproliferative activity of 16 different extracts (hexane, dichloromethane, methanol and water) obtained from Bellis perennis, Convolvulus galaticus, Trifolium pannonicum and Lysimachia vulgaris on human breast cancer (MCF-7) and human hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2/C3A) cell lines.Methods: The aerial parts of the plants were successively extracted with hexane, dichloromethane, methanol and water using a Soxhlet apparatus. The phenolic content of the plants were determined by plants by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) while their antiproliferative activity was evaluated by 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide, a yellow tetrazole (MTT) assay.Results: Among the tested extracts, the methanol extract of B. perennis showed the best antiproliferative activity against MCF-7 cell line with IC50 (inhibiting 50 % of cell growth) value of 71.6 μg/mL. Furthermore, the dichloromethane extract of C. galaticus showed the best anti-proliferative activity against HepG2/C3A cell line with IC50 of 57.3 μg/mL. The HPLC data for the plant extracts showed the presence of the following phenolic compounds: gallic acid monohydrate, caffeic acid, rutin hydrate, luteolin-7-O-β-D glucoside, kaempferol, myricetin, quercetin, coumarin and apigenin.Conclusion: The findings of this study indicate that there is some justification for the use of B. perennis and C. galaticus as traditional anticancer medicinal herbs.Keywords: Bellis perennis, Convolvulus galaticus, Trifolium pannonicum subsp. elongatum, Lysimachia vulgaris, MCF-7, HepG2/C3A, Phenolics, Breast cancer, Antiproliferativ

Do Peripheral and Extra Musculoskeletal Manifestations Have An Impact on Biologic Dmard Prescribing Patterns in Axial Spondyloarthritis: the Results of Treasure Experience

[No Abstract Available

Familial mediterranean fever and glomerulonrphritis: a case report

Ailevi Akdeniz Ateşi ateş ve seröz zarların iltihabı ile ortaya çıkan tekrarlayan ataklar ile karakterize, otozomal resesif bir hastalıktır. En sık Musevi, Arap, Türk ve Ermenilerde görülür. Ailesel Akdeniz ateşinin en önemli ve prognozu belirleyen komplikasyonu böbrek tutulumudur. En sık böbrek tutulumu nedeni AA tipi amiloidozdur. Kolşisinin etkin ve yaygın kullanımı amiloidoz sıklığını eskiye nazaran azaltmıştır. Ülkemizde amiloidoz sıklığı kolşisin kullanmayanlarda %20-25 civarında olduğu bildirilmiştir. Ailevi Akdeniz Ateşi seyri sırasında nadir olarak glomerulonefrit gibi amiloidoz dışında böbrek patolojileri de görülebilmektedir. Burada Ailesel Akdeniz ateşi ve Membranaproliferatif glomerolonefrit birlikteliği görülen bir olgu sunuyoruz.Familial mediterranean fever is characterized by recurrent attacks of fever and polyserositis. Familial mediterranean fever is an autosomal recessive disease. Familial mediterranean fever is commonly seen in Jewish, Arab, Turkish and Armenian. The most important and prognosis-determining complication is kidney involvement. The most common cause of kidney involvement is AA type amyloidosis. Effective ad common use of colchicine decreased amyloidosis frequency when compared to before. It has been reported that frequency of amyloidosis in patients who don't use colchicine is around 20-25% in our country. During the course of familial mediterranean fever, renal pathologies such as glomerulonephritis can be seen other than amyloidosis. Here we present a patient with familial mediterranean fever and membranoproliferative glomerulonephritis

Effect of monoamine oxidase B A644G variant on nicotine dependence and/or schizophrenia risk

Objectives: Schizophrenia (Sch) is a severe and chronic mental illness. Smoking prevalence is higher in patients with Sch than general population. We aimed to investigate the effects of MAOB gene A644G variant on nicotine dependence (ND) and Sch+ND risk in Turkish population and to evaluate by bioinformatic analysis. Methods: Present study included 161 individuals with ND, 223 patients with Sch+ND, and 96 non-smoker controls. MAOB A644G variant was analyzed using PCR-RFLP method. As the MAOB gene is located on the X chromosome, each gender was analysed separately. Results: The total distributions of AA, AG and GG genotypes of MAOB gene A644G were 44.7%, 22.4% and 32.9% in the ND group, 45.3%, 25.1% and 29.6% in the Sch+ND group and, 44.8, 22.9% and 32.3% in non-smoker controls. No significant differences were observed between groups for the MAOB A644G genotype and allele frequencies when female group compared to male group (p > 0.05). Examination of disease associations of SNPs from each miRNA gene region in GWAS databases yielded results for aging, bipolar disorder, autoimmune, and neurological diseases. Discussion: Our results indicate that the MAOB gene A644G variant is not associated with ND and/or Sch susceptibility in the Turkish population

Diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus in a patient with generalized lymphadenopathy: a case report

Lenfadenopati (LAP), lenf dügümünün boyut ve karakterindeki anormallik olarak tanımlanır. Lenfadenopati neoplastik veya inflamatuar hücrelerin lenf nodunda çogalması veya lenf nodunu invazyonu sonucu olusabilir. Lenfadenopati genis bir hastalık tablosu sonucunda gelisebilir. Yaygın lenfadenopati sebepleri arasında enfeksiyonlar, otoimmun hastalıklar, malignensiler, histiyositozlar, depo hastalıkları, hiperplaziler ve ilaç etkilesimleri sayılabilir. Lenfadenopati etyolojisinde kollajen doku hastalıkları önemli yer tutmaktadır. En sık lenfadenopatiye neden olan otoimmun hastalıklar romatoid artrit, sistemik lupus eritematozis (SLE) ve Sjögren sendromudur. Bu olguda yaygın lenfadenopati nedeni ile arastırılan ve SLE tanısı alan bir olguyu sunduk. Lenfadenopati nedeniyle tetkik edilen hastalarda kollajen doku hastalıklarını ve özellikle de SLE'u göz önünde bulundurmamız gerektigini bu yazıda vurgulamak istedik.Lymphadenopathy (LAP) is defined as the abnormality in the size and character of lymph node. Lymphadenopathy emerges due to increase of inflammatory cells in lymph node or invasion of these cells in the lymph node. Lymphadenopathy may occur in any age group, in symptomatic or asymptomatic patients, and in a single site or at multiple sites. Causes of generalized lymphadenopathy include infections, autoimmune diseases, malignancies, histiocytoses, storage diseases, benign hyperplasia, and drug reactions. In LAP etiology, collagen tissue disorders hold an important place. The most common autoimmune causes of LAPare rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and Sjogren syndrome. In this case, we presented a case which was investigated for generalized lymphadenopathy and diagnosed with SLE. SLE diagnosis should be considered in patients researched for lymphadenopathy etiology

Heterotopic Ossification in the Paraplegic Patients

Heterotopic ossification is a process characterized by the formation of genuine new bone in soft tissues especially between muscle and joint capsule and frequently encountered after spinal cord and traumatic brain injury. A 35-year-old woman who had developed severe pain and decrease in range of motion in her bilateral hip after 11 months following a spinal cord injury referred to our department for bone scintigraphy is presented