Current perspectives on the use of anti-VEGF drugs as adjuvant therapy in glaucoma

The approval of one of the first anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents for the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration one decade ago marked the beginning of a new era in the management of several sight-threatening retinal diseases. Since then, emerging evidence has demonstrated the utility of these therapies for the treatment of other ocular conditions characterized by elevated VEGF levels. In this article we review current perspectives on the use of anti-VEGF drugs as adjuvant therapy in the management of neovascular glaucoma (NVG). The use of anti-VEGFs for modifying wound healing in glaucoma filtration surgery (GFS) is also reviewed. Selected studies investigating the use of anti-VEGF agents or antimetabolites in GFS or the management of NVG have demonstrated that these agents can improve surgical outcomes. However, anti-VEGF agents have yet to demonstrate specific advantages over the more established agents commonly used today. Further studies are needed to evaluate the duration of action, dosing intervals, and toxicity profile of these treatments

Portable magnetic resonance imaging of patients indoors, outdoors and at home

Mobile medical imaging devices are invaluable for clinical diagnostic purposes both in and outside healthcare institutions. Among the various imaging modalities, only a few are readily portable. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the gold standard for numerous healthcare conditions, does not traditionally belong to this group. Recently, low-field MRI start-up companies have demonstrated the first decisive steps towards portability within medical facilities, but these are so far incompatible with more demanding use cases such as in remote and developing regions, sports facilities and events, medical and military camps, or home healthcare. Here we present in vivo images taken with a light, home-made, low-field extremity MRI scanner outside the controlled environment provided by medical facilities. To demonstrate the true portability of the system and benchmark its performance in various relevant scenarios, we have acquired images of a volunteer's knee in: i) an MRI physics laboratory; ii) an office room; iii) outside a campus building, connected to a nearby power outlet; iv) in open air, powered from a small fuel-based generator; and v) at the volunteer's home. All images have been acquired within clinically viable times, and signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) and tissue contrast suffice for 2D and 3D reconstructions with diagnostic value, with comparable overall image quality across all five situations. Furthermore, the volunteer carries a fixation metallic implant screwed to the femur, which leads to strong artifacts in standard clinical systems but appears sharp in our low-field acquisitions. Altogether, this work opens a path towards highly accessible MRI under circumstances previously unrealistic.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, comments welcom

International conference on the healthy effect of virgin olive oil

Ageing represents a great concern in developed countries because the number of people involved and the pathologies related with it, like atherosclerosis, morbus Parkinson, Alzheime's disease, vascular dementia, cognitive decline, diabetes and cancer. Epidemiological studies suggest that a Mediterranean diet (which is rich in virgin olive oil) decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The Mediterranean diet, rich in virgin olive oil, improves the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as the lipoprotein profile, blood pressure, glucose metabolism and antithrombotic profile. Endothelial function, inflammation and oxidative stress are also positively modulated. Some of these effects are attributed to minor components of virgin olive oil. Therefore, the definition of the Mediterranean diet should include virgin olive oil. Different observational studies conducted in humans have shown that the intake of monounsaturated fat may be protective against age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. Microconstituents from virgin olive oil are bioavailable in humans and have shown antioxidant properties and capacity to improve endothelial function. Furthermore they are also able to modify the haemostasis, showing antithrombotic properties. In countries where the populations fulfilled a typical Mediterranean diet, such as Spain, Greece and Italy, where virgin olive oil is the principal source of fat, cancer incidence rates are lower than in northern European countries. The protective effect of virgin olive oil can be most important in the first decades of life, which suggests that the dietetic benefit of virgin olive oil intake should be initiated before puberty, and maintained through life. The more recent studies consistently support that the Mediterranean diet, based in virgin olive oil, is compatible with a healthier ageing and increased longevity. However, despite the significant advances of the recent years, the final proof about the specific mechanisms and contributing role of the different components of virgin olive oil to its beneficial effects requires further investigations. © 2005 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Clonal chromosomal mosaicism and loss of chromosome Y in elderly men increase vulnerability for SARS-CoV-2

The pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19) had an estimated overall case fatality ratio of 1.38% (pre-vaccination), being 53% higher in males and increasing exponentially with age. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, we found 133 cases (1.42%) with detectable clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations (mCA) and 226 males (5.08%) with acquired loss of chromosome Y (LOY). Individuals with clonal mosaic events (mCA and/or LOY) showed a 54% increase in the risk of COVID-19 lethality. LOY is associated with transcriptomic biomarkers of immune dysfunction, pro-coagulation activity and cardiovascular risk. Interferon-induced genes involved in the initial immune response to SARS-CoV-2 are also down-regulated in LOY. Thus, mCA and LOY underlie at least part of the sex-biased severity and mortality of COVID-19 in aging patients. Given its potential therapeutic and prognostic relevance, evaluation of clonal mosaicism should be implemented as biomarker of COVID-19 severity in elderly people. Among 9578 individuals diagnosed with COVID-19 in the SCOURGE study, individuals with clonal mosaic events (clonal mosaicism for chromosome alterations and/or loss of chromosome Y) showed an increased risk of COVID-19 lethality

Reading M87's DNA: A Double Helix Revealing a Large-scale Helical Magnetic Field

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.We present unprecedented high-fidelity radio images of the M87 jet. We analyzed Jansky Very Large Array broadband full-polarization radio data from 4 to 18 GHz. The observations were taken with the most extended configuration (A configuration), which allows the study of the emission of the jet up to kiloparsec scales with a linear resolution of ∼10 pc. The high sensitivity and resolution of our data allow us to resolve the jet width. We confirm a double-helix morphology of the jet material between ∼300 pc and ∼1 kpc. We found a gradient of the polarization degree with a minimum at the projected axis and maxima at the jet edges and a gradient in the Faraday depth with opposite signs at the jet edges. We also found that the behavior of the polarization properties along the wide range of frequencies is consistent with internal Faraday depolarization. All of these characteristics strongly support the presence of a helical magnetic field in the M87 jet up to 1 kpc from the central black hole, although the jet is most likely particle-dominated at these large scales. Therefore, we propose a plausible scenario in which the helical configuration of the magnetic field has been maintained to large scales thanks to the presence of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. © 2021. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.A.P. acknowledges the program "Programa de Investigadoras e Investigadores por México" (CONACyT). J.L.G. and A.F. acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (grants AYA2016-80889-P, PID2019-108995GB-C21), the Consejería de Economía, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad of the Junta de Andalucía (grant P18-FR-1769), the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (grant 2019AEP112), and the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa award for the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (SEV-2017-0709). J.M.M. and M.P. acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia through grant PID2019-107427GB-C33 and the Generalitat Valenciana through grant PROMETEU/2019/071. J.M.M. acknowledges additional support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad through grant PGC2018-095984-B-100. M.P. acknowledges additional support from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia through grant PID2019-105510GB-C31.Peer reviewe

Structural and biomechanical corneal differences between patients suffering from primary congenital glaucoma and healthy volunteers

Purpose: To determine whether a set of ocular morphometric and biomechanical variables are able to discriminate between healthy volunteers and patients suffering from primary congenital glaucoma (PCG). Methods: Case-control study in which 66 patients with PCG and 94 age-matched healthy subjects were evaluated using ocular response analyser (ORA) to record corneal biomechanical properties. Topographic corneal variables were obtained using the Pentacam in both groups. To determine the ability to discern between both groups, a multivariate binary logistic model was constructed. The outcome was the diagnosis of PCG and the predictors; the corneal variables analysed along with their first-term interactions. Sensitivity and specificity of this model along with the area under the receiver characteristic operating curve (AUC of ROC) were determined. Results: The best model to discriminate between both groups included the following predictors: corneal hysteresis (CH), corneal resistance factor (CRF), posterior maximum elevation (PME), anterior maximum elevation (AME) and central corneal thickness (CCT). This model, for a cut-point of 50%, presents a sensitivity of 86.67%, a specificity of 86.89% and an AUC of the ROC curve of 93.16% [95% confidence interval (CI): 88.97-97.35]. The adjusted odds ratios of those predictors which showed a significant discriminating capacity were as follows: for CH, 0.27 (95% confidence interval: 0.15-0.46); for CRF, 2.13 (95% CI: 1.33-3.40); for PME, 1.06 (95% CI: 1.01-1.12); and for AME, 1.35 (95% CI: 1.10-1.66). Conclusion: Corneal hysteresis (CH), CRF, PME and AME are able to discern between patients with PCG and healthy controls. This fact suggests that there are structural and biomechanical differences between these groups

The Jaen Statement 2004: Consensus document of the International Conference on the healthy effects of virgin olive oil

Aging represents a great concern in developed countries because the number of people involved and the pathologies related with it, like atherosclerosis, Parkinson, Alzheimer, vascular dementia, cognitive decline, diabetes and cancer. Epidemiological studies suggest that a Mediterranean diet (which is rich in virgin olive oil) decreases the risk of cardiovascular disease. The Mediterranean diet, rich in virgin olive oil, improves the major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as the lipoprotein profile, blood pressure, glucose metabolism antiantithrombotic profile. Endothelial function, inflammation and oxidative stress are also positively modulated. Some of these effects are attributed to minor components of virgin olive oil. Therefore, the definition of the Mediterranean diet should include virgin olive oil. Different observational studies conducted in humans have shown that the intake of monounsaturated fat may be protective against age-related cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease. Microconstituents from virgin olive oil are bioavailable in humans and have shown antioxidant properties and capacity to improve endothelial function. Furthermore, they are also able to modify the haemostasis, showing antithrombotic properties. In countries in which the populations fulfilled a typical Mediterranean diet, such as Spain, Greece, and Italy, where virgin olive oil is the principal source of fat, cancer incidence rates are lower than in Northern European countries. The protective effect of virgin olive oil can be most important in the first decades of life, which suggests that the dietetic benefit of virgin olive oil intake should be initiated before puberty, and maintained through life. The more recent studies consistently support that the Mediterranean diet, based in virgin olive oil, is compatible with a healthier aging and increased longevity. However, despite the significant advances of the recent years, the final proof about the specific mechanisms and contributing role of the different components of virgin olive oil to its beneficial effects requires further investigation