Herpes simplex keratitis: Challenges in diagnosis and clinical management

Herpes simplex virus is responsible for numerous ocular diseases, the most common of which is herpetic stromal keratitis. This is a recurrent infection of the cornea that typically begins with a subclinical infection of the cornea that establishes a latent infection of sensory ganglia, most often the trigeminal ganglia. Recurring infections occur when the virus is reactivated from latency and travels back to the cornea, where it restimulates an inflammatory response. This inflammatory response can lead to decreased corneal sensation, scarring, and blindness. The diagnosis of these lesions as the result of a recurrent herpes simplex virus infection can at times be problematic. Currently, herpetic stromal keratitis is diagnosed by its clinical presentation on the slit-lamp examination, but the literature does not always support the accuracy of these clinical findings. Other diagnostic tests such as polymerase chain reaction assay, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, immunofluorescent antibody, and viral cultures have provided more definitive diagnosis, but also have some limitations. That said, accurate diagnosis is necessary for proper treatment, in order to prevent serious consequences. Current treatment reduces the severity of lesions and controls further viral spread, but does not provide a cure

An adult zebrafish model for Laribacter hongkongensis infection: Koch’s postulates fulfilled

published_or_final_versio

Effects of organizational/occupational characteristics and personality traits on hotel manager emotional exhaustion

2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Design and Analysis of Nanotube-Based Memory Cells

In this paper, we proposed a nanoelectromechanical design as memory cells. A simple design contains a double-walled nanotube-based oscillator. Atomistic materials are deposed on the outer nanotube as electrodes. Once the WRITE voltages are applied on electrodes, the induced electromagnetic force can overcome the interlayer friction between the inner and outer tubes so that the oscillator can provide stable oscillations. The READ voltages are employed to indicate logic 0/1 states based on the position of the inner tube. A new continuum modeling is developed in this paper to analyze large models of the proposed nanoelectromechanical design. Our simulations demonstrate the mechanisms of the proposed design as both static and dynamic random memory cells

From top executives to departmental managers : a comparative study of strategic issues perceived by hotel corporate executive and general managers

The 8th APacCHRIE Conference (Asia Pacific Council on Hotel, Restaurant and Institutional Education Conference) was organized by Faculty of Hospitality & Tourism, Prince of Songkla University (PSU), Phuket Campus; Siam University; College of Innovation, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Thailand; Tourism Academic Association (Thailand).2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Refereed conference paperOther Versio

Work-family balance as a potential strategic advantage : a hotel general manager perspective

2010-2011 > Academic research: refereed > Publication in refereed journalAccepted ManuscriptPublishe

Reprogrammable plasmonic topological insulators with ultrafast control

Topological photonics has revolutionized our understanding of light propagation, providing a robust way to manipulate light. So far, most of studies in this field are focused on designing a static photonic structure. Developing a dynamic photonic topological platform to switch multiple topological functionalities at ultrafast speed is still a great challenge. Here we theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate a reprogrammable plasmonic topological insulator, where the topological propagation route can be dynamically changed at nanosecond-level switching time, leading to an experimental demonstration of ultrafast multi-channel optical analog-digital converter. Due to the innovative use of electric switches to implement the programmability of plasmonic topological insulator, each unit cell can be encoded by dynamically controlling its digital plasmonic states while keeping its geometry and material parameters unchanged. Our reprogrammable topological plasmonic platform is fabricated by the printed circuit board technology, making it much more compatible with integrated photoelectric systems. Furthermore, due to its flexible programmability, many photonic topological functionalities can be integrated into this versatile topological platform

Reduction of Retinal Thickness Ipsilateral to Hippocampal Sclerosis in Epilepsy

OBJECTIVES: Reductions in the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) have been reported in epilepsy, namely in drug-resistant people. Hippocampal sclerosis (HS) is the most frequent cause of drug-resistant epilepsy in tertiary care centers. We aimed to evaluate the likelihood and characteristic of RNFL loss in individuals with epilepsy having HS. METHODS: Fifty-five adults diagnosed with unilateral HS (mean age of 25 years; 42 female) by magnetic resonance imaging were included in this observational cross-sectional study, 58 age-matched individuals with epilepsy with no detectable structural brain abnormality were included as non-HS, and 55 people without neurological diseases were included as healthy controls. pRNFL of both eyes was measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT). In each individual disease related information was recorded. RESULTS: Among the 55 individuals with unilateral HS, one (1.82%) and ten (18.18%) had significant or borderline abnormal thinning of the pRNFL of the ipsilateral eye to the HS. The average pRNFL ipsilateral to the side of HS was significantly thinner than people with epilepsy non-HS (p = 0.013) and healthy controls (p = 0.000), especially in the inferior quadrants. Only age was significantly correlated with the average and inferior quadrant pRNFL thickness of the ipsilateral eye to the HS (R = −0.286, p = 0.035; R = −0.353, p = 0.008 respectively). CONCLUSION: These preliminary findings suggest that retinal abnormalities associated with HS may have a specific pattern. Further studies need to confirm this finding and to unravel the underlying mechanism

LNK (SH2B3): paradoxical effects in ovarian cancer.

LNK (SH2B3) is an adaptor protein studied extensively in normal and malignant hematopoietic cells. In these cells, it downregulates activated tyrosine kinases at the cell surface resulting in an antiproliferative effect. To date, no studies have examined activities of LNK in solid tumors. In this study, we found by in silico analysis and staining tissue arrays that the levels of LNK expression were elevated in high-grade ovarian cancer. To test the functional importance of this observation, LNK was either overexpressed or silenced in several ovarian cancer cell lines. Remarkably, overexpression of LNK rendered the cells resistant to death induced by either serum starvation or nutrient deprivation, and generated larger tumors using a murine xenograft model. In contrast, silencing of LNK decreased ovarian cancer cell growth in vitro and in vivo. Western blot studies indicated that overexpression of LNK upregulated and extended the transduction of the mitogenic signal, whereas silencing of LNK produced the opposite effects. Furthermore, forced expression of LNK reduced cell size, inhibited cell migration and markedly enhanced cell adhesion. Liquid chromatography-mass spectroscopy identified 14-3-3 as one of the LNK-binding partners. Our results suggest that in contrast to the findings in hematologic malignancies, the adaptor protein LNK acts as a positive signal transduction modulator in ovarian cancers

Biodistribution and pharmacokinetics of a telodendrimer micellar paclitaxel nanoformulation in a mouse xenograft model of ovarian cancer

Wenwu Xiao1, Juntao Luo2, Teesta Jain3, John Riggs3, Harry P Tseng1, Paul T Henderson3, Simon R Cherry4, Douglas Rowland4, Kit S Lam1,31Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, UC Davis Cancer Center, University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA; 2Department of Pharmacology, SUNY Upstate Cancer Research Institute, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY; 3Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology and Oncology, 4Department of Biomedical Engineering, UC Davis Cancer Center, University of California Davis, Davis, CABackground: A multifunctional telodendrimer-based micelle system was characterized for delivery of imaging and chemotherapy agents to mouse tumor xenografts. Previous optical imaging studies demonstrated qualitatively that these classes of nanoparticles, called nanomicelles, preferentially accumulate at tumor sites in mice. The research reported herein describes the detailed quantitative imaging and biodistribution profiling of nanomicelles loaded with a cargo of paclitaxel.Methods: The telodendrimer was covalently labeled with 125I and the nanomicelles were loaded with 14C-paclitaxel, which allowed measurement of pharmacokinetics and biodistribution in the mice using microSPECT/CT imaging and liquid scintillation counting, respectively.Results: The radio imaging data showed preferential accumulation of nanomicelles at the tumor site along with a slower clearance rate than paclitaxel formulated in Cremophor EL (Taxol®). Liquid scintillation counting confirmed that 14C-labeled paclitaxel sequestered in nanomicelles had increased uptake by tumor tissue and slower pharmacokinetics than Taxol.Conclusion: Overall, the results indicate that nanomicelle-formulated paclitaxel is a potentially superior formulation compared with Taxol in terms of water solubility, pharmacokinetics, and tumor accumulation, and may be clinically useful for both tumor imaging and improved chemotherapy applications.Keywords: telodendrimer, nanomicelle, paclitaxel, microSPECT/CT, imaging guided drug deliver