Diabetic retinopathy screening: global and local perspective

Diabetes mellitus has become a global epidemic. It causes significant macrovascular complications such as coronary artery disease, peripheral artery disease, and stroke; as well as microvascular complications such as retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy. Diabetic retinopathy is known to be the leading cause of blindness in the working-age population and may be asymptomatic until vision loss occurs. Screening for diabetic retinopathy has been shown to reduce blindness by timely detection and effective laser treatment. Diabetic retinopathy screening is being done worldwide either as a national screening programme or hospital-based project or as a community-based screening programme. In this article, we review different methods of screening including grading used to detect the severity of sight-threatening retinopathy and the newer screening methods. This review also includes the method of systematic screening being carried out in Hong Kong, a system that has helped to identify diabetic retinopathy among all attendees in public primary care clinics using a Hong Kong–wide public patients’ database.published_or_final_versio

Immune and bacterial toxin genes expression in different giant tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon post-larvae stages following AHPND-causing strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus challenge

Acute Hepatopancreatic Necrosis Disease (AHPND), a disease caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus (V-PAHPND), kills Penaeid shrimps worldwide, resulting in severe economic losses during aquaculture. To further understand how Penaeus monodon post-larvae (PL) respond towards infection of this pathogenic bacterium, the expression of several important immune and bacterial toxin genes in three stages of P. monodon PL (PL15, PL30 and PL45) upon V-PAHPND challenge, were determined. A 20-hrs challenge test with 2.7 x 10(7) cfu ml(-1) of V-PADPND resulted 81, 65 and 1.7% mortality respectively for PL30, PL15 and PL45, indicating that PL30 was most vulnerable to V-PADPNEP The immune response of shrimp PL at this stage was robust, with Toll-like receptor (TLR), prophenoloxidase (proPO), lysozyme (lyso) and penaeidin (PEN) augmented approximately 10.7, 4.7, 6.5 and 3.2-fold, respectively. The expression initiated at one hour post-infection (h.p.i), peaked at 16 h.p.i and 20 h.p.i, and decreased at 18 h.p.i, indicating the crucial involvement of these immune related genes in the defence and recovery of the first-line defence mechanisms during V-PADPND infection. This work also revealed that toxR gene represents a good indicator gene for Vibrio detection whereas PIR A, for V-PADPND pathogenicity determination of P. monodon. Overall, these findings provided novel insights into the immune response and V-PADPND No susceptibility of different P. monodon PL stages during infection, with outcomes potentially useful in enhancing the application of health therapy and biosecured aquaculture practices to minimize the damaging risk of AHPND towards sustainable production of P. monodon

Immunopathological Roles of Cytokines, Chemokines, Signaling Molecules, and Pattern-Recognition Receptors in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an autoimmune disease with unknown etiology affecting more than one million individuals each year. It is characterized by B- and T-cell hyperactivity and by defects in the clearance of apoptotic cells and immune complexes. Understanding the complex process involved and the interaction between various cytokines, chemokines, signaling molecules, and pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) in the immune pathways will provide valuable information on the development of novel therapeutic targets for treating SLE. In this paper, we review the immunopathological roles of novel cytokines, chemokines, signaling molecules, PRRs, and their interactions in immunoregulatory networks and suggest how their disturbances may implicate pathological conditions in SLE

Applications of next-generation sequencing technologies and computational tools in molecular evolution and aquatic animals conservation studies : a short review

Aquatic ecosystems that form major biodiversity hotspots are critically threatened due to environmental and anthropogenic stressors. We believe that, in this genomic era, computational methods can be applied to promote aquatic biodiversity conservation by addressing questions related to the evolutionary history of aquatic organisms at the molecular level. However, huge amounts of genomics data generated can only be discerned through the use of bioinformatics. Here, we examine the applications of next-generation sequencing technologies and bioinformatics tools to study the molecular evolution of aquatic animals and discuss the current challenges and future perspectives of using bioinformatics toward aquatic animal conservation efforts

Cost of myopia correction: a systematic review

Myopia is one of the leading causes of visual impairment globally. Despite increasing prevalence and incidence, the associated cost of treatment remains unclear. Health care spending is a major concern in many countries and understanding the cost of myopia correction is the first step eluding to the overall cost of myopia treatment. As the cost of treatment will reduce the burden of the cost of illness, this will aid in future cost-benefit analysis and the allocation of healthcare resources, including considerations in integrating eye care (refractive correction with spectacles) into universal health coverage (UHC). We performed a systematic review to determine the economic costs of myopia correction. However, there were few studies for direct comparison. Costs related to myopia correction were mainly direct with few indirect costs. Annual prevalence-based direct costs for myopia ranged from $14-26 (USA),$56 (Iran), and $199 (Singapore) per capita, respectively (population: 274.63 million, 75.15 million, and 3.79 million, respectively). Annually, the direct costs of contact lens were$198.30-$378.10 while spectacles and refractive surgeries were$342.50 and $19.10, respectively. This review provides an insight into the cost of myopia correction. Myopia costs are high from nationwide perspectives because of the high prevalence of myopia, with contact lenses being the more expensive option. Without further interventions, the burden of illness of myopia will increase substantially with the projected increase in prevalence worldwide. Future studies will be necessary to generate more homogenous cost data and provide a complete picture of the global economic cost of myopia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Mitochondrial transfer of mesenchymal stem cells effectively protects corneal epithelial cells from mitochondrial damage

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Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccine Uptake and the Willingness to Receive the HPV Vaccination among Female College Students in China: A Multicenter Study

Background: This study aimed to determine human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine uptake and willingness to receive HPV vaccination among female college students, in China, and its associated factors. Methods: An online cross-sectional survey of female college students across the eastern, central, and western regions of China was undertaken between April and September 2019. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to examine factors associated with the HPV vaccine uptake and willingness to receive the HPV vaccine. Results: Among the total 4220 students who participated in this study, 11.0% reported having been vaccinated against HPV. There are direct effects of indicators of higher socioeconomic status, older age (β = 0.084 and p = 0.006), and geographical region (residing in Eastern China, β = 0.033, and p = 0.024) on HPV vaccine uptake. Higher knowledge (β = 0.062 and p < 0.000) and perceived susceptibility (β = 0.043 and p = 0.002) were also predictors of HPV vaccine uptake. Of those who had not received the HPV vaccine, 53.5% expressed a willingness to do so. Likewise, social economic status indicators were associated with the willingness to receive the HPV vaccine. Total knowledge score (β = 0.138 and p < 0.001), both perceived susceptibility (β = 0.092 and p < 0.001) and perceived benefit (β = 0.088 and p < 0.001), and sexual experience (β = 0.041 and p = 0.007) had a positive and significant direct effect on the willingness to receive the HPV vaccine, while perceived barriers (β = −0.071 and p < 0.001) had a negative effect on the willingness to receive the HPV vaccine. Conclusions: Geographical region and socioeconomic disparities in the HPV vaccination uptake rate and willingness to receive the HPV vaccine provide valuable information for public health planning that aims to improve vaccination rates in underserved areas in China. The influence of knowledge and perceptions of HPV vaccination suggests the importance of communication for HPV immunization

Inhibition of NUCKS Facilitates Corneal Recovery Following Alkali Burn

Corneal wound healing involves a complex cascade of cytokine-controlled cellular events, including inflammatory and angiogenesis responses that are regulated by transcriptional chromatin remodeling. Nuclear Ubiquitous Casein and cyclin-dependent Kinase Substrate (NUCKS) is a key chromatin modifier and transcriptional regulator of metabolic signaling. In this study, we investigated the role of NUCKS in corneal wound healing by comparing its effects on corneal alkali burn in NUCKS knockout (NKO) and NUCKS wild-type (NWT) mice. Our data showed that following alkali-injury, inhibition of NUCKS (NKO) accelerated ocular resurfacing and suppressed neovascularization; the cytokine profile of alkali burned corneas in NKO mice showed suppressed expression of inflammation cytokines (IL1A &IL1B); upregulated expression of antiangiogenic factor (Pigment Epithelium-derived Factor; PEDF); and downregulated expression of angiogenic factor (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor, VEGF); in vitro, following LPS-induced NFκB activation, NKO corneal cells showed reduced expression of IL6, IP10 and TNFα. In vitro, corneal epithelial cells showed reduced NF-κb activation on silencing of NUCKS and corresponding NFκB-mediated cytokine expression was reduced. Here, we illustrate that inhibition of NUCKS played a role in cytokine modulation and facilitated corneal recovery. This reveals a potential new effective strategy for ocular burn treatment.published_or_final_versio

Spatial-temporal abundance and diversity of larval fish in different water bodies (Estuary and Adjacent Coastal Waters) from Sungai Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia

During larval form, various factors will affect the distributions of fish which lead to spatio-temporal variation of their assemblage. Studies on the variation provide knowledge in understanding the fish ecology. Present study aims to survey the fish larval occurrence in the estuary of Sungai Terengganu and its adjacent waters. A total of 402 larvae samples were collected using a 100 μm mesh sized Bongo net. About 334 samples were identified belonging to 23 families while the rest (equivalent to 16.92% of total catch) were unidentifiable. Three most abundant recorded families are Gobiidae (19.65% of total catch, 2.22 indv. 100 m-3), Ambassidae (12.94% of total catch, 1.47 indv. 100 m-3) and Apogonidae (9.45% of total catch, 1.02 indv. 100 m-3). Based on cluster analysis, fish larvae were divided into two groups whereby one from estuary of Sungai Terengganu and another one from its adjacent coastal water with little overlapping between them. Estuary observed higher larval density than adjacent coastal waters while larval taxa diversity recorded to be higher in the adjacent coastal waters compared to the estuary. Throughout sampling months, two larval mean density peaks were observed during June 2019 (76.19 indv. 100 m-3) and January 2020 (105.38 indv. 100 m-3)

Mesenchymal stem cells modulate albumin-induced renal tubular inflammation and fibrosis.

Bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) have recently shown promise as a therapeutic tool in various types of chronic kidney disease (CKD) models. However, the mechanism of action is incompletely understood. As renal prognosis in CKD is largely determined by the degree of renal tubular injury that correlates with residual proteinuria, we hypothesized that BM-MSCs may exert modulatory effects on renal tubular inflammation and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) under a protein-overloaded milieu. Using a co-culture model of human proximal tubular epithelial cells (PTECs) and BM-MSCs, we showed that concomitant stimulation of BM-MSCs by albumin excess was a prerequisite for them to attenuate albumin-induced IL-6, IL-8, TNF-alpha, CCL-2, CCL-5 overexpression in PTECs, which was partly mediated via deactivation of tubular NF-kappaB signaling. In addition, albumin induced tubular EMT, as shown by E-cadherin loss and alpha-SMA, FN and collagen IV overexpression, was also prevented by BM-MSC co-culture. Albumin-overloaded BM-MSCs per se retained their tri-lineage differentiation capacity and overexpressed hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) and TNFalpha-stimulating gene (TSG)-6 via P38 and NF-kappaB signaling. Albumin-induced tubular CCL-2, CCL-5 and TNF-alpha overexpression were suppressed by recombinant HGF treatment, while the upregulation of alpha-SMA, FN and collagen IV was attenuated by recombinant TSG-6. Neutralizing HGF and TSG-6 abolished the anti-inflammatory and anti-EMT effects of BM-MSC co-culture in albumin-induced PTECs, respectively. In vivo, albumin-overloaded mice treated with mouse BM-MSCs had markedly reduced BUN, tubular CCL-2 and CCL-5 expression, alpha-SMA and collagen IV accumulation independent of changes in proteinuria. These data suggest anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic roles of BM-MSCs on renal tubular cells under a protein overloaded condition, probably mediated via the paracrine action of HGF and TSG-6.published_or_final_versio