In vivo confocal microscopy of an apparent deep stroma corneal dystrophy: a case report.

A 41-year-old white woman was referred to our Department to rule out the presence of a Fuch's corneal dystrophy. On slit-lamp biomicroscopy, small bilateral punctuate opacities appearing mostly in the posterior stroma were observed, suggesting a differential diagnosis of pre-Descemet's dystrophy as opposed to Cornea Farinata.Confocal microscopy in the central cornea of both eyes revealed the normal appearance of superficial and basal epithelial layers.

v-ras and protein kinase C dedifferentiate thyroid cells by down-regulating nuclear cAMP-dependent protein kinase A.

Ras proteins are membrane-associated transducers of eternal stimuli to unknown intracellular targets. The constitutively activated v-ras oncogene induces dedifferentiation in thyroid cells. v-Ras appears to act by stimulating protein kinase C (PKC), which inhibits the nuclear migration of the catalytic subunit of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase A (PKA).

Transformation and transactivation suppressor activity of the c-Jun leucine zipper fused to a bacterial repressor.

Transcription factor c-Jun appears to be a nuclear target of the Ras-induced signal transduction pathway. In fact, some experiments show that transforming forms of the Ras protein cooperate with Jun in transcriptional activation mediated by an AP-1 site and others indicate that the two oncoproteins cooperate in cellular transformation. Although it is likely that intracellular signaling systems activated by Ras might act directly on c-Jun by inducing specific phosphorylation, it is unclear how c-Jun participates in the transformation process.

Developmental switch of CREM function during spermatogenesis: from antagonist to activator.

Mammalian spermatogenesis consists of a series of complex developmental processes controlled by the pituitary-hypothalamic axis. This flow of biochemical information is directly regulated by the adenylate cyclase signal transduction pathway. We have previously described the CREM (cyclic AMP-responsive element modulator) gene which generates, by cell-specific splicing, alternative antagonists of the cAMP transcriptional response.

Continuous usage of low doses of human leukocyte interferon with contact lenses in herpetic keratoconjunctivitis.

14 patients with primary and recurrent herpetic keratitis were treated with continuous usage of human leukocyte interferon (HLI) at low concentration using therapeutic contact lenses. All patients recovered in a medium-short time of 7 days, including some who had not benefited by previous treatments (idoxuridine, etc.).