Local OCT Structural Correlates of Deep Visual Sensitivity Defects in Early Atrophic Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Purpose: To determine local OCT structural correlates of deep visual sensitivity defects (threshold of ≤10 decibels on microperimetry) in early atrophic age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Design: Prospective observational study.

Participants: Forty eyes from 40 participants, with at least incomplete retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and outer retinal atrophy (iRORA), or more advanced atrophic lesion(s).

Longitudinal Changes of Visual Sensitivity With Geographic Atrophy Progression Assessed by Defect-Mapping Microperimetry.

Purpose: To determine the relationship between structural and functional changes over time in the progression of geographic atrophy (GA) as assessed by defect-mapping microperimetry, an approach optimized to characterize the spatial extent of deep visual sensitivity losses.

Methods: A total of 57 eyes from 50 participants underwent defect-mapping microperimetry testing of the central 8° radius (with a 10-dB stimuli presented once each at 208 locations) over a median of five visits, scheduled at 3-monthly intervals. GA lesion(s) on fundus autofluorescence in the corresponding region tested on microperimetry at each visit were manually annotated.

Donor Time to Death and Kidney Transplant Outcomes in the Setting of a 3-Hour Minimum Wait Policy.

Importance: Lengthening waiting lists for organ transplant mandates the development of strategies to expand the deceased donor pool. Due to concerns regarding organ viability, most organ donation organizations internationally wait no longer than 1 to 2 hours for potential donation after circulatory death (DCD), possibly underutilizing an important organ source; UK policy mandates a minimum 3-hour wait time.

Objective: To assess whether time to death (TTD) from withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment (WLST) is associated with kidney transplant outcomes.

Rescue of mitochondrial import failure by intercellular organellar transfer.

Mitochondria are the powerhouses of eukaryotic cells, composed mostly of nuclear-encoded proteins imported from the cytosol. Thus, problems with the import machinery will disrupt their regenerative capacity and the cell's energy supplies - particularly troublesome for energy-demanding cells of nervous tissue and muscle. Unsurprisingly then, import breakdown is implicated in disease.

Visual Sensitivity Loss in Geographic Atrophy: Structure-Function Evaluation Using Defect-Mapping Microperimetry.

Purpose: To examine the structure-function relationship in eyes with geographic atrophy (GA) using defect-mapping microperimetry, a testing strategy optimized to quantify the spatial extent of deep visual sensitivity losses.

Methods: Fifty participants with GA underwent defect-mapping microperimetry testing of the central 8°-radius region (208 locations tested once with a 10-decibel stimuli) and fundus autofluorescence imaging in one eye. The GA extent in the corresponding central 8°-radius was derived by manual annotations and image co-registration to examine the global structure-function relationship.

Functional Evaluation of Retinal Pigment Epithelium and Outer Retinal Atrophy by High-Density Targeted Microperimetry Testing.

Purpose: Complete retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and outer retinal atrophy (cRORA) on OCT imaging has recently been proposed to describe end-stage atrophy in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) by international consensus and expected to be associated with a , but such functional evidence is lacking. This study sought to examine the visual sensitivity defects associated with cRORA and to determine OCT features associated with deep defects.

Design: Observational study.

Assessing the Impact of Prophylactic Eculizumab on Renal Graft Survival in Atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome.

Background: Atypical hemolytic uremic syndrome (aHUS) is a rare cause of end-stage kidney disease and associated with poor outcomes after kidney transplantation from early disease recurrence. Prophylactic eculizumab treatment at the time of transplantation is used in selected patients with aHUS. We report a retrospective case note review describing transplant outcomes in patients with aHUS transplanted between 1978 and 2017, including those patients treated with eculizumab.

MiR-126-3p Is Dynamically Regulated in Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition during Fibrosis.

In fibrotic diseases, myofibroblasts derive from a range of cell types including endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT). Increasing evidence suggests that miRNAs are key regulators in biological processes but their profile is relatively understudied in EndMT. In human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), EndMT was induced by treatment with TGFβ2 and IL1β.

Simulating the effects of operating room staff movement and door opening policies on microbial load.

Objective: To identify factors that increase the microbial load in the operating room (OR) and recommend solutions to minimize the effect of these factors.

Design: Observation and sampling study.

Setting: Academic health center, public hospitals.

Receiving a Diagnosis of Pernicious Anemia: Exploring Experiences of Relationships With Health Professionals.

Objectives: Pernicious anemia (PA) is a chronic condition caused by vitamin B12 deficiency. This is a qualitative study using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA), which aimed to explore the patients lived experience of diagnosis and treatment.

Methods: Eleven semistructured interviews were conducted in PA patients; these covered participants' diagnostic and treatment journeys, the responses of others to their diagnosis, and the role health professionals have played in their medical care.

Immunosuppression-induced clonal T-cell lymphoproliferative disease causing severe diarrhoea mimicking coeliac disease following renal transplantation: a case report.

Background: Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease is a recognized complication following solid organ transplantation. This is usually a B cell disease and frequently associated with Epstein Barr virus infection, although T cell PTLD can occur. T cell PTLD is usually a monomorphic, lymphomatous disease associated with an adverse prognosis.

Haematopoietic stem cell gene therapy with IL-1Ra rescues cognitive loss in mucopolysaccharidosis IIIA.

Mucopolysaccharidosis IIIA is a neuronopathic lysosomal storage disease, characterised by heparan sulphate and other substrates accumulating in the brain. Patients develop behavioural disturbances and cognitive decline, a possible consequence of neuroinflammation and abnormal substrate accumulation. Interleukin (IL)-1β and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) expression were significantly increased in both murine models and human MPSIII patients.

Haemolytic uremic syndrome: diagnosis and management.

The thrombotic microangiopathies (TMAs) are a group of diseases characterised by microangiopathic haemolysis, thrombocytopenia, and thrombus formation leading to tissue injury. Traditionally, TMAs have been classified as either thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) or haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS) based on the clinical presentation, with neurological involvement predominating in the former and acute kidney injury in the latter. However, as our understanding of the pathogenesis of these conditions has increased, it has become clear that this is an over-simplification; there is significant overlap in the clinical presentation of TTP and HUS, there are different forms of HUS, and TMAs can occur in other, diverse clinical scenarios.

Regulation of Endothelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition by MicroRNAs in Chronic Allograft Dysfunction.

Fibrosis is a universal finding in chronic allograft dysfunction, and it is characterized by an accumulation of extracellular matrix. The precise source of the myofibroblasts responsible for matrix deposition is not understood, and pharmacological strategies for prevention or treatment of fibrosis remain limited. One source of myofibroblasts in fibrosis is an endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT), a process first described in heart development and involving endothelial cells undergoing a phenotypic change to become more like mesenchymal cells.

New molecular phylogeny of Lucinidae: increased taxon base with focus on tropical Western Atlantic species (Mollusca: Bivalvia).

A new molecular phylogeny of the Lucinidae using 18S and 28S rRNA and cytochrome b genes includes many species from the tropical Western Atlantic as well as additional taxa from the Indo-West Pacific. This study provides a phylogenetic framework for a new taxonomy of tropical Western Atlantic lucinids. The analysis confirmed five major clades-Pegophyseminae, Leucosphaerinae, Myrteinae, Codakiinae and Lucininae, with Monitilorinae and Fimbriinae represented by single species.

Lucinid bivalves of Guadeloupe: diversity and systematics in the context of the tropical Western Atlantic (Mollusca: Bivalvia: Lucinidae).

Intensive sampling of molluscs from the intertidal to depths of 800 m around the islands of Guadeloupe in the Lesser Antilles (KARUBENTHOS 2012, 2015) recovered 25 species of Lucinidae. All the Guadeloupe species are described and illustrated including details of larval shells and the taxonomy revised within the context of the wider western Atlantic fauna and recent classifications. Concurrent molecular analysis has helped separate frequently confounded species.

from the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans: a new intertidal species from Curaçao with unusual shell microstructure (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Lucinidae).

A new shallow water species of the lucinid bivalve is described from Curaçao in the southern Caribbean Sea and compared with known species of the genus from the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific Oceans. Although confused with the Floridian species , it is most similar to the eastern Pacific . As in all studied lucinids, the new species possesses symbiotic bacteria housed in the ctenidia.

New lucinid bivalves from shallow and deeper water of the Indian and West Pacific Oceans (Mollusca, Bivalvia, Lucinidae).

Four new species and a new genus of lucinid bivalves are described from shallow and deeper waters in the Indian and West Pacific Oceans. The new genus Scabrilucina (subfamily Lucininae) includes the little-known Scabrilucina victorialis (Melvill, 1899) from the Arabian Sea and Scabrilucina vitrea (Deshayes, 1844) from the Andaman Sea as well as a new species Scabrilucina melvilli from the Torres Strait off northeastern Australia. Ferrocina brunei new species (Lucininae) was recovered from 60 m near oil drilling activities off Borneo; its anatomy confirmed the presence of symbiotic bacteria.

Phylogenetic analysis of four nuclear protein-encoding genes largely corroborates the traditional classification of Bivalvia (Mollusca).

Revived interest in molluscan phylogeny has resulted in a torrent of molecular sequence data from phylogenetic, mitogenomic, and phylogenomic studies. Despite recent progress, basal relationships of the class Bivalvia remain contentious, owing to conflicting morphological and molecular hypotheses. Marked incongruity of phylogenetic signal in datasets heavily represented by nuclear ribosomal genes versus mitochondrial genes has also impeded consensus on the type of molecular data best suited for investigating bivalve relationships.