Safety of Percutaneous Dilatational Tracheostomy in Critically Ill Patients with Liver Cirrhosis.

Introduction: Percutaneous dilatational tracheostomy (PDT) is a safe and cost-effective alternative to surgical tracheostomy. Cirrhotic patients often require ICU admission and prolonged mechanical ventilation. Patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) are known to have coagulopathy and relatively safe and simple procedures such as tracheostomy may be associated with high complication rates, specifically high bleeding rates.

The retinal toxicity profile towards assemblies of Amyloid-β indicate the predominant pathophysiological activity of oligomeric species.

Amyloid-β (Aβ), reported as a significant constituent of drusen, was implicated in the pathophysiology of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), yet the identity of the major pathogenic Aβ species in the retina has remained hitherto unclear. Here, we examined the in-vivo retinal impact of distinct supramolecular assemblies of Aβ. Fibrillar (Aβ40, Aβ42) and oligomeric (Aβ42) preparations showed clear biophysical hallmarks of amyloid assemblies.