Health policy analysis on barriers and facilitators for better oral health in German care homes: a qualitative study.

Objectives: To assess possible health policy interventions derived from the theoretical domains framework (TDF) by studying barriers and facilitators on the delivery of oral healthcare and oral hygiene in German care homes using a behavioural change framework.

Design: Qualitative correlational study to evaluate a national intervention programme.

Setting: Primary healthcare in two care homes in rural Germany.

Subconjunctivally applied naïve Tregs support corneal graft survival in baby rats.

Purpose: Corneal transplantation is the most frequent and successful form of tissue transplantation in adults (<10% rejection). In young children, any corneal opacity should be corrected as early as possible to prevent lifelong visual impairment. However, the corneal graft rejection rate is dramatically increased in infants younger than 12 months of age (up to 85% rejection), and immunosuppressive therapy is particularly challenging in this age group.

Host-derived endothelial regeneration of corneal transplants in a rat keratoplasty model.

Background: It has been observed that formerly rejected opaque corneal transplants can regain clarity in the rat. We hypothesized that graft endothelium is regenerated by the host. Therefore, we used green fluorescent protein (GFP) transgenic rats to assess the origin of cells following keratoplasty.

Regeneration of corneal endothelial cells following keratoplasty in rats with bullous keratopathy.

Purpose: Little is known about the behavior of the endothelial cell (EC) layer following keratoplasty. In vitro experiments suggested that the peripheral endothelium might have a higher regenerative capacity than the central endothelium, and some authors hypothesized that endothelial progenitor cells are present in the limbal area. Thus, we analyzed the corneal endothelial regenerative capacity in vivo in a rat model of bullous keratopathy using either bullous central grafts or bullous peripheral recipient corneas to analyze differences in EC regeneration depending on central versus peripheral cell origin.

Short-term azithromycin treatment promotes cornea allograft survival in the rat.

Background: Any inflammatory response following corneal transplantation may induce rejection and irreversible graft failure. The purpose of this study is to analyze the anti-inflammatory effect of azithromycin (AZM) following experimental keratoplasty in rats.

Methods: Corneal transplants were performed between Fisher-donor and Lewis-recipient rats.