Systemic lupus erythematosus-associated autoantibodies in sickle cell disease: Spontaneous emergence in a patient and in transgenic sickle mice.

We describe a patient with sickle cell disease (SCD) and elevated antiphospholipid antibodies (aPL) who developed multi-organ failure resembling catastrophic antiphospholipid syndrome. Autoimmune screening revealed several autoantibodies characteristic of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Notably, routinely housed and unmanipulated transgenic sickle mice displayed significantly elevated titres of aPL- and SLE-associated autoantibodies.

The Association of Intravitreal Anti-VEGF Injections With Kidney Function in Diabetic Retinopathy.

Purpose: To examine whether patients with diabetic retinopathy receiving intravitreal anti-VEGF injections are at increased risk of kidney function decline.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: Included 187 patients who received intravitreal anti-VEGF injections for proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and/or diabetic macular edema (DME), and 929 controls with non-PDR who did not receive injections, at a large tertiary care center in Chicago, Illinois.

Plasmonic enhancement of stability and brightness in organic light-emitting devices.

The field of plasmonics, which studies the resonant interactions of electromagnetic waves and free electrons in solid-state materials, has yet to be put to large-scale commercial application owing to the large amount of loss that usually occurs in plasmonic materials. Organic light-emitting devices (OLEDs) have been incorporated into billions of commercial products because of their good colour saturation, versatile form factor and low power consumption, but could still be improved in terms of efficiency and stability. Although OLEDs incorporating organic phosphors achieve an internal charge-to-light conversion of unity, their refractive index contrast reduces the observable fraction of photons outside the device to around 25 per cent.