Progression of diabetic maculopathy in patients on the Wellington Diabetic Screening Programme initially graded M3.

Aim: To determine the likelihood of progression from M3 grade maculopathy, and therefore the safety of these patients remaining under the care of a primary screener.

Methods: Patients graded M3 at diabetic screening were selected from the Wellington screening database. Photographs for this visit and the subsequent visit were obtained, and graded by a consultant ophthalmologist.

Rapamycin extends life and health in C57BL/6 mice.

Target of rapamycin inhibition by rapamycin feeding has previously been shown to extend life in genetically heterogeneous mice. To examine whether it similarly affected mouse health, we fed encapsulated rapamycin or a control diet to C57BL/6Nia mice of both sexes starting at 19 months of age. We performed a range of health assessments 6 and 12 months later.

Dietary restriction but not rapamycin extends disease onset and survival of the H46R/H48Q mouse model of ALS.

Dietary restriction (DR) and rapamycin (Rapa) have been shown to increase the lifespan of a variety of organisms leading to the speculation that these interventions increase lifespan through related mechanisms. However, both these interventions have a detrimental effect in the G93A mutant mouse model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Our previous work indicated that different ALS SOD1 mutant mouse models differ in disease pathogenesis; therefore in this study we measured the effect of DR and Rapa in a second ALS mutant mouse model (the H46R/H48Q mutant).