Priorities for health outcomes in glaucoma in an ethnically diverse UK cohort: an observational study.

Objectives: To assess whether patients from minority ethnic groups have different perceptions about the quality-of-life outcomes that matter most to them.

Design: Cross-sectional observational study.

Setting: High volume eye centres serving the most ethnically diverse region in the UK, recruiting from July 2021 to February 2022.

Treatment expectations in glaucoma: what matters most to patients?

Background/objectives: Recent clinical trials in glaucoma have used patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) of health-related quality of life to evaluate interventions. However, existing PROMs may not be sufficiently sensitive to capture changes in health status. This study aims to determine what really matters to patients by directly exploring their treatment expectations and preferences.

Metagenomic discovery of CRISPR-associated transposons.

CRISPR-associated Tn7 transposons (CASTs) co-opt genes for RNA-guided transposition. CASTs are exceedingly rare in genomic databases; recent surveys have reported Tn7-like transposons that co-opt Type I-F, I-B, and V-K CRISPR effectors. Here, we expand the diversity of reported CAST systems via a bioinformatic search of metagenomic databases.

Minimally Invasive Glaucoma Surgical Techniques for Open-Angle Glaucoma: An Overview of Cochrane Systematic Reviews and Network Meta-analysis.

Importance: Glaucoma affects more than 75 million people worldwide. Intraocular pressure (IOP)-lowering surgery is an important treatment for this disease. Interest in reducing surgical morbidity has led to the introduction of minimally invasive glaucoma surgeries (MIGS).

Ab interno supraciliary microstent surgery for open-angle glaucoma.

Background: Glaucoma is the leading cause of global irreversible blindness, often associated with raised intraocular pressure (IOP). Where medical or laser treatment has failed or is not tolerated, surgery is often required. Minimally-invasive surgical approaches have been developed in recent years to reduce IOP with lower surgical risks.

Ab interno trabecular bypass surgery with Trabectome for open-angle glaucoma.

Background: Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Minimally invasive surgical techniques, such as ab interno trabecular bypass surgery, have been introduced to prevent glaucoma from progressing.   OBJECTIVES: In light of the potential benefits for people with open-angle glaucoma and the widespread uptake of the technique, it is important to critically evaluate the evidence for whether treatment with ab interno trabecular bypass surgery with Trabectome is both efficacious and safe.

Opfi: A Python package for identifying gene clusters in large genomics and metagenomics data sets.

Gene clusters are sets of co-localized, often contiguous genes that together perform specific functions, many of which are relevant to biotechnology. There is a need for software tools that can extract candidate gene clusters from vast amounts of available genomic data. Therefore, we developed Opfi: a modular pipeline for identification of arbitrary gene clusters in assembled genomic or metagenomic sequences.

Massively parallel kinetic profiling of natural and engineered CRISPR nucleases.

Engineered SpCas9s and AsCas12a cleave fewer off-target genomic sites than wild-type (wt) Cas9. However, understanding their fidelity, mechanisms and cleavage outcomes requires systematic profiling across mispaired target DNAs. Here we describe NucleaSeq-nuclease digestion and deep sequencing-a massively parallel platform that measures the cleavage kinetics and time-resolved cleavage products for over 10,000 targets containing mismatches, insertions and deletions relative to the guide RNA.

Ab interno trabecular bypass surgery with Schlemm´s canal microstent (Hydrus) for open angle glaucoma.

Background: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness. A number of minimally-invasive surgical techniques have been introduced as a treatment to prevent glaucoma from progressing; ab interno trabecular bypass surgery with the Schlemm's canal Hydrus microstent is one of them.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of ab interno trabecular bypass surgery with the Hydrus microstent in treating people with open angle glaucoma (OAG).

Morphology and genome of a snailfish from the Mariana Trench provide insights into deep-sea adaptation.

It is largely unknown how living organisms-especially vertebrates-survive and thrive in the coldness, darkness and high pressures of the hadal zone. Here, we describe the unique morphology and genome of Pseudoliparis swirei-a recently described snailfish species living below a depth of 6,000 m in the Mariana Trench. Unlike closely related shallow sea species, P.

Endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation (ECP) for open angle glaucoma and primary angle closure.

Background: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness. A number of minimally invasive surgical techniques have been introduced as a treatment to prevent glaucoma progressing. Among them, endoscopic cyclophotocoagulation (ECP) is a cyclodestructive procedure developed by Martin Uram in 1992.

Lysosomal Signaling Promotes Longevity by Adjusting Mitochondrial Activity.

Lysosomes and mitochondria are both crucial cellular organelles for metabolic homeostasis and organism health. However, mechanisms linking their metabolic activities to promote organism longevity remain poorly understood. We discovered that the induction of specific lysosomal signaling mediated by a LIPL-4 lysosomal acid lipase and its lipid chaperone LBP-8 increases mitochondrial ß-oxidation to reduce lipid storage and promote longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Subconjunctival draining minimally-invasive glaucoma devices for medically uncontrolled glaucoma.

Background: Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness. Subconjunctival draining minimally-invasive glaucoma devices such as the Xen gelatin implant and InnFocus stent have been introduced as a treatment to prevent glaucoma progressing.These implants provide a channel to allow aqueous humour from the anterior chamber of the eye to drain into the subconjunctival space on the surface of the eye thus reducing intraocular pressure (IOP) and mimicking the mechanism of the most commonly undertaken glaucoma surgery, trabeculectomy.

A Screen for Suppressors Reveals a Key Role for a Connector Region of Termination Factor Rho.

RfaH activates horizontally acquired operons that encode lipopolysaccharide core components, pili, toxins, and capsules. Unlike its paralog NusG, which potentiates Rho-mediated silencing, RfaH strongly inhibits Rho. RfaH is recruited to its target operons via a network of contacts with an elongating RNA polymerase (RNAP) and a specific DNA element called to modify RNAP into a pause- and NusG-resistant state.

Ab interno trabecular bypass surgery with Trabectome for open angle glaucoma.

Background: Glaucoma is the leading cause of irreversible blindness. Minimally invasive surgical techniques, such as ab interno trabecular bypass surgery, have been introduced to prevent glaucoma progressing.

Objectives: The main objective was to assess the results at two years of ab interno trabecular bypass surgery with Trabectome for open angle glaucoma in comparison to conventional medical, laser, or surgical treatment in terms of efficacy and safety.

Analgesic Neural Circuits Are Activated by Electroacupuncture at Two Sets of Acupoints.

To investigate analgesic neural circuits activated by electroacupuncture (EA) at different sets of acupoints in the brain, goats were stimulated by EA at set of Baihui-Santai acupoints or set of Housanli acupoints for 30 min. The pain threshold was measured using the potassium iontophoresis method. The levels of c-Fos were determined with Streptavidin-Biotin Complex immunohistochemistry.

Seen from the other side: visual experiences during cataract surgery under topical anaesthesia.

Patients who have cataract surgery under topical local anaesthetic can have colourful visual experiences. Here two such patients share their paintings inspired by what they saw

Self-assembly of SNARE fusion proteins into star-shaped oligomers.

Three evolutionarily conserved proteins known as SNAREs (soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein attachment protein receptors) mediate exocytosis from single cell eukaryotes to neurons. Among neuronal SNAREs, syntaxin and SNAP-25 (synaptosome-associated protein of 25 kDa) reside on the plasma membrane, whereas synaptobrevin resides on synaptic vesicles prior to fusion. The SNARE motifs of the three proteins form a helical bundle which probably drives membrane fusion.

A common mechanism for the regulation of vesicular SNAREs on phospholipid membranes.

The SNARE (soluble N -ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion protein attachment protein receptor) family of proteins is essential for membrane fusion in intracellular traffic in eukaryotic organisms. v-SNAREs (vesicular SNAREs) must engage target SNAREs in the opposing membrane to form the fusogenic SNARE complex. Temporal and spatial control of membrane fusion is important for many aspects of cell physiology and may involve the regulation of the SNAREs resident on intracellular membranes.

SNAREs and control of synaptic release probabilities.

Since quantal release was first described, it has been clear that release of neurotransmitters is a stochastic process. Modulation of neurotransmitter release probability by regulatory factors likely affects the transfer of information within the nervous system. Although many rules governing release probabilities at the synapse have been discovered, their molecular basis is still under investigation.