Takotsubo pathophysiology and complications: what we know and what we do not know.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or stress cardiomyopathy (SCM), was first described in 1990 and initially, it was thought to be only associated with short-term complications and mortality with a benign long-term prognosis comparable to a healthy population. However recent investigations have proven otherwise and have shown SCM patients might have comparable long-term morbidity and mortality to ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients. Many emotional, or physical stressors can trigger SCM, and have been able to describe an interplay of neurohormonal and inflammatory mechanisms as the pathophysiology of this disease.

A retrospective analysis of neurogenic orthostatic hypotension in long-term care facility residents with recurrent falls.

Introduction: Approximately 50 % of residents in long-term care facilities fall yearly and orthostatic hypotension accounts for a significant portion of them. Neurogenic orthostatic hypotension - a subtype of orthostatic hypotension - is important to be recognized as its management is far more complex; undertreatment of these older adults can lead to recurrent falls, high healthcare cost burden, and increased morbidity and mortality. The primary purpose of our study was to describe the rate of neurogenic orthostatic hypotension in older adults in a long-term care facility, with a secondary purpose to describe risk factors for neurogenic orthostatic hypotension in this population.

Observations on spontaneous tumor formation in mice overexpressing mitotic kinesin Kif14.

The KIF14 locus is gained and overexpressed in various malignancies, with prognostic relevance. Its protein product, a mitotic kinesin, accelerates growth of normal mammary epithelial cells in vitro and retinoblastoma tumours in a mouse model, while KIF14 knockdown blocks growth of brain, liver, ovarian, breast, prostate, and other tumour cells and xenografts. However, the tumour-initiating effects of Kif14 overexpression have not been studied.

Ferrochelatase is a therapeutic target for ocular neovascularization.

Ocular neovascularization underlies major blinding eye diseases such as "wet" age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Despite the successes of treatments targeting the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) pathway, resistant and refractory patient populations necessitate discovery of new therapeutic targets. Using a forward chemical genetic approach, we identified the heme synthesis enzyme ferrochelatase (FECH) as necessary for angiogenesis and FECH is overexpressed in wet AMD eyes and murine choroidal neovascularization; siRNA knockdown of or partial loss of enzymatic function in the mouse model reduces choroidal neovascularization.

Kif14 overexpression accelerates murine retinoblastoma development.

The mitotic kinesin KIF14 has an essential role in the recruitment of proteins required for the final stages of cytokinesis. Genomic gain and/or overexpression of KIF14 has been documented in retinoblastoma and a number of other cancers, such as breast, lung and ovarian carcinomas, strongly suggesting its role as an oncogene. Despite evidence of oncogenic properties in vitro and in xenografts, Kif14's role in tumor progression has not previously been studied in a transgenic cancer model.

Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Novel Homoisoflavonoids for Retinal Neovascularization.

Eye diseases characterized by excessive angiogenesis such as wet age-related macular degeneration, proliferative diabetic retinopathy, and retinopathy of prematurity are major causes of blindness. Cremastranone is an antiangiogenic, naturally occurring homoisoflavanone with efficacy in retinal and choroidal neovascularization models and antiproliferative selectivity for endothelial cells over other cell types. We undertook a cell-based structure-activity relationship study to develop more potent cremastranone analogues, with improved antiproliferative selectivity for retinal endothelial cells.

Optical coherence tomography enables imaging of tumor initiation in the TAg-RB mouse model of retinoblastoma.

Purpose: Retinoblastoma is the most common primary intraocular malignancy in children. Although significant advances in treatment have decreased mortality in recent years, morbidity continues to be associated with these therapies, and therefore, there is a pressing need for new therapeutic options. Transgenic mouse models are popular for testing new therapeutics as well as studying the pathophysiology of retinoblastoma.