Cultured Autologous Corneal Epithelia for the Treatment of Unilateral Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency: A Case Series of 15 Patients.

Damage to limbal epithelial stem cells can lead to limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD). Current autologous treatment procedures for unilateral LSCD bear a significant risk of inducing LSCD in the donor eye. This complication can be avoided by grafting a stem cell containing cultured autologous corneal epithelium (CACE).

Effects of Long-term Serial Passaging on the Characteristics and Properties of Cell Lines Derived From Uveal Melanoma Primary Tumors.

Purpose: Development of liver metastasis remains the most common cause of mortality in uveal melanoma (UM). A few cell lines cultured from primary UM tumors have been used widely to investigate the pathobiology of UM. However, the translation of basic knowledge to the clinic for the treatment of the metastatic disease has remained incremental at best.

Balloon cell nevus of the iris.

Unlabelled: Balloon cell nevus is a rare histopathological lesion characterized by a predominance of large, vesicular and clear cells, called balloon cells. There is only 1 case of balloon cell nevus of the iris reported in the literature.

Case Report: A 55 year-old man presented a pigmented elevated lesion in the right iris since the age of 12 years old.

Increased HIF-1α expression correlates with cell proliferation and vascular markers CD31 and VEGF-A in uveal melanoma.

Purpose: Overexpression of hypoxia inducible factor-1 α (HIF-1α) has been found in several cancers and is thought to correlate with aggressive disease. The purpose of our study was to investigate the influence of HIF-1α on clinical outcome in uveal melanoma (UM) along with proliferative (MIB-1) and vascular (CD31, VEGF-A) markers.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was carried out on UM tumors from 88 patients.

Altered expression of the poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation enzymes in uveal melanoma and regulation of PARG gene expression by the transcription factor ERM.

Purpose: Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation is a reversible post-translational modification that requires the contribution of the enzymes poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) and poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase (PARG). Our study explores expression and activity of PARP-1 and PARG in uveal melanoma cell lines with varying tumorigenic properties.

Methods: Gene profiling on microarrays was conducted using RNA prepared from the uveal melanoma cell lines T97, T98, T108, and T115.

Suppression of α5 gene expression is closely related to the tumorigenic properties of uveal melanoma cell lines.

Cancer aggressiveness is related to the ability of cancer cells to escape the anchorage dependency toward the extracellular matrix, a process regulated by the integrin α5β1 and its ligand fibronectin. Here, we characterized the expression of the α5 gene in human uveal melanoma cell lines with distinct tumorigenic properties and investigated some of the mechanisms underlying the variations of their malignancy. Strong and weak expression of α5 was observed in cells with no (T108/T115) and high (T97/T98) tumorigenic properties, respectively.

Ileocolic perforation secondary to sodium polystyrene sulfonate in sorbitol use: a case report.

Hyperkalemia is a common condition encountered in medical and surgical patients. It can lead to various complications including cardiac arrhythmias. Sodium polystyrene sulfonate (SPS) in sorbitol is an ion-exchange resin that can be used to treat hyperkalemia.

Life-threatening endometriosis-related hemopneumothorax.

Catamenial pneumothorax is a relatively rare condition, generally of mild to moderate severity. We report the case of a 29-year-old woman who experienced an episode of life threatening right-sided hemopneumothorax in association with menses. She had already been operated on for recurrent pneumothorax.

Lethal pulmonary hemorrhage caused by a fulminant Stenotrophomonas maltophilia respiratory infection in an acute myeloid leukemia patient.

Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (Sm) pneumonia in immunocompromized hosts is an increasingly common nosocomial infection. Even though resistant to multiple antimicrobials, this gram-negative bacteria usually does not present with a fulminant course leading to a fatal hemorrhagic respiratory infection in neutropenic patients. We report here the case of a 63-year-old woman treated by intensive chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who presented while severely neutropenic and thrombocytopenic a Sm pulmonary infection with hemoptysis leading to death in 48 h.

An unusual cause of hiccup: costal exostosis. Treatment by video-assisted thoracic surgery.

The described case is of a 15-year-old boy who presented with a persistent hiccup and repeated episodes of left-sided chest pain. At computed tomography scan an exostosis originating from the costo-chondral junction of the left 4th rib was seen. The tip of the exostosis reached the external surface of the pericardium.