Safety and Efficacy of Dexamethasone Intravitreal Implant Given Either First-Line or Second-Line in Diabetic Macular Edema.

Diabetic macular edema (DME) is a common sight-threatening complication of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and the leading cause of severe visual impairment among the working-age population. Several therapeutic options are available for the management of DME, including intravitreal corticosteroids. They have been traditionally used as second-line treatment, due to the risk of intraocular pressure increase and cataract-related adverse events.

RET Signaling Persists in the Adult Intestine and Stimulates Motility by Limiting PYY Release From Enteroendocrine Cells.

Background & Aims: RET tyrosine kinase is necessary for enteric nervous system development. Loss-of-function RET mutations cause Hirschsprung disease (HSCR), in which infants are born with aganglionic bowel. Despite surgical correction, patients with HSCR often experience chronic defecatory dysfunction and enterocolitis, suggesting that RET is important after development.

Diminished androgen levels are linked to irritable bowel syndrome and cause bowel dysfunction in mice.

Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) have prominent sex differences in incidence, symptoms, and treatment response that are not well understood. Androgens are steroid hormones present at much higher levels in males than females and could be involved in these differences. In adults with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a FGID that affects 5% to 10% of the population worldwide, we found that free testosterone levels were lower than those in healthy controls and inversely correlated with symptom severity.

Interleukin-6 produced by enteric neurons regulates the number and phenotype of microbe-responsive regulatory T cells in the gut.

The immune and enteric nervous (ENS) systems monitor the frontier with commensal and pathogenic microbes in the colon. We investigated whether FoxP3 regulatory T (Treg) cells functionally interact with the ENS. Indeed, microbe-responsive RORγ and Helios subsets localized in close apposition to nitrergic and peptidergic nerve fibers in the colon lamina propria (LP).

IL-1-dependent electrophysiological changes and cardiac neural remodeling in a mouse model of Kawasaki disease vasculitis.

Kawasaki disease (KD) is the leading cause of acquired heart disease in children. In addition to coronary artery abnormalities, aneurysms and myocarditis, acute KD is also associated with echocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities in 40-80% of patients. Here, we show that these ECG changes are recapitulated in the Lactobacillus casei cell wall extract (LCWE)-induced KD vasculitis mouse model.

Detection of central visual field defects in early glaucomatous eyes: Comparison of Humphrey and Octopus perimetry.

Purpose: To compare the detection rate of central visual field defect (CVFD) between the 30-degree Octopus G1 program (Dynamic strategy) and the HFA 10-2 SITA-Standard test in early glaucoma eyes not showing any CVFD on the HFA 24-2 SITA-Standard test.

Methods: One eye of 41 early glaucoma patients without CVFD in the central 10° on HFA 24-2 test was tested with both the HFA 10-2 test and the Octopus G1 program 15 minutes apart, in random order. The primary outcome measure was the comparison of CVFD detection rates.

Enteric Glia Regulate Gastrointestinal Motility but Are Not Required for Maintenance of the Epithelium in Mice.

Background & Aims: When the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) promoter is used to express cellular toxins that eliminate glia in mice, intestinal epithelial permeability and proliferation increase; this led to the concept that glia are required for maintenance of the gastrointestinal epithelium. Many enteric glia, however, particularly in the mucosa, do not express GFAP. In contrast, virtually all enteric glia express proteolipid protein 1 (PLP1).

[Phenomenology and phenomenological method: their usefulness for nursing knowledge and practice].

Phenomenology is a thought movement the main aim of which is to study human fenomena as they are experienced and lived. Key concepts of phenomenology are: the study of lived experience and subjectivity of human beings, the intentionality of consciousness, perception and interpretation. Phenomenological research method has nine steps: definition of the research topic; superficial literature searching; sample selection; gathering of lived experiences; analysis of lived experiences; written synthesis of lived experiences; validation of written synthesis; deep literature searching; writing of the scientific document.

[Fetal urinoma caused by pyelo-ureteral obstruction; spontaneous remission].

With advances in obstetric ultrasound, prenatal observation of the pathogenesis and natural history of obstructive uropathy is possible. The Authors describe the ultrasonographic appearance of a fetal monolateral urinoma associated with a severe hydronephrosis and the progressive reduction of the urinoma during the last weeks of the pregnancy until complete disappearance in the first month of life. Urinoma detected antenatally, with onset very early in gestation, usually is associated with severe urinary tract obstruction, like posterior urethral valves or ureteropelvic junction obstruction and is always associated with a severe impairment of ipsilateral renal function.

Vitamin D-binding protein in the perinatal period.

The molecular polymorphism and quantitative levels of serum vitamin D-binding protein (DBP) were ascertained in a group of preterm, full-term and hypocalcaemic full-term newborn infants. The serum concentration of DBP is not influenced by phenotype and increases with fetal age from the 32nd-33rd week of gestation until the 35th week of gestation. Neither different DBP allele distribution nor abnormal quantitative levels found among 29 hypocalcaemic full-term newborn infants.

Transferrin subtypes in cystic fibrosis.

The molecular polymorphism and quantitative data of serum transferrin (Tf) were ascertained in a group of fibrocystic patients, their parents and controls. Quantitative rates of pre-albumin, retinol binding globulin (RBG) and alpha-1-glycoprotein were also investigated as a reference for the evaluation of Tf quantitative data. Neither different allele distributions nor abnormal electrophoretic patterns were observed among CF patients.

Evaluation of plasma iodothyronines in various stages of pregnancy.

Evaluation of thyroid status during the whole normal pregnancy was carried out by measuring serum total thyroxine (TT4), total 3,5,3' triiodothyronine (TT3), T3 resin uptake (T3(U)), 3,3',5' triiodothyronine (rT3), free thyroxine index (FTI), free thyroxine (FT4) and thyrotrophin (TSH) in 70 serum samples from 42 pregnant women being in a variable period from the 6th to the 40th week of pregnancy and in 14 serum samples from 14 non pregnant healthy women. The serum samples were divided in 7 groups, according to the gestational age of the subjects. Every group was formed by 10 samples collected within the same five weeks period.