Health Professionals' Engagement With Email-Enabler or Disrupter?

The use of email is an internationally recognized and accepted method to communicate information in an asynchronous manner. Yet, despite its ubiquitous use, there is evidence that there are differences in the degree of engagement with and perceived value of email as legitimate work within the healthcare setting. A lack of engagement with email could have consequences on the care of patients if email communication is not read or responded to by the intended recipient.

Lamellar orientation in human cornea in relation to mechanical properties.

We have applied wide-angle X-ray scattering to the human cornea in order to quantify the relative number of stromal collagen fibrils directed along the two preferred corneal lamellar directions: superior-inferior and nasal-temporal. The data suggest that, on average, the two directions are populated in equal proportion at the corneal centre. Here, approximately one-third of the fibrils throughout the stromal depth tend to lie within a 45 degrees sector of the superior-inferior meridian, and similarly for the nasal-temporal direction.

Spatial mapping of collagen fibril organisation in primate cornea-an X-ray diffraction investigation.

New insights are presented into the collagenous structure of the primate cornea. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction was used to map the fibrillar arrangement and distribution of collagen over three common marmoset corneas. The maps provide a point of reference to help interpret data from pathological corneas or primate models of refractive surgery.

Changes in the refractive index of the stroma and its extrafibrillar matrix when the cornea swells.

The transparency of the corneal stroma is critically dependent on the hydration of the tissue; if the cornea swells, light scattering increases. Although this scattering has been ascribed to the disruption caused to the arrangement of the collagen fibrils, theory predicts that light scattering could increase if there is an increased mismatch in the refractive indices of the collagen fibrils and the material between them. The purpose of this article is to use Gladstone and Dale's law of mixtures to calculate volume fractions for a number of different constituents in the stroma, and use these to show how the refractive indices of the stroma and its constituent extrafibrillar material would be expected to change as more solvent enters the tissue.

Collagen fibrils appear more closely packed in the prepupillary cornea: optical and biomechanical implications.

Purpose: The size and organization of stromal collagen fibrils influence the biomechanical and optical properties of the cornea and hence its function. How fibrillar structure varies with position across the cornea has not been fully characterized. The present study was designed to quantify the collagen fibril spacing and diameter across the normal human cornea and to relate this to the properties of the tissue.

Annulus of collagen fibrils in mouse cornea and structural matrix alterations in a murine-specific keratopathy.

Purpose: Mouse corneas were investigated to see whether a limbal annulus of corneal collagen exists as in humans. Mice with corneas predisposed to topographical changes (the SKC strain) were also examined, to establish the size and spacing of stromal collagen fibrils and the integrity of the annulus.

Methods: X-ray diffraction was used to measure collagen fibril spacing and diameter in normal (the BALB/c strain; four male, two female) and SKC (six male and six female) corneas and to identify the degree of preferred collagen orientation at 200- microm intervals across two BALB/c and four SKC corneas.

Expression and mutation analysis of the Wilms' tumor 1 gene in human neural tumors.

The Wilms' tumor 1 gene, WT1, encodes a zinc-finger protein that is implicated in the development of Wilms' tumor. Mutant or aberrantly expressed WT1 isoforms have also been described in desmoplastic small round cell tumor, acute leukemias, mesothelioma, breast tumors and melanoma. During early development, WT1 is expressed in the brain and spinal cord, however its role in the malignancies that affect these tissues has not been previously investigated.