Cross-sectional study of the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness at 7 years after an acute episode of unilateral primary acute angle closure.

The purpose of this article is to investigate the long-term retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) status and determinants of RNFL thinning after an episode of unilateral primary acute angle closure (AAC). This cross-sectional study analyzed the medical records of consecutive patients with a single episode of unilateral AAC from 1999 to 2009 in Hong Kong. The peripapillary RNFL thickness was correlated with age, gender, presenting intraocular pressure (IOP), time to laser iridotomy, time to cataract extraction, follow-up duration, as well as the last IOP, vertical cup-to-disc ratio (CDR), and vision.

Influence of visceral pleural invasion on survival in completely resected non-small-cell lung cancer.

Objectives: Although the prognostic implications of visceral pleural invasion (VPI) are well established, it remains controversial whether the extent of VPI affects survival in patients with completely resected non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). In addition, the impact of VPI according to nodal status is unclear. We evaluated the influence of the extent of pleural invasion on survival by analysing a multicentre retrospective database of patients who had undergone surgery for NSCLC.

Cardiomyocyte differentiation of pluripotent stem cells with SB203580 analogues correlates with Wnt pathway CK1 inhibition independent of p38 MAPK signaling.

Differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells as embryoid bodies (EBs) has been achieved previously with p38alfa MAPK inhibitors such as SB203580 with moderate efficiency of 10-15%. We synthesized and screened 42 compounds that are 2,4,5-trisubstituted azole analogues of SB203580 for efficient cardiomyocyte differentiation. Our screen identified novel compounds that have similar cardiac differentiation activity as SB203580.

The anterior chamber depth and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in children.

Purpose: To investigate the correlation of anterior chamber depth (ACD) with the peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, age, axial length (AL), and spherical equivalent in children.

Subjects: Consecutive subjects aged 4 to 18 were recruited. Visually disabling eye conditions were excluded.

Transcriptional dysregulation of γ-aminobutyric acid transporter in parvalbumin-containing inhibitory neurons in the prefrontal cortex in schizophrenia.

Parvalbumin (PV)-containing neurons are functionally compromised in schizophrenia. Using double in situ hybridization in postmortem human prefrontal cortex, we found that the messenger RNA (mRNA) for the γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) transporter GAT-1 was undetectable in 22-41% of PV neurons in layers 3-4 in schizophrenia. In the remaining PV neurons with detectable GAT-1 mRNA, transcript expression was decreased by 26% in layer 3.

Effect of reversal of neuromuscular blockade with sugammadex versus usual care on bleeding risk in a randomized study of surgical patients.

Background: Previous studies show a prolongation of activated partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time in healthy volunteers after treatment with sugammadex. The authors investigated the effect of sugammadex on postsurgical bleeding and coagulation variables.

Methods: This randomized, double-blind trial enrolled patients receiving thromboprophylaxis and undergoing hip or knee joint replacement or hip fracture surgery.

Rocuronium blockade reversal with sugammadex vs. neostigmine: randomized study in Chinese and Caucasian subjects.

Background: This study compared efficacy and safety of the selective relaxant binding agent sugammadex (2 mg/kg) with neostigmine (50 μg/kg) for neuromuscular blockade (NMB) reversal in Chinese and Caucasian subjects.

Methods: This was a randomized, active-controlled, multicenter, safety-assessor-blinded study (NCT00825812) in American Society of Anesthesiologists Class 1-3 subjects undergoing surgery with propofol anesthesia. Rocuronium 0.

Hot carriers in epitaxial graphene sheets with and without hydrogen intercalation: role of substrate coupling.

The development of graphene electronic devices produced by industry relies on efficient control of heat transfer from the graphene sheet to its environment. In nanoscale devices, heat is one of the major obstacles to the operation of such devices at high frequencies. Here we have studied the transport of hot carriers in epitaxial graphene sheets on 6H-SiC (0001) substrates with and without hydrogen intercalation by driving the device into the non-equilibrium regime.

Utility of radiotherapy for treatment of basal cell carcinoma: a review.

Radiotherapy is an available treatment for management of basal cell carcinoma (BCC). This study aims to analyse the published literature about radiotherapy in treatment of BCC. A focus of this study will be to compare the dosing regimens adopted in these studies.

Allelic imbalance in the miR-31 host gene locus in lung cancer--its potential role in carcinogenesis.

Small non-protein coding RNA, microRNA (miR), which regulate messenger RNA levels, have recently been identified, and may play important roles in the pathogenesis of various diseases. The present study focused on miR-31 and investigated its potential involvement in lung carcinogenesis. The expression of miR-31 was altered in lung cancer cells through either the amplification or loss of the host gene locus.

Comparison between CT tumor size and pathological tumor size in frozen section examinations of lung adenocarcinoma.

Objective: We examined the appropriate measurement for pathological tumor size by comparing radiological and pathological tumor size of resected lung adenocarcinoma in FSE.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed records of 59 resected specimens of lung adenocarcinoma for FSE from January to December 2008. Specimens were well-inflated with saline by using an injector before cutting into segments.

The increases in potassium concentrations are greater with succinylcholine than with rocuronium-sugammadex in outpatient surgery: a randomized, multicentre trial.

Background: Succinylcholine provides rapid onset of neuromuscular blockade and short duration of action, but its administration may be associated with hyperkalemia. Rocuronium is not known to increase potassium concentration, has fast onset of activity, and can be rapidly reversed by sugammadex. This study evaluated changes in plasma potassium concentrations in patients randomized either to rocuronium followed by sugammadex reversal or to succinylcholine in ambulatory surgery.

Perineuronal nets and schizophrenia: the importance of neuronal coatings.

Schizophrenia is a complex brain disorder associated with deficits in synaptic connectivity. The insidious onset of this illness during late adolescence and early adulthood has been reported to be dependent on several key processes of brain development including synaptic refinement, myelination and the physiological maturation of inhibitory neural networks. Interestingly, these events coincide with the appearance of perineuronal nets (PNNs), reticular structures composed of components of the extracellular matrix that coat a variety of cells in the mammalian brain.

Molecular profiles of pyramidal neurons in the superior temporal cortex in schizophrenia.

Disrupted synchronized oscillatory firing of pyramidal neuronal networks in the cerebral cortex in the gamma frequency band (i.e., 30-100 Hz) mediates many of the cognitive deficits and symptoms of schizophrenia.

Molecular profiles of parvalbumin-immunoreactive neurons in the superior temporal cortex in schizophrenia.

Dysregulation of pyramidal cell network function by the soma- and axon-targeting inhibitory neurons that contain the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (PV) represents a core pathophysiological feature of schizophrenia. In order to gain insight into the molecular basis of their functional impairment, we used laser capture microdissection (LCM) to isolate PV-immunolabeled neurons from layer 3 of Brodmann's area 42 of the superior temporal gyrus (STG) from postmortem schizophrenia and normal control brains. We then extracted ribonucleic acid (RNA) from these neurons and determined their messenger RNA (mRNA) expression profile using the Affymetrix platform of microarray technology.

Taxonomy of breast cancer based on normal cell phenotype predicts outcome.

Accurate classification is essential for understanding the pathophysiology of a disease and can inform therapeutic choices. For hematopoietic malignancies, a classification scheme based on the phenotypic similarity between tumor cells and normal cells has been successfully used to define tumor subtypes; however, use of normal cell types as a reference by which to classify solid tumors has not been widely emulated, in part due to more limited understanding of epithelial cell differentiation compared with hematopoiesis. To provide a better definition of the subtypes of epithelial cells comprising the breast epithelium, we performed a systematic analysis of a large set of breast epithelial markers in more than 15,000 normal breast cells, which identified 11 differentiation states for normal luminal cells.

Sugammadex versus neostigmine reversal of moderate rocuronium-induced neuromuscular blockade in Korean patients.

Background: Rapid and complete reversal of neuromuscular blockade (NMB) is desirable at the end of surgery. Sugammadex reverses rocuronium-induced NMB by encapsulation. It is well tolerated in Caucasian patients, providing rapid reversal of moderate (reappearance of T2) rocuronium-induced NMB.

Expression of HDAC9 in lung cancer--potential role in lung carcinogenesis.

Our previous studies identified important molecules involved in lung carcinogenesis through a comprehensive search for the downstream targets of oncogenic KRAS, and these findings suggested that an investigation into the downstream targets of oncogenic KRAS might represent a useful strategy for elucidating the common molecular bases of lung cancer. Among the downstream targets of oncogenic KRAS, a focus was placed on HDAC9, a member of the histone deacetylase family, in the present study because epigenetic modification of DNA or the histone proteins is known to play an important role in carcinogenesis. The immunohistochemical expression of HDAC9 was examined in surgically resected primary lung cancers (130 adenocarcinoma, 49 squamous cell carcinomas, one large cell carcinoma, and 6 small cell carcinomas) and potential associations between its expression level and pathologic factors were analyzed.

Analysis of schizophrenia-related genes and electrophysiological measures reveals ZNF804A association with amplitude of P300b elicited by novel sounds.

Several genes have recently been identified as risk factors for schizophrenia (SZ) by genome-wide association studies (GWAS), including ZNF804A which is thought to function in transcriptional regulation. However, the downstream pathophysiological changes that these genes confer remain to be elucidated. In 143 subjects (68 clinical high risk, first episode or chronic cases; 75 controls), we examined the association between 21 genetic markers previously identified by SZ GWAS or associated with putative intermediate phenotypes of SZ against three event-related potential (ERP) measures: mismatch negativity (MMN), amplitude of P300 during an auditory oddball task, and P300 amplitude during an auditory novelty oddball task.

Extracellular p53 fragment re-enters K-Ras mutated cells through the caveolin-1 dependent early endosomal system.

K-Ras mutation is detected in over 30% of human malignancies. In particular, 90% of human pancreatic cancers are initiated by K-Ras mutation. Thus, selective elimination of K-Ras mutated cells would be a plausible strategy to prevent or cure the malignancies.

Gene expression signature of normal cell-of-origin predicts ovarian tumor outcomes.

The potential role of the cell-of-origin in determining the tumor phenotype has been raised, but not adequately examined. We hypothesized that distinct cells-of-origin may play a role in determining ovarian tumor phenotype and outcome. Here we describe a new cell culture medium for in vitro culture of paired normal human ovarian (OV) and fallopian tube (FT) epithelial cells from donors without cancer.

An unprecedented Co(II) cuboctahedron as the secondary building unit in a Co-based metal-organic framework.

A cubic metal-organic framework with an unprecedented octanuclear secondary building unit (SBU) was isolated. The obtained SBU is composed of 8 Co(II) ions at each vertex, 6 μ4-OH groups at each face, and 12 cpt(-) ligands framing the metal core. The cuboctahedra arrange in a ubt framework topology, eliciting a highly symmetrical MOF structure.

Neurobiology of schizophrenia onset.

The clinical symptoms and cognitive and functional deficits of schizophrenia typically begin to gradually emerge during late adolescence and early adulthood. Recent findings suggest that disturbances of a specific subset of inhibitory neurons that contain the calcium-binding protein parvalbumin (PV), which may regulate the course of postnatal developmental experience-dependent synaptic plasticity in the cerebral cortex, including the prefrontal cortex (PFC), may be involved in the pathogenesis of the onset of this illness. Specifically, converging lines of evidence suggest that oxidative stress, extracellular matrix (ECM) deficit and impaired glutamatergic innervation may contribute to the functional impairment of PV neurons, which may then lead to aberrant developmental synaptic pruning of pyramidal cell circuits during adolescence in the PFC.

Dirac fermion heating, current scaling, and direct insulator-quantum Hall transition in multilayer epitaxial graphene.

We have performed magnetotransport measurements on multilayer epitaxial graphene. By increasing the driving current I through our graphene devices while keeping the bath temperature fixed, we are able to study Dirac fermion heating and current scaling in such devices. Using zero-field resistivity as a self thermometer, we are able to determine the effective Dirac fermion temperature (TDF) at various driving currents.