Macular choroidal volume variations in highly myopic eyes with myopic traction maculopathy and choroidal neovascularization.

PURPOSE: To compare the choroidal volume (CV) between emmetropic and highly myopic eyes, and to assess if the presence of myopic fundus abnormalities, myopic traction maculopathy, or choroidal neovascularization affects the CV. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed imaging studies of 98 eyes of 98 patients who underwent CV measurement on optical coherence tomography. We included 31 emmetropic eyes (Group 1), 36 highly myopic eyes without vitreoretinal or choroidal pathologies (Group 2), 21 highly myopic eyes with traction maculopathy (Group 3), and 10 highly myopic eyes with history of choroidal neovascularization (Group 3). Eyes with chorioretinal atrophy were excluded. Regression analysis was performed to evaluate the correlation between CV and multiple variables. RESULTS: Choroidal volume was lower in Group 2 than in Group 1 (P < 0.001), and in Groups 3 and 4 than in Group 2 (P < 0.001 and P = 0.002, respectively). Age (P = 0.002), axial length (P < 0.001), sex (P = 0.047), staphyloma (P < 0.001), and myopic group (P = 0.05) were independent predictors for the final CV (R = 0.645). In highly myopic eyes, CV decreased by 0.32 mm for every 10 years and by 0.49 mm per millimeter of axial length. CONCLUSION: Choroidal thinning is present in highly myopic eyes compared with emmetropic eyes, and is related to age, axial length, sex, and staphyloma. However, myopic eyes with coexisting myopic traction maculopathy or history of choroidal neovascularization have more severe thinning, likely leading to insufficient metabolic supplementation for the macula.

Examining public preferences for wood smoke mitigation policies in the sub-Arctic.

Outdoor air pollution is a significant problem worldwide. Policies developed to mitigate air pollution require support from local residents to be successful. While some research has examined various social and psychological metrics associated with support for some types of pollution mitigation, less is known about what variables are critical in resident support for different types of policies that help mitigate air pollution associated with woodsmoke. This research examined the extent that perceived health and economic risks, perceived uncertainties in measuring air quality and estimating risks, trust in government, and affect relate to support for three different types of outdoor wood smoke mitigation policies in Alaska. Using a multiple regression analysis of data obtained from a mail-based survey (n = 442), we characterized local affective associations with wood burning, economic concerns and health risks around heat options, perceived uncertainties, and levels of trust in government. The research identified several social and psychological variables that were important in understanding support for air pollution policies associated with wood smoke. Significantly, we found that perceived economic risk of not taking actions to mitigate outdoor air pollution from wood smoke was related to support for all three policy options. Trust in local government was positively correlated to support for education and regulatory policies, and perceived uncertainty was inversely related to support for regulations. The research also confirmed other known findings with respect to variables associated with support for air pollution regulation policies including perceived health risks and affect.

Overview of the Alaskan Layered Pollution and Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) Field Experiment.

The Alaskan Layered Pollution And Chemical Analysis (ALPACA) field experiment was a collaborative study designed to improve understanding of pollution sources and chemical processes during winter (cold climate and low-photochemical activity), to investigate indoor pollution, and to study dispersion of pollution as affected by frequent temperature inversions. A number of the research goals were motivated by questions raised by residents of Fairbanks, Alaska, where the study was held. This paper describes the measurement strategies and the conditions encountered during the January and February 2022 field experiment, and reports early examples of how the measurements addressed research goals, particularly those of interest to the residents. Outdoor air measurements showed high concentrations of particulate matter and pollutant gases including volatile organic carbon species. During pollution events, low winds and extremely stable atmospheric conditions trapped pollution below 73 m, an extremely shallow vertical scale. Tethered-balloon-based measurements intercepted plumes aloft, which were associated with power plant point sources through transport modeling. Because cold climate residents spend much of their time indoors, the study included an indoor air quality component, where measurements were made inside and outside a house to study infiltration and indoor sources. In the absence of indoor activities such as cooking and/or heating with a pellet stove, indoor particulate matter concentrations were lower than outdoors; however, cooking and pellet stove burns often caused higher indoor particulate matter concentrations than outdoors. The mass-normalized particulate matter oxidative potential, a health-relevant property measured here by the reactivity with dithiothreiol, of indoor particles varied by source, with cooking particles having less oxidative potential per mass than pellet stove particles.

A novel cytarabine crystalline lipid prodrug: hexadecyloxypropyl cytarabine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate for proliferative vitreoretinopathy.

PURPOSE: The objectives of this study were to synthesize and characterize two types of cytarabine (Ara-C) lipid produgs and evaluate the prodrugs for sustained intraocular delivery after administration by intravitreal injection. METHODS: Hexadecyloxypropyl cytarabine 5'-monophosphate (HDP-P-Ara-C) and hexadecyloxypropyl cytarabine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (HDP-cP-Ara-C) were synthesized starting from cytarabine (1-ß-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine). Their vitreal clearance profile was simulated using a custom dissolution chamber, in vitro cytotoxicity was evaluated using cell proliferation assays, and in vivo ocular properties in rat and rabbit eyes were assessed using biomicroscopy, indirect ophthalmoscopy, tonometry, electroretinography, and histology. RESULTS: HDP-P-Ara-C was cleared from the dissolution chamber (flow rate 2 µL/min) within 7 days. In contrast, HDP-cP-Ara-C, a much more insoluble prodrug, was still detectable 36 days after the dissolution process was started. HDP-P-Ara-C had a 50% cytotoxicity concentration of 52±2.6 µM in human retinal pigment epithelium (ARPE-19) and 32±2.2 µM in a rat Müller cell line, rMC-1. The 50% cytotoxicity concentration values for HDP-cP-Ara-C in ARPE-19 and rMC-1 cells were 50 µM and 25 µM, respectively. HDP-P-Ara-C was not detectable 2 weeks after the highest intravitreal dose (228 µg/rat eye) was injected, and no ocular toxicity was found. With HDP-cP-Ara-C, the drug depot was visible for 26 weeks following a single intravitreal injection (800 µg/rabbit eye). For both compounds, the electroretinogram, intraocular pressure, and other toxicity studies were negative except for the highest dose of HDP-cP-Ara-C (800 µg/eye), which had focal toxicity from the direct touch of the retina and decreased dark adapted a-waves and decreased flicker electroretinogram amplitudes (generalized estimating equations, p=0.039 and 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The cyclic monophosphate prodrug, HDP-cP-Ara-C, was found to have physiochemical properties better suited for sustained delivery of cytarabine to posterior segments of the eye. These properties included limited aqueous solubility, in vitro antiproliferative activity, and good tolerability after injection into rabbit eyes.

Triage practice guideline for patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure: improving the effectiveness of the coronary care unit.

BACKGROUND: Decisions regarding the appropriate timing for transfer of patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure from the coronary care unit (CCU) to the medical ward are often not based on well-founded medical data. We investigated the potential safety and effectiveness of a practice guideline recommending early "step-down" transfer of low-risk patients with congestive heart failure. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We studied the use of a practice guideline for 384 patients hospitalized with congestive heart failure in a hypothetic experiment. The guideline stated that patients without any of the following conditions may be suitable for transfer to a nonmonitored bed 24 hours after admission: acute myocardial infarction or ischemia, complications, active or planned cardiac interventions, unstable comorbidity, worsening clinical status, or lack of response to diuretic therapy. Patients with any of the above conditions were classified as higher risk and potentially not suitable for early transfer. RESULTS: Life-threatening complications were 15.2 times more likely (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.2, 70, p = 0.001) and death 14.6 times more likely (95% CI 2.1, 68, p = 0.001) if the patient was classified as "high risk" rather than "low risk" by the guideline. The negative predictive value and sensitivity of the practice guideline for detecting patients who had life-threatening complications were 99.2% and 96.4%, respectively. Thirty-one percent of patients with congestive heart failure hospitalized in either the CCU or intermediate care unit were at low risk and potentially suitable for transfer to a nonmonitored bed 24 hours after admission. Use of the guideline would have reduced intermediate care unit lengths of stay from 2.91 days to 2.22 days and CCU length of stay from 2.06 to 2.04 days had it been used to triage patients with congestive heart failure. This reduction in length of stay would have resulted in 172 more intermediate care unit bed-days available per year to accommodate additional patients. On initial review, at least one cardiologist reviewer judged that use of the guideline may have adversely affected quality of care for 4% (95% CI 1%, 7%) of patients. After a consensus among the cardiologist reviewers, it was judged that the guideline may have adversely affected care for only 0.8% of patients (95% CI, 0%, 2.3%), and that no patient (95% CI 0%, 2.3%) would have had an unexpected life-threatening complication because of the guideline. CONCLUSIONS: Use of a practice guideline has the potential to reduce the intermediate care unit lengths of stay for selected low-risk patients with congestive heart failure.

SNARE complexes of different composition jointly mediate membrane fusion in Arabidopsis cytokinesis.

Membrane fusion is mediated by soluble N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive factor attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complexes. Although membrane fusion is required for separating daughter cells in eukaryotic cytokinesis, the SNARE complexes involved are not known. In plants, membrane vesicles targeted to the cell division plane fuse with one another to form the partitioning membrane, progressing from the center to the periphery of the cell. In Arabidopsis, the cytokinesis-specific Qa-SNARE KNOLLE interacts with two other Q-SNAREs, SNAP33 and novel plant-specific SNARE 11 (NPSN11), whose roles in cytokinesis are not clear. Here we show by coimmunoprecipitation that KNOLLE forms two SNARE complexes that differ in composition. One complex is modeled on the trimeric plasma membrane type of SNARE complex and includes, in addition to KNOLLE, the promiscuous Qb,c-SNARE SNAP33 and the R-SNARE vesicle-associated membrane protein (VAMP) 721,722, also involved in innate immunity. In contrast, the other KNOLLE-containing complex is tetrameric and includes Qb-SNARE NPSN11, Qc-SNARE SYP71, and VAMP721,722. Elimination of only one or the other type of KNOLLE complex by mutation, including the double mutant npsn11 syp71, causes a mild or no cytokinesis defect. In contrast, the two double mutants snap33 npsn11 and snap33 syp71 eliminate both types of KNOLLE complexes and display knolle-like cytokinesis defects. Thus the two distinct types of KNOLLE complexes appear to jointly mediate membrane fusion in Arabidopsis cytokinesis.

Combined depth imaging technique on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

PURPOSE: To describe a technique to obtain combined images of vitreoretinal and choroidal structures using spectral-domain (SD) optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to evaluate applicability in normal eyes and limitations in eyes with cataract. DESIGN: Prospective, observational case series. METHODS: Three different foveal scans, including conventional SD OCT, enhanced depth imaging OCT and the novel method called combined depth imaging (CDI) OCT, were obtained in 42 eyes of healthy volunteers and in 26 eyes with cataract using the Heidelberg Spectralis HRA (Heidelberg Engineering). The CDI OCT images were obtained manually using an image modification process that enhances the vitreoretinal interface first and then the choroid, while averaging 100 separate OCT scans. The visualization of the inner border of the preretinal pocket and the outer border of the choroid was graded by independent masked observers for each OCT scan method. RESULTS: The CDI technique was able to create a good-quality combined image of the posterior structures in all the eyes, including eyes with cataract. The agreement between the grading performed by the independent observers was high for both the inner border of the vitreal pocket (κ, 0.86; P < .001) and the outer choroidal border (κ, 0.90; P < .001). CDI OCT was equivalent to conventional SD OCT in visualizing the vitreal pocket (P = .445 for normal eyes, P = .162 for eyes with cataract) and was equivalent to enhanced depth imaging OCT in visualizing the outer choroidal border (P = .660 for normal eyes, P = .329 for eyes with cataract). CDI OCT was superior to conventional SD OCT and enhanced depth imaging OCT in visualizing both of the structures (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The manual technique of CDI OCT is highly sensitive to visualize posterior vitreoretinal and choroidal structures into a single full-depth image and is not affected by mild to moderate cataract.

Intraocular safety and pharmacokinetics of hexadecyloxypropyl-cidofovir (HDP-CDV) as a long-lasting intravitreal antiviral drug.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the intraocular safety and pharmacokinetics of hexadecyloxypropyl-cidofovir (HDP-CDV), the hydrolysis product of HDP-cyclic-CDV, a long-lasting intravitreal cidofovir prodrug for cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis. METHODS: HDP-cyclic-CDV was suspended in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) at 37°C and formation of HDP-CDV was monitored by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis for 30 weeks. The safety and pharmacokinetics of HDP-CDV intravitreal injections were studied using New Zealand Red rabbits and (14)C labeled HDP-CDV. Ocular tissues from five time points (1, 3, 7, 14, and 35 days) were analyzed by scintillation counting and HPLC to characterize the pharmacokinetics. RESULTS: During the hydrolysis study, approximately 35% of the HDP-cyclic-CDV was converted to HDP-CDV. Evaluation of safety found no toxicity after intravitreal injection of HDP-CDV up to 28 µg/eye. Intravitreal pharmacokinetics of HDP-CDV in the retina, choroid, and vitreous followed a two-phase elimination process and elimination half-lives of 8.4 days (retina), 6.9 days (choroid), and 6.2 days (vitreous). In the retina, cidofovir and an unknown metabolite were detected in the first 2 weeks, and the maximum metabolite concentrations were present 48 hours after the maximum HDP-CDV concentration. CONCLUSIONS: HDP-cyclic CDV, under simulated physiologic conditions, slowly converts to HDP-CDV, another potent anti-CMV prodrug that may be taken up by retinal cells and metabolized further to the active antiviral metabolite, cidofovir diphosphate. Taken together, these observations help to explain the ability of a single intravitreal dose of HDP-cyclic-CDV to prevent viral retinitis for up to 68 days in a rabbit model.

Resource allocation to testes in walnut flies and implications for reproductive strategy.

Testes size often predicts the winner during episodes of sperm competition. However, little is known about the source of nutrients allocated to testes development, or testes plasticity under varying nutrient availability. Among many holometabolous insects, metabolic resources can derive from the larval or adult diet. Distinguishing the source of nutrients allocated to testes can shed light on life history factors (such as maternal influences) that shape the evolution of male reproductive strategies. Here we used an experimental approach to assess resource allocation to testes development in walnut flies (Rhagoletis juglandis) from differing nutritional backgrounds. We fed adult male walnut flies on sugar and yeast diets that contrasted with the larval diet in carbon and nitrogen stable isotope ratios. This design allowed us to assess the dietary source of testes carbon and nitrogen and its change over time. We found significant incorporation of adult dietary carbon into testes, implying that walnut flies are income breeders for carbon (relying more on adult resources). In contrast, we found little evidence that walnut flies incorporate adult dietary nitrogen into testes development. We discuss the implications of these allocation decisions for life history evolution in this species.

Big genomes facilitate the comparative identification of regulatory elements.

The identification of regulatory sequences in animal genomes remains a significant challenge. Comparative genomic methods that use patterns of evolutionary conservation to identify non-coding sequences with regulatory function have yielded many new vertebrate enhancers. However, these methods have not contributed significantly to the identification of regulatory sequences in sequenced invertebrate taxa. We demonstrate here that this differential success, which is often attributed to fundamental differences in the nature of vertebrate and invertebrate regulatory sequences, is instead primarily a product of the relatively small size of sequenced invertebrate genomes. We sequenced and compared loci involved in early embryonic patterning from four species of true fruit flies (family Tephritidae) that have genomes four to six times larger than those of Drosophila melanogaster. Unlike in Drosophila, where virtually all non-coding DNA is highly conserved, blocks of conserved non-coding sequence in tephritids are flanked by large stretches of poorly conserved sequence, similar to what is observed in vertebrate genomes. We tested the activities of nine conserved non-coding sequences flanking the even-skipped gene of the teprhitid Ceratis capitata in transgenic D. melanogaster embryos, six of which drove patterns that recapitulate those of known D. melanogaster enhancers. In contrast, none of the three non-conserved tephritid non-coding sequences that we tested drove expression in D. melanogaster embryos. Based on the landscape of non-coding conservation in tephritids, and our initial success in using conservation in tephritids to identify D. melanogaster regulatory sequences, we suggest that comparison of tephritid genomes may provide a systematic means to annotate the non-coding portion of the D. melanogaster genome. We also propose that large genomes be given more consideration in the selection of species for comparative genomics projects, to provide increased power to detect functional non-coding DNAs and to provide a less biased view of the evolution and function of animal genomes.

Biochemical regulation of mammalian AMP-activated protein kinase activity by NAD and NADH.

AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) serves as an energy-sensing protein kinase that is activated by a variety of metabolic stresses that lower cellular energy levels. When activated, AMPK modulates a network of metabolic pathways that result in net increased substrate oxidation, generation of reduced nucleotide cofactors, and production of ATP. AMPK is activated by a high AMP:ATP ratio and phosphorylation on threonine 172 by an upstream kinase. Recent studies suggest that mechanisms that do not involve changes in adenine nucleotide levels can activate AMPK. Another sensor of the metabolic state of the cell is the NAD/NADH redox potential. To test whether the redox state might have an effect on AMPK activity, we examined the effect of beta-NAD and NADH on this enzyme. The recombinant T172D-AMPK, which was mutated to mimic the phosphorylated state, was activated by beta-NAD in a dose-dependent manner, whereas NADH inhibited its activity. We explored the effect of NADH on AMPK by systematically varying the concentrations of ATP, NADH, peptide substrate, and AMP. Based on our findings and established activation of AMPK by AMP, we proposed a model for the regulation by NADH. Key features of this model are as follows. (a) NADH has an apparent competitive behavior with respect to ATP and uncompetitive behavior with respect to AMP resulting in improved binding constant in the presence of AMP, and (b) the binding of the peptide is not significantly altered by NADH. In the absence of AMP, the binding constant of NADH becomes higher than physiologically relevant. We conclude that AMPK senses both components of cellular energy status, redox potential, and phosphorylation potential.