AMALRIC TRIANGULAR SIGN AND CAROTID DOPPLER ULTRASONOGRAPHIC FINDINGS IN CENTRAL RETINAL ARTERY OCCLUSION.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the incidence of the Amalric triangular sign (ATS) in patients with central retinal artery occlusion and investigate its association with visual function and carotid Doppler ultrasonography findings. METHODS: A retrospective chart review was conducted on 21 eyes from 21 patients with complete central retinal artery occlusion. Best-corrected visual acuity and carotid Doppler ultrasonography findings [peak systolic velocity, end-diastolic velocity, and resistance index (RI) = (PSV - EDV)/PSV] were investigated. RESULTS: Three patients (14%) exhibited the ATS. Best-corrected visual acuity at first visit was significantly worse in ATS-positive patients than in ATS-negative patients (P = 0.024). Doppler waveform analysis of the common carotid artery showed that ATS-positive patients had a significantly lower end-diastolic velocity [P = 0.009, median 10 (range 9-10) vs. 17 (13-24) m/second] and significantly higher resistance index [P = 0.021, median 0.80 (range 0.79-0.83) vs. 0.72 (0.66-0.82)] than did ATS-negative. CONCLUSION: The Amalric triangular sign was observed in three patients with central retinal artery occlusion, who showed worse best-corrected visual acuity at the first visit than did those without the ATS. Carotid Doppler ultrasonography revealed that ATS-positive patients had a significantly higher resistance index and lower end-diastolic velocity at the common carotid artery than did ATS-negative, indicating steno-occlusive changes in the internal carotid artery.

Identification of Binding Proteins for TSC22D1 Family Proteins Using Mass Spectrometry.

TSC-22 (TGF-ß stimulated clone-22) has been reported to induce differentiation, growth inhibition, and apoptosis in various cells. TSC-22 is a member of a family in which many proteins are produced from four different family genes. TSC-22 (corresponding to TSC22D1-2) is composed of 144 amino acids translated from a short variant mRNA of the TSC22D1 gene. In this study, we attempted to determine the intracellular localizations of the TSC22D1 family proteins (TSC22D1-1, TSC-22 (TSC22D1-2), and TSC22(86) (TSC22D1-3)) and identify the binding proteins for TSC22D1 family proteins by mass spectrometry. We determined that TSC22D1-1 was mostly localized in the nucleus, TSC-22 (TSC22D1-2) was localized in the cytoplasm, mainly in the mitochondria and translocated from the cytoplasm to the nucleus after DNA damage, and TSC22(86) (TSC22D1-3) was localized in both the cytoplasm and nucleus. We identified multiple candidates of binding proteins for TSC22D1 family proteins in in vitro pull-down assays and in vivo binding assays. Histone H1 bound to TSC-22 (TSC22D1-2) or TSC22(86) (TSC22D1-3) in the nucleus. Guanine nucleotide-binding protein-like 3 (GNL3), which is also known as nucleostemin, bound to TSC-22 (TSC22D1-2) in the nucleus. Further investigation of the interaction of the candidate binding proteins with TSC22D1 family proteins would clarify the biological roles of TSC22D1 family proteins in several cell systems.

Development of HPLC with fluorescent detection using NBD-F for the quantification of colistin sulfate in rat plasma and its pharmacokinetic applications.

Colistin sulfate, composed of a mixture of colistin A sulfate (CLA) and colistin B sulfate (CLB), is available for treating life-threatening infections caused by multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. In this study, the CLA and CLB were quantified separately. Colistin sulfate was extracted from rat plasma with a solid-phase extraction C18 cartridge and reacted with 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-F), and the fluorescent derivatives were subjected to reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography analysis and used to investigate the pharmacokinetics of CLA and CLB in rat plasma. The recovery rates of CLA and CLB were 41.2 ± 4.4 and 45.5 ± 3.1%, respectively. The recovery rate calculated from the total area of CLA and CLB was 43.9 ± 3.6%. When 2 mm NBD-F and 10 mm boric acid buffer (pH 9.5) were added to colistin sulfate, the highest recovery rate was obtained. The best heating time was 5 min at 60°C. The lower limits of quantification for CLA, CLB and the total area of CLA and CLB were 0.05, 0.05 and 0.1 µg/mL; the coefficients of variations were 13.5, 14.5 and 14.1%, respectively. This method was found to have acceptable linearity, precision and accuracy, and has been successfully applied to a pharmacokinetic study in rat plasma.