eNOS overexpression exacerbates vascular closure in the obliterative phase of OIR and increases angiogenic drive in the subsequent proliferative stage

Purpose: In ischemic retinopathies, the misdirection of reparative angiogenesis away from the hypoxic retina leads to pathologic neovascularization. Thus, therapeutic strategies that reverse this trend would be extremely beneficial. Nitric oxide (NO) produced by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is an important mediator of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) function facilitating vascular growth and maturation. However, in addition to NO, eNOS can also produce superoxide (O), exacerbating pathology. Here, our aim was to investigate the effect of eNOS overexpression on vascular closure and subsequent recovery of the ischemic retina.

Methods: Mice overexpressing eNOS-GFP were subjected to oxygen-induced retinopathy (OIR) and changes in retinal vascularization quantified. Background angiogenic drive was assessed during vascular development and in aortic rings. NOS activity was measured by Griess assay or conversion of radiolabeled arginine to citrulline, nitrotyrosine (NT), and superoxide by immunolabeling and dihydroethidium fluorescence and VEGF by ELISA.

Results: In response to hyperoxia, enhanced eNOS expression led to increased NOS-derived superoxide and dysfunctional NO production, NT accumulation, and exacerbated vessel closure associated with tetrahydrobiopterin (BH) insufficiency. Despite worse vaso-obliteration, eNOS overexpression resulted in elevated hypoxia-induced angiogenic drive, independent of VEGF production. This correlated with increased vascular branching similar to that observed in isolated aortas and during development. Enhanced recovery was also associated with neovascular tuft formation, which showed defective NO production and increased eNOS-derived superoxide and NT levels.

Conclusions: In hyperoxia, reduced BH bioavailability causes overexpressed eNOS to become dysfunctional, exacerbating vaso-obliteration. In the proliferative phase, however, eNOS has important prorepair functions enhancing angiogenic growth potential and recovery in ischemia. © 2012 The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc.

Consensus statements for management of Barrett's dysplasia and early-stage esophageal adenocarcinoma, based on a Delphi process

Esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) is increasingly common among patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE). We aimed to provide consensus recommendations based on the medical literature that clinicians could use to manage patients with BE and low-grade dysplasia, high-grade dysplasia (HGD), or early-stage EA.

Allele resolution of HLA-A using oligonucleotide probes in a two-stage typing strategy

High-resolution polymerase chain reaction using sequence-specific oligonucleotide probes (PCR-SSOP) typing methods for HLA-A identification have been established. The four systems, which operate independently of each other, are intended for use as secondary typing systems following HLA-A identification with a medium-resolution PCR-SSOP technique. The systems, all using digoxigenin-labelled probes, are based on group specific amplifications for resolution of: i) HLA-A*29 & -A*33; ii) HLA-A*24 & -A*30; and iii) HLA-A*26, -A*25, -A*11, -A*34, -A*66 and -A*68 alleles, respectively. The fourth system, for the detection of HLA-A*02 alleles, is a modification of a previously reported PCR-SSOP subtyping system. The methods have been applied to individuals from the local bone marrow registry and HLA-A allele frequencies for the Northern Ireland population have been established.

Performing History on the Victorian Stage

An investigation of the use of historically accurate scenery in Victorian revivals of Shakespeare's history plays.

A late-Middle Pleistocene (Marine Isotope Stage 6) vegetated surface buried by Old Crow tephra at the Palisades, interior Alaska

A 40 cm thick primary bed of Old Crow tephra (131 ± 11 ka), an important stratigraphic marker in eastern Beringia, directly overlies a vegetated surface at Palisades West, on the Yukon River in central Alaska. Analyses of insect, bryophyte, and vascular plant macrofossils from the buried surface and underlying organic-rich silt suggest the local presence of an aquatic environment and mesic shrub-tundra at the time of tephra deposition. Autochthonous plant and insect macrofossils from peat directly overlying Old Crow tephra suggest similar aquatic habitats and hydric to mesic tundra environments, though pollen counts indicate a substantial herbaceous component to the regional tundra vegetation. Trace amounts of arboreal pollen in sediments associated with the tephra probably reflect reworking from older deposits, rather than the local presence of trees. The revised glass fission-track age for Old Crow tephra places its deposition closer to the time of the last interglaciation than earlier age determinations, but stratigraphy and paleoecology of sites with Old Crow tephra indicate a late Marine Isotope Stage 6 age. Regional permafrost degradation and associated thaw slumping are responsible for the close stratigraphic and paleoecological relations between Old Crow tephra and last interglacial deposits at some sites in eastern Beringia. © 2009 Elsevier Ltd.

Availability of stage at diagnosis, cancer treatment delay and compliance with cancer guidelines as cancer registry indicators for cancer care in Europe:Results of EUROCHIP-3 survey

EUROCHIP (European Cancer Health Indicators Project) focuses on understanding inequalities in the cancer burden, care and survival by the indicators "stage at diagnosis," "cancer treatment delay" and "compliance with cancer guidelines" as the most important indicators. Our study aims at providing insight in whether cancer registries collect well-defined variables to determine these indicators in a comparative way. Eighty-six general European population-based cancer registries (PBCR) from 32 countries responded to the questionnaire, which was developed by EUROCHIP in collaboration with ENCR (European Network of Cancer Registries) and EUROCOURSE. Only 15% of all the PBCR in EU had all three indicators available. The indicator "stage at diagnosis" was gathered for at least one cancer site by 81% (using TNM in 39%). Variables for the indicator "cancer treatment delay" were collected by 37%. Availability of type of treatment (30%), surgery date (36%), starting date of radiotherapy (26%) and starting date of chemotherapy (23%) resulted in 15% of the PBCRs to be able to gather the indicator "compliance to guidelines". Lack of data source access and qualified staff were the major reasons for not collecting all the variables. In conclusion, based on self-reporting, a few of the participating PBCRs had data available which could be used for clinical audits, evaluation of cancer care projects, survival and for monitoring national cancer control strategies. Extra efforts should be made to improve this very efficient tool to compare cancer burden and the effects of the national cancer plans over Europe and to learn from each other. © 2012 UICC.

The 1863 Melbourne Shakespeare War: Barry Sullivan, Charles and Ellen Kean, and the Play of Cultural Usurpation on the Australian Stage

This essay investigates an intricate drama of cultural identity in performances of Shakespeare on the nineteenth-century Melbourne stage. It considers the rivalry between Charles and Ellen Kean and their competitor, Barry Sullivan, for the two-month period in 1863 during which their Australian tours overlapped. This Melbourne Shakespeare war was anticipated,augmented, and richly documented in Melbourne’s papers: The Age, The Argus and Melbourne Punch. This essay pursues two seams of inquiry. The first is an investigation of the discourses of cultural and aesthetic value laced through the language of reviews of their Shakespearean roles.The essay identifies how reviewers register affective engagement with the performers in these roles, and suggests how the roles themselves reflected, by accident or design, the terms of the dispute. The second is concerned with the national identity of the actors. Kean, although born in Waterford, Ireland, had held the post of Queen Victoria’s Master of the Revels and identified himself as English. Sullivan, although born in Birmingham, was of Cork parentage and was identified as Irish by both his supporters and his detractors. This essay tracks the development of the actors’ national and artistic identities established prior to Melbourne and ask how they played out on in the context of the particularities of Australian reception. It shows that, in this instance, these actors were implicated in complex debates over national authority and cultural ownership.

Evidence for a non-replicative intracellular stage of nontypable Haemophilus influenzae in epithelial cells

Nontypable Haemophilus influenzae (NTHi) is a Gram-negative, non-capsulated human bacterial pathogen, a major cause of a repertoire of respiratory infections, and intimately associated with persistent lung bacterial colonization in patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Despite its medical relevance, relatively little is known about its mechanisms of pathogenicity. In this study, we found that NTHi invades the airway epithelium by a distinct mechanism, requiring microtubule assembly, lipid rafts integrity, and activation of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) signalling. We found that the majority of intracellular bacteria are located inside an acidic subcellular compartment, in a metabolically active and non-proliferative state. This NTHi-containing vacuole (NTHi-CV) is endowed with late endosome features, co-localizing with LysoTracker, lamp-1, lamp-2, CD63 and Rab7. The NTHi-CV does not acquire Golgi- or autophagy-related markers. These observations were extended to immortalized and primary human airway epithelial cells. By using NTHi clinical isolates expressing different amounts of phosphocholine (PCho), a major modification of NTHi lipooligosaccharide, on their surfaces, and an isogenic lic1BC mutant strain lacking PCho, we showed that PCho is not responsible for NTHi intracellular location. In sum, this study indicates that NTHi can survive inside airway epithelial cells.

Late-stage, primary open-angle glaucoma in Europe:Social and health care maintenance costs and quality of life of patients from 4 countries

Objective: The purpose of this study was to estimate costs and quality of life (QoL) of late-stage glaucoma patients in 4 European countries. Methods: Retrospective review of medical charts of patients with POAG who were followed in a low-vision or vision rehabilitation center in one of 4 countries for at least 1 year was used to determine patient characteristics, health status, and health care resource use. Visual impairment was measured by best-corrected visual acuity (Snellen score). Patients were also interviewed over the telephone in order to assess their health-related QoL (using EuroQol EQ-5D) and use of resources including: the number of visits to rehabilitation centers, visits to hospital and non-hospital specialists, the use of low-vision devices, medication, tests, and the use of hired home help. The costs associated with resource use were calculated from the perspective of a third-party payer of health and social care based on resource usage and unit costs in each country. Results: Patients undergoing visual rehabilitation in France (n=21), Denmark (n=59), Germany (n=60), and the United Kingdom (n=22) were identified, interviewed and had their medical charts reviewed. Annual maintenance costs of late-stage glaucoma amounted to €830 (±445) on average. Average home help costs were more than 3 times higher. QoL, on average, was 0.65 (±0.28). QoL was positively correlated with the level of visual acuity in the patients' best eye. On the other hand, visual acuity was also positively correlated to health care costs, but negatively correlated to costs of home help. Conclusions: The study was limited by its observational, uncontrolled design. The finding that late-stage glaucoma is associated with higher home help costs than health care maintenance costs suggests that potential savings from a better preventive treatment are to be found for social care payers rather than health care payers. © 2008 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved.