Hyperglycemia-induced abnormalities in rat and human corneas: the potential of second harmonic generation microscopy.

BACKGROUND: Second Harmonic Generation (SHG) microscopy recently appeared as an efficient optical imaging technique to probe unstained collagen-rich tissues like cornea. Moreover, corneal remodeling occurs in many diseases and precise characterization requires overcoming the limitations of conventional techniques. In this work, we focus on diabetes, which affects hundreds of million people worldwide and most often leads to diabetic retinopathy, with no early diagnostic tool. This study then aims to establish the potential of SHG microscopy for in situ detection and characterization of hyperglycemia-induced abnormalities in the Descemet's membrane, in the posterior cornea. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We studied corneas from age-matched control and Goto-Kakizaki rats, a spontaneous model of type 2 diabetes, and corneas from human donors with type 2 diabetes and without any diabetes. SHG imaging was compared to confocal microscopy, to histology characterization using conventional staining and transmitted light microscopy and to transmission electron microscopy. SHG imaging revealed collagen deposits in the Descemet's membrane of unstained corneas in a unique way compared to these gold standard techniques in ophthalmology. It provided background-free images of the three-dimensional interwoven distribution of the collagen deposits, with improved contrast compared to confocal microscopy. It also provided structural capability in intact corneas because of its high specificity to fibrillar collagen, with substantially larger field of view than transmission electron microscopy. Moreover, in vivo SHG imaging was demonstrated in Goto-Kakizaki rats. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our study shows unambiguously the high potential of SHG microscopy for three-dimensional characterization of structural abnormalities in unstained corneas. Furthermore, our demonstration of in vivo SHG imaging opens the way to long-term dynamical studies. This method should be easily generalized to other structural remodeling of the cornea and SHG microscopy should prove to be invaluable for in vivo corneal pathological studies.

Effect of a second bloodmeal on the oesophagus colonization by Leishmania mexicana complex in Lutzomyia evansi (Diptera: Psychodidae)

Migration and colonization of the oesophagus by Leishmania mexicana parasites were enhanced after digestion of a second bloodmeal intake in Lutzomyia evansi. This event has epidemiological significance since it affects the infection susceptibility of this sand fly species, which is a proven vector of L. chagasi in Colombian and Venezuelan visceral leishmaniasis foci. Also, it may explain the host seeking behaviour displayed by some partially bloodfed flies found inside houses.

Can You Home Again? Desertion and Control of Hometowns in Civil Wars

What allows an armed group in a civil war to prevent desertion? This paper addresses this question with a focus on control in the rearguard. Most past studies focus on motivations for desertion. They explain desertion in terms of where soldiers stand in relation to the macro themes of the war, or in terms of an inability to provide positive incentives to overcome the collective action problem. However, since individuals decide whether and how to participate in civil wars for multiple reasons, responding to a variety of local conditions in an environment of threat and violence, a focus only on macro-level motivations is incomplete. The opportunities side of the ledger deserves more attention. I therefore turn my attention to how control by an armed group eliminates soldiers’ opportunities to desert. In particular, I consider the control that an armed group maintains over soldiers’ hometowns, treating geographic terrain as an important exogenous indicator of the ease of control. Rough terrain at home affords soldiers and their families and friends advantages in ease of hiding, the difficulty of using force, and local knowledge. Based on an original dataset of soldiers from Santander Province in the Spanish Civil War, gathered from archival sources, I find statistical evidence that the rougher the terrain in a soldier’s home municipality, the more likely he is to desert. I find complementary qualitative evidence indicating that soldiers from rough-terrain communities took active advantage of their greater opportunities for evasion. This finding has important implications for the way observers interpret different soldiers’ decisions to desert or remain fighting, for the prospect that structural factors may shape the cohesion of armed groups, and for the possibility that local knowledge may be a double-edged sword, making soldiers simultaneously good at fighting and good at deserting.

Response to the Office of Fair Trading on the Care Home Market (PDF 36 KB)

Response to the Office of Fair Trading on the Care Home Market

Tackling Violence at Home

Tackling Violence at Home

Home Accident Prevention Strategy

A Healthier Future: A Twenty Year Vision for Health and Wellbeing in Northern Ireland 2005-2025

Tackling Violence At Home

Summary of Responses to the Consultation - March 2004

Tackling Violence at Home - The Government's Proposals on Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland (October 2003)

Tackling Violence at Home - The Government's Proposals on Domestic Violence in Northern Ireland

Managing Your Cancer Pain in Hospital and at Home (PDF 32 KB)

The purpose of this booklet is to give you information about pain. It will help you understand how to describe pain, and how the pain may be treated.

A Five Year Home Accident Prevention Strategy and Action Plan (PDF 124KB)

The Executive in its Programme for Government under the theme “Working for a Healthier People” gave a commitment to promoting public safety by reducing the number of injuries and deaths caused by accidents at home, at work and on the road. An overarching strategy for children and young people is also being developed, which will set out the vision, values and underlying principles, including general safety, for all children and young people and the long-term goals to make that vision a reality. Consultation Document

A Five Year Home Accident Prevention Strategy and Action Plan (Word 34KB)

Questionnaire

Les ciutats turístiques, les noves ciutats. Anàlisi de l'evolució del model turístic en destinacions de litoral madures a partir de l'anàlisi de paràmetres urbanístics

La beca concedida ha anat destinada a desenvolupar la tesi doctoral que duu per nom "Les ciutats turístiques, les noves ciutats. Anàlisi de l'evolució del model turístic en destinacions de litoral madures a partir de l'anàlisi de paràmetres urbanístics". L’àrea d’estudi comprèn els municipis de Cambrils, Salou i La Pineda (Vila-seca) que conformen la Costa Daurada central, destinació madura de litoral mediterrani, que basa el seu desenvolupament d’acord el model turístic de sol i platja. Arribats en aquest punt de finalització de la beca, cal destacar que s’ha complert amb l'objectiu d'analitzar el procés de transformació de les ciutats turístiques, tot establint com el turisme litoral mediterrani s'ha convertit en un factor de creació de ciutat. Així mateix també s'han complert els objectius específics tals com: analitzar l'evolució de les destinacions turístiques consolidades del litoral mediterrani, recopilar informació per a la creació d'índexs i eines que serveixin per l'anàlisi del procés de tranformació de les ciutats turístiques a ciutats tradicionals a partir del tractament dels plans parcials, recopilar i analitzar les polítiques de planificació que han condicionat l'area d'estudi, modelitzar el procés de construcció de l'espai turístic a partir de l'establiment d'unes unitats bàsiques en la descripció i anàlisi territorial i paisatgístic, i crear un SIG per culminar el procés d'anàlisi tot creant una base de dades i la representació dels resultats en cartogradia temàtica. Pel que fa al disseny i l’execució de la metodologia, es poden considerar dos vessants, una vessant més qualitativa i una altra més quantitativa per al tractament de la informació recopilada. Igualment la generació de cartografia específica completa el procés amb la producció de cartografia específica, tal i com es desenvolupa en la present memòria. La tesi parteix del guió que contempla: un prier capítol d'introducció, un segon dedicat al marc teòric, un tercer apartat on s'exposaran les hipòtesis de les quals es parteix, i un quart dedicat a la metodologia. Pren especial importància l'apartat dedicat a l’ànalisi, així com el dedicat a la discussió dels resultats obtinguts, que es desenvoluparà en el sisè apartat. Per últim resta destacar el setè apartat dedicat a les conclusions a les que s'ha arribat.