A case of recurrent viral retinitis treated with intravitreal antiviral agents in a silicone oil filled eye.

PURPOSE: To report a case of recurrent acute retinal necrosis (ARN) in an eye filled with silicone oil previously complicated by rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). OBSERVATIONS: A 68-year-old gentlemen with successfully treated herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1) ARN complicated by RRD requiring pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with silicone oil tamponade, presented with a relapse of ARN with silicone oil in situ. Remission of recurrent retinitis was achieved using combined systemic oral and intravitreal antiviral therapy. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPORTANCE: RRD is a significant complication of ARN which may require surgery with silicone oil tamponade. Recurrence of ARN retinitis can be effectively treated with intravitreal Ganciclovir and Foscarnet injections in a silicone oil filled eye with concurrent oral antiviral therapy. Aqueous humour sampling proved useful in the monitoring of disease activity.

Engineering of serine protease for improved thermostability and catalytic activity using rational design.

The study involves the isolation and characterization of a serine peptidase, named SP, from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. In addition to basic characterization, the protein was engineered, by site-directed mutagenesis of selected non-catalytic residues, to increase its thermal stability and catalytic activity. Among the eight-point mutations, predicted by FireProt, two mutants, A29G and V336I, yielded a positive impact. The Tm of A29G and V336I showed an increase by 5 °C and also a substantial increase in residual activity of the enzyme at elevated temperature. Moreover, the catalytic activity of A29G and V336I also showed an increase of 1.4-fold activity, compared to the wild-type (WT). Moreover, molecular docking simulations also predicted better substrate affinity of the mutants. We have also performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations at 315 and 345 K, and the MD data at 345 K demonstrates improved thermostability for the mutants, compared to the WT. Our findings not only contribute to a better understanding of the structure-stability-activity relationship of SP but also highlights, that modification of non-catalytic residues could also promote favourable catalytic behaviour.

Microperimetry and swept-source optical coherence tomography in the assessment of the preferred retinal locus in a child with macular retinoblastoma in the remaining eye.

Assessing the visual capabilities that remain to children affected with bilateral retinoblastoma has relied on psychophysical tests based on recognition visual acuity. We report a case in which fundus-driven perimetry and swept-source optical coherence tomography was performed in a patient with a macular tumor in the remaining eye as a novel way of further assessing fixation after oncological disease and treatment.

Potential involvement of mi-RNA 574-3p in progression of prostate cancer: A bioinformatic study.

Aberrant gene expression is a hallmark of prostate cancer (PCa), the second deadliest disease affecting males worldwide. Dysregulation of miRNA has been associated with the progression of PCa and in recent studies, miRNA 574-3p was found to be upregulated in cancerous prostate tissue. In this study, we characterize the effects of upregulated miRNA 574-3p on gene expression in the tumor microenvironment through different bioinformatic tools such as Diana-Tools, the KEGG Pathway Database, and the Reactome Database. We have identified nine regulatory genes that are targeted by miRNA 574-3p and downregulated in prostate cells. Pathway analysis of these genes shows that they are involved in the regulation of the Notch signaling pathway, Wnt signaling pathway, apoptosis, DNA damage response, G1 to S cell-cycle control, inflammatory response pathway, angiogenesis, translation factors, and the expression of oncogenes. Our results show the oncogenic potential of miRNA 574-3p in PCa progression and metastasis. Moreover, this study highlights the complex molecular mechanisms and pathways affected by the upregulation of miRNA 574-3p in prostate cells. In future studies, the presented data may aid in designing new therapies for PCa with improved efficacy.

In-silico analysis of putative HCV epitopes against Pakistani human leukocyte antigen background: An approach towards development of future vaccines for Pakistani population.

Mounting burden of HCV-infected individuals and soaring cost of treatment is a serious source of unease for developing countries. Numbers of various approaches have been anticipated to develop a vaccine against HCV but the majority of them proved ineffective. Development of vaccine by considering geographical distribution of HCV genotypes and host genetics shows potential. In this research article, we have tried to predict most putative HCV epitopes which are efficiently restricted by most common HLA alleles in Pakistani population through different computational algorithms. Thirteen selected, experimentally identified epitopes sequences were used to derived consensus sequences in all genotypes of HCV. Obtained consensus sequences were used to predict their binding affinities with most prevalent HLA alleles in Pakistani population. Two Class-I epitopes from NS4B region, one from Class-I epitope from NS5A and one Class-II epitope from NS3 region showed effective binding and proved to be highly putative to boost immune response. A cocktail of these four have been checked for population coverage and they gave 75.53% for Pakistani Asian and 70.77% for Pakistani Mixed populations with no allergenic response. Computational algorithms are robust way to shortlist potential candidate epitopes for vaccine development but further, in vivo and in-vitro studies are required to confirm their immunogenic properties.