Intravitreal bevacizumab for the treatment of macular oedema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the effect of intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin) injections on visual acuity (VA) and foveal retinal thickness in patients with macular oedema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion. METHODS: A prospective, non-comparative, consecutive, interventional case series of 34 patients. Patients received repeated intravitreal injections of 1.25 mg bevacizumab. Main outcome measures were VA (Snellen charts and ETDRS) and retinal thickness (optical coherence tomography measurements) in a follow-up period of 6 months. RESULTS: Patients presented at a mean age of 69 years (range 44-86). Mean duration of symptoms was 40 weeks (range 1-300). Mean (SD) VA at baseline was 0.79 (0.39) logMAR, improving to 0.51 (0.34) logMAR at 6 months (p = 0.009). Mean number of letters on the ETDRS chart at baseline was 45.3 (19.0), improving to 60.6 (19.9) at 6 months (p = 0.003). Mean (SD) retinal thickness at baseline was 474 (120) microm, declining to 316 (41) microm at 6 months. CONCLUSION: Intravitreal injection of 1.25 mg bevacizumb appears to be an effective treatment option for branch retinal vein occlusion.

Several genes in Chlorella virus strain CVG-1 encode putative virion components.

We have started to characterize the capsid components of European Chlorella virus isolate CVG-1, a member of the Pbi subgroup of the Phycodnaviridae. The major coat protein, Vp49, was biochemically characterized and the amino acid sequence of the N terminus was determined. Subsequently, the corresponding gene was isolated from CVG-1 genomic DNA. Sequence data were compared to those available from PBCV-1 and other Chlorella virus isolates representing the NC64A subgroup of the Phycodnaviridae. The major coat proteins of all strains are homologous and similar in size, but apparently differ in their degree of glycosylation. Like PBCV-1, the major coat protein of CVG-1 is part of a gene family, as two open reading frames with high similarity to Vp49 were also isolated and characterized in this study. The predicted amino acid sequences of the CVG-1 and PBCV-1 virus genes examined show, with one exception, a divergence of about 25%. Taking into account that corresponding genes of NC64A viruses are almost identical, this divergence supports the original placement of the NC64A and Pbi viruses into separate subgroups of the Phycodnaviridae.

Vancomycin-induced linear IgA bullous dermatosis (LABD).

We report the eleventh case of vancomycin-induced linear IgA disease. Our case is unusual because symptoms developed within minutes of administration of the drug. We discuss the pathogenesis and review the literature.

Molecular cloning of a P-type Ca(2+)-ATPase from the halotolerant alga Dunaliella bioculata.

We have determined the complete primary structure of a putative P-type Ca(2+)-ATPase from the unicellular, halotolerant alga Dunaliella bioculata. The protein (DBCA1) with a calculated molecular mass of 114 kDa and eight to ten putative transmembrane segments contains all amino acid motifs specific to the family of P-type ATPases. Highest homology scores were obtained by comparison with (sarco)endoplasmic reticulum-type plant and animal Ca(2+)-ATPases (54% identity, 70% similarity). In addition, all amino acids shown to be essential for Ca2+ transport in animal sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+)-ATPases are preserved in DBCA1. Significantly lower homologies were found with animal plasma membrane Ca(2+)-ATPases (33% identity, 55% similarity), and the carboxyterminus of DBCA1 gave no indications of possible calmodulin-binding sites, characteristic of those enzymes. It is assumed that DBCA1 is a representative of the endomembrane class of Ca(2+)-ATPases. In Northern blot experiments with polyadenylated RNA, a 3.7-kb transcript was detected at levels which were very low compared with those of the plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase from D. bioculata (DBPMA1; Wolf et al., 1995, Plant Mol Biol 28: 657-666). Southern blot analyses suggest the existence of additional Ca(2+)-ATPase genes in the haploid genome of D. bioculata.

Influence of photoheterotrophy on the expression of chlorophyll a/b-binding proteins in the green alga Pyrobotrys stellata.

Two genes (lhca5 and lhcb1) from the unicellular, green alga Pyrobotrys (formerly Chlamydobotrys) stellata were isolated, coding for Chlorophyll a/b-binding proteins that putatively represent constituents of the light-harvesting complexes connected with Photosystem I and Photosystem II, respectively. Expression of both genes on the mRNA-level is markedly inhibited by CO2-depletion. The lhca5 transcript-level was reduced to about 25%, and the lhcb1-expression was completely blocked 9 h after removal of CO2 from the growth medium. Simultaneous addition of acetate, which can substitute for CO2 as a carbon source during photoheterotrophic growth of P. stellata, did not compensate for the diminishing effect of CO2-depletion on lhcb1. However, the amount of lhca5 transcript was comparable to that during photoautotrophic growth. These results are interpreted in terms of the specific metabolic demands of photoheterotrophic growth in P. stellata. Cyclic electron-transfer along Photosystem I must be sustained for ATP-production. Linear electron transport fed by Photosystem II and concomitant production of NADPH for CO2-reduction is no longer required.The sequences reported in this article have been deposited at the EMBL data library under the accession numbers X69434 (CSCAB1) and X71965 (CSCAB2MR).

Primary structure of the plasma membrane H(+)-ATPase from the halotolerant alga Dunaliella bioculata.

P-type ATPase-specific oligodeoxyribonucleotides were used to obtain a fragment of the H(+)-ATPase of the salt tolerant alga Dunaliella bioculata by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This fragment served as a probe in screening a cDNA-library from this organism. The complete primary structure of the ATPase protein (DBPMA1) was deduced from sequencing a 4.7 kb cDNA clone. The protein shows highest homology to H(+)-ATPases from higher plants and fungi (43% identity, 67% similarity) but has a higher calculated molecular mass (123 kDa). The latter can be assigned mainly to an additional hydrophilic domain between transmembrane segments VI and VII and to an extended carboxyterminus. These unusual structural features of DBPMA1 are interpreted in terms of providing regulatory sites of the enzyme. Southern blot analysis suggests the presence of only a single copy of the gene in the haploid D. bioculata genome. To investigate the role of the H(+)-ATPase in the adaption of D. bioculata to different external NaCl concentrations, we employed northern blot analyses. The results indicate that the pma1 transcript level of cells growing in salinities between 0.1 and 3 M NaCl is not directly correlated with the external salt concentration.