Bilateral Choroidal Occlusion in Antiphospholipid Syndrome Associated with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus

This article reports a rare case of bilateral choroidal occlusion that occurred in a 24-year-old woman with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This young lady concurred with aorta ventralis thrombosis and bilateral iliac artery occlusion when presented, and experienced a rapid deterioration of vision. She also has a history of recurrent miscarriage. Corticosteroid,immunosuppression and anticoagulation therapy were administered. Patients with APS associated with SLE are at risk for thrombotic phenomena, which may affect the ocular vessels of all sizes, including choroidal vessel.Our case alerts ophthalmologists and rheumatologists that bilateral choroidal occlusion may indeed be developed in patients with APS associated with SLE, and is a potential cause of visual morbidity.

Relationship between morphospecies and microcystin-producing genotypes of Microcystis species in Chinese freshwaters

Twenty water bodies in China were sampled,and 186 strains of different Microcystis species were isolated,from which eight morpho species were identified and 43 stains containing the mcyB gene were detected.Phylogenetic analysis based on the mcyB gene indicated that the microcystin(MC)-producing Microcystis in China could be divided into two groups(ⅠandⅡ)and showed significant differences between the two groups.The maximum sequence similarity was 69.1%.Microcystins(MCs)were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography(HPLC)analysis,and no microcystin-RR(MC-RR)was detected in some strains belonging to GroupⅡ.Compared to other regions of the world,the proportion of Chinese MC-producing was different,and the regional differences were more obvious.A whole-cell polymerase chain reactio(PCR)assay was conducted to analyze the proportion of the mcyB gene in the laboratory cultured and field cultured Microcystis.The proportion of four morphospecies(M.vividis,M.ichthyoblabe,M.novacekii,and M.aeruginosa)that contained the mcyB gene exceeded 50%in the field cultured sample s.Compared with former studies,M.aeruginosa was the mo st likely morphotype that can produce MCs in the world.This study provided new insight of Microcystis hazard assessment and field monitoring.

Application of stem cell-derived retinal pigmented epithelium in retinal degenerative diseases： present and future

As a constituent of blood-retinal barrier and retinal outer segment（ROS） scavenger, retinal pigmented epithelium（RPE） is fundamental to normal function of retina. Malfunctioning of RPE contributes to the onset and advance of retinal degenerative diseases. Up to date, RPE replacement therapy is the only possible method to completely reverse retinal degeneration. Transplantation of human RPE stem cell-derived RPE（h RPESC-RPE） has shown some good results in animal models. With promising results in terms of safety and visual improvement, human embryonic stem cell-derived RPE（h ESC-RPE） can be expected in clinical settings in the near future. Despite twists and turns, induced pluripotent stem cell-derived RPE（i PSC-RPE） is now being intensely investigated to overcome genetic and epigenetic instability. By far, only one patient has received i PSCRPE transplant, which is a hallmark of i PSC technology development. During follow-up, no major complications such as immunogenicity or tumorigenesis have been observed. Future trials should keep focusing on the safety of stem cell-derived RPE（SC-RPE） especially in long period, and better understanding of the nature of stem cell and the molecular events in the process to generate SC-RPE is necessary to the prosperity of SC-RPE clinical application.

Detrital Zircon Geochronology of Early Triassic Strata in the West Qinling Orogen:Implications for the Tectonic Evolution of the Paleo-Tethyan Ocean

The West Qinling Orogen(WQO)is located in the western part of the Qinling Orogen and in the transition zone of Qilian Orogen,Songpan-Garze Orogen and Yangtze Block,and also the key position of Triassic collision orogenic event.The study of the Early Triassic strata in the WQO is contributed to analyze the closure process of the paleo-Tethys.We conducted LA-ICP-MS U-Pb dating studies on detrital zircons to determine the provenance,depositional age,and tectonic setting of the Early Triassic Longwuhe Formation in the Lintan area of the WQO.The results show that the majority of the detrital zircons in the Longwuhe Formation are mainly magmatic origin and have characteristic of crust source zircon.The lowest limit of sedimentation of the Longwuhe Formation is constrained to the Early Triassic,with the youngest detrital zircon age of 253±3 Ma.The ages can be divided into five age groups:3346–1636 Ma,with two peak ages of ca.2495 and ca.1885 Ma;1585–1010 Ma,with a peak age at ca.1084 Ma;992–554 Ma,with a peak age at ca.939 Ma;521–421 Ma,with a peak age at ca.445 Ma;418–253 Ma,with a peak age at ca.280 Ma.Apparently,the sources of the Longwuhe Formation include the northern margin of the WQO,the Qilian Orogen(QLO)and the basement of the southern margin of the North China Block(NCB),of which the ancient basement of the southern margin of the NCB is the main source area of the Longwuhe Formation.Combined with previous studies,we propose that the Longwuhe Formation was formed in a fore-arc basin,which is related to the closure of the A’nyemaqen-Mianlüe Ocean from the Early Permian to Early–Middle Triassic due to the northward subduction-collision of the Yangtze Block(YZB).This also indicates that the A’nyemaqen-Mianlüe Ocean has flat subduction characteristics.

Accuracy and safety of a novel aqueous humor collector versus 29 G insulin syringe for anterior chamber paracentesis and aqueous humor collection:A multicenter randomized clinical trial

To the Editor:Anterior chamber(AC)paracentesis is a commonly performed procedure to lower intraocular pressure(IOP),and to sample aqueous humor(AH)for clinical and research purposes.As suggested by an international collaboration team,an immediately performed AC paracentesis before an intravitreal injection can also prevent post-injection IOP spike.[1]While IOP could immediately be reduced by AC paracentesis,the procedure of obtaining an AH sample(liquid biopsy)is more complicated.Several methods have been developed to facilitate AH collection and transfer,[2-7]among which a vacuum-based AH collector(SnovoDAHC I-50,Sightnovo Medical Technology Co.,Beijing,China)has better performance than the commonly used insulin syringe in accurate sampling of about 50μL AH in rabbits by one hand.[7]The current clinical trial aimed to evaluate the performance and safety of this product in human subjects.

A new EPICS time-series data archiver using HBase

Background The control system of China ADS front-end demo linac(CAFe)is a distributed control system based on experimental physics and industrial control system(EPICS).The data generated by the control system are stored and retrieved by Channel Archiver.However,with the development of accelerator devices,its scale continues to expand.Channel Archiver has been unable to meet the increasing data volume in terms of availability,performance,and storage expansion.Purpose This paper presents a new data archiving system of EPICS control system.The archive engine is developed with microservice architecture,and the data storage layer uses the distributed database—HBase.Method The archive engine supports a variety of archive modes,and process variable(PV)archive requests and confguration changes can be realized without restarting.It can also realize data retrieval in a variety of ways.In addition,python scripts and Web UI can be used to implement the management functions of the system.Results Currently,the archiving system is under commissioning at CAFe facility.The results show that the new archiving system is convenient to operate and easy to expand and provides a research platform for future data analysis.