Uveitis in Children and Adolescents

Childhood noninfectious uveitis leads to sight-threatening complications. Idiopathic chronic anterior uveitis and juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis are most common. Inflammation arises from an immune response against antigens within the eye. Ophthalmic work-up evaluates anatomic involvement, disease activity, ocular complications, and disease course. Local and/or systemic glucocorticoids are initial treatment, but not as long-term sole therapy to avoid glucocorticoids-induced toxicity or persistent ocular inflammation. Children with recurrent, refractory, or severe disease require systemic immunosuppression with methotrexate and/or anti-tumor necrosis factor monoclonal antibody medications (adalimumab, infliximab). Goals of early detection and treatment are to optimize vision in childhood uveitis.

Automated gesture tracking in head-fixed mice

BACKGROUND

The preparation consisting of a head-fixed mouse on a spherical or cylindrical treadmill offers unique advantages in a variety of experimental contexts. Head fixation provides the mechanical stability necessary for optical and electrophysiological recordings and stimulation. Additionally, it can be combined with virtual environments such as T-mazes, enabling these types of recording during diverse behaviors.

NEW METHOD

In this paper we present a low-cost, easy-to-build acquisition system, along with scalable computational methods to quantitatively measure behavior (locomotion and paws, whiskers, and tail motion patterns) in head-fixed mice locomoting on cylindrical or spherical treadmills.

EXISTING METHODS

Several custom supervised and unsupervised methods have been developed for measuring behavior in mice. However, to date there is no low-cost, turn-key, general-purpose, and scalable system for acquiring and quantifying behavior in mice.

RESULTS

We benchmark our algorithms against ground truth data generated either by manual labeling or by simpler methods of feature extraction. We demonstrate that our algorithms achieve good performance, both in supervised and unsupervised settings.

CONCLUSIONS

We present a low-cost suite of tools for behavioral quantification, which serve as valuable complements to recording and stimulation technologies being developed for the head-fixed mouse preparation.

Exhaled carbon monoxide: variations due to collection method and physiology

The measurement of exhaled carbon monoxide (eCO) is relevant to understanding normal physiology and disease states but has been limited by deficiencies in valid sampling protocols, accurate and feasible measurement methods, and the understanding of normal physiological variation. The purposes of this study were (1) to compare the three collection methods for eCO and (2) to gain a better understanding of patterns of normal variation by obtaining repeated daily and weekly measurements. We compared three techniques to sample eCO: continuous breathing(ConB), breath-holding(BrH), and short rebreathing (SrB). We used a Carbolyzer mBA-2000 instrument that involves an electrochemical method to quantify CO, with the final value corrected for ambient CO. InPhase I, we comparedConBwithBrHin 10 healthy non-smokers (5 male, five female). On day 1, the eCO was determined from 07:30 to 17:00 (11 samples), and the first four morning time points were repeated on days 7, 14, and 21.ConBhad a lower eCO thanBrH,and eCO2was frequently below the threshold of 4.6% compatible with inadequate alveolar sampling. The eCO measured by theConBandBrHmethods increased during the day and showed week-to-week variability. InPhase II, we compared theBrHandSrBtechniques by collecting prebreakfast samples weekly for four weeks in 30 healthy non-smokers (15 male,15 female). Comparing theSrBvs. theBrHmethod,SrBwas the easier for the participants to perform, generated higher eCO (∼ 0.5 ppm), and produced higher eCO2 levels (5.2% ± 0.3 vs. 5.0% ± 0.2); Importantly,Phase IIstudy revealed that week-to-week changes in prebreakfast fasting eCO for individual participants were ⩾1.0 ppm in ∼ 37%. This variability complicates the interpretation of the relationship between small changes in eCO and the underlying physiological or disease states.

Linezolid toxic optic neuropathy: A case report and review of visual prognosis

Purpose

To describe a case of linezolid toxic optic neuropathy in a 71-year-old female and review the relevant literature.

Observations

An adult female with progressive, symmetric vision loss was hypothesized to have linezolid toxic optic neuropathy. Following cessation of linezolid, the patient experienced improvement in visual function over two months.

Conclusions and importance

Patients diagnosed with linezolid toxic optic neuropathy can expect some return of visual function after cessation. The degree of return does not correlate to the cumulative dose of the drug. The goal of this study was to summarize and add to the current body of literature on the topic.