Humor

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Kinds of Humor

  • vitreous humor


  • Selected Abstracts


    Relationships Between Concentrations of Cocaine and Its Hydrolysates in Peripheral Blood, Heart Blood, Vitreous Humor and Urine

    JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 2 2006
    Wayne C. Duer Ph.D.
    ABSTRACT: Cocaine is known to degrade in vivo and in vitro by several hydrolytic mechanisms. A previous study found that the initial amount of cocaine added to plasma could be accounted for by summing the molar concentrations of cocaine's hydrolysis products and the cocaine remaining after hydrolysis. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether or not relationships might exist between such molar concentration sums for different postmortem bodily fluids. Determinations of cocaine, benzoylecgonine, ecgonine methyl ester, and ecgonine were performed using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) with heart blood, femoral blood, vitreous humor (VH), and urine (UR). The results demonstrate a strong correlation between blood and VH concentrations (correlation coefficients of 0.88,0.94), weak correlation between the UR and blood concentrations (correlation coefficients of 0.61,0.64), and weak correlation between UR and VH concentrations (correlation coefficient of 0.59). The results demonstrate that ecgonine is a significant hydrolysate with concentrations on the same order of magnitude as benzoylecgonine. The results are consistent with rapid distribution of the parent drug and its hydrolysates in the blood and VH. The strong correlation between the blood and VH demonstrates that VH is an important medium for toxicology testing when attempting to make a determination of cocaine intoxication. [source]


    Bilingual Humor, Verbal Hygiene, and the Gendered Contradictions of Cultural Citizenship in Early Mexican American Comedy

    JOURNAL OF LINGUISTIC ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2003
    Peter C. Haney
    This article examines the paradoxes of linguistic purism in a series of sound recordings of comic dialogues made by Mexican immigrant comedians in San Antonio, Texas, during the Depression. The dialogues present characters who mix English and Spanish as transgressors of gender roles and national identities, reserving their harshest criticism for women. However, bilingual wordplay in the dialogues suggests a dialectically opposed ideological move toward a celebration of linguistic and cultural hybridity. [source]


    Embracing the lived memory of genocide: Holocaust survivor and descendant renegade memory work at the House of Being

    AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 3 2010
    CAROL A. KIDRON
    ABSTRACT The House of Being is a Holocaust-survivor geriatric center and memorial museum in Israel, where lifeworlds and deathworlds coexist to create a "lived memory" of the Holocaust past. Its agenda, decor, and provocative commemorative practices engender movement between everyday life in the present and the genocidal past. Humor, for instance,the House genre,allows Holocaust descendants to explore contradictions between their familial lived experience of genocide and the "dead memory" of national commemoration. Sustaining a balance between a departure from and accommodation to mainstream national memory work, ludic memory reinvigorates the commemorative landscape. The activities that take place at the House, as well as its design and ambiance, problematize conceptualizations of commemoration, traumatic loss, serious humor, and the sequestration of death in everyday life. [source]


    Humor, Abstraction, and Disbelief

    COGNITIVE SCIENCE - A MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL, Issue 6 2008
    Elena Hoicka
    Abstract We investigated humor as a context for learning about abstraction and disbelief. More specifically, we investigated how parents support humor understanding during book sharing with their toddlers. In Study 1, a corpus analysis revealed that in books aimed at 1-to 2-year-olds, humor is found more often than other forms of doing the wrong thing including mistakes, pretense, lying, false beliefs, and metaphors. In Study 2, 20 parents read a book containing humorous and non-humorous pages to their 19-to 26-month-olds. Parents used a significantly higher percentage of high abstraction extra-textual utterances (ETUs) when reading the humorous pages. In Study 3, 41 parents read either a humorous or non-humorous book to their 18-to 24-month-olds. Parents reading the humorous book made significantly more ETUs coded for a specific form of high abstraction: those encouraging disbelief of prior utterances. Sharing humorous books thus increases toddlers' exposure to high abstraction and belief-based language. [source]


    Humorous Communication: Finding a Place for Humor in Communication Research

    COMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 4 2002
    Owen H. Lynch
    Humor literature can be split into two broad categories: (a) why individuals use humor (motivationally/psychologically) and (b) the function humor has within a social setting on society (sociologically). This paper argues that a communicative approach can be used as a connection between the psychological and sociological studies of humor. A new model is put forth as an area for future research in organizational communication that expands the humor process originally proposed in the sociological case study literature. [source]


    Humor as a Double-Edged Sword: Four Functions of Humor in Communication

    COMMUNICATION THEORY, Issue 3 2000
    John C. Meyer
    The compelling power of humor makes it a recurrent topic for research in many fields, including communication. Three theories of humor creation emerge in humor research: the relief theory, which focuses on physiological release of tension; the incongruity theory, singling out violations of a rationally learned pattern; and the superiority theory, involving a sense of victory or triumph. Each theory helps to explain the creation of different aspects of humor, but each runs into problems explaining rhetorical applications of humor. Because each theory of humor origin tries to explain all instances of humor, the diverging communication effects of humor remain unexplained. Humor's enactment leads to 4 basic functions of humor in communication. Two tend to unite communicators: the identification and the clarification functions. The other 2 tend to divide 1 set of communicators from others: the enforcement and differentiation functions. Exploration of these effects-based functions of humor will clarify understanding of its use in messages. Humor use unites communicators through mutual identification and clarification of positions and values, while dividing them through enforcement of norms and differentiation of acceptable versus unacceptable behaviors or people. This paradox in the functions of humor in communication as, alternately, a unifier and divider, allows humor use to delineate social boundaries. [source]


    Humors and substances: ideas of the body in New Guinea , By Pamela J. Stewart & Andrew Strathern

    THE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 3 2007
    Eric Silverman
    No abstract is available for this article. [source]


    Dexamethasone alters F-actin architecture and promotes cross-linked actin network formation in human trabecular meshwork tissue

    CYTOSKELETON, Issue 2 2005
    Abbot F. Clark
    Abstract Elevated intraocular pressure is an important risk factor for the development of glaucoma, a leading cause of irreversible blindness. This ocular hypertension is due to increased hydrodynamic resistance to the drainage of aqueous humor through specialized outflow tissues, including the trabecular meshwork (TM) and the endothelial lining of Schlemm's canal. We know that glucocorticoid therapy can cause increased outflow resistance and glaucoma in susceptible individuals, that the cytoskeleton helps regulate aqueous outflow resistance, and that glucocorticoid treatment alters the actin cytoskeleton of cultured TM cells. Our purpose was to characterize the actin cytoskeleton of cells in outflow pathway tissues in situ, to characterize changes in the cytoskeleton due to dexamethasone treatment in situ, and to compare these with changes observed in cell culture. Human ocular anterior segments were perfused with or without 10,7 M dexamethasone, and F-actin architecture was investigated by confocal laser scanning microscopy. We found that outflow pathway cells contained stress fibers, peripheral actin staining, and occasional actin "tangles." Dexamethasone treatment caused elevated IOP in several eyes and increased overall actin staining, with more actin tangles and the formation of cross-linked actin networks (CLANs). The actin architecture in TM tissues was remarkably similar to that seen in cultured TM cells. Although CLANs have been reported previously in cultured cells, this is the first report of CLANs in tissue. These cytoskeletal changes may be associated with increased aqueous humor outflow resistance after ocular glucocorticoid treatment. Cell Motil. Cytoskeleton 60:83,95, 2005. © 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


    The Macabre Style: Death Attitudes of Old-Age Home Residents in Israel

    ETHOS, Issue 4 2003
    Tova Gamliel
    An inductive, ethnographic analysis of death attitudes among old-age home residents in Israel is employed to describe the construction of a peculiar death-related discourse termed "the macabre style." This authentic voice of elderly residents emerges from interviews, conversations, and observations as a form of self-immersion in a particular collective consciousness generated by expectations of impending death. The macabre style's rhetorical devices include grim and direct references to death and dying, black humor, historical archetypes, and biblical myths. This construct is further used in order to reflect on and criticize the conceptual circularity of conventional academic categories regarding death attitudes such as "acceptance" and "denial," and as an indication of an old age metonymic discourse of self-transcendence. [source]


    Narrating Transgressions in Longwood: The Discourses, Meanings, and Paradoxes of an American Socializing Practice

    ETHOS, Issue 2 2001
    Professor Peggy J. Miller
    The goal of this study is to deepen our understanding of a set of narrative practices in European-American families in which young children's transgressions are downplayed or erased, a pattern that is cast in relief by the frequent, foregrounded narration of young children's transgressions in Taiwanese families. Evidence from the mothers'folk theories is used to illuminate these patterns, revealing that the pattern is reversed with respect to the narration of parental transgressions. The Taipei mothers treat parents' past misdeeds as undermining of adult authority and thereby not narratable to children, whereas the Longwood mothers regard parental misdeeds, including "hell-raising," as highly repor table for their humor and their power to humanize parents. These findings are discussed in relation to contrasting ideals and understandings of the dynamics of selves over time. [source]


    Relationships Between Concentrations of Cocaine and Its Hydrolysates in Peripheral Blood, Heart Blood, Vitreous Humor and Urine

    JOURNAL OF FORENSIC SCIENCES, Issue 2 2006
    Wayne C. Duer Ph.D.
    ABSTRACT: Cocaine is known to degrade in vivo and in vitro by several hydrolytic mechanisms. A previous study found that the initial amount of cocaine added to plasma could be accounted for by summing the molar concentrations of cocaine's hydrolysis products and the cocaine remaining after hydrolysis. The present study was undertaken to investigate whether or not relationships might exist between such molar concentration sums for different postmortem bodily fluids. Determinations of cocaine, benzoylecgonine, ecgonine methyl ester, and ecgonine were performed using liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS) with heart blood, femoral blood, vitreous humor (VH), and urine (UR). The results demonstrate a strong correlation between blood and VH concentrations (correlation coefficients of 0.88,0.94), weak correlation between the UR and blood concentrations (correlation coefficients of 0.61,0.64), and weak correlation between UR and VH concentrations (correlation coefficient of 0.59). The results demonstrate that ecgonine is a significant hydrolysate with concentrations on the same order of magnitude as benzoylecgonine. The results are consistent with rapid distribution of the parent drug and its hydrolysates in the blood and VH. The strong correlation between the blood and VH demonstrates that VH is an important medium for toxicology testing when attempting to make a determination of cocaine intoxication. [source]


    Non-invasive monitoring of commonly used intraocular drugs against endophthalmitis by raman spectroscopy

    LASERS IN SURGERY AND MEDICINE, Issue 4 2003
    K. Hosseini MD
    Abstract Purpose To develop a non-contact and non-invasive method for quantification of the local concentration of certain antibiotic and antifungal drugs in the eye. Study Design/Materials and Methods An integrated CCD-based Raman spectroscopic system designed specifically for ophthalmic applications was used to non-invasively detect the presence of ceftazidime and amphotericin B in ocular media. Specific Raman signatures of the above named drugs were determined for various concentrations that were injected through a needle in the aqueous humor of rabbit eyes in vivo. Raman spectra were subsequently acquired by focusing an argon laser beam within the anterior chamber of the eye. Results Compared to ocular tissue, unique spectral features of ceftazidime appeared near 1,028, 1,506, 1,586, and 1,641 cm,1. Amphotericin B exhibited its characteristic peaks at 1,156.5 and 1,556 cm,1. The amplitude of the spectral peak corresponding to these drugs (acquired by 1 second exposure time and 25 mW of laser power) were determined to be linearly dependent on their local concentration in the anterior chamber of the eye. Conclusions Raman spectroscopy may offer an effective tool to non-invasively assess the local concentration of the delivered drugs within the ocular media. This technique potentially could be used to investigate the pharmacokinetics of intraocular drugs in vivo either from a releasing implant or a direct injection. Lasers Surg. Med. 32:265,270, 2003. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


    Discourse Impairments Following Right Hemisphere Brain Damage: A Critical Review

    LINGUISTICS & LANGUAGE COMPASS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 6 2008
    Clinton L. Johns
    Right hemisphere brain damage (RHD) rarely causes aphasias marked by clear and widespread failures of comprehension or extreme difficulty producing fluent speech. Nonetheless, subtle language comprehension deficits can occur following unilateral RHD. In this article, we review the empirical record on discourse function following right hemisphere damage, as well as relevant work on non-brain damaged individuals that focuses on right hemisphere function. The review is divided into four sections that focus on discourse processing, inferencing, humor, and non-literal language. While the exact role that the right hemisphere plays in language processing, and the exact way that the two cerebral hemispheres coordinate their linguistic processes are still open to debate, our review suggests that the right hemisphere plays a critical role in managing inferred or implied information by maintaining relevant information and/or suppressing irrelevant information. Deficits in one or both of these mechanisms may account for discourse deficits following RHD. [source]


    Embracing the lived memory of genocide: Holocaust survivor and descendant renegade memory work at the House of Being

    AMERICAN ETHNOLOGIST, Issue 3 2010
    CAROL A. KIDRON
    ABSTRACT The House of Being is a Holocaust-survivor geriatric center and memorial museum in Israel, where lifeworlds and deathworlds coexist to create a "lived memory" of the Holocaust past. Its agenda, decor, and provocative commemorative practices engender movement between everyday life in the present and the genocidal past. Humor, for instance,the House genre,allows Holocaust descendants to explore contradictions between their familial lived experience of genocide and the "dead memory" of national commemoration. Sustaining a balance between a departure from and accommodation to mainstream national memory work, ludic memory reinvigorates the commemorative landscape. The activities that take place at the House, as well as its design and ambiance, problematize conceptualizations of commemoration, traumatic loss, serious humor, and the sequestration of death in everyday life. [source]


    More carrots than sticks: Antanas Mockus's civic culture policy in Bogotá

    NEW DIRECTIONS FOR YOUTH DEVELOPMENT, Issue 125 2010
    Felipe Cala Buendía
    The son of a Lithuanian artist, Antanas Mockus was the president of the National University in Colombia before he became mayor of Bogotá in 1995. As mayor, he transformed the city into a huge classroom, not only bringing to his administration a new view of governing but also transforming the way people exercised their citizenship. Mockus resorted to a creative communicative and pedagogical effort to change the citizens' hearts and minds in favor of peaceful coexistence and legal compliance. Symbols, metaphors, and humor became the language through which the administration would enforce its measures to deal with urban violence. Unconventional techniques, such as a symbolic vaccine against domestic violence and the use of mimes to control traffic circulation and create a sense of shame among those who committed infractions, helped to stop crime and develop a new sense of citizenship. [source]


    Laurence Steven Moss, 1944,2009

    AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS AND SOCIOLOGY, Issue 1 2010
    A Biographical Sketch
    Larry Moss lived a busy life as an academic, a professor, an attorney, a journal editor, and a skilled magician. He was a prolific publisher of scholarly articles and books, and an editor of scholarly volumes. With friendly charm and humor, he sought to encourage others in their scholarly pursuits. He employed his magical skills to enliven his courses and to illustrate certain economic phenomena. Larry served the History of Economics Society in important capacities, including its presidency. He sought "methodological tolerance" and interacted with scholars of different philosophical persuasions. He organized memorials for numerous other economists; it thus is fitting that we do so here for him. [source]


    Distress about mating rivals

    PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, Issue 3 2000
    DAVID M. BUSS
    This research tested the evolutionary psychological hypothesis that men and women would be most distressed about threats from rivals who surpass them on sex-linked components of mate value. Six predictions were tested in samples from three cultures, the United States (N= 208), the Netherlands (N= 349), and Korea (N= 174). Five predictions were supported in all three cultures. Korean, Dutch, and American men, more than corresponding women, report greater distress when a rival surpasses them on financial prospects, job prospects, and physical strength. Korean, Dutch, and American women, in contrast, report greater distress when a rival surpasses them on facial and bodily attractiveness. The cultures differed on some variables. Korean women and men, for example, differed from Americans and Dutch in reporting more distress over rivals who had better financial prospects, better job prospects, and higher status and prestige. Americans exceeded Koreans in reporting distress when rivals had more attractive faces and bodies, whereas the Dutch exceeded the other cultures in reporting more distress when rivals had a better sense of humor. Discussion focuses on possible proximate psychological mechanisms underlying distress over rivals and the theoretical importance of intrasexual competition. [source]


    Ascorbate Enhances Photogeneration of Hydrogen Peroxide Mediated by the Iris Melanin,

    PHOTOCHEMISTRY & PHOTOBIOLOGY, Issue 3 2008
    Albert R. Wielgus
    The iris in the human eye is exposed to UV and visible light transmitted by the cornea. This pigmented tissue is bathed with the aqueous humor (AqH), which contains high concentration of ascorbate. It has been postulated that the presence of ascorbate in AqH can contribute to increased photoproduction of H2O2 mediated by the iris melanin. In this study, we monitored generation of H2O2 induced by UV,VIS irradiation of bovine irides, bovine and human iris homogenates and iris melanin. Our data show that exogenous ascorbate significantly amplified the rate of H2O2 photoformation in all melanotic samples. Deactivation of endogenous catalase with NaN3 in bovine irides increased the level of the accumulated H2O2 in the bathing solution following sample irradiation. Photoformation of H2O2 in samples with exogenous ascorbate was accompanied by its photo-oxidation. Both photoprocesses exhibited significant wavelength dependence. EPR spectroscopy measurements showed that ascorbyl radical is an intermediate product of the ascorbate photo-oxidation. The photoproduction of H2O2 and photo-oxidation of ascorbate appear to be stoichiometric processes. No significant differences in the photoreactivity of iridial melanin from donors of different age and iris color was found. We postulate that also in vivo ascorbate increases the rate of iris melanin-mediated photoformation of H2O2 and its steady state concentration in AqH. [source]


    Polls and Elections: Editorial Cartoons 2.0: The Effects of Digital Political Satire on Presidential Candidate Evaluations

    PRESIDENTIAL STUDIES QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2008
    JODY C. BAUMGARTNER
    While the number of full-time editorial cartoonists has declined in the past few decades, several have taken their craft online in the form of animated Flash cartoons. In this article I test the effects of one of the more popular animated editorial cartoons on presidential candidate evaluations of 18- to 24-year-olds. A posttest-only experimental design was used to survey students from several universities in six states. The results from this online experiment suggest that these editorial cartoons have a negative effect on candidate evaluations. However, viewing the clip did not change candidate preferences and an analysis of the control group suggests that viewership of online humor may have a positive effect on political participation. [source]


    Profiling of vitreous proteomes from proliferative diabetic retinopathy and nondiabetic patients

    PROTEINS: STRUCTURE, FUNCTION AND BIOINFORMATICS, Issue 22 2007
    Taeoh Kim
    Abstract Diabetes can lead to serious microvascular complications like proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), which is the leading cause of blindness in adults. The proteomic changes that occur during PDR cannot be measured in the human retina for ethical reasons, but could be reflected by proteomic changes in vitreous humor. Thus, we considered that comparisons between the proteome profiles of the vitreous humors of PDR and nondiabetic controls could lead to the discovery of novel pathogenic proteins and clinical biomarkers. In this study, the authors used several proteomic methods to comprehensively examine vitreous humor proteomes of PDR patients and nondiabetic controls. These methods included immunoaffinity subtraction (IS)/2-DE/MALDI-MS, nano-LC-MALDI-MS/MS, and nano-LC-ESI-MS/MS. The identified proteins were subjected to the Trans-Proteomic Pipeline validation process. Resultantly, 531 proteins were identified, i.e., 415 and 346 proteins were identified in PDR and nondiabetic control vitreous humor samples, respectively, and of these 531 proteins, 240 were identified for the first time in this study. The PDR vitreous proteome was also found to contain many proteins possibly involved in the pathogenesis of PDR. The proteins described provide the most comprehensive proteome listing in the vitreous humor samples of PDR and nondiabetic control patients. [source]


    Connecting humor, health, and masculinities at prostate cancer support groups

    PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 9 2009
    John L. Oliffe
    Abstract Objective: Many commentaries about men's health practices and masculinities indicate that men do not typically engage with self-health or acknowledge illness, let alone openly discuss their health concerns with other men. Prostate cancer support groups (PCSGs) appear to run contrary to such ideals, yet the factors that influence men's attendance and engagement at group meetings are poorly understood. As part of a larger PCSG study, we noticed that humor was central to many group interactions and this prompted us to examine the connections between humor, health, and masculinities. Methods: A qualitative ethnographic design was used to direct fieldwork and conduct participant observations at the meetings of 16 PCSGs in British Columbia, Canada. Individual semi-structured interviews were completed with 54 men who attended PCSGs to better understand their perceptions about the use of humor at group meetings. Results: Four themes, disarming stoicism, marking the boundaries, rekindling and reformulating men's sexuality, and when humor goes south were drawn from the analyses. Overall, humor was used to promote inclusiveness, mark the boundaries for providing and receiving mutual help, and develop masculine group norms around men's sexuality. Although there were many benefits to humor there were also some instances when well-intended banter caused discomfort for attendees. Conclusions: The importance of group leadership was central to preserving the benefits of humor, and the specificities of how humor is used at PCSGs may provide direction for clinical practice and the design of future community-based men's health promotion programs. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


    ORIGINAL RESEARCH,PHYSIOLOGY: Thermography as a Physiological Measure of Sexual Arousal in Both Men and Women

    THE JOURNAL OF SEXUAL MEDICINE, Issue 1 2007
    Tuuli M. Kukkonen BA
    ABSTRACT Introduction., Current physiological measures of sexual arousal are intrusive, hard to compare between genders, and quantitatively problematic. Aim., To investigate thermal imaging technology as a means of solving these problems. Methods., Twenty-eight healthy men and 30 healthy women viewed a neutral film clip, after which they were randomly assigned to view one of three other video conditions: (i) neutral (N = 19); (ii) humor (N = 19); and (iii) sexually explicit (N = 20). Main Outcome Measures., Genital and thigh temperatures were continuously recorded using a TSA ImagIR camera. Subjective measures of sexual arousal, humor, and relaxation were assessed using Likert-style questions prior to showing the baseline video and following each film. Results., Statistical (Tukey HSD) post-hoc comparisons (P < 0.05) demonstrated that both men and women viewing the sexually arousing video had significantly greater genital temperature (mean = 33.89°C, SD = 1.00) than those in the humor (mean = 32.09°C, SD = 0.93) or neutral (mean = 32.13°C, SD = 1.24) conditions. Men and women in the erotic condition did not differ from each other in time to peak genital temperature (men mean = 664.6 seconds, SD = 164.99; women mean = 743 seconds, SD = 137.87). Furthermore, genital temperature was significantly and highly correlated with subjective ratings of sexual arousal (range r = 0.51,0.68, P < 0.001). There were no significant differences in thigh temperature between groups. Conclusion., Thermal imaging is a promising technology for the assessment of physiological sexual arousal in both men and women. Kukkonen TM, Binik YM, Amsel R, and Carrier S. Thermography as a physiological measure of sexual arousal in both men and women. J Sex Med 2007;4:93,105. [source]


    3363: VEGF in aqueous humor of eyes with uveal melanoma

    ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2010
    JP CAUJOLLE
    Purpose To analyze in uveal melanomas (UM) the expression of angiogenic factors in pre- and post-treatment neovascular glaucomas (NVG). To study Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF-A; VEGFxxxb) and interleukin 8 (IL-8) levels in the aqueous humor of eyes with UM prior to treatment. Methods The cytokines rates in UM have been studied by performing anterior chamber tap. In a few cases, we also analyzed these rates both in vitreous (V) and aqueous (A) humors to compare their concentrations. In addition, some control measurements were made. The concentrations were determined using dedicated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits (ELISA) with a threshold of 5pg/ml. Results We have found no VEGF-A in A humor of control patients. Regarding our samples, virtually no VEGFxxxb isoforms were detected in V and A humors. Moreover, production of cytokine IL-8 was found in a few tumors producing or not VEGF. In the first series on patients with NVG, we have collected 11 samples of A humor and 5 of V humor. The VEGF-A concentrations between A and V humor were nearly equivalent. Concerning A humor samples, VEGF-A levels were ranged from 70.1 to 5680 pg/ml. The second series was obtained with A humor samples from 31 UM eyes prior to treatment. VEGF-A levels were ranged from undetectable to 1532 pg/ml. The correlation between VEGF-A levels and the different tumor features was studied. In both series, the highest rates of VEGF-A were found in A humor of NVG UM eyes. Conclusion VEGF-A and IL-8 can be produced in the context of UM. However, their expression is not systematic. Our results suggest that VEGF determination should be determined prior to anti-VEGF therapy in order to prevent post-protontherapy complications or to improve protontherapy efficiency. [source]


    3364: Cytokines in enucleated eyes

    ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2010
    MJ JAGER
    Purpose One of the prognostically bad parameters in uveal melanoma is the presence of an inflammatory phenotype, characterized by an increased expression of HLA antigens and an immunologic infiltrate. We wondered whether the presence of specific chemokines and cytokines in the aqueous humor (AqH) from uveal melanoma-containing eyes is associated with this inflammatory phenotype, with the presence of macrophages, and/or with survival. Methods Directly following enucleation, AqH was obtained from 37 eyes containing uveal melanoma. Samples were stored at -80 °C till use. Using a multiplex bead array, 15 different cytokines were measured. Determination of intratumoral macrophages was performed by immunohistochemistry and immunofluorescence. The presence of specific cytokines was compared to histopathological, genetic and clinical tumor characteristics, as well as patient survival. Results Several cytokines showed a significantly higher expression in the AqH from uveal melanoma-containing eyes compared to the AqH from eyes undergoing cataract surgery. Only MCP-3 was associated with the presence of macrophages and the tumor promoting M2-type macrophage in uveal melanoma patients. Hardly any correlations were found between cytokine levels and known prognostic factors for uveal melanoma. Also, cytokine levels were not of predictive value for survival. Conclusion Although increased levels of inflammation-related cytokines are present in the AqH of uveal melanoma-containing eyes, hardly any associations with the presence of macrophages and their subtypes, with clinical and histopathological parameters, and prognosis were found. [source]


    4156: Inflammatory mediators in the aqueous humor from patients with uveitis associated with Behçet's disease and Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease

    ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2010
    A ABU EL ASRAR
    Purpose We studied interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP), a dominant autoimmune antigen in the eye. Methods Aqueous humour samples from 28 patients with active uveitis were analysed for immunoglobulin G (IgG) content as a marker for blood-ocular barrier breakdown and by gelatinase B zymography for the detection of inflammation. The data were correlated with the presence of intact IRBP (approximately 140 kD) as determined by Western blot analysis and with the clinical disease activity. Results Aqueous humour samples from control eyes and eyes with low disease activity showed positive immunoreactivity for intact IRBP. The IRBP signal weakened or disappeared with higher disease activity. Significant positive correlations were observed between disease activity and levels of gelatinase B/matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) (rs=0.713; P<0.001) and IgG (rs=0.580; P=0.001). Significant negative correlations were found between levels of IRBP and disease activity (rs=-0.520; P=0.005) and levels of MMP-9 (rs=-0.727; P<0.001) and of IgG (rs=-0.834; P<0.001). Whereas neutrophil elastase converted intact IRBP into an immunoreactive 55 kD peptide in vitro, the conversion by neutrophil degranulates resembled more the in vivo context with a complete degradation of IRBP. Reversal of inflammation with immunosuppressive therapy was accompanied with reappearance of intact IRBP and disappearance of IgG and MMP-9. Conclusion The analysis of IRBP proteolysis is useful as a biomarker for uveitis and suggests that inhibition of proteinases might become a therapeutic strategy in an inflammatory context of a damaged blood-ocular barrier. [source]


    2123: Transferrin and transthyretin in vitreoretinal surgery

    ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2010
    C ARNDT
    Purpose The concentration of transferrin in the vitreous is known to be higher than in plasma or aqueous humor. This has been related to a local synthesis of transferrin by the ciliary body. Increased levels have been found in vitro-retinal proliferation. A relationship between the level of transthyretin and the functional outcome has been previously reported. The purpose of the study was to look for a relation between transferrin and transthyretin. Methods Patients with epiretinal membrane and rhegmatogenous retinal detachment were prospectively enrolled. The vitreous samples were obtained without intraocular infusion. The levels of transferrine and transthyretin (prealbumin) were determined in all cases. Results In the group of patients with retinal detachment (n=18), two groups could be identified: the transferrin levels were either low between 40 and 70 mg/l with low transthyretin (<17,8 mg/l)(n=6) or high (>400 mg/l) with transthyretin levels between 200 and 400 mg/l (n=12). No relationship to any clinical parameters (extension of the detachment, onset of symptoms or degre of vitreo-retinal proliferation) could be demonstrated. In patients with epiretinal membranes (n=6), the transferrin levels <40 mg/l, transthyretin < 17,8 mg/l. Conclusion Increased transferrin seems to correlate with increased transthyretin levels in the vitreous. The clinical signification of this relationship remains to be demonstrated and probably requires a larger patient sample. [source]


    2127: Ghrelin concentration in the aqueous humour and plasma in open angle glaucoma patients

    ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2010
    A KATSANOS
    Purpose Ghrelin is a peptide hormone that exerts metabolic and smooth muscle-relaxant effects in ocular tissues. The aim of this study was to compare aqueous humor and plasma levels of ghrelin in patients with open angle glaucoma (OAG) and controls. Methods Twenty four OAG, including 7 pseudoexfoliation (PXG) and 17 primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients, and 30 controls were included. All participants were patients scheduled for cataract or glaucoma surgery. Patients with other concomitant ocular disease, previous ocular surgery or diabetes were excluded. Blood samples were collected before cataract surgery. Aqueous humor was aspirated from the anterior chamber through a paracentesis with a 27 G needle under sterile conditions. Ghrelin levels in both samples were measured quantitatively with commercially available Radioimmunoassay (RIA) kits. Results Mean±SD age was 71.0±9.3 and 69.6±6.6 years in the OAG and control groups, respectively (p=0.6). Plasma levels of ghrelin were 495.6±157.7 pg/ml in the OAG and 482.2±125.4 pg/ml in the control group, respectively (Mann-Whitney test, p=0.9). Aqueous humor levels of ghrelin were 85.5±15.4 pg/ml and 123.4 ±25.5 pg/ml in the OAG and control groups, respectively (Mann-Whitney test, p<0.01). The ratio of plasma/aqueous concentration in ghrelin was higher in the OAG versus the control group (5.82± 1.94 versus 4.00±1.04, Mann-Whitney test, p<0.01). There was no difference neither in plasma nor in aqueous humor levels of ghrelin between POAG and PXG patients (p>0.5). Conclusion Aqueous humor levels of ghrelin were significantly lower in OAG patients. This difference may manifest a role of ghrelin in the disease process or a consequence of antiglaucoma treatment. [source]


    Ocular toxoplasmosis recurrences: a single center case report

    ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2009
    U SERRA
    Purpose To describe recurrence patterns in a cohort of patients with aqueous humor proven ocular toxoplasmosis, followed during 3 years, at a single referral center. Methods Retrospective, observational, non comparative case series including 43 patients who suffered from an active episode of toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis during 2005, confirmed by aqueous humour polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positivity and assisted at the Ophthalmology Department of the Pitié-Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, France. Clinical files were analyzed in terms of signs of intraocular inflammation, number, size and location of retinochoroidal active lesions and scars, presence of ocular complications related to toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis, angiographic and visual field findings and therapeutic management. Results 20 males and 23 females (mean age 37 year-old) were followed after an episode of toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis confirmed by analysis of ocular fluids. Five of them were immunocompromised and twelve have already experienced at least a previous episode of active toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis. Recurrences occurred in 13 patients (28%) with a mean age of 48 years. These episodes were noted during the first year of follow-up, between 12 and 24 months and between 24 and 36 months in 4, 5 and 3 patients respectively. Conclusion Recurrences seem to be more frequent if they occur during the first year after the initial episode of retinochoroiditis, especially in older patients. Prospective studies are needed in order to confirm these preliminary data. [source]


    Lornoxicam pharmacokinetics in the vitreous humor of albino rabbits

    ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2009
    C TSIKA
    Purpose To assess the elimination half-life of intravitreal lornoxicam, a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID). Methods Both eyes of 15 rabbits were intravitreally injected with 250 ,g of commercially available lornoxicam (for intravenous/intramuscular use, Xefo® 8 IV/IM Injection, Nycomed Hellas S.A.). Six eyes were enucleated at time points 0, 1, 2, 6 and 24 hours after the injection was performed. The eyes were immediately frozen at -80°C. The vitreous was eviscerated from the eye and the drug was liquid-liquid extracted from a 0.4 ml sample. Lornoxicam was isolated by a reversed-phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) method at retention time 10.7 min and detected at 372 nm. The data were statistically analyzed in order to evaluate the pharmacokinetic parameters of the drug. Results The recovery of lornoxicam after liquid-liquid extraction was calculated at 69.6% and the limit of determination was 0.1 ,g/ml. Statistical analysis revealed that lornoxicam concentrations followed first-order kinetics with an elimination rate constant of 0.235h-1 and a half-life of 3.0 h. Conclusion The determination of the pharmacokinetic characteristics of intravitreal lornoxicam allows the possibility for further investigation of the drug's intraocular behaviour and therapeutic potential. [source]


    PCR identification of Rhizobium radiobacter in post-operative endophthalmitis

    ACTA OPHTHALMOLOGICA, Issue 2007
    V VINH
    Purpose: To present 2 cases of PCR identification of Rhizobium radiobacter in post-operative endophthalmitis. Methods: Microbiological identification was carried out using samples from aqueous humor and/or vitreous. Conventional cultures were performed using a Brain Heart Infusion broth. We used broad-range eubacterial PCR amplification followed by direct sequencing. Results: In both cases, Rhizobium radiobacter was identified using eubacterial PCR and cultures of vitreous from vitreous tap. An 81-year-old female presented an endophthalmitis 4 weeks after an cataract surgery. Inflammation and infection were controlled after 2 intravitreal antibiotic injections and the final visual acuity was of 20/24 at the one-year follow-up exam. A 75-year-old male who underwent a cataract surgery presented an endophthalmitis 9 days after. This patient was treated by 3 intravitreal antibiotic injections and a vitrectomy. The 6-month follow-up exam showed an optic nerve atrophy with a poor visual outcome (20/120). Both patients had an initial marked anterior chamber inflammation with a hypopyon and a severe retinal vasculitis was observed in the second case. Conclusions: Rhizobium radiobacter is a rare pathogen involved in postoperative endophthalmitis. As it is an environmental soil organism, we may assume that the patient's exposure to outdoor environnement and moist soil remains the source of this organism. This gram negative rod is resistant to vancomycin and have an intermediate resistance to most antibiotics used to treat post-operative endophthalmitis. PCR allows a swifter bacterial identification than do cultures and may help choose the most efficient antibiotics. [source]