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AIM: To report the fungal organisms, clinical features, surgical treatment strategies, and outcomes of patients with culture-proven exogenous fungal endophthalmitis (EFE) secondary to keratitis, and evaluate the role of surgery in the treatment. METHODS: The clinical records of 27 patients (27 eyes) with culture-proven EFE resulting from fungal keratitis treated at Shandong Eye Institute from January 2007 to January 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Information about fungal culture results, clinical features, surgical procedures, and final visual acuity was obtained. RESULTS: There were 39 positive culture results from samples of cornea, hypopyon, vitreous and lens capsule, accounting for 56%, 26%, 15% and 2.5%, respectively. Fusarium was identified in 44% (12/27) of the eyes, followed by Aspergillus in 22% (6/27). Posterior segment infection was involved in 78% (21/27) of the patients. The corneal infection was larger than 3 mm ×3 mm in 89% (24/27) of the patients, and 22% (6/27) of them had the entire cornea, and even the sclera involved. Three eyes had silicone oil tamponade, and two eyes had retinal detachment. Twenty-two eyes (81.5%) underwent penetrating keratoplasty (PKP), and over half of them (54.5%) were operated within 3d from the onset of antifungal therapy. Fourteen eyes (52%) underwent intracameral antifungal drug injection, and three of them required repeated injections. Fifteen eyes (55.6%) underwent pars plana vitrectomy (PPV). The rate of the eyes undergoing PPV as the initial surgical procedure was 60% (9/15), lower than 77% in PKP. Intravitreal injection was given in 59% of the eyes (16/27), and 75% of them required repeated injections. The final visual acuity was 20/100 or better in 37% of the eyes, and better than counting fingers in 55.6% of the eyes. Five eyes (18.5%) were eviscerated. In the two eyes with concurrent retinal detachment, one achieved retinal reattachment, and the other was eviscerated. In the three eyes with silicone oil tamponade, two eyes received silicone oil removal, and the other one was eviscerated. CONCLUSION: Fusarium and Aspergillus are the dominant pathogens in EFE resulting from keratitis. Aggressive antifungal surgeries including multiple intravitreal injections, PKP and core vitrectomy (especially in the initial surgery) are helpful procedures to improve prognosis of severe EFE secondary to keratitis.

This article discusses a case of oculogyric crisis (OGC) in a patient with Wilson's disease (WD). The patient, a 30-year-old Chinese female, presented with walking difficulties, dysarthria, and sustained upward gaze of both eyes. The article provides a detailed description of the patient's symptoms and clinical findings, including video footage of the OGC attacks. The patient was diagnosed with WD based on copper biochemical examination, brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and genetic testing. The article also discusses the etiology and mechanism of OGC in WD, as well as its occurrence in other inherited metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases. [Extracted from the article]

Using panel data from 37 countries from 1990 to 2019 and applying a quantile regression approach with panel fixed effects, we investigate the impact of national Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) performance on green innovation and how this impact varies across different green innovation capacity distributions. The research conclusions are as follows. (1) National ESG performance improvement significantly promotes green innovation. (2) The improvement of environmental performance and governance performance significantly promotes green innovation, but in countries with weak green innovation capabilities, the improvement of social performance reduces the output of green innovation. (3) The role of national ESG performance in promoting green innovation is stronger in countries with weak green innovation capabilities. (4) In non‐high‐income countries, the stronger the green innovation capability is, the more obvious is the promotion of ESG performance to green innovation. The findings of this paper provide empirical evidence and a policy basis for governments to focus on improving ESG performance and to commit to promoting green innovation activities more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines a panel of 121 economies worldwide over the period 1980–2020 for the impact of political competition on green innovation. We find that an increase in the intensity of political competition has a significantly negative impact on green innovation and that this impact remains significant in the long term, especially for non‐OECD countries and middle (low) income countries, whereas the sub‐indicators of political competition indicate that the level of institutionalization of political participation and the degree of government restrictions on political participation have different impacts on green innovation. The findings also reveal that lower political risk and higher levels of globalization positively moderate the negative impact of political competition on green innovation. The adverse effects of party competition are exacerbated when left‐wing parties are in power. This study offers new insight into sustainable development based on examining the relationship between political competition and green innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immunostimulants and vaccines are the main means for controlling infectious diseases and searching highly effective and low toxic immunestimulants has always been the focus of researchers. The MetchnikowinII (MetII) had been expressed by us and exhibited both antibacterial and antifungal activities, in this study, we evaluated its potential for an adjuvant effect. In chickens, antigen-specific immunoglobulin Gs (IgGs) were increased after MetII adjuvanted vaccination using the Ptfa protein. Compared to group Ptfa + iFA, which was only adjuvanted with incomplete Freund's adjuvant (iFA), the antibody titers of the group Ptfa + iFA + Met20 µg·mL-1 (PFM20) and Ptfa + iFA + Propolis (PFP) significantly increased (P<0.05). Likewise, Interleukin-2 (IL-2) and Interferon-y (IFN-y) cytokines in group Ptfa + iFA + Met20 µg·mL-1 (PFM20) and Ptfa + iFA + Propolis (PFP) were significantly higher than those of the other three experimental groups (P<0.05). The stimulation index (SI) value in chickens of group PFM20 was significantly higher than that of the other four experimental groups (P<0.05). Chickens that received MetII adjuvanted vaccinations benefitted from higher protection rate (88%) when challenged with Pasteurella multocida (P. multocida), which was significantly higher than those of group PF and PFP (P<0.05). These results suggested that the antimicrobial peptide MetII may play an adjuvant role in the immune response in chickens but need a proper usage, because the higher usage of 40 µg·mL-1 and 60 µg·mL-1 resulted poor effect. Whether MetII could be a potential adjuvant or a biomolecule as part of a complex adjuvant for vaccines needs more experimental evidence, the study still provides an examples for understanding vaccine adjuvants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The adsorption capacity of natural low-methoxy pectin from sunflower heads on heavy metal copper ions (Cu2+) in aqueous solution was studied, and the effects of dosage, pH, adsorption temperature and time, and coexisting ions were investigated. Our results indicated that with increasing the pectin dosage, the removal rate of Cu2+ was continuously increased, whereas the adsorption capacity was initially increased and then decreased. Both adsorption capacity and removal rate increased initially and then remained unchanged with the increase in adsorption temperature or time. Similarly, both increased initially and then decreased with the increase in pH of pectin, whereas they decreased with the increase in concentration of divalent metal ions (coexisting ions) owing to the effect of coexisting ions. When the initial concentration of Cu2+ was in the range of 0~200 mg/L, the Langmuir isothermal equation was used to obtain the maximum Cu2+ adsorption capacity of pectin, which was 29.94 mg/g. Thermodynamic analysis showed that the adsorption process was a spontaneous and endothermic reaction with increasing entropy. Kinetics analysis revealed that the adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic equation with electrostatic attraction and complexation as the main driving force. Thus, pectin derived from sunflower heads exhibits a strong Cu2+ sption capacity, making it a viable option as a safe, effective, and eco-friendly biosorption material for the treatment of Cu2+-contaminated wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]