A new NSAID, bromfenac sodium, can lead to severe corneal melting. These findings, together with similar previous reports concerning diclofenac sodium and ketorolac, suggest that careful observation is required when using topical NSAIDs in the treatment of corneal disease.

Unusual HLA-A'null' alleles because of an entire gene deletion were found in three apparently unrelated Japanese families with leukemia patients. Inclusion of the entire HLA-A gene in the deletion was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction direct sequencing of the surrounding regions of HLA-A. Further localization of the breakpoints of the HLA-A deletion at the centromeric and telomeric sides was performed, and these families were shown to possess the identical deletion. We then determined the genomic sequence of the HLA-A-deleted haplotype. Surprisingly, the haplotype turned out to carry an insertion of an SVA (SINE-VNTR-Alu) retrotransposon of 2 kb as well as the 14 kb deletion that included the entire HLA-A gene.

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The clinical characteristics of a Japanese patient with a homozygous R234W mutation in RLBP1 are very similar to that of Swedish patients with Bothnia dystrophy. The origin of the Japanese R234W mutation is probably not the same as that of the Swedish patients, but more likely due to the high incidence of C to T transitions.