Graft Suturing for Lenticule Dislocation after Descemet Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty

Purpose: To report the mid-term outcomes of graft suturing in a patient with lenticule dislocation after Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). Case Report: A 78-year old woman was found to have graft dislocation involving the nasal half of the cornea after uneventful DSAEK. Graft repositioning, refilling the anterior chamber with air, and placement of four full-thickness 10/0 nylon sutures over the detached area were performed two weeks after the initial surgery. The sutures were removed 6 weeks later. Serial specular microscopy and anterior segment optical coherence tomography were performed. At 18 months, there was good lenticule apposition and a clear graft. Conclusion: Anchoring sutures seem to be effective for management of graft detachment following DSAEK

Enhancement of sonochemical production of hydroxyl radicals from pulsed cylindrically converging ultrasound waves

Sonochemistry is the use of ultrasound to generate highly reactive radical species through the inertial collapse of a gas/vapour cavity and is a green alternative for hydrogen production, wastewater treatment, and chemical synthesis and modifications. Yet, current sonochemical reactors often are limited by their design, resulting in low efficacy and yields with slow reaction kinetics. Here, we constructed a novel sonochemical reactor design that creates cylindrically converging ultrasound waves to create an intense localised region of high acoustic pressure amplitudes (15 MPaPKPK) capable of spontaneously nucleating cavitation. Using a novel dosimetry technique, we determined the effect of acoustic parameters on the yield of hydroxyl radicals (HO·), HO· production rate, and ultimately the sonochemical efficiency (SE) of our reactor. Our reactor design had a significantly higher HO· production rate and SE compared to other conventional reactors and across literature

AMPK Activators Suppress Cervical Cancer Cell Growth through Inhibition of DVL3 Mediated Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Activity

published_or_final_versio

AMPK Activators Suppress Cervical Cancer Cell Growth through Inhibition of DVL3 Mediated Wnt/β-Catenin Signaling Activity

published_or_final_versio

Measurement of Cosmic-ray Muons and Muon-induced Neutrons in the Aberdeen Tunnel Underground Laboratory

We have measured the muon flux and production rate of muon-induced neutrons at a depth of 611 m water equivalent. Our apparatus comprises three layers of crossed plastic scintillator hodoscopes for tracking the incident cosmic-ray muons and 760 L of gadolinium-doped liquid scintillator for producing and detecting neutrons. The vertical muon intensity was measured to be $I_{\mu} = (5.7 \pm 0.6) \times 10^{-6}$ cm$^{-2}$s$^{-1}$sr$^{-1}$. The yield of muon-induced neutrons in the liquid scintillator was determined to be $Y_{n} = (1.19 \pm 0.08 (stat) \pm 0.21 (syst)) \times 10^{-4}$ neutrons/($\mu\cdot$g$\cdot$cm$^{-2}$). A fit to the recently measured neutron yields at different depths gave a mean muon energy dependence of $\left\langle E_{\mu} \right\rangle^{0.76 \pm 0.03}$ for liquid-scintillator targets.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures, 3 table

Fluorescence-based chemical tools for monitoring ultrasound-induced hydroxyl radical production in aqueous solution and in cells

We report the synthesis of hydroxyl-radical (˙OH) responsive fluorescent probes that utilise the 3,5-dihydroxybenzyl (DHB) functionality. 4-Methylumbeliferone-DHB (Umb-DHB) and resorufin-DHB (Res-DHB) in the presence of ˙OH radicals resulted in significant increases in their respective fluorescent emission intensities at 460 nm and 585 nm. The incubation of Res-DHB in HeLa cells followed by therapeutic ultrasound (1 MHz) resulted in a significant increase in fluorescence emission intensity thus permitting the ability to monitor ultrasound-induced ˙OH production in live cells

The impact of positron emission tomography on primary tumour delineation and dosimetric outcome in intensity modulated radiotherapy of early T-stage nasopharyngeal carcinoma

Background: In intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), accurate delineation of the gross tumour volume (GTV) is important. Image registration of CT and MRI has been routinely used in treatment planning. With recent development of positron emission tomography (PET), the aims of this study were to evaluate the impact of PET on GTV delineation and dosimetric outcome in IMRT of early stage NPC patients.Methods: Twenty NPC patients with T1 or T2 disease treated by IMRT were recruited. For each patient, 2 sets of NP GTVs were delineated separately, in which one set was performed using CT and MRI registration only (GTVCM), while the other set was carried out using PET, CT and MRI information (GTVCMP). A 9-field IMRT plan was computed based on the target volumes generated from CT and MRI (PTVCM). To assess the geometric difference between the GTVCM and GTVCMP, GTV volumes and DICE similarity coefficient (DSC), which measured the geometrical similarity between the two GTVs, were recorded. To evaluate the dosimetric impact, the Dmax, Dmin, Dmean and D95 of PTVs were obtained from their dose volume histograms generated by the treatment planning system.Results: The overall mean volume of GTVCMP was greater than GTVCM by 4.4 %, in which GTVCMP was slightly greater in the T1 group but lower in the T2 group. The mean DSC of the whole group was 0.79 ± 0.05. Similar mean DSC values were also obtained from the T1 and T2 groups separately. The dosimetric parameters of PTVCM fulfilled the planning requirements. When applying this plan to the PTVCMP, the average Dmin (56.9 Gy) and D95 (68.6 Gy) of PTVCMP failed to meet the dose requirements and demonstrated significant differences from the PTVCM (p = 0.001 and 0.016 respectively), whereas the doses to GTVCMP did not show significant difference with the GTVCM.Conclusion: In IMRT of early stage NPC, PET was an important imaging modality in radiotherapy planning so as to avoid underdosing the PTV, although its effect on GTV delineation was not significant. It was recommended that PET images should be included in the treatment planning of NPC patients.Department of Health Technology and Informatic