Combined photodynamic therapy and intravitreal bevacizumab for idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy: one-year follow-up

Abstract OBJECTIVE: To report the efficacy and safety of combined photodynamic therapy (PDT) and intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection in the treatment of idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (IPCV). MATERIAL AND METHODS: A prospective case series of 10 eyes of 10 consecutive patients affected by IPCV with subfoveal involvement. PDT plus IVB (1.25 mg/0.05 mL) injection two weeks later was performed in all patients. Two adjunctive injections of bevacizumab were scheduled at four and eight weeks after the initial treatment. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fluorescein and indocyanine green angiographies, and optical coherence tomography were obtained at baseline, and at one, three, six, nine, and 12 months. RESULTS: The combined treatment led to an improvement of both neurosensory detachment and pigmented epithelial detachment in all eyes, with a decrease of exudation and regression of macular thickness, which remained stable to the end of follow-up. However, BCVA remained stable over the 12 months of follow-up. CONCLUSION: These findings demonstrate that PDT/IVB combined therapy is able to achieve morphologic stabilization of the IPCV lesion, through a rapid decrease of macular thickness and regression of the size of polypoidal vascular lesion

Gamma-Ray Burst observations by the high-energy charged particle detector on board the CSES-01 satellite between 2019 and 2021

In this paper we report the detection of five strong Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) by the High-Energy Particle Detector (HEPD-01) mounted on board the China Seismo-Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES-01), operational since 2018 on a Sun-synchronous polar orbit at a $\sim$ 507 km altitude and 97$^\circ$ inclination. HEPD-01 was designed to detect high-energy electrons in the energy range 3 - 100 MeV, protons in the range 30 - 300 MeV, and light nuclei in the range 30 - 300 MeV/n. Nonetheless, Monte Carlo simulations have shown HEPD-01 is sensitive to gamma-ray photons in the energy range 300 keV - 50 MeV, even if with a moderate effective area above $\sim$ 5 MeV. A dedicated time correlation analysis between GRBs reported in literature and signals from a set of HEPD-01 trigger configuration masks has confirmed the anticipated detector sensitivity to high-energy photons. A comparison between the simultaneous time profiles of HEPD-01 electron fluxes and photons from GRB190114C, GRB190305A, GRB190928A, GRB200826B and GRB211211A has shown a remarkable similarity, in spite of the different energy ranges. The high-energy response, with peak sensitivity at about 2 MeV, and moderate effective area of the detector in the actual flight configuration explain why these five GRBs, characterised by a fluence above $\sim$ 3 $\times$ 10$^{-5}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ in the energy interval 300 keV - 50 MeV, have been detected.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal (ApJ

Combined photodynamic therapy and intravitreal bevacizumab for idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy: one-year follow-up

Mario R Romano1, Ugo Cipollone2, Francesco Semeraro3, Michele Rinaldi4, Ciro Costagliola11Dipartimento di Scienze per la Salute, Università degli Studi del Molise, Campobasso; 2Dipartimento di Oftalmologia, Ospedale G Vietri, Larino, Campobasso; 3Clinica Oculistica, Università degli Studi di Brescia, Brescia; 4Clinica Oculistica, II Università degli Studi di Napoli, Napoli, ItalyObjective: To report the efficacy and safety of combined photodynamic therapy (PDT) and intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection in the treatment of idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (IPCV).Material and methods: A prospective case series of 10 eyes of 10 consecutive patients affected by IPCV with subfoveal involvement. PDT plus IVB (1.25 mg/0.05 mL) injection two weeks later was performed in all patients. Two adjunctive injections of bevacizumab were scheduled at four and eight weeks after the initial treatment. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fluorescein and indocyanine green angiographies, and optical coherence tomography were obtained at baseline, and at one, three, six, nine, and 12 months.Results: The combined treatment led to an improvement of both neurosensory detachment and pigmented epithelial detachment in all eyes, with a decrease of exudation and regression of macular thickness, which remained stable to the end of follow-up. However, BCVA remained stable over the 12 months of follow-up.Conclusion: These findings demonstrate that PDT/IVB combined therapy is able to achieve morphologic stabilization of the IPCV lesion, through a rapid decrease of macular thickness and regression of the size of polypoidal vascular lesion.Keywords: combined treatment, idiopathic polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, age-related macular degeneration, intravitreal bevacizumab, photodynamic therap

Intravitreal bevacizumab for the treatment of retinal angiomatous proliferation

PURPOSE: To verify the potential efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injections for the treatment of retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP). DESIGN: Retrospective interventional case series. METHODS: Four consecutive patients affected by RAP at different stages and refractory to photodynamic therapy (PDT). All patients underwent a complete ophthalmic examination including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), fluorescein and indocyanine green angiographies, and optical coherence tomography(OCT) at baseline, and after one, three, six, nine, and 12 months. All patients received IVB injections (1.25 mg/0.05 ml). RESULTS: The best functional response has been achieved in patients with RAP at stages I and 2; whereas in stage 3, a detectable recovery of visual acuity was not observed. This improvement was stable over the follow,up period with a concomitant reduction of macular thickness. CONCLUSIONS: The use of IVB in patients affected by RAP seems to exert morphologic benefits at all RAP stages that does not always correspond a functional improvement

Intravitreal bevacizumab for choroidal neovascularization secondary to angioid streaks

Purpose: To report the short-term safety and efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab in patients with choroidal neovascularization secondary to angioid streaks.Methods: Five patients with CNV received IVB injection. A complete ophthalmic evaluations were performed. Results: Reduction of the CNV leakage in all patients. OCT:slight CRT diminution. BCVA improvement. Conclusion: IVB seems to be effective in reducing fluorescein leakage,diminishing CRT and improving BCVA in these patients

Intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin®) injection for neovascular glaucoma: a survey on 23 cases throughout 12-month follow-up

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECTNeovascular glaucoma (NVG) is a form of secondary glaucoma in which fibrovascular tissue grows, leading to progressive angle closure with elevation of intraocular pressure.NVG is poorly responsive to the conventional treatment and has a poor visual prognosis

Tracking data highlight the importance of human-induced mortality for large migratory birds at a flyway scale

Human-induced direct mortality affects huge numbers of birds each year, threatening hundreds of species worldwide. Tracking technologies can be an important tool to investigate temporal and spatial patterns of bird mortality as well as their drivers. We compiled 1704 mortality records from tracking studies across the African-Eurasian flyway for 45 species, including raptors, storks, and cranes, covering the period from 2003 to 2021. Our results show a higher frequency of human-induced causes of mortality than natural causes across taxonomic groups, geographical areas, and age classes. Moreover, we found that the frequency of human-induced mortality remained stable over the study period. From the human-induced mortality events with a known cause (n = 637), three main causes were identified: electrocution (40.5 %), illegal killing (21.7 %), and poisoning (16.3 %). Additionally, combined energy infrastructure-related mortality (i.e., electrocution, power line collision, and wind-farm collision) represented 49 % of all human-induced mortality events. Using a random forest model, the main predictors of human-induced mortality were found to be taxonomic group, geographic location (latitude and longitude), and human footprint index value at the location of mortality. Despite conservation efforts, human drivers of bird mortality in the African-Eurasian flyway do not appear to have declined over the last 15 years for the studied group of species. Results suggest that stronger conservation actions to address these threats across the flyway can reduce their impacts on species. In particular, projected future development of energy infrastructure is a representative example where application of planning, operation, and mitigation measures can enhance bird conservation.publishedVersio