473 research outputs found
Long-Term Follow-Up of Intravitreal Ranibizumab for the Treatment of Choroidal Neovascularization due to Choroidal Osteoma
Choroidal osteoma is an uncommon benign osseous intraocular tumor that typically affects young adult women. Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) is one of the complications that can develop in eyes with choroidal osteoma. We present a case of CNV secondary to choroidal osteoma treated with intravitreal ranibizumab. A 57-year-old lady presented with painless loss of vision with a right-eye visual acuity of 20/800. Fundus examination showed a well-demarcated yellowish peripapillary choroidal osteoma with associated retinal and subretinal hemorrhage due to CNV. Three intravitreal ranibizumab injections at monthly intervals were given and her visual acuity improved to 20/30 following treatment. After 1.2 years of follow-up, the right eye visual acuity was maintained at 20/30 with no evidence of CNV recurrence. Our findings suggest that intravitreal ranibizumab may be an effective therapeutic option for treating CNV secondary to choroidal osteoma
Cyclophosphamide induces NR2B phosphorylation-dependent facilitation on spinal reflex potentiation
Chang CH, Peng HY, Wu HC, Lai CY, Hsieh MC, Lin TB. Cyclophosphamide induces NR2B phosphorylation-dependent facilitation on spinal reflex potentiation. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 300: F692-F699, 2011. First published November 24, 2010; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00531.2010.-It is well-established that cyclophosphamide (CYP) can sensitize the pelvic afferent nerve arising from the urinary bladder and therefore induce suprapubic pain. To test the possibility that CYP might mediate the development of visceral hypereflexia/hyperalgesia by facilitating spinal activity-dependent neural plasticity, we compared the pelvic-urethra reflex activity and spinal N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor NR2B subunit (NR2B) phosphorylation in rats treated with vehicle solution and CYP. Compared with vehicle solution, when accompanied by upregulation of phosphorylated NR2B expression in the lumbosacral (L6-S2) dorsal horn, CYP increased the evoked spikes in spinal reflex potentiation induced by repetitive stimulation (1 stimulation/1 s). Moreover, intraperitoneal pretreatments with N(G)-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester and roscovitine, nitric oxide synthase and cyclin-dependent protein kinase 5 (Cdk5) antagonists, respectively, overwrote CYP-enhanced reflex potentiation and NR2B phosphorylation. When compared with the untreated group, the treatment with small-interfering RNA of NR2B, which decreased the expression of NR2B expression, abolished CYP-dependent reflex facilitation and spinal NR2B phosphorylation. These results suggested that CYP might facilitate spinal reflex potentiation mediated by N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors and participate in the development of visceral hypereflexia/hyperalgesia through nitric oxide-and Cdk5-dependent NR2B phosphorylation at the lumbosacral dorsal horn
Measurement of the Intrinsic Radiopurity of Cs-137/U-235/U-238/Th-232 in CsI(Tl) Crystal Scintillators
The inorganic crystal scintillator CsI(Tl) has been used for low energy
neutrino and Dark Matter experiments, where the intrinsic radiopurity is an
issue of major importance. Low-background data were taken with a CsI(Tl)
crystal array at the Kuo-Sheng Reactor Neutrino Laboratory. The pulse shape
discrimination capabilities of the crystal, as well as the temporal and spatial
correlations of the events, provide powerful means of measuring the intrinsic
radiopurity of Cs-137 as well as the U-235, U-238 and Th-232 series. The event
selection algorithms are described, with which the decay half-lives of Po-218,
Po-214, Rn-220, Po-216 and Po-212 were derived. The measurements of the
contamination levels, their concentration gradients with the crystal growth
axis, and the uniformity among different crystal samples, are reported. The
radiopurity in the U-238 and Th-232 series are comparable to those of the best
reported in other crystal scintillators. Significant improvements in
measurement sensitivities were achieved, similar to those from dedicated
massive liquid scintillator detector. This analysis also provides in situ
measurements of the detector performance parameters, such as spatial
resolution, quenching factors, and data acquisition dead time.Comment: 28 pages, 12 figure
CKM Favored Semileptonic Decays of Heavy Hadrons at Zero Recoil
We study the properties of Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa (CKM) favored
semileptonic decays of mesons and baryons containing a heavy quark at the point
of no recoil. We first use a diagrammatic analysis to rederive the result
observed by earlier authors that at this kinematic point the meson decays
via transitions can only produce a or meson. The result is
generalized to include photon emissions which violate heavy quark flavor
symmetry. We show that photons emitted by the heavy quarks and the charged
lepton are the only light particles that can decorate the decays at zero recoil, and the similar processes of heavy baryons.
Implications for the determinations of the CKM parameter are
discussed. Also studied in this paper is the connection between our
diagrammatic analysis of suppression of particle emission and the formal
observation based on weak currents at zero recoil being generators of heavy
quark symmetry. We show that the two approaches can be unified by considering
the Isgur-Wise function in the presence of an external source.Comment: 27 pages, including 11 figures using macros FEYNMAN.te
Immune-modulation by polyclonal IgM treatment reduces atherosclerosis in hypercholesterolemic apoE−/− mice
AbstractObjectiveGamma-globulin treatment reduces experimental atherosclerosis by modulating immune function; however the effect of IgM on atherosclerosis is not known. We investigated the effect of serum-derived, non-immune polyclonal IgM (Poly-IgM) on atherosclerosis in mice with advanced disease and also assessed its immune-modulatory effects.Methods and resultsAortic atherosclerosis was assessed in apoE−/− mice fed atherogenic diet starting at 6 weeks of age. In addition, mice were also subjected to perivascular cuff injury to the carotid artery at 25 weeks of age to induce accelerated atherosclerosis. At the time of injury, the mice were treated weekly with a commercially available Poly-IgM (0.4mg/mouse) or PBS for 4 weeks and euthanized at 29 weeks of age. Poly-IgM reduced aortic atherosclerosis, and reduced lesion size in the aortic sinus and injured carotid artery, without significant changes in serum cholesterol levels. Poly-IgM treatment was associated with increased anti-oxLDL IgG titers and a reduction in the % splenic CD4+ T cells compared to controls. The splenic CD4+ T cell cultured from the Poly-IgM treated mice had reduced proliferation in vitro compared with controls.ConclusionPoly-IgM treatment reduced aortic and accelerated carotid atherosclerosis in apoE−/− mice in association with increased anti-oxLDL IgG titers, and reduced number and proliferative function of splenic CD4+ T cells. Our study identifies a novel athero-protective and immunomodulatory role for non-immune polyclonal IgM
School Closure and Mitigation of Pandemic (H1N1) 2009, Hong Kong
In Hong Kong, kindergartens and primary schools were closed when local transmission of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 was identified. Secondary schools closed for summer vacation shortly afterwards. By fitting a model of reporting and transmission to case data, we estimated that transmission was reduced ≈25% when secondary schools closed
The Proton Spin and Flavor Structure in the Chiral Quark Model
After a pedagogical review of the simple constituent quark model and deep
inelastic sum rules, we describe how a quark sea as produced by the emission of
internal Goldstone bosons by the valence quarks can account for the observed
features of proton spin and flavor structures. Some issues concerning the
strange quark content of the nucleon are also discussed.Comment: 59 pages with table of contents, Lecture delivered at the Schladming
Winter School (March 1997), to be published by Springer-Verlag under the
title "Computing Particle Properties" (eds. C. B. Lang and H. Gausterer
Frequency Stability of Isolated Hydropower Plant with Surge Tank Under Different Turbine Control Modes
A CsI(Tl) Scintillating Crystal Detector for the Studies of Low Energy Neutrino Interactions
Scintillating crystal detector may offer some potential advantages in the
low-energy, low-background experiments. A 500 kg CsI(Tl) detector to be placed
near the core of Nuclear Power Station II in Taiwan is being constructed for
the studies of electron-neutrino scatterings and other keV-MeV range neutrino
interactions. The motivations of this detector approach, the physics to be
addressed, the basic experimental design, and the characteristic performance of
prototype modules are described. The expected background channels and their
experimental handles are discussed.Comment: 34 pages, 11 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instrum. Method
Direct Measurements of the Branching Fractions for and and Determinations of the Form Factors and
The absolute branching fractions for the decays and
are determined using singly
tagged sample from the data collected around 3.773 GeV with the
BES-II detector at the BEPC. In the system recoiling against the singly tagged
meson, events for and events for decays are observed. Those yield
the absolute branching fractions to be and . The
vector form factors are determined to be
and . The ratio of the two form
factors is measured to be .Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
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