Efficacy of amniotic membrane-assisted bleb revision for elevated intraocular pressure after filtering surgery

Yoshiaki Kiuchi1, Masahide Yanagi1, Takao Nakamura21Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, 2Department of Ophthalmology, Otemae Hospital, Osaka, JapanPurpose: To compare the effectiveness of standard revision surgery using mitomycin C (MMC) with revision using amniotic membrane transplantation and MMC for elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) after trabeculectomy.Patients and methods: A retrospective, nonrandomized comparative study of 36 eyes of 36 patients with a failed trabeculectomy. Patients were divided into two groups, ie, a nonamnion-transplanted group and an amnion-transplanted group. The amniotic membrane was placed on the scleral flap under the conjunctiva in the amnion-transplanted group. Both groups recovered filtration of aqueous humor from the surgical site with the adjunctive use of MMC. The changes in IOP and cumulative survival rate were compared for the two groups. Success was defined as a 30% reduction in IOP from the preoperative IOP and maintenance below 21 mmHg with or without the use of antiglaucomatous agents.Results: The mean preoperative IOP was not significantly different in the two groups. The mean postoperative IOP in the nonamnion group, 12.1 ± 5.5 mmHg, was significantly lower than the IOP in the amnion group, 16.0 ± 3.7 mmHg. Survival curves in the two groups did not reach significantly different levels.Conclusions: Conventional surgical bleb revision with MMC can significantly reduce the elevated IOP associated with a failed filtration bleb. The use of an amniotic membrane transplant did not improve the surgical outcome in our cases.Keywords: filtration bleb revision, amniotic membrane, mitomycin C, filtering surger

Relationship between Gender and Code Reading Speed in Software Development

Recently, workforce shortage has become a popular issue in information technology (IT). One solution to increasing the workforce supply is to increase the number of female IT professionals. This is because there is gender imbalance in information technology area. To accomplish this, it is important to suppress the influence of biases, such as the belief that men are more suited for careers in science and technology than women, and to increase the choice of careers available to female professionals. To help suppress the influence of gender bias, we analyzed the relationship between gender and code reading speed in the field of software development. Certain source codes require developers to use substantial memory to properly understand them, such as those with many variables that frequently change values. Several studies have indicated that the performance of memory differs in males and females. To test the veracity of this claim, we analyzed the influence of gender on code-reading speed through an experiment. Pursuant to this, we prepared four programs that required varied amounts of memory to properly understand them. Then, we measured the time required by each of the 17 male and 16 female subjects (33 subjects in total) to comprehend the different programs. The results suggest that there is no explicit difference between male and female subjects in this regard, even in the case of programs that require high memory capacities for proper understanding.Comment: Japanese letter version is available at: https://search.ieice.org/bin/summary.php?id=j104-d_5_521&category=D&year=2021&lang=J&abst

ACUTE HEPATITIS A IN A JAPANESE TRAVELER AFTER OCCURRENCE OF DENGUE FEVER DURING STAY IN INDIA

We report a case of acute hepatitis A that developed following an occurrence of dengue fever during a stay in India. The patient was a 52-year-old Japanese man who visited Delhi, India, from September 29 to October 20, 2010. During that stay, he developed a high fever and rash, with thrombocytopenia and slight liver dysfunction (platelet count 7.0×10＾4/μl, AST 94 IU/ml, ALT 63 IU/ml), then was diagnosed with dengue fever on October 14. Soon after returning to Japan, the patient was well, with anti-HA IgM, hepatitis B surface antigen, and anti-hepatitis C all negative, though liver dysfunction transiently worsened. The DENV genome-sequence was not amplified, while IgM and IgG antibodies were detected. In mid-December 2010, one month after returning from India, he noted fatigue and appetite loss. When the patient came to us on January 12, 2011, jaundice was apparent. A laboratory examination revealed highly elevated aminotransferase levels (AST 4002 IU/ml ALT 4715 IU/ml) and positivity for anti-HA IgM, and we made a diagnosis of acute hepatitis A. The clinical course of acute hepatitis A showed smooth improvement without adverse symptoms. By the end of March 2012, the total bilirubin and aminotrasferase levels were completely normalized. We recommend that non-immune individuals be pre-immunized with HA-vaccine and be fully aware of potential health risks at their intended destinations before traveling to endemic countries

Confocal microphotoluminescence of InGaN-based light-emitting diodes

Spatially resolved photoluminescence (PL) of InGaN/GaN/AlGaN-based quantum-well-structured light-emitting diodes (LEDs) with a yellow-green light (530 nm) and an amber light (600 nm) was measured by using confocal microscopy. Submicron-scale spatial inhomogeneities of both PL intensities and spectra were found in confocal micro-PL images. We also found clear correlations between PL intensities and peak wavelength for both LEDs. Such correlations for yellow-green and amber LEDs were different from the reported correlations for blue or green LEDs. This discrepancy should be due to different diffusion, localization, and recombination dynamics of electron-hole pairs generated in InGaN active layers, and should be a very important property for influencing the optical properties of LEDs. In order to explain the results, we proposed a possible carrier dynamics model based on the carrier localization and partial reduction of the quantum confinement Stark effect depending on an indium composition in InGaN active layers. By using this model, we also considered the origin of the reduction of the emission efficiencies with a longer emission wavelength of InGaN LEDs with high indium composition

Up-Regulation of the Brain and Purkinje-Cell Forms of Dystrophin Transcripts, in Becker Muscular Dystrophy

Farrando Sicilia, Jordi; Llauradó Grau, Josep M. ; Fuente Fuente, Carlos; Montes, Antoni

Java Birthmarks--Detecting the Software Theft--

To detect the theft of Java class files efficiently, we propose a concept of Java birthmarks, which are unique and native characteristics of every class file. For a pair of class files p and q, if q has the same birthmark as p's, q is suspected as a copy of p. Ideally, the birthmarks should satisfy the following properties: (a) preservation - the birthmarks should be preserved even if the original class file is tampered with, and (b) distinction - independent class files must be distinguished by completely different birthmarks. Taking (a) and (b) into account, we propose four types of birthmarks for Java class files. To show the effectiveness of the proposed birthmarks, we conduct three experiments. In the first experiment, we demonstrate that the proposed birthmarks are sufficiently robust against automatic program transformation (93.3876% of the birthmarks were preserved). The second experiment shows that the proposed birthmarks successfully distinguish non-copied files in a practical Java application (97.8005% of given class files were distinguished). In the third experiment, we exploit different Java compilers to confirm that the proposed Java birthmarks are core characteristics independent of compiler-specific issues

Self-Assembly of Two-Dimensional Patchy Colloidal Dumbbells

金沢大学総合メディア基盤センターWe study the self-assembly of two-dimensional patchy colloidal dumbbells, which are composed of attractive and repulsive circles. The shape of a colloidal dumbbell is characterized by the ratio of the diameters of the two circles forming it, q, and the dimensionless distance between the centers of mass of the two circles, l. We carry out Monte Carlo simulations and show that various self-assembled structures, micelles, elongated micelles, straight string, a meshlike structure, and large clusters with voids, are formed by changing the combination of q and l. q represents the steric effect of the repulsive part of colloidal dumbbells. l represents the anisotropy of the particle shape and increasing the periphery of attractive part. From our simulations, we find that the shapes of self-assembled structures are more sensitive to q than to l