Intravitreal ranibizumab for myopic choroidal neovascularization: 12-month results

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab after 12 months in the treatment of choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathologic myopia. METHODS: This was a prospective, multicenter, consecutive, nonrandomized, interventional case series. The study included 34 eyes of 32 patients with choroidal neovascularization secondary to pathologic myopia; 13 eyes had previous photodynamic therapy, and 21 eyes had no previous treatment. The patients were followed for > or = 12 months. Best-corrected visual acuity, optical coherence tomography, and the presence of metamorphopsia were assessed monthly. RESULTS: Mean visual acuity improved 8 letters from baseline to 12-month follow-up, and the difference was statistically significant (P or = 3 lines, 44% improved > or = 2 lines, 65% improved > or = 1 line, and 79% improved > or = 0 lines. Central retinal thickness decreased significantly from baseline to the 12-month follow-up (P < 0.01). A mean of 3.6 treatments were performed during the 12-month follow-up, and no systemic or ocular side effects were registered during that time. CONCLUSION: One-year results of intravitreal ranibizumab for myopic choroidal neovascularization are very promising. Additional prospective studies are necessary to better determine long-term efficacy and safety

DIAGNÓSTICO E MAPEAMENTO DE FÍSTULA – RELATO DE CASO CLÍNICO

Introdução: O abscesso dentoalveolar é uma coleção purulenta de uma infecção da polpa que se propaga até o ligamento periodontal podendo ser agudo ou crônico. À medida que evolui espontaneamente, a sintomatologia aumenta apresentando tumefação e rubor localizados na gengiva e pele, enquanto o pus procura os pontos mais fáceis para a propagação, induzindo a formação de uma fistula para drenar as secreções da necrose pulpar

Social representations of HIV/AIDS in five Central European and Eastern European countries: A multidimensional analysis

Cognitive processing models of risky sexual behaviour have proliferated in the two decades since the first reporting of HIV/AIDS, but far less attention has been paid to individual and group representations of the epidemic and the relationship between these representations and reported sexual behaviours. In this study, 494 business people and medics from Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Poland and Russia sorted free associations around HIV/AIDS in a matrix completion task. Exploratory factor and multidimensional scaling analyses revealed two main dimensions (labelled ‘Sex’ and ‘Deadly disease’), with significant cultural and gender variations along both dimension scores. Possible explanations for these results are discussed in the light of growing concerns over the spread of the epidemic in this region

Speed Partitioning for Indexing Moving Objects

Indexing moving objects has been extensively studied in the past decades. Moving objects, such as vehicles and mobile device users, usually exhibit some patterns on their velocities, which can be utilized for velocity-based partitioning to improve performance of the indexes. Existing velocity-based partitioning techniques rely on some kinds of heuristics rather than analytically calculate the optimal solution. In this paper, we propose a novel speed partitioning technique based on a formal analysis over speed values of the moving objects. We first show that speed partitioning will significantly reduce the search space expansion which has direct impacts on query performance of the indexes. Next we formulate the optimal speed partitioning problem based on search space expansion analysis and then compute the optimal solution using dynamic programming. We then build the partitioned indexing system where queries are duplicated and processed in each index partition. Extensive experiments demonstrate that our method dramatically improves the performance of indexes for moving objects and outperforms other state-of-the-art velocity-based partitioning approaches

Levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) among children with steady-state sickle cell disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The search for sickle cell disease (SCD) prognosis biomarkers is a challenge. These markers identification can help to establish further therapy, later severe clinical complications and with patients follow-up. We attempted to study a possible involvement of levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) in steady-state children with SCD, once that this lipid marker has been correlated with anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, anti-aggregation, anti-coagulant and pro-fibrinolytic activities, important aspects to be considered in sickle cell disease pathogenesis.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We prospectively analyzed biochemical, inflammatory and hematological biomarkers of 152 steady-state infants with SCD and 132 healthy subjects using immunochemistry, immunoassay and electronic cell counter respectively. Clinical data were collected from patient medical records.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 152 infants investigated had a significant positive association of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol with hemoglobin (P < 0.001), hematocrit (P < 0.001) and total cholesterol (P < 0.001) and a negative significant association with reticulocytes (P = 0.046), leukocytes (P = 0.015), monocytes (P = 0.004) and platelets (P = 0.005), bilirubins [total bilirubin (P < 0.001), direct bilirubin (P < 0.001) and indirect bilirubin (P < 0.001], iron (P < 0.001), aminotransferases [aspartate aminotransferase (P = 0.004), alanine aminotransferase (P = 0.035)], lactate dehydrogenase (P < 0.001), urea (P = 0.030), alpha 1-antitrypsin (P < 0.001), very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (P = 0.003), triglycerides (P = 0.005) and hemoglobin S (P = 0.002). Low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol concentration was associated with the history of cardiac abnormalities (P = 0.025), pneumonia (P = 0.033) and blood transfusion use (P = 0.025). Lipids and inflammatory markers were associated with the presence of cholelithiasis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We hypothesize that some SCD patients can have a specific dyslipidemic subphenotype characterized by low HDL-C with hypertriglyceridemia and high VLDL-C in association with other biomarkers, including those related to inflammation. This represents an important step toward a more reliable clinical prognosis. Additional studies are warranted to test this hypothesis and the probably mechanisms involved in this complex network of markers and their role in SCD pathogenesis.</p

Topology by Design in Magnetic nano-Materials: Artificial Spin Ice

Artificial Spin Ices are two dimensional arrays of magnetic, interacting nano-structures whose geometry can be chosen at will, and whose elementary degrees of freedom can be characterized directly. They were introduced at first to study frustration in a controllable setting, to mimic the behavior of spin ice rare earth pyrochlores, but at more useful temperature and field ranges and with direct characterization, and to provide practical implementation to celebrated, exactly solvable models of statistical mechanics previously devised to gain an understanding of degenerate ensembles with residual entropy. With the evolution of nano--fabrication and of experimental protocols it is now possible to characterize the material in real-time, real-space, and to realize virtually any geometry, for direct control over the collective dynamics. This has recently opened a path toward the deliberate design of novel, exotic states, not found in natural materials, and often characterized by topological properties. Without any pretense of exhaustiveness, we will provide an introduction to the material, the early works, and then, by reporting on more recent results, we will proceed to describe the new direction, which includes the design of desired topological states and their implications to kinetics.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures, 116 references, Book Chapte