Dexamethasone Implant (Ozurdex) in a Case with Unilateral Simultaneous Central Retinal Vein and Branch Retinal Artery Occlusion

Simultaneous branch retinal artery and vein occlusion is a rare condition that may cause severe visual loss, and its treatment is often unrewarding. Herein, we report a case with simultaneous central retinal vein and branch retinal artery occlusion; it was successfully treated with a single dexamethasone intravitreal implant. The affected eye attained a visual acuity level of 20/25 from the visual acuity of hand motions at presentation with a residual, but relatively diminished, altitudinal scotoma during a follow-up period of 6 months

Effect of macular hole volume on postoperative central macular thickness

ABSTRACT Purpose: To evaluate the association between macular hole volume (MHV) and postoperative central macular thickness (CMT) using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Methods: Thirty-three eyes of 30 patients with a large full-thickness idiopathic macular hole with or without vitreomacular traction who underwent surgical intervention were included in this cross-sectional study. Complete ophthalmological examination, including SD-OCT, was performed for all participants during the pre- and postoperative visits. MHV was preoperatively measured using SD-OCT, which captured the widest cross-sectional image of the hole. For normal distribution analysis of the data, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was performed, and for statistical analyses, chi-square, Student's t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Pearson's correlation coefficient test were performed. Results: Mean preoperative best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and MHV were found to be 0.99 ± 0.36 (range, 0.3-2.0) logMAR and 0.139 ± 0.076 (range, 0.004-0.318) mm3, respectively. Mean follow-up was 16.3 ± 14.3 (range, 3-50) months. No statistical correlations were found between MHV and postoperative BCVA (p=0.588) and between MHV and disease recurrence (p=0.544). A weak negative correlation existed between MHV and final CMT scores (p=0.04, r=-0.383). Conclusions: Greater MHV was found to be weakly associated with lower postoperative CMT scores

Suprachoroidal drainage of aqueous humour with a novel implant: Suprajet

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of a new implant, Suprajet(VSY Biotechnology, Istanbul, Turkey), which is developed for supraciliary and suprachoroidal drainage of aqueous humour.METHODS: Five rabbits were included in the study. One Suprajet shunt was implanted in one eye of each rabbit. Implantation was performed by a superior clear corneal incision through the anterior chamber into the suprachoroidal space. Proximal end of the implant was placed in the iris root resting against the scleral spur, distal end was placed in the suprachoroidal space. Rabbits were followed for 4wk. Preoperative and postoperative intraocular pressure(IOP)levels were measured with Tonopen AVIA. At last follow-up visit animals were sacrificed and eyes were enucleated. Macroscopic and histopathologic evaluation of the eyes were made. RESULTS: Mean preoperative IOP was 18.6±6.1 mmHg. Mean postoperative IOP was 8.4±1.1 mmHg, at one week. At the 2nd week of the follow-up period one rabbit died. Thereafter, only 4 rabbits were followed. Mean postoperative IOP was 11.0±2.8 mmHg at the 2nd week, 9.50±3.1 mmHg at the 3rd week and 11.3 ±3.3 mmHg at 4th week after the operation. When mean preoperative IOP was compared with the postoperative IOP values, only the IOP at the first week was found as significantly lower(P=0.042). There was no statistically significant difference between mean preoperative IOP level and mean IOP level at 2, 3 and 4wk postoperatively(P=0.66, P=0.66 and P=0.102, respectively). As an intraoperative complication, minimal hyphema was noted in three eyes during the surgery. However, the next day hyphema cleared completely. Macroscopic evaluation of the enucleated material showed that in one eye the distal end of the implant was in the vitreous instead of suprachoroidal space, in the other 3 eyes the distal end of the implant was noted in the suprachoroidal space. In all eyes, proximal end of the implant was localized in the anterior chamber angle. Histopathologic evaluation of the enucleated eyes showed deposition of irregular collagen bundles and fibroplasia including numerous fibroblastic and histiocytic cells around the implant.CONCLUSION: This preliminary animal study showed that implantation of Suprajet in glaucoma is a promising procedure. Further studies are needed to evaluate its efficacy and safety profile

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Search for stop and higgsino production using diphoton Higgs boson decays

Results are presented of a search for a "natural" supersymmetry scenario with gauge mediated symmetry breaking. It is assumed that only the supersymmetric partners of the top-quark (stop) and the Higgs boson (higgsino) are accessible. Events are examined in which there are two photons forming a Higgs boson candidate, and at least two b-quark jets. In 19.7 inverse femtobarns of proton-proton collision data at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV, recorded in the CMS experiment, no evidence of a signal is found and lower limits at the 95% confidence level are set, excluding the stop mass below 360 to 410 GeV, depending on the higgsino mass

Impacts of the Tropical Pacific/Indian Oceans on the Seasonal Cycle of the West African Monsoon

The current consensus is that drought has developed in the Sahel during the second half of the twentieth century as a result of remote effects of oceanic anomalies amplified by local land–atmosphere interactions. This paper focuses on the impacts of oceanic anomalies upon West African climate and specifically aims to identify those from SST anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Oceans during spring and summer seasons, when they were significant. Idealized sensitivity experiments are performed with four atmospheric general circulation models (AGCMs). The prescribed SST patterns used in the AGCMs are based on the leading mode of covariability between SST anomalies over the Pacific/Indian Oceans and summer rainfall over West Africa. The results show that such oceanic anomalies in the Pacific/Indian Ocean lead to a northward shift of an anomalous dry belt from the Gulf of Guinea to the Sahel as the season advances. In the Sahel, the magnitude of rainfall anomalies is comparable to that obtained by other authors using SST anomalies confined to the proximity of the Atlantic Ocean. The mechanism connecting the Pacific/Indian SST anomalies with West African rainfall has a strong seasonal cycle. In spring (May and June), anomalous subsidence develops over both the Maritime Continent and the equatorial Atlantic in response to the enhanced equatorial heating. Precipitation increases over continental West Africa in association with stronger zonal convergence of moisture. In addition, precipitation decreases over the Gulf of Guinea. During the monsoon peak (July and August), the SST anomalies move westward over the equatorial Pacific and the two regions where subsidence occurred earlier in the seasons merge over West Africa. The monsoon weakens and rainfall decreases over the Sahel, especially in August.Peer reviewe