Efficacy and tolerability of a large scale change in regimen from latanoprost to travoprost in glaucoma patients at the Manhattan Veterans Administration Hospital

Edmund P FarrisNew York University, New York, NY; Manhattan Veterans Administration Hospital, New York, NY; New York Medical College, Valhalla, NY, USAObjective: This retrospective study was designed to investigate the efficacy and tolerability of travoprost 0.004% substituted for latanoprost 0.005% in glaucoma patients at the Manhattan Veterans Administration Hospital.Research design and methods: We conducted a chart review of patients with stable intraocular pressure (IOP) undergoing a formulary change in regimen from latanoprost 0.005% to travoprost 0.004%. Diagnoses included primary open angle glaucoma, ocular hypertension, pigment dispersion glaucoma, and pseudoexfoliation glaucoma. Main outcome measures: The primary outcome measures were IOP change between baseline and 6 months and patient-reported adverse events throughout the study.Results: In the single therapy group (N = 60 eyes), the mean baseline IOP on latanoprost was 15.8 mmHg; after 6 months on travoprost, it was 14.9 mmHg (p < 0.1). In the concomitant therapy group (N = 126 eyes), the mean baseline IOP was 16.7 mmHg; after 6 months on travoprost, it was 15.9 mmHg (p < 0.01). A reduction of IOP ≥ 3 mmHg occurred in 28 eyes of 21 patients at 6 months. An increase of IOP ≥ 3 mmHg occurred in 5 eyes of 4 patients at 6 months. One patient was switched back to latanoprost due to irritation at 3 months. No other patient-reported adverse events, including increased hyperemia, were observed throughout the follow-up period.Conclusions: A change in therapeutic regimen from latanoprost 0.005% to travoprost 0.004% maintained IOP control in stable patients, and in some produced a further reduction in IOP. A change in therapy from latanoprost to travoprost was effective and well-tolerated for the glaucoma patients in this study.Keywords: glaucoma, intraocular pressure, prostaglandin analogue, retrospective studies, travoprost, latanopros

Public Schools\u27 Pyrrhic Victories Over Parental Rights

This article explores the historical roots of parental rights in education, and then demonstrates that Professors Uerling and Strope are quite correct when they declare parental rights in public education to be almost extinct. Next, it examines the stark contrasts between the rights of public school parents and those of parents who choose private and home schooling. Finally, this article suggests that since the constitutionality of educational choice, including choices involving religious schools, has been established beyond any legitimate question, public school advocates and courts should rethink their position concerning parental rights within public education lest they contribute to the demise of the very system which they seek to save from the subversive influence of those committed parents who give both students and tax dollars to the schools

Uneconomical Diagnosis of Cladograms: Comments on Wheeler and Nixon's Method for Sankoff Optimization

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/74972/1/j.1096-0031.1997.tb00249.x.pd

The evolution of gregariousness in parasitoid wasps

Data are assembled on the clutch-size strategies adopted by extant species of parasitoid wasp. These data are used to reconstruct the history of clutch-size evolution in the group using a series of plausible evolutionary assumptions. Extant families are either entirely solitary, both solitary and gregarious, or else clutch size is unknown. Parsimony analysis suggests that the ancestors of most families were solitary, a result which is robust to different phylogenetic relationships and likely data inadequacies. This implies that solitariness was ubiquitous throughout the initial radiation of the group, and that transitions to gregariousness have subsequently occurred a minimum of 43 times in several, but not all lineages. Current data suggest that species-rich and small-bodied lineages are more likely to have evolved gregariousness, and contain more species with small gregarious brood sizes. I discuss the implications of these data for clutch-size theory

Advertising, product quality, and complex evolving marketing systems

The paper analyses the advertising as power vs. advertising as information controversy as well as its recent empirical testing. It is stressed that this distinction focuses too much on the interaction between consumer and manufacturer while ignoring the retailer as an important stake-holder. To compensate for this lack, a complex marketing system perspective is introduced in which consumer, retailer, and manufacturer interact. However, these complex marketing systems might drift towards market equilibria which are against the consumer interests: that is, firmsmight lock out brands from the market by means of trade and sales promotions and then use advertising to protect their position. Consequently brands of better quality and/or innovative brands are barred from trade shelves

The variable relationship between sarcomere number and fascicle length when measured in vivo in human lower limb muscle

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this recor