Results of 110 Vitrectomies with a Portable Vitrectomy System

We retrospectively evaluated the VITAC (vitreous-tissue aspiration cutter), a portable vitrectomy system with an end-cutting vitrectomy probe with a self-sharpening oscillating blade and a monoblock design, in 110 vitrectomy procedures, 34 performed at the University of California Davis Medical Center and 76 performed at the Eye and ENT Hospital in Shanghai, China. The indications for vitrectomy included penetrating injuries (22 eyes), intraocular foreign bodies (28 eyes), vitreous hemorrhages (18 eyes), cataracts (17 eyes), endophthalmitis (seven eyes), pupillary-block glaucoma (five eyes), bullous keratopathy (five eyes), aphakic penetrating keratoplasty (three eyes), pupillary membranes (two eyes), massive preretinal proliferation (one eye), and cystoid macular edema (one eye). Vitrectomy resulted in visual improvement in 19 of 34 eyes in the California series (56%) and in 60 of the 76 eyes in the Shanghai series (79%). This difference was attributable to the higher percentages of cases involving the posterior segment and vitreous hemorrhage in the California series. When results from both institutions were combined, surgery with the VITAC produced visual improvement in 79 of 110 cases (72%), comparable to the results obtained with other vitrectomy systems

CanSat UCI: Winter Design Review 2019

The CanSat Competition is an international design/build/fly engineering competition held yearly in Stephenville, Texas and provides students with an opportunity to design an aerospace system. It is designed to reflect a small-scale aerospace program and includes the project design life cycle from preliminary design review to post mission review. Teams of up to 10 undergraduate students build CanSats, which must complete a mission that changes every year. In this year’s mission, the CanSat will be launched to 700 meters using a high-powered model rocket, and must perform a controlled descent while transmitting data from its onboard sensors to a ground station computer. The CanSat consists of a container that must protect the science payload from damage during the launch and deployment. Initially, both descend under a parachute. At 400 meters, the payload is released and continues its descent using an autogyro propeller. The CanSat must be equipped with sensors for environmental conditions (temperature, pressure, GPS position, altitude) and system performance (orientation, battery voltage, auto-gyro spin rate). It must be capable of transmitting this data in real-time to a ground station computer. The scope of our project is designing and building the CanSat and ground station. The launch system (a high-power model rocket) is provided by the competition organizers to standardize launches. Our team represents UC Irvine in this international competition. Members of CanSat UCI will follow the engineering design process from concept generation through integration and test, actual operation of the system, and the concluding post-mission summary and debrief. This year’s objective is to build a probe (the CanSat) that transmits environmental data to a ground station and performs a controlled descent using a parachute and auto-gyro propeller. The mission and its requirements reflect aspects of real world missions, including telemetry requirements, communications, and autonomous operations. Our project deliverables are the Preliminary Design Review and Critical Design Review presentations, the CanSat and ground station hardware, and the post-mission review. We follow a yearly design cycle, adhering to deadlines and requirements imposed by the competition. This ensures all teammates gain experience with the full engineering design process.Faculty Advisor:  Professor RangelEmail:  [email protected]:  https://sites.google.com/a/uci.edu/cansat

CanSat UCI: Winter Design Review 2019

The CanSat Competition is an international design/build/fly engineering competition held yearly in Stephenville, Texas and provides students with an opportunity to design an aerospace system. It is designed to reflect a small-scale aerospace program and includes the project design life cycle from preliminary design review to post mission review. Teams of up to 10 undergraduate students build CanSats, which must complete a mission that changes every year. In this year’s mission, the CanSat will be launched to 700 meters using a high-powered model rocket, and must perform a controlled descent while transmitting data from its onboard sensors to a ground station computer. The CanSat consists of a container that must protect the science payload from damage during the launch and deployment. Initially, both descend under a parachute. At 400 meters, the payload is released and continues its descent using an autogyro propeller. The CanSat must be equipped with sensors for environmental conditions (temperature, pressure, GPS position, altitude) and system performance (orientation, battery voltage, auto-gyro spin rate). It must be capable of transmitting this data in real-time to a ground station computer. The scope of our project is designing and building the CanSat and ground station. The launch system (a high-power model rocket) is provided by the competition organizers to standardize launches. Our team represents UC Irvine in this international competition. Members of CanSat UCI will follow the engineering design process from concept generation through integration and test, actual operation of the system, and the concluding post-mission summary and debrief. This year’s objective is to build a probe (the CanSat) that transmits environmental data to a ground station and performs a controlled descent using a parachute and auto-gyro propeller. The mission and its requirements reflect aspects of real world missions, including telemetry requirements, communications, and autonomous operations. Our project deliverables are the Preliminary Design Review and Critical Design Review presentations, the CanSat and ground station hardware, and the post-mission review. We follow a yearly design cycle, adhering to deadlines and requirements imposed by the competition. This ensures all teammates gain experience with the full engineering design process.Faculty Advisor:  Professor RangelEmail:  [email protected]:  https://sites.google.com/a/uci.edu/cansat