Comparison between intravitreal Ranibizumab and Tramicinolone acetonide for macular edema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion

AIM:To compare the efficacy and safety of intravitreal ranibizumab to those of triamcinolone acetonide(TA)injection for the treatment of macular edema secondary to central retinal vein occlusion(CRVO).<p>METHODS:This retrospective study included 40 eyes of 40 patients with macular edema associated with CRVO. Twenty patients 20 eyes were treated with intravitreal injection of triamcinolone acetonide(1mg, 0.1mL), the other 20 patients 20 eyes accepted intravitreal ranibizumab(0.5mg, 0.05mL). The change of best corrected visual acuity(BCVA), central macular thickness(CMT), and intraocular pressure(IOP)before treatment and at 1, 2wk, 1, 2,3,6mo post-injection in the two groups were observed. <p>RESULTS:BCVA was improved at 1, 2wk, 1, 2,3,6mo post-injection in the TA group(<i>P</i><0.05)and ranibizumab group(<i>P</i><0.05). No significant difference was found between the two groups(<i>P</i>>0.05). CMT decreased significantly within each group(<i>P</i><0.05), and no significant difference between groups was found(<i>P</i>>0.05). In the TA group, the IOP was significantly higher at 2wk and 4wk than before treatment(<i>P</i><0.05). In the ranibizumab group, no elevated IOP was observed at 1, 2wk, 1, 2,3,6mo(<i>P</i>>0.05). However, the IOP at 1mo was significantly higher in the TA group than that in the ranibizumb group(<i>P</i><0.05). <p>CONCLUSION:Intravitreal ranibizumab is an effective and safe treatment method for macular edema secondary to CRVO. It can effectively improve BCVA and reduce CMT without ocular and systemic complications compared with intravitreal TA

Generating global products of LAI and FPAR from SNPP-VIIRS data: theoretical background and implementation

Leaf area index (LAI) and fraction of photosynthetically active radiation (FPAR) absorbed by vegetation have been successfully generated from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data since early 2000. As the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) instrument onboard, the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) has inherited the scientific role of MODIS, and the development of a continuous, consistent, and well-characterized VIIRS LAI/FPAR data set is critical to continue the MODIS time series. In this paper, we build the radiative transfer-based VIIRS-specific lookup tables by achieving minimal difference with the MODIS data set and maximal spatial coverage of retrievals from the main algorithm. The theory of spectral invariants provides the configurable physical parameters, i.e., single scattering albedos (SSAs) that are optimized for VIIRS-specific characteristics. The effort finds a set of smaller red-band SSA and larger near-infraredband SSA for VIIRS compared with the MODIS heritage. The VIIRS LAI/FPAR is evaluated through comparisons with one year of MODIS product in terms of both spatial and temporal patterns. Further validation efforts are still necessary to ensure the product quality. Current results, however, imbue confidence in the VIIRS data set and suggest that the efforts described here meet the goal of achieving the operationally consistent multisensor LAI/FPAR data sets. Moreover, the strategies of parametric adjustment and LAI/FPAR evaluation applied to SNPP-VIIRS can also be employed to the subsequent Joint Polar Satellite System VIIRS or other instruments.Accepted manuscrip

RGD Peptide-Grafted Graphene Oxide as a New Biomimetic Nanointerface for Impedance-Monitoring Cell Behaviors

A new biomimetic nanointerface was constructed by facile grafting the bioactive arginylglycylaspartic acid (RGD) peptide on the graphene oxide (GO) surface through carbodiimide and N-hydroxysuccinimide coupling amidation reaction. The formed RGD-GO nanocomposites own unique two-dimensional structure and desirable electrochemical performance. The linked RGD peptides could improve GO’s biocompatibility and support the adhesion and proliferation of human periodontal ligament fibroblasts (HPLFs) on RGD-GO biofilm surface. Furthermore the biologically active RGD-GO nanocomposites were demonstrated as a potential biomimetic nanointerface for monitoring cell biobehaviors by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). By analysis of the data obtained from equivalent circuit-fitting impedance spectroscopy, the information related to cell membrane capacitance, cell-cell gap resistance, and cell-electrode interface gap resistance in the process of cell adhesion and proliferation could be obtained. Besides, this proposed impedance-based cell sensor could be used to assess the inhibition effect of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) on the HPLFs proliferation. Findings from this work suggested that RGD peptide functionalized GO nanomaterials may be not only applied in dental tissue engineering but also used as a sensor interface for electrochemical detection and analysis of cell behaviors in vitro

Implications of whole-disc DSCOVR EPIC spectral observations for estimating Earth's spectral reflectivity based on low-earth-orbiting and geostationary observations

Earth’s reflectivity is among the key parameters of climate research. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC) onboard National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) spacecraft provides spectral reflectance of the entire sunlit Earth in the near backscattering direction every 65 to 110 min. Unlike EPIC, sensors onboard the Earth Orbiting Satellites (EOS) sample reflectance over swaths at a specific local solar time (LST) or over a fixed area. Such intrinsic sampling limits result in an apparent Earth’s reflectivity. We generated spectral reflectance over sampling areas using EPIC data. The difference between the EPIC and EOS estimates is an uncertainty in Earth’s reflectivity. We developed an Earth Reflector Type Index (ERTI) to discriminate between major Earth atmosphere components: clouds, cloud-free ocean, bare and vegetated land. Temporal variations in Earth’s reflectivity are mostly determined by clouds. The sampling area of EOS sensors may not be sufficient to represent cloud variability, resulting in biased estimates. Taking EPIC reflectivity as a reference, low-earth-orbiting-measurements at the sensor-specific LST tend to overestimate EPIC values by 0.8% to 8%. Biases in geostationary orbiting approximations due to a limited sampling area are between −0.7% and 12%. Analyses of ERTI-based Earth component reflectivity indicate that the disagreement between EPIC and EOS estimates depends on the sampling area, observation time and vary between −10% and 23%.The NASA/GSFC DSCOVR project is funded by NASA Earth Science Division. W. Song, G. Yan, and X. Mu were also supported by the key program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC; Grant No. 41331171). This research was conducted and completed during a 13-month research stay of the lead author in the Department of Earth and Environment, Boston University as a joint Ph.D. student, which was supported by the Chinese Scholarship Council (201606040098). DSCOVR EPIC L1B data were obtained from the NASA Langley Research Center Atmospheric Science Data Center. The authors would like to thank the editor who handled this paper and the two anonymous reviewers for providing helpful and constructive comments and suggestions that significantly helped us improve the quality of this paper. (NASA Earth Science Division; 41331171 - key program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); 201606040098 - Chinese Scholarship Council)Accepted manuscrip

Low compressible noble metal carbides with rock-salt structure: ab initio total energy calculations of the elastic stability

We have systematically studied the mechanical stability of all noble metal carbides with the rock-salt structure by calculating their elastic constants within the density function theory scheme. It was found that only four carbides (RuC, PdC, AgC and PtC) are mechanically stable. In particular, we have shown that RuC, PdC, and PtC have very high bulk modulus, which has been remarkably observed by the most recent experiment for the case of PtC. From the calculated density of states, we can conclude that these compounds are metallic, like the conventional group IV and group V transition metal carbides.Comment: Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 071913 (2006