The Effects of 3% Diquafosol Sodium Eye Drops on Tear Function and the Ocular Surface of Cu, Zn-Superoxide Dismutase-1 (Sod1) Knockout Mice Treated with Antiglaucoma Eye Medications.

Anti-glaucoma eye drop treatment often induces dry eyes and can lead to poor medication adherence. This study aimed to investigate the effects of 3% diquafosol sodium eye drops on tear function and the ocular surface epithelium in Sod1−/− mice after treatment with anti-glaucoma eye drops. The mice were divided into four groups: group 1, control group; group 2, anti-glaucoma eye drop; group 3, anti-glaucoma eye drops followed by a secretagogue eye drop (3% diquafosol); and group 4, simultaneous anti-glaucoma and secretagogue eye drop. Mice underwent assessments of tear quantity, tear film breakup time, and vital staining score. Mice in groups 3 and 4 showed significantly better tear stability and lower corneal staining scores than mice in group 2 after eye drop instillations (p < 0.05). Mice in group 4 showed significantly better tear stability, lower corneal staining scores, and higher goblet cell densities than those in group 1 after eye drop instillations (p < 0.05). The conjunctival epithelium showed stratification and abundance of Muc5AC-positive goblet cells in group 4, whereas thinning with desquamation was observed with a few goblet cells in group 2. Thus, simultaneous administration of 3% diquafosol sodium eye drops with topical anti-glaucoma drops showed favorable effects on tear stability and the corneal epithelium against the ocular surface toxicity inflicted by the anti-glaucoma eye drops

Status and plan of GAMMA 10 tandem mirror program

Recent progress and near future plan of GAMMA 10 efforts are presented. With high power plug electron cyclotron heating (ECH) up to ~ 400 kW, the ion confining potential of more than 2 kV was confirmed. The drift type low frequency fluctuations were suppressed by the positive radial electric field produced by plug ECH. It is found that the efficient EC heating on mirror devices from a strong B field side requires the minimization of the stray microwave in addition to the 100% X-mode excitation to avoid the enhancement of the ion loss. The development of a gyrotron, the key tool of these ECH experiments, has been made in collaboration with NIFS (National Institute for Fusion Science), More than 1.5 MWfor more than Is has been demonstrated at 77GHz. The plan of the boundary plasma research program with modification of GAMMA 10 is in progress. The new program includes the physics and technology studies of the divertor and SOL plasmas and PWI relevant to torus plasmas like ITER. The high heat flux experiments using the open end mirror throat has been started and we have obtained successful preliminary data, which include the heat flux of 8 MW/m2