Peripapillary choroidal neovascularization associated with melanocytoma of the optic disc: a clinicopathologic case report

BACKGROUND: Melanocytoma of the optic disc is a benign melanocytic tumor that rarely causes visual impairment. We report a case of a melanocytoma of the optic disc with a decreased vision related to a peripapillary choroidal neovascular membrane (PCNVM) that was successfully treated by submacular surgery. METHODS: A 45-year-old southern European patient had a melanocytoma of the optic disc in his left eye with vision of 20/100. Fluorescein angiography demonstrated a PCNVM impeding the fovea associated with a subretinal hemorrhage. RESULTS: The patient underwent a complete vitrectomy and removal of the PCNVM. Subsequently, the subretinal hemorrhage disappeared and visual acuity improved to 20/25. Visual acuity remained good for a period of 14 months' follow-up without any recurrence of neovascular membrane. CONCLUSIONS: Submacular surgery is a potentially effective treatment for large PCNVM associated with a melanocytoma of the optic disc

Outflow mechanisms after deep sclerectomy with two different designs of collagen implant in an animal model

BACKGROUND: To study experimentally two different shapes of collagen implants (CI) used in deep sclerectomy (DS). The ability to promote drainage vessels, outflow mechanisms, success rates, and biodegradability, were studied prospectively in an animal model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: DS was performed in 20 eyes of ten rabbits. Each rabbit randomly received a cylindrical CI in one eye, while the other eye received a flat CI. Intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement, ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) examination of DS site and simultaneous fluorescein and indocyanin green anterior-segment angiography were performed preoperatively, at 1 and 2 weeks, 1, 2, 3, 6 and 9 months for each eye. At the end of the follow-up period, outflow facility (OF) was measured and histological examinations of the filtration site were performed. RESULTS: In the cylindrical implant group, IOP significantly dropped from a mean pre-operative value of 14.8+/-2.2 mmHg to a mean postoperative values of 10.9+/-3.3, 12.5+/-2.2, 11.8+/-2.6, 11.2+/-2.3, 10.7+/-1.9, 14.0+/- 3.2, 12.6+/-2.4 mmHg at 1, 2 weeks, and 1, 2, 3, 6, and 9 months, respectively. In the flat CI group, IOP significantly dropped from a mean preoperative value of 14.1+/-1.8 mmHg to a mean postoperative values of 10.4+/-2.7, 12.7+/-1.9, 12.5+/-3.2, 11.2+/-1.6, 11.6+/-1.8, 11.5+/-2.3, 11.0+/-2.2 mmHg at 1, 2 weeks, and at 1, 2, 3, 6, and 9 months, respectively. UBM images showed a gradual resorption of both type of CI during the first 3 months, and angiographies showed progressive growth of drainage vessels around the filtration site in both groups. The mean OF 9 months postoperatively for the cylindrical CI was 0.53 (SD +/- 0.23) ml/ min per mmHg and was 0.56 (SD+/-0.17) ml/min per mmHg for the flat CI (P=0.6). Histological examination revealed excellent biocompatibilty and a high density of drainage vessels in the sclera around the operative site in both groups. CONCLUSION: Using IOP and OF measurements, UBM, angiography, and histology, we were able to compare two types of CI used as space maintainer in DS. Both CIs showed efficient IOP lowering effect and outflow facility increase, possibly explained by stimulation of drainage vessels growth. Both implants showed excellent biocompatibility. The flat CI showed a slight tendency towards better overall performances

The financialisation of rental housing: A comparative analysis of New York City and Berlin

This paper compares how recent waves of private equity real estate investment have reshaped the rental housing markets in New York and Berlin. Through secondary analysis of separate primary research projects, we explore financialisation’s impact on tenants, neighbourhoods, and urban space. Despite their contrasting market contexts and investor strategies, financialisation heightened existing inequalities in housing affordability and stability, and rearranged spaces of abandonment and gentrification in both cities. Conversely cities themselves also shaped the process of financialisation, with weakened rental protections providing an opening to transform affordable housing into a new global asset class. We also show how financialisation’s adaptability in the face of changing market conditions entails ongoing, but shifting processes of uneven development. Comparative studies of financialisation can help highlight geographically disparate, but similar exposures to this global process, thus contributing to a critical urban politics of finance that crosses boundaries of space, sector and scale

Melanomes malins de la conjonctive: etude histopathologique. [Malignant melanoma of the conjunctiva: histopathologic study]

The pathological features of 17 malignant melanomas of the conjunctiva, treated by local excision at the Clinique universitaire de Lausanne, were studied, and the most frequent difficulties encountered by the pathologist are presented. Cox's proportional hazards model confirmed that tumor thickness had a prognostic significance and showed that cell type was significant too