Bilateral Serous Retinal Detachments Associated with Accelerated Hypertensive Choroidopathy

Purpose. We report a case of hypertensive choroidopathy with bilateral serous retinal detachments. Patient. A 50-year-old man underwent bilateral serous retinal detachments. Retinal arteriolar narrowing, vascular tortuosity, and arteriovenous nicking were identified in both eyes. The blood pressure was 206/125 mmHg. The patient was diagnosed with bilateral hypertensive choroidopathy and treated with oral antihypertensive treatment. Results and discussion. One month after antihypertensive treatment, the serous retinal detachments resolved and the visual acuity improved. A patient with those findings should be considered as having hypertensive choroidopathy and treated as soon as possible

Optical coherence tomography guided peeling of macular epiretinal membrane

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) has emerged as a powerful diagnostic aid in disorders of the vitreoretinal juncture. The purpose of this study is to determine whether OCT can be used as an additional tool for evaluating an architecture including the thickened area, and the identifiable edge of a macular epiretinal membrane (ERM), and helping us to dissect the ERM from the retinal surface more easily and safely. In two cases with ERM, the edges of the membranes were detected by OCT, and the peeling of the membrane was started at the area easily. OCT guided ERM peeling might be useful for dissecting ERM membranes without any hesitation

Transient tractional retinal detachment in an eye with retinitis pigmentosa

We present a case of retinitis pigmentosa with vitreoretinal traction-associated retinal detachment. The retinal detachment was detected in the nasal periphery. No retinal breaks and no active vascular leakage were observed by fundus scopy and fluorescein angiography, respectively. However, 8 months later, the tractional retinal detachment was spontaneously resolved with posterior vitreous detachment

Successful voriconazole treatment of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis in a patient with acute biphenotypic leukemia

A 23-year old woman with acute biphenotypic leukemia (ABL) complained of chest pain with cough, high fever and hemoptysis during induction chemotherapy, although she had been treated with anti-biotics and micafungin. We made a clinical diagnosis of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) based on a consolidation in the right upper lung field on a chest radiograph as well as a high level of serum beta-D-glucan (with no evidence of tuberculosis and candidiasis). We changed her treatment from micafungin to voriconazole. Later, we discovered an air-crescent sign by CT scan that supported the diagnosis of IPA. Following voriconazole treatment, clinical symptoms ceased and abnormal chest shadows improved gradually and concurrently with a recovery of neutrophils. IPA must be considered in immunocompromised patients with pulmonary infiltrates who do not respond to broad-spectrum antibiotics. Serological tests and CT findings can aid in early diagnosis of IPA, which, along with treatment for IPA, will improve clinical outcomes.</p

Investigation of turbulence in reversed field pinch plasma by using microwave imaging reflectometry

Turbulence in the reversed field pinch (RFP) plasma has been investigated by using the microwave imaging reflectometry in the toroidal pinch experiment RX (TPE-RX). In conventional RFP plasma, the fluctuations are dominated by the intermittent blob-like structures. These structures are accompanied with the generation of magnetic field, the strong turbulence, and high nonlinear coupling among the high and low k modes. The pulsed poloidal current drive operation, which improves the plasma confinement significantly, suppresses the dynamo, the turbulence, and the blob-like structures.This work is supported by the NINS Imaging Science Project (Grant No. NIFS08KEIN0021), SOKENDAI (Grant No. NIFS08GLPP003), and the Budget for Nuclear Research of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan

Proteomic Profiling of Thyroid Papillary Carcinoma

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common endocrine malignancy. We performed shotgun liquid chromatography (LC)/tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) analysis on pooled protein extracts from patients with PTC and compared the results with those from normal thyroid tissue validated by real-time (RT) PCR and immunohistochemistry (IHC). We detected 524 types of protein in PTC and 432 in normal thyroid gland. Among these proteins, 145 were specific to PTC and 53 were specific to normal thyroid gland. We have also identified two important new markers, nephronectin (NPNT) and malectin (MLEC). Reproducibility was confirmed with several known markers, but the one of two new candidate markers such as MLEC did not show large variations in expression levels. Furthermore, IHC confirmed the overexpression of both those markers in PTCs compared with normal surrounding tissues. Our protein data suggest that NPNT and MLEC could be a characteristic marker for PTC

Potentiometric Responses of Polymeric Liquid Membranes Based on Hydrophobic Chelating Agents to Metal lons

液膜イオンセンサーの感応物質として用いる各種キレート試薬の疎水性が、金属イオンに対する電位応答に及ぼす効果について調べた。キレート試薬として、オキシン、ジチゾン、ビリジルアゾナフトール及びそれらの長鎖アルキル誘導体、ならびに一連のN-アルキルカルボニル-N-フェニルヒドロキシルアミン類を用いた。疎水性の高いキレート試薬を含む膜でZn2+,Ni2+などに対し大きな電位応答が得られた。一方、疎水性が低い試薬では、有意な電位応答は得られなかった。電位応答挙動、界面張力測定などの結果から、膜電位発生モデルを提案した。キレート試薬の高い疎水性は、試薬陰イオンが膜/溶液界面にとどまることを可能とする。試薬陰イオンによる金属イオンの選択的取り込みによって界面での電荷分離が達成され、結果として電位応答が生起する

Microvascular Abnormalities on Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography in Macular Edema Associated With Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion

PURPOSE: To determine the ability of optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography to image the microvascular structures compared with fluorescein angiography (FA) in patients with macular edema associated with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO).DESIGN: Retrospective, observational, consecutive case series.METHODS: Twenty-eight eyes of 27 patients (14 men, 13 women; mean age, 68.4 years) with macular edema associated with BRVO were enrolled.Simultaneous OCT angiography and FA were performed in all patients to evaluate the microvascular abnormalities and non-perfused areas.RESULTS: OCT angiography detected non-perfused areas in 28 eyes and FA in 18 eyes. The respective findings of superficial capillary telangiectasias by OCT angiography and FA were 13 and 11 eyes, for deep capillary telangiectasias 28 eyes and 11 eyes, for collateral vessels 18 eyes and 16 eyes, and for microaneurysms 13 eyes and 14 eyes. OCT angiography facilitated differential layer analysis of microaneurysms and collaterals in the retina.CONCLUSIONS: OCT angiography can visualize microvascular abnormalities equally well or better than FA in eyes with BRVO. Multimodal imaging using OCT angiography and FA can be a powerful tool to evaluate the pathology in BRVO

Multimodal Imaging in a Case of Idiopathic Neuroretinitis

A 37-year-old woman presented with painful visual loss in the left eye for 2 weeks. The best-corrected visual acuity was 20/200. Ophthalmic examination of the left eye revealed vitreous cells, optic disc swelling, serous retinal detachment, and macular star-figure hard exudates. Swept-source optical coherence tomography showed both inner and outer retinas were swollen, the choroid was thickened, and the corresponding retinal pigment epithelium was elevated. Wide-field indocyanine green angiography disclosed multiple hypofluorescent spots in the mid-periphery. Taken together, an involvement of optic disc, entire retina, and choroid was considered in the current case

Peripheral Microvascular Abnormalities Detected by Wide-Field Fluorescein Angiography in Eyes with Branch Retinal Vein Occlusion.

Purpose: To evaluate the location of microvascular abnormalities using wide-field fluorescein angiography (WFFA) and investigate the impact on visual outcomes in eyes with branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO). Methods: Forty of 39 patients (24 male and 15 female, average age of 71 years) were retrospectively reviewed. One patient had BRVO bilaterally. WFFA was performed in all patients to evaluate perfusion status and detect microvascular abnormalities. The areas on WFFA images were divided into three groups; Zone 1: posterior pole, Zone 2: mid periphery, and Zone 3: far periphery to document the presence of microvascular abnormalities. Scatter retinal photocoagulation (PC) was performed for retinal neovascularization (NV) and/or widespread NPAs. Results: The incidence of microvascular abnormalities in Zone 3 was significantly (P<0.0001) less than those in Zone 1 and Zone 2. The presence of larger NPAs in Zone 1, but not Zone 3, was associated with the incidence of NV and vitreous hemorrhage. Both the presence of peripheral lesions and application of PC did not affect the visual outcomes. Conclusion: The presence of peripheral abnormalities or scatter PC for NPAs did not affect the visual outcomes in eyes with BRVO