Influences of 27-Gauge Vitrectomy on Corneal Topographic Conditions.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the influences of 27-gauge vitrectomy on corneal topographic conditions. METHOD: Fifty-six eyes of 56 patients undergoing 27-gauge vitrectomy were retrospectively studied. Twenty-three eyes with epiretinal membrane (ERM), 23 eyes with macular hole (MH), and 10 eyes with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) were included. Forty-five of the 56 eyes underwent 27-gauge phacovitrectomy (group 1), and the remaining 11 eyes underwent 27-gauge vitrectomy alone (group 2). Corneal topography was obtained with a wave-front analyzer preoperatively and at 1 and 3 months postoperatively. The corneal topographic parameters evaluated were the average corneal power, regular astigmatism, spherical aberration, and higher-order aberration (HOA). RESULTS: In between-group analyses of groups 1 and 2, no significant differences were observed regarding the changes of the 4 parameters from the baseline to 1 and 3 months postoperatively. No significant differences in the changes of all parameters from the baseline to 1 and 3 months postoperatively were also observed between MH group and the other two groups. A significant difference in the change of HOA from the baseline to 1 month postoperatively was observed between ERM and PDR group however, the difference disappeared at 3 months. CONCLUSION: 27-gauge vitrectomy did not induce substantial changes in the corneal topographic conditions.

Efficient Synthesis of Heterocyclic Flavonoids with Hedgehog Signal Inhibitory Activity.

The hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway performs important roles in embryonic development and cellular proliferation and differentiation. However, in many cancer cells Hh signaling is aberrantly activated, which has provided a strong impetus for the development of Hh pathway inhibitors. To address this, we synthesized a series of heterocyclic flavonoids and evaluated their Hh signaling inhibitory activity on cancer cell lines using our cell-based assay system. Of the synthetic flavonoids, compounds 4a and g showed good inhibitory activity (IC50 was 16.8 and 21.8 µM, respectively), and were cytotoxic toward human pancreatic (PANC1) and prostate (DU145) cancer cells in which Hh signaling was activated. Compounds 4a and g had moderate selectivity against PANC1 cells. Western blotting analyses revealed that PTCH and GLI1 expression was reduced after treatment with these compounds. Overall, these synthetic flavonoids represent promising new additions to our expanding panel of Hh pathway inhibitors, and with further development these molecules may ultimately be considered for clinical use.

OPTICAL COHERENCE TOMOGRAPHY FINDINGS AND SURGICAL OUTCOMES OF TISSUE PLASMINOGEN ACTIVATOR-ASSISTED VITRECTOMY FOR SUBMACULAR HEMORRHAGE SECONDARY TO AGE-RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION.

PURPOSE: To study the relationship between morphologic findings using spectral domain optical coherence tomography and surgical outcomes in patients with submacular hemorrhage (SMH) secondary to age-related macular degeneration. METHODS: Medical charts of nine eyes of nine patients who underwent tissue plasminogen activator-assisted vitrectomy for SMH secondary to age-related macular degeneration were retrospectively reviewed. The preoperative height and lateral width of both SMH and pigment epithelial detachment documented with optical coherence tomography, were measured. The status of ellipsoid layers was also analyzed. RESULTS: Complete displacement of SMH from the fovea was achieved in all nine eyes. The preoperative status of the ellipsoid layer under the fovea was detectable in four eyes and absent in the remaining five eyes. Postoperative best-corrected visual acuity was significantly better in eyes with preoperative detectable ellipsoid layers (P < 0.01). Eyes with preoperative SMH heights <400 µm also exhibited better best-corrected visual acuity (P < 0.05). There was no significant correlation between postoperative best-corrected visual acuity and the specific features of pigment epithelial detachment, including height, lateral width, and number. CONCLUSION: The preoperative presence of detectable ellipsoid layers and a lower height of SMH may predict good visual prognosis. In contrast, no specific features of pigment epithelial detachment correlated with postoperative best-corrected visual acuity.

Intravitreal bevacizumab alone or combined with macular laser photocoagulation for recurrent or persistent macular edema secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion.

Background. To evaluate the efficacy of intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) injection with or without macular laser photocoagulation (MLP) for recurrent or persistent macular edema (ME) secondary to branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO). Methods. Thirty-four eyes underwent IVB injection for ME secondary to BRVO as a primary treatment. Twenty of the 34 eyes experienced recurrent or persistent ME after the first IVB. Nine of the 20 eyes (Group 1) were retreated with IVB combined with MLP. The remaining 11 eyes (Group 2) were retreated with IVB alone. Results. In Group 1, the postoperative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) improved compared with the preoperative value at all follow-up visits, although no statistically significant improvement was observed at 6 months. In contrast, BCVA significantly improved from 0.53 to 0.40 at 6 months (P < 0.05) in Group 2. Conclusion. Combined therapy tended to have a smaller effect on visual acuity compared with IVB monotherapy.

An autopsy case of imipramine poisoning.

We present a fatal imipramine poisoning. Quantitative analysis of imipramine and its metabolite, desipramine, was performed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The concentrations of imipramine and desipramine were 18.67 microg/mL and 6.21 microg/mL in heart blood and 6.90 microg/mL and 1.77 microg/mL in the femoral venous blood, respectively. We concluded that the cause of death was due to imipramine poisoning.

High alcohol preferring (HAP) and low alcohol preferring (LAP) rats show altered proopiomelanocortin (POMC) messenger RNA expression in the arcuate nucleus.

AIMS AND METHODS: We have investigated proopiomelanocortin (POMC) and neuropeptide Y (NPY) gene expression in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus comparing high alcohol preference (HAP) rats and low alcohol preference (LAP) rats under basal conditions using in situ hybridization histochemistry. RESULTS: A significantly higher expression of POMC mRNA was observed in HAP rats compared with LAP rats. In contrast, no difference in NPY mRNA expression was observed between the two rat lines. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that an endogenous opioid system may contribute to alcohol preference in HAP/LAP rat lines.

The application of a variable-pressure scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray microanalyser to the diagnosis of electrocution: a case report.

We describe here a case of accidental electrocution. A 48-year-old male was found dead in his room. At autopsy, there was a current mark on the right thumb and big toe. Histological examination revealed that the skin wound had the characteristics of a current mark, including vacuolation and elongation of the cell nuclei. We could also identify titanium metallization on the skin surface of the current mark using a variable-pressure scanning electron microscope (VP-SEM) equipped with energy dispersive X-ray microanalyser (EDX). The autopsy finding and the subsequent investigation support the conclusion that the cause of his death was electrocution. Our result shows that the VP-SEM with EDX is a useful tool for the forensic diagnosis of electrocution.

An autopsy case of combined drug intoxication involving verapamil, metoprolol and digoxin.

We present here a fatal poisoning case involving verapamil, metoprolol and digoxin. A 39-year-old male was found dead in his room, and a lot of empty packets of prescribed drugs were found near the corpse. The blood concentrations of verapamil, metoprolol and digoxin were 9.2 microg/ml, 3.6 microg/ml and 3.2 ng/ml, respectively. The cause of death was given as cardiac failure, hypotension and bradycardia due to a mixed drug overdose of verapamil, metoprolol and digoxin, based on the results of the autopsy and toxicological examination. We speculate that the toxicity of verapamil is potentiated by drug interaction with metoprolol and digoxin.

Different blood acetaldehyde concentration following ethanol administration in a newly developed high alcohol preference and low alcohol preference rat model system.

A significant difference in blood-acetaldehyde concentration was observed between high alcohol-preference (HAP) rats and low alcohol-preference (LAP) rats, newly developed different alcohol preference lines. This difference of acetaldehyde accumulation may be due to cytosolic aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH1) polymorphism, which has been reported previously. As the doses of ethanol we employed are higher than that of voluntary drinking, there may be little direct relationship between acetaldehyde accumulation and alcohol preference. We suggest therefore that the ALDH1 polymorphism is associated with alcohol preference in HAP/LAP lines through some other unidentified mechanism.

[Effects of chronic alcohol administration on changes of extracellular dopamine and serotonin concentration induced by methamphetamine--comparison of two different alcohol preference rat lines].

We have investigated the effects of single administration of methamphetamine (MAP) (1.0 mg/kg, i.p.), and of combined administration of ethanol (EtOH) (2.0 g/kg, i.v.) and MAP (1.0 mg/kg, i.p.) on striatal extracellular dopamine (DA) and serotonin (5-HT) levels in chronic alcohol treated rats using a brain-microdialysis method. We used two different lines of rats with high and low alcohol preferences, (high alcohol preference rat (HAP) and low alcohol preference rat (LAP), respectively), which were chronically fed an alcohol containing liquid diet for 6 to 8 weeks. The percent change in DA and 5-HT in striatum following single administration of MAP was significantly higher in control-fed LAP than HAP. However, in the alcohol-fed group, the percent changes in DA and 5-HT were significantly elevated in the alcohol-fed HAP compared to LAP. There were no significant increases in striatal extracellular DA and 5-HT in alcohol-fed LAP. In combined administration of MAP and EtOH, extracellular DA and 5-HT levels increased slightly following EtOH administration in chronic alcohol-fed rats, especially in HAP. Dramatic increases of DA and 5-HT levels were observed in alcohol-fed HAP following EtOH and MAP administration. The percent change in DA and 5-HT in alcohol-fed HAP was further elevated to 4667.7 +/- 1095.5% and 3116.9 +/- 1162.7% of the maximal change, respectively. These percent changes ware higher than that observed with a single administration of MAP. Meanwhile, LAP were less sensitive to the influence of chronic EtOH administration and to single administration of MAP. These results demonstrate that a chronic treatment of EtOH enhances the sensitivity to MAP in a high alcohol preference rat line, when two drugs were administrated simultaneously, and that a significant difference of responsiveness to abused drugs was indicated between these two lines. It is necessary to consider the alcohol preference when investigating the interaction of alcohol and/or other abused drugs.