Comparative evaluation of re-use or replacement of dislocated 3-piece intraocular lenses with a scleral fixation technique.

PURPOSE: To compare the surgical outcomes of refixation and exchange in cases with 3-piece intraocular lens (IOL) dislocation which underwent scleral fixation. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Between 2014 and 2017, 65 eyes of 65 patients diagnosed with 3-piece IOL dislocation were treated with scleral fixation, and their records were retrospectively evaluated. Our patients were divided into two groups based on the treatment - exchange (Group 1) and refixation (Group 2). Dislocated IOL removal and new IOL insertion was performed with scleral fixation in group 1, and in group 2, scleral fixation of the dislocated intraocular lens performed without removal. Visual results, intraoperative and postoperative complications and lens induced astigmatism secondary to scleral fixation were compared between two groups. RESULTS: Patients in both groups were followed for an average of 13.62±3.4 months. Twenty-six patients were in group 1 and 39 patients were in group 2. All of the scleral fixation lenses were 3-pieced. Increased visual acuity was observed in both groups, and no difference was detected between the two groups (P˂0.01). Intraocular lens-induced astigmatism was similar in both groups (P=0.68). Intraocular hemorrhage as an intraoperative complication was seen in two patients in group 1 and one patient in group 2. Redislocation in three patients in group 2 and cystoid macular edema in one patient in each groups were observed. CONCLUSION: Refixation and exchange are both effective in IOL dislocation, and no significant difference between the methods was detected in terms of the results obtained.

Investigations and application in piezoelectric phenol sensor of Langmuir-Schäfer films of a copper phthalocyanine derivative functionalized with bulky substituents.

An octa-substituted copper phthalocyanine was dissolved in chloroform and spread on ultrapure water subphase in a Langmuir trough. The floating films were characterized at the air-water interface by the Langmuir isotherm, Brewster angle microscopy, and UV-Vis reflection spectroscopy and transferred by Langmuir-Schäfer technique on a silicon substrate, and thickness, refractive index, and extinction coefficient of the phthalocyanine derivative thin film were calculated by means of spectroscopic ellipsometry. A different number of layers were deposited using Langmuir-Schäfer method onto QCM crystals, and the active layers were tested as sensors for the detection of phenols in aqueous solution. The piezoelectric sensor response, totally reversible, is influenced by the number of transferred layers and by the nature of the substituent; on the contrary, the pK(a) value of the injected analytes slightly affects the device performances. Repeatability of the sensor responses was tested, and the frequency variation appears unchanged at least for 100 days.

The role of telomerase activity in predicting early recurrence of epithelial ovarian cancer after first-line chemotherapy: a prospective clinical study.

PURPOSE OF INVESTIGATION: To investigate the value of telomerase activity (TA) in the detection of early recurrence in primary epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). METHOD(S): In this study, TA was studied in 30 patients with Stage III EOC and 50 control patients with benign gynecological disease. All enrolled EOC patients had had primary cytoreductive surgery and six cycles of platinum-based first-line chemotherapy previously. Semi-quantative TA measurements were done by TRAP assay in ascites, taken at second-look surgery, of cancer patients and in peritoneal washings, taken during planned surgery, of the control group. RESULT(S): Early recurrence was diagnosed in ten EOC patients (33.3%). Mean TA was statistically higher in EOC patients than in patients with benign disease. However, the mean TA was insignificantly lower in early recurrent EOC patients than in disease-free EOC patients. CONCLUSION(S): The value of TA is limited in the detection of early recurrence in primary EOC.

Endovascular Treatment of Isolated PICA Insufficiency. A Case Report.

The vertebral artery terminating in the posterior inferior cerebellar artery is rare but it may cause cerebellar infarction when total occlusion of the vertebral artery occurs. Therefore treatment of vertebral artery stenosis in these patients is crucial. Surgical treatment of osteal vertebral artery stenosis is possible but is associated with approximately 4% mortality and up to 20% risk of procedural complications including perioperative VA occlusion, Horner syndrome, lymphatic injury and injury to the phrenic, vagus, laryngeal and thoracic nerves. Therefore percutaneous angioplasty with or without stent placement is emerging as an alternative treatment method with a high success rate and good initial angiographic outcome. Percutaneous angioplasty of the VA origin is associated with an approximately 15% restenosis rate. Stent placement is believed to decrease the incidence of elastic recoil and restenosis. Herein we present a rare symptomatic case with an anomalous, small-caliber right VA terminating in the PICA which was successfully treated with a drug-eluting stent.

A provisionally unique syndrome with features including "molar tooth" sign and "femoral hypoplasia".

A provisionally unique syndrome with features including "molar tooth" sign and "femoral hypoplasia": The femoral-facial syndrome (FH-UFS) is a rare syndrome of uncertain inheritance comprising hypoplastic femora, microretrognathia, and peculiar facies. We describe a new case with facial dysmorphism, broad chest and widely spaced nipples, shorter right lower limb with femoral hypoplasia and unilateral fibular hemimelia, bilateral absence of 5th metatarsal and toe, and bilateral talipes equinovarus. In addition, a complete agenesis of corpus callosum, cerebellar vermis hypoplasia with molar tooth sign and Dandy-Walker malformation were present. Posterior fossa abnormalities in FH-UFS have not been described in the literature until now, thus extending the clinical spectrum of this entity. Other syndromes characterized by femoral hypoplasia and/or molar tooth sign are also discussed.

Simultaneous spectrophotometric determination of cyanide and thiocyanate after separation on a melamine-formaldehyde resin.

A simple indirect spectrophotometric method for the determination of cyanide, based on the oxidation of the cyanide with chlorine (Cl(2)) is described. The residual chlorine is determined by the color reaction with o-tolidine (3,3'-dimethylbenzidine). The maximum absorbance for Cl(2) is at 437 nm. A linear calibration graph (0-4.0x10(-5) M CN(-)) is obtained under optimal reaction conditions at room temperature and pH 11-12. The stoichiometric mole ratio of chlorine to cyanide is 1:1. The effective molar absorptivity for cyanide is 5.87x10(4) l mol(-1) cm(-1) at pH 1.6. The limit of quantification (LOQ) is 3.6x10(-7) M or 9.4 ppb. Effects of pH, excess reagent, sensitivity, reaction time and tolerance limits of interferent ions are reported. The method was applied to the determination of cyanide in a real sample. The basic interferent usually accompanying CN(-), i.e. thiocyanate, is separated from cyanide by sorption on a melamine-formaldehyde resin at pH 9 while cyanide is not retained. Thiocyanate is eluted with 0.4 M NaOH from the column and determined spectrophotometrically using the acidic FeCl(3) reagent. The initial column effluent containing cyanide was analyzed by both the developed chlorine-o-tolidine method and the conventional barbituric acid-pyridine (Spectroquant 14800) procedure, and the results were statistically compared. The developed method is relatively inexpensive and less laborious than the standard (Spectroquant) procedure, and insensitive to the common interferent, cyanate (CNO(-)).

Separation and preconcentration of iron(II) and iron(III) from natural water on a melamine-formaldehyde resin.

A combined method for the preconcentration and selective spectrophotometric determination of both valencies of iron, i.e., Fe(II) and Fe(III), down to 0.4 mug l(-1) has been developed. Iron(III) from synthetic and natural water samples has been concentrated on a melamine-formaldehyde resin at pH 5; iron(II) was not retained under identical conditions. The oxidized iron was concentrated on a second resin column. The iron in both columns was eluted with 1 M HCl solution and separately analyzed by the 1,10-phenanthroline-citrate spectrophotometric method. The effect of pH, adsorption and elution rates, and interferences on the developed procedure were investigated. Metal ions that can be retained by the resin at moderate concentrations, e.g., Al(3+), do not cause interference in more dilute solutions encountered in natural water samples. At least 160-fold volume enrichment can be easily obtained using an adsorption flowrate of 50 ml min(-1). A hydrothermal water sample was analyzed by the recommended procedure and by a literature method, and the results were statistically compared by t- and F-tests.