Correlation between Central Corneal Thickness and Intraocular Pressure Measured by Goldmann Applanation Tonometry or Pascal Dynamic Contour Tonometry.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between central corneal thickness and intraocular pressure measured by Goldmann applanation tonometry and Pascal dynamic contour tonometry. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study included 45 persons (90 eyes), divided into 4 groups: a) 10 normal volunteers (20 eyes); b) 16 patients (32 eyes) with primary open-angle glaucoma; c) 8 patients (16 eyes) with normal-tension glaucoma; and d) 11 patients (22 eyes) with ocular hypertension. Intraocular pressure was measured by Goldmann applanation tonometry and Pascal dynamic contour tonometry, and central corneal thickness was measured by ultrasound pachymetry. The relationship between intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness was evaluated. RESULTS: Intraocular pressure was correlated positively but not strongly enough with central corneal thickness when it was measured by Goldmann applanation tonometry. On the contrary, there was no correlation between intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness when intraocular pressure was measured by Pascal dynamic contour tonometry. CONCLUSION: Central corneal thickness is an important variable in the evaluation of intraocular pressure by Goldmann applanation tonometry. This factor does not interfere with the intraocular pressure measurements taken by Pascal dynamic contour tonometry.

Self-assembled plasmonic templates produced by microwave annealing: applications to surface-enhanced Raman scattering.

Perhaps the simplest method for creating metal nanoparticles on a substrate is by driving their self-assembly with the thermal annealing of a thin metal film. By properly tuning the annealing parameters one hopes to discover a recipe that allows the pre-determined design of the NP arrangement. However, thermal treatment is known for detrimental effects and is not really the manufacturer's route of choice when it comes to large-scale applications. An alternative method is the use of microwave annealing, a method that has never been applied for metal processing, due to the high reflectance of microwave radiation at the surface of a metal. However, in this work we challenge the widely used nanostructuring methods by proving the microwave's annealing ability to produce plasmonic templates, out of extremely thin metal films, by simply using a domestic microwave oven apparatus. We show that this process is generic and independent of the deposition method used for the metal and we further quantify the suitability of these plasmonic templates for use in surface-enhanced Raman scattering applications.

Importance of high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis of serum N-acylneuraminic acids in evaluating surgical treatment in patients with early endometrial cancer.

The objectives of this study were the quantification of the two major sialic acid (Sia) forms - N-acetylneuraminic (Neu5Ac) and N-glycolylneuraminic acids (Neu5Gc) - in serum before and after surgical treatment of early endometrial cancer and the relation of their levels with the progress of surgical therapy. The major Sia forms were liberated from sera glycoconjugates by mild acid hydrolysis, separated as per-O-benzoylated derivatives by a highly sensitive reversed-phase HPLC method and detected at 231 nm. Total Sia content in sera of healthy women was not related to age and body weight. Neu5Ac was identified as the major Sia in sera from both cancer patients, healthy individuals as well as in tissue specimens (> or = 94% of total Sia). In patients with endometrial cancer the total Sia level before surgical treatment (709.5 +/- 306.5 mg/l) was significantly higher (p < or = 0.0001) than that of the control group (213.5 +/- 88.7 mg/l). The elevation in Sia level was exclusively due to Neu5Ac. Following surgical therapy, serum Neu5Ac levels (699.4 +/- 305.6 mg/l) were significantly decreased (305.9 +/- 114.5 mg/l). In one case, where Neu5Ac level was increased 15 days and eight months after surgery (1.8 and 2.5 times as compared to control, respectively), a metastasis not detected during surgery was recorded. The obtained results suggest that Neu5Ac level in serum may be used as a tumor marker in evaluating the suitability of surgical treatment in early endometrial cancer.

The expression of antisense vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) sequences inhibits intracranial C6 glioma growth in vivo by suppressing tumour angiogenesis.

Human gliomas, including astrocytomas, consist of highly heterogeneous populations of cells that represent different stages of malignancy. Glioblastoma multiforme is the most highly vascularised class of solid tumour. In order to develop efficacious adjuvant therapies for gliomas the growth pathway(s) targeted must be common to all of these tumours. As angiogenesis is a requirement for all solid tumour growth, we have targeted this process in order to suppress glioma growth in vivo. We have applied antisense VEGF gene expression to disrupt the VEGF/VEGF receptor paracrine pathway in C6 glioma cells and, thereby, inhibit tumour angiogenesis. C6 glioma cells which constitutively express antisense VEGF sequences were demonstrated to have significantly inhibited growth rates when implanted intracranially. Antisense VEGF expressing tumours had a markedly lower level of vascularisation which was accompanied by an increased level of necrosis compared to control tumours. Furthermore, these data support the notion that VEGF is the sole factor required for tumour angiogenesis as other potentially angiogenic factors could not compensate for the reduced level of VEGF expression in the antisense-VEGF expressing tumours. Our findings also suggest that the inhibition of angiogenesis is sufficient to significantly suppress tumour growth and is thus an effective point for therapeutic intervention for gliomas and all solid tumours.

Overexpression of multiple oncogenes related to histological grade of astrocytic glioma.

The expression of the c-erbB-1, c-myc, Ha/N-ras and c-fos oncogenes was investigated in 62 astrocytomas of low, intermediate and high grades by immunogold silver histochemistry. Elevated expression of c-erbB-1 was observed in 95%, 48% and 86% of low, intermediate and high grade tumours respectively, c-myc in 5%, 33% and 76% respectively, Ha/N-ras in 0, 43% and 71% respectively and c-fos in 55%, 48% and 52% respectively. Controls included normal brain and tumour sections immunoreacted with pre-immune serum or with antisera absorbed with synthetic peptides. Analysis of co-overexpression revealed that low grade tumours co-overexpressed a maximum of two of these genes, intermediate grade tumours a maximum of three of these genes, while co-overexpression of all four genes was observed in some high grade tumours. Co-overexpression of c-erbB-1 and c-fos was frequently observed in low grade astrocytomas and may be predictive of non-progression. On the other hand, there was a statistically significant increase in the number of tumours overexpressing Ha/N-ras or c-myc with increasing grade of tumour, suggesting that overexpression of these two oncogenes may be indicative of progression.