Thicknesses of the fovea and retinal nerve fiber layer in amblyopic and normal eyes in children.

PURPOSE: This study was designed to assess and compare the thicknesses of the fovea and the retinal nerve fiber layer in normal children and children with amblyopia. METHODS: Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) was performed on 26 children (52 eyes total) with unilateral amblyopia that was due to anisometropia or strabismus. OCT was also performed on 42 normal children (84 eyes), for a total of 136 eyes. Retinal thickness measurements were taken from the fovea, and the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements were taken from the superior, inferior, nasal and temporal quadrants in the peripapillary region. RESULTS: The average age of the normal children was 8.5 years, and the average age of the children with amblyopia was 8.0 years. The average thickness of the fovea was 157.4 microm in normal eyes and was 158.8 microm in amblyopic eyes. The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant (p = 0.551). The thicknesses of the superior, inferior, nasal and temporal quadrants of the retinal nerve fiber layer between the normal children and the children with amblyopia were also not statistically significant (p = 0.751, 0.228, 0.696 and 0.228, respectively). However, for the children with anisometropic amblyopia and the children with strabismic amblyopia, the average thicknesses of the fovea were 146.5 microm and 173.1 microm, respectively, and the retinal nerve fiber layer thicknesses were measured to be 112.9 microm and 92.8 microm, respectively, and these were statistically significant differences (p = 0.046, 0.034, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Normal thicknesses of the fovea and the retinal nerve fiber layers were established, and there were no differences in the fovea and the retinal nerve fiber layer thickness found between normal children and children with amblyopia.

Core-modified analogues of expanded porphyrins containing rigid ß,ß'-linked o-phenylene bridges.

Structural modifications that lead to the creation of π-extended aromatic macrocyles involving a heterocyclic ring other than pyrrole and rigid ß-ß' linkages have not been well studied up to date. The rigidity caused by the conformational restriction would change the spectroscopic properties of the system as compared with those of the normal congeners. With these considerations, we have synthesized and fully characterized π-extended, core modified expanded porphyrins bearing rigid bipyrrole units. Core-modified naphthorubyrins were synthesized by the Lewis acid-catalyzed condensation of naphthobipyrrole with thiophene/furan diols, whereas naphthosapphyrins were obtained by reacting 2,9-diformyl-naphthobipyrrole with 16-thia/oxatripyrranes under mild reaction conditions. The core-modified analogues of both naphthorubyrin and naphthosapphyrin displayed the aromatic character. The dithiarubyrin analogues showed a lack of conformational change as expected and displayed well-resolved (1) H NMR resonances at room temperature. On the other hand, the oxasapphyrin analogue adopts a furan-inverted geometry, and the ring inversion is independent of the protonation state. The oxanaphthosapphyrin also exhibited a weak fluorescence emission at 613 nm.

Receptor that can capture a discrete monohydrated fluoride anion.

A 'picket calix[4]pyrrole' bearing a well-defined binding domain has allowed the stabilization of a monohydrated fluoride anion. The monohydrated F(-) was observed only when CsF (not the TBAF) was treated with a host in aqueous acetonitrile. The structure of the receptor-bound, monohydrated F(-) was fully characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis as well as by low temperature (1)H and (19)F NMR spectroscopy. Further analysis revealed that the complex formed a three-dimensional, salt mediated organic framework in the solid state.

Conformational and spectroscopic properties of π-extended, bipyrrole-fused rubyrin and sapphyrin derivatives.

Two new expanded porphyrins, naphthorubyrin and naphthosapphyrin, were synthesized. The π-extended rubyrin was isolated and structurally characterized in its monoprotonated form. The sapphyrin congener undergoes pyrrole inversion as a function of the protonation state. These conformational effects are reflected in the spectroscopic features, including the excited singlet state lifetimes.