A real-world data analysis of ocular adverse events linked to anti-VEGF drugs: a WHO-VigiAccess study.

Introduction: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) is key to wet age-related macular degeneration (wAMD). Anti-VEGF drugs are the main treatment in clinics. This study assessed ocular adverse events (AE) from anti-VEGF drugs in VigiAccess, WHO's database, and compared adverse drug reaction (ADR) profiles of four drugs to aid personalized treatment choices for optimal benefit and safety. Methods: The design was a descriptive retrospective study. We observed four anti-VEGF drugs commonly used in the clinical treatment of wAMD, and their ADR reports came from WHO-VigiAccess. The collected data included the age group, gender, and regional data, as well as the data of disease systems and symptoms caused by ADR recorded in the annual ADR reports and reports received by the WHO. We observed the overall characteristics of the ADR reports of these drugs, then explored the distribution of 27 SOCs of these drugs. Subsequently, we compared the most common ocular ADRs of the drugs. Finally, we compared the commonalities and differences of ocular ADRs related to the drugs. Results: Overall, 57,779 AE associated with the four anti-VEGF drugs were reported. The results showed that the number of females experiencing ADRs (67.83%) was significantly higher than males (32.17%), the age group with the highest reported incidence was over 75 years old. More than half of the ADR reports came from the Americas (50.86%). The five most common types of AE were: eye disorders (43.56%), general disorders and administration site conditions (34.47%), injury poisoning and procedural complications (13.36%), infections and infestations (11.61%), nervous system disorders (9.99%). Compared with the other three inhibitors, brolucizumab had a significantly higher rate of ocular ADR reports. The most common ocular ADRs of these four anti-VEGF drugs were mostly related to visual impairment, vision blurred, and blindness. However, there is still a disparity of ADRs between different drugs. Conclusion: The presence of ocular AEs when using anti-VEGF drugs to treat wAMD in clinical practice should attract clinical attention. Clinicians should use these expensive drugs more rationally based on the characteristics of ADRs and develop personalized treatment plans for patients.

Evaluation of Combined Strategy to Reduce the Pain of Penicillin G Benzathine Injection in Primary Syphilis.

Background: Intramuscular (IM) injection of penicillin G Benzathine (PGB) is widely recognized as the primary treatment for patients at all stages of syphilis. However, the discomfort and induration associated with PGB injections are often a challenge for patients. While lidocaine is already known to reduce injection pain and is standard practice in some countries, the added value of combining lidocaine with the z-track technique has not been thoroughly investigated. This study aims to observe the use of combining lidocaine with the Z-track technique in the treatment of syphilis, and to explore less painful methods of administering IM PGB for the treatment of syphilis in adult patients. Methods: 32 syphilis patients requiring penicillin treatment were injected with 1.2 million units of penicillin on both sides of the buttocks. The left side was injected using the traditional method with 0.9% saline as the solvent (control Group), while the right side was injected using a "z" injection method with 0.2% lidocaine as the solvent (experimental Group). The success rate of the single injection, the intensity and duration of the post-injection pain and the induration reaction were observed and recorded. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in single injection success rate and immediate post injection pain score between the two sides (P>0.05). However, the right side had a lower pain score at 30 minutes post injection and fewer induration reactions, showing a statistically significant difference between the two sides (P<0.05). Chi-squared analysis showed that age, gender and BMI had no significant effect on pain scores 30 minutes after injection in either the control or intervention groups. (P>0.05). Conclusion: The lidocaine + Z-track penicillin method can reduce delayed pain and induration reactions in patients with syphilis, and provides an additional approach to improving patient comfort beyond the standard use of lidocaine alone. This method merits clinical promotion.

High freeze-thaw stability of Pickering emulsion stabilized by SPI-maltose particles and its effect on frozen dough.

Pickering emulsions with good freeze-thaw stability are essential in frozen food applications. This study developed a high freeze-thaw stabilized soy protein isolate (SPI)-maltose (M) Pickering emulsion and applied it to frozen doughs to investigate and reveal its impacts on the processing properties of the frozen dough. The results showed that after the freeze-thaw cycle, with a volume ratio of 1:2 of SPI to M, the appropriate amount of M changed the structure of SPI. This resulted in the Pickering emulsion prepared by the SPI exhibiting the least droplet coalescence and the best freeze-thaw stability. The results of dough rheological properties, textural properties, and binding capacity with water demonstrated that Pickering emulsions effectively inhibited the loss of gluten protein network structure in the dough after freeze treatment and increased the binding capacity of gluten proteins with starch and water in the dough. The best results were obtained with the incorporation of 3 % SPI-M high freeze-thaw stability, where the amount of bound water following three freeze-thaw cycles was 4.27 times higher than in doughs without Pickering emulsion. Overall, this study is significant for enhancing the freeze-thaw stability of Pickering emulsions stabilized by proteins and providing a new application route for Pickering emulsions.

Study of the relationship between the severity of posterior capsular opacification detected by objective detection techniques and visual acuity.

PURPOSE: To explore the severity of posterior capsule opacification (PCO) using objective detection techniques and its relationship with visual acuity. SETTING: The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China. DESIGN: Prospective cohort study. METHODS: All patients underwent slitlamp examination, intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement, and corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) testing before Nd:YAG laser capsulotomy, and examination, after fully dilated, with: IOLMaster 700, optical coherence tomography (OCT), Sirius Topographer (CSO) anterior segment analysis, and color fundus photography (CFP). CDVA and IOP were taken post treatment. Thickness and density of the posterior capsule, CFP quality (CFPQ) and OCT signal strength (OCTSS) were recorded. Analysis used Spearman correlation, heatmaps, and receiver operating characteristic curves. RESULTS: 83 eyes in 78 patients were included in this study. Spearman correlation analysis revealed correlations between pretreatment CDVA and IOLMaster 700 PCO thickness (MT), IOLMaster 700 cumulative effect (MCE), Sirius PCO thickness (ST), Sirius maximum density (SMD), Sirius cumulative effect (SCE), OCTSS, and CFPQ (correlation coefficients were 0.500, 0.484, 0.465, -0.256, 0.317, -0.442, -0.412, all P < .05). The improvement of vision acuity (ImpVA) showed correlations with MT, MCE, ST, SCE, OCTSS, and CFPQ (correlation coefficients were -0.452, -0.471, -0.346, -0.278, 0.320, 0.381, all P < .05). For ImpVA, the predictive ability of IOLMaster 700 was superior to Sirius, and the joint model was significantly better than single factors. CONCLUSIONS: Posterior capsule thickness and cumulative effect were reliable indicators for evaluating PCO. Compared with Sirius, the IOLMaster 700 demonstrated superior predictive ability and higher correlation.

Predicting the postoperative intraocular lens position based on IOL Master 700 biometry, compared with results from the anterior segment analysis system.

PURPOSE: Predict intraocular lens position after cataract surgery using the IOL Master 700 and explore the associated ocular parameters compared with the results obtained from the anterior segment analysis system (Sirius, CSO Inc, Florence, Italy). METHODS: A total of 98 patients (106 eyes) were included in the retrospective study. The postoperative intraocular lens position was obtained using the IOL Master 700 and measured using Adobe Illustrator software. Correlation analysis and linear regression analysis were applied to study the correlation between the actual position of the postoperative intraocular lens (ALP) and the ocular parameters. In addition, Bland-Altman consistency analysis was used to compare the consistency between any two among the predicted intraocular lens position (ALPi) obtained using IOL Master 700 biometry, the predicted artificial lens position (ALPs) calculated using the anterior segment analysis system, or the ALP. RESULTS: Ocular parameters, including preoperative anterior chamber depth, lens thickness, axial length, white-to-white, and postoperative refractive error were all correlated with ALP after cataract surgery (P < 0.05) using univariate analysis. However, in multivariate linear regression, only the first three variables were correlated with ALP. Compared with the equation obtained by the anterior segment analysis, the equation from IOL Master 700 biometry provided a better fit. The results of the consistency analysis showed that ALP, ALPi, and ALPs were in good agreement. CONCLUSION: IOL Master 700 biometry can help predict intraocular lens position after surgery, and its accuracy is better than that provided by the anterior segment analysis system.

Time trends and gender disparities of Chinese cataract burden and their predictions.

AIM: To evaluate the trends and changes in the number and rates of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and prevalence of cataract in China between 1990 and 2019, and to predict the trends of cataract burden from 2020 to 2030. METHODS: The Global Burden of Diseases (GBD) database was employed to collect the data on DALYs and the prevalence of cataract in China, which was distinguished by age and sex during the past three decades from 1990 to 2019, and then changes in the number and rates of cataract from 2020 to 2030 were predicted. All data were analyzed by the R program (version 4.2.2) and GraphPad Prism 9.0 statistics software. RESULTS: The number of DALYs of cataract increased from 449 322.84 in 1990 to 1 087 987.61 in 2019, number of cataract cases increased from 5 607 600.94 in 1990 to 18 142 568.96 in 2019. The age-standardized DALY rates (ASDR) generally increased slightly [estimated annual percentage change (EAPC=0.1; 95%CI: -0.24 to 0.45), age-standardized prevalence rates (ASPR) also increased (EAPC=0.88; 95%CI: 0.6 to 1.15). Cataract burden increased with age and female gender. Among the causes of cataract, air pollution was the most important, followed by smoking, high fasting plasma glucose, and high body mass index (BMI). The burden of cataract is predicted to grow persistently from 2020 to 2030, the number of DALYs and prevalence for cataract will rise to 2 336 431 and 43 698 620 respectively by 2030, the ASDR is predicted to be 85/100 000 and ASPR will be 1586/100 000 in 2030, females will still be at greater risk of suffering from cataract than males. CONCLUSION: The burden of cataract in China kept rising from 1990 to 2019. Increasing age and female gender are risk factors for cataract. Air pollution, smoking, high fasting plasma glucose, and high BMI are associated with cataract. The burden of cataract in China will gradually increase from 2020 to 2030, the elderly women in particular need attention. Our results may be of help for providing reference strategies to reduce cataract burden in the near future.

Effects of Concentration of Soybean Protein Isolate and Maltose and Oil Phase Volume Fraction on Freeze-Thaw Stability of Pickering Emulsion.

There is growing interest in enhancing the freeze-thaw stability of a Pickering emulsion to obtain a better taste in the frozen food field. A Pickering emulsion was prepared using a two-step homogenization method with soybean protein and maltose as raw materials. The outcomes showed that the freeze-thaw stability of the Pickering emulsion increased when prepared with an increase in soybean protein isolate (SPI) and maltose concentration. After three freeze-thaw treatments at 35 mg/mL, the Turbiscan Stability Index (TSI) value of the emulsion was the lowest. At this concentration, the surface hydrophobicity (H0) of the composite particles was 33.6 and the interfacial tension was 44.34 mN/m. Furthermore, the rheological nature of the emulsions proved that the apparent viscosity and viscoelasticity of Pickering emulsions grew with a growing oil phase volume fraction and concentration. The maximum value was reached in the case of the oil phase volume fraction of 50% at a concentration of 35 mg/mL, the apparent viscosity was 18 Pa·s, the storage modulus of the emulsion was 575 Pa, and the loss modulus was 152 Pa. This research is significant for the production of freeze-thaw resistant products, and improvement of protein-stabilized emulsion products with high freeze-thaw stability.

Theoretical Investigation of Switch Effect on the Efficiency and Adaptivity of Molecular Optoelectronic Conversion Devices.

Molecular photoswitch can effectively regulate charge separation (CS) and charge recombination (CR) in donor-acceptor (D-A) systems. However, deformation of the donor-switch-acceptor (D-S-A) systems caused by the switch isomerization will destroy the geometrical stability of the battery. Here we take the planar platinum(II) terpyridyl complex of [Pt(t Bu3 tpy)(-C≡C-Ph)n ]+ as the typical D-A model, designed six D-S-A systems using different photoswitches (dimethyldihydropyrene, fulgimide, arylazopyrazole, N-salicylideneaniline, spiropyran, and dithienylethene, denoted as D-S-A 1-6 hereafter). Our investigations show that the D-S-A 1-6 can absorb visible light of 799 nm, 673 nm, 527 nm, 568 nm, 616 nm, and 629 nm, facilitating electrons transfer from the donor and the switch to the acceptor through the Switch-on channel. Then cationic character of the photoswitch can undergo much more rapid isomerization than the neutral form due to the lower energy barrier. The Switch-off isomer breaks the conjugation of the D-S-A system, effectively turning off the CT channel and forming the CS state. Based on the evaluated conjugated backbone twist (CBT) angle, we found that D-S-A 1, 2, 4, 6 exhibit little configurational change and can be good candidates as the organic solar cell. The proposed D-S-A design controlled by the molecular switch may help to develop a solution for solar-harvesting practical applications.

Curing Kinetics Modeling of Epoxy Modified by Fully Vulcanized Elastomer Nanoparticles Using Rheometry Method.

In this study, the curing kinetics of epoxy nanocomposites containing ultra-fine full-vulcanized acrylonitrile butadiene rubber nanoparticles (UFNBRP) at different concentrations of 0, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 wt.% was investigated. In addition, the effect of curing temperatures was studied based on the rheological method under isothermal conditions. The epoxy resin/UFNBRP nanocomposites were characterized via Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). FTIR analysis exhibited the successful preparation of epoxy resin/UFNBRP, due to the existence of the UFNBRP characteristic peaks in the final product spectrum. The morphological structure of the epoxy resin/UFNBRP nanocomposites was investigated by both field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies. The FESEM and TEM studies showed UFNBRP had a spherical structure and was well dispersed in epoxy resin. The chemorheological analysis showed that due to the interactions between UFNBRP and epoxy resin, by increasing UFNBRP concentration at a constant temperature (65, 70 and 75 °C), the curing rate decreases at the gel point. Furthermore, both the curing kinetics modeling and chemorheological analysis demonstrated that the incorporation of 0.5% UFNBRP in epoxy resin matrix reduces the activation energy. The curing kinetic of epoxy resin/UFNBRP nanocomposite was best fitted with the Sestak-Berggren autocatalytic model.

Identifying of Pure and Defected Ti2 C Materials Using Gas Probe Molecules: First Principles Calculations.

Employing first principles calculations, we systematically investigated the geometrical and electronic structures of pure, titanium defected (DTi ) and carbon defected (DC ) Ti2 C materials. We found the defected Ti2 C exhibits stronger metallic property than pure Ti2 C due to the enhanced density of Ti-d orbital state near the Fermi level. We then studied the adsorption as well as the infrared spectrum (IR) response of the four kinds of gas molecules (CH4 , NH3 , CO and NO) on pure, DTi and DC Ti2 C surfaces. Simulations show that CO and NO molecules are chemically adsorbed on all Ti2 C surface with similar adsorption sites. However, CH4 and NH3 molecules would be dissociated on Ti2 C surface. Negative values of crystal orbital Hamilton population as well as the PDOS calculations show that the red shift in IR spectra of CO and NO molecules originates from the decreasing bonding strength of probe molecules. The present work provides rich insight for the adsorption and identification for different Ti2 C materials.

Cellulosic films reinforced by chitosan-citric complex for meat preservation: Influence of nonenzymatic browning.

The methods to obtain cellulose-chitosan composite films exhibiting excellent water-resisting and antibacterial abilities have been widely explored. Cellulose-chitosan-citric films (C-Chx-F) were successfully obtained by a facile coating of chitosan-citric complex on the surface of cellulose. The occurrence of nonenzymatic browning at 80 °C improved the thermal stability, water-resistance, mechanical property and oxygen-barrier ability of C-Chx-F membranes. C-Ch3-F hydrogel showed excellent breaking stress of 6.03 ± 0.25 MPa, and elastic module of 27.09 ± 1.21 MPa, probably assigned to nonenzymatic browning. Under different test temperatures, the nonenzymatic browning and the content of chitosan-citric complex will significantly improve the oxygen barrier property of membranes (P < 0.05), and C-Ch3-F membrane represented the value of oxygen permeation below the detection level. Excellent antibacterial capability of C-Chx-F hydrogels demonstrated that polycationic chitosan-citric complex immobilized in films still retained excellent antibacterial ability. The excellent decontamination in meat preservation endowed C-Chx-F films with potential application in food packaging.

Photoinduced Antimicrobial Activity of Curcumin-Containing Coatings: Molecular Interaction, Stability and Potential Application in Food Decontamination.

Polyvinyl acetate (PVAc) and curcumin (Cu) were utilized for preparing new protecting PVAc-Cu x (x = 1, 5 and 10) coatings exerting antimicrobial photodynamic activity upon white light irradiation. Toward Salmonella typhimurium or Staphylococcus aureus, the killing efficiency represented the dependence on the Cu concentration and irradiation intensity. Toward S. aureus, the killing efficiency of PVAc-Cu 10 coating reached 93% at an energy density of 72 J/cm2. With the change in storage time of coating, the results implied significant stability of photosterilization efficiency within 60 days. Compared with the control experiment, lower total viable counts (TVCs) and total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) values in fresh meat packaged by PVDC films with PVAc-Cu 10 coatings during storage at 4 °C demonstrated the practicability of the PVAc-Cu x coatings in decontaminating fresh pork. PVAc packed curcumin tightly within polymer chains, thus preventing tautomerization or, more probably, conformational transition, which is advantageous for improving photostability and emission lifetime.

Accurate predictions of spectroscopic and molecular properties of 27 Λ-S and 73 Ω states of AsS radical.

The PECs are calculated for the 27 Λ-S states and their corresponding 73 Ω states of AsS radical. Of these Λ-S states, only the 2(2)Δ and 5(4)Π states are replulsive. The 1(2)Σ(+), 2(2)Σ(+), 4(2)Π, 3(4)Δ, 3(4)Σ(+), and 4(4)Π states possess double wells. The 3(2)Σ(+) state possesses three wells. The A(2)Π, 3(2)Π, 1(2)Φ, 2(4)Π, 3(4)Π, 2(4)Δ, 3(4)Δ, 1(6)Σ(+), and 1(6)Π states are inverted with the SO coupling effect included. The 1(4)Σ(+), 2(4)Σ(+), 2(4)Σ(-), 2(4)Δ, 1(4)Φ, 1(6)Σ(+), and 1(6)Π states, the second wells of 1(2)Σ(+), 3(4)Σ(+), 4(2)Π, 4(4)Π, and 3(4)Δ states, and the third well of 3(2)Σ(+) state are very weakly-bound states. The PECs are extrapolated to the CBS limit. The effect of SO coupling on the PECs is discussed. The spectroscopic parameters are evaluated, and compared with available measurements and other theoretical ones. The vibrational properties of several weakly-bound states are determined. The spectroscopic properties reported here can be expected to be reliably predicted ones.