[Attention should be paid to glaucoma following pediatric cataract surgery].

Glaucoma following cataract surgery is one of the common complications after pediatric cataract surgery, and it is the main cause of "second blindness" in children. Since this atypical disease is difficult to diagnose and evaluate, it has been gradually paid more attention by clinicians. There are still some controversies and challenges related to the characteristics of the disease, diagnostic criteria, and treatment options. This article discusses the definition, diagnostic criteria, related risk factors, treatment strategies, follow-up, and prognoses of glaucoma following cataract surgery. Establishment of a diagnosis and treatment system can better improve the visual rehabilitation of pediatric cataract children.

[Clinical characteristics and surgical effect observation of congenital aniridia combined with cataract].

Objective: To analyze the clinical manifestations, surgical approaches and postoperative prognosis for the cases of congenital aniridia combined with cataract. Methods: In this retrospective case series, 26 patients diagnosed with congenital aniridia combined with cataract were collected from Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center from February 2002 to August 2016. The Clinical data were collected to analyze the clinical features, surgical approaches and postoperative prognosis. T-test was used for statistical analysis. Results: Twenty-six bilateral congenital aniridia patients were included in the case series, with 50% male cases. The average age for the first visit was (8.72±8.06) years old. Hereditary patients constitutes 30.8% (8/26) of the total number. The proportions for bilateral and unilateral cataracts were 88.5% (23/26) and 11.5% (3/26) respectively, and 49 eyes suffering from both congenital aniridia and cataract were therefore included in the final analysis. The most common morphology cataract subtypes were lamellar cataract (24.5%, 12/49), posterior subcapsular cataract (22.4%, 11/49), and total cataract (18.4%,9/49). The observed ocular comorbidities included nystagmus (36.7%, 18/49), vitreous opacity (28.6%, 14/49), foveal hypoplasia (20.4%, 10/49), ametropia (12.2%, 6/49), exotropia (12.2%, 6/49), congenital glaucoma (12.2%, 6/49), esotropia (4.1%, 2/49), congenital ptosis (4.1%, 2/49), lens ectopia (4.1%, 2/49), scleral staphyloma (2.0%, 1/49) and pigmentary degeneration of retina (2.0%, 1/49). 30.6% (15/49) eyes were performed the cataract extraction surgery. The percentage of postoperative best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) for ≥0.1 and ≥0.3 were 93.3% (14/15) and 20.0% (3/15) respectively. Evaluated ocular pressure (33.3%, 5/15), severe posterior capsular opacification (PCO) (13.3%, 2/15) and choroidal hemorrhage combined with choroidal detachment (6.7%, 1/15) were detected as the postoperative complications. Followed by cataract extraction, 80.0% (12/15) eyes were sequentially performed the intraocular lens implantation, while, 20.0% (3/12) eyes remained aphakia due to ocular comorbidities. Conclusions: Congenital aniridia combined with cataract are rare diseases, calling for the precious retrospective researches. This disorder tended to affect both eyes and occurred hereditary. The clinical courses of the cases presented progressive features. Ocular comorbidities were the crucial factors to influence the surgical approaches and postoperative prognosis. (Chin J Ophthalmol, 2017, 53: 821-827).

Ketorolac Tromethamine Spray Prevents Postendotracheal-Intubation-Induced Sore Throat after General Anesthesia.

Background. Postoperative sore throat is one of the major complaints of general anesthesia in the postanesthesia care unit. This prospective study investigated the preventive effect of ketorolac tromethamine spray in postendotracheal-intubation-induced sore throat after general anesthesia. Methods. Surgical patients undergoing general anesthesia with endotracheal intubation were recruited from a medical center. Patients were randomly assigned to group K (treated with 5% ketorolac tromethamine spray) or group D (treated with distilled water spray). Before intubation, each endotracheal tube was sprayed with the appropriate solution by physicians over the 20 cm length of the cuff. Each group comprised 95 patients fitting the inclusion and exclusion criteria for whom complete data sets were collected. The intensity of the sore throat was measured at 1, 3, 6, and 24 h after surgery, and data were compared. Results. The two groups had similar characteristics. Postoperative sore throat was significantly less frequent in group K than in group D (p < 0.001) and the pain intensity was significantly lower in group K than in group D at each time point (all p < 0.001). Conclusions. This study demonstrated that preanesthesia 5% ketorolac tromethamine spray could effectively decrease postendotracheal-intubation-induced sore throat in patients undergoing general anesthesia.

Solid-state, ambient-operation thermally activated delayed fluorescence from flexible, non-toxic gold-nanocluster thin films: towards the development of biocompatible light-emitting devices.

Luminescent gold nanoclusters (AuNCs) with good biocompatibility have gained much attention in bio-photonics. In addition, they also exhibit a unique photo-physical property, namely thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), by which both singlet and triplet excitons can be harvested. The combination of their non-toxic material property and unique TADF behavior makes AuNCs biocompatible nano-emitters for bio-related light-emitting devices. Unfortunately, the TADF emission is quenched when colloidal AuNCs are transferred to solid states under ambient environment. Here, a facile, low-cost and effective method was used to generate efficient and stable TADF emissions from solid AuNCs under ambient environment using polyvinyl alcohol as a solid matrix. To unravel the underlying mechanism, temperature-dependent static and transient photoluminescence measurements were performed and we found that two factors are crucial for solid TADF emission: small energy splitting between singlet and triplet states and the stabilization of the triplet states. Solid TADF films were also deposited on the flexible plastic substrate with patterned structures, thus mitigating the waveguide-mode losses. In addition, we also demonstrated that warm white light can be generated based on a co-doped single emissive layer, consisting of non-toxic, solution-processed TADF AuNCs and fluorescent carbon dots under UV excitation.

A Facile and Low-Cost Method to Enhance the Internal Quantum Yield and External Light-Extraction Efficiency for Flexible Light-Emitting Carbon-Dot Films.

Solution-processed, non-toxic carbon dots (CDs) have attracted much attention due to their unique photoluminescence (PL) properties. They are promising emissive layers for flexible light-emitting devices. To this end, the CDs in pristine aqueous solutions need to be transferred to form solid-state thin films without sacrificing their original PL characteristics. Unfortunately, solid-state PL quenching induced by extra non-radiative (NR) energy transfer among CDs would significantly hinder their practical applications in optoelectronics. Here, a facile, low-cost and effective method has been utilized to fabricate high-performance CD/polymer light-emitting flexible films with submicron-structured patterns. The patterned polymers can serve as a solid matrix to disperse and passivate CDs, thus achieving high internal quantum yields of 61%. In addition, they can act as an out-coupler to mitigate the waveguide-mode losses, approximately doubling the external light-extraction efficiency. Such CD/polymer composites also exhibit good photo-stability, and thus can be used as eco-friendly, low-cost phosphors for solid-state lighting.

Influenza A plasma and serum virus antibody detection comparison in dogs using blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The influenza A virus (IAV) is an important zoonotic pathogen with infections also reported in dogs. IAV infections can be detected through the presence of antibodies using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum is the only standard sample source; however, there is no information on the availability of other sample sources for IAV antibody detection in dogs. Compared with serum, plasma is more widely employed in most animal hospitals. The object of this study is to investigate whether plasma collected in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) tubes (EDTA plasma) or heparin tubes (heparin plasma) could be used in the ELISA protocol instead of serum for IAV antibody detection in dogs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Totally, 82 matched EDTA plasma and serum sample pairs and 79 matched heparin plasma and serum sample pairs were employed using blocking enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (bELISA). The agreement and correlation between the plasma (EDTA or heparin plasma) and serum were assessed using the agreement index kappa (kD) calculation and Pearson correlation coefficient, respectively. RESULTS: The agreement index kD of EDTA plasma and serum was 1.0, and that of heparin plasma and serum was 0.85. The Pearson correlation coefficient of EDTA plasma and serum was 0.87 (p<0.01), and that of heparin plasma and serum was 0.82 (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: The results proved that plasma, especially EDTA plasma, could be substituted for serum in the bELISA test. This might greatly expand the clinical applicability of IAV antibody detection in dogs.

Neuroprotective effects of Hu-Yi-Neng, a diet supplement, on SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells.

OBJECTIVES: Oxidative stress is considered the potential risk to the development of dementia. Some medicines, vitamins, and diet supplements have been suggested to have possible benefits via the antioxidative effects to slow the decline of cognitive function in demented and non-demented individuals. However, few studies were conducted to examine their functions, especially in composite diet supplements. Hu-Yi-Neng is a composite diet supplement, including ginkgo biloba, extract of pine bark, phosphatidyl serine, docosahexaenoic acid, and folic acid, used extensively in Taiwan. Therefore, our aim is to investigate the potential protective effects of Hu-Yi-Neng on human neuron cells. MATERALS AND METHODS: H2O2-induced neuronal toxicity was characterized in SH-SY5Y human neuroblastoma cells by the decrease of cell viability using PrestoBlue™ assay and by the increase of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level using DCFH-DA (2', 7'-dichlorodihydrofluorescin diacetate) assays. HO-1 mRNA expression was detected by real-time PCR. Akt and Erk 1/2 proteins were detected by western blotting. RESULTS: Pretreatment with Hu-Yi-Neng significantly reversed the decrease in cell viability induced by H2O2 in SH-SY5Y cells. Furthermore, Hu-Yi-Neng dose-dependently suppressed the elevation of intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) level. Hu-Yi-Neng protected SH-SY5Y cells from oxidative stress may via the increase in mRNA expression of heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1), an antioxidant enzyme. In addition, Hu-Yi-Neng inhibited H2O2-induced phosphorylation of Akt kinase but further increased the phosphorylation of Erk 1/2. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that Hu-Yi-Neng has protective effect against oxidative stress-induced neuron cell loss and it could be an ideal composite diet supplement for preventing neurodegenerative diseases.

Pitfalls of CT for deep neck abscess imaging assessment: a retrospective review of 162 cases.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) for the prediction of deep neck abscesses in different deep neck spaces and to evaluate the false-positive results. METHOD: We retrospectively analysed the clinical charts, CT examinations, surgical findings, bacteriology, pathological examinations and complications of hospitalised patients with a diagnosis of deep neck abscess from 2004 to 2010. The positive predictive values (PPV) for the prediction of abscesses by CT scan in different deep neck spaces were calculated individually on the basis of surgical findings. RESULTS: A total of 162 patients were included in this study. All patients received both intravenous antibiotics and surgical drainage. The parapharyngeal space was the most commonly involved space. The overall PPV for the prediction of deep neck abscess with contrast-enhanced CT was 79.6%. The PPV was 91.3% when more than one deep neck space was involved but only 50.0% in patients with isolated retropharyngeal abscesses. In the false-positive group, cellulitis was the most common final result, followed by cystic degeneration of cervical metastases. Five specimens taken intra-operatively revealed malignancy and four of these were not infected. CONCLUSIONS: There are some limitations affecting the differentiation of abscesses and cellulitis, particularly in the retropharyngeal space. A central necrotic cervical metastatic lymph node may sometimes also mimic a simple pyogenic deep neck abscess on both clinical pictures and CT images. Routine biopsy of the tissue must be performed during surgical drainage.

Self-perceived health and return to work following work-related hand injury.

BACKGROUND: Return to work is an important outcome following traumatic work-related hand injuries. It is unclear how psychosocial factors affect the time to return to work following traumatic work-related hand injury. AIMS: To investigate the relationships between hand injury severity, self-perceived health, demographics and time off work (TOW) following traumatic work-related hand injuries and the influence of psychosocial factors on the readiness of return to work. METHODS: Data from 120 traumatic work-related hand injured patients were gathered. The Modified Hand Injury Severity Score (MHISS) and Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) were used to assess the severity of hand trauma and self-perceived health, respectively. The relationships between MHISS, SF-36, demographics and TOW were analysed by multiple regression analysis. RESULTS: Mean duration of TOW was 127 days for patients with a mild MHISS, 108 days for a moderate score, 160 days for a severe score and 236 days for those with a major score. A positive correlation between MHISS and duration of TOW was identified. Self-perceived physical functioning was found to have a negative correlation with TOW, whereas self-perceived mental health was positively correlated with TOW. CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the importance of self-perceived health in considering return to work following traumatic work-related hand injury.

Study of gastric fluid induced cytokine and chemokine expression in airway smooth muscle cells and airway remodeling.

Asthma is a chronic airway inflammatory disease. Chronic aspiration by gastric fluid in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is considered a primary inflammatory factor exacerbating or predisposing patients to asthma. Airway smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are considered an important component in airway remodeling. To investigate the role of gastric fluid in airway SMC inflammation and airway remodeling, we examined gastric fluid-induced cytokine and chemokine profiles, airway SMC migration and matrix metalloproteinase expression in rat primary rat airway SMCs. The T helper cell type 2 (Th2) cytokines interleukin 4, interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor 2 (TNF-α) and the chemokines, lipopolysaccharide-induced CXC chemokine (LIX/CXCL5), cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant 2 (CINC-2), CINC-3, fractalkine, ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), and vascular endothelial growth factor were induced by gastric fluid in primary cultured rat airway SMCs. Migration of rat airway SMCs was enhanced by gastric fluid and conditioned medium. The migration of rat airway SMCs enhanced by gastric fluid was associated with actin polymerization and activation of focal adhesion kinase. Matrix metalloproteinase 2 expressions in airway SMCs was enhanced by gastric fluid and conditioned medium. The results suggest potential mechanisms by which gastric fluid aspiration might influence SMC-mediated airway remodeling.

Energy transfer from InGaN quantum wells to Au nanoclusters via optical waveguiding.

We present the first observation of resonance energy transfer from InGaN quantum wells to Au nanoclusters via optical waveguiding. Steady-state and time-resolved photoluminescence measurements provide conclusive evidence of resonance energy transfer and obtain an optimum transfer efficiency of ~72%. A set of rate equations is successfully used to model the kinetics of resonance energy transfer.

Artificial neural network analysis for reliability prediction of regional runoff utilization.

Many factors in the reliability analysis of planning the regional rainwater utilization tank capacity need to be considered. Based on the historical daily rainfall data, the following four analyzing procedures will be conducted: the regional daily rainfall frequency, the amount of runoff, the water continuity, and the reliability. Thereafter, the suggested designed storage capacity can be obtained according to the conditions with the demand and supply reliability. By using the output data, two different types of artificial neural network models are used to build up small area rainfall-runoff supply systems for the simulation of reliability and the prediction model. They are also used for the testing of stability and learning speed assessment. Based on the result of this research, the radial basis function neural network (RBFNN) model, using the Gaussian function that has a similar trend as the nature as basic function, has better stability than using the back-propagation neural network (BPNN) model. Despite the fact that RBFNN was more reliable than BPNN, it still made a conservative estimate for the actual monitoring data. The error rate of RBFNN was still higher than the correction of BPNN 4-3-1-1. This should have significant benefit in the future application of the instantaneous prediction or the development of related intelligent instantaneous control equipment.

Characterization of interleukin 8 in woodchucks with chronic hepatitis B and hepatocellular carcinoma.

The eastern woodchuck, Marmota monax, represents a useful animal model to study hepatitis B virus infection in humans. However, immunological studies in this model have been impeded by a lack of basic information about the components of the immune system such as cytokines and chemokines. To clarify the role(s) of interleukin 8 (IL-8) in chronic hepatitis B and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the woodchuck model, we cloned and characterized the woodchuck IL-8 cDNA and genomic DNA. Sequence analysis revealed that the organization of the wk-IL-8 gene is similar to that of the human IL-8 gene and consists of four exons and three introns. Woodchuck IL-8 protein exhibits the conserved ELRCXC motif of IL-8 and shows 87, 82, 82 and 79% similarity with rabbit, ovine, bovine and human IL-8 proteins, respectively. The biological activity of wk-IL-8 was demonstrated using neutrophil chemotaxis assays. Wk-IL-8 could be readily detected in both tumor and non-tumor tissues with higher expression in the non-tumor tissues in most cases. The results from this study will facilitate the investigation of IL-8 in the immunopathogenesis of hepadnavirus-related diseases by the woodchuck model.

Fibronectin suppresses lipopolysaccharide-induced liver damage and promotes the cytoprotection abilities of hepatocyte-like cells derived from human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells.

We isolated mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) from adult human bone marrow. By using reverse-transcription polymerase chain reactions, we confirmed that MSCs possessed the potential to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells (MSC-HLCs) with the expression of hepatocyte-specific marker genes. We further observed that fibronectin (FN) treatment significantly inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced apoptotic activities in FN-treated MSC-HLCs, as detected by caspase 3 enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA) and terminal dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) assays (P<.05). The FN-treated MSC-HLCs were transplanted into SCID mice with or without LPS injection. This study demonstrated that FN treatment improved liver function repair and survival rates among LPS-treated SCID mice.

Influence of diabetes mellitus on deep neck infection.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the influence of hyperglycaemia on deep neck infection (DNI) and the differences between the diabetic and non-diabetic form of DNI. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective review of 131 patients with DNI treated between 1993 and 2002 at Shin Kong Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. RESULTS: Deep neck infection was significantly more prevalent in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) over 60 years of age than in non-DM subjects of a similar age (p = 0.004). In the DM group, Klebsiella pneumoniae was the most common aerobic pathogen and tended to involve more than two anatomical spaces (p < 0.0001). Seventeen out of 18 patients (94.4 per cent) displayed an elevated (> or = 7 per cent) glycosylated haemoglobin level. The DM group had a significantly higher complication rate, longer hospital stay and tracheotomy rate than the non-DM group. CONCLUSIONS: Diabetic DNI differs from non-diabetic DNI in several aspects and is associated with a higher morbidity. A greater than normal haemoglobin A1c level was commonly observed.

Using gelatin scaffold with coated basic fibroblast growth factor as a transfer system for transplantation of human neural stem cells.

Gelatin scaffolds for ex vivo cell cultures are a promising development. These scaffolds can be used as three-dimensional skeletons for cell attachment and culture before transplantation. In this study, we isolated and cultivated neural stem cells from human brain tissues in serum-free medium (DMEM+F12 nutrient). Better neuron growth was observed using the tetrazolium assay (MTT) in the group when basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) was coated on the gelatin polymer scaffold. Further development of this nontoxic system may help the future development of transplantation of human neural stem cells.

Using human plasma supplemented medium to cultivate human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cell and evaluation of its multiple-lineage potential.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the proliferation and the multiple-lineage differentiation capacity when bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) were cultured short-term in autologous serum/plasma instead of fetal calf serum (FCS). The BMSCs from 12 donors were cultivated individually in 10% autogenic plasma or serum, with or without bFGF and EGF growth factors. Cell proliferation was examined by a Tetrazolium assay (MTT) after passages 1, 3, and 5. A medium supplemented with 10% human plasma or serum was sufficient to propagate BMSCs. However, no significant proliferation was shown when bFGF and EGF (20 ng/mL each) were added into the medium with autologous serum/plasma. We examined, inductions of adipogenesis, osteogenesis, and chondrocytogenesis, as capacities of multiple-lineage differentiation of cultivated BMSCs (passages 8). Differentiation was investigated by both RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry staining (IHC). Qualitative evidence demonstrated the differentiation capacity was preserved in cultivated BMSCs with autologous serum/plasma.

Thermal modeling and performance analysis of a thermoacoustic refrigerator.

A heat-driven thermoacoustic refrigerator has been designed and tested. A detailed thermal model of the device is presented. Energy balances within the system are discussed using external, heat exchanger, and stack control volumes in order to clarify the relationships of work and heat fluxes below and above onset. Thermal modeling is discussed as a tool for performance analysis as well as for determining system heat losses and finding input heat flows required by a thermoacoustic code. A method of using the control volume balance equations to find stack work and device efficiencies is presented. Experimental measurements are compared to DELTAE thermoacoustic modeling predictions. Modeling results show that viscous losses within the system have a significant impact on the device performance as well as on the ability of DELTAE to accurately predict performance. Modeling has led to an understanding of system performance and highlighted loss sources that are areas for improvement in a redesign.