Prognosis evaluation with optical coherence tomography in chronic central serous chorioretinopathy.

BACKGROUND: Central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR) is the fourth most common retinopathy that causes severe vision loss and is frequently seen in young and active patients. Our aim in this study is to evaluate whether a foresight about the prognosis of patients with CSCR can be obtained by optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients diagnosed with chronic CSCR at Fatih Sultan Mehmet Research and Training Hospital, Ophthalmology Department, were screened between January 2017 and September 2019, and 30 patients were included in the study. The anatomical and functional changes of the patients during the 6-month follow-up and the relationship between the OCT findings at baseline and the best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in the sixth month were evaluated. RESULTS: All of the participants were treated with subthreshold micropulse laser therapy. BCVA increased significantly at first month and sixth month examinations compared to baseline, while the central macular thicknesses decreased significantly (p = 0.01, p = 0.00). Among the parameters examined in the baseline OCT, a positive correlation was found between the thickness of the outer nuclear layer (r = -0.520, p = 0.003) and BCVA at sixth month. In addition, subretinal fluid density and the number of intra-subretinal hyperreflective dots negatively affected BCVA (r = 0.371, p = 0.044 and r = 0.509, p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: Outer nuclear layer thickness, subretinal fluid density and intra-subretinal hyperreflective dots were the OCT biomarkers related to sixth month BCVA. The clinical use of these biomarkers will help evaluate the prognosis of the CSCR.

Life-threatening complication of percutaneous transthoracic fine-needle aspiration biopsy: systemic arterial air embolism.

Computed tomography-guided percutaneous transthoracic fine-needle aspiration biopsy of lung lesions is a well known diagnostic technique. Nevertheless, it has some complications; such as pneumothorax, intraparenchymal hemorrhage and hemoptysis, which are not rare. Air embolism is one of the rare but potentially fetal complications of this procedure. Herein, we report the case of a 69-year-old male, in which case of systemic air embolism developed after the performance of lung biopsy. Early diagnosis and prompt oxygen therapy is crucial for patient's survival so careful reviewing of the obtained computed tomography images during the biopsy may prevent a missing systemic air embolism and provide an adequate therapy.

Fetal demise due to cord entanglement in the early second trimester.

In this report, we describe a rare cause of in utero fetal death, a complex entanglement of the umbilical cord around the fetal neck. At the 16th gestational week of pregnancy, routine fetal ultrasonography showed no fetal heartbeat. Thereafter, the fetus was delivered vaginally in the breech presentation. The neck was found to be encircled by multiple tight loops of the umbilical cord. Other than a thin and elongated neck, there were no dysmorphic features and no chromosomal abnormality on cytogenetic analysis.

Endoplasmic reticulum stress plays a central role in development of leptin resistance.

Leptin has not evolved as a therapeutic modality for the treatment of obesity due to the prevalence of leptin resistance in a majority of the obese population. Nevertheless, the molecular mechanisms of leptin resistance remain poorly understood. Here, we show that increased endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) in the hypothalamus of obese mice inhibits leptin receptor signaling. The genetic imposition of reduced ER capacity in mice results in severe leptin resistance and leads to a significant augmentation of obesity on a high-fat diet. Moreover, we show that chemical chaperones, 4-phenyl butyric acid (PBA), and tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA), which have the ability to decrease ER stress, act as leptin-sensitizing agents. Taken together, our results may provide the basis for a novel treatment of obesity.