Retinal projections to the thalamus in albino frogs

Purpose:  Posterior capsular opacification (PCO) is the commonest complication of cataract surgery. The aim of this work is to develop a system that could be used by primary care practitioners to monitor the progression of PCO using familiar equipment.
Methods:  A Kodak DCS 100 (Eastman Kodak, Rochester, NY, USA) digital data back, which uses a Nikon F3 body, was connected to the camera port of a Nikon FS-2 photo slit-lamp. A fixation stimulus was developed and systematic studies carried out to determine optimum exposure and slit-lamp settings using patients recruited from the YAG laser capsulotomy clinic at the Royal Eye Unit, Kingston Hospital. In all cases conventional illumination was used. Inter and intraobserver trials were then carried out using observers ranging from a non-clinician to an experienced ophthalmologist. All images were analysed using ImagePro Plus image processing software prior to statistical analysis.
Results:  Optimum slit-lamp parameters were found to be a 45° slit beam angle, 3 mm slit width and 25× magnification. The flash intensity was set to 2. The optimum camera and digital storage unit speed settings were both ISO 200 for fibrotic PCO but 800 and 1600, respectively, for Elschnig pearl type PCO. Intra-observer repeatability gave ±0.375 mm (95% confidence) variation in fixation. However, initial results from interobserver trials showed significant variability.
Conclusions:  The current digital assessment system uses a standard piece of consulting room equipment coupled to a digital 35 mm camera. Initial results indicate that it should be suitable for use in monitoring PCO although a more exact measurement protocol is required to reduce interobserver variability. Work is currently underway to complete validation trials and to find suitable image statistics.     

The organization of pyramidal cells in area 18 of the rhesus monkey

The aim of this study was to investigate the vertical organization of axons and pyramidal cells in area 18, and to compare it with that in area 17. In area 18 there are regularly spaced vertical bundles of myelinated axons that have an average center-to-center spacing of 21 microns. This arrangement of axons resembles that in area 17. Pyramidal cells in area 18 and their apical dendrites are less regularly arranged. The apical dendrites of the pyramidal cells of layer 6A aggregate with those from layer 5 pyramids to form swathes of apical dendrites that pass into layer 4. There they are joined by the apical dendrites of the small layer 4 pyramids, so that much of the neuropil of layer 4 is occupied by apical dendrites. Most of these apical dendrites form their terminal tufts in layer 3. Very few of them reach layer 1, which is dominated by the apical dendrites of layer 2/3 pyramids. Thus, there are two tiers of apical dendrites and their apical tufts, a deep one formed by the layer 4, 5 and 6 apical dendrites that terminate in layer 3, and a second one formed by the apical dendrites of layer 2/3 pyramids that terminate in layer 1. In contrast, in area 17 the apical dendrites of layer 5 pyramids form discrete clusters that have a center-to-center spacing of 23 microns. These clusters are joined by the apical dendrites of the layer 2/3 pyramids and all of these apical dendrites form their apical tufts in layer 1. Based upon the dispositions of the apical dendrites of the pyramidal cells in area 17 and 18, we speculate that the influences of, and the interactions between, the feed-forward and feed-back signals in the two areas are quite different, because in the two areas different postsynaptic targets are available to these afferents.      

Entropion: therapeutic indications]

The severity of entropion depends on trichiasis which is perpetuated by orbicularis spasm, creating a vicious cycle. The therapeutic approaches are based on the aetiopathogenesis. Congenital entropion is essentially treated by infraciliary cutaneomuscular resection. The various components of involutional (senile) entropion, horizontal and vertical retraction, orbicularis dyskinesia, are treated respectively by tissue reduction, reinforcement of retractore and myoplasties. In cicatricial entropion, chondro-mucosal or fibromuscular graft is the technique of choice for correcting insufficiency of the tarsoconjunctival plane or its curvature. It is also the best solution for the correction of trichiasis or distichiasis.     

Erythema figuratum in septic babesiosis

Babesiosis is a rare worldwide-distributed protozoal zoonosis caused by a haemoprotozoan of the genus Babesia, transmitted through bites of tick of the genus Ixodes. The first demonstrated case of human babesiosis in the world was discovered in Europe, in 1957. However, most of the cases were reported later in the north-east of the United States where Babesia microti has been the cause of over 300 cases of human babesiosis since 1969. In Europe, the most severe cases are observed in asplenic patients infected by a parasite of cattle, the Babesia divergens. Only two cases of babesiosis have been reported in Spain. We present a case of erythema figuratum associated to septic babesiosis in a non-splenectomized man, which is currently the third case of babesiosis in Spain.     

Prevention of CMV infection after BMT in high-risk patients using CMV hyperimmune globulin

Prophylactic administration of an intravenous cytomegalovirus hyperimmune globulin in bone marrow transplant recipients provided protection against primary as well as reactivated CMV infection in patients considered to be at high risk for cytomegalovirus infections. Forty-one patients were divided in six subgroups according to factors considered to increase the incidence and severity of CMV infections following bone marrow transplantation. All of these patients received blood products from donors not screened for active or latent CMV infections. In spite of this, patients undergoing intensified conditioning therapy or mismatch transplantation, as well as those transplanted in relapse of their leukemia and even patients receiving granulocyte transfusions from donors unscreened for CMV serostatus, were found not to develop primary or secondary CMV infections. Only in the group of patients older than 35 years and among those suffering from severe GVHD six patients were found to have CMV infections, only two a symptomatic form. Intravenous administration of CMV hyperimmune globulin effectively protected even patients at high risk for CMV infection against severe complications of primary infection or reactivation of this virus.