Intermediate-term outcomes of combined phacoemulsification and Aurolab aqueous drainage implant in eyes with refractory glaucoma and coexistent cataract

International Ophthalmology - To investigate the efficacy and safety of non-valved Aurolab aqueous drainage implant (AADI) surgery combined with phacoemulsification in eyes with refractory glaucoma...     

Neuropsychological changes following electrical injury.

The clinical presentation of electrical injury commonly involves physical, cognitive, and emotional complaints. Neuropsychological studies, including case reports, have indicated that electrical injury (EI) survivors may experience a broad range of impaired neuropsychological functions, although this has not been clarified through controlled investigation. In this study, we describe the neuropsychological test findings in a series of 29 EI patients carefully screened and matched to a group of 29 demographically similar healthy electricians. Participants were matched by their estimated premorbid intellectual ability. Multivariate analysis of variance was used to assess group differences in the following neuropsychological domains: attention and mental speed, working memory, verbal memory, visual memory, and motor skills. EI patients performed significantly worse on composite measures of attention/mental speed and motor skills, which could not be explained by demographic differences, injury parameters, litigation status, or mood disturbance. Results suggest that cognitive changes do occur in patients suffering from electrical injury.     

Scatter correction in scintigraphy: the state of the art

In scintigraphy, the detection of scattered photons degrades both visual image analysis and quantitative accuracy. Many methods have been proposed and are still under investigation to cope with scattered photons. The main features of the problem of scattering in radionuclide imaging are presented first, to provide a sound foundation for a critical review of the existing scatter correction techniques. These are described using a classification relating to their aims and principles. Their theoretical potentials are analysed, as well as the difficulties of their practical implementation. Finally, the problems of their evaluation and comparison are discussed. Correspondence to: I. Buvat     

Endocrine contribution to the sexual dysfunction in patients with advanced chronic kidney disease and the role of hyperprolactinemia

In this study, we investigated the prevalence of sexual dysfunction among males with advanced chronic kidney disease and the effect of treating hyperprolactinemia among these patients. In this prospective study, patients were assessed with history, physical examination, hormonal assessment, and two questionnaires, IIEF and AIPE. Patients with hyperprolactinemia received treatment with cabergoline 0.5 mg once per week for 6 months and were re-evaluated. A total of 102 patients were included in this study, 75 (73.53%) were on hemodialysis, 13 (12.75%) on peritoneal dialysis and 14 (13.73%) on medical treatment alone. Ninety (88.24%) patients had premature ejaculation, 85 (83.33%) had anything from mild-to-moderate-to-severe erectile dysfunction. The incidence of hypogonadism and hyperprolactinemia was 34.4%. Patients treated with cabergoline (n = 26) showed a significant increase in LH levels (p = .003) and a significant decrease in prolactin levels (p = .003). Testosterone levels and the incidence of erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation did not improve significantly. There is a high incidence of sexual dysfunction among patients. Treatment of hyperprolactinemia is effective in correcting prolactin levels, but does not improve erectile dysfunction or premature ejaculation. Therefore, treating hyperprolactinemia is not an overall effective treatment for erectile dysfunction in these patients.     

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the medial prefrontal cortex in patients with deficit schizophrenia: preliminary report

OBJECTIVE: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) was used to study medial prefrontal metabolic impairments in schizophrenic patients with the deficit syndrome. METHOD: The subjects were 22 schizophrenic patients categorized as deficit (N=5) or nondeficit (N=17) and 21 healthy subjects. (1)H-MRS was performed for the right and the left medial prefrontal cortex. RESULTS: The patients with the deficit syndrome had significantly lower ratios of N-acetylaspartate to creatine plus phosphocreatine than did the healthy subjects or nondeficit patients. CONCLUSIONS: As N-acetylaspartate levels could reflect neuronal density and/or viability, this finding suggests a neuronal loss in the medial prefrontal cortex of deficit patients.     

Predictions on Structural and Electronic Properties to Synthesize Bismuth-Carbon Compounds in Different Periodicities

This work was carried out to explore the compounds of bismuth with carbon using density functional theory (DFT)-based computations. The structures of the compounds BiC, BiC₂, BiC₃, Bi₂C₃, BiC₅, and Bi₂C₅ were predicted at a generalized gradient approximation (GGA-PBE) level of theory. The calculations were carried out on the structures in unit cell and supercell geometries in slab and bulk periodicities. The structural and electronic properties of the mentioned compounds were investigated in detail. The calculations of the structures revealed lattice constants of the compounds for cubic unit cell as 212.2 pm for BiC, 176.9 pm for BiC₂, 240.5 pm for BiC₃, 232.4 pm for Bi₂C₃, and 354.5 pm for Bi₂C₅. The compounds BiC, BiC₂, BiC₃, BiC₅, and Bi₂C₅ were found to be metallic, whereas Bi₂C₃ exhibited semiconducting character with a band gap of 0.305 eV. This work provides an initial framework for preparing new 2D materials from Bi_xC_y.