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Biomedical subjects

B Becker

Publications and source records attributed to B Becker.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources
PubMed1979

Recurrent orbital and metastatic melanoma in a patient undergoing previous glaucoma surgery.

A 61-year-old woman had unilateral acute angle-closure glaucoma and subsequently underwent a Scheie filtering operation. After a two-week interval, a large choroidal and ciliary body melanoma in the glaucomatous eye was found. No evidence of metastatic disease was found and the eye was enucleated. Histopathologic sections did not show extrascleral extension. Two and one-half years later the patient developed local orbital recurrence of the melanoma and fatal metastatic disease. We hypothesized a possible causal relationship between the filtering surgery and the local and systemic recurrence of the tumor.

Choroid Neoplasms↗
PubMed1979

Efficacy and patient acceptance of pilocarpine gel.

Fifteen patients with symmetrically increased intraocular pressure (IOP) participated in a single-masked random 30-day clinical trial comparing 4% pilocarpine hydrochloride gel applied at bedtime to one eye with 4% pilocarpine hydrochloride drops instilled four times daily in the fellow eye. Both forms of pilocarpine reduced IOP significantly at 8 A.M., 12 noon, and 4 P.M. (P less than .01). At these times there was no significant difference in effect between the two forms of pilocarpine (P greater than .05). The mean IOP of eyes treated with gel showed no significant difference from the pretreatment value at 10 P.M. (P = .37), whereas at this time eyes treated with drops did maintain a significant IOP reduction (P = .02). At 10 P.M. pilocarpine drops reduced IOP significantly more than did pilocarpine gel (P = .002). Pupil diameter was affected by the gel and drops in a similar pattern to that of IOP. Patients tolerated the gel with few side effects and were pleased by the convenience of administration once daily.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1979

Vitreous fluorophotometry in adult-onset diabetes mellitus.

We studied the breakdown of the blood-retinal barrier in 83 patients with adult-onset diabetes mellitus, by using vitreous fluorophotometry. The patients were in good stable metabolic control and were receiving injectible insulin or oral hypoglycemic agents. Vitreous fluorophotometry readings were abnormally high but similar in both groups of patients, and no significant differences were found between those with and those without early background diabetic retinopathy. Significantly more patients taking oral agents were hypertensive, and significantly fewer of these patients had background retinopathy.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Vitreous fluorophotometry in diabetes mellitus.

Vitreous fluorophotometry has proved to be a useful method to evaluate the integrity of the blood-ocular barrier to fluorescein in clinical and experimental diabetes mellitus. Diabetic patients with or without background retinopathy had increased vitreous accumulation of fluorescein after intravenous injection when compared with age-matched controls. Streptozotocin-induced diabetes in rats increase vitreous fluorescein levels. In the rat, this abnormality was reversed with insulin therapy and with pancreatic islet transplantation. The breakdown of the blood-ocular barrier to fluorescein appears to be the earliest detectable ocular abnormality of diabetes.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Ocular fluorophotometry in streptozotocin diabetes mellitus in the rat: effect of pancreatic islet isografts.

Fluorophotometry was used to evaluate the integrity of the blood-ocular barriers to fluorescein in experimental diabetes mellitus in rats. This technique allowed quantitation of ocular fluorescein concentrations following intravenous injection. Streptozotacin-induced diabetes resulted in an increased fluorescein accumulation in the anterior chamber (1.52 +/- 0.17 microgram/ml, mean +/- S.E.M.) and vitreous (0.82 +/- 0.11) over baseline nondiabetic levels (0.68 +/- 0.80 and 0.40 +/- 0.03, respectively). Fluorophotometry was repeated at 5, 13, and 20 days following portal vein pancreatic islet transplantation. At 5 days anterior chamber (1.40 +/- 0.17) and vitreous (0.61 +/- 0.08) fluorescein concentrations remained elevated. However, at 13 and 20 days following islet transplantation, ocular fluorescein concentrations were identical to levels observed prior to the induction of diabetes. Intravenous glucose (0.5 gm/kg) tolerance testing was performed 5 and 13 days following transplantation. The glucose responses to the tolerance test were normal and similar at both times. However, at 5 days the insulin response was abnormal with a decreased initial peak and an absent second peak. At 13 days there was a normal biphasic insulin response. In experimental diabetes mellitus ocular vascular permeability was more closely correlated with insulin than blood glucose abnormalities.

Animals↗
PubMed1979

Effects of therapy on vitreous fluorophotometry in diabetes mellitus.

Quantitative vitreous fluorophotometry was used to study the alteration of the blood-retinal barrier in 116 patients with diabetes mellitus of adult onset. The patients were in good stable metabolic control on injectable insulin, oral hypoglycaemics, or diet therapy. Vitreous fluorophotometry readings were abnormally high but similar in all three groups and in those with or without early background retinopathy. A higher incidence of systemic hypertension was noted in those patients requiring oral agents compared to those on insulin or diet therapy.

Biological Transport↗
PubMed1978

Cataracts induced by topical dexamethasone in diabetics.

Eleven diabetic patients were treated with unilateral topical dexamethasone for 14 to 36 months in an attempt to control their retinopathy. Cataracts developed in the treated eye of nine patients, compared with only one cataract in an untreated eye.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1978

Vitreous fluorophotometry in juvenile-onset diabetes mellitus.

Vitreous fluorophotometry was carried out in 99 juvenile-onset, insulin-dependent diabetics and 31 control subjects. The mean vitreous fluorescein concentration one hour after intravenous administration of fluorescein, 7 mg/kg, was 5.4 +/- 0.3 ng/ml (mean +/- SEM) for controls and 9.5 +/- 0.4 ng/ml for diabetics (P less than .005). Diabetic patients with or without background retinopathy, when randomly matched for age or duration of their disease, had similar vitreous fluorophotometry measurements. The break-down of the blood-retinal barrier to fluorescein appears to be the earliest detectable ocular abnormality of diabetes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1978

Alteration of the blood-retinal barrier in experimental diabetes mellitus.

Vitreous fluorophotometry was used to evaluate the integrity of the blood-retinal barrier to fluorescein in hooded rats. Streptozotocin-induced diabetes mellitus caused a breakdown of this barrier within ten days. Normalization of blood glucose levels with insulin significantly reduced (P less than .005) the increased permeability. This functional microangiopathy might prove to be the earliest detectable change in the retinal circulation in experimental diabetes.

Animals↗
PubMed1978

A simplified test of epinephrine responsiveness.

Forty-three ocular hypertensive and 33 ocular normotensive subjects received two doses of topical 1% epinephrine hydrochloride in one eye. The epinephrine was administered twice, ie, at time "zero" (8 AM) and 12 hours later (at 8 PM). The mean intraocular pressure responses at four hours and at 24 hours (12 hours after the last dose of epinephrine) were significantly correlated, r = 0.59 (P less than .001). This suggested that the simpler four-hour test was an equally accurate measure of the ocular responsiveness to topical epinephrine.

Epinephrine↗
PubMed1978

Intraocular pressure response to topical epinephrine and HLA-B12.

Twenty high responders to topical corticosteroids (intraocular pressure greater than 31 mm Hg after six weeks of topical 0.1% dexamethasone, four times daily) and 20 low responders (IOP less than 20 mm Hg) of similar age, sex, race, initial IOP, and facility of outflow were selected. After 24 hours of treatment (two doses) of topical 1% epinephrine hydrochloride, the high corticosteroid responders showed a mean (+/-SD) corrected decrease in IOP of 3.6 +/- 2.0 mm Hg as opposed to 1.8 +/- 2.1 mm Hg in the low corticosteroid responders. Within both corticosteroid groups, individuals with the antigen HLA-B12 showed significantly greater decreases in IOP. This suggested that the presence of HLA-B12 was not only associated with increased responses to corticosteroids but also to epinephrine.

Administration, Topical↗
PubMed1978

Abnormal chloroidal circulation: association with arteriovenous fistula in the cavernous sinus area.

Abnormalities in the choroidal circulation developed in two patients with arteriovenous fistulae in the area of the cavernous sinus. Fluorescein angiography in both patients revealed delayed filling of their choroidal circulation. In the first patient, this was associated with a central serous detachment of the retina secondary to a retinal pigment epithelial defect. In the second patient, a large choroidal detachment and serous retinal detachment, which resolved spontaneously developed. High venous pressure, low mean arterial pressure, and subsequent tissue hypoxia are postulated to be the cause of the altered choroidal circulation. The possibility of occult dural arteriovenous fistulae should be considered in the differential diagnosis in patients with a choroidal detachment, proptosis, and a red eye.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Histocompatibility antigens and primary open-angle glaucoma. A reassessment.

Histocompatibility (HLA) antigen typing was performed on 306 patients who had been studied and classified carefully. Black individuals with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) had no significant differences in HLA antigen prevalences from black control subjects. In one white population with POAG, a significant decrease in HLA-A1, a significant increase in HLA-Aw31, and a significant increase in the antigen combination HLA-B7 and HLA-Bw22 were noted. However, these differences were not confirmed in a second white population with POAG. We concluded that associations between the A and B loci of the HLA antigen system and POAG were not as impressive as has been previously reported.

Black People↗
PubMed1978

Quantitative visual field and optic disc correlates early in glaucoma.

A retrospective study was made of persons with ocular hypertension and normal initial visual fields. Seventy eyes were followed, and glaucomatous visual field defects developed in 25 of these eyes. In eyes with ocular hypertensio, the area enclosed by the central visual field isopter (I2e) was significantly smaller than that previously reported for an age-corrected group of eyes with normal intraocular pressure. In the absence of glaucomatous visual field defects, isopter areas were not releated to cup-disc ratios. Coincident with visual field loss, reductions in both peripheral (I4e) and central (I2e) isopter areas correlated linearly with increases in the cup-disc ratio. Prior to visual field loss, the I4e isopter area wassignificantly smaller among those eyes destined to lose visual field.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Intraocular pressure and glaucoma in the Zuni indians.

A glaucoma-screening examination was performed on 119 full-blooded Zuni Indians and 286 control subjects who were aged 40 years or older. The mean intraocular pressure (IOP) of the Zuni Indians was significantly lower than that of the control group, adjusted for age and sex differences, in both diabetic and nondiabetic subjects. The control group demonstrated an increasing IOP with age, while the Zunis did not. The prevalence of ocular hypertension was significantly greater in the control group than in the Zunis. The majority of the Zuni subjects with ocular hypertension had diabetes mellitus. None of the Zuni Indians who were screened had primary open-angle glaucoma and none had a family history of glaucoma.

Adult↗
PubMed1978

Retail cost of antiglaucoma drugs in two cities.

Volunteer shoppers purchased antiglaucoma medications dispensed from prescriptions written according to generic and brand-name products in Manhattan and in the St. Louis area. All drugs obtained were more expensive in Manhattan than in St. Louis. No significant cost difference was found between generic and brand-name items in either city, but only in a few instances were generic drugs actually dispensed. No difference in overall price was found between pharmacies located in better and poorer neighborhoods in Manhattan or between pharmacies located in urban, suburban, or rural areas in St. Louis. A white shopper paid significatnly lower retail prices than did a Hispanic shopper in Manhattan, particularly in better neighborhoods. The range of prices in each city for all drugs studied was greater than twofold. Pharmacies offering more patient services tended to charge higher prices, but frequently, pharmacies did not actually offer the services they advertised.

Drug Prescriptions↗
PubMed1978

Cyclocryotherapy in neovascular glaucoma.

To determine the long-term effects of cyclocryotherapy, we conducted a follow-up with a mean of 24.9 +/- 13.9 months in 50 eyes of 46 patients with neovascular glaucoma. On final examination, intraocular pressure in 16 (32%) of the eyes was greater than 26 mm Hg and in 17 (34%), less than or equal to 25 mm Hg; 17 (34%) developed phthisis bulbi. Enucleation was performed in three of the eyes. Anterior segment necrosis occurred immediately postoperatively in four eyes. Twenty-four of 41 eyes (58.5%) with vision lost light perception during our study. All patients were comfortable except the three who required enucleation.

Aged↗