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PubMed2002

Immersion A-scan compared with partial coherence interferometry: outcomes analysis.

PURPOSE: To compare 2 methods of axial length measurement, immersion ultrasonography and partial coherence interferometry, and to elucidate surgical outcomes based on immersion measurements. SETTING: Oregon Eye Institute, Eugene, Oregon, USA. METHODS: Axial length measurements in 50 cataractous eyes were obtained by optical biometry (IOLMaster, Zeiss Humphrey Systems) and immersion ultrasound (Axis II, Quantel Medical), and the results were compared. Intraocular lens (IOL) power calculations in the same eyes after cataract extraction and posterior chamber IOL implantation were evaluated retrospectively based on the postoperative spherical equivalent prediction error. RESULTS: Immersion ultrasonography and partial coherence interferometry measurements correlated in a highly positive manner (correlation coefficient = 0.996). Outcomes analysis demonstrated 92.0% of eyes were within +/-0.5 diopter of emmetropia based on immersion axial length measurements. CONCLUSION: Immersion ultrasonography provided highly accurate axial length measurements and permitted highly accurate IOL power calculations.

Biometry↗
PubMed2002

Comparison of sonic and ultrasonic phacoemulsification using the Staar Sonic Wave system.

PURPOSE: To compare the performance of sonic phacoemulsification with that of ultrasonic phacoemulsification in regard to 1-day postoperative visual acuity, corneal edema, and procedure efficiency. SETTING: Oregon Eye Institute, Eugene, Oregon, USA. METHODS: This prospective nonrandomized study comprised 86 eyes with mild to moderate nuclear sclerotic cataract. Forty-three eyes had sonic and 43 ultrasonic phacoemulsification using the Staar Sonic Wave phacoemulsification system. The mean age was 76 years in the ultrasonic group and 71 years in the sonic group. The mean nuclear sclerosis was 2.0+ in the sonic group and 1.9+ in the ultrasonic group. Patient age, lens density, postoperative corneal edema, 1-day postoperative uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), and the percentage of eyes with a visual acuity of 20/40 or better were determined. In addition, the mean ultrasonic and sonic times, mean percentage phaco power, and mean effective phaco time (EPT) were calculated in each group. RESULTS: Both groups had a 5% incidence of trace corneal edema. The mean UCVA was 20/41 in the ultrasonic group and 20/42 in the sonic group. Seventy-nine percent of eyes in the ultrasonic group and 74% in the sonic group had a UCVA of 20/40. The mean percentage phaco power was 7.2% and 7.6% in the ultrasonic group and sonic group, respectively. The mean EPT was low in both groups, 4.0 and 2.9 seconds, respectively. CONCLUSION: Sonic technology yielded outcomes similar to those of ultrasonic phacoemulsification with respect to postoperative visual acuity and corneal edema in patients with average density nuclear sclerotic cataract.

Corneal Edema↗
PubMed2003

Incidence and outcomes of lasik with diffuse lamellar keratitis treated with topical and oral corticosteroids.

PURPOSE: To analyze the incidence and clinical outcomes of patients developing diffuse lamellar keratitis (DLK) after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) treated with topical and oral corticosteroids. SETTING: Oregon Eye Institute, Eugene, Oregon, USA. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the last consecutive 1000 LASIK cases was performed. Eyes developing stage 3 DLK or at risk for progressing to stage 3 were treated with a combination of high-dose prednisolone acetate 1% and oral prednisone and evaluated for corneal scarring, loss of best spectacle-corrected visual acuity (BSCVA), and deviation from the intended refractive outcome. RESULTS: Diffuse lamellar keratitis developed in 40 eyes (4%). It progressed to stage 3 in 7 eyes (17%). Oral and topical steroids were used in 22 eyes (55%). The mean variation from the desired refractive outcome was 0.14 diopter +/- 0.53 (SD). There were no instances of corneal scarring or permanent loss of BSCVA. No eye had interface irrigation. CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of severe DLK with high-dose topical and oral corticosteroids produced excellent results without flap lifting and interface irrigation.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed2000

Fluorescence detection of 8-oxoguanine in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA of cultured cells using a recombinant Fab and confocal scanning laser microscopy.

The presence of 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) in DNA is considered a marker of oxidative stress and DNA damage. We describe a multifluorescence technique to detect the localization of 8-oxoG in both nuclear and mitochondrial DNA using a mouse recombinant Fab 166. The Fab was generated by repertoire cloning and combinatorial phage display, and specifically recognized 8-oxoG in DNA, as determined by competitive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs). In situ detection of 8-oxoG was accomplished using rat lung epithelial (RLE) cells and human B lymphoblastoid (TK6) cells treated with hydrogen peroxide (H(2)O(2)) or ionizing radiation, respectively. Using confocal scanning laser microscopy, we observed nuclear and perinuclear immunoreactivity of 8-oxoG in control cultures. The simultaneous use of a nuclear DNA stain, propidium iodide, or the mitochondrial dye, MitoTracker (Molecular Probes, Eugene, OR, USA), confirmed that 8-oxoG immunofluorescence occurred in nuclear and mitochondrial DNA. Marked increases in the presence of 8-oxoG in nuclear DNA were apparent after treatment with H(2)O(2) or ionizing radiation. In control experiments, Fab 166 was incubated with 200 microM purified 8-oxodG or with formamidopyrimidine DNA-glycosylase (Fpg) to remove 8-oxoG lesions in DNA. These protocols attenuated both nuclear and mitochondrial staining. We conclude that both nuclear and mitochondrial oxidative DNA damages can be simultaneously detected in situ using immunofluorescence labeling with Fab 166 and confocal microscopy.

Animals↗
PubMed2002

Devic disease: clinical course, pathophysiology, and management.

Devic disease is characterized by an attack or attacks of optic neuritis and necrotizing myelitis without clinical or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence of brain involvement or presence of oligoclonal bands in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). More than a century after its first systematic study by the French physician, Eugene Devic, its cause as well as its pathogenesis, remains unknown. Devic disease is both a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge to clinicians. The authors present the latest review on the nature, course, possible mechanisms, and therapeutic options of Devic disease.

Journal Article↗
PubMed1993

Outcome of infants born preterm, with special emphasis on extremely low birthweight infants.

The outcome of extremely low birthweight (ELBW) infants has been reviewed from published articles and up-to-date data from Japan. The mortality rate of these infants declined significantly from over 90% to below 50% after the introduction of intensive care in the 1970s, but the incidence of major neurological sequelae remained steady at around 20%. Similarly, the incidence of major neurological sequelae did not increase along with the decrement of birthweight, although the mortality rate increased significantly. Long-term follow-up of ELBW children until school age has revealed poor school performance in spite of the absence of major neurological sequelae and the attainment of average intelligence quotient scores. Physical growth is retarded initially but generally catches up by the age of 8-9 years. In Japan, the neonatal mortality rate of ELBW infants declined from 56% in 1981 to 25% in 1989 with an increased birth rate of ELBW infants. In ELBW infants cared for at Tokyo Women's Medical College during 1984-90, the survival rate was 112 out of 134 (84%) and the incidence of major neurological sequelae was 15 out of 87 (17%) at 1-8 years old. The viability limit of ELBW infants has been discussed based on recent data. As a result of the rapid progress of medical care of ELBW infants, their viability limit as defined in the Eugenic Protection Law in Japan was amended from 24 completed weeks of gestation to 22 completed weeks in 1991.

Birth Weight↗
PubMed1998

Assisted reproduction: who qualifies?

Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have been the focus of considerable debate in which a range of social issues has been addressed, yet the question of who is eligible for ART, who can get access, who is excluded and by what means, has received little attention in comparison with other issues. In Australia social policies presently exist in some (but not all) states which address this question, however several recently publicised cases have highlighted the need for an examination of inclusion/exclusion practices from a social justice perspective. This paper seeks to explore the issue of access and eligibility for ART with a particular interest in exposing the contradictions, inconsistencies and assumptions inherent in arguments put forward for particular inclusions and exclusions. It is my contention that social policy relating to criteria for eligibility and access to ART invests the medical profession with a gatekeeping role which holds the power to define and create different classes of women. Moreover, discourses of 'medical indication' and the 'best interests of children' intersect to inscribe a form of discursive eugenic practice which in turn sustains sexism and discrimination against childless women. Finally, this paper seeks to alert the nursing profession to requirements emerging from social policy which influence practice, interfere in client-nurse relationships, and may ultimately result in unethical conduct.

Adult↗
PubMed1988

The fate of the mentally ill in Germany during the Third Reich.

This paper surveys the measures taken against mental patients in Germany during the National Socialist regime. It covers the eugenic sterilization programme, the killing of handicapped children, the so called Action T4 (the killing of adult psychiatric patients) and the second phase of Action T4 after its official termination, i.e. between 1941 and 1945. The possible social and political causes of these measures, and the attitude of German psychiatrists to them are discussed. In particular, attention is drawn to a prevalent fear of national degeneration, to social Darwinism, and the ideas of Binding & Hoche on 'permission for the extermination of worthless life'.

Genetic Diseases, Inborn↗
PubMed2006

The rise and fall of the medical gaze: the political economy of immigrant medical inspection in modern America.

In this paper I examine the mass medical inspections of immigrants to the United States from the 1890s through the 1920s. I show how, framed as it was not only by nativism and eugenics but also by national industrial imperatives and priorities, scientific medicine served dual purposes. On the one hand, the medical exam was a tool for managing cultural and biological threats to the nation. There were regional variations in medical inspections that reflected the politics of race. On the other hand, the medical exam played an important role in the process of building an unskilled, highly mobile labor force. The industrial demands of the nation provided a rationale for drawing and absorbing millions of European immigrants into the labor force. It was thus a distinct product of the political economy of immigration. It was this second function that characterized the exam for the majority of immigrants entering the nation.

Asia↗
PubMed2001

"[A]re Norway rats...things?": diversity versus generality in the use of albino rats in experiments on development and sexuality.

In America by the 1930s, albino rats had become a kind of generic standard in research on physiology and behavior that de-emphasized diversity across species. However, prior to about 1915, the early work of many of the pioneer rat researchers in America and in central Europe reflected a strong interest in species differences and a deep regard for diversity. These scientists sought broad, often medical, generality, but their quest for generality using a standard animal did not entail a de-emphasis of organic diversity. They chose white rats as test animals for two primary reasons. First, rats develop very slowly. They therefore made features of physiological, neural and psychological development accessible to the experimental method at a time when its application to the phenomena of development remained controversial. Secondly, rats were thought to have unusually strong sex drives. For this reason they became central to the experimental study of sexuality and, in the work of the reproductive physiologist Eugen Steinach, sexual development. Connections among three research institutes that stressed experimental approaches to the study of brain and development demonstrate the importance of the rat's institutional role. As the emphasis on experimentation in the study of development grew, two of these institutes bred rats to provide uniform materials. Eventually, however, their reasons for selecting rats were lost; and the ready availability of a uniform test animal led to a shift in scientists' presumptions about diversity, as the standard rat became a tool for assuring generality.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Women's voices: prenatal diagnosis and care for the disabled.

The development and implementation of prenatal diagnosis has changed the experience of pregnancy for many women. How women make decisions about prenatal diagnosis PD is an important question that challenges us both individually and as a community. The question of care is central to many women's decision-making process. How much care a child will require, how much care a woman feels confident to provide, and the level of care available for children with genetic conditions and families from their communities all impact on women's decisions to undertake prenatal diagnosis as well as how to use the information available from testing. Interviews with women making these decisions explored, among other things, the role that caring and access to care played in women's ethical deliberations. Before PD can widen women's reproductive choices and counter criticisms that its use is eugenically oriented, the central role that provision of, and access to, care holds for participants in PD programmes must be acknowledged and addressed.

Abortion, Legal↗
PubMed2002

Fluorescence lifetime, yield, energy transfer and spectrum in photosynthesis, 1950-1960.

The fluorescence lifetime of chlorophyll agives information about the primary photo-physical events in photosynthesis. Most of the light energy absorbed by chlorophylls is utilized for photochemistry. There are two main additional pathways competing for the absorbed light energy: fluorescence and radiationless internal conversion (heat). Only a few percent of the absorbed energy proceeds along these two pathways. This historical minireview focuses on the first direct measurements of the lifetime of chlorophyll fluorescence, the time it takes to transfer energy from phycoerythrin to chlorophyll a, and the discovery of the fluorescence band at 720 nm (F720; then attributed to a dimer of chlorophyll). These works were carried out during the the late 1950s to the early 1960s in the laboratory of Professor Eugene Rabinowitch at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign [Brody (1995) Photosynth Res 43: 67-74].

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

The Mpowerment Project: community-building with young gay and bisexual men to prevent HIV1.

The Mpowerment Project is a community-level HIV prevention intervention for young gay and bisexual men ages 18-27. The program seeks to build a strong, supportive young gay and bisexual men's community where young gay and bisexual men nurture and protect each other, particularly with regard to HIV prevention. The program's theoretical framework draws from the areas of diffusion of innovations, community organizing, peer influence, and personal empowerment. The Mpowerment Project promotes a norm for safer sex through a variety of social, outreach and small group activities. The project is run by a "Core Group" of 12-15 young gay and bisexual men who, with volunteers, design and carry out all project activities. Implemented in 4 communities (Eugene, OR; Santa Barbara, CA; Albuquerque, NM; Austin, TX), the Mpowerment Project has proven to be effective in reducing high risk sex. This paper discusses the development and implementation of the program and various challenges encountered.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed2003

New Belgian law on research on human embryos: trust in progress through medical science.

The new Belgian law on research on embryos in vitro accepts all types of research directed at therapeutic purposes and at increased medical knowledge. This includes research for germline and somatic gene therapy, therapeutic cloning, and the development of embryonic stem cell lines. As this presupposes the creation of embryos for research, this too is allowed. Other goals like sex selection for nonmedical reasons, eugenic practices and reproductive cloning are prohibited. In general, the law expresses a belief in the importance of freedom of research and the acceptance of ethical pluralism in society.

Belgium↗
PubMed2003

Celebrating the millennium - historical highlights of photosynthesis research, Part 2.

This paper is an introduction to Part 2 of our celebrations of the historical highlights of photosynthesis research. Part 1 was published in October 2002 as Volume 73 of Photosynthesis Research. After a brief introduction, we recognize two giants in the field: Cornelis B. van Niel (for anoxygenic photosynthesis), and Robert Hill (for oxygenic photosynthesis). This is followed by recognition of a 1960 book by Hans Gaffron, and a multi-authored book edited by W. Ruhland and André Pirson, and inclusion in the appendix of a list of selected books. Our celebration is enhanced by the inclusion of beautiful paintings of cells by Antoinette Ryter. After introducing all the historical papers contained in this volume, we honor Louis N. M. Duysens, one of the greatest biophysicists of our time, and finally we dedicate this volume to a great scientist, humanist and peacemaker: Eugene I. Rabinowitch. [12pt] 'Annihilating all that is made To a green thought in a green shade' - Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), The Garden (1681).

Journal Article↗
PubMed2004

Electrical stimulation accelerates and enhances expression of regeneration-associated genes in regenerating rat femoral motoneurons.

1. In this study we investigated whether electrical stimulation accelerates the upregulation of Talpha1-tubulin and GAP-43 (regeneration-associated genes; RAGs) and the downregulation of the medium-molecular-weight neurofilament (NFM), in concert with stimulation-induced acceleration of BDNF and trkB gene expression and axonal regeneration. 2. Two weeks prior to unilateral femoral nerve transection and suture, fluorogold (Fluorochrome Inc., Denver) or fluororuby (Dextran tetramethylrhodamine, Mol. Probes, D-1817, Eugene, OR) was injected into quadriceps muscles of the left and right hindlimbs to label the femoral motoneuron pools as previously described. Over a period of 7 days, fresh spinal cords were processed for semiquantitation of mRNA by using in situ hybridization. 3. There was an increase in Talpha1-tubulin and GAP-43 mRNA and a decline in the NFM mRNA at 7 days after nerve suture and sham stimulation but not in intact nerves. In contrast, 1-h stimulation of sutured but not intact nerves dramatically accelerated the changes in gene expression: mRNA levels of Talpha1-tubulin and GAP-43 were significantly elevated above control levels by 2 days while NFM mRNA was significantly reduced by 2 days in the sutured nerves. Thereby, the neurofilament/tubulin expression ratio was reduced at 2 days after suture and stimulation, possibly allowing more tubulin to be transported faster into the growing axons to accelerate the elongation rate following stimulation. Importantly, the changes in RAGs and NFM gene expression were delayed relative to the accelerated upregulation of BDNF and trkB mRNA by electrical stimulation. 4. The temporal sequence of upregulation of BDNF and trkB, altered gene expression of RAGs and NFM, and accelerated axonal outgrowth from the proximal nerve stump are consistent with a key role of BDNF and trkB in mediating the altered expression of RAGs and, in turn, the promotion of axonal outgrowth after electrical stimulation.

Animals↗
PubMed2004

Passage of a Young Indian Physical Chemist through the World of Photosynthesis Research at Urbana, Illinois, in the 1960s: A Personal Essay.

In September 1963, I came to the famous Photosynthesis Laboratory of Eugene Rabinowitch (1901-1973) at the University of Illinois at Urbana, Illinois, after submitting my doctoral thesis, under Professor Pasupati Mukerjee, in physical chemistry, then at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta, India. I present here my personal impressions, my research and interactions at the then International Center of Photosynthesis at Urbana, Illinois. A brief mention is made of research of others at this center, my collaboration with Govindjee (Urbana) and with John Olson (at Brookhaven National Laboratory).

Journal Article↗
PubMed2003

Christian Doppler is 200 years young.

Christian Doppler was born 200 years ago in Salzburg, Austria, on November 29, 1803, worked in Prague and Vienna and died 150 years ago in Venice. In an article of eight pages he described the principle, which made him famous. It appeared in 1842 with the exotic title: "On the Coloured Light of the Double Stars and Certain Other Stars of the Heaven". The validity of his principle for velocity measurement was confirmed by trumpet sounds produced on a train moving towards and away from the observer. Around 1960 Japanese scientists suggested that flow velocity in blood vessels could be determined by analysing the difference of frequency between emitted and backscattered ultrasound. Rushmer and coworkers built machines suitable for medicine in Seattle, where Eugene Strandness recognized their potential and applied them in first studies. In 1967 the technique jumped to Europe and started to be used worldwide. Already by using continuous wave ultrasound it was possible to diagnose occlusive disease of neck and limb arteries, venous thrombosis and valvular insufficiency with accuracy. Measurements of postestenotic ankle blood pressure were facilitated by Doppler sensing. Over the years more sophisticated instruments were developed. Pulsed emission of ultrasound waves opened a way to study flow velocity profiles across large vessels. By combining the method with A or B mode ultrasound blood flow could be quantified and finally perfused segments of blood vessels visualized. Duplex scanning in its simple and then in its colour coded version is nowadays the standard non-invasive technique that nobody would like to miss. Vascular territories like intracranial, renal and intestinal arteries can also be explored. For the assessment of microvascular flow in skin and mucosae laser Doppler instruments were introduced.

Austria↗