Comparison of Lidocaine Gel-Assisted Transconjunctival and Transcutaneous Local Anesthesia for Outpatient Eyelid Surgery.

Purpose: Determine whether transconjunctival local anesthesia using 2% lidocaine gel decreases pain perception in comparison with transcutaneous anesthesia in patients undergoing outpatient eyelid surgery.

Methods: This is a randomized controlled clinical trial. This study approved by an institutional review board and adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Increased preoperative white blood cell count predicts postoperative atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass surgery.

Objective: To better understand the relationship between humoral and cellular markers of inflammation and postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF).

Design: A prospective and descriptive study.

Setting: Academic institution.

Basic fibroblast growth factor impact on retinoblastoma progression and survival.

Purpose: Chemotherapy resistance is a problem in the treatment of advanced retinoblastoma (RB). Since basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) is a survival factor for neural precursor cells, bFGF was evaluated as a growth and chemoresistance factor in RB.

Methods: bFGF expression was analyzed in the LH-betaTag transgenic mouse model of RB and human RB cell lines by immunofluorescence, RT-PCR, and Western blot.

Atherosclerotic lesions in genetically modified mice quantified in vivo by non-invasive high-resolution magnetic resonance microscopy.

We have previously shown that magnetic resonance microscopy (MRM) accurately quantifies atherosclerosis in Apolipoprotein E deficient (ApoE(-/-)) mice aged 36-84 weeks. The present study tests MRM in the quantification of aortic atherosclerosis over a broader range of lesion severity. Younger mice with less advanced disease were imaged in order to evaluate sensitivity, specificity and maximum practical resolution of MRM.