Reflecting on the Importance of Family Building and Fertility Preservation: Transgender People's Experiences with Starting Gender-Affirming Treatment as an Adolescent.

Purpose: We aimed to investigate how adults, who started gender-affirming hormone treatment during adolescence, reflect on their reproductive decisions.

Methods: We recruited transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) people who visited our gender identity clinic and commenced medical treatment in adolescence at least 9 years ago. We collected data through an online survey.

Mental Health Evaluation of Younger and Older Adolescents Referred to the Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

The present study aimed to investigate whether differences exist between younger and older presenting adolescents at the Center of Expertise on Gender Dysphoria regarding psychological functioning and autistic traits. A total of 1487 consecutively assessed adolescents between 2000 and 2018 were divided in younger presenters (age ≤ 13.9 years) and older presenters (age ≥ 14 years).

Demographics and gender-related measures in younger and older adolescents presenting to a gender service.

Transgender adolescents may present to gender identity specialty services earlier or later in adolescence. The aim of this study was to examine whether, 'younger' and 'older' presenters could be identified in a large cohort of transgender adolescents and if differences exist between the two groups. The study sample consisted of 1487 adolescents (506 birth-assigned males, 981 birth-assigned females) referred between 2000 and 2018.

Perceptions on the function of puberty suppression of transgender adolescents who continued or discontinued treatment, their parents, and clinicians.

Treatment of transgender adolescents with puberty suppression (PS) was developed to provide time for exploration before pursuing gender affirming medical treatment (GAMT) with irreversible effects. It may also result in a more satisfactory physical outcome for those who continue with GAMT. Despite being the current first choice treatment, little research has examined the function of PS from the perspectives of transgender adolescents, their parents, and clinicians.

Medical decision-making competence regarding puberty suppression: perceptions of transgender adolescents, their parents and clinicians.

According to international transgender care guidelines, transgender adolescents should have medical decision-making competence (MDC) to start puberty suppression (PS) and halt endogenous pubertal development. However, MDC is a debated concept in adolescent transgender care and little is known about the transgender adolescents', their parents', and clinicians' perspectives on this. Increasing our understanding of these perspectives can improve transgender adolescent care.

Association between pre-treatment IQ and educational achievement after gender-affirming treatment including puberty suppression in transgender adolescents.

Background: Concerns exist regarding effects of puberty suppression on neurodevelopment. Intelligence is strongly correlated with educational achievement in the general population. This study aimed to examine the association between pre-treatment intelligence and educational achievement after gender-affirming treatment including puberty suppression in transgender adolescents to contribute to the emerging understanding of the effect that gender-affirming treatment including puberty suppression may have on cognitive development.

Self-Perception of Transgender Adolescents After Gender-Affirming Treatment: A Follow-Up Study into Young Adulthood.

Early medical treatment for transgender adolescents should contribute to healthy psychological development, including the development of positive self-perception. However, at present, there are no longitudinal studies that have examined whether current treatment approaches meet this expectation. Therefore, the aim of this single-arm retrospective study was to examine transgender adolescents' self-perception changes over the course of irreversible medical gender-affirming treatment.

Image-Based Quantification of Gold Nanoparticle Uptake and Localization in 3D Tumor Models to Inform Radiosensitization Schedule.

Gold nanoparticles (GNPs) have shown particular promise as radiosensitizing agents and as complementary drug delivery agents to improve therapeutic index in cancer treatment. Optimal implementation, however, depends critically on the localization of GNPs at the time of irradiation, which, in turn, depends on their size, shape, and chemical functionalization, as well as organism-level pharmacokinetics and interactions with the tumor microenvironment. Here, we use in vitro 3D cultures of A549 lung carcinoma cells, which recapitulate interaction with extracellular matrix (ECM) components, combined with quantitative fluorescence imaging to study how time-dependent localization of ultrasmall GNPs in tumors and ECM impacts the degree of damage enhancement to tumor cells.

Re-evaluation of the Dutch approach: are recently referred transgender youth different compared to earlier referrals?

The background of this article is to examine whether consecutively transgender clinic-referred adolescents between 2000 and 2016 differ over time in demographic, psychological, diagnostic, and treatment characteristics. The sample under study consisted of 1072 adolescents (404 assigned males, 668 assigned females, mean age 14.6 years, and range 10.

IRay therapy as an adjuvant therapy in newly diagnosed patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Objectives: To determine the safety and efficacy at 12 months of follow-up after stereotactic radiotherapy in combination therapy with intravitreal ranibizumab injections in treatment naïve patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Methods: Retrospective data analysis in patients who received stereotactic radiotherapy (IRay Therapy) during the induction phase of intravitreal ranibizumab injections and a monotherapy control group.

Results: The baseline VA in the IRay and control group was 59.

Parental Experiences with Chemotherapy-Induced Alopecia among Childhood Cancer Patients in Indonesia.

Background: This study assessed parental experiences with chemotherapy-induced alopecia among children with cancer treated at an Indonesian academic hospital.

Materials And Methods: Fifty parents of childhood cancer patients were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires.

Results: The moment that hair fell out was the moment that parents (84%) had to admit their child had cancer.

Comparing Health-Care Providers' Perspectives on Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Childhood Cancer Between Netherlands and Indonesia.

Background: Use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is common among patients with childhood cancer. Health-care providers (HCP) should address this need properly. Geographical and cultural differences seem likely.

Stereotactic radiotherapy for neovascular age-related macular degeneration: year 2 results of the INTREPID study.

Purpose: To determine the safety and efficacy of low-voltage, external-beam, stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Design: Randomized, double-masked, sham-controlled, multicenter, clinical trial.

Participants: A total of 230 participants with neovascular AMD who received ≥ 3 ranibizumab or bevacizumab injections within the preceding year and requiring treatment at enrollment.

Stereotactic radiotherapy for wet age-related macular degeneration (INTREPID): influence of baseline characteristics on clinical response.

Purpose: To determine which patients respond best to stereotactic radiotherapy (SRT) for neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Methods: Participants (n = 230) receiving intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injections for neovascular age-related macular degeneration enrolled in a randomized, double-masked sham-controlled trial comparing 16 Gray, 24 Gray, or Sham SRT. In a post hoc analysis, participants were grouped according to their baseline characteristics, to determine if these influenced SRT efficacy.

Theory concerning the ablation of corneal tissue with large-area, 193-nm excimer laser beams.

Excimer laser beams (193 nm) of uniform fluence were studied to find out why they produce corneal ablations deeper at the edge than the center. Ablation depth profiles were taken of porcine corneas, including five dehydrated samples. Hydrated corneas and polymethyl methacrylate were ablated with and without central masks.

Fluorescence-guided laser removal of chemically damaged cornea.

Purpose: To correlate the observed fluorescence spectrum with the depth of ablation during 193 nm argon-fluoride excimer laser ablation of chemically damaged corneas.

Setting: Laser facility, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Methods: Three cadaver New Zealand white rabbit corneas were exposed to 1 N hydrogen chloride for 10 seconds.

Consequences of scattering for spectral imaging of turbid biologic tissue.

Spectral imaging permits two-dimensional mapping of the backscattering properties of biological systems. Such mapping requires broadband illumination of the entire area of interest. However, imaging of turbid biological media under these conditions often involves mean photon path lengths that exceed the pixel size.