Quantifying the effect of particulate impurities on the ice nucleation behavior of pharmaceutical solutions.

Numerous commercially available biopharmaceuticals are frozen or freeze-dried in vials. The temperature at which ice nucleates and its distribution across vials in a batch is critical to the design of freezing and freeze-drying processes. Here we study experimentally how the level of particulate impurities - a key parameter in pharmaceutical manufacturing - affects the ice nucleation behavior.

Atmospheric-Pressure Cold Plasma Induces Transcriptional Changes in Ex Vivo Human Corneas.

Background: Atmospheric pressure cold plasma (APCP) might be considered a novel tool for tissue disinfection in medicine since the active chemical species produced by low plasma doses, generated by ionizing helium gas in air, induces reactive oxygen species (ROS) that kill microorganisms without substantially affecting human cells.

Objectives: In this study, we evaluated morphological and functional changes in human corneas exposed for 2 minutes (min) to APCP and tested if the antioxidant n-acetyl l-cysteine (NAC) was able to inhibit or prevent damage and cell death.

Results: Immunohistochemistry and western blotting analyses of corneal tissues collected at 6 hours (h) post-APCP treatment demonstrated no morphological tissue changes, but a transient increased expression of OGG1 glycosylase that returned to control levels in 24 h.

Vernal keratoconjunctivitis-like disease in adults.

Purpose: To identify clinical, demographic, immunologic, and health-related quality-of-life data from a cohort of vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) patients with the onset of the disease after puberty (VKC-like disease).

Design: Retrospective, observational case series.

Methods: Forty-nine patients with late-onset VKC-like disease from among 600 consecutive VKC patients.

Disinfection of ocular cells and tissues by atmospheric-pressure cold plasma.

Background: Low temperature plasmas have been proposed in medicine as agents for tissue disinfection and have received increasing attention due to the frequency of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. This study explored whether atmospheric-pressure cold plasma (APCP) generated by a new portable device that ionizes a flow of helium gas can inactivate ocular pathogens without causing significant tissue damage.

Methodology/principal Findings: We tested the APCP effects on cultured Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Candida albicans, Aspergillus fumigatus and Herpes simplex virus-1, ocular cells (conjunctival fibroblasts and keratocytes) and ex-vivo corneas.

Tailored approach to the treatment of vernal keratoconjunctivitis.

Purpose: To develop a standardized clinical grading system for the management of patients with vernal keratoconjunctivitis (VKC) and to identify the risk factors associated with a worsened outcome of the disease, including decrease of visual acuity and ocular complications development.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: A total of 207 consecutive patients with VKC, referred to our Cornea and External Diseases Center from 1997 to 2007, were included in the study.

Ultrasound biomicroscopy in traumatic aniridia 2 years after phacoemulsification.

A 45-year-old man with retinitis pigmentosa experienced total aniridia in the left eye due to direct blunt trauma 2 years after uneventful bilateral phacoemulsification via a 3.5 mm clear corneal incision. Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) of the left eye revealed no missing or stretched zonular fibers extending from the ciliary body to the anterior capsule, a few iris root remnants, a normal ciliary body, an in-the-bag acrylic intraocular lens, and Descemet's membrane dehiscence at the corneal tunnel through which the iris extruded.

Ocular toxicology: the Draize eye test.

Purpose Of Review: Superficial ocular tissues are frequently exposed to damage produced by chemical compounds applied on or around the ocular surface for cosmetic, therapeutic or accidental reasons. An experimental test measuring objectively and in a reproducible way any potential damaging effect would certainly help in prospectively minimizing unwanted effects. The Draize eye test, although commonly employed to date, does not seem to be quite satisfactory in this respect.

Combined 50- and 20-MHz frequency ultrasound imaging in intermediate uveitis.

Purpose: To evaluate the information provided by multifrequency ultrasound examination in patients with intermediate uveitis.

Design: Prospective observational case series.

Method: High-resolution ultrasonography with 50- and 20-MHz frequency immersion probes was performed in seven eyes of five young patients with clinical diagnosis of intermediate uveitis.

A prospective controlled study of the impact of hyperthyroidism on reproductive function in males.

The aim of this prospective controlled study was to ascertain the effect of hyperthyroidism on sperm quality and composition. We studied 23 thyrotoxic male patients, aged 43.8 +/- 2.

Seminal volume and total sperm number trends in men attending subfertility clinics in the greater Athens area during the period 1977-1993.

The trends for such important parameters of male fertility as seminal volume and total sperm number were assessed in men living permanently in the Greater Athens area over a prolonged period of time. To this end, the records of three andrological laboratories employing the same method for semen evaluation were analysed retrospectively. Out of 23,850 men examined from 1977 to 1993 (17 years) for couple subfertility, a total of 2385 (10%) were selected for evaluation by a randomization procedure.