Comparing the Efficacy of Bevacizumab and Ranibizumab in Patients with Diabetic Macular Edema (BRDME): The BRDME Study, a Randomized Trial.

Purpose: To generate conclusive evidence regarding the noninferiority of intravitreal bevacizumab compared with ranibizumab in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME).

Design: Comparative, randomized, double-masked, multicenter, noninferiority clinical trial.

Participants: Eligible patients were older than 18 years, diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus, with glycosylated hemoglobin of less than 12%, central area thickness of more than 325 μm, and visual impairment from DME with a best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) between 24 letters and 78 letters.

Comparing the Efficacy of Bevacizumab and Ranibizumab in Patients with Retinal Vein Occlusion: The Bevacizumab to Ranibizumab in Retinal Vein Occlusions (BRVO) study, a Randomized Trial.

Purpose: Comparing the efficacy of intravitreal injections of bevacizumab to ranibizumab in the treatment of macular edema (ME) resulting from retinal vein occlusion (RVO).

Design: Comparative, randomized, double-masked, multicenter, noninferiority clinical trial. The noninferiority margin was 4 letters.

Physico-chemistry of bacterial transmission versus adhesion.

Bacterial adhesion is a main problem in many biomedical, domestic, natural and industrial environments and forms the onset of the formation of a biofilm, in which adhering bacteria grow into a multi-layered film while embedding themselves in a matrix of extracellular polymeric substances. It is usually assumed that bacterial adhesion occurs from air or by convective-diffusion from a liquid suspension, but often bacteria adhere by transmission from a bacterially contaminated donor to a receiver surface. Therewith bacterial transmission is mechanistically different from adhesion, as it involves bacterial detachment from a donor surface followed by adhesion to a receiver one.

Association of Circulating Markers With Outcome Parameters in the Bevacizumab and Ranibizumab in Diabetic Macular Edema Trial.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate selected candidate biomarkers as potential markers for patients with diabetic macular edema (DME) who receive antivascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy.

Methods: Selected biomarkers included blood levels of messenger RNA (mRNA) of retinoschisin, RPE65, rhodopsin, and endothelial progenitor cell markers CD34 and CD133. Blood samples were obtained from 89 patients with DME according to the study protocol of the Bevacizumab and Ranibizumab in Diabetic Macular Edema (BRDME) study.

FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH PENTOSIDINE ACCUMULATION IN THE HUMAN VITREOUS.

Purpose: To explore factors associated with pentosidine accumulation in the human vitreous.

Methods: Vitreous samples were obtained during trans pars plana vitrectomy for macular hole or rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. Patient characteristics included age, gender, and diabetes mellitus.

Comparing the Effectiveness of Bevacizumab to Ranibizumab in Patients with Exudative Age-Related Macular Degeneration. The BRAMD Study.

Purpose: To compare the effectiveness of bevacizumab and ranibizumab in the treatment of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Design: Multicentre, randomized, controlled, double-masked clinical trial in 327 patients. The non-inferiority margin was 4 letters.

Glaucoma drainage device surgery after vitreoretinal surgery: incidence and risk factors.

Purpose: The initial success of vitreoretinal surgery can be annihilated by an acceleration of preexisting glaucoma or the development of secondary glaucoma. Aim of this study was to determine the incidence of and risk factors for medically uncontrollable glaucoma after vitreoretinal surgery.

Methods: Case-control study amongst patients who underwent vitreoretinal surgery at the University Medical Center Groningen between 1991 and 2011 (in total 14,942 interventions).

Immunohistochemical Evaluation of Idiopathic Epiretinal Membranes and In Vitro Studies on the Effect of TGF-β on Müller Cells.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of type VI collagen and glial cells in idiopathic epiretinal membrane (iERM) and the role of TGF-β in the expression of collagens and α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA) in retinal Müller cells.

Methods: Idiopathic ERM samples from vitrectomy were analyzed for glial acidic fibrillary protein (GFAP), cellular retinaldehyde-binding protein (CRALBP), α-SMA, and type VI collagen using flat-mount immunohistochemistry. To study intracellular collagen expression in relation to cellular phenotype, spontaneously immortalized human Müller cells (MIO-M1) were treated with TGF-β1 for 48 hours, and the expression of α-SMA and intracellular type I, II, IV, and VI collagens was studied by using immunocytology.

Substrate Elastic Modulus Regulates the Morphology, Focal Adhesions, and α-Smooth Muscle Actin Expression of Retinal Müller Cells.

Purpose: The stiffness of the extracellular matrix has been shown to regulate cell adhesion, migration, and transdifferentiation in fibrotic processes. Retinal Müller cells have been shown to be mechanosensitive; they are involved in fibrotic vitreoretinal diseases. Since fibrosis increases the rigidity of the extracellular matrix, our aim was to develop an in vitro model for studying Müller cell morphology and differentiation state in relation to matrix stiffness.

The Ultrastructural Localization of Type II, IV, and VI Collagens at the Vitreoretinal Interface.

Background: The vitreoretinal interface is the border of the cortical vitreous and the inner surface of the retina. The adhesion of the cortical vitreous to the ILM, namely vitreoretinal adhesion, involves a series of complex molecular adhesion mechanisms and has been considered as an important pathogenic factor in many vitreoretinal diseases. The presence of type VI collagen at the vitreoretinal interface and its possible interaction with collagens and glycoproteins indicates that type VI collagen may contribute to the vitreoretinal adhesion.

Comparing the effectiveness and costs of Bevacizumab to Ranibizumab in patients with Diabetic Macular Edema: a randomized clinical trial (the BRDME study).

Background: The effectiveness of ranibizumab in the treatment of diabetic macular edema has been proven with large clinical trials. For bevacizumab only two clinical trials have been published and a head-to-head comparison is lacking to date. However, if proved non-inferior to ranibizumab, use of the off-label bevacizumab could reduce costs enormously without a loss in visual acuity.

Postoperative metamorphopsia in macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment: associations with visual function, vision related quality of life, and optical coherence tomography findings.

Purpose: To evaluate postoperative metamorphopsia in macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) and its association with visual function, vision related quality of life, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings.

Methods: 45 patients with primary macula-off RRD were included. At 12 months postoperatively, data on metamorphopsia using sine amsler charts (SAC), best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), letter contrast sensitivity, color vision (saturated and desaturated color confusion indexes), critical print size, reading acuity, the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25), and OCT, were obtained.

Prevention of posterior capsular opacification.

Posterior capsular opacification (PCO) is a common complication of cataract surgery. The development of PCO is due to a combination of the processes of proliferation, migration, and transdifferentiation of residual lens epithelial cells (LECs) on the lens capsule. In the past decades, various forms of PCO prevention have been examined, including adjustments of techniques and intraocular lens materials, pharmacological treatments, and prevention by interfering with biological processes in LECs.

Postoperative vision-related quality of life in macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment patients and its relation to visual function.

Objective: To determine the vision-related quality of life (VR-QOL) after surgery for macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) in relation to visual acuity, contrast acuity, and color vision.

Methods: In a prospective observational study, we included 55 patients with a macula-off RRD. Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), color vision (saturated and desaturated color confusion indices (CCI)) and contrast acuity were measured at 12 months postoperatively in both the RRD eye and the fellow control eye, and the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI VFQ-25) was filled out.

Idiopathic epiretinal membrane.

Background: Idiopathic epiretinal membrane (iERM) is a fibrocellular membrane that proliferates on the inner surface of the retina at the macular area. Membrane contraction is an important sight-threatening event and is due to fibrotic remodeling.

Methods: Analysis of the current literature regarding the epidemiology, clinical features, and pathogenesis of iERM and fibrotic tissue contraction.

Postoperative recovery of visual function after macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.

Purpose: To determine which factors affect the recovery of visual function in macula off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).

Methods: In a prospective study of forty-five patients with a primary macula-off RRD of 24 hours to 6 weeks duration, the height of the macular detachment was determined by ultrasonography. At 12 months postoperatively, best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast acuity, and color confusion indexes (CCI) were obtained.

Glial cells and collagens in epiretinal membranes associated with idiopathic macular holes.

Purpose: To investigate the identity of collagens and cellular components in the epiretinal membrane (ERM) associated with full-thickness idiopathic macular hole and their clinical relevance.

Methods: Pars plana vitrectomy with the peeling of internal limiting membrane and ERM was performed by 2 surgeons in 40 eyes with idiopathic macular holes. The clinical data were reviewed and the surgical specimens were processed for flat-mount and immunohistochemical analysis.

Trypsin-mediated enzymatic degradation of type II collagen in the human vitreous.

Purpose: Aging of the vitreous body can result in sight-threatening pathology. One aspect of vitreous aging is liquefaction, which results from the vanishing of collagen fibrils. We investigated the possibility that trypsins are involved in vitreous type II collagen degradation.

Design and validation of a method to determine the position of the fovea by using the nerve-head to fovea distance of the fellow eye.

Purpose: To measure the nerve-head to fovea distance (NFD) on fundus photographs in fellow eyes, and to compare the NFD between fellow eyes.

Methods: Diabetic patients without retinopathy, (n = 183) who were screened by fundus photography at the University Medical Center Groningen, the Netherlands from January 1(st) 2005 until January 1(st) 2006 were included. The NFD was measured in left and right eyes both from the center and from the rim of the nerve-head.

Morphometric analyses of the visual pathways in macular degeneration.

Introduction: Macular degeneration (MD) causes central visual field loss. When field defects occur in both eyes and overlap, parts of the visual pathways are no longer stimulated. Previous reports have shown that this affects the grey matter of the primary visual cortex, but possible effects on the preceding visual pathway structures have not been fully established.

Nonadhesive, silica nanoparticles-based brush-coated contact lens cases--compromising between ease of cleaning and microbial transmission to contact lenses.

Surface properties of lens cases are determinant for their cleanability and for microbial transmission from lens cases to contact lenses (CLs). PEG-polymer-brush-coatings are known to decrease microbial adhesion more than other surface-coatings. Here, we applied a robust, silica nanoparticles-based brush-coating to polypropylene cases to evaluate their ease of cleaning and probability of bacterial transmission to CLs.

The incidence of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment in The Netherlands.

Objective: To estimate the incidence and characteristics of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) in The Netherlands in 2009.

Design: Retrospective, observational case series.

Participants: All patients with RRD in the Dutch population in 2009.

Bacterial adhesion forces to Ag-impregnated contact lens cases and transmission to contact lenses.

Purpose: To measure adhesion forces of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Serratia marcescens to a rigid contact lens (CL), standard polypropylene, and Ag-impregnated lens cases using atomic force microscopy and determine bacterial transmission from lens case to CL.

Methods: Adhesion forces of bacterial strains to Ag-impregnated and polypropylene lens cases and a rigid CL were measured using atomic force microscopy. Adhesion forces were used to calculate Weibull distributions, from which transmission probabilities from lens case to CL were derived.

Intraocular degradation behavior of crosslinked and linear poly(trimethylene carbonate) and poly(D,L-lactic acid).

The intraocular degradation behavior of poly(trimethylene carbonate) (PTMC) networks and poly(D,L-lactic acid) (PDLLA) networks and of linear high molecular weight PTMC and PDLLA was evaluated. PTMC is known to degrade by enzymatic surface erosion in vivo, whereas PDLLA degrades by hydrolytic bulk degradation. Rod shaped specimens were implanted in the vitreous of New Zealand white rabbits for 6 or 13 wk.

Surface thermodynamics and adhesion forces governing bacterial transmission in contact lens related microbial keratitis.

Contact lens induced microbial keratitis results from bacterial transmission from one surface to another. We investigated the adhesion forces of Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococci and Serratia to different contact lenses, lens cases and corneal surfaces using AFM, and applied a Weibull analysis on these adhesion forces to calculate bacterial transmission probabilities from lens case to corneas with a contact lens as an intermediate. Also a new surface thermodynamic parameter was introduced, the interfacial free energy of transmission, which in essence compares the interfacial free energies of bacterial adhesion, calculated from measured contact angles with liquids on the donating and receiving surfaces in the transmission process.