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.

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.

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.