Real-life neovascular AMD treatment considering reimbursement in Turkiye: One-year comparison of switching to intravitreal ranibizumab or aflibercept after treatment failure with three loading intravitreal bevacizumab injections.

Objective: To compare one-year anatomical and functional results of switching to an on-label intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) agent (intravitreal ranibizumab [IVR] or aflibercept [IVA]) after treatment failure with three loading doses of off-label intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB), which is mandatory in the treatment of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) to get reimbursement from Social Security Institution in Turkiye.

Methods: This comparative, real-life, retrospective cohort study included treatment-naïve nAMD patients treated starting with three loading doses of IVB, switched to three loading doses of IVR and IVA due to treatment failure after IVB loading, and followed up one year with a treat-and-extend (T&E) protocol with 2-week extension/shortening intervals. The primary outcomes were changes in best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA; logMAR) and central macular thickness (CMT, µm) one year after the switch, and the secondary outcomes were maximum treatment intervals, number of injections, and disease activity rates.

Dopamine Improves Resistance of Dendrites of Mauthner Neurons to Destruction Induced by Sensory Stimulation and Application of Β-Amyloid.

Mauthner neurons in goldfish fry were studied by the methods of light and electron microscopy. The structure and volume of individual dendrites as well as the structure of axodendritic synapses were examined using virtual images of neurons formed from serial 3-μ sections. In short-time (5 h) experiments with application of dopamine, β-amyloid fragment (25-35), and long-term sensory stimulation affecting afferent inputs to Mauthner neurons, the dendrites were larger than the same dendrites under the same conditions without dopamine application.

[Ultrastructure of afferent synapses on the ventral dendrite of mauthner neurons after goldfish adaptation to optokinetic stimulation].

Using the morphometric techniques, the ultrastructural changes of the afferent synapses on the ventral dendrite of the Mauthner neurons (MNs) were studied after the adaptation of goldfish to long-term fatiguing sensory (visual) stimulation, characterized by the growth of MN resistance. It was shown that after the adaptation, the length of active zones (AZs) in the synapses located on the MN ventral dendrite was significantly reduced by 23%. At the same time, the length the AZs of the excitatory visual synapses was reduced by 29% in comparison with the control, while the length of desmosome-like contacts (DLCs) bordering AZs was increased by 71%.

Visual input controls the functional activity of goldfish Mauthner neuron through the reciprocal synaptic mechanism.

Goldfish are known to exhibit motor asymmetry due to functional asymmetry of their Mauthner neurons that induce the turns to the right or left during free swimming. It has been previously found that if the less active neuron is subjected to prolonged aimed visual stimulation via its ventral dendrite, the motor asymmetry of goldfish is inverted, testifying that this neuron becomes functionally dominant, while the size of the ventral dendrite under these conditions is reduced 2-3 times compared to its counterpart in mirror neuron. Earlier it has been also revealed that training optokinetic stimulation induces adaptation, a substantial resistance of both fish motor asymmetry and morphofunctional state of Mauthner neurons against prolonged optokinetic stimulation.

[Dopamine as a possible substance for oncotherapy and for quantitative evaluation of cytosolic G-actin].

Viability, histology and ultrastructure of normal cells and cells of different degrees of malignancy after interaction with dopamine as well as the ability of these cells and isolated G-actin in model experiments to stain by Falck technique were studied. It is shown that dopamine, virtually having no effect on the viability of the "normal" non-tumorigenic transformed cells, noticeably reduces cell viability of slightly tumorigenic cells, causes a significant reduction in viability of attachable cancerous cells and a very significant decrease in cell viability of cancerous cells growing in suspension. The intensity of fluorescence of the cytosole in cells treated with dopamine, has been very high and varied in different cultures, and that of isolated actin directly depended on its concentration.