Bioengineering endothelialized neo-corneas using donor-derived corneal endothelial cells and decellularized corneal stroma.

Corneal transplantation is a common transplant procedure performed to improve visual acuity by replacing the opaque or distorted host tissue by clear healthy donor tissue. However, its clinical utility is limited due to a lack of high quality donor corneas. Bioengineered neo-corneas, created using an expandable population of human donor-derived corneal endothelial cells (HCEC), could address this current shortage.

Mortality and exposure response among 14,458 electrical capacitor manufacturing workers exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Background: We expanded an existing cohort of workers (n = 2,588) considered highly exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) at two capacitor manufacturing plants to include all workers with at least 90 days of potential PCB exposure during 1939-1977 (n = 14,458). Causes of death of a priori interest included liver and rectal cancers, previously reported for the original cohort, and non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), melanoma, and breast, brain, intestine, stomach, and prostate cancers, based on other studies.

Methods: We ascertained vital status of the workers through 1998, and cumulative PCB exposure was estimated using a new job exposure matrix.

Update: cohort mortality study of workers highly exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) during the manufacture of electrical capacitors, 1940-1998.

Background: The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health previously reported mortality for a cohort of workers considered highly exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) between 1939 and 1977 at two electrical capacitor manufacturing plants. The current study updated vital status, examined liver and rectal cancer mortality previously reported in excess in this cohort and evaluated mortality from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and cancers of the stomach, intestine, breast, prostate, skin (melanoma) and brain reported to be in excess in other cohort and case-control studies of PCB-exposed persons.

Methods: Mortality was updated through 1998 for 2572 workers.

Mortality among workers exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in an electrical capacitor manufacturing plant in Indiana: an update.

An Indiana capacitor-manufacturing cohort (n=3,569) was exposed to polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) from 1957 to 1977. The original study of mortality through 1984 found excess melanoma and brain cancer; other studies of PCB-exposed individuals have found excess non-Hodgkin lymphoma and rectal, liver, biliary tract, and gallbladder cancer. Mortality was updated through 1998.

Photodynamic therapy with verteporfin for subretinal neovascularization secondary to bilateral idiopathic acquired juxtafoveolar telangiectasis.

The clinical course of a patient treated with multiple sessions of photodynamic therapy (PDT) with verteporfin for subretinal neovascularization secondary to bilateral idiopathic acquired juxtafoveolar telangiectasis is described. The patient presented with subfoveal subretinal neovascularization in one eye secondary to bilateral idiopathic acquired juxtafoveolar telangiectasis. The visual acuity improved from 5/40 to 20/60 and fluorescein angiography documented near-complete closure of the subretinal neovascularization within 2 weeks following the initial session of PDT.