Epi-off riboflavin with vitamin E TPGS (Ribocross®) cross-linking: one-year outcome.

Purpose: To assess the short and mid-term outcomes of epithelium-off (epi-off) corneal collagen cross-linking using Riboflavin with Vitamin E TPGS (Epi-off Ribocross® CXL) for progressive keratoconus (KC).

Design: Retrospective, single-center non-comparative interventional study.

Methods: Patients with progressive keratoconus who underwent CXL using (Epi-off Ribocross® CXL) from May 2021 to May 2022 who completed at least 12 months of follow-up in Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, Rozzano, Milan, Italy.

Implementation of surgical rehearsal utilizing patient specific hydrogel kidney phantoms prior to complex renal cancer surgery: a pilot study.

Introduction: With the advancement of surgical technology, the opportunity to integrate novel surgical preparation is imperative to improve patient outcomes and enhance safety.

Methods: Patient specific perfused kidney phantoms including the tumor, parenchyma, artery, vein, and calyx were fabricated using 3D-printing and hydrogel injection molding from scans of 25 patients scheduled for robotic partial-nephrectomy (RAPN). Models are validated for anatomical accuracy, mechanical, functional properties and surrounded by the other models of relevant anatomy in a body cast for a simulated surgical rehearsal.

Combined α- and D-receptor blockade activates noradrenergic and dopaminergic neurons, but extracellular dopamine in the prefrontal cortex is determined by uptake and release from noradrenergic terminals.

Experimental and clinical evidence indicates a deficit of release and function of dopamine in schizophrenia and suggests that α-adrenoceptor antagonists rescue dopamine deficit and improve the antipsychotic efficacy of D-receptor antagonists. In anesthetized male rats, we investigated how the blockade of α- and D-receptors by atipamezole and raclopride, respectively, modified the firing of noradrenergic neurons in the locus coeruleus (LC) and dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). In freely moving rats, we studied how atipamezole and raclopride modified extracellular noradrenaline, dopamine, and DOPAC levels in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) through microdialysis.