Producing desired ice faces.

The ability to prepare single-crystal faces has become central to developing and testing models for chemistry at interfaces, spectacularly demonstrated by heterogeneous catalysis and nanoscience. This ability has been hampered for hexagonal ice, Ih--a fundamental hydrogen-bonded surface--due to two characteristics of ice: ice does not readily cleave along a crystal lattice plane and properties of ice grown on a substrate can differ significantly from those of neat ice. This work describes laboratory-based methods both to determine the Ih crystal lattice orientation relative to a surface and to use that orientation to prepare any desired face.

Vitreous pillow for sustained-release intravitreous drug delivery implants.

Background And Objective: Intravitreous drug delivery systems are injected or surgically implanted for sustained release of drugs to the posterior segment for conditions such as vein occlusions and diabetic macular edema. Since these devices rely upon the vitreous body for support, concerns regarding their migration and prolonged direct retinal contact have limited their use in vitrectomized eyes.

Patients And Methods: Three patients with persistent macular edema received dexamethasone intravitreal implantation following vitrectomy employing the authors' novel technique for embedding the system in a residual inferior vitreous skirt that serves as a pillow on which the implant rests after pars plana vitrectomy.

Treatment for submacular hemorrhage associated with neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Submacular hemorrhage associated with neovascular age-related macular degeneration is a complication known to have potentially devastating effects on visual acuity. Multiple treatment modalities have been suggested including intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injections, photodynamic therapy, pneumatic displacement with or without adjuvant intravitreal tissue plasminogen activator, and pars plana vitrectomy with or without adjuvant subretinal tissue plasminogen activator. However, there remains no consensus on optimal treatment, as clinical trials for neovascular age-related macular degeneration have excluded patients with submacular hemorrhage.

Disruption of tissue-type plasminogen activator gene in mice reduces renal interstitial fibrosis in obstructive nephropathy.

Tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) is one of the major components in the matrix proteolytic network whose role in the pathogenesis of renal interstitial fibrosis remains largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that ablation of tPA attenuated renal interstitial fibrotic lesions in obstructive nephropathy. Mice lacking tPA developed less morphological injury and displayed a reduced deposition of interstitial collagen III and fibronectin as well as total tissue collagen in the kidneys after sustained ureteral obstruction, when compared with their wild-type counterparts.