Systematic and objective wet-lab testing of instruments for phacoemulsification: new Formalin Quadrant Model.

Purpose: To validate an improved wet-lab model for systematic and objective efficiency testing of instruments for phacoemulsification.

Setting: Institute of Medical Engineering, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Lucerne, Switzerland.

Design: Experimental study.

Study of PVD AlCrN Coating for Reducing Carbide Cutting Tool Deterioration in the Machining of Titanium Alloys.

The manufacture of medical and aerospace components made of titanium alloys and other difficult-to-cut materials requires the parallel development of high performance cutting tools coated with materials capable of enhanced tribological and resistance properties. In this matter, a thin nanocomposite film made out of AlCrN (aluminum-chromium-nitride) was studied in this research, showing experimental work in the deposition process and its characterization. A heat-treated monolayer coating, competitive with other coatings in the machining of titanium alloys, was analyzed.

Increased interleukin-4-positive lymphocytes in patients with Hashimoto's thyroiditis and concurrent non-endocrine autoimmune disorders.

A prevalent T helper type 1 (Th1) subset of lymphocytes has been described in Hashimoto's thyroiditis (HT), but whether a similar polarization may characterize HT when associated with non-endocrine autoimmune disorders (NEAD) is not known. The aim of the present study was to analyse the intracellular Th1 and Th2 distinctive cytokines in patients with isolated HT or associated with non-endocrine autoimmune disorders. Intracellular cytokine expression was assessed in peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) of 68 out-patients (females = 55; males = 13; median age = 6 years) with HT : 33 had isolated HT and 35 had a concurrent NEAD.

Outcomes of coaxial microincision cataract surgery versus conventional coaxial cataract surgery.

Purpose: To compare the outcomes of coaxial microincision cataract surgery (MICS) with those of conventional coaxial cataract surgery.

Setting: University Eye Clinic, Geneva, Switzerland.

Methods: In a prospective study, 50 eyes of 50 patients with nuclear or corticonuclear cataract (grades 2 to 4 on the Lens Opacities Classification System III) were randomly selected to have cataract extraction through a temporal clear corneal incision using 1 of 2 techniques: coaxial MICS (25 eyes) or conventional coaxial cataract surgery (25 eyes).

Chronic unexplained anaemia in isolated autoimmune thyroid disease or associated with autoimmune related disorders.

Objective: The prevalence of chronic unexplained anaemia was analysed in patients with autoimmune thyroid disease (ATD).

Design: The presence of chronic unexplained anaemia, defined as anaemia not related to evident or occult bleeding and/or to erythropoietic disorders, was retrospectively assessed and compared in patients with nonautoimmune thyroid disease (NATD) and in patients with ATD.

Subjects And Measurements: Biochemical and morphological parameters of anaemia were investigated and characterized in 1643 consecutive Caucasian outpatients with thyroid disease.