Endothelial dysfunction in aortic rings and mesenteric beds isolated from deoxycorticosterone acetate hypertensive rats: possible involvement of protein kinase C.

The main objectives of this study were to investigate the effects of deoxycorticosterone acetate (DOCA)-induced hypertension on the aortic and mesenteric vascular responses to vasodilator and vasoconstrictor agents and also to elucidate whether protein kinase C (PKC) was involved in these responses, by using chelerythrine and calphostin C, the inhibitors of protein kinase C. Hypertension was induced in male Sprague-Dawley rats (200-250 g) by DOCA-salt injection [20 mg/kg, twice weekly for 5 weeks, subcutaneously (s.c.

Higher-order wavefront aberrations in corneal refractive therapy.

Purpose: To assess the changes in higher-order (third through sixth) ocular wavefront aberrations produced by Corneal Refractive Therapy (CRT; Paragon Vision Sciences, Mesa, AZ).

Methods: Eighteen eyes of nine myopic subjects were fit with CRT contact lenses. Baseline subjective spherical refraction ranged from -2.

Delay in starting treatment for tuberculosis in east London.

In the United Kingdom there is little information about the delay between the onset of symptoms in patients with tuberculosis and the time it takes for them to be correctly diagnosed and treatment started. We have examined the duration and possible causes of such delay in our own district. The records of 93 patients were examined.

Cardiovascular disease as a long-term complication of treatment for testicular cancer.

Purpose: To assess the risk of cardiovascular morbidity and cardiac risk factors in long-term survivors of testicular cancer according to treatment received.

Patients And Methods: All resident male patients registered in the United Kingdom between 1982 and 1992 attending for follow-up were eligible for recruitment. Patients completed a current health questionnaire and underwent clinical review, along with hematologic, biochemical, and hormonal profiles.

Chorioretinal topography and histopathology in laser-induced choroidal neovascularization.

Objective: To investigate the correspondence between topographic mapping of the vitreoretinal and chorioretinal surfaces in vivo and histopathology findings.

Materials And Methods: Choroidal neovascularization was induced in the retina of a primate by an argon laser. Serial optical section images of the retina were obtained using an optical imaging system based on the Retinal Thickness Analyzer.

Late recurrence in 1263 men with testicular germ cell tumors. Multivariate analysis of risk factors and implications for management.

Background: Testicular germ cell tumors are highly curable. However, 10-30% of patients have recurrence after initial treatment. The time-course of recurrence has implications for the duration of follow-up.

Heterotopic bone formation: irradiation of high risk patients.

The Royal Marsden Hospital has adopted a policy for patient selection for the use of adjuvant radiotherapy to prevent heterotopic new bone formation (HTBF) limited to those at greater than 50% risk. The treatment protocol is 7 Gy post-operative megavoltage radiotherapy at mid-plane, in one fraction, given within 72 h of surgery. Since the introduction of this protocol in 1993, 26 joints have been treated in 25 patients.

Retinal topography and thickness mapping in atrophic age related macular degeneration.

Aim: To determine the relation between alterations in the retinal topography and thickness, visual acuity, and retinal pigment epithelium hypopigmentation in atrophic age related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: 22 patients, mean age 74 (SD 8) years, with atrophic AMD were recruited. An optical imaging system based on the retinal thickness analyser (RTA) was applied to generate a series of 20 optical section images that encompass 2 mm x 2 mm retinal areas.

Relation between retinal thickening and clinically visible fundus pathologies in mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Background And Objective: To determine the association of retinal thickening (RT) with clinically observable retinal pathologies in eyes with mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy.

Patients And Methods: Using an objective quantitative imaging method (Retinal Thickness Analyzer), the ratio relative to normal RT (RTI) was measured in 23 eyes with and 35 eyes without clinically observable diabetic fundus pathology. RTI was analyzed in relation to presence of mild diabetic retinal lesions in the +/-0.

Recovery of serum testosterone, LH and FSH levels following neoadjuvant hormone cytoreduction and radical radiotherapy in localized prostate cancer.

This study was carried out to evaluate the possible long-term endocrine effect of short-term neoadjuvant leuteinizing hormone-releasing hormone analogue (LHRHa) administration in localized prostate cancer. A total of 419 men were treated for 3-6 months at The Royal Marsden NHS Trust by neoadjuvant androgen suppression using monthly depot injections of LHRHa before radical radiotherapy. Serum testosterone (852 measurements), leuteinizing hormone (LH) (799 measurements), and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) levels (801 measurements) were grouped according to their timing in relation to hormonal treatment and then analysed.

Findings on retinal topography and thickness mapping in age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To report alterations in the retinal topography and thickness in typical cases of age-related macular degeneration (ARMD).

Methods: An optical imaging system was applied to patients with ARMD with alterations in the retinal structures. The system generates a series of 20 optical section images that encompass a 2 mm x 2 mm retinal area.

Thickness of the peripapillary retina in healthy subjects with different degrees of ametropia.

Purpose: To evaluate the thickness of the peripapillary retina in healthy subjects with different degrees of ametropia.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Participants: Forty-three healthy normal subjects, ages 15 to 64 years (38+/-15 years) were recruited.

A new method for noninvasive optical sectioning of the chorioretinal vasculature.

Purpose: To report a new method for optical sectioning of the chorioretinal vasculature to improve the visualization of vascular abnormalities due to chorioretinal eye diseases.

Methods: An imaging system was developed for optical sectioning of the vasculature called chorioretinal optical sectioning (CROS). CROS consists of projecting a laser beam at an angle on the retina after injection of a fluorescent dye and viewing the fluorescence.

Clinical assessment of the macula by retinal topography and thickness mapping.

Purpose: To report a quantitative and objective method for assessing pathologic alterations in retinal structures to improve the evaluation of macular diseases.

Methods: We used a system based on the scanning retinal thickness analyzer to generate serial optical section images of the retina and provide mapping of the retinal topography and thickness in a normal subject and in patients with representative maculopathies including traumatic macular hole, central serous chorioretinopathy, branch retinal vein occlusion, diabetic macular edema, and retinal pigment epithelial detachment.

Results: The effectiveness of the system in imaging both the vitreoretinal and chorioretinal interfaces was confirmed in the normal subject and in patients with various maculopathies.

A new method for rapid mapping of the retinal thickness at the posterior pole.

Purpose: An objective, quantitative, and sensitive method to map retinal thickness is needed to diagnose more effectively the conditions causing alterations in thickness, such as macular edema and neuroretinal atrophy.

Methods: An instrument, the retinal thickness analyzer, was developed into a rapid scanning instrument, capable of covering macular areas of 2 x 2 mm in 200 or 400 msec and generating a detailed map of the retinal thickness. The performance was assessed in vitro and in five normal subjects who were scanned on three separate visits.

Illustration of the stages of idiopathic macular holes by laser biomicroscopy.

Background: The determination of the developmental stage of macular holes is difficult to assess clinically. This may be the reason for the conflicting reports on the risk of vision loss in patients with macular holes and on the value of prophylactic surgery. We have developed a new method, laser biomicroscopy, which provides visualization and photographic record of vitreoretinal structures at the macula.

Local response of the primate retinal microcirculation to increased metabolic demand induced by flicker.

Purpose: To study the response of the macular circulation to a local increase in metabolic demand created by a flickering source of illumination.

Methods: Laser-targeted angiography (release of a fluorescent dye from heat-sensitive liposomes using a laser pulse) was used to study, in subhuman primates, changes in hemodynamic parameters of the retinal circulation that were induced by a flickering source of illumination. Changes in the macular macrocirculation were compared with those in the macular microcirculation and were evaluated at various distances from the foveola.

Retinal thickness change after focal laser treatment of diabetic macular oedema.

Laser photocoagulation has been used successfully for the treatment of clinically significant macular oedema to reduce the risk of loss of vision in diabetic patients. A quantitative method for measuring retinal thickness was applied to 20 patients with diabetic macular oedema before and 4 months after focal laser treatment to assess the reduction in retinal thickening and its relation to visual acuity. The degree of thickening at each location, defined by thickness index, was determined relative to the corresponding average value in normal subjects.

Noninvasive visualization of the choriocapillaris and its dynamic filling.

Purpose: The choroidal microvasculature and its circulation are inadequately assessed by presently available techniques. Laser-targeted delivery was applied to generate local, repetitive angiograms of the choriocapillaris in primates.

Methods: Carboxyfluorescein was encapsulated in heat-sensitive liposomes and injected intravenously in monkeys.

Foveal thickening in retinitis pigmentosa patients with cystoid macular edema.

Purpose: Clinical evaluation of cystoid macular edema (CME), known to occur in patients with retinitis pigmentosa (RP), is based on the presence of vascular leakage on fluorescein angiography. Due to an inability to quantitatively assess retinal thickening, the degree of thickening from fluid accumulation and its relation to fluorescein dye leakage into the extravascular retinal space has not been established. The relationship between fluorescein dye leakage and foveal thickening and the effect of methazolamide treatment was studied.