Clinical study of acupuncture combined with surface anesthesia using proparacaine in geriatric cataract phacoemulsification.

Background: During anesthesia administration for cataract surgery, low pH of proparacaine may induce pain or complications such as corneal damage and poor wound healing, with the use of additional drops intraoperatively increasing the risk of complications. Accordingly, there is a clinical need for adjuncts to local anesthesia needs to improve the efficiency of anesthesia and reduce the required amount of intraoperative proparacaine.

Aim: To identify a method of anesthesia for geriatric cataract phacoemulsification that provides more efficient analgesia and improves clinical efficacy.

[Genetic diversification of avian influenza H5N1 virus in boundary areas of Yunnan province].

Objective: To elucidate the genetic diversifications of avian influenza subtype H5N1 viruses in the boundary regions of Yunnan province during 2009 to July, 2011.

Methods: Swab samples were collected from foreign poultry and wild birds in boundary regions of Yunnan province during 2009 to July, 2011 and tested by H5/N1 subtype-specific multiplex RT-PCR. The HA genes of H5N1 virus from the positive samples were amplified by RT-PCR and cloned into pMD18-T vectors for sequencing.