The use of adaptive optics in ophthalmoscopy is a breakthrough technological achievement. With AO ophthalmoscopes, the microscopic retinal structure can be visualised non-invasively and on a cellular ...level, allowing for cellular scale imaging of the retinal nerve fibre layer, the smallest retinal capillaries, rod and cone photoreceptors, and the retinal pigment epithelium mosaic in the living subject. Regarding the diagnostic evaluation of retinal diseases, the current research focuses on monogenetic retinal diseases, which - when better understood - may allow for conclusions to be drawn about other multifactorial diseases and their underlying mechanisms (model disease). For disease monitoring and current and future pharmacological intervention (e.g. gene therapy), they will help to better establish novel and reliable clinical endpoints. New AO imaging devices have just become commercially available, and the number of retinal pathologies visualised with AO is increasing. Recently, an AO-based microstimulation technique has been introduced, which offers the possibility to directly correlate retinal structure with visual function on a cellular level.
Abstract Rationale Current trends for the treatment of deep partial thickness and full-thickness burns include early excision and skin grafting. In this study we retrospectively evaluated the ability ...of Laser Doppler Flowmetry (LDF), taken within 24 h of the burn to predict: (1) burn wound depth and (2) wounds which would heal in less than 21 days. Method The Laser Doppler Flowmeter (O2C, LEA Medizintechnik, Germany) was employed to non-invasively measure the cutaneous microcirculation of 173 selected areas on 28 patients who suffered burns. Results A distinct association between initial flow (<24 h after burn injury) and the clinical assessment of depth of burn wounds was observed. Wounds demonstrating an initial blood flow of >100 AU were, in 93.1% of cases, correctly (positively) predicted for spontaneous healing within 21 days. A blood flow of <100 AU (negatively) predicted in 88.2%, those wounds which would not go on to heal within 21 days. Sequential measurement analysis (<24 h, 3 days after injury and 6 days after injury) revealed no significant decrease in skin perfusion velocity or flow rate. Conclusion LDF can provide immediate results for early determination of burn wound depth and is useful in selecting patients for conservative treatment of their burn wounds.
In the modern treatment of CRPS a multidisciplinary concept is firmly established (MMPT, multimodal pain therapy). Besides medical therapy and psychotherapy, physio- and occupational therapy count as ...basic treatment options. Although physio- and occupational therapy (in the following called hand therapy) are the most important basic treatments, the therapy is hardly standardised and there are few scientific investigations concerning their application. Therefore the purpose of this paper is to present the applied hand therapeutic techniques with regard to function/performance, application and effectiveness, and to derive a suitable treatment algorithm. The techniques used in hand therapy are presented and reviewed in regard to their effectiveness by means of a literature search. It turns out that exercise therapy, manual therapy, graded motor imaging, CO2 baths and occupational therapy have a proven benefit for the patients. Although for many of the treatments reliable evidence-based data are lacking a treatment algorithm was established but there is a strong need for further investigations concerning the therapeutic effectiveness in the treatment of CRPS.
Increased rates of glacier retreat and thinning need
accurate local estimates of glacier elevation change to predict future
changes in glacier runoff and their contribution to sea level rise. Glacier
...elevation change is typically derived from digital elevation models (DEMs)
tied to surface change analysis from satellite imagery. Yet, the rugged
topography in mountain regions can cast shadows onto glacier surfaces,
making it difficult to detect local glacier elevation changes in remote
areas. A rather untapped resource comprises precise, time-stamped metadata on
the solar position and angle in satellite images. These data are useful for
simulating shadows from a given DEM. Accordingly, any differences in shadow
length between simulated and mapped shadows in satellite images could
indicate a change in glacier elevation relative to the acquisition date of
the DEM. We tested this hypothesis at five selected glaciers with long-term
monitoring programmes. For each glacier, we projected cast shadows onto the
glacier surface from freely available DEMs and compared simulated shadows to
cast shadows mapped from ∼40 years of Landsat images. We
validated the relative differences with geodetic measurements of glacier
elevation change where these shadows occurred. We find that shadow-derived
glacier elevation changes are consistent with independent photogrammetric
and geodetic surveys in shaded areas. Accordingly, a shadow cast on Baltoro
Glacier (the Karakoram, Pakistan) suggests no changes in elevation between 1987
and 2020, while shadows on Great Aletsch Glacier (Switzerland) point to
negative thinning rates of about 1 m yr−1 in our sample. Our estimates
of glacier elevation change are tied to occurrence of mountain shadows and
may help complement field campaigns in regions that are difficult to access.
This information can be vital to quantify possibly varying
elevation-dependent changes in the accumulation or ablation zone of a given
glacier. Shadow-based retrieval of glacier elevation changes hinges on the
precision of the DEM as the geometry of ridges and peaks constrains the
shadow that we cast on the glacier surface. Future generations of DEMs with
higher resolution and accuracy will improve our method, enriching the
toolbox for tracking historical glacier mass balances from satellite and
aerial images.
To compare a new scoring system for multibacillary (MB) leprosy relapses, which combines time factor, risk factors and clinical presentation at relapse, to WHO criteria. Data were collected on all ...relapses diagnosed between 1998 and 2004 at the Marie-Adelaide-Centre in Karachi, Pakistan, including case histories, clinical manifestations, follow-up, bacterial indices, treatment and contacts. For the diagnosis of MB relapses a simple scoring system was developed and validated on a data-set of mouse foot pads (MFP)-confirmed relapses (Leprosy Reviews, 76, 2005, 241). Its sensitivity was further evaluated in the Karachi relapse cohort. The P-value was calculated with McNemar's test with continuity correction. The new scoring system that combines time factor, risk factors and clinical presentation at relapse had a higher sensitivity in MFP-confirmed relapses than the WHO-criteria (95%vs. 65%, P < 0.01). The sensitivity of the scoring system was also significantly higher than the WHO criteria in the 57 cases of MB-relapses diagnosed in Karachi (72%vs. 54%, P < 0.05). This new simple scoring system for diagnosing MB-relapses in leprosy should be further validated in a prospective study to confirm its superior sensitivity and to evaluate the specificity of these criteria by using MFP-confirmation for patients presenting with signs of activity after treatment.
A recent report from our group described that the (serotonin receptor-3)-antagonist ondansetron exhibits antiproliferative effects in the B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL) cell ...line REH. Furthermore, after each application of ondansetron to cultured REH cells, significant increases (+23%) in the concentration of nitric oxides (NO) were observed in the cell supernatants after 72 hours incubation in standard conditions, and this effect was found to correlate with the described antiproliferative activity. This feature was further confirmed by using mRNA dot blot hybridizations with a specific gene probe for the inducible NO-synthase (iNOS), yielding significant increases (+100%) of iNOS mRNA, which were found to widely correlate with the detected increases of NO release, and also with the previously described antiproliferative effects. The presented results are the first report on high specific pro-inflammatory features of a (serotonin receptor 3)-antagonist in a BCP-ALL cell line, which are associated with previously described antiproliferative properties.
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