Dear Editor: Changes in the biomechanical properties of the human cornea play an important role in the pathogenesis of corneal dystrophies such as pellucid marginal corneal degeneration and keratoconus. The latter primarily affects young people and is a leading cause of severe visual impairment. Keratoconus is characterized by weakened corneal biomechanics that leads to progressive bulging and ...

APRIL 2010 CATARACT & REFRACTIVE SURGERY TODAY 33 F or more than 6 decades, topical corticosteroids have been the cornerstone of therapy for the treatment of various forms of ocular inflammation, both surgical and autoimmune in nature.1 By inhibiting the release of phospholipase A2 early in the inflammatory cascade, steroids provide a broad range of anti-inflammatory activity, because they atte...

The Pellucid project is developing an adaptable and customisable platform for enabling experience management in public organisations. Starting with a study of the three pilot applications, a uniform framework has been developed for experience management, based on the generation of ‘active hints’ that are presented to the user according to working context. Working context encompasses both positi...

Bietti's crystalline dystrophy (BCD) consists of small, yellow-white, glistening intraretinal crystals in the posterior pole, tapetoretinal degeneration with atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and "sclerosis" of the choroid; in addition, sparking yellow crystals in the superficial marginal cornea are also found in many patients. BCD is inherited as an autosomal-recessive trait (4q3...

The oocytes of the abyssal Teleost, Hoplostethus mediterraneus were studied. Four stages of growth were observed and the oocytes of all the stages were surrounded by follicular cells and had several nucleoli in the nucleus. In the oocytes of the II degrees stage, vacuoles without contents, in oocytes of the III degrees stage several vacuoles with a basophilic contents and small yolk globules we...

Public organisations with a high rate of staff rotation lose their valuable asset – experience of employees. Mobile employees, who have to face duties at new positions, would find computer assistance helpful in efficient inception. The idea to support current work of employees on the basis of gathered experience in past activities is driving the Pellucid project (IST-2001-34519). To serve exper...

to evaluate the influence of core thickness and fabrication stages on the marginal accuracy of ips e.max press crowns.twenty ips e.max press crowns, 1.5mm thick, were fabricated on metal dies. the crowns had two different core thicknesses, 0.8mm for group a and 1mm for group b, ten for each group. marginal gap was measured after each stage of core fabrication, veneering and glaze firing. the sp...

the result of the 6 years study of patients with hydatiform mole (hm) and its malignant degeneration in isfahan are presented. the over all frequency is estimated to be one hm in 440 child births. this frequency has remained relatively unchanged through out the study. increased consumption of meet did not seem to lower the frequency of hydatiform mole in our study. the over all frequency of mal...

Disc Degeneration: Spondylosis (Spondylosis Deformans) is a general term used for age-related changes to the disc. This includes disc dessication, bulging and marginal osteophyte. Disc degeneration (Intervertebral osteochondrosis) (Resnick) is characterized by disorganization and dessication of the nucleus pulposis and by disc space narrowing. With loss of disc space height there is annular bul...