Two-year results for ranibizumab for radiation retinopathy (RRR): a randomized, prospective trial.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of a treat-and-extend strategy with intravitreal ranibizumab for radiation-related macular edema.

Methods: Forty eyes with radiation-induced macular edema and decreased visual acuity were enrolled in the phase IIb, prospective clinical trial and randomized into 3 cohorts: (A) monthly ranibizumab, (B) monthly ranibizumab with targeted retinal photocoagulation (TRP), or (C) as-needed ranibizumab and TRP. In year 2, all subjects entered a treat-and-extend protocol for ranibizumab.

Randomized Trial of Monthly Versus As-Needed Intravitreal Ranibizumab for Radiation Retinopathy-Related Macular Edema: 1-Year Outcomes.

Purpose: To assess efficacy of intravitreal ranibizumab injections and targeted panretinal photocoagulation (TRP) for radiation retinopathy-related macular edema.

Design: Phase IIb, prospective, randomized clinical trial.

Methods: Setting: Multicenter.

Intra-arterial Chemotherapy for Adult Onset Retinoblastoma in a 32-Year-Old Man.

A 32-year-old man with active unilateral group D retinoblastoma that was recurrent following external beam radiotherapy was treated with intra-arterial chemotherapy, leading to tumor regression. Additional plaque radiotherapy and intravitreal chemotherapy were required for complete control. Final visual acuity was 20/40.

Reduction of adult hippocampal neurogenesis confers vulnerability in an animal model of cocaine addiction.

Drugs of abuse dynamically regulate adult neurogenesis, which appears important for some types of learning and memory. Interestingly, a major site of adult neurogenesis, the hippocampus, is important in the formation of drug-context associations and in the mediation of drug-taking and drug-seeking behaviors in animal models of addiction. Correlative evidence suggests an inverse relationship between hippocampal neurogenesis and drug-taking or drug-seeking behaviors, but the lack of a causative link has made the relationship between adult-generated neurons and addiction unclear.

Vision loss associated with the use and removal of intraocular silicone oil.

Purpose: To describe vision loss associated with the use or removal of silicone oil retinal tamponade.

Methods: Records were reviewed of all patients with a decrease in visual acuity of at least 3 Snellen lines from best acuity with 5000 centistoke silicone oil in place or after removal of silicone oil at a single retina-only practice between 1996 and 2006.

Results: Nine patients (6 men, 3 women) with a mean age of 48 years (range, 16-61) met study inclusion criteria.

A simple gas chromatography-mass spectrometry procedure for the simultaneous determination of buprenorphine and norbuprenorphine in human urine.

With the increasing use of buprenorphine in treatment of opiate addiction and pain management, it is important that laboratories be able to assess patient compliance. The presented procedure is simple, efficient, and employs gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) technology available to most laboratories. The specimen is hydrolyzed with beta-glucuronidase prior to liquid-liquid extraction at a basic pH.

False positive acetaminophen concentrations in patients with liver injury.

Background: Acetaminophen toxicity is the most common form of acute liver failure in the U.S. After acetaminophen overdoses, quantitation of plasma acetaminophen can aid in predicting severity of injury.

Addiction-related alterations in D1 and D2 dopamine receptor behavioral responses following chronic cocaine self-administration.

The cocaine-addicted phenotype can be modeled in rats based on individual differences in preferred levels of cocaine intake and a propensity for relapse in withdrawal. These cocaine-taking and -seeking behaviors are strongly but differentially regulated by postsynaptic D1 and D2 receptors in the mesolimbic dopamine system. Thus, we determined whether addiction-related differences in cocaine self-administration would be related to differential sensitivity in functional D1 and D2 receptor responses.

Complications of general anesthesia using nitrous oxide in eyes with preexisting gas bubbles.

Purpose: To present the visual and anatomical outcomes for patients with intraocular gas placed during vitreoretinal surgery who subsequently underwent surgery wherein general anesthesia with nitrous oxide was used.

Methods: The authors reviewed the charts of patients who had undergone vitreoretinal surgery where a long-acting gas tamponade had been used. These patients underwent additional surgery for a variety of reasons at five different institutions and had nitrous oxide used during general anesthesia.