Myopia, diabetes, and aging are the main causes of progressive vitreous collagen aggregation, resulting in vitreous opacities, which can significantly disturb vision. As vitreous opacities, which induce the visual phenomenon of "floaters", are accessible with nanomaterials and light, we propose a nanotechnology-based approach to locally ablate them with highly reduced light energy compared to the more traditional YAG laser therapy. Our strategy relies on the plasmon properties of gold nanoparticles that generate vapor nanobubbles upon pulsed-laser illumination whose mechanical force can ablate vitreous opacities. We designed gold nanoparticles coated with hyaluronic acid (HA), which have excellent diffusional mobility in human vitreous, an essential requirement to reach the vitreous opacities. In addition, we found that HA-coated gold nanoparticles can accumulate extensively on human vitreous opacities that were obtained by vitrectomy from patients with vision-degrading myodesopsia. When subsequently applying nanosecond laser pulses, the collagen aggregates were efficiently destroyed with ∼1000 times less light energy than typically used in YAG laser therapy. This low-energy "floater-specific destruction", which is due to the accumulation of the small gold nanoparticles on the opacities, is attractive, as it may be safer to the surrounding ocular tissues while at the same time being easier and faster to apply compared to YAG laser therapy, where the opacities need to be ablated piece by piece by a tightly focused laser beam. Gold nanoparticle-assisted photoablation may therefore provide a safer, faster, and more reliable destruction of vitreous opacities in the treatment of ophthalmologic diseases.

PURPOSE:Improvement in visual acuity is often considered the best indicator of the effectiveness of a treatment in age-related maculopathy. However, during the course of the disease, the location of the patients' preferred retinal locus of fixation may change. This can lead to an unexpected functional improvement, unrelated to treatment.METHODS:From a running database of 1,369 retina patients, we identified 116 patients over 60 years of age when age-related maculopathy was diagnosed based on the following inclusion criteria: one study eye with an initial acuity of the logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (logMAR) 0.7 or worse, a fellow eye with central fixation and a follow-up period of 3 years or more with precise documentation of the preferred retinal locus of fixation and scotoma distribution for both eyes using scanning laser ophthalmoscopy-based microperimetry.RESULTS:We expected an improvement in the visual acuity in one eye (study eye) without the possibility of improvement due to previous or concurrent treatment in that eye. Twelve patients met the selection criteria. Over time, these patients had significant improvements in the visual acuity in the weaker study eye, characteristically accompanied by a concurrent decrease in visual acuity in the other eye, which initially had better visual acuity. Moreover, in all the study eyes, an unstable pseudo-central von Noorden fixation pattern evolved into a more stable eccentric preferred retinal locus.CONCLUSIONS:Visual acuity remains the gold standard for assessing visual functioning in age-related maculopathy when interpreted with caution. Improvements in visual acuity can occur solely due to the course of the disease in the other eye and as a result of its impact on binocular fixation characteristics. This finding has significant implications for low-vision rehabilitation and evaluation of various therapies in large long-term clinical studies.

This paper describes the relation between crumbliness of whey proteins/polysaccharide mixed gels and their physical properties. Crumbly sensation relates strongly to the breakdown behaviour of the gels, which is primarily determined by their viscoelastic properties. These properties result from the balance between elastically stored energy and energy dissipation during deformation. The stored energy is determined as the percentage of the recoverable energy in a compression–decompression test. Gels breaking readily via a free-running crack (i.e. high recoverable energy) were perceived as the most crumbly ones. Gels showing slow, yielding-like breakdown (i.e. high energy dissipation) were sensed as the least crumbly by assessors during quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA). Serum release from the gels contributed to a large extent to the energy dissipation and thus decreased crumbliness. Microstructure affects serum release and therefore indirectly microstructure affected the crumbly sensation. The relations between crumbly sensation and physical and structural properties of the gels are, to our knowledge, reported here for the first time and can be applied to control and engineer crumbliness of semi-solid foods.

Whey protein isolate (WPI)/polysaccharide mixed gels used in the current study formed homogeneous and phase separated microstructures as visualized by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM). The latter can be further classified into protein continuous, bicontinuous and coarse stranded microstructures. Quantitative descriptive analysis (QDA) was used to evaluate sensory properties of the gels. The gels were subjected to large deformations by uniaxial compression.

Oil layer and surface roughness of steel strip are measured on line with equipment that has been adapted to withstand the severe environment of a cold rolling mill. The system ensures the effective lubrication of the strip and it displays roughness data all along the coil. This makes it possible to optimize the rolling process on-line and it affords comprehensive information on the strip properties.

This study compared SLO microperimetry scotoma size measurements with the sizes of lesions assessed with OCT in the areas of scotoma.

An all polyimide system made by plain and adhesive coated tapes has been adopted for the insulation of the LHC coils. In this analysis we put in evidence how different parameters in the curing cycles could affect the final bonding quality. Data for two different glue compositions are compared showing how the conjoint efforts of CERN and tape supplier Kaneka High-Tech Materials has helped to enlarge the window in which this material provides outstanding gluing, making easier to keep under control bonding quality throughout the mass production in a real industrial environment

More stringent customer requirements and productivity give steel makers an incentive to deliver higher surface quality strips. To control and to improve the surface properties, CRM has developed a sensor grabbing highly magnified images of a moving product. The chosen method is based on the principle of triangulation: a very thin line is projected on the surface and the relief is calculated by the analysis of line deformation. The result is an on-line 3D analysis sensor for assessing topography.