Focus on Alternative and Complementary TherapiesVolume 8, Issue 1 p. 154-155 Acupuncture in idiopathic uveitis. First results J Nepp, J Nepp Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, Vienna, A-1090, Austria Boltzmann Institute für Acupuncture, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorS Richter-Müksch, S Richter-Müksch Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, Vienna, A-1090, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorM Funk, M Funk Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, Vienna, A-1090, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorJ Schauersberger, J Schauersberger Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, Vienna, A-1090, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorG Schild, G Schild Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, Vienna, A-1090, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorS Maca, S Maca Uveitis Department at the Ophthalmology Department, University of Vienna, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorT Barisani, T Barisani Uveitis Department at the Ophthalmology Department, University of Vienna, AustriaSearch for more papers by this author J Nepp, J Nepp Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, Vienna, A-1090, Austria Boltzmann Institute für Acupuncture, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorS Richter-Müksch, S Richter-Müksch Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, Vienna, A-1090, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorM Funk, M Funk Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, Vienna, A-1090, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorJ Schauersberger, J Schauersberger Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, Vienna, A-1090, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorG Schild, G Schild Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Währinger Gürtel 18–20, Vienna, A-1090, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorS Maca, S Maca Uveitis Department at the Ophthalmology Department, University of Vienna, AustriaSearch for more papers by this authorT Barisani, T Barisani Uveitis Department at the Ophthalmology Department, University of Vienna, AustriaSearch for more papers by this author First published: 14 June 2010 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2042-7166.2003.tb05820.xRead the full textAbout ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onEmailFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article. Volume8, Issue1March 2003Pages 154-155 RelatedInformation

Aim: To determine differential light threshold values obtained with the Micro Perimeter 1 (MP1) in uveitis patients suffering from cystoid macular oedema (CMO) and to compare these measures to retinal thickness.Methods: Static threshold perimetry was performed with the MP1 Microperimeter in 27 eyes of 21 patients with a history of chronically recurring CMO. Active CMO was confirmed in 19 eyes. Eight eyes with a history of recurrent CMO were found to have normal foveal contours in optical coherence tomography (OCT). Differential light threshold values (MP1) were compared with the corresponding retinal thickness measures (OCT).Results: Mean differential threshold values within the central two degrees of the stimulation pattern were reduced compared with normal values and ranged from 5.8 to 9.5 dB in CMO eyes and from 9.3 to 12.9 dB in eyes with a normal foveal contour but a history of previous CMO. The corresponding mean retinal thickness ranged from 390 (SD 90) to 389 (88) mm (at 0 degrees and 1 degrees, respectively) for active CMO and from 199 (36) to 211 (33) mm in eyes with normal fovea following CMO resolution. Statistical correlations between mean differential sensitivity threshold and retinal thickness were only weak and showed no association.Conclusions: Active CMO causes a marked reduction in central retinal sensitivity. In addition, following the resolution of the CMO, a substantial impairment of central retinal sensitivity remains. Morphology in terms of retinal thickness in OCT does not correlate with visual function in terms of retinal sensitivity in these patients.

PURPOSE:To evaluate the extent of the visual impairment caused by uveitis-associated cystoid macular edema (CME) and compare the results with lesion size.DESIGN:Observational case series.METHODS:setting: Uveitis outpatient clinic of the Department of Ophthalmology and Optometry, Medical University of Vienna. patient population: CME was verified in 30 eyes of 30 consecutive uveitis patients with optical coherence tomography and lesion size was assessed with retinal thickness analyzer. main outcome measures: Distance visual acuity (VA) (measured with Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study charts), reading acuity, and reading speed (tested with Radner Reading Charts). Results were compared with nonaffected partner eyes.RESULTS:Distance VA was logMAR 0.22 +/- 0.15 in CME eyes vs -0.02 +/- 0.17 in healthy controls. Reading acuity was 75% of logMAR in CME eyes vs 92% of logMAR in control eyes (P = .01). The mean reading speed was 148.4 +/- 36.6 words per minute in patients with CME vs 168.9 +/- 36.3 in patients without CME (P = .04). Reading acuity correlated with both lesion size and distance VA (r = 0.61; P = .01 and r = 0.53; P = .028, respectively). Neither anatomical classification of uveitis nor gender or age had a significant influence on the evaluated parameters.CONCLUSIONS:Reading acuity and reading speed were considerably more impaired than distance visual acuity. The assessed parameters showed a better correlation to lesion size and seem to be a better reflection of macular dysfunction. Analyzing reading function is an important factor when following patients with CME and evaluating success of treatment modalities.

Bei Patienten mit Glaukom und Katarakt bieten kombinierte Operationstechniken die Aussicht auf bessere Drucksenkung und Absetzen antiglaukomatöser Medikation mit dem Nachteil langsamerer Rehabilitation und häufigerer postoperativer Komplikationen im Vergleich zu Clear-Cornea-Kataraktchirurgie.

Purpose: To compare measurements performed with the IOLMaster (Carl Zeiss, Meditec AG) with those obtained by applanation ultrasound (US) and manual keratometry and to evaluate the effect of operator experience on US biometry.Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.Methods: The axial length (696 eyes) and anterior chamber depth (ACD) (462 eyes) were measured in 377 patients with cataract using the IOLMaster and applanation US. To assess the effect of operator experience on the biometric results, the operators were divided into 2 groups: experienced and less experienced in performing US biometry. The difference in measurements between the methods and the variability of the difference were compared between the 2 groups.Results: Applanation US measured axial length and ACD shorter than the IOLMaster; the mean numerical difference was 0.13 mm and 0.19 mm, respectively (P<.01). For axial length, the absolute difference was smaller with experienced operators than with less experienced operators (0.15 mm versus 0.22 mm) (P<.01). For ACID, experienced operators obtained a smaller difference between measurement techniques (0.21 mm versus 0.29 mm; P<.05).Conclusions: Experienced US operators had less difference and lower variability in the difference between applanation US and IOLMaster readings for axial length and ACD measurements. The noncontact optical method, which is essentially operator independent, gave significantly more reliable biometry before cataract surgery, especially in the case of less experienced operators. (C) 2003 ASCRS and ESCRS

In this paper we study the effect of introducing nitrogen into different carbon networks. Two kinds of carbon nitride films were deposited: (a) Using a DC-magnetron sputtering system sp2 bonded carbon nitride (a-CN) films were deposited and (b) Using a combination of filtered cathodic vacuum arc and a low-pressure N2 plasma source, N was introduced into sp3 carbon networks (ta-C), leading to the formation of a more dense CN film named ta-CN. For ta-CN films we found that the optical gap initially decreases as the N content and the sp2 fraction rises, but above a certain N quantity there is a level-off of the value, and the gap then remains constant despite further increases in the fraction and clustering of the sp2 phase. However, for a-CN films the optical gap increases with the nitrogen content. These two different trends are not easily explained using the same framework as that for carbon films, in which any decrease in the band gap is associated to an increase in the sp2 fraction or its clustering. Here we discuss the conditions that lead to high optical gap in sp2-bonded carbon nitride samples, which are clearly not associated to the presence of any crystalline super-hard phase. We also compared other differences in properties observed between the two films, such as deposition rate, infrared and Raman spectra.

The bacterial community manifested in a corneal ulcer was investigated with culture-independent techniques. DNA was extracted from the eye swab, 200-bp fragments spanning the hypervariable V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene (16S rDNA) were amplified by broad-range PCR and genetic fingerprinting of the total bacterial community was performed by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). Additionally, 16S rDNA clone libraries containing 1500-bp fragments were constructed, clones were screened by DGGE and sequenced. Microorganisms were phylogenetically most closely related to the Cytophaga/Flavobacterium/Bacteroides phylum (eight clones), Fusobacteria (four clones), spirochetes (three clones) and to the low G+C Gram-positive bacteria (two clones). Low sequence similarity values less than 93% to sequences of known bacteria indicated that some bacteria belonged to hitherto unknown genera. Bacteria which were detected in the healthy eye of the same patient, were phylogenetically related to the low G+C and high G+C Gram-positive bacteria (two clones) and to the Proteobacteria (one clone). To our knowledge, this is the first time that such a complex and anaerobic bacterial community normally found in subgingival crevices is reported to play a role in corneal ulceration. Previous treatment of the ulcer with several topical antibiotics had shown no effect for six months. The followed culture-independent identification of spirochetes and Gram-negative, anaerobic bacilli facilitated the appropriate treatment with topical penicillin G, which stopped further destruction of the eye. Results demonstrated that 16S rDNA genotyping in combination with DGGE fingerprinting are appropriate molecular methods for the investigation of severe bacterial infections which might not be detected by conventional cultivation.

PURPOSE:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of docetaxel in heavily pretreated and anthracycline-resistant patients with metastatic breast cancer in an outpatient setting.PATIENTS AND METHODS:Between February 1996 and June 1998, 98 consecutive patients who had progressed during or relapsed following prior anthracycline-containing chemotherapy were enrolled into the trial. Docetaxel was administered at a dose of 100 mg/m2 by intravenous infusion every 3 weeks. The administration of colony-stimulating factors was at the discretion of the attending physician. Premedication with dexamethasone was mandatory for all patients.RESULTS:Of the 98 patients, 93 were evaluable for toxicity and response. Patients had received two palliative regimens (median, range 1-5) prior to docetaxel treatment. The most frequent toxicity observed was leukopenia grade III and IV (WHO grading system) which occurred in 47% of patients (grade IV only in 14%). Except for alopecia grade III (64% of patients), nonhematologic side effects grade III-IV were rare (1-7% of patients) and included nausea, stomatitis, diarrhea, peripheral neuropathy, fluid retention and pulmonary toxicities. There were no treatment-related deaths. Objective responses occurred in 40% of patients (CR 6%, PR 34%), and stable disease in 38% of patients. The median duration of response was 5.3 months (range 0.7-18.1 months) while the median survival was 15 months (range 2 36 months).CONCLUSION:Docetaxel is a highly active agent in patients with anthracycline-resistant metastatic breast cancer, even in heavily pretreated patients, with moderate toxicity.

PURPOSEEstablishment of a new molecular biology technique for the identification of multiple bacteria from the ocular environment, which can be applied supplementarily to cultivation in cases of severe bacterial infections.METHODSFrom 60 human conjunctivae (29 with purulent and 31 with nonpurulent conjunctivitis), swabs were taken and DNA was extracted. Fragments of 200 bp, spanning the V3 region of the eubacterial 16S rDNA, were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and separated by denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE). For phylogenetic identification, DGGE bands were excised and directly sequenced, or 16S rDNA clone libraries were constructed and clones were screened by DGGE. Sequences were compared with sequences of known bacteria listed in the EMBL database. Furthermore, the results were compared with results obtained from conventional cultivation.RESULTS16S rDNA could be amplified from 25 of 29 investigated swabs taken from purulent conjunctivitis eyes and from 2 of 31 investigated swabs taken from nonpurulent conjunctivitis eyes. Sixteen samples showed monomicrobial and 11 samples showed polymicrobial infections. The following genera (n is number of samples) were detected: Staphylococcus (n = 8), Corynebacterium (n = 7), Propionibacterium (n = 7), Streptococcus (n = 6), Bacillus (n = 2), Acinetobacter (n = 3), Pseudomonas (n = 3), Proteus (n = 1), and Brevundimonas (n = 1). Four sequences could not be identified to the genus level. They had highest sequence similarities both to sequences of Pantoea and Enterobacter (n = 1), Kingella and Neisseria (n = 1), Serratia and Aranicola (n = 1), and Leuconostoc and Weissella (n = 2), respectively. Culture was only positive for coagulase-negative staphylococci (n = 9), Corynebacteria (n = 3), Staphylococcus aureus (n = 1), Streptococcus sp. (n = 1), Proteus sp. (n = 1), Klebsiella oxytoca (n = 1), and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (n = 1). In total, 45% of the 60 analyzed conjunctival swabs were PCR positive, whereas only 22% were culture positive. No sample positive by culture gave negative results by PCR.CONCLUSIONS16S rDNA sequence analyses and DGGE fingerprinting are appropriate methods for the detection and identification of monomicrobial as well as polymicrobial ocular infections of bacteria that might not be detected by conventional cultivation.

A randomised phase II/III study was conducted in patients with advanced breast cancer to determine the dose intensity achievable through an acceleration of administration of chemotherapy with epidoxorubicin and cyclophosphamide (EC) alone, as compared with the combination of this regimen with two different schedules of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). 73 patients received EC intravenous (i.v.) (epidoxorubicin 100mg/m2, cyclophosphamide 600mg/m2) on day 1 (group A), or the same chemotherapy plus sub-cutaneous (s.c.) GM-CSF (5μg/kg/day) either from days 3 to 12 (group B) or from days −6 to −3 (group C). The primary objective of the study was the investigation of dose intensity delivered in the three treatment arms, whereas the secondary objective was response rate. A significant increase (P=0.006) in dose intensity of 21% was observed for treatment group B, whereas the increase in dose intensity achieved in group C (7%) was not significant (P=0.086). Response rates (complete response (CR)+partial response (PR)) of 56% were observed in group A, 65% in group B, and 57% in group C, respectively. This difference in response rates did not reach statistical significance (P=0.271). We thus conclude that an acceleration of the EC regimen over the standard schedule could be accomplished with postchemotherapeutic GM-CSF support, leading to an increase in dose intensity, whereas pretherapeutic short-term GM-CSF administration did not reach this goal.

The role of tumor - associated macrophages (TAM) as potential effector cells for eradicating malignant cells is not yet entirely clarified. In the present study TAM were isolated from malignant effusions by gradient separation and phenotypically and functionally characterised by the following parameters: surface epitopes (moAb 27EIO, 2SF9), respiratory burst activity, cytotoxicity and cytokine production (TNF-α., TGF-β, IL-6) measured in culture supernatants by bioassay, ELISA/RIA. Additionally mRNAs of these cytokines was detected in TAM by in situ hybridisation and RT-PCR. Incubation of TAM with rh-GM-CSF and rh-IFN-y resulted in an augmentation of cytotoxicity. Furthermore, cell-bound as well as released TNF- a increased significantly following incubation with GM-CSF. In contrast, OM-CSP, as well as IFN-γ reduced the production of TGF-β by TAM, as verified by ELISA assay as well as by in situ hybridisation and RT-PCR. Our studies show that TAM obtained from malignant effusions of cancer patients can be stimulated by GM-CSF and IFN-γ for cytotoxicity and cytokine production. TGF-β release was reduced. Whether this observation is of therapeutical relevance has to be determined by further studies. The role of tumor - associated macrophages (TAM) as potential effector cells for eradicating malignant cells is not yet entirely clarified. In the present study TAM were isolated from malignant effusions by gradient separation and phenotypically and functionally characterised by the following parameters: surface epitopes (moAb 27EIO, 2SF9), respiratory burst activity, cytotoxicity and cytokine production (TNF-α., TGF-β, IL-6) measured in culture supernatants by bioassay, ELISA/RIA. Additionally mRNAs of these cytokines was detected in TAM by in situ hybridisation and RT-PCR. Incubation of TAM with rh-GM-CSF and rh-IFN-y resulted in an augmentation of cytotoxicity. Furthermore, cell-bound as well as released TNF- a increased significantly following incubation with GM-CSF. In contrast, OM-CSP, as well as IFN-γ reduced the production of TGF-β by TAM, as verified by ELISA assay as well as by in situ hybridisation and RT-PCR. Our studies show that TAM obtained from malignant effusions of cancer patients can be stimulated by GM-CSF and IFN-γ for cytotoxicity and cytokine production. TGF-β release was reduced. Whether this observation is of therapeutical relevance has to be determined by further studies.

The role of tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) as potential effector cells for eradicating malignant cells is not yet entirely clarified. In the present study TAM were isolated from malignant effusions of ovarian, breast and lung cancer patients by gradient separation and phenotypically and functionally characterised by the following parameters: surface epitopes (moAb 27E10, 25F9), respiratory burst activity, cytotoxicity and cytokine production (TNF-α, TGF-β,) measured in culture supernatants by bioassay, ELISA/RIA. Additionally mRNA of these cytokines was detected in TAM by in situ hybridisation. Incubation of TAM with rh-GM-CSF and rh-IFN-γ resulted in an augmentation of cytotoxicity. Furthermore, cell-bound TNF-α was detectable by immunohistochemistry and correlated with mRNA (in situ hybridisation). In contrast, GM-CSF, as well as IFN-γ, reduced the production of TGF-β by TAM, verified by ELISA assay as well as by in situ hybridisation. Our studies show that TAM obtained from malignant effusions of cancer patients can be stimulated by GM-CSF and IFN-γ for cytotoxicity and cytokine production. Though, TGF-β release was reduced. Whether this observation is of therapeutical relevance has to be determined by further studies. The role of tumor-associated macrophages (TAM) as potential effector cells for eradicating malignant cells is not yet entirely clarified. In the present study TAM were isolated from malignant effusions of ovarian, breast and lung cancer patients by gradient separation and phenotypically and functionally characterised by the following parameters: surface epitopes (moAb 27E10, 25F9), respiratory burst activity, cytotoxicity and cytokine production (TNF-α, TGF-β,) measured in culture supernatants by bioassay, ELISA/RIA. Additionally mRNA of these cytokines was detected in TAM by in situ hybridisation. Incubation of TAM with rh-GM-CSF and rh-IFN-γ resulted in an augmentation of cytotoxicity. Furthermore, cell-bound TNF-α was detectable by immunohistochemistry and correlated with mRNA (in situ hybridisation). In contrast, GM-CSF, as well as IFN-γ, reduced the production of TGF-β by TAM, verified by ELISA assay as well as by in situ hybridisation. Our studies show that TAM obtained from malignant effusions of cancer patients can be stimulated by GM-CSF and IFN-γ for cytotoxicity and cytokine production. Though, TGF-β release was reduced. Whether this observation is of therapeutical relevance has to be determined by further studies.