Cataract surgery in cancer patients and its impact on quality of life as measured by the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire - 25 (NEI-VFQ-25)

Purpose. The measurement of quality of life has become an important topic in healthcare and in the allocation of limited healthcare resources. Improving the quality of life (QOL) in cancer patients is paramount. Cataract removal and lens implantation appears to improve patient well-being of cancer patients, though a formal measurement has never been published in the US literature. In this current study, National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25), a validated vision quality of life metric, was used to study the change in vision-related quality of life in cancer patients who underwent cataract extraction with intraocular lens implantation. ^ Methods. Under an IRB approved protocol, cancer patients who underwent cataract surgery with intraocular lens implantation (by a single surgeon) from December 2008 to March 2011, and who had completed a pre- and postoperative NEI-VFQ-25 were retrospectively reviewed. Post-operative data was collected at their routine 4-6 week post-op visit. Patients' demographics, cancer history, their pre and postoperative ocular examinations, visual acuities, and NEI-VFQ-25 with twelve components were included in the evaluation. The responses were evaluated using the Student t test, Spearman correlation and Wilcoxon signed rank test. ^ Results. 63 cases of cataract surgery (from 54 patients) from the MD Anderson Cancer Center were included in the study. Cancer patients had a significant improvement in the visual acuity (P<0.0001) postoperatively, along with a significant increase in vision-related quality of life (P<0.0001). Patients also had a statistically significant improvement in ten of the twelve subcategories which are addressed in the NEI-VFQ-25. ^ Conclusions. In our study, cataract extraction and intraocular implantation showed a significant impact on the vision-related quality of life in cancer patients. Although this study includes a small sample size, it serves as a positive pilot study to evaluate and quantify the impact of a surgical intervention on QOL in cancer patients and may help to design a larger study to measure vision related QOL per dollar spent for health care cost in cancer patients.^

Missing Emigrants : Gleanings from Petitions Presented under the Presumption of Life Limitation (Scotland) Acts

Peer reviewed

A Carboniferous insect gall: insight into early ecologic history of the Holometabola.

Although the prevalence or even occurrence of insect herbivory during the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) has been questioned, we present the earliest-known ecologic evidence showing that by Late Pennsylvanian times (302 million years ago) a larva of the Holometabola was galling the internal tissue of Psaronius tree-fern fronds. Several diagnostic cellular and histological features of these petiole galls have been preserved in exquisite detail, including an excavated axial lumen filled with fecal pellets and comminuted frass, plant-produced response tissue surrounding the lumen, and specificity by the larval herbivore for a particular host species and tissue type. Whereas most suggestions over-whelmingly support the evolution of such intimate and reciprocal plant-insect interactions 175 million years later, we provide documentation that before the demise of Pennsylvanian age coal-swamp forests, a highly stereotyped life cycle was already established between an insect that was consuming internal plant tissue and a vascular plant host responding to that herbivory. This and related discoveries of insect herbivore consumption of Psaronius tissues indicate that modern-style herbivores were established in Late Pennsylvanian coal-swamp forests.

Archaeal-eubacterial mergers in the origin of Eukarya: phylogenetic classification of life.

A symbiosis-based phylogeny leads to a consistent, useful classification system for all life. "Kingdoms" and "Domains" are replaced by biological names for the most inclusive taxa: Prokarya (bacteria) and Eukarya (symbiosis-derived nucleated organisms). The earliest Eukarya, anaerobic mastigotes, hypothetically originated from permanent whole-cell fusion between members of Archaea (e.g., Thermoplasma-like organisms) and of Eubacteria (e.g., Spirochaeta-like organisms). Molecular biology, life-history, and fossil record evidence support the reunification of bacteria as Prokarya while subdividing Eukarya into uniquely defined subtaxa: Protoctista, Animalia, Fungi, and Plantae.

The history of England, from the invasion of Julius Caesar to the revolution in 1688.

Vol. 10 consists of notes and index to the first 9 vols.

Lectures on the history of England.

No more published. In 1869 the author issued his "History of the life and times of Edward the Third" as, in a certain sense, a continuation of this work, although, being composed on a different plan, it is really a seperate and independant work. cf. Pref. to his History of ... Edward the Third.

The history of ancient art,

First German edition, 1764, 1st edition of Lodge's translation, 1849-73.

The photographic history of the Civil War : thousands of scenes photographed 1861-65, with text by many special authorities /

Includes index.

History of the Peloponnesian War /

"Three discourses" on Thucydides and his History of the Peloponnesian War: p. [xiii]-lvi.

The history of Sandford and Merton /

[16] p. of publisher's advertisements at end.

A song of life /

Special edition for Bay View Reading Circle, Central Office, Flint, Michigan.

The ancient history of the Egyptians, Carthaginians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes and Persians, Grecians and Macedonians /

Translated from the French.

The history of England : as well ecclesiastical as civil /

Printings vary.

The history of Israel /

Vol. 1-2 edited by R. Martineau; v. 3-5 translated by J. Estlin Carpenter; v. 6-8 translated by J. Frederick Smith.

The wonder-seeker, or, The history of Charles Douglas /

A young clergyman, Mr. Stanley, befriends a spoiled neighbor-boy, Charles Douglas.