Reverse Geometry Hybrid Contact Lens Fitting in a Case of Donor-Host Misalignment after Keratoplasty

Purpose: To report the successful outcome obtained after fitting a new hybrid contact lens in a cornea with an area of donor-host misalignment and significant levels of irregular astigmatism after penetrating keratoplasty (PKP). Materials and methods: A 41-year-old female with bilateral asymmetric keratoconus underwent PKP in her left eye due to the advanced status of the disease. One year after surgery, the patient referred a poor visual acuity and quality in this eye. The fitting of different types of rigid gas permeable contact lenses was performed, but with an unsuccessful outcome due to contact lens stability problems and uncomfortable wear. Scheimpflug imaging evaluation revealed that a donor-host misalignment was present at the nasal area. Contact lens fitting with a reverse geometry hybrid contact lens (Clearkone, SynergEyes Carlsbad) was then fitted. Visual, refractive, and ocular aberrometric outcomes were evaluated during a 1-year period after the fitting. Results: Uncorrected distance visual acuity improved from a prefitting value of 20/200 to a best corrected postfitting value of 20/20. Prefitting manifest refraction was +5.00 sphere and -5.50 cylinder at 75°, with a corrected distance visual acuity of 20/30. Higher order root mean square (RMS) for a 5 mm pupil changed from a prefitting value of 6.83 µm to a postfitting value of 1.57 µm (5 mm pupil). The contact lens wearing was referred as comfortable, with no anterior segment alterations. Conclusion: The SynergEyes Clearkone contact lens seems to be another potentially useful option for the visual rehabilitation after PKP, especially in cases of donor-host misalignment.

Characterization of Carbon Molecular Sieve Membranes Supported on Ceramic Tubes

Carbon molecular sieve membranes have been analyzed in supported and unsupported configurations in this experimental study. The membranes were used to adsorb CO2, N2 and CH4, and their adsorption data were analyzed to establish differences in rate and capacity of adsorption between the two types of samples (supported and unsupported). Experimental results show an important effect of the support, which can be considered as an additional parameter to tailor pore size on these carbon membranes. Immersion calorimetry values were measured by immersing the membranes into liquids of different molecular dimensions (dichloromethane, benzene, n-hexane, 2,2-dimethylbutane). Similarities were found between adsorption and calorimetric analysis. The pore volume of the samples analyzed ranged from 0.016 to 0.263 cm3/g. The effect of the pyrolysis temperature, either 550 or 700 °C, under N2 atmosphere was also analyzed. Quantification of the pore-size distribution of the support was done by liquid-liquid displacement porosimetry. The composite membrane was used for CO2/CH4 separation before and after pore plugging was done. The ideal selectivity factors value (4.47) was over the Knudsen theoretical factor (0.60) for membrane pyrolyzed at 600 °C, which indicates the potential application of these membranes for the separation of low-molecular weight gases.

Beyond the H2/CO2 upper bound: one-step crystallization and separation of nano-sized ZIF-11 by centrifugation and its application in mixed matrix membranes

The synthesis of nano-sized ZIF-11 with an average size of 36 ± 6 nm is reported. This material has been named nano-zeolitic imidazolate framework-11 (nZIF-11). It has the same chemical composition and thermal stability and analogous H2 and CO2 adsorption properties to the conventional microcrystalline ZIF-11 (i.e. 1.9 ± 0.9 μm). nZIF-11 has been obtained following the centrifugation route, typically used for solid separation, as a fast new technique (pioneering for MOFs) for obtaining nanomaterials where the temperature, time and rotation speed can easily be controlled. Compared to the traditional synthesis consisting of stirring + separation, the reaction time was lowered from several hours to a few minutes when using this centrifugation synthesis technique. Employing the same reaction time (2, 5 or 10 min), micro-sized ZIF-11 was obtained using the traditional synthesis while nano-scale ZIF-11 was achieved only by using centrifugation synthesis. The small particle size obtained for nZIF-11 allowed the use of the wet MOF sample as a colloidal suspension stable in chloroform. This helped to prepare mixed matrix membranes (MMMs) by direct addition of the membrane polymer (polyimide Matrimid®) to the colloidal suspension, avoiding particle agglomeration resulting from drying. The MMMs were tested for H2/CO2 separation, improving the pure polymer membrane performance, with permeation values of 95.9 Barrer of H2 and a H2/CO2 separation selectivity of 4.4 at 35 °C. When measured at 200 °C, these values increased to 535 Barrer and 9.1.

Reverse Offshoring of Services: The New Wave of Emerging Offshorers. ACES Working Papers, August 2010

Offshore outsourcing of services accelerated at the end of 1990s in developed countries. In recent years, developing countries have also offshored services, not only to developed countries but also to other developing countries. Yet, to date little attention has been paid to the emergence of this reverse offshoring. The focus of this research is on the determinants of reverse offshoring of services; as such we will investigate what drives these firms from developing countries to offshore services.

A quantitative reverse-transcriptase PCR assay for the assessment of drug activities against intracellular Theileria annulata schizonts.

Intracellular schizonts of the apicomplexans Theileria annulata and Theileria parva immortalize bovine leucocytes thereby causing fatal immunoproliferative diseases. Buparvaquone, a hydroxynaphthoquinone related to parvaquone, is the only drug available against Theileria. The drug is only effective at the onset of infection and emerging resistance underlines the need for identifying alternative compounds. Current drug assays employ monitoring of proliferation of infected cells, with apoptosis of the infected host cell as a read-out, but it is often unclear whether active compounds directly impair the viability of the parasite or primarily induce host cell death. We here report on the development of a quantitative reverse transcriptase real time PCR method based on two Theileria genes, tasp and tap104, which are both expressed in schizonts. Upon in vitro treatment of T. annulata infected bovine monocytes with buparvaquone, TaSP and Tap104 mRNA expression levels significantly decreased in relation to host cell actin already within 4 h of drug exposure, while significant differences in host cell proliferation were detectable only after 48-72 h. TEM revealed marked alterations of the schizont ultrastructure already after 2 h of buparvaquone treatment, while the host cell remained unaffected. Expression of TaSP and Tap104 proteins showed a marked decrease only after 24 h. Therefore, the analysis of expression levels of mRNA coding for TaSP and Tap104 allows to directly measuring impairment of parasite viability. We subsequently applied this method using a series of compounds affecting different targets in other apicomplexan parasites, and show that monitoring of TaSP- and Tap104 mRNA levels constitutes a suitable tool for anti-theilerial drug development.