Efficacy and safety of ranibizumab for wet age-related macular degeneration in Chinese patients

AIM： To evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of ranibizumab for wet age-related macular degeneration （wAMD） in Chinese patients and to determine the mean number of injections administered over one year of follow-up. METHODS： This single centre, retrospective observational case series study included data from 121 patients with wAMD （121 eyes） who were diagnosed by indirect ophthalmoscopy, fluorescence fundus angiography （FFA）, indocyanine green angiography, and optical coherence tomography. Ranibizumab was injected into the vitreous cavities once per month for 3mo and as needed afterwards. Changes in visual acuity and central foveal thickness （CFT） during the follow-up period were compared, and the mean number of injections over the year was calculated. Patients with one or more adverse events related to the drugs and injections were recorded for further adverse events analysis.RESULTS： The study population included 70 males and 51 females aged between 50 and 87y （mean： 71.32±9.41y）. The mean number of injections over the first year was 5±1 （range： 3-9）. The mean best-corrected visual acuity by Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study increased from 43.2±19.3 （95%CI： 39.8-46.7） at baseline to 51.7±20.1 （95%CI： 48.1-55.3）, and central foveal thickness （CFT） decreased from 526.5±277.0 μm （95%CI： 476.6-576.4） to 258.2±161.6 μm （95%CI： 229.2-287.3） at 12mo. The differences were statistically significant （P〈0.001）. Visual acuity significantly improved in 34.1% of the patients （38 eyes）, stabilized in 66.1% of the patients （80 eyes）, and significantly decreased in 2.5% of the patients （3 eyes）. CFT at baseline was an independent risk factor of decreased CFT and increased visual acuity. None of the patients had severe adverse events during the follow-up period.CONCLUSION： Ranibizumab can effectively control disease progression and improve visual acuity in patients with wAMD. The disease conditions of most patients stabilized after a one-year treatment with an average of 5 injections.

Enzyme measurements for risk evaluations in sewage treatment plants

Objectives: Work in sewage treatment plants may cause health problems in terms of airways symptoms, unusual tiredness, fever, and diarrhoea. The presence of such symptoms has been related to bacterial endotoxin. The project was undertaken to assess if risk evaluations could be performed by measuring the amounts of two different microbial enzymes and to evaluate their relation to endotoxin. Methods: Measurements were performed at 120 work sites in 10 different sewage treatment plants of varying age and capacity. The content of N-acetyl-hexosaminidase (NAHA), bacterial hydrolase (BH) and endotoxin was measured in sewage water and in airborne samples. Results: There was a close relationship between endotoxin and NAHA, both in the water itself and in air samples. Generally exposure levels were low but higher at work sites where the water or sludge was agitated or when repairing pumps and cleaning basins. Conclusions: Measurements of NAHA are suitable to determine risk exposures in sewage treatment plants. Such measurements are faster and cheaper than measures of endotoxin. A level of 50-70 U/m3 is suggested as a risk threshold. Further work is required to define more precise threshold limit values.

SUISEI—A Versatile Global Model of Comets with Applications to Small Solar System Bodies

SUISEI is a suite of computational tools that has been developed over the past three decades and successfully applied to comets;including ComChem, a global, multi-fluid gas dynamics simulation with detailed chemical kinetics of the cometary coma;ComDust, a model of comet dust evolution and interaction with gas;and ComNuc, a 3-D simulation of gas and heat flow within the comet nucleus porous subsurface layers. The combination of these tools have resulted in an improved knowledge of chemical species in the comet’s coma and their relationship to native molecules in the nucleus ices by analyzing space- and ground-based observations and in situ measurements from spacecraft missions. A review of SUISEI is presented and applications are made to two cases: chemical recycling of HCN in comets and the physical conditions of the near-Sun object, 3200 Phaethon.

Comparison of Risks of Thromboembolism of Drospirenone-Containing and Nondrospirenone -Containing Combined Oral Contraceptive Use: A Meta-Analysis

This study aimed to estimate the risk of venous thromboembolism(VTE),arterial thromboembolism(ATE),and other side effects following the use of drospirenone(DRSP)-containing combined oral contraceptives(COCs).When compared with non-DRSP-containing COCs,DRSP-containing COCs decreased the risk of VTE by 15%in the overall study population,although this was not statistically significant(adjusted hazard ratio/risk ratio[95%confidence interval]0.85[0.69,1.04]).DRSP-containing COCs also showed significant benefits in terms of ATE risk.The body mass index of the subjects significantly decreased by 0.64 kg/m^(2) after taking the DRSP-containing COCs for 6 months.We concluded that DRSP-containing COCs were safe for use and could be broadly recommended.