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Hypothesis Dark-adapted rods consume oxygen at high rates and light adaptation decreases this oxygen burden and can have therapeutic effects on diabetic macular oedema (DMO). Methods Patients with mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (DR) and early, untreated non-sight-threatening DMO slept for 6 months wearing masks that illuminated the eyelid of one closed eye by 505 nm light. Exclusion criteria were any concomitant eye disease, DR 4ETDRS grade 35, and other systemic diseases. Primary outcome: change of OCT retinal thickness in the local region where oedema was present. Results A total of 34 out of 40 patients completed the study. Mean baseline OCT macular cube thickness was equivalent for study and fellow eyes. But study eyes had a greater mean thickness in the central subfield zone 1 (282±53 lm) vs (256±19 lm) the fellow eyes. Twenty-eight study eyes showed intraretinal cysts compared with nine in the fellow eyes. At 6 months, only 19 study eyes had cysts while cysts were seen in 20 fellow eyes. After 6 months, the worst affected ETDRS zone and the central subfield zone 1 reduced in thickness in study eyes only by 12 lm (95% CI 20 to À7, P ¼ 0.01). The secondary outcomes of change in visual acuity, achromatic contrast sensitivity, and microperimetric thresholds improved significantly in study eyes and deteriorated in fellow eyes. Conclusions Sleeping in dim light that can keep rods light adapted may reverse the changes of DMO.

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Purpose It is vital that surgeons undertaking oculoplastic procedures are able to show that the surgery they perform is of benefit to their patients. Not only is this fundamental to patient-centred medicine but it is also important in demonstrating cost effectiveness. There are several ways in which benefit can be measured, including clinical scales, functional ability scales, and global quality-of-life scales. The Glasgow benefit inventory (GBI) is an example of a patient-reported, questionnaire-based, postinterventional quality-of-life scale that can be used to compare a range of different treatments for a variety of conditions. Methods A cross-sectional study was undertaken using the GBI to score patient benefit from four commonly performed oculoplastic procedures. It was completed for 66 entropion repairs, 50 ptosis repairs, 41 ectropion repairs, and 41 external dacryocystorhinostomies (DCR). The GBI generates a scale from À 100 (maximal detriment) through zero (no change) to þ 100 (maximal benefit). Results The total GBI scores of patients undergoing surgery for entropion, ptosis, ectropion, and external DCR were: þ 25. Po0.001), Po0.001), Po0.001), and þ 32.25 (95% CI 21.47-43.03, Po0.001), respectively, demonstrating a statistically significant benefit from all procedures. Conclusion Patients derived significant quality-of-life benefits from the four most commonly performed oculoplastic procedures.

We laser cool rubidium atoms to form a magneto-optical trap, within a Fabry-Perot cavity, and demonstrate strong coupling of the cold atoms to the cavity. The coupling strength is measured using the vacuum Rabi frequency splitting (VRS) of transmitted, cavity-coupled light on atomic resonance. The VRS is measured for two-and three-level atomic systems and the atom-cavity-coupling strength for each system is determined. By allowing the laser-cooled atoms to expand for different times and measuring the corresponding VRS, we determine the number of atoms overlapped with the cavity mode as a function of time. This time-of-flight of atoms from the cavity permits the measurement of the temperature of the laser-cooled atoms. Finally, the need for this technique and its utility is discussed.

The direct photodissociation of trapped 85 Rb + 2 (rubidium) molecular ions by the cooling light for the 85 Rb magneto-optical trap (MOT) is studied, both experimentally and theoretically. Vibrationally excited Rb + 2 ions are created by photoionization of Rb 2 molecules formed photoassociatively in the Rb MOT and are trapped in a modified spherical Paul trap. The decay rate of the trapped Rb + 2 ion signal in the presence of the MOT cooling light is measured and agreement with our calculated rates for molecular ion photodissociation is observed. The photodissociation mechanism due to the MOT light is expected to be active and therefore universal for all homonuclear diatomic alkali metal molecular ions.PACS numbers: Keywords:The spatially overlapped trapping of cold atoms and ions [1][2][3][4][5][6][7] has significantly expanded our ability to study interactions in cold, dilute gas ensembles. In particular, atomic ion-atom collisions, charge exchange collisions [6-10], sympathetic cooling of ions by ultracold trapped atoms [5,[10][11][12][13], three body reactions [14][15][16] and molecular ion formation processes [3,17] have been investigated. Two complementary directions motivate key goals for future work, (a) the low partial wave ionatom collisions which explores quantum scattering and many particle physics and (b), the controlled collisions between the cold molecular ions produced in the ionatom traps with co-trapped neutral atoms [18] and with light.A critical question which arises is whether the molecular ions can be trapped for a substantial extent of time simultaneously with an ensemble of cold atoms in order to study the interaction between them. In this letter, we address the possibility of simultaneous trapping of 85 Rb + 2 molecular ions with ultracold 85 Rb atoms in a magneto-optical trap (MOT). Our experimental observation shows that the cooling light for the Rb MOT leads to rapid destruction of the measured Rb + 2 ion signal. We measure the lifetime of trapped Rb + 2 in the presence of 780.2413 nm (≡ 12816.54 cm −1 ) light to be 495±80 ms. We discuss possible dissociation mechanisms and show that the experimental observation is in agreement with our theoretical calculations for the photodissociation of Rb + 2 molecular ions.The observed photodissociation mechanism is expected to be universal to all diatomic homonuclear alkali molecular ions as they exhibit similar potential energy characteristics.The experimental system consists of an ion-atom hybrid trap assembly as shown in Fig. 1. The detailed description of the experimental system can be found in ear- lier work [5,19,20]. Briefly, the hybrid trap consists of a MOT for atoms and a modified spherical Paul trap made of four tungsten wire loops in a square shape geometry for trapping ions. The ion trap radio frequency (rf) of 500 kHz with 150 V amplitude is applied to the inner pair of wires and a small (-5 V) constant potential is applied on the outer wires. The ion trap is operated at the optimal trapping voltage for Rb + 2 ions. For the expe...

Retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP) accounts for 12-15% of all patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NV-AMD). However, this subtype is often excluded from clinical trials aimed at assessing the efficacy of various treatment options for NV-AMD. Thus, there are no established protocols for the management of RAP. This review of current literature on RAP compares the outcomes of various treatment options for this condition and highlights the lack of clinical trials and paucity of long-term data on this relatively common condition.

Purpose The current medical environment demands that quality health care is delivered at an affordable cost through the use of objective, unbiased clinical data. This study was undertaken to review the current literature on bevacizumab for age-related macular degeneration and its value in determining best clinical practice. Methods Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and observational studies that met the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) criteria were identified from the current literature for further analysis. Data concerning treatment dosing regimens, response to treatment, complications, and factors influencing outcome and safety were extracted and compiled into a database. Results As of January 2009, there were 5 RCTs that compared the outcomes of bevacizumab to other treatment options and 50 studies that met the STROBE criteria with similar visual and anatomical outcomes between RCTs and observational studies. Although the doses and dosing frequencies varied between the studies, the mean gain in vision at 3 months was þ 7.76±5.4 ETDRS letters (range þ 2 to þ 14.4); an effect that was maintained at 6 months in studies with longer follow-up. Predominantly classic lesions were the most responsive of all lesion subtypes. The complication profiles/rates were similar to those reported with other anti-vascular endothelial agents. Conclusions There is sufficient scientific and statistical evidence to advocate the effective use of OCT-guided administration of intravitreal bevacizumab for neovascular AMD. This is reflected in our study outcome measures that are comparable to findings published from recent well-conducted RCTs on intravitreal ranibizumab at the same time point.