Purpose To evaluate changes in the retinal microvasculature of young adults over 24 hours using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A). Methods Participants (n = 44, mean age 23.2 ± 4.1 years, 24 myopes and 20 nonmyopes) with normal ophthalmological findings were recruited. Two macular OCT-A and OCT scans, systemic blood pressure, intraocular pressure (IOP), and biometry measurements were taken every four hours over 24 hours. Superficial and deep retinal layer en face images were analyzed to extract magnification-corrected vascular indexes using image analysis including foveal avascular zone metrics, vessel density, and perfusion density for the foveal, parafoveal, and perifoveal zones. Results Significant diurnal variations ( P < 0.001) were observed in the vessel and perfusion density in the three superficial retinal layer regions, with acrophase between 4:30 PM and 8:30 PM. Only foveal and parafoveal regions of the deep retinal layer exhibited significant diurnal variations with acrophase between 9 AM and 3 PM. Myopes and nonmyopes had different acrophases but not amplitudes in the parafoveal perfusion density of superficial retinal layer ( P = 0.039). Significant correlations were observed between diurnal amplitudes or acrophases of superficial retinal layer indexes and systemic pulse pressure, IOP, axial length and retinal thickness. Conclusions This study shows, for the first time, that significant diurnal variation exists in OCT-A indexes of macular superficial and deep retinal layer over 24 hours and were related to variations in various ocular and systemic measurements. Myopes and nonmyopes showed differences in the timing but not in amplitude of the superficial retinal layer parafoveal perfusion density variations but not in deep retinal layer.

Air pollution and infectious diseases (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) have attracted considerable attention from governments and scientists worldwide to find the best solutions to address these issues. In this study, a new simultaneous antibacterial and particulate matter (PM) filtering Ag/graphene-integrated non-woven polypropylene textile was fabricated by simply immersing the textile into a Ag/graphene-containing solution. The Ag/graphene nanocomposite was prepared by reducing Ag ions on the surface of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) using the leaf extract. The prepared Ag/graphene textile was characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), and contact angle measurements. The results showed excellent integration of the Ag/GNP nanocomposite into the non-woven polypropylene textile matrix. The prepared textile exhibited superhydrophobicity with a contact angle of 152°. The maximum PM removal percentage of the Ag/GNP-integrated textile was determined to be 98.5% at an Ag/GNP content of 1.5% w/w and a silicon adhesive of 1% w/w. The Ag/GNP textile exhibited high antibacterial activity toward Escherichia coli with no sign of bacteria on the surface. Remarkably, the as-prepared Ag/GNP textile was highly durable and stable and could be reused many times after washing. Graphical Abstract

No abstract

No abstract

3624 Background: Colorectal cancer patients are increasingly looking to the Internet for information on clinical trials; however, services offering clinical trials recruitment have not been well defined. This study describes one of the first web-based cancer clinical trials matching resources and the demographics of the colorectal cancer patient user base. Methods: Oncolink ( http://www.oncolink.org ) is the web-based educational resource at the University of Pennsylvania and serves between 1.5–2 million pages per month to over 385,000 unique IP addresses. Oncolink, in conjunction with EmergingMed (New York, NY), launched one of the first clinical trials matching resources on the Internet. Patients input demographic and tumor-specific information via secure Internet-only registration or via the Internet with assistance from a call center, to match to trials. As of 12/2005, there were 112 total colorectal trials in the database. Results: Between 12/2000 and 9/2005 a total of 41,970 individual profiles were created, with 3289 (7.8%) by colorectal cancer patients. Other GI tumors accounted for 15% of profiles. Of the 3289 patients, 54% were male and 46% were female, and the median age was 55 (range 19–96). Most patients reported their disease as having spread to another organ (62%) or to lymph nodes (15.4%). Most patients were previously treated with surgery (81%), radiation (26%), chemotherapy (74%), and/or biological therapies (21%) (bevacizumab, cetuximab, interferon or interleukin). Patients who used the call center with the Internet were more likely to apply for enrollment in a clinical trial after review of the matches (77% vs. 10%, p<0.001). The median number of trial matches in the system was 7 per patient. Of the 3289 colorectal patients, 681 patients (21%) went on to apply for enrollment to trials based on their matches. Conclusions: This report demonstrates that a significant percentage of colorectal cancer patients are willing to use the Internet to match to clinical trials. Contact with a call center greatly increases the likelihood of application to trials. Internet based clinical trials resources should maintain options for personal communication to increase the likelihood of enrollment to clinical trials. No significant financial relationships to disclose.