PURPOSE To assess the development of macular atrophy, according to the new Classification of Atrophy Meetings criteria, in patients with treatment-naïve neovascular age-related macular degeneration during the first year of treatment with ranibizumab or aflibercept, and to determine baseline factors predictive of atrophy development. METHODS Retrospective subanalysis of three prospective clinical trials that included eyes with treatment-naïve neovascular age-related macular degeneration. Multimodal evaluation was performed with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, fluorescein angiography, fundus autofluorescence and color fundus photography at baseline and after 12 months of treatment. The main outcome was the macular atrophy type, classified according to Classification of Atrophy Meeting criteria. Logistic regression models were built to test predictors of macular atrophy development. RESULTS A total of 85 eyes of 85 patients (63% female; mean age 78.5 ± 6.3 years old) were included. After 12 months of antiangiogenic therapy, all four Classification of Atrophy Meeting types of macular atrophy developed de novo. The atrophy type with highest incidence at end of follow-up was incomplete retinal pigment epithelium and outer retinal atrophy (63.6%; 95% confidence interval 45.9%-86.0%). A significant association was observed between development at 12 months and the presence of incomplete retinal pigment epithelium and outer retinal atrophy at baseline (odds ratio (95% confidence interval) 22.4 (1.6, 323.5)). The number of injections was predictive of complete outer retinal atrophy development at end of follow-up (odds ratio (95% confidence interval) 1.5 (1.1, 2.1), p = 0.011). CONCLUSION Predictors of atrophy development have the potential to change treatment practices. Further research is warranted.PURPOSE To evaluate the choroidal vascularity index of eyes for acute and chronic central serous chorioretinopathy patients using swept-source optical coherence tomography generated en-face scans. METHODS This was a retrospective study, in which slabs of en-face optical coherence tomography scans, at 5 μm intervals, spanning from the retina to choroid, were binarized using a validated algorithm to calculate choroidal vascularity index. The choroidal vascularity index was defined as the ratio between the choroidal vascular luminal area and the total choroidal area. Choroidal vascularity index was calculated for all the slabs of every subject in both the groups. RESULTS A total of 30 eyes for each acute and chronic central serous chorioretinopathy groups were recruited. The mean choroidal vascularity index of the acute group was 45.21% ± 2.25% at the choriocapillaris, which increased to the maximal value of 48.35% ± 2.06% at 75% depth of the choroidal thickness and 45.31% ± 3.27% at the choroidoscleral interface; whereas for the chronic group, the mean choroidal vascularity index was 44.76% ± 2.60% at the choriocapillaris, which maximized at 50% choroidal depth (48.70% ± 1.32%) and then returned to 45.41% ± 6.02% at the choroidoscleral interface. CONCLUSION For both groups, the choroidal vascularity index increased from choriocapillaris to maximum values at mid-choroid and returned to almost the choriocapillaris value at the choroidoscleral interface.A popular solution to control for edge density variability in structural brain network analysis is to threshold the networks to a fixed density across all subjects. However, it remains unclear how this type of thresholding affects the basic network architecture in terms of edge weights, hub-location and hub-connectivity and, especially, how it affects the sensitivity to detect disease-related abnormalities. We investigated these two questions in a cohort of patients with cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) and age-matched controls. Brain networks were reconstructed from diffusion MRI data using deterministic fiber tractography. Networks were thresholded to a fixed density by removing edges with the lowest number of streamlines. We compared edge length (mm), fractional anisotropy (FA), proportion of hub-connections and hub-location between the unthresholded and the thresholded networks of each subject. Moreover, we compared weighted graph measures of global and local connectivity obtained from the (un)thresholded networks between patients and controls. We performed these analyses over a range of densities (2-20%). Results indicate that fixed-density thresholding disproportionally removes edges composed by long streamlines, but is independent of FA. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/Sodium-butyrate.html The edges removed were not preferentially connected to hub or non-hub nodes. Over half of the original hubs were reproducible when networks were thresholded to a density ≥10%. Furthermore, the between-group differences in graph measures observed in the unthresholded network remained present after thresholding, irrespective of the chosen density. We therefore conclude that moderate fixed-density thresholds can successfully be applied to control for the effects of density in structural brain network analysis.BACKGROUND Island pedicle flaps (IPFs) are widely used in reconstructive surgery due to their versatility, tissue efficiency, and excellent clinical outcomes. While IPF rotations and 'pincer flap' modifications have previously been sparsely described, they are not often discussed in the literature. OBJECTIVE We demonstrate the use of both rotating IPFs and pincer techniques for defects traditionally considered too large for classic IPF design on the nasal ala. METHODS Forty-four patients underwent alar repair using the rotation or combined rotation with pincer modification to the standard IPF technique from August 2014 to May 2017. Our technique is described and case examples are presented with photographs. RESULTS Forty-four patients with an average alar defect size of 1.2 cm underwent repair using rotation only or rotation with pincer modification of the classic IPF approach. CONCLUSIONS Reconstruction of large defects in small facial cosmetic subunits such as the nasal ala can be performed using principles of both rotating IPFs and the 'pincer flap' technique.