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PURPOSE To determine the fundus autofluorescence (FAF) lifetimes and spectral characteristics of individual drusen and hyperpigmentation independent of those with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in geographic atrophy (GA) areas in late-stage age-related macular degeneration (AMD). METHODS Three consecutive patients with complete RPE and outer retinal atrophy (cRORA) exhibiting drusen that were calcified or associated with hyperpigmentation were investigated with multimodal non-invasive ophthalmic imaging including colour fundus photography (CFP), optical coherence tomography (OCT), near-infrared reflectance (NIR), blue FAF and fluorescence lifetime imaging ophthalmoscopy (FLIO). Fluorescence lifetimes were measured in two spectral channels (short-wavelength spectral channel (SSC): 500-560 nm and long-wavelength spectral channel (LSC): 560-720 nm). RESULTS Drusen lacking RPE coverage, as confirmed by CFP and OCT, had longer FAF lifetimes than surrounding cRORA by 127 ± 66 ps (SSC) and 113 ± 48 ps (LSC, both p = 0.008 in Wilcoxon test, N = 9) and by 209 ± 100 ps (SSC) and 121 ± 56 ps (LSC, p

Highlights • Examined attention systems in SzP with resting-state connectivity and task fMRI. • SzP have functional connectivity deficits in late visual cortex and prefrontal areas. • Task performance correlated with ventral attention network deactivation in SzP only. • This relationship is mediated by connectivity of key attentional control components. • Results reveal deficits and potential compensation in SzP visual processing/attention., Visual processing and attention deficits are responsible for a substantial portion of the disability caused by schizophrenia, but the source of these deficits remains unclear. In 35 schizophrenia patients (SzP) and 34 healthy controls (HC), we used a rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) visual search task designed to activate/deactivate the cortical components of the attentional control system (i.e. the dorsal and ventral attention networks, lateral prefrontal regions in the frontoparietal network, and cingulo-opercular/salience networks), along with resting state functional connectivity, to examine the integrity of these components. While we find that behavioral performance and activation/deactivation of the RSVP task are largely similar between groups, SzP exhibited decreased functional connectivity within late visual components and between prefrontal and other components. We also find that performance correlates with the deactivation of the ventral attention network in SzP only. This relationship is mediated by the functional connectivity of critical components of the attentional control system. In summary, our results suggest that the attentional control system is potentially used to compensate for visual cortex deficits. Furthermore, prefrontal deficits in SzP may interfere with this compensatory use of the attentional control system. In addition to highlighting focal deficits and potential compensatory mechanisms in visual processing and attention, our findings point to the attentional control system as a potential target for rehabilitation and neuromodulation-based treatments for visual processing deficits in SzP.

Reticular macular lesions, also known as 'reticular macular disease', 'reticular drusen', 'reticular pseudodrusen', or 'subretinal drusenoid deposits', are a pattern of lesions commonly found in age-related macular degeneration and best visualized using at least two imaging techniques in combination. Reticular lesions have four stages of progression observable on spectral domain optical coherence tomography, but they do not show the usual signs of regression of soft drusen (calcification and pigment changes). Furthermore, reticular lesions correlate histologically with subretinal drusenoid deposits localized between the retinal pigment epithelium and the inner segment ellipsoid band. Reticular lesions are most commonly seen in older age groups of female patients with age-related macular degeneration and are usually bilateral. They are not clearly associated with known age-related macular degeneration genes and are highly associated with late-stage age-related macular degeneration and an increased mortality rate. They are also associated with alterations in the neural retina and choroid.

1. 1. A case of actinomycotic abscesses of the lungs and liver is presented. 2. 2. When the patient entered the hospital he had signs and symptoms of a ruptured peptic ulcer. The ruptured ulcer was found at surgery and closed successfully. 3. 3. Signs and symptoms of a liver abscess developed two months after the surgical closure. 4. 4. A chronic sinus tract was found at an exploratory laparotomy. This sinus tract extended from the anterior abdominal wall to the dome of the liver and from there to the old operative closure of the stomach, which, however, allowed no escape of gastric contents. 5. 5. The wound drained a thick, greenish-yellow exudate for seven weeks till the patient died. 6. 6. Smears of the pus, liver contents and sputum, and a blood culture were negative for actinomycosis or any other pathogen. 7. 7. The diagnosis of actinomycosis of the lungs and liver was made from the sections of the tissue obtained at autopsy. 8. 8. Treatment is unsatisfactory. Iodides, thymol, x -ray, and radium have been used.

A NODULE in a thyroid shouId be excised, regardIess of its size, duration or age of patient. In an aduIt a non-toxic noduIe is maIignant in IO to 17 per cent of the cases or more. In chiIdren these nodules are maIignant in around 30 per cent. The greatest number (about 46 per cent) of maIignancies of the thyroid are papiIIary adenocarcinoma and these are the Ieast maIignant. The most maIignant seems to be the giant ceI1 carcinoma, (in these the five-year surviva1 rate may be zero). The other types, foIIicuIar, aIveoIar, soIid, HtirthIe ceI1 and UncIassified, faI1 somewhere in between the above two. Norma1 looking thyroid tissue in the IateraI aspect of the neck (socaIIed IateraI aberrant thyroid) probabIy is maIignant and must be treated so. The proper treatment for carcinoma of the thyroid is tota removal of the lobe invoIved, sub-tota on the other side, and radica1 neck dissection of involved side incIuding remova of sternocIeidomastoid, omohyoid, sternothyroid and sternohyoid muscIes, the interna1, externa1 and anterior juguIar veins and a11 adjacent Iymphatic tissue in bIock dissection (remova of spina accessory and one recurrent nerve if involved), foIIowed by irradiation. Better resuits would be obtained in preventing carcinoma of the thyroid and treating carcinoma of the thyroid if this pIan were foIIowed more often. * * * *

To the Editor:— In the article "Survival of Patients with Carcinoma of the Breast" by Drs. Small and Dutton inThe Journalfor Jan. 15, 1955, page 216, it was stated, "Analysis of survivals of patients with carcinoma of the breast... indicates that it is doubtful if many more persons are cured by radical mastectomy than by other forms of treatment." Other statements were made which inferred that surgery was even worse than this. In this article there were graphs that revealed that, in patients aged 71 and over who had surgery, approximately 55% lived five years. In this same age group, of those who did not have surgery approximately 25% lived five years. It would seem to me more reasonable to give a patient a 55% chance to live five years after having surgery rather than a 25% chance without surgery. This same difference of percentages between operative and