Fluorescein angiography (health) and Ukraine (sh)

Fluorescein angiography (health)

Fluorescein Angiography is a diagnostic test used to assess pathology that affects the retina, choroid and/or iris of the eye. Fluorescein angiography is used to assess the blood flow of the eye and abnormal states are referred to as either hyperfluorescence or hypofluorescence relative to the normal amount of fluorescence. Fluorescein angiography involves an intravenous injection of sodium Fluorescein ( a dye) into the antecubical vein ( a vein in the arm) and then photographs are taken of the eye as the dye enters and leaves the blood system of the eye. The doctor will evaluate prefilling ( i.e., what the retina and choroid look like before the dye enters the eye), transit ( i.e., first passage of dye through the retina and choroid), recirculation (i.e., fluoroscien has become equally distributed throughout the eye and then starts to circulate through again) and later phase ( i.e., as the fluoroscien is eliminated from the body by the kidneys). The test lasts about 30 minutes. Nausea and vomiting are the most common side effects, occurring in about 5% or less of patients. Severe side effects ( e.g., anaphylaxis, death) have been reported but are very rare.

Ukraine (sh)

Country, southeastern Europe.

Area: 233,100 sq mi (603,700 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 48,628,000. Capital: Kiev. Ethnic Ukrainians make up 70% of the population; minorities include Russians and Jews. Languages: Ukrainian (official), Russian, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian. Religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam. Currency: hryvny. Ukraine consists of level plains and the Carpathian Mountains, which extend through the western region for more than 150 mi (240 km). The Bug (Western Bug), Dnieper (Dnipro), Donets, and Dniester (Dnistro) are its major rivers. The Donets Basin in the east-central region is one of the major heavy-industrial and mining-metallurgical complexes of Europe. It mines iron ore and coal and produces natural gas, petroleum, iron, and steel. Ukraine is a major producer of winter wheat and sugar beets. It is a republic with one legislative body; its head of state is the president, and the head of government is the prime minister. Different parts of the area were invaded and occupied in the 1st millennium BC by the Cimmerians, Scythians, and Sarmatians and in the 1st millennium AD by the Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Avars, Khazars, and Magyars. Slavic tribes settled there after the 4th century. Kiev was its chief town. The Mongol conquest in the mid-13th century decisively ended Kievan power. Ruled by Lithuania in the 14th century and Poland in the 16th century, it fell to Russian rule in the 18th century. The Ukrainian National Republic, established in 1917, declared its independence from Soviet Russia in 1918 but was reconquered in 1919; it was made the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the U.S.S.R. in 1923. The northwestern region was held by Poland (1919-39). Ukraine suffered a severe famine in 1932-33 under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin; more than five million Ukrainians died of starvation in an unprecedented peacetime catastrophe. Overrun by Axis armies in 1941 during World War II, it was further devastated before being retaken by the Soviets in 1944. In 1986 it was the site of the Chernobyl accident, at a Soviet-built nuclear power plant. It declared independence in 1991.

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