bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Clinical manifestations, laboratory characteristics, and treatment outcomes of ocular syphilis: A case series
Authors: Ferreira Catarina , Teixeira Sofia , Fonseca Sofia 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: To describe the clinical and laboratory findings, ocular complications, and visual prognosis of patients with syphilis‐associated uveitis.Methods: Retrospective observational case series of patients diagnosed with ocular syphilis between January 2012 and April 2022 at a single tertiary referral centre in Portugal. Medical records of patients presenting with syphilis‐associated uveitis were reviewed.Results: Eighteen eyes from 10 consecutive patients were included. All patients were male and median age at diagnosis was 51 years (range 20–83). HIV coinfection was present in 3 patients, with two of these being newly diagnosed on presentation. All patients had a reactive serum treponema pallidum haemagglutination test and median serum rapid plasma reagin titre was 1:260 (range 1:1–1:520), with no significant difference between HIV‐positive and HIV‐negative patients (p = 0.222). A lumbar puncture was performed in seven patients, confirming the diagnosis of neurosyphilis in six patients. Bilateral involvement occurred in eight patients. The most frequent form of intraocular inflammation was posterior uveitis (33.3%), followed by panuveitis (27.8%) and anterior uveitis (27.8%). All patients were treated with intravenous penicillin, showing partial or complete resolution of the ocular findings. Visual acuity improved significantly from presentation to the last visit (0.7 logMAR, range 0–2; and 0.2 logMAR, range 0–0.7, respectively; p = 0.004). Five eyes (27.8%) had ocular complications from syphilis‐associated uveitis, including epiretinal membrane formation and cystoid macular oedema, with significantly worse visual prognosis (p < 0.001).Conclusions: Ocular syphilis is re‐emerging as a prominent cause of uveitis. In our series, patients were characteristically middle‐aged men with posterior segment involvement. A relevant proportion of patients had HIV co‐infection. Despite good visual prognosis with standard treatment, ocular complications may compromise visual recovery.
Germline variants in cancer predisposition genes in patients with uveal melanoma
Authors: Repo Pauliina , Salminen Eveliina , Järvinen Reetta‐Stiina , Hiltunen Juho , Al‐Jamal Rana'a , Täll Martin , Raivio Virpi , Kivelä Tero , Turunen Joni 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: Patients with uveal melanoma (UM) have an increased risk of other primary tumours; up to 12% of patients belong to families with other cancers.[1] ~2% of unselected patients and 25% of patients with a family history of UM harbour a pathogenic germline variant in the BAP1 gene.[2] Additionally, 12 other genes might contribute to UM susceptibility [3] whereas 75% of patients with familial UM remain without a genetic explanation for UM susceptibility.Methods: We sequenced 312 consecutively enrolled patients with UM for germline variants in 15 genes driving UM tumorigenesis or having a BAP1 association using next‐generation sequencing. Additional 191 cancer‐associated genes were analysed from 108 high‐risk patients who had another cancer, UM at <45 years of age, or either bilateral or familial UM.Results: 6.5% (7/108; 95% CI 2.6–12.9) of the high‐risk patients had a pathogenic or likely pathogenic germline variant in AR, CHEK2, DDX41, RAD50, RET, or SDHB and 8.3% (9/108; 95% CI 3.9–15.2) harboured a cancer‐associated VUS in BMPR1A or CHEK2. Germline variants in UM drivers other than BAP1 did not contribute to UM predisposition.Conclusions: Germline variants in known cancer genes are relatively frequent in selected patients with UM. The family history of cancer should be obtained and the threshold to offer genetic counselling should be low.References1. Abdel‐Rahman, M.H., et al., Cancer family history characterization in an unselected cohort of 121 patients with uveal melanoma. Fam Cancer, 2010. 9(3): p. 431–8.2. Repo, P., et al., Population‐based analysis of BAP1 germline variations in patients with uveal melanoma. Hum Mol Genet, 2019. 28(14): p. 2415–2426.3. Abdel‐Rahman, M.H., et al., Whole Exome Sequencing Identifies Candidate Genes Associated with Hereditary Predisposition to Uveal Melanoma. Ophthalmology, 2019.
Relationship of APOE ε4 allele and BDNF Val66Met polymorphism to retinal structural and vascular OCTA parameters in aging cohort: Optic nerve decline and cognitive change study
Authors: Sheriff Samran , Shen Ting , Saks Danit , Chitranshi Nitin , Schulz Angela , Graham Stuart , Gupta Vivek 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: To investigate the relationship between the APOE (Apolipoprotein ε4) allele and brain‐derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism on retinal structural and vascular characteristics in healthy aging subjects.Methods: 109 healthy participants (mean age 67.1 (±9.0) years) were recruited. Participants were classified as either APOE carriers or non‐carriers based on the presence or absence of the ε4 allele and cohorts established based on their BDNF genotype (Val/Val, Met/Met and Val/Met). Baseline assessment included ophthalmological examination and retinal imaging including OCT (optical coherence tomography) and OCTA (optical coherence tomography angiography) with 3 T Wide Bore MRI imaging to assess brain volumetric measures. Cognitive function was evaluated using a battery of neuropsychological assessments. The relationship between carriers of APOE ε4 allele and Met carriers between these ocular parameters were analysed using the generalized estimating equation (GEE) models and data adjusted for age, sex and inter‐eye differences as within‐subject variables (p < 0.05).Results: 20 subjects (22%) were identified as APOE ε4 carriers and 44 subjects (41%) were identified as Met Carriers. Temporal RNFL thickness was decreased in APOE ε4 carriers (p < 0.01). Vessel density between carriers and non‐carriers was not significantly different at either the superficial or deep level, however, the FAZ (foveal avascular zone) area was found to be smaller in ε4 carriers in both superficial (p < 0.01) and deep layers (p < 0.003). The BDNF Met allele carriage had significant association with reduction of the entorhinal cortex volume in the healthy aging cohort (p = 0.012). No association was found with cognitive performances.Conclusions: Our results indicate possible associations between reduced FAZ area and reduced temporal RNFL thickness with the APOE ε4 allele, and that carriage of BDNF Val66Met polymorphism may be associated with some specific regions of cortical volume loss. Further studies could further characterize this association.
Choroidal neovascularization (CNV) due to non‐age‐related macular degeneration (AMD) causes: Multimodal imaging and treatment outcome in a retrospective case series
Authors: Kabanarou Stamatina , Bitzanakis Nikolaos , Mamareli Vasiliki , Makryllou Sophia Ioanna , Garvanou‐Xirou Christina , Gkizis Ilias , Xirou Tina 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: To present the management (clinical evaluation, fundus imaging and treatment outcome) of patients with non‐AMD related CNV.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of a case series with non‐AMD related CNV patients that were referred to our clinic since January 2021 and treated with intravitreal injections of anti‐VEGF (ranibizumab or aflibercept). The following data were retrieved: demographic data, best‐corrected visual acuity (BCVA) at the initial and final visit, number of injections and side‐effects, fundus fluorescein angiography (FFA), optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT‐angiography imaging results.Results: We included nine eyes of nine patients (seven females and two males, median age: 59 years, range 19–72): five myopic, three with idiopathic CNV, one with angioid streaks (AS). Median BCVA at presentation was 0.7 (range 0.1–0.8). FFA revealed a classic CNV in all cases (subfoveal: eight cases, extrafoveal: one case). OCT‐angiography confirmed the presence of an active CNV in six out of nine cases. In OCT, there was minimal fluid (five out of nine cases), subretinal fluid (two cases) or both subretinal and intraretinal fluid (two cases). The median number of injections was three (range 1–14) with no reported adverse events. An improvement in BCVA was documented in all cases after treatment. On the final recorded visit, OCT showed minimal/no fluid in all patients while in OCT‐angiography the CNV showed signs of inactivity in the majority cases.Conclusions: Multimodal imaging is useful in the diagnosis, follow‐up and management of cases with non‐AMD related CNV. Most of them demonstrated minimal signs of exudative disease and required less number of anti‐VEGF injections compared to neovascular AMD cases.
Respiratory comorbidities. Looking ahead to new glaucoma risk factors
Authors: Pinazo‐Duran Maria Dolores , Sala‐Grau Nuria , Millá‐Griñó Elena , Andrés‐Blasco Irene , Bolarin‐Guillen Jose M. , Gallego‐Martinez Alex , Garcia‐Medina Jose J. , Cruz‐Espinosa Javier , Benitez‐Del‐Castillo Javier , Hernández‐Martínez F. Javier , Zanon‐Moreno Vicente 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: Open‐Angle glaucoma (OAG) continues being the first cause of irreversible blindness worldwide. Recent advances in biotechnology did not cover all needs for avoiding glaucoma neurodegeneration (GND) and its high socioeconomic burden. Revisiting OAG risk factors, (including respiratory comorbidities), is mandatory to optimize OAG managing.Methods: A total of 412 participants were recruited in a prospective nationwide study (Spain and Portugal) according to strict inclusion/exclusion criteria, and classified into: OAG patients (n = 214) and ocular hypertension (OHT) subjects (n = 198). Sociodemographic, personal characteristics/lifestyle, and comorbid respiratory disorders were recorded. Among the latter asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonar disease (COPD) and sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (SAHS). Statistical processing was done by RStatistics v4.1.2 and RStudio v2021.09.1.Results: Mean age and gender distribution were: 62 years and 49% men (OAG group) and 61 years and 61% men (HTO group). Univariant analysis reflected that smoking and COPD (p < 0.001) were significantly different between groups. Logistic regression of all variables showed that asthma (p = 0.003) and COPD (p = 0.035) were the most statistically significant characteristics between groups. When eliminating the outlier variables, the logistic regression displayed that asthma (p = 0.002) and COPD (p = 0.05) were the most discriminative parameters between groups. The SAHS did not show statistical significance.Conclusions: Data from this population strongly indicated that in addition to traditional OAG risk factors, asthma, COPD, and smoking habit can be considered detrimental to the OAG course.
Use of freeze‐dried amniotic membrane of umbilical cord (hAM‐UC) as scleral patch after conjunctival tumour excision surgery
Authors: Nahon‐Esteve Sacha , Barnouin Laurence , Caujolle Jean Pierre 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: In ocular oncology, scleral thinning is a complication that can occur after conjunctival tumour excision surgery. Scleral thinning depends on the tumour invasion of the sclera and on individual anatomical variations. Ocular surface repair surgery can use autologous, allogeneic or even xenogeneic graft. A monocenter, open and prospective clinical trial was conducted to evaluate the safety of a freeze‐dried hAM‐UC used as a patch to reinforce the sclera thinned by tumour excision surgery. This product has been tested in rabbit model in trabeculectomy versus autograft and has shown an egal kinetic of scleral reconstruction.Methods: Patients aged 18 years and older with a risk of scleral thinning after conjunctival tumour excision surgery were included. The main objective of this study was to assess the tectonic effect of the implant including clinical tolerance using a composite score. Secondary objectives were the evaluation of the scleral thickness recovery by swept‐source optical coherence tomography (OCT) at 15 days, 1, 3 and 6 months.Results: Twelve patients were implanted during surgical management of conjunctival tumour. Clinical tolerance was good throughout the study. Tectonic recovery was achieved with a minimal score for local reactions after 3 months. OCT images showed good integration of the graft and recovery of the ocular surface. At 6 months, all patients, including the 5 patients with invasive malignant conjunctival tumour treated by proton‐therapy one month after implantation, had sclera thickness at physiological level.Conclusions: The use of a freeze‐dried human amniotic membrane of umbilical cord is a promising option in the tumour of the conjunctiva.
Corneal stroma densitometry evolution in a clinical model of cellular therapy for advanced keratoconus
Authors: Alio Jorge , El Zarif Mona , del Barrio Jorge Alio 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: To report the corneal stromal densitometry (CD) evolution studied by Scheimpflug tomography, anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS‐OCT), and confocal microscopy changes, in keratoconus patients included in a clinical experience of advanced cell therapy using autologous humans adipose‐derived adult stem cells (ADASCs), and corneal decellularized or ADASCs‐recellularized human donor corneal laminas in advanced keratoconus.Methods: Interventional prospective, consecutive, randomized, comparative series of cases. Fourteen keratoconic patients were randomly distributed into three groups for three types of surgical interventions: group 1 (G‐1), autologous ADASCs implantation (n = 5); group 2 (G‐2), decellularized human corneal stroma (n = 5); and, group 3 (G‐3), autologous ADASCs + decellularized human corneal stroma (n = 4). Participants were assessed with Scheimpflug‐based Oculus Pentacam CD module, AS‐OCT (Visante, Carl Zeiss), and confocal microscopy (HRT3 RCM Heidelberg).Results: The central and total CD were statistically significantly higher in G‐2 compared with G‐1, and G‐3 compared with G‐1 at the studied annular zones centered on the corneal apex (0–2 mm, 2–6 mm, and 6–10 mm). There was statistical significance higher in G‐3 compared with G‐2 at the central corneal stroma at (0–2 mm, 2‐6 mm). The confocal microscopy findings, as well as the AS‐OCT reflected the densitometry changes.Conclusions: The intrastromal implantation of ADASCs produced very subtle changes in CD at the level of the central corneal stroma. However, the intrastromal implantation of decellularized corneal laminas increases it slightly, but with lower values than the implantation of recellularized laminas with ADASCs.
Oxygen‐dependent regulation of β3‐adrenoceptor in the retina: Another piece in the puzzle of the pathological neovascularization
Authors: Amato Rosario 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: Hypoxia‐inducible factor (HIF)‐1 is the major transcriptional regulator involved in the adaptive responses to hypoxia in health and disease. In the retina, HIF‐1 controls the hypoxia‐driven vascular proliferation by inducing the overexpression of neoangiogenic factors. The HIF‐1‐mediated neoangiogenesis is strongly promoted by β‐adrenoceptors overstimulation following the hypoxia‐driven surge of catecholamines. Among them, β3‐adrenoceptor (β3‐AR) appears strictly linked to hypoxia, resulting overexpressed in proliferating vessels parallelly with increased HIF‐1. However, whether β3‐AR undergoes HIF‐1 direct regulation remains to be established.Methods: The mouse model of oxygen‐induced retinopathy (OIR) was used to test the influence of the HIF‐1 stabilization with DMOG on the oxygen‐dependent modulation of β3‐AR expression in the retina. Hence, the mouse β3‐AR gene was analysed to search for putative HIF binding sites (HBSs), which then underwent in silico simulations to predict their suitability for the binding with HIF‐1. Finally, the oxygen‐dependent physical interaction of the best scored HBS with HIF‐1 was tested using ChIP‐qPCR in retinas of OIR mice and correlated with the β3‐AR gene expression.Results: In OIR retinas, β3‐AR expression inversely correlated with the oxygen tension. The inhibition of HIF‐1 drop under hyperoxia abolished the oxygen‐dependent β3‐AR modulation, indicating that β3‐AR expression might depend on HIF‐1 levels. The β3‐AR gene analysis and the HIF‐1 docking simulations revealed 6 possible HBS, of which HBS#1 resulted the most suitable region for HIF‐1 binding. The ChIP‐qPCR analysis on OIR retinas demonstrated the actual oxygen‐dependent HIF‐1/HBS#1 physical interaction, which correlated with the β3‐AR gene transactivation.Conclusions: This evidence allows to establish the β3‐AR as a member of the HIF‐1 target genes, thus paving the way to the further characterization of its role in oxygen‐dependent retinal abnormalities.
Comparing the efficacy of idroflog vs conventional artificial tears in patients with dry eye disease after cataract surgery
Authors: Giannaccare Giuseppe , Borselli Massimiliano , Rossi Costanza , Mancini Alessandra , Vaccaro Sabrina , Scalzo Giovanna Carnovale , Scorcia Vincenzo 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: To examine the changes of ocular surface parameters in patients with dry eye disease (DED) instilling Idroflog eye drop (sodium hyaluronate 2 mg/ml plus hydrocortisone sodium phosphate 10 mcg/ml) versus conventional tear substitutes.Methods: This study was performed at the University Magna Græcia of Catanzaro between September 2021 and April 2022. Twenty patients (11 males, 9 females) affected by mild–moderate DED occurring after cataract surgery were included: 10 patients were treated with Idroflog (group 1) whereas 10 patients with conventional tear substitutes (Thealoz duo n = 4; Systane ultra n = 4, Hyalistil n = 2). Patients were examined at baseline (T0), day 15 (T1) and day 45 (T2) by means of Keratograph for the evaluation of: non‐invasive breakup time (NIBUT) class (0: >10 s; I: 6–10 s; II 3–6 s; III < 3 s), tear meniscus height (TMH) and bulbar redness. Subjective symptoms of ocular discomfort were scored at the same time points. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was measured at T0 and T2 in both groups.Results: In group 1, a statistically significant reduction of OSDI score and NIBUT class was found at T2 compared to T0 (respectively, 15.9 ± 7.4 vs. 23.8 ± 8.7; p < 0.001 and 1.05 ± 0.75 at 0.55 ± 0.60; p = 0.027); conversely, mean values of TMH were significantly higher at T2 compared to T0 (0.52 ± 0.45 vs. 0.35 ± 0.22 mm; p = 0.027). Redness variation was not statistically significant (p = 0.30). Concerning group 2, only OSDI score improved significantly (from 25.98 ± 12.91 at T0 vs. 17.23 ± 8.36 at T2; p = 0.038). Conversely, no statistically significant changes were detected at T2 compared to T0 for NIBUT class (p = 0.96), TMH (p = 0.23) and bulbar redness (p = 0.87). No changes of IOP was found in both groups throughout the entire study (p = 0.91 in group 1 and p = 0.88 in group 2).Conclusions: Ocular discomfort symptoms improved in both groups after 45 days of treatment. Unlike conventional tear substitutes, Idroflog eye drop allowed also the improvement of the main signs of DED.
Macular and peripapillary microvascular changes in open angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension: A longitudinal study using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT‐A)
Authors: del Mar Schilt‐Catafal Maria , Pérez‐Torregrosa Vicente T. , Duch‐Samper Antonio M. 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: To investigate prospectively macular and peripapillary microvascular changes in patients with glaucoma and ocular hypertension.Methods: A 12‐month prospective longitudinal study was performed with 124 open‐angle‐glaucoma‐eyes (GE), 111 ocular‐hypertension‐eyes (OHE) and 98 gender and age matched control‐eyes (CE). Glaucomatous progression was defined as a decrease of ≥5 μm in average or ≥7 μm in a sector of RNFL thickness. OMAG OCT microangiography (Angioplex, HD OCT, Cirrus 5000, Zeiss) was used to analyse optic disc and macular regions. The statistical analysis was performed using Mann–Whitney‐Test with the SPSS version 23.0 statistical package (SPSS Inc., IL).Results: Among OHE and GE groups, 21.7% of eyes showed progression, being the decrease of Peripapillary Flux Index (PFI), Macular Vessel Density (MVD) and Macular Capillary Perfusion Density (MPD) greater (−0.0067; −0.696 mm/mm2 and −1.56%) compared to non‐progressive eyes (+0.0038; 0.527 mm/mm2 and 1.55%) being the nasal and inferior sectors for PFI, and the superior and temporal sectors for both MVD and MPD, the ones that showed greater differences [p = 0.015 and p < 0.001 for the last two]. Furthermore, Peripapillary Perfusion Density (PPD) showed non‐significant greater decrease (−0.347) compared to non‐progressive eyes (−0.324) [p = 0.775]. Characteristics as increased vertical cup to disc ratio (CDV) (0.64 vs. 0.57), elevated intraocular pressure (IOP) (18.25 vs. 15.40 mmHg), thinner central corneal thickness (CCT) (520.18 vs. 541.67 μm) and lower ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) (47.81 vs. 48.95 mmHg) were significantly different in those progressive OHE and GE [p < 0.05 for all]. Nevertheless, minimum ganglion cell layer thickness (GCLM) was only significantly lower in progressive GE (58.51 vs. 73.98 μm) [p = 0.036].Conclusions: Data showed that when glaucomatous progression took place, stronger microvascular changes occurred in the macular and peripapillary areas, as greater decrease of MVD, MPD and PFI, especially in superior and temporal sectors for the macular area, and in nasal and inferior sectors for the peripapillary area. Nevertheless, further research with larger population and larger follow‐up is needed to obtain stronger results.
development of e‐Health technologies for big data analysis in contact lens
Authors: Chikri Youssef Marrakchi , Alonso Jose Manuel Lopez , Garzón Nuria , Gonzalez‐Perez Mariano 
Published: December 2022

AbstractPurpose: Development of an App for e‐health in Optometry to study the comfort of contact lenses. Within this objective is the study of blinking (frequency, duration, quality, speed, etc.) from videos collected by the application.Methods: HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript are used with Angular and Ionic libraries for a hybrid application on Web, IOS and Android (mobile phones). It connects with nearby free access weather stations, collecting only environmental pollution data. From videos of the patient face taken at that moment, programs in the MATLAB environment are used to locate the eyes (Viola‐Jones algorithms) and give the frequency and duration of the blinks. Using PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) techniques, information is also acquired on the speed and quality of the blink. In addition, adding patient questionnaires, it is expected to collect joint data for later analysis in the MATLAB environment with an online server and various Big Data techniques.Results: The application collects data and videos. It allows the analysis of the number of blinks, their frequency and duration in a simple way, having been tested with several MATLAB algorithms. PIV techniques also allow the characterization of blink process, allowing a better characterization of the influence of contact lenses on blinking showing some differences.Conclusions: The characterization of the comfort and fit of contact lenses depends on a large number of factors, so the development of an application that collects both physical and behavioural data is of great importance. Hence, it is important to have an instrument that collects data in real time on a large number of patients for subsequent analysis using statistical techniques.