Activity

To evaluate the safety and efficacy of reduced fluence CXL (lower dose of UV-A irradiation) in mild to moderate keratoconus.

Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran, Iran.

Non-randomized prospective comparative interventional case series. Every eligible patient included in the study (mild to moderate progressive keratoconus) was randomly allocated to case (reduced fluence) and control (standard) groups, except for bilateral patients. In these patients the eye with more advanced disease was allocated to control group and the other eye was randomly assigned in either case or control group. Operators performing refraction and images and the data analyst were masked, but patients and physicians were not.

Forty-six eyes of 38 patients were recruited. Group 1 received 7 min (fluence of 3.8 J/cm

), while group 2 received 10 min of 9 mW/cm

UV-A (fluence of 5.4 J/cm

). Visual, keratometric and biomechanical outcomes were compared between groups.

At last follow-up (mean12 months, range 6-24 months), there were no statistically significant differences in changes in uncorrected visual acuity, best corrected distance visual acuity, Kmax, Kmean, corneal hysteresis, corneal resistance factor, endothelial cell counts, demarcation line depth, and intraoperative pain scores between groups (all

-values < 0.05).

The results of this study show comparable one-year outcomes between 3.8 and 5.4 J/cm

accelerated CXL in mild to moderate keratoconus. Should the results of this study be confirmed in longer follow-ups, using a reduced fluence setting could be considered as an alternative to standard treatment in these patients.

The results of this study show comparable one-year outcomes between 3.8 and 5.4 J/cm2 accelerated CXL in mild to moderate keratoconus. Should the results of this study be confirmed in longer follow-ups, using a reduced fluence setting could be considered as an alternative to standard treatment in these patients.

To describe the multimodal imaging findings of pigmented paravenous retinochoroidal atrophy.

A 23-year-old female presented to us for a routine ocular examination. She had a best-corrected visual acuity of 6/6 in both eyes. Anterior segment examination was unremarkable. this website Fundus examination showed pigmentary changes along the retinal vasculature extending from mid periphery to post-equatorial retina suggesting a diagnosis of pigmented paravenous retinochoroidal atrophy. Swept-source optical coherence tomography of the macula showed choriocapillaris thinning at the mid periphery whereas coherence tomography angiography at the mid periphery showed a relatively normal choriocapillaris vasculature in the early stage of the disease.

A relatively normal choriocapillaris structure was seen on ocular coherence tomography angiography which could have been due to a milder form of the disease in a young patient.

A relatively normal choriocapillaris structure was seen on ocular coherence tomography angiography which could have been due to a milder form of the disease in a young patient.

To investigate the effect of capsular tension rings (CTRs) on postoperative refractive results in patients with pseudoexfoliation (PSX) syndrome.

Sixty-nine patients with PSX syndrome who had uncomplicated cataract surgery between March 2016 and February 2019 were reviewed retrospectively. The patients were divided into two groups. The 35 patients in Group 1 received CTRs prior to intraocular lens implantation during cataract surgery, and the 34 patients in Group 2 had cataract surgery without CTRs. Significant zonular weakness, uncontrolled glaucoma, and ocular pathologies causing low visual acuity were excluded. The preoperative and postoperative keratometry and autorefraction measurements, preoperative expected refractive values, and absolute refractive error were recorded.

The mean ages of patients were 73.54 ± 9.78 years in Group 1 and 72.23 ± 6.72 years in Group 2 (

 = 0.521). There was no statistically significant difference between Group 1 and Group 2 in terms of expected preoperative refraction values (-0.52 ± 0.12,-0.56 ± 0.08, respectively,

 = 0.118). There was a statistically significant difference in postoperative spherical equivalent values between Group 1 and Group 2 (-0.05 ± 0.97 and -0.92 ± 0.57, respectively,

< 0.01). A statistically significant difference was found between the two groups in terms of absolute refractive error (0.46 ± 0.74 in Group 1 and -0.34 ± 0.59 in Group 2

 < 0.01).

CTR implantation causes hyperopic shift, which should be taken into consideration when calculating the lens power of intraocular lens in patients with PSX syndrome.

CTR implantation causes hyperopic shift, which should be taken into consideration when calculating the lens power of intraocular lens in patients with PSX syndrome.Recent data suggest gut microbiota dysbiosis as a contributing factor in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), and these pathologies may manifest via the microbiota-gut-brain-axis, which comprises bidirectional communication through neuroimmune, neuroendocrine, and direct neural pathways such as the vagus nerve. Preclinical and human clinical trial data reveal exciting potential for novel treatment targets and therapeutic modulation with prebiotics, medicinal herbs, probiotics, and synbiotics in health, aging, and neurodegeneration and are reviewed here. While greater insights and characterization of the microbiota-gut-brain axis have been revealed over the past decade, salient questions related to the pathology, pathogenesis and clinical treatment of the axis in the context of both health and neurodegenerative disease remain and are discussed in this review. Future directions such as additional well-controlled, large scale, longitudinal human clinical trials are urgently needed to further elucidate both mechanism and therapeutic opportunity in health, neurological disease, and disease subpopulations to ensure that the next decade ushers the dawn of targeted therapeutic modulation of the microbiota-gut-brain axis.