Demographic, Socioeconomic, and Clinical Factors Associated with Severe Vision Loss in Patients with Neovascular Glaucoma.

Purpose: To investigate the association between demographic, socioeconomic, and clinical factors and severe vision loss in patients with neovascular glaucoma (NVG).

Patients And Methods: A retrospective chart review of patients referred to the University of Virginia (UVA), diagnosed with NVG, and treated for NVG between January 2010 and December 2020 was performed. Patients were grouped according to vision outcomes after 1 year of treatment: mild - moderate vision loss (best corrected visual acuity [BCVA] > light perception [LP]) and severe vision loss (BCVA ≤ LP).

Hyperreflective Dots in Central Fovea Visualized by a Novel Application of Visible-Light Optical Coherence Tomography.

Visible-light optical coherence tomography (vis-OCT) is a novel noninvasive retinal imaging system that offers improved resolution compared to conventional near-infrared (NIR) OCT systems. Here, we utilized vis-OCT to produce fibergrams (vis-OCTF) for the first time in human patients, enabling visualization and precise quantification of hyperreflective dots in the central fovea in two patients. We also directly compare the imaging qualities of conventional vis-OCT and NIR-OCT.

Comparative In Vivo Imaging of Retinal Structures in Tree Shrews, Humans, and Mice.

Rodent models, such as mice and rats, are commonly used to examine retinal ganglion cell damage in eye diseases. However, as nocturnal animals, rodent retinal structures differ from primates, imposing significant limitations in studying retinal pathology. Tree shrews () are small, diurnal paraprimates that exhibit superior visual acuity and color vision compared with mice.

Longitudinal Analysis of Retinal Ganglion Cell Damage at Individual Axon Bundle Level in Mice Using Visible-Light Optical Coherence Tomography Fibergraphy.

Purpose: We developed a new analytic tool based on visible-light optical coherence tomography fibergraphy (vis-OCTF) to longitudinally track individual axon bundle transformation as a new in vivo biomarker for retinal ganglion cell (RGC) damage.

Methods: After acute optic nerve crush injury (ONC) in mice, we analyzed four parameters: lateral bundle width, axial bundle height, cross-sectional area, and the shape of individual bundles. We next correlated the morphological changes in RGC axon bundles with RGC soma loss.

Visual Acuity in Aniridia and WAGR Syndrome.

Purpose: Our purpose was to evaluate visual acuity in aniridia subjects and the more severely affected phenotype in WAGR syndrome subjects, and to assess potential impact on visual function.

Materials And Methods: This was a retrospective comparative study of 25 aniridia subjects with nonsense mutations of PAX6 (50 eyes) and 25 WAGR syndrome subjects with large deletion mutations involving PAX6 (50 eyes). Aniridia subjects were age- and gender-matched with WAGR syndrome subjects in the Coordination of Rare Diseases at Sanford (CoRDS) database.

Characterization of ophthalmology virtual visits during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Objectives: To characterize the use of virtual visits, as well as compare the characteristics to in-person visits during the pandemic period.

Methods: This retrospective study included patients who had virtual and in-person ophthalmology visits from March 19, 2020, to July 31, 2020, in a large multispecialty ophthalmic center. Exclusion criteria included patients aged less than 18 years old; canceled, incomplete, mislabelled, and duplicated visits.

Detection of simple and complex de novo mutations with multiple reference sequences.

The characterization of de novo mutations in regions of high sequence and structural diversity from whole-genome sequencing data remains highly challenging. Complex structural variants tend to arise in regions of high repetitiveness and low complexity, challenging both de novo assembly, in which short reads do not capture the long-range context required for resolution, and mapping approaches, in which improper alignment of reads to a reference genome that is highly diverged from that of the sample can lead to false or partial calls. Long-read technologies can potentially solve such problems but are currently unfeasible to use at scale.

Plasmodium vivax chloroquine resistance links to pvcrt transcription in a genetic cross.

Mainstay treatment for Plasmodium vivax malaria has long relied on chloroquine (CQ) against blood-stage parasites plus primaquine against dormant liver-stage forms (hypnozoites), however drug resistance confronts this regimen and threatens malaria control programs. Understanding the basis of P. vivax chloroquine resistance (CQR) will inform drug discovery and malaria control.

Artemisinin resistance phenotypes and K13 inheritance in a cross and model.

Concerns about malaria parasite resistance to treatment with artemisinin drugs (ARTs) have grown with findings of prolonged parasite clearance s (>5 h) and their association with mutations in Kelch-propeller protein K13. Here, we describe a laboratory cross of K13 C580Y mutant with C580 wild-type parasites to investigate ART response phenotypes in vitro and in vivo. After genotyping >400 isolated progeny, we evaluated 20 recombinants in vitro: IC measurements of dihydroartemisinin were at similar low nanomolar levels for C580Y- and C580-type progeny (mean ratio, 1.

Effect of red blood cell variants on childhood malaria in Mali: a prospective cohort study.

Background: Red blood cell variants protect African children from severe falciparum malaria. However, their individual and interactive effects on mild disease and parasite density, and their modification by age-dependent immunity, are poorly understood. In this study, we address these knowledge gaps in a prospective cohort study of malaria risk and Plasmodium falciparum densities in Malian children.

Ex-vivo cytoadherence phenotypes of Plasmodium falciparum strains from Malian children with hemoglobins A, S, and C.

Sickle hemoglobin (Hb) S and HbC may protect against malaria by reducing the expression of Plasmodium falciparum erythrocyte membrane protein 1 (PfEMP1) on the surface of parasitized red blood cells (RBCs), thereby weakening their cytoadherence to microvascular endothelial cells (MVECs) and impairing their activation of MVECs to produce pathological responses. Therefore, we hypothesized that parasites causing malaria in HbAS or HbAC heterozygotes have overcome this protective mechanism by expressing PfEMP1 variants which mediate relatively strong binding to MVECs. To test this hypothesis, we performed 31 cytoadherence comparisons between parasites from HbAA and HbAS (or HbAC) Malian children with malaria.

Antiplasmodial activity of sesquiterpene lactones and a sucrose ester from Vernonia guineensis Benth. (Asteraceae).

Ethnopharmacological Relevance: Aqueous preparations of Vernonia guineensis Benth. (Asteraceae) are used in Cameroonian folk medicine as a general stimulant and to treat various illnesses and conditions including malaria, bacterial infections and helminthic infestations.

Materials And Methods: Ten gram samples of the leaf and tuber powders of Vernonia guineensis were extracted separately using dichloromethane, methanol and distilled water.

Abnormal PfEMP1/knob display on Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes containing hemoglobin variants: fresh insights into malaria pathogenesis and protection.

Hemoglobin (Hb) variants are associated with reduced risk of life-threatening Plasmodium falciparum malaria syndromes, including cerebral malaria and severe malarial anemia. Despite decades of research, the mechanisms by which common Hb variants - sickle HbS, HbC, α-thalassemia, fetal HbF - protect African children against severe and fatal malaria have not been fully elucidated. In vitro experimental and epidemiological data have long suggested that Hb variants do not confer malaria protection by restricting the growth of parasites in red blood cells (RBCs).

α-Thalassemia impairs the cytoadherence of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes.

Background: α-Thalassemia results from decreased production of α-globin chains that make up part of hemoglobin tetramers (Hb; α(2)β(2)) and affects up to 50% of individuals in some regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Heterozygous (-α/αα) and homozygous (-α/-α) genotypes are associated with reduced risk of severe Plasmodium falciparum malaria, but the mechanism of this protection remains obscure. We hypothesized that α-thalassemia impairs the adherence of parasitized red blood cells (RBCs) to microvascular endothelial cells (MVECs) and monocytes--two interactions that are centrally involved in the pathogenesis of severe disease.

Sickle cell trait is associated with a delayed onset of malaria: implications for time-to-event analysis in clinical studies of malaria.

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) recently recommended that the time to first malaria episode serve as the primary end point in phase III malaria vaccine trials--the first of which will be held in Africa. Although common red blood cell (RBC) polymorphisms such as sickle hemoglobin (HbS) are known to protect against malaria in Africa, their impact on this end point has not been investigated.

Methods: A longitudinal study of 225 individuals aged 2-25 years was conducted in Mali.

Impaired cytoadherence of Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes containing sickle hemoglobin.

Sickle trait, the heterozygous state of normal hemoglobin A (HbA) and sickle hemoglobin S (HbS), confers protection against malaria in Africa. AS children infected with Plasmodium falciparum are less likely than AA children to suffer the symptoms or severe manifestations of malaria, and they often carry lower parasite densities than AA children. The mechanisms by which sickle trait might confer such malaria protection remain unclear.

Dexamethasone modulates ErbB tyrosine kinase expression and signaling through multiple and redundant mechanisms in cultured rat hepatocytes.

Glucocorticoids paradoxically exert both stimulatory and inhibitory effects on the proliferation of cultured rat hepatocytes. We studied the effects of dexamethasone, a synthetic glucocorticoid, on the proliferation of cultured rat hepatocytes. The timing of growth factor addition modified the action of high-dose dexamethasone (10(-6) M) on DNA synthesis.