Associations between dementia and exposure to topical glaucoma medications.

Background: Some studies have suggested that glaucoma may be associated with neurodegeneration and a higher risk of dementia.

Objective: To evaluate whether exposure to different categories of topical glaucoma medications is associated with differential dementia risks in people with glaucoma.

Methods: We used data from Adult Changes in Thought, a population-based, prospective cohort study that follows cognitively normal older adults from Kaiser Permanente Washington (KPWA) until Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementia development.

Predictors of Health Care Disparities in Fuchs Dystrophy Treatment Using the IRIS Registry.

Purpose: To evaluate associations between sociodemographic factors and surgical management in patients with Fuchs Endothelial Corneal Dystrophy (FECD).

Methods: Patients >40 years old with FECD diagnosis and subsequent corneal edema between 2007 and 2020 were identified from the American Academy of Ophthalmology IRIS Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were fit to examine the relationships between sociodemographic variables and time from FECD diagnosis to penetrating keratoplasty (PK) and endothelial keratoplasty (EK)/PK.

Machine learning derived retinal pigment score from ophthalmic imaging shows ethnicity is not biology.

Few metrics exist to describe phenotypic diversity within ophthalmic imaging datasets, with researchers often using ethnicity as a surrogate marker for biological variability. We derived a continuous, measured metric, the retinal pigment score (RPS), that quantifies the degree of pigmentation from a colour fundus photograph of the eye. RPS was validated using two large epidemiological studies with demographic and genetic data (UK Biobank and EPIC-Norfolk Study) and reproduced in a Tanzanian, an Australian, and a Chinese dataset.

Retinal Vessel Plexus Differentiation Based on OCT Angiography Using Deep Learning.

Purpose: Although structural OCT is traditionally used to differentiate the vascular plexus layers in OCT angiography (OCTA), the vascular plexuses do not always obey the retinal laminations. We sought to segment the superficial, deep, and avascular plexuses from OCTA images using deep learning without structural OCT image input or segmentation boundaries.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Sociodemographic and Visual Outcomes of Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis Uveitis: IRIS Registry Study.

Purpose: Understanding sociodemographic factors associated with poor visual outcomes in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis may help inform practice patterns.

Patients And Methods: Retrospective cohort study on patients <18 years old who were diagnosed with both juvenile idiopathic arthritis and uveitis based on International Classification of Diseases tenth edition codes in the Intelligent Research in Sight Registry through December 2020. Surgical history was extracted using current procedural terminology codes.

Reprogramming in Gene Expression Network under Butanol Stress Abrogates Hyphal Development.

is the causative agent of invasive fungal infections. Its hyphae-forming ability is regarded as one of the important virulence factors. To unravel the impact of butanol on , it was placed in O complete human serum with butanol (1% /).

Developing a Continuous Severity Scale for Macular Telangiectasia Type 2 Using Deep Learning and Implications for Disease Grading.

Purpose: Deep learning (DL) models have achieved state-of-the-art medical diagnosis classification accuracy. Current models are limited by discrete diagnosis labels, but could yield more information with diagnosis in a continuous scale. We developed a novel continuous severity scaling system for macular telangiectasia (MacTel) type 2 by combining a DL classification model with uniform manifold approximation and projection (UMAP).

Artificial Intelligence and Diabetic Retinopathy: AI Framework, Prospective Studies, Head-to-head Validation, and Cost-effectiveness.

Current guidelines recommend that individuals with diabetes receive yearly eye exams for detection of referable diabetic retinopathy (DR), one of the leading causes of new-onset blindness. For addressing the immense screening burden, artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms have been developed to autonomously screen for DR from fundus photography without human input. Over the last 10 years, many AI algorithms have achieved good sensitivity and specificity (>85%) for detection of referable DR compared with human graders; however, many questions still remain.

Evaluating Access to Laser Eye Surgery by Driving Times Using Medicare Data and Geographical Mapping.

Importance: Recently, several states have granted optometrists privileges to perform select laser procedures (laser peripheral iridotomy, selective laser trabeculoplasty, and YAG laser capsulotomy) with the aim of increasing access. However, whether these changes are associated with increased access to these procedures among each state's Medicare population has not been evaluated.

Objective: To compare patient access to laser surgery eye care by estimated travel time and 30-minute proximity to an optometrist or ophthalmologist.

Ethnicity is not biology: retinal pigment score to evaluate biological variability from ophthalmic imaging using machine learning.

Background: Few metrics exist to describe phenotypic diversity within ophthalmic imaging datasets, with researchers often using ethnicity as an inappropriate marker for biological variability.

Methods: We derived a continuous, measured metric, the retinal pigment score (RPS), that quantifies the degree of pigmentation from a colour fundus photograph of the eye. RPS was validated using two large epidemiological studies with demographic and genetic data (UK Biobank and EPIC-Norfolk Study).

Race, Ethnicity, Insurance, and Population Density Associations with Pediatric Strabismus and Strabismic Amblyopia in the IRIS® Registry.

Purpose: To evaluate the associations of sociodemographic factors with pediatric strabismus diagnosis and outcomes.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: American Academy of Ophthalmology IRIS® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight) patients with strabismus diagnosed before the age of 10 years.

-Released Factor, TIP, Modulates the Host Innate Immune Responses.

The parasite has to cross various immunological barriers for successful infection. Parasites have evolved mechanisms to evade host immune responses, which hugely contributes to the successful infection and transmission by parasites. One way in which a parasite evades immune surveillance is by expressing molecular mimics of the host molecules in order to manipulate the host responses.

Spinal Cord Atrophy Predicts Progressive Disease in Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis.

Objective: A major challenge in multiple sclerosis (MS) research is the understanding of silent progression and Progressive MS. Using a novel method to accurately capture upper cervical cord area from legacy brain MRI scans we aimed to study the role of spinal cord and brain atrophy for silent progression and conversion to secondary progressive disease (SPMS).

Methods: From a single-center observational study, all RRMS (n = 360) and SPMS (n = 47) patients and 80 matched controls were evaluated.

Computational perspectives revealed prospective vaccine candidates from five structural proteins of novel SARS corona virus 2019 (SARS-CoV-2).

Background: The present pandemic COVID-19 is caused by SARS-CoV-2, a single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus from the family. Due to a lack of antiviral drugs, vaccines against the virus are urgently required.

Methods: In this study, validated computational approaches were used to identify peptide-based epitopes from six structural proteins having antigenic properties.

Small Colony Variants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Display Heterogeneity in Inhibiting Aspergillus fumigatus Biofilm.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Aspergillus fumigatus are major microbes in cystic fibrosis (CF). We reported non-mucoid P. aeruginosa isolates more inhibitory to A.

Effect of Anaerobiasis or Hypoxia on Pseudomonas aeruginosa Inhibition of Aspergillus fumigatus Biofilm.

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (Pa) and Aspergillus fumigatus (Af) are the major bacterial and fungal pathogens in the airways of cystic fibrosis (CF) patients. This is likely related to their ability to form biofilms. Both microbes have been associated with CF disease progression.

Cytokines induce effector T-helper cells during invasive aspergillosis; what we have learned about T-helper cells?

Invasive aspergillosis caused by Aspergillus species (Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus, and A. terreus) is life-threatening infections in immunocompromised patients.

Cytokine milieu in renal cavities of immunocompetent mice in response to intravenous challenge of Aspergillus flavus leading to aspergillosis.

Investigations in mice have demonstrated that Aspergillus flavus is more virulent than all other Aspergillus species except A. tamari. However, there is a complete lack of information on the immune responses elicited by A.

Th1 and Th2 cytokines in a self-healing primary pulmonary Aspergillus flavus infection in BALB/c mice.

Studies with non-immunocompromised mice have demonstrated that Aspergillus flavus is more virulent than almost all other Aspergillus species. However, the type of immune response this fungus induces in mammals has not been investigated thoroughly. The study was carried out to analyze the sequential pathogenesis of pulmonary A.

Cytokine profile and cytotoxicity in response to acute intratracheal dose of Metarhizium anisopliae in BALB/c mice.

Metarhizium anisopliae has been considered neither pathogenic nor toxic to mammals. However, some recent reports demonstrate that it is capable of causing infections in mammals including humans. Therefore, there is an urgent need to investigate the nature of infections this fungus induces in these animals.

Instability of CGG repeats in transgenic mice.

Dynamic mutation resulting in the expansion of CGG repeats in the untranslated region (UTR) of the first exon of the FMR1 gene in humans results in fragile X syndrome. Long stretches of CGG repeats that are known to be highly unstable in humans have so far failed to show similar intergenerational instability in transgenic mice. We generated transgenic lines that show a dramatic increase from 26 to >300 repeats in three generations.