MedWorm: Ophthalmology Top 20

Use of Infliximab in the Treatment of Peripheral Ulcerative Keratitis in Crohn Disease

American Journal of Ophthalmology — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:51:05 +0100

We read with great interest the article “Use of Infliximab in the Treatment of Peripheral Ulcerative Keratitis in Crohn Disease,” published in August 2011 issue of the Journal. We appreciate the authors for highlighting the importance of biologics and the newer immunosuppressives in the management of peripheral ulcerative keratitis in Crohn disease refractory to conventional immunosuppressive therapy. We also agree with the authors' comments that infliximab similarly may be effective in diseases with similar mechanisms of action like rheumatoid arthritis. (Source: American Journal of Ophthalmology)

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Ergonomics: Back to the Future

Ophthalmology — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

The frequency of musculoskeletal disorders (MSD) has been reported in the ophthalmic literature over the last decade. Based upon different criteria, survey instruments, and populations studied, the prevalence of MSD symptoms in ophthalmologists varies. Kitzmann et al report the first study that compares MSD symptoms in ophthalmologists to family medicine doctors at 2 institutions using the same survey instrument. Ophthalmologists reported a statistically significant increased prevalence of neck, hand/wrist, and lower back pain in comparison to their family medicine doctor colleagues. Although the number of ophthalmologists surveyed was relatively low, and findings in practice settings as opposed to these 2 academic institutions may differ, the rates of symptoms among ophthalmologists were ...

Reply

American Journal of Ophthalmology — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:51:05 +0100

We thank Drs Singh and Sangwan for their interest in our article, “Use of Infliximab in the Treatment of Peripheral Ulcerative Keratitis in Crohn Disease,” and are heartened that they have found a similar effect of this class of biologic agents for peripheral ulcerative keratitis (PUK) resulting from other causes. (Source: American Journal of Ophthalmology)

An Outbreak of Streptococcus Endophthalmitis After Intravitreal Injection of Bevacizumab

American Journal of Ophthalmology — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:51:05 +0100

Conclusions: In this outbreak of endophthalmitis after intravitreal bevacizumab injection, Streptococcus mitis/oralis was cultured from the majority of patients and from all unused syringes. Visual outcomes were generally poor. The most likely cause of this outbreak was contamination during syringe preparation by the compounding pharmacy. (Source: American Journal of Ophthalmology)

Reply

American Journal of Ophthalmology — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:51:05 +0100

We thank Dr Zhang for his interest in our article. We agree that especially in keratoconic corneas, the thickness of the cornea may be very different on different areas of the cornea, and that is why measurements based on handheld instruments may be demanding. Perhaps optical methods to explore the entire cornea could be better. Yet, during corneal cross-linking (CXL), this is not feasible. Accordingly, we state in the Methods, “Corneal thickness was evaluated preoperatively and postoperatively and during the CXL treatment using an ultrasound pachymeter by measuring the corneal thickness at its thinnest point (based on topography) 5 times and calculating the average of these readings.” Naturally, we are not able to measure the thickness at exactly the thinnest point, but we aimed to do...

Avastin Doesn't Blind People, People Blind People

American Journal of Ophthalmology — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:51:05 +0100

Conclusions: Recommendations arising from a root cause analysis of infectious endophthalmitis outbreaks should focus on the procedures used by pharmacies to compound bevacizumab. Microbial contamination of bevacizumab-containing syringes prepared from the same vial of drug can be avoided by using a single vial of bevacizumab for each eye or by following strict adherence to United States Pharmacopoeia Chapter 797 requirements when compounding a single vial of bevacizumab into multiple syringes. (Source: American Journal of Ophthalmology)

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Acupuncture has effect on increasing tear break‐up time: acupuncture for treating dry eye, a randomized placebo‐controlled trial

Acta Ophthalmologica — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:00 +0100

(Source: Acta Ophthalmologica)

New Corneal Transplant Technique Brings Rejection Below 1%New Corneal Transplant Technique Brings Rejection Below 1%

Medscape Ophthalmology Headlines — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 13:18:15 +0100

Corneal transplants using only the endothelial layer sharply reduce the risk of transplant rejection, according to a new comparative case series. Reuters Health Information (Source: Medscape Ophthalmology Headlines)

Response to TASER electronic control devices and eye injuries

Documenta Ophthalmologica — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:46:44 +0100

Content Type Journal ArticleCategory Letter to the EditorPages 1-2DOI 10.1007/s10633-012-9311-8Authors Rony R. Sayegh, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USAKimberly A. Madsen, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USAJason D. Adler, Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USAMary A. Johnson, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USAMichaela K. Mathews, Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA Journal Documenta OphthalmologicaOnline ISSN 1573-2622Print ...

Visual attention.

Vision Research — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 23:00:00 +0100

Authors: Carrasco M This review focuses on covert attention and how it alters early vision. I explain why attention is considered a selective process, the constructs of covert attention, spatial endogenous and exogenous attention, and feature-based attention. I explain how in the last 25years research on attention has characterized the effects of covert attention on spatial filters and how attention influences the selection of stimuli of interest. This review includes the effects of spatial attention on discriminability and appearance in tasks mediated by contrast sensitivity and spatial resolution; the effects of feature-based attention on basic visual processes, and a comparison of the effects of spatial and feature-based attention. The emphasis of this review is on psychophysical st...

New Grading Criteria Allow for Earlier Detection of Geographic Atrophy in Clinical Trials [Clinical Trials]

Investigative Ophthalmology — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusions. Early GA areas can be reliably identified when defining criteria are based on both color photographs and fluorescein angiograms. These methods can be used to investigate the natural history of GA earlier in the course of disease than previously possible and to facilitate the design of future clinical trials of treatments for GA. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00000167.) (Source: Investigative Ophthalmology)

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Physician Profile: Dr. Heather Skeens

MUSC Ophthalmology Podcast — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 16:20:26 +0100

Learn more about Dr. Heather Skeens, Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology, as she talks about performing the first artificial cornea transplant in the state of SC at the Storm Eye Institute. (Source: MUSC Ophthalmology Podcast)

Predicting the psychophysical similarity of faces and non-face complex shapes by image-based measures.

Vision Research — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Authors: Yue X, Biederman I, Mangini MC, Malsburg CV, Amir O Abstract Shape representation is accomplished by a series of cortical stages in which cells in the first stage (V1) have local receptive fields tuned to contrast at a particular scale and orientation, each well modeled as a Gabor filter. In succeeding stages, the representation becomes largely invariant to Gabor coding (Kobatake & Tanaka, 1994). Because of the non-Gabor tuning in these later stages, which must be engaged for a behavioral response (Tong, 2003; Tong et al., 1998), a V1-based measure of shape similarity based on Gabor filtering would not be expected to be highly correlated with human performance when discriminating complex shapes (faces and teeth-like blobs) that differ metrically on a two-choice, match-...

Microgenesis of surface completion in visual objects: Evidence for filling-out.

Vision Research — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Authors: Breitmeyer BG, Jacob J Abstract Using metacontrast masking we examined the temporal dynamics of surface completion in object vision. By varying the stimulus onset asynchrony between the target object and the flanking mask(s), we obtained estimates of the time required for the entire surface contrast to fill out within the area delimited by the contours/edges of the target. The estimated speed of the filling-out process was 36.0deg/s. Using existing estimates of cortical magnification, the computed filling-out speed in terms of cortical distance is .385m/s, a value that approximates the estimated cortical filling-in speed and the speed of horizontal propagation in monkey V1. We discuss our results in relation to (1) prior findings of filling-in and filling-out phenomena, us...

Vascular endothelial growth factor inhibitors (anti-VEGF) in the management of diabetic macular oedema: a systematic review

British Journal of Ophthalmology — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Conclusion For some patients with DMO, VEGF inhibitors seem to be more effective as a short-term treatment option than alternative therapies. The evidence is not of sufficient quality to confirm safety. Decisions on financing should take into account the high price difference between the products and ongoing research. (Source: British Journal of Ophthalmology)

Abnormal corneal nerves in a patient with Lyme disease

Eye — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 07:00:00 +0100

Authors: X Ricaud, J-P Rozenbaum, S Landowski, C Baudouin & A Labbé (Source: Eye)

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Latisse-Induced Periocular Skin Hyperpigmentation [Small Case Series]

Archives of Opthalmology — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 19:51:44 +0100

(Source: Archives of Opthalmology)

Motion adaptation does not depend on attention to the adaptor.

Vision Research — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Authors: Morgan MJ Abstract Prolonged inspection of moving stimuli causes stationary stimuli to appear moving in the opposite direction to the adapting stimulus (the Waterfall effect). It has been claimed that distracting the viewer's attention from the adapting stimulus by a secondary task reduces the strength of adaptation. However, the method used to show the effect of distraction (the duration of the aftereffect) is potentially susceptible to bias. The experiments reported here show no effect in genuinely naïve subjects, or in experienced observers using a variety of cancellation procedures to measure the effect. PMID: 22245710 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher] (Source: Vision Research)

Mixed training at high and low accuracy levels leads to perceptual learning without feedback.

Vision Research — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:00:00 +0100

In this study, we investigated whether mixing easy and difficult trials can lead to learning in the difficult conditions. We hypothesized that while feedback is necessary for significant learning in training regimes consisting solely of low training accuracy trials, training mixtures with sufficient proportions of high accuracy training trials would lead to significant learning without feedback. Thirty-six subjects were divided into one experimental group in which trials with high training accuracy were mixed with those with low training accuracy and no feedback, and five control groups in which high and low accuracy training were mixed in the presence of feedback; high and high training accuracy were mixed or low and low training accuracy were mixed with and without feedback trials. Contr...

Contrast normalization contributes to a biologically-plausible model of receptive-field development in primary visual cortex (V1).

Vision Research — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:00:00 +0100

Authors: Willmore BD, Bulstrode H, Tolhurst DJ Abstract Neuronal populations in the primary visual cortex (V1) of mammals exhibit contrast normalization. Neurons that respond strongly to simple visual stimuli - such as sinusoidal gratings - respond less well to the same stimuli when they are presented as part of a more complex stimulus which also excites other, neighboring neurons. This phenomenon is generally attributed to generalized patterns of inhibitory connections between nearby V1 neurons. The Bienenstock, Cooper and Munro (BCM) rule is a neural network learning rule that, when trained on natural images, produces model neurons which, individually, have many tuning properties in common with real V1 neurons. However, when viewed as a population, a BCM network is very different...