Retinal structural alterations in patients with epilepsy taking antiepileptic drugs: A systematic review and meta-analysis of OCT findings.

The impact of various neurodegenerative diseases on the retina has been investigated in recent years using optical coherence tomography (OCT). Epilepsy, classified as a neurodegenerative disorder, has been indicated to affect the structural integrity of the retina. Moreover, there is ongoing debate regarding the relative contribution of disease pathogenesis and the consumption of anti-epileptic drugs (AEDs) to these retinal changes.

Risk Factors and Treatment Strategies for Anastomotic Ulcers in Pediatric Intestinal Failure.

Purpose: Anastomotic ulcers (AUs) are a rare cause of morbidity in intestinal failure (IF). Prior studies of AUs have been small, descriptive reports. We evaluated a large cohort of IF patients to identify risk factors and describe treatment strategies for AUs.

The Fifth Annual Symposium of the Midwest Aging Consortium.

As the healthcare burden caused by an increasingly aging population rapidly rises, a pressing need exists for innovative geroscience research that can elucidate aging mechanisms and precipitate the development of therapeutic interventions to support healthy aging. The Fifth Annual Midwest Aging Consortium Aging Research symposium, held from April 28-30, 2024, was hosted by The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio and featured presentations from investigators across the Midwestern United States. This report summarizes the research presented at the symposium, whose topics included cellular senescence and the aging brain, metabolism and metabolic interventions, nutrition, redox mechanisms and biomarkers, and stress mechanisms.

How Important Is Informed Natal Dispersal for Modelling the Demographic and Genetic Effects of Environmental Variability?

Dispersal is a fundamental ecological process that influences population dynamics and genetic diversity and is therefore an important component of the models used to simulate population responses to environmental change. We considered informed dispersal in relation to settlement location, where individuals could optimise selection of settlement location with regard to per capita resource availability and investigated the importance of this type of informed dispersal for simulated demography and genetic diversity under different biological and environmental scenarios. We used an individual-based simulation model scaled with reference to the ecology of small mammals in fire prone savanna ecosystems.

Case report: HLA-B35-associated optic neuritis.

Purpose: To describe a unique presentation of optic neuritis associated with positive HLA-B35.

Observations: A woman presented with unilateral retro-orbital pain, mildly decreased vision, and optic disc edema with new-onset aphthous ulcers. Color vision was preserved, and no visual field deficits were noted.