Risk of glaucoma with bisphosphonate use in patients with osteoporosis: a case-control study.

Purpose: Bisphosphonates (BPs) are first line agents commonly used in the management of osteoporosis. There have been two case reports that have suggested a possible link between BPs and acute angle closure (AAC). In the absence of any large epidemiologic studies, we sought to determine the risk of AAC and OAG with bisphosphonate use in patients with osteoporosis.

Twenty four-hour intraocular pressure fluctuation in treated glaucoma patients: a pilot study.

Objective: To conduct a pilot study to evaluate and compare the 24-hour habitual intraocular pressure (IOP) and ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) fluctuation in glaucoma patients treated with medical therapy, selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) or trabeculectomy.

Design: Pilot study.

Participants: Criteria for inclusion were patients aged 18 years or older with well-controlled IOP with either maximum tolerated medical therapy, previous SLT, or previous trabeculectomy.

Increased risk of pigmentary degeneration of the iris and pigmentary glaucoma with fluoroquinolone antibiotics.

Purpose: Fluoroquinolones are popular antibiotics used for a myriad of conditions including ocular procedures. Despite numerous case reports of acute pigmentary degeneration of the iris with fluoroquinolone use, a pharmacoepidemiological study has not been performed to examine and quantify this risk.

Design: Retrospective cohort study with a case-control analysis.

Medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder associated with increased risk of developing glaucoma.

Background: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) therapies including atomoxetine, methylphenidate, and amphetamines are some of the most prescribed medications in North America. Due to their sympathomimetic action, these drugs are contraindicated in patients with a history of angle closure glaucoma (ACG). This study aims to determine the risk of ACG and open angle glaucoma (OAG) among users of these treatments.

Ab interno trabeculectomy revision with 5-flourouracil for failed trabeculectomy in advanced glaucoma: 3-year outcomes.

Objective: To describe the 3-year outcomes of patients who underwent ab interno trabeculectomy revision with a translimbal sclerostomy spatula augmented with 5-flourouracil.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: In this single-centre study, inclusion criteria included patients who were 18 years of age or older with advanced glaucoma who had undergone ab interno trabeculectomy revision with 5-flourouracil due to subconjunctival fibrosis and above-target intraocular pressure (IOP).

A unique case of glaucoma associated with heterotopic bone formation in the anterior chamber angle.

Purpose: To describe a unique case of unilateral open angle glaucoma secondary to heterotopic bone formation in the anterior chamber angle.

Observations: A 57 year-old male with an unremarkable history presented with right eye pain. Anterior segment examination demonstrated a solid, white deposit overlying the trabecular meshwork and peripheral iris associated with an intraocular pressure of 44 mmHg.

PreserFlo Microshunt for the management of intraocular pressure elevation in iridocorneal endothelial syndrome.

Purpose: To report on a case of angle-closure glaucoma secondary to iridocorneal endothelial (ICE) syndrome effectively managed with the PreserFlo Microshunt.

Observations: We report successful implantation of a PreserFlo Microshunt in a 57-year-old patient with secondary angle-closure glaucoma in the context of ICE syndrome. Following failure of medical therapy to adequately control intraocular pressure (IOP), the patient was consented for surgical intervention and underwent combined cataract surgery and PreserFlo Microshunt implantation.

Non-arteritic anterior ischemic and glaucomatous optic neuropathy: Implications for neuroretinal rim remodeling with disease severity.

Purpose: Post-acute non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) and glaucomatous optic neuropathy (GON) can be difficult to differentiate clinically. Our objective was to identify optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters to help differentiate these optic neuropathies.

Methods: We compared 12 eyes of 8 patients with NAION and 12 eyes of 12 patients with GON, matched for age and visual field mean deviation (MD).

Efficacy and safety of ab interno trabeculectomy revision with 5-fluorouracil in advanced glaucoma due to subconjunctival fibrosis.

Objective: To describe the outcomes of patients who underwent a single ab interno trabeculectomy revision augmented with 5-fluorouracil.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: All patients who had undergone ab interno trabeculectomy revision at a single tertiary care centre during the 5-year study period.

Amyloid Beta Immunoreactivity in the Retinal Ganglion Cell Layer of the Alzheimer's Eye.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most prevalent form of dementia, accounting for 60-70% of all dementias. AD is often under-diagnosed and recognized only at a later, more advanced stage, and this delay in diagnosis has been suggested as a contributing factor in the numerous unsuccessful AD treatment trials. Although there is no known cure for AD, early diagnosis is important for disease management and care.

suture tube occlusion of the Baerveldt glaucoma implant for management of postoperative hypotony: A case series.

Purpose: Delayed hypotony can be a vision threatening complication following aqueous shunt surgery in patients with glaucoma. Multiple medical and surgical management strategies have been utilized, but results have been inconsistent. The present case series describes management of delayed hypotony associated with the Baerveldt glaucoma implant (BGI) by surgically introducing 4-0 polypropylene suture into the tube lumen.

Prospective analysis of emergency ophthalmic referrals in a Canadian tertiary teaching hospital.

Objective: This study was conducted to analyze data from emergency ophthalmology referrals after hours from different hospitals to identify the most common pathologies and compare accuracy of diagnoses. Additionally, examination findings, including visual acuity (VA), intraocular pressure (IOP), and pupils from referring service and ophthalmic examination, were compared to assess agreement.

Design: This was a prospective study that reviewed information collected from referring services to the emergency on-call ophthalmology service and compared it with ophthalmic examination between February 2017 and July 2017.

Association of Repeated Intravitreous Bevacizumab Injections With Risk for Glaucoma Surgery.

Importance: Intravitreous injections of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) agents are associated with a sustained increase in intraocular pressure. This sustained elevated intraocular pressure could lead to higher rates of glaucoma surgery to lower this pressure.

Objective: To determine the risk of glaucoma surgery following repeated intravitreous bevacizumab injections.

Iritis, glaucoma and corneal decompensation associated with BrightOcular cosmetic iris implant.

Purpose: NewColorIris cosmetic iris implants have a record of high ocular morbidity and are no longer in use. Newer generation of iris implants, BrightOcular, have patented posterior grooves in order to decrease iris touch and facilitate aqueous flow around the implant. However, little is known about their safety despite their implantations in 10 countries.

Risk for uveitis with oral moxifloxacin: a comparative safety study.

Importance: Numerous case reports have suggested that the recent use of moxifloxacin may lead to uveitis. This epidemiologic study is, to our knowledge, the first to explore the relationship between oral moxifloxacin hydrochloride use and uveitis.

Observations: We conducted a case-control study within a cohort of men aged 40 to 85 years followed up from January 2001 through December 2011.

GluN2A-/- Mice Lack Bidirectional Synaptic Plasticity in the Dentate Gyrus and Perform Poorly on Spatial Pattern Separation Tasks.

The different secondary subunits of the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor each convey unique biophysical properties to the receptor complex, and may be key in determining the functional role played by NMDA receptors. In the hippocampus, the GluN2A and GluN2B subunits are particularly abundant; however, their exact roles in synaptic plasticity and behavior remain controversial. Here, we show that mice carrying a deletion for the GluN2A subunit (GluN2A(-/-)) demonstrate a severely compromised NMDA to AMPA receptor current ratio in granule cells from the dentate gyrus (DG), while granule cell morphology is unaltered.

Who knows more about immunization?: Survey of public health nurses and physicians.

Objective: To report the findings of a knowledge survey of nurse and physician immunization providers.

Design: Cross-sectional postal survey assessing demographic characteristics and vaccine knowledge.

Setting: British Columbia (BC).

NMDA receptor hypofunction in the dentate gyrus and impaired context discrimination in adult Fmr1 knockout mice.

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited intellectual disability in humans. This X-linked disorder is caused by the transcriptional repression of a single gene, Fmr1. The loss of Fmr1 transcription prevents the production of Fragile X mental retardation protein (FMRP) which in turn disrupts the expression of a variety of key synaptic proteins that appear to be important for intellectual ability.

Overexpression of the cell adhesion protein neuroligin-1 induces learning deficits and impairs synaptic plasticity by altering the ratio of excitation to inhibition in the hippocampus.

Trans-synaptic cell-adhesion molecules have been implicated in regulating CNS synaptogenesis. Among these, the Neuroligin (NL) family (NLs 1-4) of postsynaptic adhesion proteins has been shown to promote the development and specification of excitatory versus inhibitory synapses. NLs form a heterophilic complex with the presynaptic transmembrane protein Neurexin (NRX).

Cognition, learning behaviour and hippocampal synaptic plasticity are not disrupted in mice over-expressing the cholesterol transporter ABCG1.

Background: Cognitive deficits are a hallmark feature of both Down Syndrome (DS) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Extra copies of the genes on chromosome 21 may also play an important role in the accelerated onset of AD in DS individuals. Growing evidence suggests an important function for cholesterol in the pathogenesis of AD, particularly in APP metabolism and production of A beta peptides.

Exercising our brains: how physical activity impacts synaptic plasticity in the dentate gyrus.

Exercise that engages the cardiovascular system has a myriad of effects on the body; however, we usually do not give much consideration to the benefits it may have for our minds. An increasing body of evidence suggests that exercise can have some remarkable effects on the brain. In this article, we will introduce how exercise can impact the capacity for neurons in the brain to communicate with one another.

Environmental enrichment and voluntary exercise massively increase neurogenesis in the adult hippocampus via dissociable pathways.

Environmental enrichment (EE) and voluntary exercise (VEx) have consistently been shown to increase adult hippocampal neurogenesis and improve spatial learning ability. Although it appears that these two manipulations are equivalent in this regard, evidence exists that EE and VEx affect different phases of the neurogenic process in distinct ways. We review the data suggesting that EE increases the likelihood of survival of new cells, whereas VEx increases the level of proliferation of progenitor cells.

Voluntary exercise alters the cytoarchitecture of the adult dentate gyrus by increasing cellular proliferation, dendritic complexity, and spine density.

Voluntary exercise produces a dramatic increase in the number of bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU)-positive cells in the adult dentate gyrus (DG); however, it has never been determined whether this increase reflects neurogenic activity or some exercise-induced change in the metabolic processing of systemically injected BrdU. In these experiments, we show that 1) 200 mg/kg is a saturating dose for single injections of BrdU in both control and voluntary exercise animals; 2) there is significantly more cell labeling in animals that exercise when saturating doses of BrdU are employed; 3) high doses of BrdU do not affect the number, appearance, or distribution of labeled cells; 4) voluntary exercise leads to similar increases in the number of cells expressing Ki67, an intrinsic marker of cellular proliferation; 5) both dendritic length and complexity are significantly increased in the DG of animals that exercise; and 6) spine density is significantly greater on dendrites in the DG following voluntary exercise. This study demonstrates that exercise up-regulates neurogenic activity in the DG of adult rats, independently of any putative changes in altered BrdU metabolism, and that it also substantially alters the morphology of dentate granule cell dendrites.