Retinal arterial-venous pulse delay: a new specific marker for a carotid-cavernous fistula.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to describe ocular blood flow changes in eyes affected by a carotid-cavernous fistula (CCF) using laser speckle flowgraphy. We hypothesized that imaging blood flow velocity waveforms in the retinal arterioles and venules simultaneously would reveal specific characteristics of an arteriovenous (AV) connection.

Design: The study was an observational case series, with a retrospective case-control analysis.

Hybrid deep learning and optimal graph search method for optical coherence tomography layer segmentation in diseases affecting the optic nerve.

Accurate segmentation of retinal layers in optical coherence tomography (OCT) images is critical for assessing diseases that affect the optic nerve, but existing automated algorithms often fail when pathology causes irregular layer topology, such as extreme thinning of the ganglion cell-inner plexiform layer (GCIPL). Deep LOGISMOS, a hybrid approach that combines the strengths of deep learning and 3D graph search to overcome their limitations, was developed to improve the accuracy, robustness and generalizability of retinal layer segmentation. The method was trained on 124 OCT volumes from both eyes of 31 non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) patients and tested on three cross-sectional datasets with available reference tracings: Test-NAION (40 volumes from both eyes of 20 NAION subjects), Test-G (29 volumes from 29 glaucoma subjects/eyes), and Test-JHU (35 volumes from 21 multiple sclerosis and 14 control subjects/eyes) and one longitudinal dataset without reference tracings: Test-G-L (155 volumes from 15 glaucoma patients/eyes).

Accuracy and Reproducibility of Virtual Reality Perimetry in Children.

Purpose: To determine normal threshold values for the 24-2 program of the VisuALL-K (Olleyes, Inc), a portable static automated virtual reality perimeter that uses a video game-based testing modality on an updated version of the algorithm and to repeat the test to assess retest variability.

Methods: This prospective cohort study included 19 participants (aged 8 to 17 years) with healthy afferent systems. Participants performed two 24-2 automated perimetry tests on the virtual reality perimeter device.

Visualization of Optic Nerve Structural Patterns in Papilledema Using Deep Learning Variational Autoencoders.

Purpose: To visualize and quantify structural patterns of optic nerve edema encountered in papilledema during treatment.

Methods: A novel bi-channel deep-learning variational autoencoder (biVAE) model was trained using 1498 optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans of 125 subjects over time from the Idiopathic Intracranial Hypertension Treatment Trial (IIHTT) and 791 OCT scans of 96 control subjects from the University of Iowa. An independent test dataset of 70 eyes from 70 papilledema subjects was used to evaluate the ability of the biVAE model to quantify and reconstruct the papilledema spatial patterns from input OCT scans using only two variables.

Validation of the Iowa Head-Mounted Open-Source Perimeter.

Purpose: To assess the validity of visual field (VF) results from the Iowa Head-Mounted Display (HMD) Open-Source Perimeter and to test the hypothesis that VF defects and test-retest repeatability are similar between the HMD and Octopus 900 perimeters.

Methods: We tested 20 healthy and nine glaucoma patients on the HMD and Octopus 900 perimeters using the Open Perimetry Interface platform with size V stimuli, a custom grid spanning the central 26° of the VF, and a ZEST thresholding algorithm. Historical data from the Humphrey Field Analyzer (HFA) were also analyzed.

Evaluation of Virtual Reality Perimetry and Standard Automated Perimetry in Normal Children.

Purpose: The Olleyes VisuALL-K is a pediatric videogame-based static threshold perimeter using a virtual reality headset. We determined normal threshold sensitivities for the 24-2 test locations using the virtual reality perimetry (VRP) and also tested patients on the Humphrey Field Analyzer (HFA). Patient satisfaction for the two instruments was compared.

Effect of prophylactic laser during small-gauge vitrectomy for epiretinal membranes.

Purpose: To determine the rate of post-operative retinal detachment after elective pars plana vitrectomy for epiretinal membrane, and to test for the mitigating effect of prophylactic endolaser.

Methods: We identified 459 eyes of 411 patients undergoing vitrectomy for epiretinal membrane at Vanderbilt University Medical Center between January 2010 and May 2017. Patients who underwent concurrent endolaser without any identified retinal break were included in the exposure cohort.

SR-BI: A Multifunctional Receptor in Cholesterol Homeostasis and Atherosclerosis.

The HDL receptor scavenger receptor class B type I (SR-BI) plays crucial roles in cholesterol homeostasis, lipoprotein metabolism, and atherosclerosis. Hepatic SR-BI mediates reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) by the uptake of HDL cholesterol for routing to the bile. Through the selective uptake of HDL lipids, hepatic SR-BI modulates HDL composition and preserves HDL's atheroprotective functions of mediating cholesterol efflux and minimizing inflammation and oxidation.

Macrophage Apoptosis and Efferocytosis in the Pathogenesis of Atherosclerosis.

Macrophage apoptosis and the ability of macrophages to clean up dead cells, a process called efferocytosis, are crucial determinants of atherosclerosis lesion progression and plaque stability. Environmental stressors initiate endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and activate the unfolded protein response (UPR). Unresolved ER stress with activation of the UPR initiates apoptosis.

Compartmentalized PDE4A5 Signaling Impairs Hippocampal Synaptic Plasticity and Long-Term Memory.

Unlabelled: Alterations in cAMP signaling are thought to contribute to neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders. Members of the cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) family, which contains >25 different isoforms, play a key role in determining spatial cAMP degradation so as to orchestrate compartmentalized cAMP signaling in cells. Each isoform binds to a different set of protein complexes through its unique N-terminal domain, thereby leading to targeted degradation of cAMP in specific intracellular compartments.