Fostering holistic eye care for children with special educational needs: an interprofessional education program bridging optometry and education.

Purpose: This study outlines the initiation of an interprofessional education (IPE) program designed for optometry and education students. The program aimed to foster interdisciplinary collaboration and improve the management of eye health in children with special educational needs (SEN) - a vulnerable and underserved group.

Methods: This program incorporated lectures and workshops to impart essential knowledge about SEN and to develop the necessary attitudes and skills for conducting eye examinations.

Design and assessment of amblyopia, strabismus, and myopia treatment and vision training using virtual reality.

Background: Virtual reality is a relatively new intervention that has the potential to be used in the treatment of eye and vision problems. This article reviews the use of virtual reality-related interventions in amblyopia, strabismus, and myopia research.

Methods: Sources covered in the review included 48 peer-reviewed research published between January 2000 and January 2023 from five electronic databases (ACM Digital Library, IEEE Xplore, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Web of Science).

Specific Amino Acid Substitutions in OXA-51-Type -Lactamase Enhance Catalytic Activity to a Level Comparable to Carbapenemase OXA-23 and OXA-24/40.

The chromosomal -type gene encodes carbapenem-hydrolyzing class D β-lactamases (CHDLs), specific variants shown to mediate carbapenem resistance in the Gram-negative bacterial pathogen . This study aims to characterize the effect of key amino acid substitutions in OXA-51 variants of carbapenem-hydrolyzing class D β-lactamases (CHDLs) on substrate catalysis. Mutational and structural analyses indicated that each of the L167V, W222G, or I129L substitutions contributed to an increase in catalytic activity.

Impact of visual impairment on balance and visual processing functions in students with special educational needs.

Introduction: Vision is critical for children's development. However, prevalence of visual impairment (VI) is high in students with special educational needs (SEN). Other than VI, SEN students are prone to having functional deficits.

Fixation stability and deviation in optical coherence tomography angiography using soft contact lens correction in myopes.

To compare fixation deviation and stability with soft contact lens correction and device built-in auto-focus system during optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). This observational study measured OCTA metrics first with contact lens correction, followed by removal of contact lenses, using the device auto-focus system at a University Optometry Clinic, Hong Kong. All participants were habitual soft contact lens wearers with either low or high myopia.

Comparison of Choroidal Thickness Measurements Using Semiautomated and Manual Segmentation Methods.

Significance: This study demonstrated that a semiautomated segmentation method could help inexperienced practitioners to obtain choroidal thickness as good as experienced practitioners.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare choroidal thickness measurements obtained by semiautomated and manual segmentation methods.

Methods: Optical coherence tomography images of 37 eyes from 37 healthy young subjects acquired by a spectral-domain optical coherence tomography device were reviewed retrospectively.

Factors influencing inbound medical travel to India.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the demand-side factors that influence the inbound medical tourists' (MTs) decision to travel abroad for medical treatment/surgery.

Design/methodology/approach: The researchers conducted thematic analysis of in-depth interviews in India with 24 foreign MTs' to generate the themes, identify factors and propose a model with hypothesis for future quantitative survey.

Findings: The findings conclude that patients ranked in ascending order less waiting time for surgery, healthcare quality and accreditation, staff/surgeons expertise, healthcare information, hospital facilities and services, patient safety, travel risk, surgical costs and holiday opportunity as important factors that influence the decision to travel abroad for medical treatment/surgery.

Triboluminescence of Centrosymmetric Lanthanide β-Diketonate Complexes with Aggregation-Induced Emission.

Triboluminescence (TL) is a form of light emission induced upon mechanical forces on the material. However, our understanding of this phenomenon is still unclear and more examples are therefore needed in order to elucidate its mechanism. In this work, two types of TL complexes, [Eu(-dbm-Cl₂)₃phen] and [Eu(-dbm-Cl₂)₃phen], which also displays aggregation-induced emission (AIE) were synthesized and investigated for its photo-physical and crystal structural properties.

Establishment of a lethal aged mouse model of human respiratory syncytial virus infection.

Human respiratory syncytial virus (HRSV) infection is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, particularly among the children and the elderly. Despite extensive efforts, there is currently no formally approved vaccine and effective antiviral options against HRSV infection are limited. The development of vaccines and antiviral strategies for HRSV was partly hampered by the lack of an efficient lethal mouse model to evaluate the efficacy of the candidate vaccines or antivirals.

Assembly of Lanthanide(III) Cubanes and Dimers with Single-Molecule Magnetism and Photoluminescence.

Discrete lanthanide(III) tetranuclear cubane-like clusters seldom occur throughout the Ln series and behave as single-molecule magnets (SMMs). Herein, a series of cubanes, [Ln(μ-OH)(μ-tfa)(hfa)(phen)] (1-9, Ln = La-Dy (except Pm), tfa = trifluoroacetate, hfa = hexafluoroacetylacetonate, phen = 1,10-phenanthroline), and dinuclear clusters, [Ln(μ-OH)(hfa)(phen)] (10-16, Ln = Tb-Lu), were synthesized and characterized. Two types of clusters were formed due to the change of preferred coordination geometry for lighter and heavier Ln ions which favor nine-coordinated cubanes and eight-coordinated dimers, respectively.

Chiral transcription in self-assembled tetrahedral EuL chiral cages displaying sizable circularly polarized luminescence.

Predictable stereoselective formation of supramolecular assembly is generally believed to be an important but complicated process. Here, we show that point chirality of a ligand decisively influences its supramolecular assembly behavior. We designed three closely related chiral ligands with different point chiralities, and observe their self-assembly into europium (Eu) tetrametallic tetrahedral cages.

Mechanistic Investigation of Inducing Triboluminescence in Lanthanide(III) β-Diketonate Complexes.

In this work, we synthesized a series of lanthanide(III) β-diketonate complexes to investigate the induction of triboluminescence. Triboluminescence (TL) spectra, solid-state emission spectra, and luminescence lifetimes of the complexes were obtained to prove consistent emitting species for steady-state and triboluminescence measurements. Detailed analyses of the crystal lattice packing were conducted in an attempt to correlate crystal symmetry, gas discharge, and structural arrangements with "triboexcitation", and it is found that either noncentrosymmetric or centrosymmetic compounds can be TL-active.

Reactivity of Hydrated Monovalent First Row Transition Metal Ions [M(H2O)n](+), M = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn, n < 50, Toward Acetonitrile.

Reactions of [M(H2O)n](+), M = Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, and Zn, n < 50, with CH3CN are studied in the gas phase by Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR) mass spectrometry. Sequential uptake of 4-6 acetonitrile molecules is observed for all metals. Rate constants show a weak dependence on both the metal and the number of acetonitrile molecules already in the cluster.