Lens Epithelial Surface Disorders in Exfoliation Syndrome: A Scanning and Transmission Electron Microscopy Study.

Background: Hydrodissection was recently reported to occur more easily in patients with exfoliation syndrome (XFS). Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) studies have already revealed alterations of the lens epithelial cells (LECs) and their apical membrane towards the lens fibers.

Objective: The aim of this work was to examine the three-dimensional appearance of the lens epithelium in patients with XFS.

Ease of Hydrodissection during Phacoemulsification: A Comparison between Patients with and Those without Exfoliation Syndrome.

Background: Exfoliation syndrome (XFS), which is associated with increased surgical complications during phacoemulsification, has a relatively high incidence in Greece. Multiannual surgical experience in XFS patients has led to the clinical observation that hydrodissection occurs more easily in XFS patients.

Objective: To compare the ease of hydrodissection between cataract patients with and those without XFS.

Safety of air tamponade versus corneal hydration for sealing clear corneal incisions in cataract surgery.

Purpose: To compare safety of wound hydration to anterior chamber air tamponade for securing watertight closure of clear corneal incisions, during uneventful cataract surgery.

Methods: Prospective, comparative case-control series. Patients undergoing phacoemulsification were assigned to receive either anterior chamber air bubble (Group A) or intrastromal wound hydration with balanced salt solution (Group B) at the end of the procedure.

Severe Abnormalities of Lens Epithelial Cells in Exfoliation Syndrome: A Transmission Electron Microscopy Study of Patients with Age-Related Cataract.

: The aim of this study was to examine via electron microscopy the lens epithelial cells in age-related cataracts and compare the findings between patients with and without exfoliation syndrome, in the Greek population. : Twenty-one patients with age-related cataracts, older than 60 years, were included in the study. Eleven of them also suffered from exfoliation syndrome.

Exfoliation Fibrils within the Basement Membrane of Anterior Lens Capsule: A Transmission Electron Microscopy Study.

: The aim of the present study was to demonstrate novel findings recognized within the basement membrane of the anterior lens capsules (ALCs) in exfoliation syndrome, in a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) study. : Twenty-one patients with age-related cataract were included in the study. Eleven out of them suffered from exfoliation syndrome (XFS).

The potential role of nutrition on lens pathology: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Oxidative stress is one of the main mechanisms of lens opacification, and certain nutritional antioxidants are suspected to have a protective effect. To examine the role of these nutritional antioxidants on cataract prevention, we searched major databases and reviewed current evidence regarding the protective effect of nutritive antioxidants. We included observational studies that investigate the association between one or more of the following micronutrients and cataract: vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, zeaxanthin, α- and β-carotene.

Transmission electron microscopy study of undescribed material at the anterior lens capsule in exfoliation syndrome.

Purpose: In the present study, we aimed to examine the anterior lens capsule using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and compare the findings in patients with and without exfoliation syndrome (XFS).

Methods: Eighteen patients with senile cataract, including 10 with XFS, were included. Anterior capsule specimens were obtained from patients during phacoemulsification through continuous curvilinear capsulorrhexis, and were examined via TEM.

Investigation into the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of choroidal melanoma through magnetic resonance imaging and B-scan ultrasound.

Objective: To investigate the homogeneity and vascularity of choroidal melanoma through magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and brightness modulation (B-mode) ultrasound scan and their correlation with dimensions of tumor, as well as to measure the sensitivity of both modalities in retinal detachment (RD) detection.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective chart review included patients diagnosed with choroidal melanoma. All these patients underwent MRI scans using T2-weighted (T2-WI) and T1-weighted (T1-WI) sequences, before and after an intravenous injection of paramagnetic contrast material.

In Vitro Study of the Deturgescence Ability of Cultivated Human Corneal Endothelial Cells.

Purpose: To evaluate the efficiency of cultivated human corneal endothelial cells (HCECs) to dehydrate the cornea, using models of the posterior cornea, composed of artificial collagen mass (to represent corneal stroma) and equine collagen membranes (to represent Descemet membrane).

Methods: HCECs were isolated from donor corneal rings and cultivated at 37°C in 5% CO2 and 95% humidified air. The study design included 4 different sets of models: in set 1, the HCECs were placed directly on the collagen mass complex; in set 2, HCECs were placed on a thin equine collagen membrane and laid over the collagen mass; in set 3, HCECs were placed on a thick equine collagen membrane laid over the collagen mass; and in set 4 (the control group), the hydrophilic collagen mass was left alone to interact with the nutritional medium.

Contribution of integrated teaching in the improvement of an undergraduate ophthalmology curriculum.

Purpose: Conventional medical curriculum is the rule of medical teaching in Greek Medical Schools. Medical students are often taught irrelevant details with little or no reference to their potential clinical significance. Alternatively, integrated teaching warrants that the complete teaching material is covered by each faculty member not considering areas of personal expertise.

Measurements of elastic modulus for human anterior lens capsule with atomic force microscopy: the effect of loading force.

The purpose of the study was to appraise the effect of loading force magnitude on the determination of the elastic modulus of the anterior lens capsule through atomic force microscopy. Four human anterior lens capsules taken during phacoemulsification cataract surgery were studied, free of epithelial cells, with atomic force microscopy. For the experiment, five different indentation loading forces were applied to near areas of the specimen.

Imaging characteristics of delayed surface calcification in hydrophilic intraocular lens models.

We report two cases of opacified explanted intraocular lenses (IOL).The first lens was explanted from a cataract patient, then treated in vitro with trypsin/ethylene-diamine-tetra-acetic acid. The second hydrophilic acrylic IOL was explanted from a patient who had undergone sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) gas endotamponade surgery to repair a retinal detachment.

Surgical outcomes in phacoemulsification after application of a risk stratification system.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine whether application of a risk stratification system during preoperative assessment of cataract patients and subsequent allocation of patients to surgeons with matching experience may reduce intraoperative complications.

Methods: Nine hundred and fifty-three consecutive patients (1109 eyes) undergoing phacoemulsification cataract surgery were assigned to two groups, ie, group A (n = 498 patients, 578 eyes) and group B (n = 455 patients, 531 eyes). Patients from group A were allocated to surgeons with varying experience with only a rough estimate of the complexity of their surgery.

A novel mechanism of UV-A and riboflavin-mediated corneal cross-linking through induction of tissue transglutaminases.

Purpose: Collagen cross-linking using UV-A irradiation combined with the photosensitizer riboflavin is a new technique for treating progressive keratoconus. The purposes of this study were to examine whether primary human corneal keratocytes (HCKs) are capable of expressing and secreting fibronectin and tissue transglutaminase (tTgase), an enzyme cross-linking extracellular matrix protein, and to examine whether fibronectin and tTgase are increased after the treatment of HCK cells with UV-A irradiation combined with riboflavin (RFUV-A), thus providing another possible physiological mechanism of the cross-linking pathway.

Methods: Cell cultures established from HCKs were treated with 0.

Binocularity enhances visual acuity of eyes implanted with multifocal intraocular lenses.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of binocularity on long-term visual acuity in patients who have undergone bilateral implantation of a presbyopia-correcting diffractive multifocal intraocular lens (IOL).

Methods: Twenty patients (9 men and 11 women) with an average age of 70 ± 7 years (range: 56 to 78 years) underwent bilateral implantation of a diffractive multifocal IOL (AcrySof IQ ReSTOR IOL, SN60D3; Alcon Laboratories, Inc., Fort Worth, TX).

Air toxicity for primary human-cultured corneal endothelial cells: an in vitro model.

Purpose: To investigate the possible toxic effect of air exposure for an in vitro model of primary human corneal endothelial cells (HCECs).

Methods: Primary HCECs were isolated from donor corneal rings and cultivated at 37°C in 5% CO2 and 95% humidified air. Six groups of HCEC cultures were set up, and 4 samples were enclosed in each group: group 1 consisted of samples in which HCECs were exposed to air for 30 minutes.

Time-dependent morphological alterations and viability of cultured human trabecular cells after exposure to Trypan blue.

Background: To determine the time-dependent toxicity of Trypan blue at 0.06% concentration in cultured human trabecular meshwork cells.

Methods: Human trabecular meshwork cells cultured in vitro were exposed to Trypan blue and acute toxicity was evaluated.

Development and validation of the Greek version of the MNREAD acuity chart.

Background: The aim of this study was to develop MNREAD acuity charts in the Greek language (MNREAD-GR) and establish their repeatability in a normal-sighted population.

Methods: One hundred and eighty Greek sentences were constructed based on the design principles of the Minnesota Low Vision Reading Test. The software used to validate them for width was adjusted to the parameters of the non-Latin characters used in the Greek language (MNTest-GR) and width-validated sentences were then checked for literacy by two language teachers.

Severe chronic blepharitis and scarring ectropion associated with discoid lupus erythematosus.

Discoid lupus erythematosus is a common form of chronic cutaneous lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune inflammatory disease that affects most of the human organs, including the skin, kidneys, joints, heart and lungs. We describe a 45-year-old Caucasian woman with a 21-year history of eyelid redness and irritation. She had been treated with antibiotics, steroids and eyelid hygiene, a therapy that resulted to brief periods of relief of symptoms.

Human anterior lens capsule serving as a substrate for human trabecular meshwork cells cultivation.

To investigate if human anterior lens capsule is a suitable substrate for the culture of primary human trabecular meshwork (HTM) cells. Trabecular meshwork cells derived from four human donors were seeded on anterior lens capsules that were prepared from the lenses of donor eyes. Cell morphology and viability were examined at 1, 3, 5 and 7 days.