Nonarteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy and the Risk of Dementia: A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Background And Objectives: While emerging theories suggest that vascular dysfunction may occur concurrently with the amyloid cascade in Alzheimer disease (AD) pathogenesis, the role of vascular components as primary neurodegeneration triggers remains uncertain. The aim of this retrospective, population-based cohort study conducted in Korea was to explore the link between nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) and dementia risk.

Methods: In this nationwide, population-based, retrospective cohort study, we identified newly diagnosed NAION from 2010 to 2017 in the Korean National Health Insurance Service database.

Early-Onset Ocular Motor Cranial Neuropathy Is a Strong Predictor of Dementia: A Nationwide, Population-Based Cohort Study.

Purpose: To assess the risk of dementia in individuals with newly diagnosed ocular motor cranial neuropathy (OMCN).

Design: A nationwide, population-based cohort study using authenticated data from the Korean National Health Insurance Service (KNHIS).

Participants: This study included 60 781 patients with OMCN who received a diagnosis between 2010 and 2017 and were followed up through 2018, with an average follow-up of 3.

FOXC2 controls adult lymphatic endothelial specialization, function, and gut lymphatic barrier preventing multiorgan failure.

The mechanisms maintaining adult lymphatic vascular specialization throughout life and their role in coordinating inter-organ communication to sustain homeostasis remain elusive. We report that inactivation of the mechanosensitive transcription factor in adult lymphatic endothelium leads to a stepwise intestine-to-lung systemic failure. loss compromised the gut epithelial barrier, promoted dysbiosis and bacterial translocation to peripheral lymph nodes, and increased circulating levels of purine metabolites and angiopoietin-2.

Intraocular Lens Refractive Index and Its Impact on External Surface Reflections.

Purpose: To determine and compare the origin of the external surface reflections produced by commonly used intraocular lenses (IOLs).

Methods: The specular reflection taking place at the anterior surface of eight types of IOLs (IOL power = 22.00 diopters [D]) with different refractive indices (RIs), optical design, and ultraviolet and blue light-filtering function were measured.

Structural profile of dome-shaped macula in degenerative myopia and its association with macular disorders.

Background: To evaluate the detailed structural profile of dome-shaped macula and its association with myopic macular complications.

Methods: This retrospective study included 147 eyes of 93 patients who were diagnosed with degenerative myopia. The height of the scleral dome and diameter of the dome base were measured via enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography images with 1:1 μm setting.

Comparison of outcomes after topography-modified refraction versus wavefront-optimized versus manifest topography-guided LASIK.

Background: To compare the outcomes of myopia and myopic astigmatism corrected with topography-modified refraction laser in situ keratomileusis (TMR-LASIK), wavefront-optimized (WFO) LASIK, and topography-guided (TG) LASIK with a correction target based on the manifest refraction (manifest TG-LASIK).

Methods: This observational, retrospective cohort study included patients who underwent LASIK using the WaveLight® EX500 excimer laser to correct myopia and myopic astigmatism between August 2016 and July 2017. Patients who underwent TMR-LASIK (85 patients), WFO-LASIK (70 patients), or manifest TG-LASIK (40 patients) were enrolled, and only one eye from each patient was analyzed.

Enhanced orbital adipogenesis in a mouse model of T-cell-mediated autoimmunity, zymosan A-treated SKG mice: Implications for Graves' ophthalmopathy.

Inflammation and remodelling of orbital tissue associated with enhanced adipogenesis commonly occur in Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO), however, the underlying mechanisms that link immune cells and adipocytes in orbital inflammation are not well-known. The primary aim of this study was to elucidate how a genetically determined shift in the T-cell repertoire toward self-reactive T-cells could drive orbital adipogenesis. To induce the T-cell-mediated autoimmune response, SKG mice were intraperitoneally injected with zymosan A once at 8 weeks of age.

Resolution of Corneal Fibrosis After Descemet's Stripping Automated Endothelial Keratoplasty: A Case Report.

Purpose: To report the resolution of anterior corneal fibrosis after Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK), in a patient with chronic corneal edema and anterior stromal scarring.

Methods: A 63-year-old woman, with a history of Fuchs endothelial dystrophy, presented with increasing discomfort and gradual visual loss in her right eye. Clinical examination revealed long-standing bullous keratopathy accompanied by marked subepithelial fibrosis (SEF).

Antiangiogenic immunotherapy suppresses desmoplastic and chemoresistant intestinal tumors in mice.

Mutations in APC promote colorectal cancer (CRC) progression through uncontrolled WNT signaling. Patients with desmoplastic CRC have a significantly worse prognosis and do not benefit from chemotherapy, but the mechanisms underlying the differential responses of APC-mutant CRCs to chemotherapy are not well understood. We report that expression of the transcription factor prospero homeobox 1 (PROX1) was reduced in desmoplastic APC-mutant human CRCs.

Topography-guided versus wavefront-optimized laser in situ keratomileusis for myopia: Surgical outcomes.

Purpose: To compare the outcomes of topography-guided and wavefront-optimized surgery in patients having laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) for myopia.

Setting: Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, and BALGEUN-EYE21 Operation Center, Gwangju, South Korea.

Design: Prospective case study.

Predictive factors associated with axial length growth and myopia progression in orthokeratology.

Purpose: To investigate the factors affecting axial length (AXL) growth and myopia progression in orthokeratology.

Methods: This prospective, observational study enrolled 28 new orthokeratology lens wearers from a contact lens clinic between March 2016 and March 2017. Among them, 32 eyes of 17 wearers who completed one year of follow-up were finally analyzed.

Retinal Vein Occlusion is Associated with Low Blood High-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol: A Nationwide Cohort Study.

Purpose: To investigate association between the development of retinal vein occlusion (RVO) and blood high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C).

Design: A retrospective, nationwide, population-based cohort study.

Methods: This study was set in the Republic of Korea and included 23,149,403 people ≥20 years of age who underwent the Korean National Health Screening Program examination between January 2009 and December 2012.

Tie2 activation promotes choriocapillary regeneration for alleviating neovascular age-related macular degeneration.

Choriocapillary loss is a major cause of neovascular age-related macular degeneration (NV-AMD). Although vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) blockade for NV-AMD has shown beneficial outcomes, unmet medical needs for patients refractory or tachyphylactic to anti-VEGF therapy exist. In addition, the treatment could exacerbate choriocapillary rarefaction, necessitating advanced treatment for fundamental recovery from NV-AMD.

YAP and TAZ Negatively Regulate Prox1 During Developmental and Pathologic Lymphangiogenesis.

Rationale: The Hippo pathway governs cellular differentiation, morphogenesis, and homeostasis, but how it regulates these processes in lymphatic vessels is unknown.

Objective: We aimed to reveal the role of the final effectors of the Hippo pathway, YAP (Yes-associated protein) and TAZ (transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif), in lymphatic endothelial cell (LEC) differentiation, morphogenesis, and homeostasis.

Methods And Results: During mouse embryonic development, LEC-specific depletion of Yap/Taz disturbed both plexus patterning and valve initiation with upregulated Prox1 (prospero homeobox 1).

Impaired angiopoietin/Tie2 signaling compromises Schlemm's canal integrity and induces glaucoma.

Primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) is often caused by elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), which arises due to increased resistance to aqueous humor outflow (AHO). Aqueous humor flows through Schlemm's canal (SC), a lymphatic-like vessel encircling the cornea, and via intercellular spaces of ciliary muscle cells. However, the mechanisms underlying increased AHO resistance are poorly understood.

YAP/TAZ regulates sprouting angiogenesis and vascular barrier maturation.

Angiogenesis is a multistep process that requires coordinated migration, proliferation, and junction formation of vascular endothelial cells (ECs) to form new vessel branches in response to growth stimuli. Major intracellular signaling pathways that regulate angiogenesis have been well elucidated, but key transcriptional regulators that mediate these signaling pathways and control EC behaviors are only beginning to be understood. Here, we show that YAP/TAZ, a transcriptional coactivator that acts as an end effector of Hippo signaling, is critical for sprouting angiogenesis and vascular barrier formation and maturation.

Plastic roles of pericytes in the blood-retinal barrier.

The blood-retinal barrier (BRB) consists of tightly interconnected capillary endothelial cells covered with pericytes and glia, but the role of the pericytes in BRB regulation is not fully understood. Here, we show that platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-B/PDGF receptor beta (PDGFRβ) signalling is critical in formation and maturation of BRB through active recruitment of pericytes onto growing retinal vessels. Impaired pericyte recruitment to the vessels shows multiple vascular hallmarks of diabetic retinopathy (DR) due to BRB disruption.

Postural effects on intraocular pressure and ocular perfusion pressure in patients with non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy.

Background: To investigate postural effects on intraocular pressure (IOP) and ocular perfusion pressure (OPP) in patients with non-arteritic ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION).

Methods: IOP and blood pressure (BP) were measured in 20 patients with unilateral NAION 10 min after changing to each of the following positions sequentially: sitting, supine, right lateral decubitus position (LDP), supine, left LDP, and supine. IOP was measured using a rebound tonometer and OPP was calculated using formulas based on mean BP.

Macular ischemia and outcome of vitrectomy for diabetic macular edema.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of vitrectomy on the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME) refractory to nonsurgical therapies and to determine the preoperative prognostic factors related to surgical outcomes.

Methods: Seventy-seven eyes from 74 patients who had undergone vitrectomy and macular photocoagulation 2 weeks after vitrectomy for nontractional DME refractory to anti-vascular endothelial growth factor or steroid injection and/or macular grid/focal photocoagulation were included. The eyes were divided into the responsive group (group 1) and the unresponsive group (group 2) according to the postoperative changes in central subfield thickness (CST).

Intravitreal tanibirumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, partially suppresses and regresses laser-induced choroidal neovascularization in a rat model.

Purpose: The study investigated the effect of intravitreally administered tanibirumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody against vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 2, in a rat model of laser-induced choroidal neovascularization (CNV).

Methods: CNV was induced by laser photocoagulation on day 0 in the eyes of Brown Norway rats. Intravitreal injection of tanibirumab or phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) was done on day 0 (prevention arm) or day 7 (treatment arm).

A case of corneal endothelial dysfunction due to coxsackievirus A24 corneal endotheliitis after cataract surgery.

Purpose: Corneal endotheliitis causes endothelial decompensation and is associated with significant visual impairment. The goal of this article is to report a case of corneal endotheliitis associated with coxsackievirus A24 infection after cataract surgery in a patient who had no previous symptoms indicative of conjunctivitis.

Methods: A 55-year-old man was admitted for cataract surgery when acute hemorrhagic conjunctivitis was prevalent.

Analysis of spectral domain optical coherence tomography measurements in optic neuritis: differences in neuromyelitis optica, multiple sclerosis, isolated optic neuritis and normal healthy controls.

Purpose: To compare the retinal layer thickness of eyes with optic neuritis (ON) and that of control eyes and ON eyes with and without neuromyelitis optica (NMO) or multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: Horizontal and vertical SD-OCT scans of the fovea were undertaken for 56 patients with ON with and without NMO or MS and for 24 healthy controls. Patients with ON were divided into three groups: NMO, MS and isolated ON without NMO or MS.