Sickle Cell Retinopathy Lost to Follow-up Study.

Purpose: To determine the outcomes of sickle cell retinopathy (SCR) patients who experienced at least one episode of being lost to follow-up (LTFU) compared to those who attended all appointments.

Methods: Adult SCR patients who visited Wills Eye Hospital Retina service (January 2012-December 2021) with >2 visits were reviewed for LTFU events, defined as failure to return for a follow-up appointment within 6 months of the scheduled date.

Results: One hundred and eighty-one eyes of 94 patients were included.

PNEUMATIC RETINOPEXY FOR GIANT RETINAL TEAR ASSOCIATED RETINAL DETACHMENT: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Purpose: To report the technique and long-term outcomes of patients with giant retinal tear associated retinal detachment (GRT-RD) treated with pneumatic retinopexy (PnR).

Methods: Retrospective cohort study. All patients presenting with GRT-RD with tears in the superior ten-clock hours who underwent primary PnR were included in this study.

Multimodal Imaging of Unilateral Benign Yellow Dot Maculopathy.

To describe the multimodal imaging findings associated with benign yellow dot maculopathy. A case report was analyzed. A healthy 42-year-old White man was evaluated after several weeks of photopsias and an inferior retinal tear in the right eye.

Integrating AI with tele-ophthalmology in Canada: a review.

The field of ophthalmology is rapidly advancing, with technological innovations enhancing the diagnosis and management of eye diseases. Tele-ophthalmology, or the use of telemedicine for ophthalmology, has emerged as a promising solution to improve access to eye care services, particularly for patients in remote or underserved areas. Despite its potential benefits, tele-ophthalmology faces significant challenges, including the need for high volumes of medical images to be analyzed and interpreted by trained clinicians.

Primary Vitreoretinal Lymphoma Presenting Solely with Asymptomatic Peripheral Drusenoid Lesions.

Introduction: Primary vitreoretinal lymphoma (PVRL) is a rare malignant tumor that typically involves the retina, vitreous, or optic nerve head. PVRL often occurs concurrently with central nervous system lymphoma. Here, we present the first report of a patient with biopsy-confirmed PVRL presenting solely with asymptomatic peripheral drusenoid lesions.

Biallelic variation in the choline and ethanolamine transporter underlies a pleiotropic disease spectrum from adult neurodegeneration to severe developmental disorders.

encodes Feline leukemia virus subgroup C receptor 1 (FLVCR1), a solute carrier (SLC) transporter within the Major Facilitator Superfamily. FLVCR1 is a widely expressed transmembrane protein with plasma membrane and mitochondrial isoforms implicated in heme, choline, and ethanolamine transport. While knockout mice die with skeletal malformations and defective erythropoiesis reminiscent of Diamond-Blackfan anemia, rare biallelic pathogenic variants are linked to childhood or adult-onset neurodegeneration of the retina, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system.

Evaluating smartphone fundoscopy as a pedagogical tool in medical education: a narrative review.

Direct ophthalmoscopy continues to be the "gold standard" method for retinal and optic nerve evaluation despite known challenges for learners to acquire this clinical skill and minimal opportunities for patient-facing practice. Here we review current literature regarding smartphone fundoscopy (SF) as an alternative learning tool that remains underutilized in Canadian medical schools. SF has significant advantages over direct ophthalmoscopy, such as enhanced learner visualization of ocular structure and pathologies, greater learner usability in comparison, and improved fundus assessment during more difficult ocular examinations such as with pediatric patients.

Ensemble of deep convolutional neural networks is more accurate and reliable than board-certified ophthalmologists at detecting multiple diseases in retinal fundus photographs.

Aims: To develop an algorithm to classify multiple retinal pathologies accurately and reliably from fundus photographs and to validate its performance against human experts.

Methods: We trained a deep convolutional ensemble (DCE), an ensemble of five convolutional neural networks (CNNs), to classify retinal fundus photographs into diabetic retinopathy (DR), glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and normal eyes. The CNN architecture was based on the InceptionV3 model, and initial weights were pretrained on the ImageNet dataset.

Postnatal deletion of Spns2 prevents neuroinflammation without compromising blood vascular functions.

Protein Spinster homolog 2 (Spns2) is a sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) transporter that releases S1P to regulate lymphocyte egress and trafficking. Global deletion of Spns2 (Spns2) has been shown to reduce disease severity in several autoimmune disease models. To examine whether Spns2 could be exploited as a drug target, we generated and characterized the mice with postnatal knockout of Spns2 (Spns2-Mx1Cre).

Magnetic resonance or computed tomography venography in the evaluation of young overweight women with papilledema.

Background/objectives: To compare the yield of magnetic resonance venography (MRV)/computed tomography venography (CTV) in a group of overweight women with incidentally-discovered papilledema and symptomatic intracranial hypertension (IC-HTN) patients without risk factors for dural venous sinus thrombosis (DVST).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Methods: Retrospective cohort study of female patients between ages 16 and 50 with papilledema, body mass index >25 kg/m and MRV/CTV imaging.

Novel techniques for intraoperative parathyroid gland identification: a comprehensive review.

Introduction: The parathyroid glands (PGs) are critical for calcium regulation and homeostasis. The preservation of PGs during neck surgery is crucial to avoid postoperative hypoparathyroidism. There are no existing guidelines for intraoperative PG identification, and the current approach relies heavily on the experience of the operating surgeon.

Vision Loss from Metastatic Colon Cancer to the Planum Sphenoidale and Optic Nerves.

An 80-year-old man was seen in urgent neuro-ophthalmology consultation for bilateral vision loss. He had a past medical history of hypertension and metastatic stage IV colorectal adenocarcinoma. Four months prior to presentation, he developed gradual onset, painless blurred vision in his right eye.

Differential roles for cryptochromes in the mammalian retinal clock.

Cryptochromes 1 and 2 (CRY1/2) are key components of the negative limb of the mammalian circadian clock. Like many peripheral tissues, Cry1 and -2 are expressed in the retina, where they are thought to play a role in regulating rhythmic physiology. However, studies differ in consensus as to their localization and function, and CRY1 immunostaining has not been convincingly demonstrated in the retina.

Cocaine disinhibits dopamine neurons by potentiation of GABA transmission in the ventral tegmental area.

Drug-evoked synaptic plasticity in the mesolimbic system reshapes circuit function and drives drug-adaptive behavior. Much research has focused on excitatory transmission in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the nucleus accumbens (NAc). How drug-evoked synaptic plasticity of inhibitory transmission affects circuit adaptations remains unknown.

Insulin induces long-term depression of ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons via endocannabinoids.

The prevalence of obesity has markedly increased over the past few decades. Exploration of how hunger and satiety signals influence the reward system can help us understand non-homeostatic feeding. Insulin may act in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), a critical site for reward-seeking behavior, to suppress feeding.

Insulin in the ventral tegmental area reduces hedonic feeding and suppresses dopamine concentration via increased reuptake.

Mesolimbic dopamine (DA) signaling has been implicated in the incentive, reinforcing and motivational aspects of food intake. Insulin receptors are expressed on dopaminergic neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), and insulin may act in the VTA to suppress feeding. However, the neural mechanisms underlying insulin effects in the VTA are poorly understood.