Barriers to Adherence with Clinic Visits in Patients with Uveitis.

Purpose: To assess the patient barriers to adherence with appointment follow-up in patients with ocular inflammatory disorders across the United States.

Methods: This was a multicenter study of adult and pediatric patients at the Wilmer Eye Institute, University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Veterans Administration Hospital, and Washington University of St. Louis.

Epstein-Barr Virus-Associated Frosted Branch Angiitis: A Case Report and Brief Review.

Purpose: To report the clinical presentation, treatment course, and outcome of a case of bilateral frosted branch angiitis (FBA) and neuroretinitis associated with acute Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection in a pediatric patient with Turner Syndrome.

Methods: Case report with multimodal ocular imaging and extensive systemic workup.

Results: A 16-year-old female with Turner syndrome presented with acute bilateral vision loss, hearing loss, and ataxia.

Barriers to Adherence with Immunosuppressive Therapy in Patients with Uveitis.

Purpose: To evaluate the barriers to adherence with immunomodulatory therapy (IMT) for patients with uveitis across multiple regions of the United States.

Methods: A multi-center survey of adult and pediatric patients with ocular inflammatory diseases undergoing treatment with IMT was conducted between September 2021 and August 2022. Participating sites included Johns Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute, Wong Eye Institute of the University of Texas at Austin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Minnesota, Veterans Affairs Hospital of Minneapolis, and Washington University of St.

Incident Ocular Inflammation After COVID-19 Infection in a US Veteran Population.

Purpose: To investigate whether COVID-19 infection is a risk factor for incident ocular inflammatory disease.

Design: Retrospective case-crossover study.

Methods: The US Veterans Health Administration Corporate Data Warehouse was used to identify patients with positive COVID-19 testing and incident ocular inflammatory disease between March 2020 and May 2022.

Adverse COVID-19 outcomes in American Veterans with age-related macular degeneration: a case-control study.

Objectives: Prior studies suggest that patients with age-related macular degeneration (AMD) have poorer COVID-19 outcomes. This study aims to evaluate whether AMD is associated with adverse COVID-19 outcomes in a large clinical database.

Design: Case-control study.

Glycated Hemoglobin Improvement After Medical and Surgical Eye Care in American Veterans Involves Multidisciplinary Care.

Purpose: The effects of diabetes mellitus (DM) on visual function have been extensively studied. Fewer studies evaluate the effect of visual function on DM, and previous small studies have shown mixed results concerning the relationship between glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and cataract surgery. We performed a retrospective, observational, single-site study at a Veterans hospital to evaluate this relationship and the relationship between HbA1c and non-surgical eye care.

Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients with Scleritis in the IRIS® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight) Database.

Purpose: To report patient characteristics and factors associated with poor visual acuity and abnormal intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with scleritis in the American Academy of Ophthalmology's IRIS® Registry (Intelligent Research in Sight).

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: Patients in the IRIS Registry with at least 3 office visits associated with an International Classification of Diseases scleritis code from 2013 through 2019.

Survival in Patients with Neovascular Glaucoma Following Tube Shunt Implant or Cyclodestructive Procedure.

Purpose: The study purpose was to assess patient survival after tube shunt implant or cyclodestructive procedure for neovascular glaucoma and to determine whether specific preoperative factors are predictive of survival.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed on patients with neovascular glaucoma who underwent tube shunt implant and/or cyclodestructive procedure between January 2002 and December 2019 at the Minneapolis Veterans Affairs Health Care System. Patient survival was compared to the age and gender-matched Minnesota population.

No association between cataract surgery and mitochondrial DNA damage with age-related macular degeneration in human donor eyes.

Purpose: To determine whether age-related macular degeneration (AMD) severity or the frequency of retinal pigment epithelium mitochondrial DNA lesions differ in human donor eyes that have undergone cataract surgery compared to phakic eyes.

Methods: Eyes from human donors aged ≥ 55 years were obtained from the Minnesota Lions Eye Bank. Cataract surgery status was obtained from history provided to Eye Bank personnel by family members at the time of tissue procurement.

Uveitis reactivation following recombinant zoster vaccination.

Purpose: Describe three cases of uveitis reactivation following immunization with recombinant zoster vaccine (RZV).

Observations: One patient developed reactivation of previously controlled multifocal choroiditis within one week of receiving RZV, requiring treatment with systemic corticosteroids. Two patients with previously controlled anterior uveitis developed new anterior segment inflammation after RZV; both were treated with topical corticosteroids and systemic antiviral therapy.

Thrombocytopenia and clear corneal incision cataract surgery.

Purpose: To investigate complications and outcomes of clear corneal incision cataract surgery in patients with thrombocytopenia.

Setting: 1 veterans hospital and 2 academic medical centers.

Design: Multicenter retrospective chart review.

Cancer-Associated Retinopathy due to Clear Cell Renal Carcinoma.

An 84-year-old female presented with bilateral scotomas and progressive nyctalopia over 1 year. Best-corrected visual acuity was 20/50 in both eyes with reduced color vision. Goldmann visual field showed bilateral cecocentral scotomas and generalized constriction of the visual fields.

Rituximab for autoimmune retinopathy: Results of a Phase I/II clinical trial.

Purpose: This prospective study evaluates whether rituximab is a safe and potentially effective treatment for nonparaneoplastic autoimmune retinopathy (npAIR).

Materials And Methods: Five npAIR patients were enrolled in a Phase I/II, prospective, nonrandomized, open-label, single-center study. All patients received a cycle of 1000 mg intravenous rituximab at weeks 0 and 2, with a second cycle of rituximab 6 to 9 months later.

BILATERAL UVEITIS AND HYPOTONY FOLLOWING TREATMENT WITH TOPICAL CIDOFOVIR.

Purpose: To report a case of bilateral uveitis and hypotony associated with topical cidofovir treatment.

Methods: Case report.

Results: A 59-year-old diabetic man with HIV/AIDS presented with photophobia, ocular pain, and decreased vision.

Post-intravitreal injection endophthalmitis secondary to Turicella otitidis: a case report.

Background: Endophthalmitis is a rare but potentially devastating complication of intravitreal injection. The causative organism plays an important role in prognosis following endophthalmitis. Here we present the first reported case of Turicella otitidis endophthalmitis, which is notable for a delayed presentation.

Logistic Regression Classification of Primary Vitreoretinal Lymphoma versus Uveitis by Interleukin 6 and Interleukin 10 Levels.

Purpose: To assess the diagnostic performance and generalizability of logistic regression in classifying primary vitreoretinal lymphoma (PVRL) versus uveitis from intraocular cytokine levels in a single-center retrospective cohort, comparing a logistic regression model and previously published Interleukin Score for Intraocular Lymphoma Diagnosis (ISOLD) scores against the interleukin 10 (IL-10)-to-interleukin 6 (IL-6) ratio.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Participants: Patient histories, pathology reports, and intraocular cytokine levels from 2339 patient entries in the National Eye Institute Histopathology Core database.

Gradient Boosted Decision Tree Classification of Endophthalmitis Versus Uveitis and Lymphoma from Aqueous and Vitreous IL-6 and IL-10 Levels.

Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness of gradient boosting to classify endophthalmitis versus uveitis and lymphoma by intraocular cytokine levels.

Method: Patient diagnoses and aqueous and vitreous levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and IL-10 were retrospectively extracted from a National Eye Institute Histopathology Core database and compared by Kruskal-Wallis and post hoc Dunn tests. A gradient-boosted decision tree classifier was trained to differentiate endophthalmitis versus uveitis and lymphoma from vitreous IL-6 and IL-10, vitreous IL-6 only, and aqueous IL-6 only data sets; and was tested with 80-20 train-test split and 3-fold cross-validation of the training set.

Pharmacologic Treatment of Noninfectious Uveitis.

Uveitis encompasses a spectrum of diseases whose common feature is intraocular inflammation, which may be infectious or noninfectious in etiology (Nussenblatt and Whitcup 2010). Infectious causes of uveitis are typically treated with appropriate antimicrobial therapy and will not be discussed in this chapter. Noninfectious uveitides are thought have an autoimmune component to their etiology and are thus treated with anti-inflammatory agents.

Gevokizumab in the Treatment of Autoimmune Non-necrotizing Anterior Scleritis: Results of a Phase I/II Clinical Trial.

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and potential efficacy of gevokizumab, an anti-interleukin 1β (IL-1β) monoclonal antibody, in the treatment of active, noninfectious, non-necrotizing anterior scleritis.

Design: Phase 1/2, open label, nonrandomized, prospective, single-arm pilot trial.

Methods: Eight patients with active, noninfectious, non-necrotizing anterior scleritis with a scleral inflammatory grade of +1 to +3 in at least 1 eye were enrolled.

Elevated CD1c+ Myeloid Dendritic Cell Proportions Associate With Clinical Activity and Predict Disease Reactivation in Noninfectious Uveitis.

Purpose: To test the association between elevated proportions of CD1c+ myeloid dendritic cells (mDCs) and disease activation/reactivation in noninfectious uveitis.

Methods: Noninfectious uveitis patients (n = 89) and healthy controls (n = 111) were recruited. The proportion of CD1c+ mDCs in the total dendritic cell (DC) population of peripheral blood was measured by flow cytometry (CD1c+ mDCs gated on Lineage 1+HLADR+ DCs).

Mutant β-III spectrin causes mGluR1α mislocalization and functional deficits in a mouse model of spinocerebellar ataxia type 5.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 5 (SCA5), a dominant neurodegenerative disease characterized by profound Purkinje cell loss, is caused by mutations in SPTBN2, a gene that encodes β-III spectrin. SCA5 is the first neurodegenerative disorder reported to be caused by mutations in a cytoskeletal spectrin gene. We have developed a mouse model to understand the mechanistic basis for this disease and show that expression of mutant but not wild-type β-III spectrin causes progressive motor deficits and cerebellar degeneration.