Clinical Features of Varicella-Zoster Virus-Associated Anterior Uveitis with or without Ophthalmic Herpes Zoster.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate the clinical characteristics, diagnostic markers, and treatment outcomes of varicella-zoster virus-associated anterior uveitis (VZV-AU) with and without ophthalmic herpes zoster (herpes zoster ophthalmicus (HZO) and zoster sine herpete (ZSH), respectively).

Methods: Clinical records of 47 VZV-AU patients (21 ZSH, 26 hZO) were retrospectively reviewed for clinical findings, medication use, and PCR using aqueous humor (AH) results.

Results: There was no significant difference in age, gender, visual acuity (VA), or intraocular pressure (IOP) between the two groups.

Flare levels after intravitreal injection of brolucizumab for diabetic macular edema.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate anterior flare intensity (AFI) after intravitreal injection of brolucizumab (IVBr) in patients with diabetic macular edema (DME), and to identify the factors associated with the change of AFI after IVBr.

Methods: This prospective multicenter study was conducted at five sites in Japan for patients with DME who underwent a single IVBr. AFI and central retinal thickness (CRT) were measured using a laser flare meter and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, respectively, at weeks 0 and 6.

ExistenceMap-PointPillars: A Multifusion Network for Robust 3D Object Detection with Object Existence Probability Map.

Recognition of surrounding objects is crucial for ensuring the safety of automated driving systems. In the realm of 3D object recognition through deep learning, several methods incorporate the fusion of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and camera data. The effectiveness of the LiDAR-camera fusion approach is widely acknowledged due to its ability to provide a richer source of information for object detection compared to methods that rely solely on individual sensors.

Anti-VEGF Treatment Strategies for 3 Subtypes of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration in a Clinical Setting: A Multicenter Cohort Study in Japan.

Purpose: Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is classified into typical AMD (tAMD), polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy (PCV), and retinal angiomatous proliferation (RAP). This study investigated clinical features of the 3 subtypes and visual outcome associated with treatment regimens in a large cohort of patients with nAMD in a clinical setting.

Design: Retrospective multicenter cohort study.

Clinical relevance of fibrin membranous structures in the intra-photoreceptor outer segment separation on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in initial-onset acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada disease.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to investigate clinical relevance of fibrin membranous structure (FMS) in the photoreceptor outer segments on spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in untreated initial-onset acute Vogt-Koyanagi-Harada (VKH) disease.

Methods: Clinical charts of 39 patients (78 eyes) diagnosed with initial-onset VKH disease were retrospectively reviewed. Age, gender, period from the onset of symptoms to first visit, visual acuity (VA), intraocular pressure (IOP), anterior chamber cells, serous retinal detachment (SRD), SD-OCT findings, as well as fluorescein (FA), and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) were collected.

LiDAR- and Radar-Based Robust Vehicle Localization with Confidence Estimation of Matching Results.

Localization is an important technology for autonomous driving. Map-matching using road surface pattern features gives accurate position estimation and has been used in autonomous driving tests on public roads. To provide highly safe autonomous driving, localization technology that is not affected by the environment is required.

Robust Traffic Light and Arrow Detection Using Digital Map with Spatial Prior Information for Automated Driving.

Traffic light recognition is an indispensable elemental technology for automated driving in urban areas. In this study, we propose an algorithm that recognizes traffic lights and arrow lights by image processing using the digital map and precise vehicle pose which is estimated by a localization module. The use of a digital map allows the determination of a region-of-interest in an image to reduce the computational cost and false detection.

Antisense-induced guanine quadruplexes inhibit reverse transcription by HIV-1 reverse transcriptase.

Guanine quadruplex structures in DNA and RNA affect normal cellular processes such as replication, recombination, and translation. Thus, controlling guanine quadruplex structures could make it possible to manipulate the biological function of nucleic acids. Here, we report a novel antisense strategy using guanine-tethered antisense oligonucleotides (g-ASs) that introduces an RNA-DNA heteroquadruplex structure on RNA templates in a predictable and sequence-specific manner, which in practice effectively inhibited reverse transcription on a variety of RNA sequences, including the HIV-1 RNA genome.

A reverse transcriptase stop assay revealed diverse quadruplex formations in UTRs in mRNA.

Here, we developed a reverse transcriptase based method (RTase stop assay) to characterize quadruplex formations in guanine-rich RNAs with high sensitivity and specificity. By using the RTase stop assay, we also revealed a plausible structural polymorphism in biologically important RNAs. The RTase stop assay would provide helpful insight into RNA quadruplex structures and functions, together with other analytical methods, including various footprinting techniques.