Limbal epithelial stem-microenvironmental alteration leads to pterygium development.

Maintenance of tissue homeostasis relies on the accurate regulation of tissue specific stem cell activity which is governed by the dynamic interaction between the positive and negative feedback modulating mechanism of stem cell microenvironmental niche. Alteration or deregulation of the "stem-microenvironmental networking" provokes disease development. Limbal epithelial stem cells (LESC) are the initiator hierarchy that maintains corneal integrity.

Congenital distichiasis treated by a time-based cryosurgical technique--a case report.

Congenital distichiasis is a rare eyelid anomaly usually running in a family with some systemic disorders. Isolated congenital distichiasis is very rare. A very rare case of sporadic congenital distichiasis with symmetrical four-lid involvement is reported here.

Phenotypic alteration of limbal niche-associated limbal epithelial stem cell deficiency by ultraviolet-B exposure-induced phototoxicity in mice.

Good vision requires a healthy cornea, and a healthy cornea needs healthy stem cells. Limbal epithelial stem cells (LESCs) are a traditional source of corneal epithelial cells and are recruited for the continuous production of epithelium without seizing throughout an animal's life, which maintains corneal transparency. Like the maintenance of other adult somatic stem cells, the maintenance of LESCs depends on the specific microenvironmental niche in which they reside.

Fine needle aspiration biopsy in the diagnosis of intraocular and extra-ocular mass lesions.

In a 3-year study with mass lesions related to ophthalmology 30 cases arising from ocular tissue, ocular adenaxae and orbit were subjected to fine needle aspiration biopsy. Of these 27 cases were further subjected to detailed histopathological examination. Fine needle aspiration biopsy revealed definitive cytological character in 23 cases consistent with histopathological and clinical diagnosis.

Ocular surface disorder in pterygium: role of conjunctival impression cytology.

Objective: To study ocular surface abnormalities in patients with pterygium, conjunctival impression cytology was explored as a tool for the assessment of the cytological changes.

Materials And Methods: A comparative case control study was undertaken to evaluate the ocular surface disorders in pterygium. Fifty cases of pterygium and 50 age and sex-matched controls were analyzed for the presence of local tear film abnormalities as assessed by the tear film break up time and Schirmer test.

Sca-1 expression pattern in the mouse limbal epithelium and its association with cell cycle.

Stem Cell Antigen-1 or Sca-1 is a cell surface receptor protein commonly used to detect adult murine haematopoietic stem cell population. Outside the haematopoietic system Sca-1 is similarly expressed in stem and progenitor cells in a wide variety of tissues and organs such as skeletal muscle, mammary gland, prostate, heart, liver and dermis. Thus Sca-1 has become a candidate marker in the search of tissue specific stem cells.

Vision screening programme among school children--evaluation of the outcome in a selected urban locality.

To determine the profile of the visual acuity status, refractive error and other ocular morbidities and to asses the performance at different stages following a vision screening programme in school a retrospective analysis of the data obtained from the programme register for school vision screening programme conducted from April 2003 to March 2006 was done. The data was plotted age and genderwise. Statistical analysis was done to find out disease prevalence with 95% confidence Interval and Z-test was applied for comparison.

The profile of visual loss in children--a retrospective study in a referral hospital in India.

A retrospective study of 8772 children's records at the department of ophthalmology, North Bengal Medical College, Sushrutanagar, Darjeeling, West Bengal, India was conducted to collect the data on visual loss relating age, gender, degree and aetiology with an object of delineation of the profile of visual loss in children of particular area encircling that referral centre. Out of 8772 children, 126 children were detected to be suffering from visual loss. Of these 126 children, 88(69.