Macular Ischemia Changes in Patients with Diabetic Macular Edema Treated with Aflibercept and Ranibizumab.

Τhis study aims to assess changes in the fovea avascular zone (FAZ) in treatment naïve patients receiving aflibercept or ranibizumab injections for diabetic macular edema (DME). Best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) testing, OCT, and OCT-angiography imaging were performed at baseline and 1 month after each injection. Injections of either aflibercept or ranibizumab were administered monthly for 6 consecutive months.

COVID-19 hemodynamic and thrombotic effect on the eye microcirculation after hospitalization: A quantitative case-control study.

Background & Objective: To quantify the hemodynamic and thrombotic effect of COVID-19 on the eye microcirculation of patients with thromboprophylaxis, shortly after hospital discharge.

Methods: This case-control study included 17 COVID-19 survivors (named "COVID-19 Group") and 17 healthy volunteers (named "Control Group"). Axial blood velocity (Vax) and percentage of occluded vessels (POV) were quantified by Conjunctival Video Capillaroscopy (CVC).

Quality-adjusted life years in macular oedema due to age-related macular degeneration, diabetes and central retinal vein occlusion: the impact of anti-VEGF agents in a tertiary centre in Greece.

Introduction: Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD), diabetic macular oedema (DME), and macular oedema due to central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) are leading causes of vision loss, currently managed with anti-vascular endothelial growth factor injections (anti-VEGF). The aim of this study was to calculate QALYs in patients with nAMD, DME, and CRVO treated with anti-VEGF agents (QALYs) in a Greek tertiary hospital setting and compare them to theoretical QALYs that the patients would have without treatment (QALYs).

Material And Methods: The study included 143 treatment-naive patients with macular oedema due to nAMD (n = 79), DME (n = 57), and CRVO (n = 7), who received anti-VEGF injections as monotherapy according to the Treat-and-Extend (T&E) protocol.

Optical coherence tomography angiography reveals vascular alterations in pediatric commotio retinae.

Introduction: Aim of this study is to present the acute and long-term swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography findings in pediatric commotio retinae.

Materials And Methods: Two children presented with reduced visual acuity and Berlin edema after blunt trauma.

Results: Swept-source optical coherence tomography revealed hyperreflectivity of the retinal nerve fiber layer and disruption of the ellipsoid zone and the retinal pigment epithelium.

SLC2A1 Tag SNPs in Greek Patients with Diabetic Retinopathy and Nephropathy.

Unlabelled: Backround: Genetic variants are implicated in the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and nephropathy (DN). The role of solute carrier family 2-facilitated glucose transporter member 1 (SLC2A1), also known as glucose transporter (GLUT1), on DR and DN remain controversial.

Objective: Examination of the influence of tag SLC2A1 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the development of DR and DN during the course of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Plasminogen Activator Inhibitor Type-1 Tag Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in Patients with Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 and Diabetic Retinopathy.

Background: There is accumulating evidence for genetic susceptibility to the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The role of plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) in DR risk remains controversial.

Objective: The present study was designed to investigate possible influence of PAI-1 gene region polymorphisms on the risk of DR and on the risk of developing DR early vs late in the course of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

FLT1 genetic variation predisposes to neovascular AMD in ethnically diverse populations and alters systemic FLT1 expression.

Purpose: Current understanding of the genetic risk factors for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is not sufficiently predictive of the clinical course. The VEGF pathway is a key therapeutic target for treatment of neovascular AMD; however, risk attributable to genetic variation within pathway genes is unclear. We sought to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with AMD within the VEGF pathway.

Systems biology-based analysis implicates a novel role for vitamin D metabolism in the pathogenesis of age-related macular degeneration.

Vitamin D has been shown to have anti-angiogenic properties and to play a protective role in several types of cancer, including breast, prostate and cutaneous melanoma. Similarly, vitamin D levels have been shown to be protective for risk of a number of conditions, including cardiovascular disease and chronic kidney disease, as well as numerous autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis, inflammatory bowel diseases and type 1 diabetes mellitus. A study performed by Parekh et al.

Influence of ROBO1 and RORA on risk of age-related macular degeneration reveals genetically distinct phenotypes in disease pathophysiology.

ROBO1 is a strong candidate gene for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) based upon its location under a linkage peak on chromosome 3p12, its expression pattern, and its purported function in a pathway that includes RORA, a gene previously associated with risk for neovascular AMD. Previously, we observed that expression of ROBO1 and RORA is down-regulated among wet AMD cases, as compared to their unaffected siblings. Thus, we hypothesized that contribution of association signals in ROBO1, and interaction between these two genes may be important for both wet and dry AMD.

Diabetic papillopathy in pregnancy: a marker for progression to proliferative retinopathy.

Background: Diabetic papillopathy is an uncommon cause of transient acute optic disc edema, and during pregnancy it may be easily confused with other more serious disorders that may result in acute visual loss.

Case: We present a case of acute bilateral optic disc edema attributable to diabetic papillopathy in a young woman with an unplanned pregnancy and childhood-onset type 1 diabetes mellitus. The patient presented 16 months after fetal death of unknown etiology at 26 weeks of gestation with acute visual impairment in both eyes; severe proliferative retinopathy was diagnosed.

Bimatoprost and bimatoprost/timolol fixed combination in patients with open-angle glaucoma and ocular hypertension.

Purpose: To investigate the intraocular pressure (IOP) lowering effect of bimatoprost (BIM) 0.03% and the potential additional effect of the BIM 0.03%/timolol 0.

Plasma and aqueous humour levels of ghrelin in open-angle glaucoma patients.

Background: To compare aqueous humour and plasma levels of ghrelin, a peptide recently identified in human eyes, in patients with open-angle glaucoma and controls.

Design: Cross-sectional, controlled, hospital-based study.

Participants: Twenty-four open-angle glaucoma (17 primary open-angle and 7 pseudo-exfoliation glaucoma) patients and 30 controls were included.

Neovascular glaucoma as a first clinical manifestation of multiple sclerosis.

Purpose: To report a case with neovascular glaucoma caused by severe occlusive retinal vasculitis, as a first clinical manifestation of multiple sclerosis (MS).

Methods: Examination on an otherwise healthy 45-year-old man presenting with blurred vision in his right eye revealed bilateral iris neovascularization, right eye neovascular glaucoma, and bilateral retinal neovascularization caused by vasculitis. Thorough systemic investigation indicated by an ophthalmologist showed nothing else other than typical to MS imaging and spinal tap findings.

Blood velocity pulse quantification in the human conjunctival pre-capillary arterioles.

Axial red blood cell velocity pulse was quantified throughout its period by high speed video microcinematography in the human eye. In 30 conjunctival precapillary arterioles (6 to 12 microm in diameter) from 15 healthy humans, axial velocities ranged from 0.4 (the minimum of all the end diastolic values) to 5.

Evaluation of MMP1 and MMP3 gene polymorphisms in exfoliation syndrome and exfoliation glaucoma.

Purpose: To investigate possible genetic associations of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (MMP1) and MMP3 gene polymorphisms with exfoliation syndrome (XFS) with (XFS/+G) and without (XFS/-G) glaucoma in a cohort of Greek patients.

Methods: A total of 182 unrelated Greek patients with XFS, including 92 patients with XFS/+G, and 214 unrelated age- and gender-matched controls were enrolled in the study. MMP1 -1607 1G/2G (rs1799750) and MMP3 -1171 5A/6A (rs3025058) polymorphisms were determined using standard PCR/restriction fragment length polymorphism methods.

Ocular disorders as the prevailing manifestations of antiphospholipid syndrome: a case series.

Introduction: Antiphospholipid syndrome is an autoimmune disorder characterized by either a history of vascular thrombosis (one or more clinical episodes of arterial, venous, or small vessel thrombosis in any tissue or organ) or pregnancy morbidity in association with the presence of antiphospholipid antibodies. The systemic features of the syndrome are characterized by large variability depending on the affected organ(s). Among them, neurological and behavioural disturbances, dermatological features as livedo reticularis and renal, ocular, liver or valvular heart manifestations have been reported in antiphospholipid syndrome patients.

Convergence of linkage, gene expression and association data demonstrates the influence of the RAR-related orphan receptor alpha (RORA) gene on neovascular AMD: a systems biology based approach.

To identify novel genes and pathways associated with AMD, we performed microarray gene expression and linkage analysis which implicated the candidate gene, retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor alpha (RORA, 15q). Subsequent genotyping of 159 RORA single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in a family-based cohort, followed by replication in an unrelated case-control cohort, demonstrated that SNPs and haplotypes located in intron 1 were significantly associated with neovascular AMD risk in both cohorts. This is the first report demonstrating a possible role for RORA, a receptor for cholesterol, in the pathophysiology of AMD.

Detection of macular photocoagulation scars with confocal infrared reflection imaging.

Background And Objective: To study the diagnostic reliability (specificity and sensitivity) of confocal infrared reflection in detecting threshold argon laser photocoagulation scars in the macula.

Patients And Methods: Fifty-six maculae with diabetic macular edema were evaluated by biomicroscopic slit-lamp fundus examination, digital color fundus photography, digital fundus fluorescein angiography, and digital infrared reflection images. Three examiners evaluated whether the eye had undergone any laser photopexy in the macula.

Resolution of macular edema in idiopathic juxtafoveal telangiectasis using PDT.

A 57-year-old woman was treated by photodynamic therapy for macular edema due to idiopathic juxtafoveal telangiectasis (presumed type 1A) without subretinal neovascularization. Initial visual acuity of the treated eye was 20/200 and it improved to 20/40 by 3 months after the photodynamic therapy session. Visual acuity remained stable 32 months after the treatment.

Parecoxib has non-significant long-term effects on bone healing in rats when administered for a short period after fracture.

Introduction: Selective and non-selective cyclo-oxygenase (COX) inhibitors impair bone healing by inhibiting prostaglandin synthesis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the long-term effect of parecoxib, a selective COX-2 inhibitor, on bone healing in rats, when it is applied in a pattern similar to clinical treatment patterns, that is, in a high dose and for a short period after bone fracture.

Method: Closed non-displaced mid-diaphyseal fractures in the middle of the left femoral shaft were generated in each animal.