Combined Epithelial, Stromal, and Anterior Chamber Ingrowth After Penetrating Keratoplasty.

Purpose: To present a case of primary graft failure after penetrating keratoplasty found to have epithelial ingrowth into the host stroma on histopathologic analysis.

Methods: This is a single observational case report.

Results: We herein describe the clinical course of a case of primary graft failure after penetrating keratoplasty.

Instrument development of the UNC Dry Eye Management Scale.

Purpose: Dry eye disease (DED) is a common ocular disease that can have adverse effects on quality of life. Our aim was to develop a single-item questionnaire that is reliable, patient-driven, and clinic friendly to assess DED symptoms and their effect on quality of life to help support the management of patients with DED.

Methods: An initial dry eye questionnaire was created and administered to 18 patients with DED followed by a 15-minute cognitive interviewing session.

Perceptions of dry eye disease management in current clinical practice.

Objective: To assess the perceptions of eye care providers regarding the clinical management of dry eye.

Methods: Invitations to complete a 17-question online survey were mailed to 400 members of the North Carolina Ophthalmology and Optometry Associations including community optometrists, comprehensive ophthalmologists, and cornea specialists.

Results: The survey was completed by 100 eye care providers (25% response rate).

Autoimmunity in the pathogenesis and treatment of keratoconjunctivitis sicca.

Dry eye is a chronic corneal disease that impacts the quality of life of many older adults. Keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), a form of aqueous-deficient dry eye, is frequently associated with Sjögren's syndrome and mechanisms of autoimmunity. For KCS and other forms of dry eye, current treatments are limited, with many medications providing only symptomatic relief rather than targeting the pathophysiology of disease.

A review of quality of life measures in dry eye questionnaires.

Purpose: Dry eye disease (DED) is an ocular disease that affects 5% to 17% of the US population. Because of the negative effects of DED on patients' quality of life (QOL), disease-specific questionnaires that assess QOL in patients with dry eyes are essential in the monitoring and management of this chronic ocular condition. This review provides clinicians and researchers with a summary of the current questionnaires available for assessing QOL in patients with dry eyes.

Ocular disease, knowledge and technology applications in patients with diabetes.

An estimated 25.8 million children and adults in the United States, approximately 8.3% of the population, have diabetes.

SSEA4 is a potential negative marker for the enrichment of human corneal epithelial stem/progenitor cells.

Purpose: To examine the expression of stage-specific embryonic antigen-4 (SSEA4) in the epithelium of the human ocular surface and characterize SSEA4(+) and SSEA4(-) limbal epithelial cells.

Methods: SSEA4 expression in the human cornea and limbus was examined by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry. SSEA4(+) and SSEA4(-) cells were then separated by using magnetic beads.

Reversal of nicotine-induced alveolar lipofibroblast-to-myofibroblast transdifferentiation by stimulants of parathyroid hormone-related protein signaling.

Nicotine exposure disrupts the parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrP)-driven alveolar epithelial-mesenchymal paracrine-signaling pathway, resulting in the transdifferentiation of pulmonary lipofibroblasts (LIFs) to myofibroblasts (MYFs), which seems to be central to altered pulmonary development and function in infants born to mothers who smoke during pregnancy. Modulation of PTHrP-driven signaling can almost completely prevent nicotine-induced LIF-to-MYF transdifferentiation. However, once this process has occurred, whether it can be reversed is not known.