Neonatal Sepsis Episodes and Retinopathy of Prematurity in Very Preterm Infants.

Importance: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a major morbidity of preterm infants causing visual impairment, including blindness, for which timely treatment is vital and prevention is key. Increasing evidence suggests that exposure to neonatal sepsis contributes to ROP development.

Objective: To investigate the association between neonatal sepsis and ROP in 2 large-scale cohorts of preterm infants born at less than 29 weeks' gestation.

Analysis of antibiotic resistance and genetic profile of conjunctival bacteria flora before and after cataract surgery.

Purpose: To analyze antibiotic resistance and genetic profile of conjunctival bacteria flora before and after cataract surgery with the focus on coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) during cataract surgery and discuss the implications of this colonization as a potential risk of acquiring endophthalmitis.

Methods: After approval of the institutional review board and informed consent from patients had been obtained, conjunctival swabs for culture from 59 patients undergoing cataract surgery were taken of the fellow eye at baseline (C0) and from the eye to be operated before (T0) and after (T1) irrigation with povine-iodine 5%, and at the end of surgery (T2). Genes responsible for virulence (mecA, ica and atlE) and antibiotic profile were determined; strain clonality of persistent colonizing Staphylococcus epidermidis strains was established by the Multi-locus sequence typing (MLST).

Quantitative Fundus Autofluorescence in the Developing and Maturing Healthy Eye.

Purpose: Quantitative fundus autofluorescence (QAF) enables comparisons of autofluorescence intensities among participants. While clinical QAF reports mostly focused on the healthy and diseased adult retina, only very limited data of QAF in the maturing eye are available. Here, we report QAF in a large cohort of healthy children.

Yokoyama procedure for esotropia associated with high myopia: real-world data from a large-scale multicentre analysis.

Purpose: High myopic patients may develop strabismus due to globe dislocation out of the normal extraocular muscle cone. Surgical correction of this strabismus type is possible by joining the superior and lateral rectus muscles without the need for a scleral suture called the Yokoyama procedure. Data from large patient samples and the evaluation of a potential effect of an additional medial rectus recession (MRR) have been lacking so far.

Effect of antibiotic prophylaxis on Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus virulence factor profiles in patients undergoing cataract surgery.

Purpose: In this prospective study, multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to identify genes encoding virulence factors (ica, atlE and mecA) in Coagulase-negative Staphylococcus (CNS) isolates from the ocular microbiota of patients undergoing cataract surgery and to investigate possible changes in the CNS profile due to antibiotic prophylaxis.

Methods: Between 09/2011 and 08/2013, patients undergoing cataract surgery were recruited at the Department of Ophthalmology, National University of Asuncion, Paraguay. In the eye to be operated on, patients received moxifloxacin 0.

Methicillin resistance and biofilm production of Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates from infectious and normal flora conjunctiva.

Purpose: Coagulase-negative staphylococci have been reported to be the most frequent cause of bacterial postoperative endophthalmitis. Biofilm formation is the major virulence factor of Staphylococcus epidermidis and is often associated with methicillin resistance. This study aims at evaluating the presence of biofilm-producing and methicillin resistance genes (mecA) in S.

Robotic radiosurgery for the treatment of medium and large uveal melanoma.

The aim of the study was to analyze the local efficacy and eye retention rate after frameless, image-guided robotic radiosurgery against uveal melanoma. A total of 217 patients, mostly with medium and large unilateral uveal melanomas (3% small, 62% medium, and 35% large) were treated. The median age was 64 years (range 21-95 years).

Artificial iris implantation in a 9-year-old boy.

Purpose: To demonstrate the successful surgical treatment of congenital aniridia.

Methods: Development of sight-impairing cortical cataracts in a young boy with congenital aniridia led to the decision to perform phacoemulsification, intraocular lens implantation, and artificial iris implantation in each eye.

Results: Thorough examination showed that aniridia and cataract were the explanation for the patient's symptoms (sensitivity to glare and visual impairment).

Diabetic retinopathy - ocular complications of diabetes mellitus.

In industrialized nations diabetic retinopathy is the most frequent microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus and the most common cause of blindness in the working-age population. In the next 15 years, the number of patients suffering from diabetes mellitus is expected to increase significantly. By the year 2030, about 440 million people in the age-group 20-79 years are estimated to be suffering from diabetes mellitus worldwide (prevalence 7.

Comparison of 1-day versus 1-hour application of topical neomycin/polymyxin-B before cataract surgery.

Purpose: To compare the efficacy of 2 prophylaxis regimens before cataract surgery using topical antibiotics (1 hour before surgery versus the day before), both with povidone-iodine, with regard to reducing the preoperative conjunctival bacterial load.

Setting: Tertiary ophthalmic referral center, Munich, Germany.

Design: Prospective comparative case series.

Incidence of postoperative endophthalmitis from 1990 to 2009 using povidone-iodine but no intracameral antibiotics at a single academic institution.

Purpose: To correlate the incidence of postoperative endophthalmitis with changes in the preoperative prophylaxis over a 20-year period.

Setting: Department of Ophthalmology, Ludwig-Maximilians-University, Munich, Germany.

Design: Retrospective chart review.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of infectious keratitis in Paraguay.

To describe the clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients with severe infectious keratitis in Asunción, Paraguay between April 2009 and September 2011. All patients with the clinical diagnosis of severe keratitis (ulcer ≥2 mm in size and/or central location) were included. Empiric treatment consisted of topical antibiotics and antimycotics; in cases of advanced keratitis, fortified antibiotics were used.

Reasons reported by African ophthalmologists for staying in Africa and for considering migrating.

In sub-Sahara Africa, the shortage of ophthalmologists is a major obstacle in the struggle of fighting preventable blindness. Migration of well-trained ophthalmologists has an additional negative effect on the low number of caregivers. However, to date, the reasons affecting migration of ophthalmologists have not been completely understood.

Hereditary retinal eye diseases in childhood and youth affecting the central retina.

Hereditary dystrophies affecting the central retina represent a heterogeneous group of diseases. Mutations in different genes may be responsible for changes of the choroid (choroideremia), of the retinal pigment epithelium [RPE] (Best's disease), of the photoreceptor outer segments (Stargardt's disease) and of the bipolar and Mueller cells (x-linked retinoschisis). The correct diagnosis of hereditary retinal dystrophies is important, even though therapeutic options are limited at the moment, as every patient should get a diagnosis and be informed about the expected prognosis.

Dermis fat grafts as primary and secondary orbital implants.

Introduction: This study was performed to evaluate the outcome after autologous dermis-fat graft [DFG] orbital implants in a large sample.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective chart review of all primary and secondary DFGs in a 16-year period was done. Aesthetic and functional results, patients' satisfaction and postoperative complications were evaluated.

Endophthalmitis after intravitreal injection: decreasing incidence and clinical outcome-8-year results from a tertiary ophthalmic referral center.

Purpose: To report the incidence, clinical features, microbiologic culture results, management and visual outcome of patients with endophthalmitis after intravitreal injections (IVTs).

Methods: This retrospective chart review included all patients receiving IVTs between January 2005 and July 2012. Cases of suspected and confirmed endophthalmitis after IVT were identified and reviewed.

Quality of life in the follow-up of uveal melanoma patients after CyberKnife treatment.

To assess quality of life in uveal melanoma patients within the first and second year after CyberKnife radiosurgery. Overall, 91 uveal melanoma patients were evaluated for quality of life through the Short-form (SF-12) Health Survey at baseline and at every follow-up visit over 2 years after CyberKnife radiosurgery. Statistical analysis was carried out using SF Health Outcomes Scoring Software and included subgroup analysis of patients developing secondary glaucoma and of patients maintaining a best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of the treated eye of 0.

Traumatic retinopathy presenting as acute macular neuroretinopathy.

Aim: Traumatic retinopathy presenting as acute macular neuroretinopathy (AMNR) is an uncommon disease causing paracentral scotomas after indirect trauma.

Methods: We report on five patients (six eyes) with AMNR with a temporary reduction of visual acuity and persistent paracentral scotomas after indirect trauma. The findings were documented using multimodal imaging and the follow-up was up to 32 months.