Smoking negatively impacts ocular surface health and corneal nerve metrics.

Purpose: To evaluate the effects of smoking on ocular surface through comprehensive analysis of corneal nerves, corneal epithelium, dendritic cells (DCs), and clinical assessments.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 250 healthy smokers and 272 healthy non-smokers. Patients' smoking status and duration were recorded.

Validation of the Ocular Pain Assessment Survey Instrument With Rasch Analysis.

Purpose: The Ocular Pain Assessment Survey (OPAS) has been used to quantify chronic ocular pain and quality of life (QOL). We aim to investigate the psychometric properties of individual OPAS items with the Rasch analysis in an Asian population of dry eye disease and neuropathic corneal pain (NCP).

Methods: Question responses were obtained from 196 patients; 138 with dry eye disease (DED) and 58 with NCP, at the Singapore National Eye Centre.

The Application of Terahertz Technology in Corneas and Corneal Diseases: A Systematic Review.

Terahertz (THz) waves reside in the electromagnetic spectrum between the microwave and infrared bands. In recent decades, THz technology has demonstrated its potential for biomedical applications. With the highly unique characteristics of THz waves, such as the high sensitivity to water and optimal spatial resolution coupled with the characteristics of the human cornea, such as its high water content, THz technology has been explored as a potential modality to assess corneas and corneal diseases.

A review of the application of in-vivo confocal microscopy on conjunctival diseases.

Over the past few decades, the expanded applications of in-vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM) have greatly enhanced the knowledge of a variety of conjunctival diseases. IVCM allows non-invasively detailed observation of tarsal, palpebral and bulbar conjunctiva, from the superficial to the substantia propria at the cellular level. IVCM has been shown as a powerful tool for the assessment of morphological changes in both physiological and pathological conditions.

Interconnections between diabetic corneal neuropathy and diabetic retinopathy: diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

Diabetic corneal neuropathy and diabetic retinopathy are ocular complications occurring in the context of diabetes mellitus. Diabetic corneal neuropathy refers to the progressive damage of corneal nerves. Diabetic retinopathy has traditionally been considered as damage to the retinal microvasculature.

Functional role of translocator protein and its ligands in ocular diseases (Review).

The 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO) is an essential outer mitochondrial membrane protein that is responsible for mitochondrial transport, maintenance of mitochondrial homeostasis and normal physiological cell function. The role of TSPO in the pathogenesis of ocular diseases is a growing area of interest. More notably, TSPO exerts positive effects in regulating various pathophysiological processes, such as the inflammatory response, oxidative stress, steroid synthesis and modulation of microglial function, in combination with a variety of specific ligands such as 1‑(2‑chlorophenyl‑N‑methylpropyl)‑3‑isoquinolinecarboxamide, 4'‑chlorodiazepam and XBD173.

Molecular mechanism of Wilms tumour 1-associated protein in diabetes-related dry eye disease by mediating m6A methylation modification of lncRNA NEAT1.

Dry eye disease (DED) is often secondary to diabetes mellitus (DM). This study is to explore the action of Wilms tumor 1-associated protein (WTAP) in DM-DED via lncRNA NEAT1 m6A methylation. DM-DED mouse models were treated with sh-WTAP/sh-NEAT1, followed by assessment of corneal epithelial damage/histopathological changes.

Supramolecular self-assemble deficient carbon nitride nanotubes for efficient photocatalytic CO reduction.

Carbon nitride is an attractive non-metallic photocatalyst due to its small surface area, rapid electron-hole recombination, and low absorption of visible light. In this study, one-dimensional carbon nitride nanotubes were successfully synthesized by supramolecular self-assembly method for photocatalytic reduction of CO under mild conditions. The material demonstrates significantly improved CO-to-CO activity compared to bulk carbon nitride under visible light irradiation, with a rate of 12.

Formation of flaky carbon nitride and beta-Indium sulfide heterojunction with efficient separation of charge carriers for enhanced photocatalytic carbon dioxide reduction.

The flaky carbon nitride containing nitrogen defects (NDCN) could effectively perform the photocatalytic reduction of carbon dioxide (CO) due to its abundant active sites. Reducing the recombination of electrons and holes was also a method of semiconductor photocatalyst design. A nanosphere ball-flower Indium sulfide (InS) was synthesized via a simple hydrothermal approach, and then calcined to obtain the β-InS/NDCN heterojunction photocatalyst and applied for CO photocatalytic reduction.