Prospective study of serum and aqueous humour anti-Hsp70.1 IgG antibody levels in ocular toxoplasmosis.

Aims: We evaluate whether the serum and aqueous humour (AH) level of IgG anti-Hsp70.1 antibodies improved the biological diagnosis of ocular toxoplasmosis.

Methods And Results: In this prospective cross-sectional and multicentre study, serum and AH were collected at the time of active uveitis.

Occurrence and risk factors for retinal detachment after pars plana vitrectomy in acute postcataract bacterial endophthalmitis.

Background/aims: To report the incidence, risk factors and prognosis of retinal detachment (RD) in patients who had vitrectomy for acute bacterial endophthalmitis after cataract surgery.

Methods: 123 patients with acute postcataract endophthalmitis, consecutively treated with pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) were included by the French Institutional Endophthalmitis Study group, in a prospective multicentre cohort study. Risk factors of RD were analysed using logistic regression.

Handheld reflectance confocal microscopy for the diagnosis of conjunctival tumors.

Purpose: To evaluate whether the handheld in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy that has been recently developed for the study of skin tumors is suitable for the diagnosis of conjunctival tumors.

Design: Prospective study, observational case series.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated the reflectance confocal microscopy features of 53 conjunctival lesions clinically suspicious for tumors of 46 patients referred to the University Hospital of Saint-Etienne (France) by using the handheld device.

The role of in vivo confocal microscopy in the diagnosis of eyelid margin tumors: 47 cases.

Background: Handheld in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (IVCM) is a new imaging method that allows noninvasive diagnosis of cutaneous tumors but to date it has not been used in the study of eyelid tumors.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the suitability of IVCM for eyelid margin tumors.

Methods: We prospectively evaluated the IVCM features of 47 eyelid margin lesions, clinically suspicious of malignancy; 35 of these were excised whereas the other 12, with no IVCM malignant features, were followed up for at least 1 year.

Comparison of endothelial cell density of organ cultured corneas with cornea donor study.

Purpose: Determination of the endothelial cell density (ECD) by eye banks is paramount in donor cornea qualification. Unbiased measurement avoids wastage and grafts with an increased risk of premature failure. Internal calibration of the counting method is essential, but external validation would add an extra stage in the assessment of reliability.

Microarray analysis of cell cycle gene expression in adult human corneal endothelial cells.

Corneal endothelial cells (ECs) form a monolayer that controls the hydration of the cornea and thus its transparency. Their almost nil proliferative status in humans is responsible, in several frequent diseases, for cell pool attrition that leads to irreversible corneal clouding. To screen for candidate genes involved in cell cycle arrest, we studied human ECs subjected to various environments thought to induce different proliferative profiles compared to ECs in vivo.

CorneaJ: an imageJ Plugin for semi-automated measurement of corneal endothelial cell viability.

Purpose: A reliable experimental measurement of endothelial cell (EC) viability is paramount in the assessment of new drugs, devices, and surgical processes liable to damage the corneal endothelium, as well as during endothelial bioengineering. We previously used triple Hoechst-Ethidium-Calcein-AM labeling coupled with image analysis to determine the viability and mortality of ECs on the whole cornea, thus defining the new notion of viable EC density. To make it accessible to all, and for improved reproducibility, we have now developed an ImageJ plugin with improved thresholding algorithms.

Anterior segment biometry using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography.

Purpose: To compare the anterior chamber and anterior chamber angle measurements obtained with spectral-domain anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) and time-domain AS-OCT.

Methods: The anterior chamber of healthy participants was imaged with spectral-domain AS-OCT (Casia SS-1000; Tomey, Nagoya, Japan) and time-domain AS-OCT (Visante; Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA). Central corneal thickness (CCT), anterior chamber depth (ACD), angle opening distance at 500 and 750 μm (AOD 500 and AOD 750), trabecular iris space area at 500 and 750 μm (TISA 500 and TISA 750), and scleral spur angle were measured.

Very early endothelial cell loss after simultaneous corneal autograft and allograft.

Purpose: For a better understanding of the very early endothelial cell (EC) loss universally described after all types of keratoplasty, we compared the EC decrease after performing a simultaneous autograft and organ-cultured allograft.

Methods: A 71-year-old woman presented with a central corneal opacity in her left eye and a profoundly amblyopic right eye with a transparent cornea. Both corneas had a normal EC density (ECD).

Non-invasive measurement of transparency, arcus senilis, and scleral rim diameter of corneas during eye banking.

We developed a non-invasive device to quantify transparency (T), clear corneal diameter (CCD) excluding arcus senilis, and scleral rim diameter (SRD) of stored corneas. The T value (expressed in % on a relative scale), based on the modulation transfer function principle, referred to the ratio of local contrasts of a special LED backlit chart measured with and without cornea. CCD and SRD (in mm) were automatically calculated by morphologic operations.

Inherent errors of the fixed-frame counting method for corneal endothelial cell density in eye banks.

The aim of this work was to analyze the magnitude of inherent errors associated with the fixed-frame counting method for corneal endothelial cell density (ECD) measurements. This technique is common among most eye banks worldwide. Three types of mosaics were used: regular and irregular tessellated mosaics (eight increasing densities ranging from 800 to 3,600 cells/mm(2) by steps of 400 cells/mm(2)) generated by a computer, and real mosaics (four specimens) obtained from human corneal endothelium flat mounted and stained with Alizarin red.

Baseline factors predictive of visual prognosis in acute postoperative bacterial endophthalmitis in patients undergoing cataract surgery.

Importance: Although rare, postoperative endophthalmitis in patients undergoing cataract surgery can lead to anatomical or functional loss of the eye. Therapeutic strategies such as antibiotic prophylaxis and microbiological diagnosis are more effective with a target patient population. New prospective data are needed to identify prognostic factors.

Corneal perforation: another side effect of nicorandil.

Context: Nicorandil is an antianginal drug used for 20 years in Japan and introduced in France in 1994. Since 1997, side effects such as mucocutaneous ulcerations have regularly been reported.

Objective: To describe the first case of a patient with a spontaneous corneal perforation associated with mucocutaneous ulcerations while taking Nicorandil.

Optical diagnosis of a metabolic disease: cystinosis.

Nephropathic cystinosis (NC) is a rare autosomal recessive storage disease characterized by the lysosomal accumulation of cystine crystals throughout the body, particularly in blood cells, the cornea, skin, kidneys, the central nervous system, and the muscles. The skin and the cornea are the most accessible sites to explore, and in vivo reflectance confocal microscopy (IVCM) helps identify crystals in both but does not provide any information to help define their composition. Raman spectroscopy (RS) allows cystine to be easily recognized thanks to its characteristic signature with a band at 499 cm⁻¹.

Revisited microanatomy of the corneal endothelial periphery: new evidence for continuous centripetal migration of endothelial cells in humans.

The control of corneal transparency depends on the integrity of its endothelial monolayer, which is considered nonregenerative in adult humans. In pathological situations, endothelial cell (EC) loss, not offset by mitosis, can lead to irreversible corneal edema and blindness. However, the hypothesis of a slow, clinically insufficient regeneration starting from the corneal periphery remains debatable.

Optimization of immunolocalization of cell cycle proteins in human corneal endothelial cells.

Purpose: En face observation of corneal endothelial cells (ECs) using flat-mounted whole corneas is theoretically much more informative than observation of cross-sections that show only a few cells. Nevertheless, it is not widespread for immunolocalization (IL) of proteins, probably because the endothelium, a superficial monolayer, behaves neither like a tissue in immunohistochemistry (IHC) nor like a cell culture in immunocytochemistry (ICC). In our study we optimized IL for ECs of flat-mounted human corneas to study the expression of cell cycle-related proteins.

Fabrication of optical mosaics mimicking human corneal endothelium for the training and assessment of eye bank technicians.

The determination of endothelial cell density (ECD) is a crucial activity in eye banks for the assessment of corneal tissue quality. These cells are responsible for corneal transparency, and ECD correlates with graft survival. ECD is mainly assessed with a manual "naked-eye" procedure under a transmitted light microscope in Europe and using a specular microscope in the United States.