The role of vaccination coverage, individual behaviors, and the public health response in the control of measles epidemics: an agent-based simulation for California.

Background: Measles cases continue to occur among susceptible individuals despite the elimination of endemic measles transmission in the United States. Clustering of disease susceptibility can threaten herd immunity and impact the likelihood of disease outbreaks in a highly vaccinated population. Previous studies have examined the role of contact tracing to control infectious diseases among clustered populations, but have not explicitly modeled the public health response using an agent-based model.

Statistical power and validity of Ebola vaccine trials in Sierra Leone: a simulation study of trial design and analysis.

Background: Safe and effective vaccines could help to end the ongoing Ebola virus disease epidemic in parts of west Africa, and mitigate future outbreaks of the virus. We assess the statistical validity and power of randomised controlled trial (RCT) and stepped-wedge cluster trial (SWCT) designs in Sierra Leone, where the incidence of Ebola virus disease is spatiotemporally heterogeneous, and is decreasing rapidly.

Methods: We projected district-level Ebola virus disease incidence for the next 6 months, using a stochastic model fitted to data from Sierra Leone.

The distribution of ocular Chlamydia prevalence across Tanzanian communities where trachoma is declining.

Background: Mathematical models predict an exponential distribution of infection prevalence across communities where a disease is disappearing. Trachoma control programs offer an opportunity to test this hypothesis, as the World Health Organization has targeted trachoma for elimination as a public health concern by the year 2020. Local programs may benefit if a single survey could reveal whether infection was headed towards elimination.

Vision-Related Quality-of-Life Outcomes in the Mycotic Ulcer Treatment Trial I: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Given the limitations in health care resources, quality-of-life measures for interventions have gained importance.

Objective: To determine whether vision-related quality-of-life outcomes were different between the natamycin and voriconazole treatment arms in the Mycotic Ulcer Treatment Trial I, as measured by an Indian Vision Function Questionnaire.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Secondary analysis (performed October 11-25, 2014) of a double-masked, multicenter, randomized, active comparator-controlled, clinical trial at multiple locations of the Aravind Eye Care System in South India that enrolled patients with culture- or smear-positive filamentous fungal corneal ulcers who had a baseline visual acuity of 20/40 to 20/400 (logMAR of 0.

EFFICACY AND SAFETY OF DEXAMETHASONE INTRAVITREAL IMPLANT FOR PERSISTENT UVEITIC CYSTOID MACULAR EDEMA.

Purpose: To investigate dexamethasone intravitreal implant (DEX Implant 0.7 mg, Ozurdex; Allergan, Inc, Irvine, CA) as a treatment for persistent cystoid macular edema (CME) secondary to uveitis.

Methods: Treatment and outcomes data were collected retrospectively for 18 eyes from 13 consecutive patients treated with the DEX Implant for persistent, noninfectious uveitic CME.

Antibiotic resistance as collateral damage: the tragedy of the commons in a two-disease setting.

We propose a simple two-disease epidemic model where one disease exhibits only a drug-sensitive strain, while the other exhibits both drug-sensitive and drug-resistant strains. Treatment for the first disease may select for resistance in the other. We model antibiotic use as a mathematical game through the study of individual incentives and community welfare.

A Comparison of Resident-performed Argon and Selective Laser Trabeculoplasty in Patients With Open-angle Glaucoma.

Purpose: To compare intraocular pressure (IOP) reduction and complications of resident-performed argon laser trabeculoplasty (ALT) and selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT).

Patients And Methods: This was a retrospective, interventional, comparative case series performed at the San Francisco Veterans Affairs Hospital. The study included 77 patients each undergoing 1 resident-performed ALT procedure from April 2006 through November 2009, and 81 patients each undergoing 1 resident-performed SLT procedure from November 2009 through December 2011.

Ethnic differences in trabecular meshwork height by optical coherence tomography.

Importance: Differences in ocular anatomy may contribute to ethnic differences in glaucoma risk. Because the trabecular meshwork (TM) plays an important role in aqueous outflow, its anatomy in relation to at-risk populations may provide insight into a potential contributor to elevated intraocular pressure and thus to probability of glaucoma development.

Objective: To investigate whether differences exist in TM height between ethnic groups.

Dexamethasone intravitreal implant for pseudophakic cystoid macular edema in patients with diabetes.

Background And Objective: Diabetic patients are at a higher risk of developing pseudophakic cystoid macular edema (PCME) after cataract surgery. This study evaluated the effect of dexamethasone intravitreal implant (DEX Implant 0.7 mg, Ozurdex; Allergan, Irvine, CA) in diabetic patients with PCME.

Correlation of outer nuclear layer thickness with cone density values in patients with retinitis pigmentosa and healthy subjects.

Purpose: We studied the correlation between outer nuclear layer (ONL) thickness and cone density in normal eyes and eyes with retinitis pigmentosa (RP).

Methods: Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) scans were acquired using a displaced pupil entry position of the scanning beam to distinguish Henle's fiber layer from the ONL in 20 normal eyes (10 subjects) and 12 eyes with RP (7 patients). Cone photoreceptors were imaged using adaptive optics scanning laser ophthalmoscopy.

Ophthalmic manifestations of perinatally acquired HIV in a US cohort of long-term survivors.

Background/aims: To determine the ophthalmic manifestations of HIV in a cohort of long-term survivors of perinatally acquired HIV.

Methods: Twenty-two patients with perinatally acquired HIV who were aged ≥12 years were prospectively studied at a university clinic. They underwent complete ophthalmic examinations and fundus photography.

Establishing PAX6 as a biomarker to detect early loss of ocular phenotype in human patients with Sjögren's syndrome.

Purpose: Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is a common autoimmune disease that can cause aqueous-deficient dry eye and the aberrant differentiation of ocular mucosal epithelial cells toward a lineage that is pathologically keratinized and skin-like. PAX6 is the master regulator of corneal lineage commitment. Recently, we showed a functional role for PAX6 in preventing ocular surface damage induced by the proinflammatory cytokine, IL-1β, in a mouse model of SS.

Optimal seasonal timing of oral azithromycin for malaria.

Mass administration of azithromycin for trachoma has been shown to reduce malarial parasitemia. However, the optimal seasonal timing of such distributions for antimalarial benefit has not been established. We performed numerical analyses on a seasonally forced epidemic model (of Ross-Macdonald type) with periodic impulsive annual mass treatment to address this question.

Does mass azithromycin distribution impact child growth and nutrition in Niger? A cluster-randomized trial.

Background: Antibiotic use on animals demonstrates improved growth regardless of whether or not there is clinical evidence of infectious disease. Antibiotics used for trachoma control may play an unintended benefit of improving child growth.

Methodology: In this sub-study of a larger randomized controlled trial, we assess anthropometry of pre-school children in a community-randomized trial of mass oral azithromycin distributions for trachoma in Niger.

Risk factors for glaucoma suspicion in healthy young asian and caucasian americans.

Purpose. To determine the prevalence of certain risk factors for glaucoma in a healthy, young population and to compare these risk factors between Asian Americans and Caucasians. Methods.

Trends in bacterial and fungal keratitis in South India, 2002-2012.

Objective: To assess the trends in microbiological organisms identified from corneal scrapings from patients with infectious keratitis at a tertiary care medical centre in South India.

Methods: We reviewed the records of the microbiology laboratory at Aravind Eye Hospital in Madurai, India, from 2002 until 2012. We identified the microbiological causes of all corneal ulcers from the culture and smear results, and assessed for trends in bacterial and fungal keratitis over time.

Same-Day Versus Next-Day Repair of Fovea-Threatening Primary Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachments.

Purpose: To evaluate the outcomes of same-day versus next-day repair of fovea-threatening rhegmatogenous retinal detachments (FT RRD).

Design: Retrospective, multi-surgeon observational case series.

Methods: Operative reports and medical records were reviewed to evaluate a number of visual and anatomic outcomes, including presenting features, intraoperative complications, and postoperative results in the repair of primary FT RRD undergoing same-day versus next-day repair with scleral buckling, pars plana vitrectomy, or both procedures.

A multilevel model of postmenopausal breast cancer incidence.

Background: Breast cancer has a complex etiology that includes genetic, biologic, behavioral, environmental, and social factors. Etiologic factors are frequently studied in isolation with adjustment for confounding, mediating, and moderating effects of other factors. A complex systems model approach may present a more comprehensive picture of the multifactorial etiology of breast cancer.

Conflicts of interest during contact investigations: a game-theoretic analysis.

The goal of contact tracing is to reduce the likelihood of transmission, particularly to individuals who are at greatest risk for developing complications of infection, as well as identifying individuals who are in need of medical treatment of other interventions. In this paper, we develop a simple mathematical model of contact investigations among a small group of individuals and apply game theory to explore conflicts of interest that may arise in the context of perceived costs of disclosure. Using analytic Kolmogorov equations, we determine whether or not it is possible for individual incentives to drive noncooperation, even though cooperation would yield a better group outcome.

Ex-PRESS outcomes using mitomycin-C, Ologen alone, Ologen with 5-fluorouracil.

To compare the complication rate and effectiveness of mitomycin C (MMC), Ologen alone, and Ologen with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) as adjunctives with Ex-PRESS mini shunt for medically uncontrolled glaucoma. Retrospective comparative study of 59 Ex-PRESS mini shunt trabeculectomy operations coupled with Ologen implantation alone, transient MMC application or Ologen implantation with 5-FU as adjunctive treatment. Eight eyes (7 patients) received Ologen alone, 37 eyes (34 patients) received MMC, and 14 eyes (14 patients) received Ologen with 5-FU as adjunctive therapy.

A randomized clinical trial comparing methotrexate and mycophenolate mofetil for noninfectious uveitis.

Objective: To compare the relative effectiveness of methotrexate and mycophenolate mofetil for noninfectious intermediate uveitis, posterior uveitis, or panuveitis.

Design: Multicenter, block-randomized, observer-masked clinical trial.

Participants: Eighty patients with noninfectious intermediate, posterior, or panuveitis requiring corticosteroid-sparing therapy at Aravind Eye Hospitals in Madurai and Coimbatore, India.

Identifying postelimination trends for the introduction and transmissibility of measles in the United States.

The continued elimination of measles requires accurate assessment of its epidemiology and a critical evaluation of how its incidence is changing with time. National surveillance of measles in the United States between 2001 and 2011 provides data on the number of measles introductions and the size of the resulting transmission chains. These data allow inference of the effective reproduction number, Reff, and the probability of an outbreak occurring.