The Library of Integrated Network-Based Cellular Signatures NIH Program: System-Level Cataloging of Human Cells Response to Perturbations.

The Library of Integrated Network-Based Cellular Signatures (LINCS) is an NIH Common Fund program that catalogs how human cells globally respond to chemical, genetic, and disease perturbations. Resources generated by LINCS include experimental and computational methods, visualization tools, molecular and imaging data, and signatures. By assembling an integrated picture of the range of responses of human cells exposed to many perturbations, the LINCS program aims to better understand human disease and to advance the development of new therapies.

Multimodal imaging in handheld laser-induced maculopathy.

Purpose: To describe the clinical and imaging findings in 3 patients with maculopathy secondary to handheld laser exposure.

Design: Retrospective, observational case series.

Methods: We evaluated the multimodal imaging including fundus autofluorescence and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) for 3 patients with histories of exposure to handheld lasers.

Diffuse retinal capillary leakage in coats disease.

Purpose: Coats disease is a rare condition characterized by retinal vascular telangiectasia, aneurysms, and leakage from these abnormal blood vessels. We report the phenomenon and treatment of Coats disease with diffuse hyperpermeability from angiographically normal retinal capillaries.

Methods: This case series describes two patients with Coats disease, diagnosed based on fundus photography and fluorescein angiography.

The expanded spectrum of focal choroidal excavation.

Objective: To describe the clinical and imaging findings in patients with focal choroidal excavation.

Methods: Retrospective observational case series. The medical records of 12 patients (13 eyes) with focal choroidal excavation were reviewed.

Disappearance of drusen after rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.

Purpose: To describe the disappearance of drusen after rhegmatogenous retinal detachment.

Methods: Descriptive case report.

Results: A 72-year-old man with confluent subfoveal drusen developed a rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and subsequently improved in vision with disappearance of the subfoveal drusen less than 1 month after repair.

Hemorrhagic recurrence of neovascular age-related macular degeneration not predicted by spectral domain optical coherence tomography.

Purpose: To report a case in which a patient with neovascular age-related macular degeneration developed a large submacular hemorrhage 2 days after spectral domain optical coherence tomography imaging, which revealed no intra- or subretinal fluid.

Methods: A noninterventional case report.

Results: A 93-year-old woman with neovascular age-related macular degeneration was seen for a regular follow-up examination 3 years after treatment with verteporfin photodynamic therapy in which lesion quiescence was achieved.

Outer retinal tubulation: a novel optical coherence tomography finding.

Objective: To describe tubular structures found in the outer retina seen in a variety of retinal disorders.

Methods: Sixty-nine eyes of 63 patients were examined with spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Optical coherence tomography C-scans were correlated with their corresponding B-scans.

Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography of the choroid in central serous chorioretinopathy.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the choroidal thickness in patients with central serous chorioretinopathy, a disease attributed to increased choroidal vascular hyperpermeability.

Methods: Patients with central serous chorioretinopathy underwent enhanced depth imaging spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, which was obtained by positioning a spectral-domain optical coherence tomography device close enough to the eye to acquire an inverted image. Seven sections, each comprising 100 averaged scans, were obtained within a 5 degrees x 30 degrees rectangle to encompass the macula.

Enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography of the choroid in highly myopic eyes.

Purpose: To measure macular choroidal thickness (CT) in highly myopic eyes using enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Design: Retrospective, observational case series.

Methods: Enhanced depth imaging OCT images were obtained in highly myopic eyes (> or =6 diopters [D]).

A pilot study of enhanced depth imaging optical coherence tomography of the choroid in normal eyes.

Purpose: To measure macular choroidal thickness in normal eyes at different points using enhanced depth imaging (EDI) optical coherence tomography (OCT) and to evaluate the association of choroidal thickness and age.

Design: Retrospective, observational case series.

Methods: EDI OCT images were obtained in patients without significant retinal or choroidal pathologic features.

Diagnostic vitrectomy for the diagnosis and management of posterior uveitis of unknown etiology.

Purpose Of Review: Diagnostic vitrectomy is performed in cases of posterior segment inflammation that are suspicious for malignancy or infection and require tissue confirmation. Advances in vitrectomy technique and laboratory tests have improved the diagnostic yield in these challenging cases. The methods for obtaining vitreous specimens and the diagnostic tests used to analyze them are discussed.

Sarcoidosis.

Purpose Of Review: Research conducted in recent years has added to our current understanding of the epidemiologic, immune, and genetic factors involved in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis.

Recent Findings: Exposure to an environmental or occupational antigen in a genetically susceptible individual is thought to trigger an immunologic response. The cells and cytokines that lead to granuloma formation have been an area of active study.

Adverse events after intravitreal triamcinolone in patients with and without uveitis.

Purpose: To evaluate the rates of adverse ocular events after intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide (IVTA) injection in patients with and without uveitis.

Design: Retrospective observational case series.

Participants: Two hundred twenty-two eyes of 173 patients were included in the study: 45 eyes of 31 patients with macular edema (ME) due to uveitis and 177 eyes of 142 patients with ME secondary to other etiologies.

Role of rigid gas-permeable scleral contact lenses in the management of advanced atopic keratoconjunctivitis.

Purpose: To describe the use of rigid gas-permeable scleral contact lenses (ScCL) in the treatment and visual rehabilitation of patients with medically controlled advanced atopic keratoconjunctivitis (AKC).

Methods: Retrospective chart review of 10 eyes with medically controlled advanced AKC whose treatment included the use of ScCL for protection of the cornea from the ocular surface environment and visual rehabilitation. Outcomes measured were changes in biomicroscopic findings and visual acuity.

Intravitreal triamcinolone as adjunctive treatment to laser panretinal photocoagulation for concomitant proliferative diabetic retinopathy and clinically significant macular oedema.

Purpose: To evaluate the effect of intravitreal injections of triamcinolone acetonide (IVTA) combined with panretinal photocoagulation (PRP) on visual acuity (VA) and foveal thickness in patients with concomitant high-risk proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and clinically significant macular oedema (CSMO).

Methods: This retrospective interventional case series included seven eyes diagnosed with both high-risk PDR and CSMO that underwent PRP and a single injection of 4 mg of IVTA. The main outcome measures were VA and foveal thickness, measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT) before treatment and throughout the follow-up period.

Intravitreal bevacizumab for macular edema due to occlusive vasculitis.

Systemic vasculitides can cause retinal vascular pathology, including cotton-wool spots, retinal hemorrhages, vascular occlusion, and capillary nonperfusion. Two main causes of visual decline include macular edema and retinal neovascularization. Presumably, both of these complications are caused by increased intraocular levels of vascular growth and permeability factors.

Conjunctival involvement in Churg-Strauss syndrome.

Purpose: To describe an unusual case of Churg-Strauss syndrome (CSS) that presented with a conjunctival nodule and was successfully treated with oral corticosteroids.

Methods: Case report.

Results: A 30-year-old woman with a history of adult-onset asthma, seasonal allergies, and a lung mass presented with a nodular elevation of the conjunctiva.

Vitrectomy for the diagnosis and management of uveitis of unknown cause.

Purpose: To determine the diagnostic yield of tests commonly used for vitreous fluid analysis in eyes with suspected intraocular infection or malignancy.

Design: Noncomparative interventional case series.

Participants: Forty-four consecutive patients (45 eyes) treated from 1998 through 2006 with posterior segment inflammation who underwent pars plana vitrectomy for diagnostic purposes.

Multifocal posterior necrotizing retinitis.

Purpose: To describe the clinical features of an acute, inflammatory, and progressive retinal necrosis that affects primarily the posterior pole.

Design: Retrospective, interventional case series.

Methods: Twenty-seven eyes of 24 patients diagnosed with and treated for acute retinal necrosis (ARN) were categorized into two groups according to the predominant location of retinitis at presentation: either in the peripheral retina or in the posterior pole.

Branch retinal vein occlusion: clinical findings, natural history, and management.

Branch retinal vein occlusion is a common retinal vascular condition characterized by sectoral intraretinal hemorrhages, retinal ischemia, retinal exudates, and macular edema. The site of occlusion usually occurs in the vicinity of arteriovenous crossing sites, and is predisposed by various systemic and local factors. Complications of branch retinal vein occlusion include macular edema, capillary nonperfusion, retinal neovascularization, vitreous hemorrhage, and tractional retinal detachments that often result in loss of vision.

Laser treatment of Coats' disease.

A 9-year-old boy presented with an exudative retinal detachment, vascular telangiectasias, subretinal lipid, and retinal macrocyst formation. He underwent three sessions of large-spot diode laser for the treatment of Coats' disease. Serial examinations and fundus photography documented an excellent involutional response with an improvement in visual acuity.