Scope of practice of optometrists working in the UK Hospital Eye Service: Second national survey.

Purpose: As the landscape in ophthalmology and related commissioning continues to change, there is a pressing need to re-evaluate the current scope of practice of hospital optometrists working within secondary care in the UK. We aim to establish if the skills or services delivered by optometrists have changed to meet varying demands, and to better understand what changes in practice may have arisen as a result of COVID-19.

Method: A survey developed from that used in 2015 was disseminated to 129 optometry Hospital Eye Service (HES) leads in September 2020, including questions on department workforce; core services; extended roles; procedures undertaken within extended roles; level of autonomy; arrangements for prescribing; training and accreditation, and service changes in response to COVID-19.

Treatment decisions of UK hospital optometrists and ophthalmologists in patients with nAMD: a vignette study.

Purpose: A vignette study to examine treatment decisions made by UK hospital optometrists in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and the effect of optometrists' experience on agreement.

Methods: Patients with nAMD attending Manchester Royal Eye Hospital, Manchester, UK were identified as potential candidates for the case series of vignettes. The cases were chosen to reflect a varied case-mix with respect to difficulty as well as ensuring good quality of the images.

An international collaborative family-based whole-genome linkage scan for high-grade myopia.

Purpose: Several nonsyndromic high-grade myopia loci have been mapped primarily by microsatellite markers and a limited number of pedigrees. In this study, whole-genome linkage scans were performed for high-grade myopia, using single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 254 families from five independent sites.

Methods: Genomic DNA samples from 1411 subjects were genotyped (Linkage Panel IVb; Illumina, San Diego, CA).

Myocilin polymorphisms and high myopia in subjects of European origin.

Purpose: Three previous studies have tested for an association between high myopia and polymorphisms in the open angle glaucoma gene, myocilin (MYOC), all in subjects of Chinese ethnicity. In two of the studies, a significant association was found while in the third, there was no association. We sought to investigate the association between high myopia and polymorphisms in MYOC in subjects of European ethnicity.

Postnatal refractive development in the Brown Norway rat: limitations of standard refractive and ocular component dimension measurement techniques.

Purpose: The genetic tractability of the rat and its larger eye size as compared to the mouse make it an attractive model for studies of ocular development and emmetropisation. This study aimed to provide normative data in the strain of rat being used for the rat genome sequencing project whilst also evaluating standard measurement techniques.

Methods: Ocular refraction (retinoscopy, Hartinger coincidence optometry) and ocular component dimensions (keratometry, A-scan ultrasonography, calliper measures, eye weight) were measured at intervals from eye-opening to adulthood.