[Diabetic retinopathy and pregnancy].

This article reviews the critical issue of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in pregnant women with diabetes mellitus (DM), and describes the current understanding of the features of DM progression during pregnancy, as well as its pathogenic mechanisms, risk factors, and preventive measures for manifestation and progression of DR during gestation.

[Risk factors associated with myopic maculopathy in acquired myopia].

Purpose: This study aimed to identify factors associated with the development of myopic maculopathy (MM) in patients with acquired myopia.

Material And Methods: The study included a total of 135 patients (41 men, 94 women; 135 eyes) over 30 years old with acquired myopia and axial length (AL) of 26 mm. Forty-six patients had MM, while 89 (66%) had no macular changes.

Genetic Evidence for Distinct Biological Mechanisms That Link Adiposity to Type 2 Diabetes: Toward Precision Medicine.

We aimed to unravel the mechanisms connecting adiposity to type 2 diabetes. We used MR-Clust to cluster independent genetic variants associated with body fat percentage (388 variants) and BMI (540 variants) based on their impact on type 2 diabetes. We identified five clusters of adiposity-increasing alleles associated with higher type 2 diabetes risk (unfavorable adiposity) and three clusters associated with lower risk (favorable adiposity).

Precision MRI phenotyping of muscle volume and quality at a population scale.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables direct measurements of muscle volume and quality, allowing for an in-depth understanding of their associations with anthropometric traits, and health conditions. However, it is unclear which muscle volume measurements: total muscle volume, regional measurements, measurements of muscle quality: intermuscular adipose tissue (IMAT) or proton density fat fraction (PDFF), are most informative and associate with relevant health conditions such as dynapenia and frailty. We have measured image-derived phenotypes (IDPs) including total and regional muscle volumes and measures of muscle quality, derived from the neck-to-knee Dixon images in 44,520 UK Biobank participants.

Characterization of a Panel of Monoclonal Antibodies Targeting the F-Protein of the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) for the Typing of Contemporary Circulating Strains.

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is the most common cause of upper and lower respiratory tract infections in infants and young children. Virus-specific monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) can be used for diagnosis, prophylaxis, and research of RSV pathogenesis. A panel of 16 anti-RSV mAbs was obtained from mice immunized by RSV strain Long.

Antigenic Architecture of the H7N2 Influenza Virus Hemagglutinin Belonging to the North American Lineage.

The North American low pathogenic H7N2 avian influenza A viruses, which lack the 220-loop in the hemagglutinin (HA), possess dual receptor specificity for avian- and human-like receptors. The purpose of this work was to determine which amino acid substitutions in HA affect viral antigenic and phenotypic properties that may be important for virus evolution. By obtaining escape mutants under the immune pressure of treatment with monoclonal antibodies, antigenically important amino acids were determined to be at positions 125, 135, 157, 160, 198, 200, and 275 (H3 numbering).

Liver shape analysis using statistical parametric maps at population scale.

Background: Morphometric image analysis enables the quantification of differences in the shape and size of organs between individuals.

Methods: Here we have applied morphometric methods to the study of the liver by constructing surface meshes from liver segmentations from abdominal MRI images in 33,434 participants in the UK Biobank. Based on these three dimensional mesh vertices, we evaluated local shape variations and modelled their association with anthropometric, phenotypic and clinical conditions, including liver disease and type-2 diabetes.

[Creation of registers as one of the mechanisms for improving medical care for patients with chronic heart failure. Problem state].

The annual mortality of patients with clinically pronounced symptoms of chronic heart failure in the Russian Federation reaches 26-29%, i.e., from 880 to 986 thousand patients with heart failure die in the country in one year, which is comparable to the population of a large city.

Kidney shape statistical analysis: associations with disease and anthropometric factors.

Background: Organ measurements derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have the potential to enhance our understanding of the precise phenotypic variations underlying many clinical conditions.

Methods: We applied morphometric methods to study the kidneys by constructing surface meshes from kidney segmentations from abdominal MRI data in 38,868 participants in the UK Biobank. Using mesh-based analysis techniques based on statistical parametric maps (SPMs), we were able to detect variations in specific regions of the kidney and associate those with anthropometric traits as well as disease states including chronic kidney disease (CKD), type-2 diabetes (T2D), and hypertension.

Linking Cardiovascular Risk With Estradiol Level in Men.

Aim      To study the relationship between the cardiovascular risk and the level of estradiol in men of young and middle age. The main group included 71 patients with newly diagnosed hyperestrogenia (HE) (serum estradiol >41.2 pg/ ml).

High peak power and energy scaling in the mid-IR chirped-pulse oscillator-amplifier laser systems.

The paper introduces a new route towards the ultrafast high laser peak power and energy scaling in a hybrid mid-IR chirped pulse oscillator-amplifier (CPO-CPA) system, without sacrificing neither the pulse duration nor energy. The method is based on using a CPO as a seed source allowing the beneficial implementation of a dissipative soliton (DS) energy scaling approach, coupled with a universal CPA technique. The key is avoiding a destructive nonlinearity in the final stages of an amplifier and compressor elements by using a chirped high-fidelity pulse from CPO.

Atmospheric dispersion management in mid-IR mode-locked oscillators.

The atmospheric dispersion in the mid-infrared transparency windows presents an important albeit often neglected factor when developing ultrashort-pulsed lasers. We show that it can amount to hundreds of fs in 2-3 µm window with typical laser round-trip path lengths. Using the Cr:ZnS ultrashort-pulsed laser as a test-bed, we demonstrate the atmospheric dispersion influence on femtosecond and chirped-pulse oscillator performance and show that the humidity fluctuations can be compensated by an active dispersion control, greatly improving stability of mid-IR few-optical cycle laser sources.

[Bilateral uveitis associated with protein kinase inhibitor-based treatment of skin melanoma (case study)].

The article presents a clinical case of bilateral uveitis with macular edema that developed during long-term administration of vemurafenib. Methods of conservative treatment of malignant tumors are presently available and reasonably effective. However, at the same time drugs can have toxic effect on normal cells in various tissues of the body.

[Investigation of diabetic retinopathy progression in women with diabetes mellitus during pregnancy].

Purpose: The study evaluates the transient and stationary diabetic retinal changes in pregnant women with diabetes mellitus (DM) based on the analysis of individual clinical cases of diabetic retinopathy (DR) progression.

Material And Methods: The study examined 24 pregnant women with DM. The examination was carried out in each trimester of pregnancy and 6 months after delivery.

Abdominal imaging associates body composition with COVID-19 severity.

The main drivers of COVID-19 disease severity and the impact of COVID-19 on long-term health after recovery are yet to be fully understood. Medical imaging studies investigating COVID-19 to date have mostly been limited to small datasets and post-hoc analyses of severe cases. The UK Biobank recruited recovered SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals (n = 967) and matched controls (n = 913) who were extensively imaged prior to the pandemic and underwent follow-up scanning.

Artifact-free fat-water separation in Dixon MRI using deep learning.

Unlabelled: Chemical-shift encoded MRI (CSE-MRI) is a widely used technique for the study of body composition and metabolic disorders, where derived fat and water signals enable the quantification of adipose tissue and muscle. The UK Biobank is acquiring whole-body Dixon MRI (a specific implementation of CSE-MRI) for over 100,000 participants. Current processing methods associated with large whole-body volumes are time intensive and prone to artifacts during fat-water separation performed by the scanner, making quantitative analysis challenging.

[Occurrence of myopic maculopathy in eyes with staphylomas of various localization].

Unlabelled: Complicated myopia develops in young people of working age, of which about 30% subsequently become visually impaired. Formation of ocular staphyloma affects the macula causing myopic maculopathy, which leads to significant and irreversible decrease in visual functions.

Purpose: To study the occurrence frequency of various forms of myopic maculopathy in scleral staphylomas of different localization in patients with pathologic myopia.

[Anatomical and morphometric features of anterior eye segment structures in hyperopia and the risk of developing primary angle-closure glaucoma].

Purpose: To study features of anatomical and morphometric parameters of the structures of anterior eye segment in young patients with moderate and high hyperopia in order to identify the signs of an increased risk of developing primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) and its acute attack.

Material And Methods: The study included 160 eyes (80 patients) with axial length (AL) of less than 23 mm. Patients with moderate or high hyperopia were divided into two groups according to their age ranges (the 1 - 27 patients (54 eyes) under 40 years old; the 2 - 27 patients (54 eyes) of 41-50 years old, the comparison group - 26 patients (52 eyes) of 42-50 years old with the initial stage of PACG.

Calcification of the abdominal aorta is an under-appreciated cardiovascular disease risk factor in the general population.

Calcification of large arteries is a high-risk factor in the development of cardiovascular diseases, however, due to the lack of routine monitoring, the pathology remains severely under-diagnosed and prevalence in the general population is not known. We have developed a set of machine learning methods to quantitate levels of abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) in the UK Biobank imaging cohort and carried out the largest to-date analysis of genetic, biochemical, and epidemiological risk factors associated with the pathology. In a genetic association study, we identified three novel loci associated with AAC (, and ), and replicated a previously reported association at the locus.

[Features of retinal blood flow in pregnant women with carbohydrate metabolism disorders].

Unlabelled: Studying the condition of retinal blood flow in pregnant women with disorders of carbohydrate metabolism contributes to early detection of diabetic retinopathy (DR), which is necessary for timely treatment and preservation of high visual functions.

Purpose: To study retinal blood flow in pregnant women with disorders of carbohydrate metabolism using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in order to determine the criteria for manifestation and progression of DR.

Material And Methods: The study examined 203 pregnant women in the third trimester: 24 - with type 1 and 2 diabetes (T1D and T2D), 143 - with gestational diabetes (GD), and 36 apparently healthy women with physiological pregnancy that comprised the control group.

Analysis of MRI-derived spleen iron in the UK Biobank identifies genetic variation linked to iron homeostasis and hemolysis.

The spleen plays a key role in iron homeostasis. It is the largest filter of the blood and performs iron reuptake from old or damaged erythrocytes. Despite this role, spleen iron concentration has not been measured in a large, population-based cohort.

[Phacoemulsification in prevention of acute angle-closure glaucoma attack].

Unlabelled: Analysis of the effectiveness of preventative phacoemulsification (PE) in anatomically short eyes with an increased risk of an acute glaucoma attack in thickened lens can help in choosing the optimal management tactics for these patients.

Purpose: To study the changes in morphometric parameters of the anterior segment of anatomically short eyes with an increased risk of acute glaucoma attack before and after preventative PE.

Material And Methods: The study included 70 patients (70 eyes) with a high risk of acute glaucoma attack in short anatomical axial length and thickened lens, with posterior and middle positions of the ciliary body.