Ocular TB in Western Australia.

This was a retrospective chart review in Western Australia, Australia.To describe the diagnosis, management, and treatment outcomes of ocular TB in Western Australia (WA).This was a retrospective review of ocular TB cases in WA from 2007 to 2018 with a minimum 2-year follow-up upon completion of anti-TB therapy (ATT).

Recommendations for the management of childhood juvenile idiopathic arthritis-type chronic anterior uveitis.

Importance: Australian- and New Zealand-based, uveitis-specialized ophthalmologists have produced recommendations for the management of juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA)-type chronic anterior uveitis.

Background: Historically, the visual prognosis of JIA-type chronic anterior uveitis has been poor. New medical advances are likely to improve outcomes, but recently published guidelines are tailored for ophthalmic care in Europe and the United States.

Teleophthalmology for the elderly population: A review of the literature.

Background: Ophthalmology is one of the most requested medical speciality services in the elderly population. Although numerous studies have shown the potentials of telemedicine for the provision of ophthalmology services, the extent of its usability in older adults and the aged population is not clear. The aim of this study was to investigate the characteristics and usability features of teleophthalmology for the elderly population.

Evaluation of Artificial Intelligence-Based Grading of Diabetic Retinopathy in Primary Care.

Importance: There has been wide interest in using artificial intelligence (AI)-based grading of retinal images to identify diabetic retinopathy, but such a system has never been deployed and evaluated in clinical practice.

Objective: To describe the performance of an AI system for diabetic retinopathy deployed in a primary care practice.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Diagnostic study of patients with diabetes seen at a primary care practice with 4 physicians in Western Australia between December 1, 2016, and May 31, 2017.

Development and Practice of Store-and-Forward Telehealth Systems in Ophthalmology Dental and Emergency.

Store-and-forward (S&F) telehealth system has been becoming an increasing application in remote medical consultations. In this paper, we will introduce three novel S&F telehealth systems we developed for ophthalmological, dental and emergency applications. We will explain the general system architecture of the S&F systems.

Retinal video recordings at different compression levels: a novel video-based imaging technology for diabetic retinopathy screening.

Background: To evaluate the optimal compression level of retinal color digital video recordings, a novel video-based imaging technology, in screening for diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Design: Evaluation of a diagnostic technique.

Methods: A total of 36 retinal videos, captured using EyeScan (Ophthalmic Imaging System), were compressed from original uncompressed file size of 1 GB (gigabyte) to four different compression levels-100 MB (megabyte) (Group 1); 30 MB (Group 2); 20 MB (Group 3); and 5 MB (Group 4).

Retinal image registration and comparison for clinical decision support.

Background: For eye diseases, such as glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration (ARMD), involved in long-term degeneration procedure, longitudinal comparison of retinal images is a common step for reliable diagnosis of these kinds of diseases.

Aims: To provide a retinal image registration approach for longitudinal retinal image alignment and comparison.

Method: Two image registration solutions were proposed for facing different image qualities of retinal images to make the registration methods more robust and feasible in a clinical application system.

Diabetic retinopathy screening: can the viewing monitor influence the reading and grading outcomes.

Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of different viewing monitors for image reading and grading of diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Design: Single-centre, experimental case series-evaluation of reading devices for DR screening.

Method: A total of 100 sets of three-field (optic disc, macula, and temporal views) colour retinal still images (50 normal and 50 with DR) captured by FF 450 plus (Carl Zeiss) were interpreted on 27-inch iMac, 15-inch MacBook Pro, and 9.

Light and portable novel device for diabetic retinopathy screening.

Background: To validate the use of an economical portable multipurpose ophthalmic imaging device, EyeScan (Ophthalmic Imaging System, Sacramento, CA, USA), for diabetic retinopathy screening.

Design: Evaluation of a diagnostic device.

Participants: One hundred thirty-six (272 eyes) were recruited from diabetic retinopathy screening clinic of Royal Perth Hospital, Western Australia, Australia.

Retinal video recording a new way to image and diagnose diabetic retinopathy.

Purpose: To validate the use of retinal video recording for diabetic retinopathy screening by comparing with standard retinal photography and slit-lamp examination.

Design: Evaluation of a new diagnostic technique.

Participants: One hundred patients.

Intravitreal voriconazole for the treatment of endogenous endophthalmitis caused by Scedosporium apiospermum.

Scedosporium apiospermum is an increasingly recognized cause of endogenous fungal endophthalmitis in immunocompromised patients. The authors describe two patients with endogenous S. apiospermum endophthalmitis treated with intravitreal and systemic voriconazole.

Telemedicine-friendly, portable tonometers: an evaluation for intraocular pressure screening.

Purpose: To evaluate the intraocular pressure (IOP) readings from two portable, telemedicine-friendly tonometers for suitability in glaucoma screening.

Methods: 213 eyes of 107 consenting patients attending an eye clinic were tested with an I-care tonometer and a Pulsair-Easy Eye puff-air tonometer. Gold standard IOP was measured with a Goldmann applanation tonometer (GAT).

Remote ophthalmology services: cost comparison of telemedicine and alternative service delivery options.

We calculated the cost of an established tele-ophthalmology service, from a health-provider's perspective, and compared this with the cost of three other existing eye-care service delivery options. During a 12-month study period, 118 persons took part in the tele-ophthalmology consultations between a rural clinic located approximately 900 km from the Lions Eye Institute in Perth. The variable costs of tele-ophthalmology were 166.

Infliximab for juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis.

Background: Infliximab is a murine-human recombinant antitumour necrosis factor monoclonal antibody recently introduced for the treatment of autoimmune diseases in which tumour necrosis factor is thought to be a key mediator. Its role in the treatment of juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis is as yet undefined.

Methods: Six children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis-associated uveitis, inadequately controlled on currently available therapy, were treated with infliximab between September 2002 and November 2004.

Emergency eye care in rural Australia: role of internet.

Purpose: Significant differences exist in the utilization of emergency eye care services in rural and urban Australia. Meanwhile, influence of internet-based technology in emergency eye care service utilization has not been established. This study aims to demonstrate, from a health provider perspective, an internet-based service's impact on emergency eye care in rural Australia.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) retinitis immune restoration disease occurs during highly active antiretroviral therapy-induced restoration of CMV-specific immune responses within a predominant Th2 cytokine environment.

Plasma levels of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific immunoglobulin G (IgG), soluble (s) CD30, sCD26 (dipeptidyl peptidase IV [DPP IV]) enzyme activity, and tumor necrosis factor receptor-I (TNFR-I) were assessed in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients who experienced CMV retinitis (CMVR) as an immune restoration disease (IRD) during their first 6 months of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and in CMV-seropositive, HIV-infected patients with similar baseline CD4(+) T cell counts who had uneventful immune reconstitution. Patients who experienced CMVR IRD had a significant increase in CMV-specific IgG during their first 12 months of HAART, indicating restored CMV-specific immune responses. They also had significantly higher levels of sCD30 both before HAART and for up to 12 months after start of treatment.

Immune restoration disease after the treatment of immunodeficient HIV-infected patients with highly active antiretroviral therapy.

Background: To determine if infectious disease events in HIV-infected patients treated with highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) are a consequence of the restoration of pathogen-specific immune responses, a single-centre retrospective study of all HIV-infected patients commencing HAART prior to 1 July 1997 was undertaken to determine the incidence, characteristics and time of onset of disease episodes in HAART responders (decrease in plasma HIV RNA of > 1 log10 copies/mL).

Methods: Baseline and post-therapy changes in CD4 T-cell counts and HIV RNA were compared in patients with and without disease and delayed-type hypersensitivity responses to mycobacterial antigens were measured in selected patients.

Results: Thirty-three of 132 HAART responders (25%) exhibited one or more disease episodes after HAART, related to a pre-existent or subclinical infection by an opportunistic pathogen.