Vision Improvement in Keratoconus Patients Trained With Perceptual Learning: A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose: To investigate the effectiveness and maintenance of perceptional learning (PL) on vision improvement in keratoconus (KC) patients corrected with spectacles.

Design: Randomized, double-blind clinical trial.

Methods: Non-progressive KC patients 9 years of age or older who had best spectacle-corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) of 0 to 1.

Axial length shortening in myopic children with Stickler syndrome after repeated low-level red-light therapy.

Aim: To report the myopia-controlling effect of repeated low-level red-light (RLRL) therapy in patients with Stickler syndrome (STL), an inherited collagenic disease typically presenting with early onset myopia.

Methods: Three STL children, aged 3, 7, and 11y, received RLRL therapy throughout the follow-up period of 17, 3, and 6mo, respectively after exclusion of fundus anomalies. Data on best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure, cycloplegic subjective refraction, ocular biometrics, scanning laser ophthalmoscope, optical coherence tomography, genetic testing, systemic disease history, and family history were recorded.

Identification and Characterization of a New 7-Aminocephalosporanic Acid Deacetylase from Thermophilic Bacterium Alicyclobacillus tengchongensis.

Unlabelled: Deacetylation of 7-aminocephalosporanic acid (7-ACA) at position C-3 provides valuable starting material for producing semisynthetic β-lactam antibiotics. However, few enzymes have been characterized in this process before now. Comparative analysis of the genome of the thermophilic bacterium Alicyclobacillus tengchongensis revealed a hypothetical protein (EstD1) with typical esterase features.

Phylogenetic analysis of the fecal flora of the wild pygmy loris.

The bacterial diversity in fecal samples from the wild pygmy loris was examined with a 16S rDNA clone library and restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis. The clones were classified as Firmicutes (43.1%), Proteobacteria (34.