Onchocerca jakutensis ocular infection in Poland: a new vector-borne human health risk?

Background: Zoonotic onchocerciasis is a vector-borne disease, which involves many animal species, including large ungulates, boars, dogs, and sporadically, humans. So far, 39 cases of zoonotic onchocerciasis have been reported worldwide, 30 of which have been found in the last 20 years. Onchocerca nematodes are transmitted to humans by blood-sucking vectors during a blood meal.

The effects and safety of intravitreal triamcinolone injections in the treatment of diabetic macular edema.

Background: Diabetic macular edema (DME) is responsible for three-quarters of vision-loss cases in diabetic eye disease. In most cases, early treatment by laser photocoagulation can only stabilize vision. Glucocorticoids have been used as a local pharmacological treatment in DME when the inflammation seems to have a pathological background.

The Dry Form of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD): The Current Concepts of Pathogenesis and Prospects for Treatment.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a disease that causes varying degrees of blindness, which afflicts millions of adults in their later years. Preliminary changes occur during normal aging, but in some individuals the pathology leads to the development of AMD. The pathology seems to be a mixture of biochemical, cellular, and molecular events.

Caspase-Dependent Apoptosis of Retinal Ganglion Cells During the Development of Diabetic Retinopathy.

Diabetic retinopathy constitutes the most frequent cause of vision loss in professionally active individuals. Progressive impairment of visual acuity results from massive fibrovascular proliferation involving the fundus of the eye, as well as from the apoptosis of the neuronal structures of the retina. The results of many clinical studies, both on experimental models and on human material, confirmed evident enhancement of this process in the course of diabetes.

The role of inflammation in the progression of ocular surface damage in children following allogeneic haematopoietic cell transplantation.

The aim of the study was to evaluate HLA-DR expression and cellular morphology of the conjunctival epithelium cells in children who underwent haematopoietic cell transplantation, and to assess the relation between HLA-DR expression and cellular morphology. Impression cytology with staining was used to visualize epithelium cells, whereas immunohistochemistry was applied to assess HLA-DR expression. Elevated HLA-DR expression and increased cytological abnormalities were observed in the study group when compared to the controls.

Application of optical coherence tomography in glaucoma suspect eyes.

Purpose:   The aim of the study was to compare the optical coherence tomography (OCT) parameters of the optic nerve head (ONH) and retinal nerve fibre layer (RNFL) and to identify which measurements are best able to differentiate between normal and glaucoma suspect eyes.

Methods:   The study included 27 eyes with ocular hypertension (OHT), 33 eyes with pre-perimetric glaucoma (PG), 30 perimetrically unaffected eyes of patients with glaucoma in the fellow eye (FE) and 58 eyes of age-matched normal volunteers. All subjects underwent a complete eye examination with standard automated perimetry, optic disc photography and OCT imaging.

[Effect of different shape and material of intraocular lens on posterior capsule opacification].

In this paper we compare 4 groups of intraocular lenses: PMMA, silicone, hydrogel, acrylic and their influence on posterior capsule opacification is discussed. The possible clinical consequences of different shape in optic part of intraocular lens is also described. This article contains also a short presentation of posterior capsule opacification mechanism and intraocular lens materials biocompatibility in in-vivo and in-vitro experiments.

[Treatment of subretinal macular hemorrhages with intravitreous injections of tissue plasminogen activator and SF6 gas].

Purpose: Of our retrospective study was the estimation of the efficacy of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and intravitreal injections of SF6 gas in cases of subretinal macular haemorrhages.

Material And Methods: In 20 patients aged 23-83 years, the subretinal macular haemorrhages were diagnosed, due to senile macular degeneration (9), hypertension (3), myopic retinochoroidal degeneration (3), other retinal heredodegeneration (2), retinal macroaneurysm (2) and trauma (1). We injected the solution of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator--Actilise (Boehringer Ingelheim) into vitreous cavity of these eyes.

[Surgical treatment of giant retinal tear].

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to evaluate anatomical and functional results of pars plana vitrectomy in giant retinal tears.

Materials And Methods: Ten eyes with giant retinal tears underwent pars plana vitrectomy. The time of observation after surgical intervention was 3 months to 2.

[Pars plana vitrectomy in treatment of ocular toxocariasis complications--case report].

Ocular toxocariasis in adults may cause serious diagnostic and therapeutic problems. We describe a case of a 54-year-old farmer who developed peripheral granuloma with dense connective tissue strands joined to the disc. The diagnosis was confirmed by high ELISA titers in the serum and vitreous body.

[Management in preretinal macular hemorrhage. Case report].

The report presents a method of management in case of clotted premacular haemorrhage in a 46 year-old woman. The used method of treatment proceeded in 2 stages: 1) pars plana, intravitreal injection of 50 mg tissue plasminogen activator (tPA-Actilise), 2) after 24 hours intravitreal 0.5 cc SF6 with air mixture (1:5).

[Flash electroretinography and pattern-type visual evoked potentials in early glaucoma].

Purpose: The aim of this prospective study was to evaluate diagnostic sensitivity of flash-erg, oscillatory potentials (OPs), and pattern-visual evoked potentials (pVEP) in early glaucoma.

Material And Methods: Erg, OPs and pVEP were registered in 416 eyes primary open angle glaucoma (120 eyes), normal tension glaucoma (137), ocular hypertension (74), glaucoma-like discs (86) in age-matched groups, by Tomey 400.

Results: There were no statistically significant differences between parameters of flash-erg and pVEP of examined population and control group.

[Limbal stem cell autograft transplantation for persistent epithelial corneal defect after chemical burn of the eye].

The aim of this paper is to describe the possibility of surgical treatment of persistent corneal epithelial defect caused by limbal stem cell deficiency after chemical burn of the eye. Limbal stem cells serve as a proliferative reserve and are responsible for a proper corneal re-epithelialization. Destruction of these cells leads to chronic irritation, epithelial erosions, corneal conjunctivalisation, vascularisation and stromal scarring.

[Occurrence of nocturnal arterial hypotension in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and normal tension glaucoma].

Purpose: To investigate the nocturnal blood pressure "dip" in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) and normal-tension glaucoma (NTG).

Material And Methods: 46 patients (36 women and 10 men), including 15 patients with POAG (mean age 49.6 +/- 6.

[Tissue plasminogen activator in treatment of fibrinous membranes after cataract surgery].

Unlabelled: The aim of our study is estimation of the efficacy of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator for the treatment of fibrinous membranes following cataract extraction.

Patients And Methods: The fibrinous membranes were formed, despite conventional antiinflammatory therapy, in 17 eyes after ECCE with IOL and in 3 eyes after ECCE without IOL. We injected the solution of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator-Actilyse (Boehringer Ingelheim) into the anterior chamber of 20 eyes after cataract surgery.

[Incidence of and treatment outcome for diabetic maculopathy--material from the Eye Clinic in Wrocçaw in 1991-1994].

Purpose: To evaluate the incidence of ME, its characteristics, and results of its treatment with laser coagulation.

Material And Methods: In the analysed group there were 478 subjects with diabetes mellitus--84 with a diagnosis before 30 years of age and 394 with a diagnosis at 30 years of age or older. In the older-onset group there were 64% taking insulin.

[Panretinal photocoagulation with argon laser--material from the Eye Clinic in Wroclaw in 1991-1994].

Purpose: To evaluate the results of PRK performed between 1990 and 1994 in Wroclaw University Eye Clinic.

Materials And Methods: PRK was performed in 630 eyes with: (1) PDR--451 immediately treated eyes (moderate PDR--184 eyes, with "high-risk" characteristics--227 eyes, PDR advanced--after cryopexion--40 eyes); (2) severe NPDR--119 eyes (with PDR in fellow eye or with ME) and (3) less severe DR--60 eyes treated with immediate or delayed, full or mild scatter coagulation (with macular edema, both eye moderate NPDR, other systemic risk factors). Follow-up treatment: Additional scatter or local photocoagulation was performed in 34 cases increasing activity of neovascularisation or increase in frequency/extend of vitreous hemorrhage.

[Use of soft contact lenses in the Riley-Day syndrome in a small child].

We present the observation of a boy treated in our Ophthalmological Department in Wrocław from the age of 6 months up to 6 years for the serious keratitis with ulceration. We diagnosed Riley-Day syndrome with regard to many associated pathological features. The efficacy of the local treatment improved after application of soft contact lenses.