Understanding Health-Related Discussions on Reddit: Development of a Topic Assignment Method and Exploratory Analysis.

Background: Social media has become a widely used way for people to share opinions about health care and medical topics. Social media data can be leveraged to understand patient concerns and provide insight into why patients may turn to the internet instead of the health care system for health advice.

Objective: This study aimed to develop a method to investigate Reddit posts discussing health-related conditions.

Diagnostic Decision-Making Variability Between Novice and Expert Optometrists for Glaucoma: Comparative Analysis to Inform AI System Design.

Background: While expert optometrists tend to rely on a deep understanding of the disease and intuitive pattern recognition, those with less experience may depend more on extensive data, comparisons, and external guidance. Understanding these variations is important for developing artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can effectively support optometrists with varying degrees of experience and minimize decision inconsistencies.

Objective: The main objective of this study is to identify and analyze the variations in diagnostic decision-making approaches between novice and expert optometrists.

Evaluating Therapeutic and Chemical Toxicity Using Organ-Cultured Porcine Corneas and Epithelial Wound Healing.

Due to its anatomical and physiological similarities to the human eye, the porcine eye serves as a robust model for biomedical research and ocular toxicity assessment. An air/liquid corneal culture system using porcine eyes was developed, and ex vivo epithelial wound healing was utilized as a critical parameter for these studies. Fresh pig corneas were processed for organ culture, with or without epithelial wounding.

FoxO1 promotes high glucose-induced inflammation and cataract formation via JAK1/STAT1.

Purpose: To investigate whether in diabetic cataract (DC), FoxO1 regulates high glucose (HG)-induced activation of NLRC4/IL-6 inflammatory mediators in human lens epithelial cells (SRA01/04) via the JAK1/STAT1 pathway, leading to cataract formation.

Methods: Expression levels of FoxO1, inflammatory factor IL-6 and inflammatory vesicle NLRC4 were examined in SRA01/04 under high glucose (HG) stress at 25-150 mM. Rat lenses were also cultured using HG medium with or without the addition of the FoxO1 inhibitor AS1842856 and the JAK1 agonist RO8191.

Crystalline lens power and astigmatism calculation in myopia by swept-source optical coherence tomography: A pilot study.

Purpose: To calculate the crystalline lens power and astigmatism, as well as their changes following cycloplegia, in individuals with myopia using swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT).

Methods: Participants were divided into two groups according to axial length (AL). Crystalline lens parameters, including power, lens thickness (LT), anterior chamber depth (ACD), and astigmatism, were measured with SS-OCT and analysed before and after cycloplegia.

Age-related differences in eye movements and the association with Archimedes spiral tracing performance in young and older adults.

Age-related hand motor impairments may critically depend on visual information though few studies have examined eye movements during tasks of hand function in older adults. The purpose of this study was to assess eye movements and their association with performance while tracing on a touchscreen in young and older adults. Eye movements of 21 young (age 20-38 years; 12 females, 9 males) and 20 older (65-85 years; 10 females, 10 males) adults were recorded while performing an Archimedes spiral tracing task, a common clinical assessment sensitive to age-associated impairments in hand function.

A Novel Rabbit Model of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction-Induced Dry Eye.

Purpose: The objective of this three-phase study was to develop a model of mild to moderate evaporative dry eye to be used to evaluate tear film stability endpoints during product development.

Methods: Rabbits were sedated prior to ophthalmic cautery of meibomian gland orifices. The orifices of eyelid meibomian glands were half-cauterized (to yield obstruction of every other meibomian gland orifices), fully cauterized (to yield obstruction of all meibomian gland orifices), or untreated.

Ocular Safety and Toxicology of Subretinal Gene Therapy With rAAV.hPDE6A in Nonhuman Primates.

Purpose: Reports of gene therapy-associated retinal atrophies and inflammation have highlighted the importance of preclinical safety assessments of adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector systems. We evaluated in nonhuman primates (NHPs) the ocular safety and toxicology of a novel AAV gene therapy targeting retinitis pigmentosa caused by mutations in PDE6A, which has since been used in a phase I/II clinical trial (NCT04611503).

Methods: A total of 34 healthy cynomolgus animals (Macaca fascicularis) were treated with subretinal injections of rAAV.

Oculomotor challenges in macular degeneration impact motion extrapolation.

Macular degeneration (MD), which affects the central visual field including the fovea, has a profound impact on acuity and oculomotor control. We used a motion extrapolation task to investigate the contribution of various factors that potentially impact motion estimation, including the transient disappearance of the target into the scotoma, increased position uncertainty associated with eccentric target positions, and increased oculomotor noise due to the use of a non-foveal locus for fixation and for eye movements. Observers performed a perceptual baseball task where they judged whether the target would intersect or miss a rectangular region (the plate).

Enantiomer-Dependent Supramolecular Antibacterial Therapy for Drug-Resistant Bacterial Keratitis.

Bacteria have the potential to exhibit divergent stereochemical preferences for different levels of chiral structures, including from molecule, supramolecule, to nanomicroscale helical structure. Accordingly, the structure-activity relationship between chirality and bactericidal activity remains uncertain. In this study, we seek to understand the multivalent molecular chirality effect of chiral supramolecular polymers on antibacterial activity.

Performance of Optic Disc Optical Coherence Tomography Normative Database in a Large, Diverse, Real-World Cohort.

Precis: Current optical coherence tomography normative sample data may not represent diverse human optic nerve anatomy to accurately classify all individuals with true glaucomatous optic neuropathy.

Purpose: To compare optic nerve head (ONH) measurements between published values from an optical coherence tomography (OCT) normative database and a more diverse cohort of healthy individuals.

Patients And Methods: ONH parameters from healthy participants of the Michigan Screening and Intervention for Glaucoma and Eye Health through Telemedicine (MI-SIGHT) program and the Topcon Maestro-1 normative cohort were compared.

The eyes have it: Alcohol-induced eye movement impairment and perceived impairment in older adults with and without alcohol use disorder.

Background: While alcohol has been shown to impair eye movements in young adults, little is known about alcohol-induced oculomotor impairment in older adults with longer histories of alcohol use. Here, we examined whether older adults with chronic alcohol use disorder (AUD) exhibit more acute tolerance than age-matched light drinkers (LD), evidenced by less alcohol-induced oculomotor impairment and perceived impairment.

Method: Two random-order, double-blinded laboratory sessions with administration of alcohol (0.

Laterality and performance in elite male golfers.

Human beings display laterilised behaviour. In sport, including golf, players adopt a right- or left-handed stance. There may be advantages in going against convention in the position of the dominant hand relative to golf stance.

Ocular injuries by less-lethal weapon: a view from Switzerland.

Dear Editor-in-chief: Thank you for focussing on this troubling subject in your issue 1/2024. It confirms that many of the difficulties involved are similar worldwide. Countries that use less-lethal weapons include Switzerland, the only Western European democracy besides France to employ multiple kinetic impact projectiles.

Acceptability and Preliminary Effects of Intensive Brief Trauma-Focused PTSD Treatment for Refugees.

Background: Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a significant mental health concern in refugee populations exposed to trauma and displacement. Traditional treatments for PTSD often involve lengthy interventions. However, there's a growing interest in exploring more condensed, intensive treatments to improve outcomes and accessibility for refugees.

Characterization of Optokinetic Nystagmus in Healthy Participants With a Novel Oculography Device.

Objective: To develop a proof-of-concept smart-phone-based eye-tracking algorithm to assess non-pathologic optokinetic (OKN) nystagmus in healthy participants. Current videonystagmography (VNG) is typically restricted to in-office use, and advances in portable vestibular diagnostics would yield immense public health benefits.

Study Design: Prospective cohort study.

Sleep spindles and slow oscillations predict cognition and biomarkers of neurodegeneration in mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: Changes in sleep physiology can predate cognitive symptoms by decades in persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it remains unclear which sleep characteristics predict cognitive and neurodegenerative changes after AD onset.

Methods: Using data from a prospective cohort of mild to moderate AD (n = 60), we analyzed non-rapid eye movement sleep spindles and slow oscillations (SOs) at baseline and their associations with baseline amyloid beta (Aβ) and tau and with cognition from baseline to 3-year follow-up.

Results: Higher spindle and SO activity predicted significant changes in Aβ and tau at baseline, lower Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale Cognitive Subscale (better cognitive performance) score, and higher Mini-Mental State Examination score from baseline to 36 months.

Histidine Tags in Human Recombinant Alpha B-Crystallin (HSPB5) Proteins Are Detrimental for Zinc Binding Studies.

The stability of α-crystallin, the major protein of the mammalian eye lens and a molecular chaperone, is one of the most crucial factors for its survival and function. The chaperone-like activity and stability of α-crystallin dramatically increased in the presence of Zn. Each subunit of α-crystallin could bind multiple zinc atoms through inter-subunit bridging and cause enhanced stability.

Retinal oculomics and risk of incident aortic aneurysm and aortic adverse events: a population-based cohort study.

Background: The asymptomatic onset and extremely high mortality rate of aortic aneurysm (AA) highlight the urgency of early detection and timely intervention. The alteration of retinal vascular features (RVFs) can reflect the systemic vascular properties, and be widely used as the biomarker for cardiovascular disease risk prediction. Therefore, we aimed to investigate associations of RVFs with AA and its progression.

Recognizing drivers' sleep onset by detecting slow eye movement using a parallel multimodal one-dimensional convolutional neural network.

Slow eye movements (SEMs) are a reliable physiological marker of drivers' sleep onset, often accompanied by EEG alpha wave attenuation. A parallel multimodal 1D convolutional neural network (PM-1D-CNN) model is proposed to classify SEMs. The model uses two parallel 1D-CNN blocks to extract features from EOG and EEG signals, which are then fused and fed into fully connected layers for classification.

A rare case of culture-negative infective endocarditis following cataract surgery.

A 70-year-old man developed intermittent fever with chills, severe anorexia, generalized weakness, and mild exertional difficulty in breathing following posterior chamber intraocular lens replacement surgery for a mature white cataract in the left eye. Laboratory tests revealed persistent negative blood cultures, normocytic and normochromic anemia, neutrophilia, and elevated inflammatory markers despite multiple courses of antibiotics. All other investigations conducted to identify the cause of prolonged fever, including transthoracic echocardiography, were negative.

Computational approaches to apply the String Edit Algorithm to create accurate visual scan paths.

Eye movement detection algorithms (e.g., I-VT) require the selection of thresholds to identify eye fixations and saccadic movements from gaze data.

An Eye-Tracking-Based Investigation on the Principle of Closure in Logo Design.

This study employs subjective evaluation and eye movement experiments to explore the application and conveyance of logo graphics design, which conforms to the Gestalt principle of closure, to understand the psychological process of this principle in the perception of a logo. The study found that there is no significant difference between completely enclosed logos and unenclosed ones that conform to the principle of closure in their influence on sightline behavior due to the effects of closure, but the subjective evaluation favors unenclosed logos as more attractive and comfortable to perceive, which agrees with modern logo design trends. In addition, the sightline distribution of the image-type logos is more scattered and has the most extended fixation duration.

Reading comics: The effect of expertise on eye movements.

The theory of expertise suggests that there should be observable differences in the eye movement patterns between experts and non-experts. Previous studies have investigated how expertise influences eye movement patterns during cognitive tasks like reading. However, the impact of expertise on eye movements in comics, a multimodal form of text, remains unexplored.

Eye Movement and Recall of Visual Elements in Eco-friendly Product.

This study aims to explore the distribution of visual attention on sustainability graphics when viewing an eco-friendly product and the recall of sustainability information afterward. Twenty-five students majoring in environmental studies and twenty-five students from non-environmental majors participated in the study. They were further divided into a higher group and a lower group based on their sustainability level.