Re-examining the gap: A critical realist analysis of eye health inequity among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

The prevalence of diabetes among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (hereafter 'Aboriginal') Australians is three times greater than non-Aboriginal Australians, contributing to a greater risk of blindness from treatable and preventable ocular conditions, most prominently cataract and diabetic retinopathy. In rural and remote Aboriginal communities, blindness prevalence is higher, and ocular treatment coverage and uptake are lower. In collaboration with Aboriginal Community Based Researchers (CBRs), this study explored complex contingent factors that shape access to eye health services among rural and remote Aboriginal Australians living with diabetes.

Trust, culture and communication: determinants of eye health and care among Indigenous people with diabetes in Australia.

Introduction: Our study aimed to identify factors that influence access to eye care and eye health outcomes for remote Indigenous Australians living with diabetes.

Methods: In collaboration with Indigenous Community-Based Researchers (CBR) and Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS), a qualitative, participatory action research approach was taken, drawing on Indigenist and decolonising methodologies. The study was undertaken in four remote communities, in the Katherine region, Northern Territory and north-western New South Wales, Australia.

The risk of vision loss in contact lens wear and following LASIK.

Purpose: To compare the risk of vision loss following contemporary laser-assisted in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) with different types and modality of use of contact lenses.

Methods: Data from a previously published study were used to derive the incidence of vision loss (≥ 2 line loss of best corrected spectacle acuity) following microbial keratitis for different contact lens types and wearing modality, stratified by duration of lens wear. A literature search on vision loss following LASIK was performed between 2003 and 2019.

Changes in the tarsal conjunctiva viewed by in vivo confocal microscopy are associated with ocular symptoms and contact lens wear.

Purpose: To investigate the effect of soft contact lens (CL) wear on the morphology of the epithelial-lamina propria junction as well as the possible association with symptoms of discomfort.

Methods: Ninety-two subjects were recruited, including 60 soft CL wearers, 16 previous wearers, and 16 non-wearers. Additionally, subjects were classified as symptomatic or asymptomatic using the Contact Lens Dry Eye Questionnaire 8 for the CL wearers (a score ≥ 12 was considered symptomatic) and the Dry Eye Questionnaire 5 for the previous wearers and non-wearers (a score ≥ 5 was considered symptomatic).

Measuring Daily Disposable Contact Lenses against Nonwearer Benchmarks.

Significance: Since becoming a popular form of refractive error correction, contact lenses have aspired to replicate the nonwearer experience. This study assessed how well currently available daily disposable soft lenses have achieved that goal, using a graphical representation to show individual lens behavior relative to benchmarks.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess comfort, vision, and adverse events during daily disposable contact lens wear, relative to emmetropes and spectacle wearers.

Profile of off-axis higher order aberrations and its variation with time among various refractive error groups.

Peripheral higher order aberrations (HOA) of 646 children at 30° temporal, nasal and inferior visual field were measured under cycloplegia (5 mm pupil diameter) using a commercially available Shack-Hartmann aberrometer in the Sydney Myopia Study [age, 12.7 ± 0.4 years (mean ± standard deviation)] and five years later in the Sydney Adolescent Vascular and Eye Study.

Peripheral Defocus of the Monkey Crystalline Lens With Accommodation in a Lens Stretcher.

Purpose: To characterize the peripheral defocus of the monkey crystalline lens and its changes with accommodation.

Methods: Experiments were performed on 15 lenses from 11 cynomolgus monkey eyes (age: 3.8-12.

Variability of manual ciliary muscle segmentation in optical coherence tomography images.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) offers new options for imaging the ciliary muscle allowing direct visualization. However, variation in image quality along the length of the muscle prevents accurate delineation and quantification of the muscle. Quantitative analyses of the muscle are accompanied by variability in segmentation between examiners and between sessions for the same examiner.

Discrimination of subjective responses between contact lenses with a novel questionnaire.

Purpose: To describe a ranked symptoms scale (RSS) discriminating subjective responses in contact lens (CL) wear in various situations.

Method: Forty experienced clinical trial participants were interviewed for their perceptions of ocular comfort scales, resulting in a numerical RSS. For further evaluation, 20 CL wearers enrolled into a prospective, randomised, crossover trial.

Reduced vision in highly myopic eyes without ocular pathology: the ZOC-BHVI high myopia study.

Background: The aim was to investigate the relationship of the magnitude of myopia with visual acuity in highly myopic eyes without ocular pathology.

Methods: Twelve hundred and ninety-two highly myopic eyes (up to -6.00 DS both eyes, no astigmatic cut-off) with no ocular pathology from the ZOC-BHVI high myopia study in China, had cycloplegic refraction, followed by subjective refraction and visual acuities and axial length measurement.

Assessment of eye length changes in accommodation using dynamic extended-depth OCT.

It has been suggested that accommodation induces increases in axial eye length which could contribute to the development of myopia. However, it is debated whether changes in eye length occur during accommodation as the degree of change varies widely across literature. In this study, an extended-depth optical coherence tomography (OCT) system that provides dynamic whole eye biometry was utilized to assess changes in lens thickness (LT) and axial eye length (AEL) in young subjects responding to step disaccommodation stimuli of amplitude 2D, 4D, and 6D.

On the contribution of the nucleus and cortex to human lens shape and size.

Background: The shape of the human lens changes from almost spherical at birth to ellipsoid due to a decrease in sagittal thickness and an increase in equatorial diameter during the first two decades of life. Both dimensions increase thereafter. This study was undertaken to determine the reason for the change.

Relation between Ocular Comfort, Arachidonic Acid Mediators, and Histamine.

Purpose: Contact lenses are associated with discomfort during wear. This may be the result of stimulation of the ocular surface and production of pro-inflammatory mediators which are then released into the tears. This study examined changes in the concentration in tears of arachidonic acid metabolites (AAM) prostaglandins, cysteinyl leukotrienes, and resolvin-D, as well as histamine in a general contact lens population in the morning and evening.

Treatment Practices and Outcomes of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction at a Tertiary Center in Southern India.

Objective: To describe the current treatment practices for meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) at a tertiary eye center, together with the subjective outcomes and compliance behaviors of patients.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study reviewed medical records for MGD severity grading, treatment prescribed, and follow-up schedule. In addition, participants were surveyed to gauge subjective outcomes and treatment adherence.

Development and validation of an instrument to assess job satisfaction in eye-care personnel.

Purpose: The aim was to develop and validate an instrument to measure job satisfaction in eye-care personnel and assess the job satisfaction of one-year trained vision technicians in India.

Methods: A pilot instrument for assessing job satisfaction was developed, based on a literature review and input from a public health expert panel. Rasch analysis was used to assess psychometric properties and to undertake an iterative item reduction.

Quantification of the ciliary muscle and crystalline lens interaction during accommodation with synchronous OCT imaging.

Two SD-OCT systems and a dual channel accommodation target were combined and precisely synchronized to simultaneously image the anterior segment and the ciliary muscle during dynamic accommodation. The imaging system simultaneously generates two synchronized OCT image sequences of the anterior segment and ciliary muscle with an imaging speed of 13 frames per second. The system was used to acquire OCT image sequences of a non-presbyopic and a pre-presbyopic subject accommodating in response to step changes in vergence.

Demographic Factors Affect Ocular Comfort Ratings During Contact Lens Wear.

Purpose: To determine if rating of ocular comfort during soft contact lens wear is affected by demographic factors.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of ocular comfort ratings during soft contact lens wear extracted from 44 nonrandomized similar clinical trials (n = 986). Subjects wore one of seven daily wear silicone hydrogels (SiHy) in combination with one of nine lens care products (LCP), and two daily disposables lenses.

Contact Lens-Induced Discomfort and Protein Changes in Tears.

Purpose: Ocular discomfort is among the main causes of contact lens wear discontinuation. This study investigated the association between subjective ocular comfort ratings and diurnal changes in tear protein concentrations with and without contact lens wear.

Methods: The study was a prospective, open-label, single-group two-staged investigation.

Accuracy of vision technicians in screening ocular pathology at rural vision centres of southern India.

Background: There is paucity of data on the inter-observer agreement and diagnostic accuracy between a primary-care technician (vision technician) and an ophthalmologist. Hence, the current study was conducted to assess the accuracy of vision technicians, to screen potentially sight-threatening ocular conditions at rural vision centres of southern India and their agreement with an ophthalmologist.

Methods: In July to August 2010, patients presenting to seven vision centres in Adilabad district (Andhra Pradesh) were selected and screened in a masked manner by seven vision technicians followed by an examination by a consultant ophthalmologist.

Impact of duration of contact lens wear on the structure and function of the meibomian glands.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of the duration of contact lens (CL) wear on the meibomian glands (MGs), eyelid and tear film.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of CL wearers and non-wearers (NWs) aged between 18 and 35 years. The sample comprised of: (i) Three groups of CL wearers of different duration profiles (short, moderate and long experience of CL wear); (ii) a group of previous CL wearers (PWs) who had ceased wear for at least 6 months prior to the present study; (iii) healthy non-wearers as a control group.

Contact Lens-Induced Discomfort and Inflammatory Mediator Changes in Tears.

Purpose: Studies indicate that contact lens (CL) discontinuation mostly occurs because of dryness and discomfort symptoms. This study aimed to investigate relationships between changes in the concentration of tear inflammatory mediators with subjective comfort ratings with CL wear and no contact lens wear between morning and evening.

Method: Forty-five subjects collected tears twice daily in the morning and in the evening with or without lenses.

Myopia Control with Bifocal Contact Lenses: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Purpose: Most studies have reported only minimal reductions in myopia progression with bifocal or progressive multifocal spectacles, although somewhat larger, although mostly still clinically insignificant, effects have been reported in children with nearpoint esophoria and/or accommodative dysfunctions. The CONTROL study was a 1-year, prospective, randomized, clinical trial of bifocal contact lenses for control of myopia in children with eso fixation disparities at near.

Methods: Eighty-six myopic subjects, aged 8 to 18 years, were enrolled in the study after passing the screening examination.

Nonhuman Primate Ocular Biometry.

Purpose: To examine ocular growth in nonhuman primates (NHPs) from measurements on ex vivo eyes.

Methods: We obtained NHP eyes from animals that had been killed as part of other studies or because of health-related issues. Digital calipers were used to measure the horizontal, vertical, and anteroposterior globe diameters as well as corneal horizontal and vertical diameters of excised globes from 98 hamadryas baboons, 551 cynomolgus monkeys, and 112 rhesus monkeys, at ages ranging from 23 to 360 months.