JAG1/Notch Pathway Inhibition Induces Ferroptosis and Promotes Cataractogenesis.

Cataracts remain the leading cause of visual impairment worldwide, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms, particularly in age-related cataracts (ARCs), are not fully understood. The Notch signaling pathway, known for its critical role in various degenerative diseases, may also contribute to ARC pathogenesis, although its specific involvement is unclear. This study investigates the role of Notch signaling in regulating ferroptosis in lens epithelial cells (LECs) and its impact on ARC progression.

Behavioral Intervention with Eye-Use Monitoring to Delay Myopia Onset and Progression in Children: A Cluster Randomized Trial.

Purpose: To assess the efficacy of a behavioral intervention using Eye-Use Monitoring technology to delay the onset and progression of myopia in children.

Design: A prospective, cluster-randomized, parallel-groups, examiner-masked, clinical trial (Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2100052101).

Participants: A total of 413 children from grades 2 to 4 in Shandong, China, from October 2021 to December 2023 were randomized by class into three groups: reminder & feedback (6 classes, 156 children), reminder-only (5 classes, 147 children), and control (3 classes, 110 children).

Metabolic Atlas of Human Eyelid Infiltrative Basal Cell Carcinoma.

Purpose: Eyelid infiltrative basal cell carcinoma (iBCC) is the most common malignant tumor affecting the ocular adnexa, but studies on metabolic changes within its microenvironment and heterogeneity at the tumor invasive area are limited. This study aims to analyze metabolic differences among iBCC cell types using single-cell and spatial metabolomics analysis and to examine metabolic environment at the tumor invasive area.

Methods: Single-cell transcriptomic data of human basal cell carcinoma (BCC) were clustered and visualized using Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection.

Fixation Stability Deficits in Anisometropic Amblyopia.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between fixation stability deficits in anisometropic amblyopia and various visual functions, as well as the underlying retinal structure.

Methods: All 164 patients with anisometropic amblyopia were recruited in this cross-sectional study. The contrast sensitivity function (CSF) was measured using the qCSF method, whereas the MP-3 microperimeter was used to assess fixation stability and locate the preferred retinal locus.

Genomic determinants of biological age estimated by deep learning applied to retinal images.

With the development of deep learning (DL) techniques, there has been a successful application of this approach to determine biological age from latent information contained in retinal images. Retinal age gap (RAG) defined as the difference between chronological age and predicted retinal age has been established previously to predict the age-related disease. In this study, we performed discovery genome-wide association analysis (GWAS) on the RAG using the 31,271 UK Biobank participants and replicated our findings in 8034 GoDARTS participants.

Periostin-mediated NOTCH1 activation between tumor cells and HSCs crosstalk promotes liver metastasis of small cell lung cancer.

Background: Metastasis is the primary cause of mortality in small cell lung cancer (SCLC), with the liver being a predominant site for distal metastasis. Despite this clinical significance, mechanisms underlying the interaction between SCLC and liver microenvironment, fostering metastasis, remain unclear.

Methods: SCLC patient tissue array, bioinformatics analysis were performed to demonstrate the role of periostin (POSTN) in SCLC progression, metastasis, and prognosis.

Slit Lamp Report Generation and Question Answering: Development and Validation of a Multimodal Transformer Model with Large Language Model Integration.

Background: Large language models have shown remarkable efficacy in various medical research and clinical applications. However, their skills in medical image recognition and subsequent report generation or question answering (QA) remain limited.

Objective: We aim to finetune a multimodal, transformer-based model for generating medical reports from slit lamp images and develop a QA system using Llama2.

Integrated course on ocular anatomy for ophthalmology clerkship.

Background: Obtaining a full understanding of the anatomical structure of the eyeball and the contents within the eye plays a crucial role in learning eye diseases. However, it can be challenging for beginners to quickly learn, memorize, and apply this anatomical knowledge. To improve the teaching of ocular anatomy and help students overcome learning difficulties in ophthalmology clerkship, Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center developed an integrated ocular anatomy course comprising three main components: 'online preview,' 'lecture,' and 'wetlab dissection'.

Unveiling the role of ACTL6A in uveal melanoma metastasis and immune microenvironment.

Purpose: To predict and evaluate the possible mechanisms and clinical value of ACTL6A in the prognosis and development of UM.

Methods: Bioinformatics analyze the relationship between ACTL6A and immunity in UM, which derived from TCGA, Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) databases. Tumor-infltrated immune cells were demonstrated using QUANTISEQ and MCP-counter.

Ten-Year Change in Visual Function and Incidence of Visual Impairment in Highly Myopic Children and Adults.

Purpose: To investigate the 10-year changes in visual function and incidence of visual impairment (VI) in highly myopic eyes.

Methods: This longitudinal study enrolled highly myopic individuals who were followed up for 10 years. All participants underwent detailed ophthalmic examinations at baseline and follow-up visits.

Mettl14 and Mettl3 Work Cooperatively to Regulate Retinal Development.

N-methylenadenosine (mA) modification, the most abundant epitranscriptomic modification in eukaryotic mRNAs, has been shown to play crucial roles in regulating various aspects of mRNA metabolism and functions. In this study, we applied the Cre-Loxp conditional knockout system to investigate the role of the core components of the mA methyltransferase complex, METTL14 and METTL3, in retinal development. Our results showed that the double absence of Mettl14 and Mettl3 caused structural disturbance in the retina and prolonged the proliferation activity of retinal progenitor cells.

Aging-induced immune microenvironment remodeling fosters melanoma in male mice via γδ17-Neutrophil-CD8 axis.

Aging is associated with increased tumor metastasis and poor prognosis. However, how an aging immune system contributes to the process is unclear. Here, single-cell RNA sequencing reveals that in male mice, aging shifts the lung immune microenvironment towards a premetastatic niche, characterized by an increased proportion of IL-17-expressing γδT (γδ17) and neutrophils.

Oxidative stress mediates retinal damage after corneal alkali burn through the activation of the cGAS/STING pathway.

Retinal damage accounts for irreversible vision loss following ocular alkali burn (OAB), but the underlying mechanisms remain largely unexplored. Herein, using an OAB mouse model, we examined the impact of oxidative stress (OS) in retinal damage and its molecular mechanism. Results revealed that OS in the retina was enhanced soon after alkali injury.

Fundus Curvature as a Clinical Marker for Posterior Staphyloma Based on Widefield Optical Coherence Tomography.

Purpose: To investigate the ability to quantify fundus curvature and detect posterior staphyloma using widefield optical coherence tomography (OCT).

Design: Cross-sectional diagnostic evaluation.

Subjects And Participants: 205 highly myopic eyes of 205 participants.

Correction to: Triamcinolone Acetonide Protects Against Light-Induced Retinal Degeneration by Activating Anti-Inflammatory STAT6/Arg1 Signaling in Microglia.

Microglia are highly specialized resident macrophages in the central nervous system that play a pivotal role in modulating neuroinflammation. Microglial plasticity is essential for their function, allowing them to polarize into proinflammatory M1-like or anti-inflammatory M2-like phenotypes. However, the mechanisms driving M1 and M2 microglial induction during retinal degeneration remain largely unexplored.

SIRT1 Activation Suppresses Corneal Endothelial-Mesenchymal Transition via the TGF-β/Smad2/3 Pathway.

Endothelial-mesenchymal transition (EnMT) is the transversion of endothelial cells to mesenchymal cells under certain physiological or pathological conditions. When EnMT occurs in the corneal endothelium, corneal endothelial cells (CECs) lose their normal function and thus cannot maintain corneal clarity. Studies have shown that the mechanism of EnMT in CECs involves the transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) signaling pathway, and one of the important inhibitors of the TGF-β/Smad2/3 pathway is sirtuin-1 (SIRT1).

Retinoic acid drives surface epithelium fate determination through the TCF7-MSX2 axis.

Understanding how embryonic progenitors decode extrinsic signals and transform into lineage-specific regulatory networks to drive cell fate specification is a fundamental, yet challenging question. Here, we develop a new model of surface epithelium (SE) differentiation induced by human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) using retinoic acid (RA), and identify BMP4 as an essential downstream signal in this process. We show that the retinoid X receptors, RXRA and RXRB, orchestrate SE commitment by shaping lineage-specific epigenetic and transcriptomic landscapes.

In vivo adenine base editing ameliorates Rho-associated autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa.

Mutations in the Rhodopsin (RHO) gene are the main cause of autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (adRP), 84% of which are pathogenic gain-of-function point mutations. Treatment strategies for adRP typically involve silencing or ablating the pathogenic allele, while normal RHO protein replacement has no meaningful therapeutic benefit. Here, we present an adenine base editor (ABE)-mediated therapeutic approach for adRP caused by RHO point mutations in vivo.

Artificial intelligence-enabled discovery of a RIPK3 inhibitor with neuroprotective effects in an acute glaucoma mouse model.

Background: Retinal ganglion cell (RGC) death caused by acute ocular hypertension is an important characteristic of acute glaucoma. Receptor-interacting protein kinase 3 (RIPK3) that mediates necroptosis is a potential therapeutic target for RGC death. However, the current understanding of the targeting agents and mechanisms of RIPK3 in the treatment of glaucoma remains limited.

Yin-Yang Staining Technique to Create a Nonstained Internal Limiting Membrane Flap to Cover Large Idiopathic Macular Holes.

To describe a modified technique for negative and positive (Yin-Yang) staining of the internal limiting membrane (ILM) to create a nonstained ILM flap that covers large idiopathic macular holes (MHs). Consecutive patients with large idiopathic MHs (>400 μm) were prospectively included in the study. After the central vitreous was removed, a droplet of triamcinolone acetonide was injected, covering the MH and surrounding area.

Elevation of ANXA1 associated with potential protective mechanism against ferroptosis and immune cell infiltration in age-related macular degeneration.

Background: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD), is a neurodegenerative ocular disease. This study investigated the role of ferroptosis-related genes and their interaction with immune cell infiltration in AMD.

Methods: We screened differential expression genes (DEGs) of AMD from data sets in Gene Expression Omnibus.

U-shaped association between residential greenness and keratoconus.

Keratoconus is a blinding corneal disorder influenced by genetic factors. Whether environmental factors influence it remains unclear. Here, we observed a U-shaped association between residential greenness and keratoconus, with increased odds ratios (ORs) at low and high greenness levels.

Enhancing AI reliability: A foundation model with uncertainty estimation for optical coherence tomography-based retinal disease diagnosis.

Inability to express the confidence level and detect unseen disease classes limits the clinical implementation of artificial intelligence in the real world. We develop a foundation model with uncertainty estimation (FMUE) to detect 16 retinal conditions on optical coherence tomography (OCT). In the internal test set, FMUE achieves a higher F1 score of 95.