Type Of Ocular Disease Research Articles

Smart Vision Transparency: Efficient Ocular Disease Prediction Model Using Explainable Artificial Intelligence

The early prediction of ocular disease is certainly an obligatory concern in the domain of ophthalmic medicine. Although modern scientific discoveries have shown the potential to treat eye diseases by using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, explainable AI remains a crucial challenge confronting this area of research. Although some traditional methods put in significant effort, they cannot accurately predict the proper ocular diseases. However, incorporating AI into diagnosing eye diseases in healthcare complicates the situation as the decision-making process of AI demonstrates complexity, which is a significant concern, especially in major sectors like ocular disease prediction. The lack of transparency in the AI models may hinder the confidence and trust of the doctors and the patients, as well as their perception of the AI and its abilities. Accordingly, explainable AI is significant in ensuring trust in the technology, enhancing clinical decision-making ability, and deploying ocular disease detection. This research proposed an efficient transfer learning model for eye disease prediction to transform smart vision potential in the healthcare sector and meet conventional approaches’ challenges while integrating explainable artificial intelligence (XAI). The integration of XAI in the proposed model ensures the transparency of the decision-making process through the comprehensive provision of rationale. This proposed model provides promising results with 95.74% accuracy and explains the transformative potential of XAI in advancing ocular healthcare. This significant milestone underscores the effectiveness of the proposed model in accurately determining various types of ocular disease. It is clearly shown that the proposed model is performing better than the previously published methods.

Diagnosis, Treatment, and Outcomes of Presumed Ocular Tuberculosis Patients Attending Central Chest Clinic, Colombo

Aims: Main objective of this study was to describe the diagnosis, treatment, outcomes, and associated factors of presumed ocular tuberculosis patients attending Central Chest Clinic, Colombo. 
 Study Design, Place and Duration: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted among all ocular tuberculosis patients referred to Central Chest Clinic, Colombo for treatment from 1st of January 2016 to 31st June 2018.
 Methodology: Pretested content validated secondary data extraction form was used. Socio-demographic and work-related characteristics were analysed using frequency distributions. Association between socio-demographic characteristics and factors associated with diagnosis, treatment and outcomes were analysed using Fisher-extract test. 
 Results: Among study respondents, 52.6% showed abnormal ESR finding (>20mm), 17.8% displayed Chest X-ray abnormalities and 89.5% reported positive Tuberculin skin test (>14mm in diameter). Uveitis was the most common diagnosis (87.9%). Among Uveitis patients, 36.5% presented with posterior uveitis. Out of all ocular TB patients who have completed the treatment, 77.6% reported improvement of vision following the anti-TB treatment regimen. Duration of the treatment with anti-TB drugs was similar across all types of ocular diseases among Ocular TB patients (p=0.590).
 Conclusions: Large number of patients received treatment for 6 months with majority reported as improved vision on completion of treatment. Further prospective studies using primary data need to be conducted to have greater insight of the ocular tuberculosis in Sri Lanka.

Prevalence and type of ocular disease in a population of aged captive nondomestic felids.

Report of prevalence and type of ocular disease in a captive population of nondomestic felids. Medical records of 202 cats from 1993 to 2018 were reviewed. Species, age at diagnosis, sex, ocular examination abnormalities, systemic/physical examination abnormalities, type of examination (visual, sedated, or anesthetized), ocular structures affected, other diagnostics, therapy, and resolution of ocular disease were recorded. A total of 202 nondomestic felids including 18 different species (bobcat, caracal, cougar, Fishing cat, Geoffroy's cat, jaguar, jungle cat, leopard, leopard cat, liger, lion, lynx, ocelot, Sand cat, Savannah cat, serval, snow leopard, and tiger) from a rescue facility were evaluated. Forty-six ocular lesions were diagnosed in 33 (16.3%) cats from 8 different species (bobcat, caracal, cougar, leopard, lion, ocelot, serval, and tiger) with a mean age of 16±5.9years at time of diagnosis. Ocular lesions included corneal disease (37%) (ulcerations, perforations, keratitis, corneal scars), cataracts (23.9%), hyphema (8.7%), lens luxation (6.5%), retinal detachment (6.5%), uveitis (4.3%), conjunctival disease (4.3%), retinal degeneration (2.1%), glaucoma (2.1%), and optic neuritis (2.1%). Therapies included medical (topical antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, serum, etc.) and/or surgical management (enucleation, intracapsular lens extraction, corneoconjunctival transposition, and corneal burr debridement). To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of the prevalence of ocular disease in a population of captive nondomestic felids. It is difficult to diagnose and treat ocular disease in nondomestic cats due to challenges related to handling, diagnostics, and therapeutics in nondomestic species. Ocular disease seen in this population is similar to that found in domestic cat populations.

Visual Impairment and Eye Disease Among Children of Migrant Farmworkers.

To determine the prevalence of reduced visual acuity and ocular disease in the children of migrant farmworkers in Georgia. A retrospective chart review of data acquired by a vision screening was performed on 156 Haitian and Hispanic children of migrant farmworkers attending a summer school in Georgia. Reduced visual acuity at presentation was analyzed and stratified by ethnicity, type of ocular disease, and immediate resolution with refractive correction. The authors found that 20% of migrant farmworker children have a high prevalence of reduced visual acuity in the worse eye. Of those with worse-eye reduced visual acuity, 83% had uncorrected refractive error. The prevalence of uncorrected refractive error from astigmatism and high astigmatism was significantly higher among Hispanics than Haitians. The prevalence of amblyopia suspects among migrant farmworker children was 3%. Of the amblyopia suspects, 80% were anisometropic. Children of migrant farmworkers in Georgia have a higher rate of reduced visual acuity, largely from uncorrected refractive error, when compared to other Hispanic and African American children in the United States with a prevalence more aligned to children in Asian and Latin American countries than school children in the United States. This illustrates the need for improved access to screening and care in this vulnerable population. [J Pediatr Ophthalmol Strabismus. 2019;56(1):28-34.].

RGR variants in different forms of retinal diseases: The undetermined role of truncation mutations.

It has been previously reported that mutations in retinal G protein coupled receptor (RGR) are associated with retinitis pigmentosa. The present study aims to systemically analyze the potential role of variants of RGR in retinal diseases. Variants in coding regions and splice sites of RGR were selected from a whole exome sequencing dataset of 820probands with various forms of genetic ocular diseases. Potential variants of RGR were further confirmed by Sanger sequencing and analyzed in available family members. Clinical data was reviewed for patients with RGR variants. As a result, a total of five variants in RGR were detected in six probands with different types of ocular diseases. Of the five variants, two were novel heterozygous truncation variations, c.266C>A (p.S89*) and c.722_723delCC (p.S241Yfs*29), identified in two probands with high myopia and confirmed by Sanger sequencing. Segregation analysis on available family members demonstrated p.S89* and p.S241Yfs*29 were also present in unaffected relatives. The other three variants of RGR were heterozygous missense variants randomly occurring in patients with different genetic ocular diseases. No homozygous or compound heterozygous variants were detected. The results of the present study suggested that the heterozygous truncation variants in RGR were less likely to be pathogenic. Further studies are expected to evaluate the pathogenicity of variants in RGR.

Ophthalmic diagnostic testing and examination findings in a colony of captive brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis).

To establish reference values and report ophthalmic examination findings in a colony of captive brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis). Descriptive study. Sixty-three captive brown pelicans in Florida were examined. A complete ophthalmic examination including Schirmer tear test (STT), applanation tonometry, fluorescein stain, biomicroscopy, and direct and indirect ophthalmoscopy was performed. A-scan ultrasonography was performed to measure axial globe length (AGL), anterior chamber depth (ACD), lens thickness, and vitreal chamber length. Fifty-two adults and 11 juvenile pelicans with an age range of 4months to 38years were evaluated. Twenty-nine pelicans (46%) had a normal ocular examination. Mean STT in normal pelicans was 5.45±1.88mm/min. Mean intraocular pressure (IOP) in normal pelicans was 10.86±1.61mmHg. One pelican was fluorescein positive unilaterally. Mean AGL was 20.70±0.62mm. Mean ACD was 3.38±0.19mm. Mean axial lens diameter (ALD) was 5.19±0.23mm. Mean vitreal chamber depth (VCD) was 12.15±0.53mm. Twenty-three pelicans (36.51%) had cataracts, 17 pelicans (26.98%) had vitreal degeneration, 18 pelicans (28.57%) had corneal disease, and seven pelicans (11.11%) had evidence of significant ocular trauma, which included collapsed anterior chamber or lens luxation. To the author's knowledge, this is the first report of normal ophthalmic parameters and the incidence and type of ocular disease in a captive flock of brown pelicans. This information may aid in the diagnosis and treatment of brown pelicans with ocular disease.

Prevalence of Celiac Disease in Patients With Ocular Autoimmune Disease

Introduction: There have been recent reports about the association between celiac disease (CD) and ocular autoimmune disease (OAD), especially in Behcet’s patients. Although a moderately increased risk of OAD exists in patients with biopsy-proven CD, the prevalence of CD in OAD subjects remains unknown. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence of CD in a cohort of patients with non-infectious OAD from a tertiary uveitis center. Methods: With IRB approval and prior informed consent, we performed a cross-sectional study from 2012-2013. All patients with non-infectious OAD were included. Patients without a prior diagnosis of CD were checked for HLA-DQ2/DQ8 status, Ig A tissue transglutaminase antibody, and Ig A antiendomysial antibody, and were required to fill out a survey about gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms. Patients with a past history of infectious ocular disease were excluded. Demographics, type of ocular disease, and comorbidities were collected from each patient enrolled in the study. Results: This study included 124 patients (40 men and 84 women). Mean age was 46 years (range, 9-78 years). Most patients included were white (85%), had idiopathic uveitis (53.2%), and had anterior uveitis (40.3%). Forty-six percent of subjects were receiving immunomodulatory therapy (IMT) at the time of inclusion into the study. Four subjects had been diagnosed with CD by confirmatory biopsy prior to inclusion in our study. These patients did not fill out the survey and were not tested for CD autoantibodies. Out of 120 subjects tested serologically, 5 had positive serology for CD autoimmunity. Four of those subjects were HLA-DQ2-positive, and 1 subject was both HLA-DQ2 and DQ8-positive. From those with positive CD autoimmunity, 2 patients were biopsy-positive, 2 patients refused confirmatory biopsy, and 1 subject was biopsy-negative. Overall, 6 patients were identified as having biopsy proven-CD in our cohort of 124 patients, with a prevalence of 4.8. Although GI symptoms were very common in this series, 4 out of 5 subjects with positive serology were asymptomatic. Conclusion: Our study underlines the higher risk of CD in subjects with non-infectious OAD (around 5-fold greater prevalence in our series) compared to the general population. Identifying the presence of this association is critical because CD requires life-style modifying measures. Exclusion of gluten from the diet may help alleviate ocular symptoms without use of IMT, though further studies are needed. This study provides new epidemiological data and emphasizes the need of considering CD screening in patients with OAD without identified underlying etiology.

Nanoceria extend photoreceptor cell lifespan in tubby mice by modulation of apoptosis/survival signaling pathways

Cerium oxide nanoparticles, nanoceria, are inorganic antioxidants that have catalytic activities which mimic those of the neuroprotective enzymes superoxide dismutase and catalase. We have previously shown that nanoceria preserve retinal morphology and prevent loss of retinal function in a rat light damage model. In this study, the homozygous tubby mutant mouse, which exhibits inherited early progressive cochlear and retinal degeneration, was used as a model to test the ability of nanoceria to slow the progression of retinal degeneration. Tubby mice were injected systemically, intracardially, with 20μl of 1mM nanoceria in saline, at postnatal day 10 and subsequently at P20 and P30 whereas saline injected and uninjected wild type (or heterozygous tubby) served as injected and uninjected controls, respectively. Assays for retinal function, morphology and signaling pathway gene expression were performed on P34 mice. Our data demonstrate that nanoceria protect the retina by decreasing Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), up-regulating the expression of neuroprotection-associated genes; down-regulating apoptosis signaling pathways and/or up-regulating survival signaling pathways to slow photoreceptor degeneration. These data suggest that nanoceria have significant potential as global agents for therapeutic treatment of inherited retinal degeneration and most types of ocular diseases.

Ocular diseases of llamas: 194 cases (1980-1993)

Objective— To identify ocular and adnexal diseases to which llamas in North America are susceptible, to determine prevalence of these diseases in llamas, and to compare prevalences of the major ocular diseases of llamas, cattle, and horses. Design— Retrospective study. Animals— 194 llamas, 4,937 cows, and 11,950 horses with ocular disease. Procedure— Medical records of all llamas entered into the Veterinary Medical Database between 1980 and 1993 were reviewed. Data on ocular structures affected and types of ocular disease were compiled. Prevalences of uveitis, corneal ulcers, and ocular squamous cell carcinoma in llamas were compared with prevalences in cattle and horses. Results— 194 of 3,243 (6%) llamas had at least 1 ocular disease. The proportion of llamas that had ocular disease was significantly higher lhan the proportions of cattle or horses. The most frequently affected ocular structure in llamas was the cornea, and ulcerative keratitis was the most common comeal disease. The second most commonly affected structure was the uveal tract. Cataracts were reported in 20 (10%) of the llamas with ocular problems. Eyelid disorders, retinal diseases, glaucoma, and ocular or adnexal neoplasia were reported infrequently in llamas. Clinical Implications— Results suggest that corneal disease is common in llamas and is usually secondary to trauma. Uveitis may also be common in llamas, but llamas do not appear to be highly susceptible to glaucoma, ocular neoplasia, or to direct corneal invasion by bacteria such as Moraxefla sp. (J Am Vet Med Assoc 1997;210:1784–1787)

5.11 HIV and eye disease

Blindness is a threatening complication of HIV infection, but one that can be prevented by correct diagnosis and management of ocular disease. The general practitioner can play a vital role in diagnosis by being familiar with the types of ocular disease seen at different stages of HIV infection.

Experimental autoimmune posterior uveitis accompanied by epitheloid cell accumulations (EAPU). A new type of experimental ocular disease induced by immunization with PEP-65, a pigment epithelial polypeptide preparation

Purified retinal pigment epithelial cells of bovine eyes have been fractionated by a series of buffer and detergent extractions. The electropherogram of the buffer-insoluble, Triton X-100-soluble fraction (RPE-TS) exhibits a major polypeptide band of M r 65 kDa and a variety of minor components. Electrophoretically purified 65 kDa-band protein (PEP-65) is immunologically unrelated to the known uveitogenic photoreceptor proteins, to other neural retina proteins, and to PEP-X, the RPE-melaninbound uveitogenic antigen. An immunocytochemical study of eye tissues suggests that it is exclusively located in the RPE. Immunization of Lewis rats with PEP-65 or affinity-purified RPE-TS induces a new type of ocular disease: experimental autoimmune posterior uveitis accompanied by epitheloid cell accumulations (monocytes) adjacent to the RPE (EAPU). The disease starts 9 days after immunization, provided that pertussis toxin is used as co-adjuvant. The first clinical signs are transient flare and cells in the anterior chamber. Choroiditis develops, and epitheloid cells accumulate focally along one or both sides of the Bruch's membrane-RPE layer. Such foci resemble, in some respects, Dálen-Fuchs nodules which occur in human sympathetic ophthalmia. Areas of inflammation are frequently localized in the chorioretinal periphery adjacent to the pars plana. Vitreous cell infiltration is the most prominent clinical feature of EAPU. During at least 2 months, extending chorioretinal areas containing epitheloid cell collections remain while the adjacent photoreceptor cells sometimes disappear without being invaded by these cells. Retinal vasculitis is seldomly observed and pinealitis is absent. EAPU has the latter feature in common with PEP-X-induced experimental autoimmune anterior uveitis (EAAU). The two diseases differ from the various photoreceptor antigen-induced forms of EAU where pinealitis and inflammation of the neural retina are prominent features. However, just as in EAU and EAAU, EAPU can be adoptively transferred, and is inhibited by cyclosporin treatment suggesting T-cell dependency.

On New Types of Ocular Diseases

On New Types of Ocular Diseases