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Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of amblyopia treatment through a smartphone?based anaglyph system by virtual reality (VR) in adult patients. Methods: A total of 10 subjects diagnosed with anisometropic amblyopia were enrolled during the study period. Best Corrected Visual Acuity (BCVA), stereoacuity, and contrast acuity were evaluated during three visits (at presentation, 3 months and 6 months) of smartphone?based anaglyph video run in the VR mode. All the amblyogenic factors including stereopsis, color vision, and contrast acuity were compared using Friedman two?way analysis of variance. Statistical significance was considered if P < 0.05. Results: Mean BCVA in amblyopic eye improved significantly from a logMAR value of 0.73 ± 0.64 before Virtual reality vision therapy (VRVT) to a post?training VRVT value of 0.48 ± 0.44 (P < 0.01). Mean stereoacuity changed from a value of 560.00 ± 301.58 before VRVT to a value of 263.00 ± 143.58 seconds of arc after training (VRVT) (P < 0.01). Mean accommodation changes from a value of 15.00 ± 7.40 before training or VRVT to value of 12.60 ± 6.10 cm after training (P < 0.01). Mean contrast acuity changes from a value of 1.21 ± 0.72 at presentation to a value of 1.52 ± 0.49 log unit after VRVT. Conclusion: A smartphone?based anaglyph system using VR vision therapy appears to be an effective treatment option for amblyopia in adults.
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Purpose: To find the association between reduced best?corrected visual acuity and non?pathologic components after optical correction in individuals with low to high myopia. Methods: Myopic children under 16 years of age were reviewed using electronic medical records and the following data were extracted and recorded: participant’s age, gender, uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA), manifest refraction, and best corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Spherical equivalent and cylinder were classified into low, moderate, and high categories based on the magnitude range. Similarly, astigmatism was defined into with?the?rule, against?the?rule, and oblique based on the location of the steepest meridian. Reduced BCVA was defined when the decimal visual acuity was less than 0.66 (equivalent to Snellen’s acuity of 6/9 or 20/30). Logistic regression was performed to test the factors associated with reduced visual acuity after optical correction in the absence of myopic pathologic changes. Statistical significance was considered if P < 0.05. Results: Overall 44.9% (N = 242/538) of myopes had reduced best?corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and none of the patients had pathologic myopic lesions. Using logistic regression, we found that high spherical refraction (OR 27.98, 95% CI 14.43–54.25, P < 0.001) and moderate spherical refraction (OR 5.52, 95% CI 2.56–11.91, P < 0.001) were significantly associated with reduced best corrected visual acuity despite any pathological lesions. Additionally, oblique and ATR astigmatism were associated with reduced visual acuity in myopic children with (OR 2.05, 95% CI 0.77–5.42) and (OR 1.59, 95% CI 0.82–3.08). Conclusion: Higher magnitude of refractive error components causes reduced visual acuity in the absence of pathologic changes.
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Purpose: To investigate the knowledge of myopia and its natural history including complications and clinical approaches for management adopted by optometrists across India. Methods: An online survey was distributed to Indian optometrists. A pre?validated questionnaire was adopted from previous literature. Respondents provided information about their demographics (gender, age, practice location, and modality), myopia knowledge, self?reported practice behaviors relating to childhood myopia, the information and evidence base used to guide their practice, and perceived extent of adult caregiver engagement in making management decisions for myopic children. Results: A total of 302 responses were collected from different regions of the country. Most respondents demonstrated knowledge of the association between high myopia and retinal breaks, retinal detachment and primary open?angle glaucoma. Optometrists used a range of techniques to diagnose childhood myopia, with a preference for non?cycloplegic refractive measures. The most common approaches to management were single?vision distance despite most optometrists identifying orthokeratology and low?dose (0.01%) topical atropine as two potentially more effective therapeutic interventions for controlling childhood myopia progression. Almost 90% of respondents considered increasing the time spent outdoors to be beneficial for reducing the rate of myopia progression. The main sources of information used to guide clinical practice were continuing education conferences, seminars, research articles, and workshops. Conclusion: Indian optometrists appear to be aware of emerging evidence and practices, but are not routinely adopting measures. Clinical guidelines, regulatory approval, and sufficient consultation time may be of value for assisting practitioners in making clinical decisions based on the current available research evidence
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Fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the thyroid is a well-tolerated minimally invasive procedure. Thyroid abscess, as a complication of FNA in an immune-competent adult, is extremely rare. Diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion, for which treatment is intravenous antibiotics, drainage, and sometimes surgery. Here we present a case of thyroid abscess in an otherwise healthy man who presented with neck pain, rapidly increasing neck swelling, difficulty in swallowing, and hoarseness of the voice that developed two weeks after diagnostic FNA of a thyroid nodule which had been present for ten months. Despite antibiotic treatment, the abscess ruptured into the trachea, requiring surgical intervention. This highlights the importance of maintaining asepsis during FNA of the thyroid. Timely diagnosis of a thyroid abscess is essential to avoid life-threatening airway complications.
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Purpose: To analyze the refractive shift during off?the?axis retinoscopy under cycloplegic drugs in myopic patients during ocular examination. Methods: Prospective cross?sectional study was carried out among 10 myopic patients having refractive errors of ?3.00 D or less. All the subjects underwent cycloplegic refraction by a single examiner at 0°, 10°, and 20°. Descriptive data were analyzed as mean and standard deviation. Paired t?test was used to compare the mean differences between on?axis (0°) and off?axis (10° and 20°) retinoscopy. Result: The mean spherical equivalent refraction of 10 myopic patients showed an increase in myopic shift with approximately 7% and 18% for 10° and 20° of eccentricity, respectively. Similarly, the mean spherical equivalent measure on axis (0°) and off axis (10° and 20°) were ?2.5495, ?2.737, and ?3.0265, respectively. The mean spherical equivalent differences between on?axis (0°) and off?axis (10° and 20°) showed statistically significant differences with P < 0.05. Conclusion: This study concluded that a greater degree of eccentricity will induce a greater amount of errors in retinoscopy
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We performed bibliometric analysis of the research papers published on clinical cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) in the last 50 years. We extracted bibliometric data from Scopus and PubMed from 1970 to 2020 pertaining to clinical studies of CSM. The predominant journals, top cited articles, authors, and countries were identified using performance analysis. Science mapping was also performed to reveal the emerging trends, and conceptual and social structures of the authors and countries. Bibliometrix R-package was deployed for the study. The total numbers of clinical studies available in PubMed and Scopus were 1,302 and 3,470, respectively. The most cited article was published by Hilibrand AS, as observed in Scopus. Regarding the conceptual structure of the research, two main research themes were identified, one involving symptomatology, scientific-scale-based objective evaluation of symptoms, and surgical removal of the offending culprit, while the other was based on patho-etiology, relevant diagnostic modalities, and the surgery commonly performed for CSM. In terms of emerging trends, in recent times there is an increasing trend of scale-based objective evaluations, along with investigations of advanced nonoperative management. The United States is the most productive country, whereas Canada tops the list for inter-country collaboration. The trend of research showed a shift toward noninvasive procedures.
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Abstract Ischemic postconditioning (IPTC) brings cardioprotection endogenously, Atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) produces the same effect. It happens due to down expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Thus, experimental protocol associating IPTC has been formulated to find the role of ANP in the cardioprotection of heart in OVX rats. For this experiment, heart was isolated from OVX rat and held tightly on Langendorff's apparatus in a manner that ischemia of 30 min and reperfusion of 120 min were also given. Simultaneously, IPTC with four cycles of 5 min ischemia and 5 min reperfusion of each was applied. Parameters like size of myocardial infarct, levels of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and release of creatine kinase- MB (CK-MB) in coronary effluent were noted after each stage of experiment for ensuring the extent of myocardial injury. Some significant changes were also seen in the histopathology of cardiovascular tissues. The cardio-protection has been made by four cycles of IPTC. It was confirmed by decline in the size of myocardial infarct. It diminishes the release of LDH and CK-MB in heart of OVX rat. Thus, IPTC induces cardio-protection in the isolated heart from OVX rat. Perfusion of ANP associating with IPTC favors the cardioprotection which is further confirmed by rise in the NO release and heart rate. The level of myocardial damage changes using IPTC, IPTC+OVX, IPTC+OVX+ANP, IPTC+ OVX+ANP+L-NAME and other groups were observed significantly and were found to be less than those in I/R control group. Thus, it is recommended that ANP involving IPTC restores attenuated cardio-protection in OVX rat heart. Therefore, Post-conditioning is useful in various clinical aspects.
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Coleus forskohlii is an important ancient root drug of Indian origin, commonly known as gander in indian ayurvedic system of medicine. A lot of research work has been done on Coleus forskohlii regarding various cardiovascular disorders but no work has been done to find out its cardioprotective activity. Wistar albino rats were divided into five main groups having 5 animal each: Group 1 termed as Normal control (NC) received 0.5ml of normal saline throughout experimental period and served as control. Group 2 termed as Isoprenaline group (ISO) received 0.5ml of normal saline for 28 day and received Isoprenaline (85mg/kg, s.c.) on 29th and 30th day at an interval of 24 hours. Group 3 termed as Standard group (STD) received Metoprolol (pure) (10 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 28 day and received Isoprenaline (85mg/kg, s.c.) on 29th and 30th day at an interval of 24 hours. Group 4 termed as Test group 1 (TG 1) & Group 5 termed as Test group 2 (TG 2) received Coleus forskohlii (50 mg/kg/day, p.o.) (100 mg/kg/day, p.o.) for 28 day and received Isoprenaline (85mg/kg, s.c.) on 29th and 30th day at an interval of 24 hours respectively. The experiment was terminated on 31st day and animal were sacrificed by cervical decapitation after an overnight fast. Blood was collected for estimation of biochemical parameter and heart was dissected out for grading, heart/weight ratio and histopathological examination.the the level of marker enzyme in serum as AST, ALT, LDH, CK, Troponin-I were significantly decreased (P<0.001) in rats pretreated with Coleus forskohlii when compared to that of group which received isoprenaline alone. Further, histopathological examination showed the reduction of necrosis, edema and inflammation following Coleus forskohlii pretreatment. Based on present findings, it is concluded that Coleus forskohliil may be a potential preventive and therapeutic agent against the myocardial necrosis associated ischemic heart disease.
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Management of anal cancer is a challenge. The goal of treatment is to eradicate tumor without sacrificing the anal sphincters. The idea of organ preservation emerged following the discovery of a high complete response rate from preoperative combined chemoradiation [CRT] prior to abdominoperineal resection. CRT is widely accepted as the standard therapy for treating anal squamous cell cancer. The combination of external beam radiotherapy with interstitial brachytherapy increases the dose to the tumor volume and decreases dose to normal tissues. The current goal is to avoid colostomy, and surgery has become a salvage or secondary therapy. In this article, we review the non-surgical management of anal cancer with special emphasis on CRT, role of intensity modulated radiation therapy and brachytherapy