Case Report of Anomalous Head Posture Correction with Low Vision Aid Using Virtual Reality

Purpose@#To report the successful rehabilitation of a patient with anomalous head posture by using a virtual reality low vision aid (VRLVA).Case summary: A 75-year-old male diagnosed with age-related macular degeneration 15 years prior presented with an anomalous head posture for eccentric viewing. He had central scotoma within the central 10 degrees, and the preferred retinal locus (PRL) was localized to the inferonasal retina. The patient underwent a training session on the use of the VRLVA, which has a remapping function to remap distorted images, and those falling on the scotoma, to another location on the screen. After explaining the purpose of the VRLVA, the patient was given the device to use at home for two weeks. At two weeks after training, the patient could look straight ahead when using the VRLVA, without anomalous head posture. In addition, reading performance, including speed and accuracy, improved; moreover, he experienced no device-related adverse events. @*Conclusions@#By using the VRLVA, low-vision patients with anomalous head posture can shift images falling on the central scotoma to the PRL, thereby minimizing their anomalous head posture and improving reading performance. We expect that future technological advances, such as a wearable design and the use of lightweight material, will further improve the performance and acceptability of the VRLVA.

Clinical Efficacy of Low Vision Aid Using Virtual Reality Device

Purpose@#To evaluate the clinical usefulness of a low vision aid using a virtual reality device (LVA-VR) in patients with low vision. @*Methods@#Forty low vision patients were enrolled in this prospective study. All subjects participated in a two-session LVA-VR training course. The binocular best-corrected distance, intermediate, and near visual acuities (BCDVA, BCIVA, and BCNVA, respectively) were measured, along with contrast sensitivity and reading performance, at baseline and after 2 weeks of LVA-VR use. All subjects also provided a self-rated functional score (SFS) and completed a satisfaction questionnaire following the study. @*Results@#Thirty-nine subjects (mean age, 54.6 ± 22.7 years) completed the study. Significant improvements in BCDVA, BCIVA, BCNVA, and contrast sensitivity were observed after 2 weeks of LVA-VR use (p < 0.001). Reading accuracy also improved significantly (p = 0.027); however, the reading speed did not change. Subject functionality improved, as indicated by the increase in the SFS (11.8 ± 4.5 vs. 19.6 ± 5.3) (p < 0.001). Most patients were satisfied with their visual function improvement and found LVA-VR to be useful in their daily activities. No device-related adverse events were observed or indicated. @*Conclusions@#This study suggests that LVA-VR is beneficial for visual rehabilitation. Future technological advances are expected to improve LVA-VR performance and acceptability further for a better quality of life in low vision patients.

Clinical Perceptions and Practice Patterns for Amblyopia in Korea

PURPOSE: We used a questionnaire to explore perceptions and clinical practice patterns of Korean pediatric ophthalmologists in terms of amblyopia.METHODS: From September to November 2018, we conducted a web-based questionnaire survey of 99 specialists of the Korean Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus who operated ophthalmology clinics in Korea. We received 56 responses (56.57%) and retrospectively analyzed the data.RESULTS: The average specialist age was 44.0 ± 9.7 years. The mean age of treated amblyopia patients was 3 to 5 years (69.6%); the most common amblyopia was refractive anisometropic amblyopia (75.0%). On average, treatment commenced at 4 years of age (53.6%); child and parent co-operation most significantly influenced treatment success (46.4%). The preferred test was cycloplegic refraction (96.4%) and the preferred treatment occlusion therapy (100%) with glasses correction (98.2%). Occlusion therapy was most commonly performed for 2 hours/day (69.6%); the minimum age for eyeglasses prescription was 2.10 ± 1.18 years. Only three respondents (5.36%) prescribed contact lenses and only one (1.79%) performed refractive surgery.CONCLUSIONS: In Korea, amblyopia treatment is based on occlusion therapy and glasses correction. However, the time of treatment commencement, the duration of occlusion therapy, and the glasses used for correction varied. It is necessary to develop guidelines for amblyopia treatment; these should reflect current medical conditions.

The Anti-fibrotic Effect of Nilotinib on Tenon's Capsule Fibroblasts in Vitro

PURPOSE: To evaluate the anti-fibrotic effects of nilotinib on the survival of cultured human Tenon's capsule fibroblasts (HTFs). METHODS: HTF primary cultures were obtained from samples following glaucoma surgery. Primarily cultured HTFs were exposed to 1, 5, 10, and 20 µM nilotinib for 24 hours. The effects of nilotinib on HTF proliferation and cell viability were determined using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazone-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay, and apoptosis was determined by flow cytometry using annexin-V/propidium iodide (PI) double staining. Apoptosis-related proteins were detected by western blotting. RESULTS: The MTT assay showed that nilotinib induced an inhibition of HTF proliferation at concentrations of 10 and 20 µM (p < 0.001 and p < 0.001, respectively). Annexin V/PI double staining showed significantly increased apoptosis in cells treated with nilotinib. Nilotinib activated caspase-3, -9, and poly adenosine diphosphate ribose polymerase cleavage, and downregulated the expression of B-cell lymphoma-extra large and Bax, which indicated that nilotinib-induced apoptosis was partly mediated through the mitochondrial pathway. In addition, treatment with nilotinib decreased the expression of α-smooth muscle actin and transforming growth factor-β. CONCLUSIONS: Nilotinib decreased cell survival of cultured HTFs and induced mitochondria-mediated apoptosis. The results suggested that nilotinib may exert antiproliferative effects on HTFs, making it a possible agent to control postoperative fibrosis in patients undergoing glaucoma surgery.

Development of high-performance liquid chromatography methods for the anticoccidials: toltrazuril and diclazuril

This study was undertaken to develop new analytical methods for assessment of anticoccidials. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was found to be a fast, reliable, and practical method. The anticoccidials used in this experiment were toltrazuril and diclazuril, and the analysis factors were specificity, linearity, accuracy, repeatability, and intermediate precision. The linearity of each anticoccidial was better than 0.99, and the accuracies were 99.5% and 99.1% with relative SD of 0.5 and 0.4, respectively. To assess whether the developed HPLC method could be effectively applied, toltrazuril and diclazuril post-market veterinary products (five products) that are currently sold were tested. The results revealed no non-compliant items and the method was applied successfully. Therefore, the newly developed HPLC method for anticoccidial assessment described in this study may be useful as a reference method in the Korean Standards of Veterinary Pharmaceuticals for the analysis of toltrazuril and diclazuril.

Development of Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay for Erythropoietin / 대한진단검사의학회지

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study was to optimize and establish erythropoietin (EPO) enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) system. METHODS: We prepared several monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies specific to human-EPO. The best combinations of antibodies for coating and detecting antibodies were selected for the establishment of ELISA. We tested several methods such as a competitive EIA and a sandwich ELISA. RESULTS: The best sandwich ELISA was optimized compared to competitive EIA when purified polyclonal antibody (PoAb) was used as a coating antibody and biotinylated PoAb as a detecting antibody. This sandwich ELISA easily detected EPO when PoAb pairs were used compared to the ELISA using monoclonal antibody and PoAb. There were no significant differences between the effects of various blocking solutions on the performance of sandwich ELISA using biotinylated antibody. The ELISA system using PBST containing 3% BSA as a blocking solution can sensitively detect EPO (10 mU/mL) in a broad range of EPO concentrations (10-2,000 mU/mL) and there were cross-reactions with other cytokines). CONCLUSIONS: EPO can be easily determined by using biotinylated PoAb as a detecting antibody and another PoAb as a coating antibody.