Klebsiella Endogenous Endophthalmitis During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Purpose: To describe the characteristics of Klebsiella pneumoniae endogenous endophthalmitis (KEE) encountered during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This retrospective consecutive case series evaluated eyes that presented with KEE between March 2020 and July 2022. Results: Seven eyes of 5 patients developed KEE. Between January 2020 and July 2022, KEE was observed in 42% of consecutive EE cases compared with 7.8% during the preceding 13 years. COVID-19 was positive in 4 of 5 patients before they developed KEE. Only 1 patient presented with a VA better than hand motions (20/400). All eyes were treated with urgent vitrectomy and intravitreal and systemic antibiotics. No improvement in vision occurred in any patient;VA remained light perception to no light perception in 60% of eyes. Conclusions: The visual prognosis in KEE is extremely poor. The presence of a preceding COVID-19 infection in 80% of patients may signal a new risk factor for KEE. Patients with a hypervirulent Klebsiella syndrome should be routinely screened for EE. © The Author(s) 2023.

Smart Contracts For NGOs and Startups using Blockchain

This paper proposes and emphasizes the requirement of an Blockchain based smart contract for NGO's and startup crowdfunding in the present circumstances. It also highlights the need of an online financial system for indigenous NGO's and seed fund utilization of startups. Conventionally, most charity organizations make use of hard cash for settling its transactions making the process less transparent. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, financial system has been largely affected. In this case an online financial transaction cum procurement portal would be crucial for the candidates applying relief in remote locations. The system analyses their eligibility based on their Curriculum Vitae (CV). Proposed system uses Ethereum based smart contract and Truffle Box to build a complete Dapp (decentralized application). Authors have used MetaMask Extension as a cryptocurrency wallet and Ganache blockchain to develop, deploy and test the decentralized application. © 2022 IEEE.

Community Based Eye Screenings Using Retinal and OCT-B Combination Imaging in Glaucoma During COVID-19

Purpose : Retinal imaging is the gold standard in tele-ophthalmology. Limitations in twodimensional imaging can lead to poor triage or unnecessary clinical referrals, especially during COVID-19. Combined retinal imaging with Optical Coherence Tomography-B scan (OCT-B) in detecting vision threatening diseases (VTDs) such as glaucoma in communitybased screenings adds a third dimension to subject data. Methods : A non-mydriatic Topcon 3D Maestro1 imaging system was deployed in this pilot study to screen 120 subjects (43.3% male, mean age 55.1) in community-based screenings. Measurements of vertical cup-to-disc ratio (VCDR), nerve fiber layer (NFL) thickness and macular and ganglion cell layer (GCL) thickness were collected along with color retinal images by the Maestro1. Visual acuity and intraocular pressures (IOP) were obtained as part of the screening protocol. Four types of OCTs were acquired: 78.33% 3D Wide, 13.33% 3D Macula, 5.83% 3D Disc, and 2.51% 5-Line Cross. An on-site certified reader (CR) interpreted results and provided consultation follow-up to a remote ophthalmic subspecialist. Results : Of 222 eyes, OCT-B confirmed follow-up in 86.94%. 88.3% of subjects had referable eye pathology: 23.33% to general or specialty eye clinic and 65% to telemedicine. CR glaucoma referral based on OCT-B scan, VCDR and NFL defects was compared to OCT-B referral based on VCDR ≥0.65. Cohen's kappa was 0.546 with 30% disagreement. Compared to CR, OCT-B generated VCDR had a 91.1% specificity and 42.3% sensitivity in detecting glaucoma. VCDR, IOP, NFL, and GCL measurements were significantly correlated with CR glaucoma referral (p<0.05). Only VCDR, NFL, and GCL were significantly correlated with Maestro 1 glaucoma referral (p<0.05). Conclusions : OCT-B images provide valuable added diagnostic information about referrals in glaucoma. Its ability to capture greater depth of information about the eye, such as NFL and GCL measurements, compared to traditional two-dimensional retinal photography, warrants consideration for OCT-B as a replacement for non-mydriatic retinal photography as the gold standard in ophthalmic diagnostics. Further studies can investigate the utility trend analysis of OCT-B in predicting VTD's progression over time.

Utility of Remote Point-Of-Care Tele-Retinal Imaging for Screening and Diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy: A Pilot Study

Purpose : In the COVID-19 era, tele-retinal technologies are rising to the forefront of contactless ophthalmic care. Point-of-care Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) and fundus photography remotely analyzed by an off-site retina specialist (tele-R) must be validated for screening retinal disorders. This study assesses the feasibility of tele-R as a screening tool for diabetic retinopathy (DR) in an outpatient clinical setting. Methods : A retrospective study was conducted on 16 patients (32 eyes, 28 with DR, and 4 controls) presenting to the retina clinic (RC) of an urban academic medical center. Automated OCT-B and 45 fundus photographs of the posterior pole were taken using a Topcon Maestro 3D OCT-1 unit, and 3D topographical maps of the macula were generated. Images were transmitted to a remote retina specialist (blinded to patient history and demographics) who assessed severity of DR and diabetic macular edema (DME). Primary outcomes included grading of DR and DME with fundus and OCT-B images, respectively, using the International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy classification scale. The secondary outcome was identifying the severity grade of DME using the 3D macular map. Concordance was tested between diagnoses obtained from tele-R assessment and in-person examination by the retina specialist (gold standard) using Cohen's Kappa statistic (κ). Eyes that could not be assessed were removed from analysis. Results : 30 of 32 eyes with sufficient data for analysis were included. The average age was 57.9 (±11.2) years. 37% of patients were male, 69% were Hispanic, and 94% had Type 2 diabetes. The κ±standard error (SE) for DR severity was 0.738±0.099 (p<0.001), for DME severity was 0.588±0.122 (p<0.001), and for presence of DME was 0.727±0.122 (p<0.001). The retina specialist was able to grade the DME severity in only 10/14 (71%) eyes using the 3D macular map alone, but in 93% (13/14) eyes with OCT-B images. Conclusions : Tele-R is a reliable modality for diagnosis of DR severity;there was substantial agreement on identifying DR severity using tele-R vs in-person examination. There was substantial agreement in discerning DME using tele-R vs in-person while only moderate agreement on determining the severity of DME, which suggests that tele-R may useful in identifying presence of DME but not determining the severity of edema.

Use of Resident Tele-Ophthalmic Diagnosis to Aid in Management of VisionCompromising Retinal Pathology

Purpose : In recent years, innovations in tele-ophthalmology have shown promise in providing quality ophthalmic care to patients in low-access settings and high-risk environments such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Emergency departments and urgent centers may benefit from tele-ophthalmology applications;the tele-images can be sent to the covering ophthalmologist or, to another ED for evaluation of images prior to transferring the patient. In this study, we aimed to assess the ability of resident physicians to identify features of posterior-pole retinal pathology using teleophthalmology. Methods : Retrospective study on 16 patients (32 eyes;30 with retinal pathology and 2 controls) who presented to a retina clinic at an academic medical center. Automated OCT-B images with 3D topographic maps and fundus photographs of the posterior pole using a Topcon Maestro 3D OCT-1 unit were taken. Images were transmitted remotely to a resident physician who attempted to identify retina pathology using fundus photography and OCT. The same images were consequently evaluated by a retina specialist for grading. We then tested the concordance between diagnoses rendered via tele-OCT by the resident physician and the gold standard clinical examination (performed by the retina specialist) using Cohen's Kappa statistic (κ). Results : An overall average of 79.9% concordance for 69 potential findings was obtained between the retina attending's diagnosis with clinical examination and the resident physician's diagnosis using tele-OCT/fundus images based on Cohen's Kappa statistic (κ). The concordance was lower in eyes with vitreous hemorrhage most likely due to the inferior quality fundus and OCT-B images. The resident exam also identified the presence of any macular pathology in all 30 eyes with macular pathology and correctly identified the controls, indicating 100% sensitivity for identifying abnormal findings using tele OCT/fundus images. Conclusions : This study verifies the utility of resident screening of tele-OCT fundus and OCT-B images to identify retinal pathology. Tele-ophthalmology likely has a useful role in triaging retinal pathology whose outcomes could be affected by timely intervention. Many unnecessary emergency transfers may be avoided if the on-call ophthalmology residents are able to review the fundus and OCT images before hand.

Agreeability of Tele-ophthalmology and Artificial Intelligence-Based Diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy

Purpose : The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the need for increased mobilization of teleophthalmology resources. Artificial intelligence (AI) may serve as a tool to assist physicians in triaging highest need patients if the AI's assessment of disease is comparable to the physician's assessment. This study assesses the ability of AI software to diagnose diabetic retinopathy (DR) as compared to Tele-ophthalmology and in-person examination by a retina specialist. Methods : Records of forty patients (average age 55.1±10.9 years) presenting to an urban retina clinic were reviewed retrospectively for factors including demographics, retinal photos taken by Canon CR-2 Plus AF Retinal Imaging camera (Tokyo, Japan), and diagnosis of DR based on the International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy (ICDR) classification scale during an in-person clinic visit in which a fundus exam was performed. Retinal photos were graded by AI software, EyeArt (EyeNuk, CA), as Normal, Mild DR, or More than Mild DR. Retinal images were also graded remotely by a retina specialist using the ICDR classification scale via TeamViewer software (Tele). Agreement between Tele, AI, and inperson DR diagnosis was assessed using Cohen's Kappa (κ) coefficient using IBM® SPSS® Statistics software. Results : Among 80 eyes, 33 were diagnosed in-person with no DR, 5 with mild nonproliferative DR (NPDR), 9 with moderate NPDR, 3 with severe NPDR, 7 with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), and 23 with regressed PDR. Eleven and 26 eyes could not be graded by Tele or AI, respectively. κ±SE for in-Person diagnosis vs Tele was 0.859±0.058 (p<.001), in-person vs AI was 0.751±0.082 (p<.001), and Tele vs AI was 0.883±0.063 (p<.001). Conclusions : AI is a reliable tool for screening patients for DR and referring them for physician evaluation since AI had a substantial rate of agreement with the in-person diagnosis and near perfect agreement with Tele. Tele grading was in near perfect agreement with the in-person diagnosis, showing that Tele is a reliable option for a physician to remotely screen patients that may be ungradable by AI. However, improvements are needed due to the high number of images that are ungradable via Tele and AI. Further studies should assess ways to reduce the number of ungradable images via Tele and AI and create a trend analysis for multiple visits for a given patient.

Sensitivity of tele-ophthalmic diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy when performed by resident physicians

Purpose : During the Covid-19 era, understanding the benefits and limitations of tele-ophthalmology has become increasingly important. In this study, we aim to assess the accuracy of tele-ophthalmic diagnosis of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema (DME) when performed by resident physicians. Methods : Retrospective study on 16 patients (32 eyes;28 DR and 4 controls) who presented to a retina clinic at an academic medical center. Automated OCT-B images with 3D topographic maps and fundus photographs of the posterior pole using a Topcon Maestro 3D OCT-1 unit were taken. Images were transmitted remotely to a resident physician who assessed the severity of the DR and DME on the basis of the fundus photographs and OCT. The same images were transmitted to a retina specialist for grading. Primary outcomes included DR and DME grade as defined by the International Clinical Diabetic Retinopathy classification scale. We then tested the concordance between diagnoses rendered via tele-OCT by the resident compared to the retina attending's remote diagnosis and the gold standard retina specialist's clinical examination using Cohen's Kappa statistic (κ). Results : Agreement between ophthalmology residents and attendings on tele-OCT diagnosis of DR was substantial (78% concordance on presence and 75% on severity), while agreement on identifying and grading edema was moderate (60% concordance on DME presence and 52% concordance on overall DME severity). Detection of DR by residents via tele-retinal imaging is highly sensitive (100% sensitivity), while detection of DME is highly specific (79-95% specificity). Discordance between residents and attendings on DME grading may owe to differences in opinion regarding what constitutes mild edema versus no edema;however, both concordance and predictive accuracy increase when identifying patients with moderate to severe DME. Conclusions : This study provides proof of principle for the sensitivity and specificity for remote diagnosis of DR via tele-OCT fundus and OCT-B images. This technology may be useful in identifying patients at risk of severe vision loss and enable early detection of patients who need referral for prompt treatment. These findings may be particularly relevant to training programs looking to implement tele-retinal diabetic screening or using tele-OCT where prompt access to a retina specialist may not be possible.

PhishGuard-An Automatic Web Phishing Detection System

People are being compelled to adopt a "work from home"strategy because of the COVID-19 outbreak. In today's world, the Internet has evolved into a powerful tool for social connection. People's reliance on digital platforms creates opportunities for deception. Phishing websites are one of the types of internet security issues that target human vulnerabilities rather than software flaws. It is defined as the act of impersonating someone else to steal sensitive information such as usernames and passwords from online users. In this research, we provide an intelligent system for identifying phishing websites that work as an extension to an internet browser and automatically warn the user when a phishing website is detected. © 2022 IEEE.

Comprehensive tele-ophthalmology screening in vision threatening diseases during COVID-19

Purpose : Vision Threatening Diseases (VTD) (age-related macular degeneration [AMD], cataract, diabetic retinopathy [DR], and glaucoma) account for 37% of all blindness. Screening and follow-up are crucial in preserving vision. During COVID-19, clinics reduced access, using telemedicine for diagnosis and follow-ups. The efficacy of remote screening and triage in the management of single or multiple VTDs was evaluated. Methods : We screened 41 subjects (19-85 years, 37% male, 17% Caucasian) (20 controls, 21 subjects). Demographics, 45-degree retinal photos, ganglion cell complex (GCC), and optic nerve head (ONH) images were collected using a non-contact puff-tonometer, nonmydriatic retinal camera, and an OCTA. Demographics and images were transmitted to two readers (onsite telemedicine screener [TS] and remote ophthalmologist [RO]) for triage. Triage was categorized: immediate referral to specialist, follow-up in person via clinic or telemedicine visit, or no follow-up necessary during COVID. Results : TS made 19 referrals (46%), 6 in person follow-ups (15%), 15 no follow-ups (37%);RO made 17 referrals (41%), 2 in person follow-ups (5%), 22 no follow-ups (54%). TS identified 12 subjects as possible VTD(s) while RO identified 11 subjects. TS and RO agreed on 8 glaucoma, 7 cataract, 3 DR, and 3 and 2 AMD cases, respectively. Glaucoma was identified using IOPs, retinal fundoscopy, and OCT imaging. Mean intraocular pressures were 12.9 and 15.7 (OD, OS) in glaucoma and 14.2 and 14.0 in controls. Fundoscopy was used for overall retinal health while OCT images were used to analyze GCC, ONH, nerve fiber layer, cup to disc ratio, and anterior chamber angles. AMD and DR were identified by fundoscopy and OCT imaging. 11 of the subjects were known clinic patients;both RO and TS referred all 11 to specialty clinics, matching the in-person clinic management. Conclusions : During the COVID pandemic, triaging patients can minimize person-toperson contact and help control the spread of the virus. Both readers agreed on the management and triage of a variety of patients with TS and RO differing only on 2 referrals and 4 in person follow-ups. Telemedicine is a promising alternative to in-person patient care for management and triage of vision threatening diseases. Further enrollment and follow-up are needed to increase robustness.

Internet search engine queries on blue light glasses in the united states

Purpose : Many retailers advertise eyeglasses that filter out blue light from digital devices to prevent eye problems, despite the lack of scientific evidence and contradictory claims that blue light from digital devices cause any eye disease. Patients use search engines to learn about topics such as blue light filtering eyeglasses that are advertised or offered to them. In this study, we characterize the Google search term frequency patterns for insight into the increasing popularity of blue light filtering eyeglasses. Methods : We conducted a retrospective search query analysis using Google Trends (GT) for the search term blue light glasses, and glasses as a control. Queries were restricted to web search queries in all categories by Google users in the United States (US), from January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2020. GT search term interest over time is provided as relative query frequency (RQF), which is the interest relative to the peak popularity of the search term for the given region and time period. Results : There is a pattern of exponentially increased searches for blue light glasses since December 2015, with peak popularity in September 2020. The increased RQF in January 2019 (26) and April 2020 (71) may correlate with the total lunar eclipse in the US on January 20-21, 2019, and the start of the Covid-19 pandemic that had many people transition to using digital devices for work and school from home, respectively. The September 2020 peak popularity may correlate with the beginning of the academic year. The GT pattern for the search term glasses was analyzed to determine if the dates of the increased RQFs for blue light glasses corresponded to similar dates for glasses. GT showed a positive linear trend in searches for glasses, with peak popularity in August 2017, which may be associated with the total solar eclipse in the US on August 21, 2017. Conclusions : Although there is a lack of evidence that blue light from digital devices cause eye disease and that blue light filtering eyeglasses can prevent these eye problems, there is a trend of increasing searches for blue light glasses over time. Retailers increasingly continue to advertise and sell blue light filtering eyeglasses;ophthalmologists should be aware of this trend and educate their patients and the public on the lack of evidence for such eyeglasses, and instead focus on healthy habits that can help prevent eye strain from using digital devices.