Daily disposable soft lens sagittal depth and other lens parameter changes measured at room temperature (20 °C) and on-eye temperature (34 °C).

PURPOSE: To investigate the differences in contact lens sagittal depth (CL-SAG), base curve (BC), and overall lens diameter (OAD) of daily disposable (DD) SCLs at room temperature (20 °C) and on-eye (34 °C) temperature. METHODS: Twelve different spherical daily SCLs were analyzed (labeled power -3.00 D) at 20 °C and 34 °C. The posterior CL-SAG, BC, and OAD were measured directly using a spectral domain OCT-based instrument (Optimec is830). RESULTS: The CL-SAG range for the daily disposable lenses measured at 20 °C was 3468-4016 µm. At 34 °C, the DD CL-SAG of all lenses individually decreased compared to 20 °C (t = 7.78, p < 0.001), ranging from 3385 to 3913 µm. On average at the higher temperature, the measured overall lens diameter was smaller (t = 8.18, p < 0.001) and the BC was marginally steeper (t = 2.11, p = 0.058). CONCLUSIONS: Soft lens parameters change when equilibrated from room temperature (20 °C) to on-eye temperature (34 °C). All lenses shrink when going to on-eye temperature (both lens diameter and CL-SAG decreases), compared to lenses measured at room temperature by ISO standards. Higher water content materials tend to have greater changes to the lens parameters compared to lower water content material lenses.

A text mining approach to categorize patient safety event reports by medication error type.

Patient safety reporting systems give healthcare provider staff the ability to report medication related safety events and errors; however, many of these reports go unanalyzed and safety hazards go undetected. The objective of this study is to examine whether natural language processing can be used to better categorize medication related patient safety event reports. 3,861 medication related patient safety event reports that were previously annotated using a consolidated medication error taxonomy were used to develop three models using the following algorithms: (1) logistic regression, (2) elastic net, and (3) XGBoost. After development, models were tested, and model performance was analyzed. We found the XGBoost model performed best across all medication error categories. 'Wrong Drug', 'Wrong Dosage Form or Technique or Route', and 'Improper Dose/Dose Omission' categories performed best across the three models. In addition, we identified five words most closely associated with each medication error category and which medication error categories were most likely to co-occur. Machine learning techniques offer a semi-automated method for identifying specific medication error types from the free text of patient safety event reports. These algorithms have the potential to improve the categorization of medication related patient safety event reports which may lead to better identification of important medication safety patterns and trends.

Variation in sag values in daily disposable, reusable and toric soft contact lenses.

PURPOSE: While knowledge of the ocular surface sagittal height (OC-SAG) is increasing with newer instrumentation, understanding of soft lens sag values (CL-SAG) in daily clinical practice is limited. This study aimed to report the differences in CL-SAG of a large collection of daily disposable (DD), reusable (2-week and 4-week replacement) and toric lens designs. METHODS: 12 different spherical DD and 15 reusable lens types were analysed (labelled power -3.00D); 17 different toric lens types analysed (6 DD and 11 reusable) in -3.00D =C 0.75 × 180. Posterior CL-SAG was measured directly using a spectral domain OCT-based instrument (Optimec is830). RESULTS: The range in CL-SAG for DDs was 3,398-3,912 microns, for reusable lenses 3,372-4,004 microns and for toric lenses 3,536-4,157 microns. Lens diameter and BC together influence CL-SAG values. For lenses with the same labelled base curve (BC), the maximum difference in the DD group was 264 microns, in the reusable group 418 microns and in the toric group 345 microns. Three lens designs within the DD group and five in the reusable group offer two BCs, with an average variation (±SD) in CL-SAG of 276 ± 39 microns; one toric lens with two BCs showed a 377-micron difference. CONCLUSIONS: Marked differences in CL-SAG values were found in this study, also between lenses of the same BC. While ECPs should be aware that diameter and BC together influence CL-SAG, this also indicates that lens substitution based on BC alone could result in substantial differences in CL-SAG, with a potential impact on lens fit. Lens designs offering two BCs showed a somewhat narrow band in absolute terms in CL-SAG, and switching from a spherical to a toric lens of the same lens manufacturer could result in a significant change in CL-SAG.

Induced cortical tension restores functional junctions in adhesion-defective carcinoma cells.

Normal epithelial cells are stably connected to each other via the apical junctional complex (AJC). AJCs, however, tend to be disrupted during tumor progression, and this process is implicated in cancer dissemination. Here, using colon carcinoma cells that fail to form AJCs, we investigated molecular defects behind this failure through a search for chemical compounds that could restore AJCs, and found that microtubule-polymerization inhibitors (MTIs) were effective. MTIs activated GEF-H1/RhoA signaling, causing actomyosin contraction at the apical cortex. This contraction transmitted force to the cadherin-catenin complex, resulting in a mechanosensitive recruitment of vinculin to cell junctions. This process, in turn, recruited PDZ-RhoGEF to the junctions, leading to the RhoA/ROCK/LIM kinase/cofilin-dependent stabilization of the junctions. RhoGAP depletion mimicked these MTI-mediated processes. Cells that normally organize AJCs did not show such MTI/RhoA sensitivity. Thus, advanced carcinoma cells require elevated RhoA activity for establishing robust junctions, which triggers tension-sensitive reorganization of actin/adhesion regulators.