Nutrition interventions and clinical outcomes of pregnant women with gestational diabetes mellitus: More than meets the eye.

In the retrospective study by Luo et al regarding clinical outcomes in gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), the results are statistically significant in favour of the benefits of individualized nutrition interventions enumerated therein. The study has provided important evidence to improve maternal and child health in the Asian population. The methods, however, appear to have considerable limi-tations, wherein the time point of diagnosis of GDM, severity of GDM, selection bias, compliance to therapy, important maternal covariates, observable microvascular abnormalities and the confounding effect of added insulin have not been considered. We have provided suggestions to improve the external validity of the study, including the use of Equator Network reporting guidelines and inclusion of overweight and obese patients in future studies.

A randomized controlled trial to assess safety and efficacy between terminal chop, stop and chop, and direct chop.

PURPOSE: The goal in developing new techniques of cataract surgery is to provide a safer, more efficient surgical experience with the lowest complication rate and endothelial cell loss. We compared the efficiency and safety of stop-and-chop, direct chop, and the novel terminal chop techniques of nuclear fragmentation for cataracts grade II-V. METHODS: We conducted a prospective randomized clinical trial comparing three different techniques of phacoemulsification, namely, stop-and-chop, direct chop, and terminal chop to assess any differences between them and to establish whether any one method was superior to the others. The pre- and postoperative parameters studied, included central corneal thickness (CCT), ultrasonic time (UST), endothelial cell density (CD), cell loss and effective phacoemulsification time (EPT), average cumulative dissipative energy (CDE), and best-corrected visual acuity, among others. RESULTS: 307 eyes were recruited to the study, 102 were recruited to the stop-and-chop group, 103 to the direct chop group, and 102 to the terminal chop group. Statistical differences were found between the techniques with regard to postoperative CCT among NS II (P. 0001) and NS IV cataracts (P = .005) with the lowest values in the terminal chop group among NS II, NS III, and NS IV cataracts. Endothelial cell loss was minimum with a terminal chop in NS II (P = .018) and NS IV cataracts (P = .245). CDE was minimum in terminal chop across different cataract densities. CONCLUSION: Terminal chop showed improvement over the other two techniques in terms of CDE and was comparable to them with regard to other parameters.

Axenfeld-Reiger syndrome: A search for the missing links.

BACKGROUND: Axenfeld-Rieger syndrome (ARS) is a rare cause of congenital glaucoma and may result in loss of vision. ARS is mostly autosomal dominant in nature characterized by developmental abnormalities in the angle of anterior chamber and iris of the eye, also associated with structural abnormalities in the body. AIM: To study and observe the demographics and clinical findings in a very rare ocular disease known as ARS. METHODS: Case records of symptomatic patients attending Ophthalmology outpatient department and diagnosed to have ocular hypertension or glaucoma in 3 years from March 2017 to March 2020 were evaluated to search for cases diagnosed with ARS. Records of all patients diagnosed with ARS were then analysed for demographic and clinical characterization as well as management and success of therapy. RESULTS: Eight out of ten patients with positive clinical signs were symptomatic and had glaucoma. One of these patients had limbal stem cell deficiency and another had vernal keratoconjunctivitis. CONCLUSION: Clinical characterization of ARS is important for making a definitive diagnosis and determining prognosis.