Association of vitamin B6 intake with the risk and prognosis of diabetic retinopathy: a NHANES-based study.

CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Investigating the role of dietary vitamin B6 intake in the risk and prognosis of diabetic retinopathy (DR) could facilitate the management of DR. BACKGROUND: This study aimed to assess the association between dietary vitamin B6 intake and the risk of DR and further explore the association between vitamin B6 intake and mortality in patients with DR. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study gained data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2005-2006 and 2007-2008. The intake of dietary vitamin B6 was assessed by two 24-h dietary recall interviews. Mortality information in the National Death Index was recorded from the date of survey participation through 31 December 2019. Multivariate regression analyses were employed to assess the association between vitamin B6 intake and the risk of DR, and the association between vitamin B6 intake and the risk of mortality in patients with DR. RESULTS: A total of 5559 subjects were included, of which 693 (12.47%) had DR. Among these patients with DR, 429 (61.90%) were survivors. Multivariate analyses showed that the intake of vitamin B6 was negatively associated with the risk of DR (odds ratio = 0.81, 95% confidence level: 0.69-0.95, p = 0.012), and patients with DR with an increased intake of vitamin B6 had a significantly decreased risk of all-cause death (hazard ratio = 0.81, 95% confidence level: 0.66-0.99, p = 0.041) or cardiovascular disease-related death (hazard ratio = 0.76, 95% confidence level: 0.58-0.98, p = 0.037). CONCLUSION: The intake of vitamin B6 was negatively associated with the risk of DR, and in patients with DR, a higher intake of vitamin B6 was associated with a lower risk of all-cause death and cardiovascular disease-related death, indicating the possible protective role of increased vitamin B6 intake.

Quantitative assessment of textural features in the early detection of diabetic retinopathy with optical coherence tomography angiography.

The diagnostic power of the textural features and fractal dimension (FD) for early detection of diabetic retinopathy (DR) were quantitatively evaluated with optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA). 41 normal healthy OD eyes (age: 46.41 ± 13.69), and 10 diabetic OD eyes (age: 60.90 ± 13.46) in the early stages of DR (mild or moderate non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR)) were employed. Four retinal vascular plexuses including nerve fiber layer vascular plexus (NFLVP), superficial vascular plexus (SVP), intermediate capillary plexus (ICP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP) were generated by using OCTA. The FD and the five textural features including contrast, correlation, entropy, energy, and homogeneity in four parafoveal sectors were extracted from OCTA images. The factor of aging on textural features and FD was evaluated based on the comparisons among five normal healthy subgroups. Our results showed that FD in superior sector of NFLVP and in nasal sector of ICP had the significant decreases when comparing the older healthy subgroup (age range: 60-69) with the younger healthy subgroup (age range: 20-29). Our results also indicated that the correlation did not show the significant differences in all sectors of the four retinal sublayers among the normal healthy subgroups except in the temporal sector in NFLVP. Furthermore, our results indicated that the correlation in nasal and inferior sectors in SVP can effectively differentiate diabetic patients in early stages of DR from normal healthy subjects with the highest AUROC values. In our study, the specific textural feature - correlation can effectively stage the early DR, which may contribute to the diagnosis of DR in clinic practice.

Clinical Study on the Differential Diagnosis of High Myopia Astigmatism and Subclinical Keratoconus in Adolescents by Pentacam Anterior Segment Analyzer.

To explore the clinical value of Pentacam anterior segment analyzer in differential diagnosis of high myopia astigmatism and subclinical keratoconus in adolescents. The study included 100 teenagers with ophthalmic diseases treated at our hospital between July 2015 and August 2021, including 58 individuals with simple high myopia astigmatism (73 eyes in the simple high myopia astigmatism group) and 42 teenagers with subclinical keratoconus (51 eyes in the subclinical keratoconus group). The corneal parameters of the two groups were measured with a Pentacam anterior segment analyzer, and we compared the thinnest corneal thickness, anterior (posterior) vertex height of the thinnest point of the cornea, index of vertical asymmetry (IVA), index of height descent (IHD), and the average corneal pachymetric progression index. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was drawn to evaluate the value of various parameters and combined diagnostic factor Y in the differential diagnosis of high myopia astigmatism and subclinical keratoconus. The thinnest region of the cornea in the subclinical keratoconus group was less than that in the simple high myopia astigmatism group, while the anterior (posterior) vertex height of the thinnest point of the cornea, index of vertical asymmetry (IVA), index of height decentration (IHD), and average corneal pachymetric progression index were higher than those in the simple high myopia astigmatism group (P < 0.05). For the differential diagnosis of high myopia astigmatism and subclinical keratoconus, the combined diagnostic factor Y, anterior (posterior) vertex height, IVA, IHD, and mean corneal progression index were 0.808, 0.833, 0.868, 0.847, 0.684, and 0.926 (P < 0.05). The AUC of the combined diagnostic factory was the largest, which was significantly different from that of the anterior vertex height of the thinnest point of the cornea (Z = 3.280), the posterior vertex height of the thinnest point of the cornea (Z = 3.205), IVA (Z = 2.764), IHD (Z = 2.237), and the average corneal progression index (Z = 4.125) (P < 0.05). Using the Pentacam anterior segment analyzer, differential diagnoses can be made for high myopia, astigmatism, and subclinical keratoconus.

Quantitative analysis of early diabetic retinopathy based on optical coherence tomography angiography biological image.

BACKGROUND: With the development of the economy and improvements in living standards, the incidences of diabetes mellitus (DM) and diabetic retinopathy (DR), which is a complication of DM, are on the rise. AIM: To analyze early DR in patients with macular zone changes in biological images using optical coherence tomography angiography. METHODS: A prospective case study was performed on 59 participants: 35 healthy eyes (control group), 35 eyes with diabetes but no DR group (no DR group), and 35 eyes with mild DR (NPDR group). All quantitative comparisons of parameters, including the fovea vascularity area, circularity index, and vascular complexity parameters, were performed using a biological image analysis software. RESULTS: The foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area, FAZ circularity index, number of branches in the area, and the total of the single branches' length in the area was 0.366 ± 0.031, 0.834 ± 0.037, 3241.8 ± 268.3, and 3.860 × 107 ± 0.194 × 107, and 0.421 ± 0.030, 0.739 ± 0.023, 2956.6 ± 476.4, and 3.177 × 107 ± 0.161 × 107 in the no DR group and the NPDR group, respectively, which were significantly different from the corresponding parameters of the control group (P < 0.05). Moreover, there were significant differences between these two groups (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: This study shows that early microcirculation changes in the macular area of the retina is associated with disease progression. Early changes in DR can be analyzed using optical coherence tomography angiography.

Investigation of the clinical features in filamentary keratitis in Hangzhou, east of China.

Filamentary keratitis (FK) is a chronic and recurrent disorder of the cornea. FK is reportedly associated with various kinds of ocular surface diseases or conditions. Until now, there have been lacks of studies based on quantitative sample analysis concerning FK incidence regularity and inducement characteristics at different ages. This was a retrospective study of 147 patients (162 eyes) with FK who had been continuously and completely recorded from August 2012 to August 2015 at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, east of China. Our results suggest that the causative factors of FK varied at different ages and the distribution of filaments on the corneal surface was also diverse with different inducements.By exploring the frequency and clinical features of FK, we believe that the findings from our research will be clinically significant and aid in the early prevention and treatment guidance of the disease.