Evaluation of retinal microvasculature in exotropia with abnormal binocular vision by optical coherence tomography angiography.

BACKGROUND: To explore the retinal microvasculature in large-angle concomitant exotropia patients with abnormal binocular vision using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) analysis. METHODS: OCTA images of 52 healthy and 100 strabismic eyes were analyzed to quantify the retinal thickness (RT), superficial capillary plexus (SCP), deep capillary plexus (DCP), and foveal avascular zone (FAZ). Paired t-tests were performed to compare differences between the two groups, the dominant eye and the deviated eye in the exotropia group, respectively. A p-value < 0.01 was considered significant. RESULTS: The mean angle of deviation was 79.38 [± 25.64] (prism diopters, PD). There were significant differences in the DCP in deviated eyes between the exotropia group and the control group (fovea: p = 0.007; temporal: p = 0.014; nasal: p = 0.028; inferior: p = 0.013). The temporal SCP in the exotropia group was significantly higher than in the control group in deviated eyes (p = 0.020). No significant difference was found between dominant eyes and strabismic eyes (p > 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The study showed that OCTA revealed subnormal DCP in patients with large-angle exotropia and abnormal binocularity which may be related to retinal suppression. Changes in the macular microvasculature may provide valuable insights into the development of strabismus. Further studies are needed to determine the clinical relevance of this finding. TRIAL REGISTRATION: This trial is registered as ChiCTR2100052577 at www.Chictr.org.cn .

RNA sequence analysis identified bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2) as a biomarker underlying form deprivation myopia.

Purpose: Form deprivation myopia (FDM) is an urgent public issue characterized by pathological changes, but the underlying mechanism remained unclear. The aim was to investigate bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) utilizing the pathogenesis of FDM. Material and methods: Gene expression omnibus (GEO) database was used to analyze one mRNA profile (GSE89325) of FDM. Sixteen retina samples (8 FDM and 8 controls) were randomly divided into seven groups for differential gene expression analysis in R. software. The gene pathway and protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis were performed by the DAVID and STRING databases. Cytoscape was used to draw the PPI network. The gene ontology (GO) enrichment and Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis were determined to achieve gene annotation and visualization. Results: A total of 18420 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified associated with FDM. The only non-significant gene (BEND6) was separately analyzed between two groups. Thirteen hub genes were discovered, ACVR1, ACVR2A, ACVR2B, RGMB, BMPR2, BMPR1A, BMP2, BMPR1B, CHRD, PTH, PTH1R, PTHLH, and WNT9A. The expression alteration in FDM were mainly enriched in cytokine-cytokine, and neuroactive ligand receptor interaction pathways. BMP2 was the key gene in myopia progression. Conclusions: Of clinical perspective, our findings reveal that expression of BMP2 as an underlying mechanism of FDM, providing an insight for therapeutic interventions.

Comparison between binocular therapy and patching for treatment of amblyopia: a meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Several studies have compared binocular therapy and patching for the treatment of amblyopia. However, most of them involved a small number of cases and reported controversial results. Thus, the benefit of binocular therapy remains to be confirmed. We conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of binocular therapy versus patching and to testify whether binocular therapy could become supplementary method in children with amblyopia. Randomised controlled trials that evaluated the efficacy of binocular therapy for amblyopia versus patching were identified using PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Ovid, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. Data screening, extraction and quality assessment were performed independently by two researchers. Six trials were identified and analysed to compare binocular therapy (708 eyes) with patching (664 eyes) for change in best-corrected visual acuity and stereoacuity. Efficacy estimates were evaluated by standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% CI. The best-corrected visual acuity in binocular group was better than that of in patching group (SMD=-0.21 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution (log MAR), 95% CI of -0.50 to 0.08 log MAR, p=0.003). The results showed statistically significant difference in the change of best-corrected visual acuity between the groups, but not in stereoacuity. Binocular therapy may be a promising treatment of conditions affecting visual acuity, and could be applied as a supplementary method to patching for amblyopia in clinical practice. The present analysis showed that some children with amblyopia may benefit from binocular therapy. Nevertheless, larger randomised controlled clinical trials are required to confirm these findings.

Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Retinal and Choroidal Thickness: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking has been regarded as a risk factor for the incidence of a wide variety of chronic illness; however, its effect on thickness of the retina or choroid is still unknown. METHODS: A consummate literature search was conducted in PubMed and Embase up to January, 2018. The quantitative synthesis was conducted by Stata 12.0. RESULTS: A total of 13 observational studies were included in this meta-analysis. In this meta-analysis of all available observational studies, no significant effect of tobacco smoking on retinal or choroidal thickness change was detected. However, advanced analyses showed that smoking would influence the thickness of RNFL (average: SMD, -0.332; 95% CI, -0.637 to -0.027; inferior: SMD, -0.632; 95% CI, -1.092 to -0.172; and superior: SMD, -0.720; 95% CI, -0.977 to -0.463) and GCL (superior: SMD, -0.549; 95% CI, -0.884 to -0.215; inferior: SMD, -0.602; 95% CI, -0.938 to -0.265). Meanwhile, subgroup analyses demonstrated that the results based on studies in some regions (America and Africa) and cross-sectional studies showed a reduced choroidal thickness in smokers. No publication bias was detected in this study. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, no significant effect of tobacco smoking on retinal or choroidal thickness change was detected. However, smoking would influence the thickness of RNFL and GCL. Future research on this field would help in the prevention and treatment of smoking-associated disorders.

Involvement of dysregulated coding and long non­coding RNAs in the pathogenesis of strabismus.

Strabismus is a common ocular disorder in children and may result in exterior abnormalities and impaired visual functions. However, the detailed pathogenesis of strabismus unclear. The present study assessed the comprehensive analyses on the roles of RNAs in the development of strabismus. The public datasets of strabismus and the corresponding control tissues were downloaded from the Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO). Reannotations of the dysregulated coding and long non­coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and functional enrichments of the differently expressed genes (DEGs) were conducted. A total of 790 DEGs were screened (648 upregulated and 142 downregulated) in the present study. Among the DEGs, a total of 32 differently expressed lncRNAs were detected (14 upregulated and 18 downregulated). When the Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment was considered, it was identified that a total of 143 GO terms (82 for biological process, 31 for cellular component and 30 for molecular function) were identified. Among all the 57 detected Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways, the phagosome pathway, which was labeled as hsa004145, demonstrated the most bioinformatics importance. However, most lncRNAs, except LINC01279 and LOC643733, indicated <3 target mRNAs and were not suitable for advanced bioinformatics analyses. Bioinformatics analyses demonstrated that there was a GO term for each lncRNA (proteinaceous extracellular for LINC01279 and cell surface for LOC643733). In conclusion, a set of coding RNA as well as lncRNAs differentially expressed in strabismus EOM samples were indicated. Notably, the present findings important information for advanced pathogenesis research and biomarkers detection.