Impaired saccadic eye movement in primary open-angle glaucoma

PURPOSE: Our study aimed at investigating the extent to which saccadic eye movements are disrupted in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). This approach followed upon the discovery of differences in the eye-movement behavior of POAG patients during the exploration of complex visual scenes. METHODS: The eye movements of 8 POAG patients and 4 healthy age-matched controls were recorded. Four of the patients had documented visual field scotoma, and 4 had no identifiable scotoma on visual field testing. The eye movements were monitored as the observers watched static and kinetic targets. The gain, latency, and velocity-peak latency of the saccades recorded were then analyzed. RESULTS: In POAG patients, with abnormal visual fields, watching a static target, the saccades were delayed and their accuracy was reduced, compared with those of normal observers. In POAG patients, with normal and abnormal visual fields, watching a kinetic target, a task involving precise motion analysis, the latency and accuracy of the saccades were impaired, compared with those of normal observers. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that POAG alters saccade programming and execution particularly in the case of moving targets

Papilloedema and MRI enhancement of the prechiasmal optic nerve at the acute stage of Leber hereditary optic neuropathy

The authors report a case of one patient from a family carrying the homoplasmic Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) G11778A mitochondrial DNA mutation with papilloedema 9 months prior to the acute stage of LHON and still present at the onset of visual loss. During the vision loss, the MRI demonstrated a T2 hyperintensity and an enhancement of the prechiasmal left optic nerve, suggesting the existence of an inflammatory mechanism. A retrospective review of the chart of two others members of the same family, with bilateral optic disc oedema at onset of the vision loss, suggests that the relationship of papilloedema and acute phase of LHON may not be just a coincidence, at least in this family. The visual loss related to LHON could have been triggered in the setting of the chronic papilloedema, associated with the intracranial hypertension

Ocular inflammatory disease and ocular tuberculosis in a cohort of patients co-infected with HIV and multidrug-resistant tuberculosis in Mumbai, India: a cross-sectional study.

The prevalence and the patterns of ocular inflammatory disease and ocular tuberculosis (TB) are largely undocumented among Multidrug Resistant TB (MDR-TB) patients co-infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and on antituberculosis and antiretroviral therapy (ART)

Elimination of Active Trachoma after Two Topical Mass Treatments with Azithromycin 1.5% Eye Drops

Trachoma is the leading cause of infectious blindness worldwide, accounting for 1.3 million cases of blindness. Although it has disappeared in many regions of the world, trachoma is still endemic in Africa, Eastern Mediterranean, Latin America, Asia, and Australia. The WHO has currently set a target of 2020 for controlling trachoma to a low enough level that resulting blindness will not be a major public health concern. Topical tetracycline was for a long time the recommended treatment for active trachoma, but compliance to the regimen is extremely poor. Azithromycin has properties that make it an ideal treatment for Chlamydia trachomatis: high efficacy, intracellular accumulation, and a long tissue half-life. There is now a new mass treatment of trachoma by azithromycin 1.5% eye drops which is as effective as the oral route. In the test health district of Kolofata, Cameroon, the prevalence of trachoma among children dramatically decreased from 31% to less than 5% after 2 treatments. A third treatment was performed in January 2010. An epidemiological surveillance is implemented to see if this removal will be permanent. It also avoids misuse of oral azithromycin and the eye drops are directly treating the site of the infection

Tractography dissection variability: What happens when 42 groups dissect 14 white matter bundles on the same dataset?

White matter bundle segmentation using diffusion MRI fiber tractography has become the method of choice to identify white matter fiber pathways in vivo in human brains. However, like other analyses of complex data, there is considerable variability in segmentation protocols and techniques. This can result in different reconstructions of the same intended white matter pathways, which directly affects tractography results, quantification, and interpretation. In this study, we aim to evaluate and quantify the variability that arises from different protocols for bundle segmentation. Through an open call to users of fiber tractography, including anatomists, clinicians, and algorithm developers, 42 independent teams were given processed sets of human whole-brain streamlines and asked to segment 14 white matter fascicles on six subjects. In total, we received 57 different bundle segmentation protocols, which enabled detailed volume-based and streamline-based analyses of agreement and disagreement among protocols for each fiber pathway. Results show that even when given the exact same sets of underlying streamlines, the variability across protocols for bundle segmentation is greater than all other sources of variability in the virtual dissection process, including variability within protocols and variability across subjects. In order to foster the use of tractography bundle dissection in routine clinical settings, and as a fundamental analytical tool, future endeavors must aim to resolve and reduce this heterogeneity. Although external validation is needed to verify the anatomical accuracy of bundle dissections, reducing heterogeneity is a step towards reproducible research and may be achieved through the use of standard nomenclature and definitions of white matter bundles and well-chosen constraints and decisions in the dissection process