Corticosteroid Use in Traumatic Optic Neuropathy

Traumatic optic neuropathy is a potentially visual devastating event caused by acute injury to the optic nerve from direct or indirect trauma. It usually presents with decreased vision and a relative afferent pupillary defect. Oddly, the dilated fundus exam is usually unremarkable. Treatment at this time is controversial with options including observation, corticosteroids, or surgery. A 47 year old male presented with decreased vision of left eye after falling down the stairs. Exam showed a vision of no light perception, 4+ relative afferent pupillary defect, and a normal fundus exam. CT showed displaced acute fracture of the medial wall and roof of the left orbit as well as a fracture of the left optic canal concerning for optic nerve compromise. Given patient had no contradictions, patient was started on IV solumedrol with a 30 mg/kg loading dose, followed by 5.4 mg/kg q 6 hours for 48 hours. Steroids are thought to reduce edema to help reduce optic nerve damage. Roughly 2 week later, the vision of the left eye improved to a vision of count fingers. This case report shows corticosteroids may play a role in helping to improve vision in the cases of traumatic optic neuropathy if no contradictions to steroids are present.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/merf2020caserpt/1041/thumbnail.jp

Orbital Larva Masquerading as Preseptal Cellulitis

Live flies in the skin around the orbit is a rare finding. We hereby report a case of ocular calliphoid fly larvae in a 69-year-old female presented with the complaints of a bump in her left upper eyelid for 2 weeks. On examination, a scolex medial to left upper eyelid that undulated and partially emerged from skin was identified. A video accompanies this case report. The patient underwent surgical removal of live worm without complication by an oculoplastic surgeon, and the larvae was identified as Calliphorid fly larva resembling Wohlfahrtia and Lucilia species. Clinical symptoms and treatment options are discussed. This information is relevant to educating the population people regarding importance of avoiding traumatic fly inoculation when outdoors.https://scholarlycommons.henryford.com/merf2019caserpt/1060/thumbnail.jp

Carbonic anhydrase inhibitors limit complications in X-linked retinoschisis

PurposeCarbonic anhydrase inhibitors (CAIs) reduce macular schisis in patients with X-linked retinoschisis (XLRS). The purpose of this study was to determine if CAIs reduce the incidence of complications from XLRS, including macular atrophy, retinal tears, and retinal detachment (RD), the most common causes of vision loss in patients with XLRS.MethodsFor this retrospective interventional case series, a chart review of patients examined at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center [CCHMC] and Cincinnati Eye Institute [CEI] between 1/1/2015 and 1/16/2023 was performed. Male patients were included based on genetically-confirmed RS1 or typical clinical presentation with known family history of XLRS with at least two follow-up visits.ResultsTwenty-eight patients (56 eyes) with XLRS were included. There were 10 RS1 variants among the 21 genotyped patients. Median age at clinical diagnosis was 10.4 years old (range: 0.4–55.7 years) with median follow-up time of 4.7 years (range: 0.2–38.3 years). Median presenting Snellen visual acuity was 20/60 (logMAR 0.48, range: 0.18–3). In 26 eyes of 15 patients treated with CAIs, median CST pre-treatment was 416 microns (range: 198–701 microns), and median percentage decrease in CST on treatment was 21.8% (range: 0–74.5%) from highest pre-treatment CST. Reduction in CST with CAI use was statistically significant (p = 0.02), but not logMAR VA (p = 0.64). There was no significant difference in CST between patients treated with topical vs. oral CAI (p = 0.95) or between patients with partial or complete CAI adherence (p = 0.60). Ten eyes of seven patients had an RD requiring surgical intervention. No treated eyes developed new macular atrophy, peripheral retinoschisis, retinal tears, or RD; two eyes on topical CAIs had spontaneous resolution of bullous peripheral retinoschisis.ConclusionDuring the follow-up period, patients taking CAIs reduced macular schisis and did not experience new complications of macular atrophy, retinal tears, or RD. This is a relatively large cohort with long-term follow-up periods for patients with XLRS. Reduced macular schisis may not require perfect adherence with CAIs. A large, prospective, randomized, controlled clinical trial is needed to determine the potential of CAIs to improve visual function, reduce retinoschisis, and prevent RD

Apparent horizons in simplicial Brill wave initial data

We construct initial data for a particular class of Brill wave metrics using Regge calculus, and compare the results to a corresponding continuum solution, finding excellent agreement. We then search for trapped surfaces in both sets of initial data, and provide an independent verification of the existence of an apparent horizon once a critical gravitational wave amplitude is passed. Our estimate of this critical value, using both the Regge and continuum solutions, supports other recent findings.Comment: 7 pages, 6 EPS figures, LaTeX 2e. Submitted to Class. Quant. Gra

Constant Crunch Coordinates for Black Hole Simulations

We reinvestigate the utility of time-independent constant mean curvature foliations for the numerical simulation of a single spherically-symmetric black hole. Each spacelike hypersurface of such a foliation is endowed with the same constant value of the trace of the extrinsic curvature tensor, $K$. Of the three families of $K$-constant surfaces possible (classified according to their asymptotic behaviors), we single out a sub-family of singularity-avoiding surfaces that may be particularly useful, and provide an analytic expression for the closest approach such surfaces make to the singularity. We then utilize a non-zero shift to yield families of $K$-constant surfaces which (1) avoid the black hole singularity, and thus the need to excise the singularity, (2) are asymptotically null, aiding in gravity wave extraction, (3) cover the physically relevant part of the spacetime, (4) are well behaved (regular) across the horizon, and (5) are static under evolution, and therefore have no ``grid stretching/sucking'' pathologies. Preliminary numerical runs demonstrate that we can stably evolve a single spherically-symmetric static black hole using this foliation. We wish to emphasize that this coordinatization produces $K$-constant surfaces for a single black hole spacetime that are regular, static and stable throughout their evolution.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures. Formatted using Revtex4. To appear Phys. Rev. D 2001, Added numerical results, updated references and revised figure

Combined Effects of Acute Temperature Change and Elevated pCO2 on the Metabolic Rates and Hypoxia Tolerances of Clearnose Skate (Rostaraja eglanteria), Summer Flounder (Paralichthys dentatus), and Thorny Skate (Amblyraja radiata)

Understanding how rising temperatures, ocean acidification, and hypoxia affect the performance of coastal fishes is essential to predicting species-specific responses to climate change. Although a population’s habitat influences physiological performance, little work has explicitly examined the multi-stressor responses of species from habitats differing in natural variability. Here, clearnose skate (Rostaraja eglanteria) and summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) from mid-Atlantic estuaries, and thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata) from the Gulf of Maine, were acutely exposed to current and projected temperatures (20, 24, or 28 °C; 22 or 30 °C; and 9, 13, or 15 °C, respectively) and acidification conditions (pH 7.8 or 7.4). We tested metabolic rates and hypoxia tolerance using intermittent-flow respirometry. All three species exhibited increases in standard metabolic rate under an 8 °C temperature increase (Q10 of 1.71, 1.07, and 2.56, respectively), although this was most pronounced in the thorny skate. At the lowest test temperature and under the low pH treatment, all three species exhibited significant increases in standard metabolic rate (44–105%; p \u3c 0.05) and decreases in hypoxia tolerance (60–84% increases in critical oxygen pressure; p \u3c 0.05). This study demonstrates the interactive effects of increasing temperature and changing ocean carbonate chemistry are species-specific, the implications of which should be considered within the context of habitat. Associated dataset: Gail D. Schweiterman, Daniel P. Crear et al. 2019. Metabolic Rates and Hypoxia Tolerences of clearnose skate (Rostaraja eglanteria), summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus), and thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata) https://doi.org/10.25773/qmew-c18

Metabolic Rates and Hypoxia Tolerences of clearnose skate (Rostaraja eglanteria), summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus), and thorny skate (Amblyraja radiata)

These data were collected following methods described in the associated publication: LINK “Combined Effects of Acute Temperature Change and Elevated pCO2 on the Metabolic Rates and Hypoxia Tolerances of Clearnose Skate (Rostaraja eglanteria), Summer Flounder (Paralichthys dentatus), and Thorny Skate (Amblyraja radiata)”. Schweiterman, G.D. et al. 2019 Biology, 8(3), 56

Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters by the VERITAS Cherenkov Telescopes

The angular size of a star is a critical factor in determining its basic properties. Direct measurement of stellar angular diameters is difficult: at interstellar distances stars are generally too small to resolve by any individual imaging telescope. This fundamental limitation can be overcome by studying the diffraction pattern in the shadow cast when an asteroid occults a star, but only when the photometric uncertainty is smaller than the noise added by atmospheric scintillation. Atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes used for particle astrophysics observations have not generally been exploited for optical astronomy due to the modest optical quality of the mirror surface. However, their large mirror area makes them well suited for such high-time-resolution precision photometry measurements. Here we report two occultations of stars observed by the VERITAS Cherenkov telescopes with millisecond sampling, from which we are able to provide a direct measurement of the occulted stars' angular diameter at the $\leq0.1$ milliarcsecond scale. This is a resolution never achieved before with optical measurements and represents an order of magnitude improvement over the equivalent lunar occultation method. We compare the resulting stellar radius with empirically derived estimates from temperature and brightness measurements, confirming the latter can be biased for stars with ambiguous stellar classifications.Comment: Accepted for publication in Nature Astronom

Neutrino Interferometry In Curved Spacetime

Gravitational lensing introduces the possibility of multiple (macroscopic) paths from an astrophysical neutrino source to a detector. Such a multiplicity of paths can allow for quantum mechanical interference to take place that is qualitatively different to neutrino oscillations in flat space. After an illustrative example clarifying some under-appreciated subtleties of the phase calculation, we derive the form of the quantum mechanical phase for a neutrino mass eigenstate propagating non-radially through a Schwarzschild metric. We subsequently determine the form of the interference pattern seen at a detector. We show that the neutrino signal from a supernova could exhibit the interference effects we discuss were it lensed by an object in a suitable mass range. We finally conclude, however, that -- given current neutrino detector technology -- the probability of such lensing occurring for a (neutrino-detectable) supernova is tiny in the immediate future.Comment: 25 pages, 1 .eps figure. Updated version -- with simplified notation -- accepted for publication in Phys.Rev.D. Extra author adde