Stimulating appearance comparison dynamics and their effects on psychological dysfunctions: The moderating role of self-compassion

In recent decades, attitudes towards appearance comparison, and self-disapproval have rapidly increased, and these are attitudes strongly associated with psychological disorders. The present study aims to investigate the underlying patterns of depression, appearance-based stress, dietary constraints, and social and celebrity appearance comparison among young adults. It also examines the role of self-compassion in moderating the relationship between psychological dysfunctions and appearance comparison as well as the criteria and influences contributing to appearance comparison. Data on BMI, the measures of depression, appearance-based stress, eating restraints, appearance comparison, self-compassion, and predictors of peers and celebrity appearance comparison were collected from 434 college students (Age: Mean = 22; SD = 2.36; Male = Female = 217) in Sialkot, Pakistan. The data was analyzed by using the Hierarchical Regression Model. The results revealed that respondents who compared their appearances to peers and celebrities had increased depression and appearance-based stress while eating constraints didn’t affect the appearance-based comparison, stress, and depression. Moreover, self-compassion significantly moderated the relationship between depression, appearance-based stress, and appearance comparison whereas an insignificant moderation effect is observed between eating restraints and self-compassion. Despite psychological distresses such as depression, appearance-based stress, and eating restraints, appearance comparisons are connected to appearance-based victimization, media appearance pressure, social-cultural appearance pressure, appearance conversation, and self-consciousness

Anaphylactic response to topical fluorescein 2% eye drops: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The intravenous use of fluorescein 10% during retinal angiography can cause severe systemic reactions including, on rare occasions, anaphylaxis. Fluorescein 2% eye drops are used extensively for clinical examination and diagnosis, but to the best of our knowledge, they have only been reported as being responsible for a systemic anaphylactic response on two previous occasions.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report the case of a 51-year-old woman who developed an anaphylactic reaction when she was administered fluorescein sodium 2% eye drops after cataract surgery. This was the second time she had been exposed to fluorescein. She had brittle asthma and a history of anaphylaxis following exposure to a variety of drug and food allergens. She was successfully resuscitated and recovered completely over a period of two days.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Fluorescein 2% drops are universally used in general practice, ophthalmology, optometry, and casualty departments. Our case report reveals the potential for this benign eye drop to cause a life-threatening systemic reaction and emphasises the importance of considering this consequence when administering topical fluorescein 2% to a patient with a history of anaphylaxis to other allergens.</p

Evaluating multidisciplinary glaucoma care: visual field progression and loss of sight year analysis in the community versus hospital setting

Background: A variety of shared care models have been developed, which aim to stratify glaucoma patients according to risk of disease progression. However, there is limited published data on the rate of glaucoma progression in the hospital vs community setting. Here we aimed to compare rates of glaucomatous visual field progression in the Cambridge Community Optometrist Glaucoma Scheme (COGS) and Addenbrooke’s Hospital Glaucoma Clinic (AGC). Methods: A retrospective comparative cohort review was performed. Patients with five or more visual field tests were included. Zeiss Forum software was used to calculate the MD progression rate (dB/year). Loss of sight years (LSY) were also calculated for both COGS and AGC. Results: Overall, 8465 visual field tests from 854 patients were reviewed. In all, 362 eyes from the AGC group and 210 eyes from COGS were included. The MD deterioration rate was significantly lower in the COGS patients compared with the AGC group (−0.1 vs −0.3 dB/year; p < 0.0001). No patients in the COGS group were predicted to become blind within their lifetime by LSY analysis. Fifteen patients were at risk in the AGC group. Conclusion: This service evaluation shows that COGS is an effective scheme to stratify lower risk glaucoma patients, increasing the capacity within hospital eye services. COGS patients have a lower rate of visual field deterioration compared to AGC patients. Effective communication between community and tertiary schemes is essential to facilitate transfer of patients requiring further hospital management reliably and efficiently, with the potential for low-risk patients to be followed safely in the community

Analysis of copy number variation at DMBT1 and age-related macular degeneration

BACKGROUND: DMBT1 is a gene that shows extensive copy number variation (CNV) that alters the number of bacteria-binding domains in the protein and has been shown to activate the complement pathway. It lies next to the ARMS2/HTRA1 genes in a region of chromosome 10q26, where single nucleotide variants have been strongly associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the commonest cause of blindness in Western populations. Complement activation is thought to be a key factor in the pathogenesis of this condition. We sought to investigate whether DMBT1 CNV plays any role in the susceptibility to AMD. METHODS: We analysed long-range linkage disequilibrium of DMBT1 CNV1 and CNV2 with flanking single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) using our previously published CNV and HapMap Phase 3 SNP data in the CEPH Europeans from Utah (CEU). We then typed a large cohort of 860 AMD patients and 419 examined age-matched controls for copy number at DMBT1 CNV1 and CNV2 and combined these data with copy numbers from a further 480 unexamined controls. RESULTS: We found weak linkage disequilibrium between DMBT1 CNV1 and CNV2 with the SNPs rs1474526 and rs714816 in the HTRA1/ARMS2 region. By directly analysing copy number variation, we found no evidence of association of CNV1 or CNV2 with AMD. CONCLUSIONS: We have shown that copy number variation at DMBT1 does not affect risk of developing age-related macular degeneration and can therefore be ruled out from future studies investigating the association of structural variation at 10q26 with AMD

Genetic variation in complement regulators and susceptibility to age-related macular degeneration.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the commonest cause of blindness in Western populations. Risk is influenced by age, genetic and environmental factors. Complement activation appears to be important in the pathogenesis and associations have been found between AMD and genetic variations in complement regulators such as complement factor H. We therefore investigated other complement regulators for association with AMD

Identification of a Rare Coding Variant in Complement 3 Associated with Age-related Macular Degeneration

Macular degeneration is a common cause of blindness in the elderly. To identify rare coding variants associated with a large increase in risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), we sequenced 2,335 cases and 789 controls in 10 candidate loci (57 genes). To increase power, we augmented our control set with ancestry-matched exome sequenced controls. An analysis of coding variation in 2,268 AMD cases and 2,268 ancestry matched controls revealed two large-effect rare variants; previously described R1210C in the CFH gene (fcase = 0.51%, fcontrol = 0.02%, OR = 23.11), and newly identified K155Q in the C3 gene (fcase = 1.06%, fcontrol = 0.39%, OR = 2.68). The variants suggest decreased inhibition of C3 by Factor H, resulting in increased activation of the alternative complement pathway, as a key component of disease biology

A large genome-wide association study of age-related macular degeneration highlights contributions of rare and common variants.

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ng.3448Advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, with limited therapeutic options. Here we report on a study of >12 million variants, including 163,714 directly genotyped, mostly rare, protein-altering variants. Analyzing 16,144 patients and 17,832 controls, we identify 52 independently associated common and rare variants (P < 5 × 10(-8)) distributed across 34 loci. Although wet and dry AMD subtypes exhibit predominantly shared genetics, we identify the first genetic association signal specific to wet AMD, near MMP9 (difference P value = 4.1 × 10(-10)). Very rare coding variants (frequency <0.1%) in CFH, CFI and TIMP3 suggest causal roles for these genes, as does a splice variant in SLC16A8. Our results support the hypothesis that rare coding variants can pinpoint causal genes within known genetic loci and illustrate that applying the approach systematically to detect new loci requires extremely large sample sizes.We thank all participants of all the studies included for enabling this research by their participation in these studies. Computer resources for this project have been provided by the high-performance computing centers of the University of Michigan and the University of Regensburg. Group-specific acknowledgments can be found in the Supplementary Note. The Center for Inherited Diseases Research (CIDR) Program contract number is HHSN268201200008I. This and the main consortium work were predominantly funded by 1X01HG006934-01 to G.R.A. and R01 EY022310 to J.L.H

Characteristics and main outcome variables of the sample (N = 434).

Characteristics and main outcome variables of the sample (N = 434).</p

Pearson correlation among main outcomes and other independent variables.

Pearson correlation among main outcomes and other independent variables.</p

Regression models for examining the relationship of peer and celebrity appearance comparison.

Regression models for examining the relationship of peer and celebrity appearance comparison.</p