Prevalence of retinopathy of prematurity among premature babies in a tertiary care hospital

Background: Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a Vaso-proliferative retinal disease affecting low birth weight (BW) and premature infants which leads to blindness unless recognized and treated early. Aim was to study prevalence of ROP in babies <1500 gm and <32 weeks of gestation and stress the importance of examination of premature babies at four weeks after birth and regular follow up till the vascularization is complete. The aim was to determine the prevalence of ROP in premature babies in a tertiary care hospital.Methods: It is a prospective study carried out in premature babies referred for ophthalmological examination in eye OPD of govt. medical college Jammu over a period of one year. Babies with gestational age (GA) of <32 weeks at birth and BW<1500 gm, babies with gest age >32 weeks or BW>1500 gm were included if they were exposed to oxygen therapy for more than >7 days. Neonates with a BW<1500 g and GA<32 weeks who were referred for a ROP eye examination as an outpatient, were included in the study. Neonates with major congenital malformations, syndromes or congenital cataracts or tumors of the eyes, and those that died before the eye examination or did not attend the out-patient’s department for an eye examination, were excluded. More than 100 premature babies were examined by indirect ophthalmoscope with 20 D lens, scleral depressor and eye speculum. First examination was done at 4th post-natal week then weekly and biweekly until retinal vascularization has reached zone 3.Results: Out of 100 neonates, ROP was identified in nine neonates (10%) at the first eye examination. ROP was significantly associated with BW (p =0.0165), GA (p = 0.0176).Conclusions: We identified ROP in 10% of neonates at first eye examination. Significant associations between ROP and a GA<32 weeks and a BW<1500 g was also observed. We also stress that serial follow-up of neonates at risk for ROP is important when making a final diagnosis

Bridging the gap by shaking superfluid matter

In cold compact stars, Cooper pairing between fermions in dense matter leads to the formation of a gap in their excitation spectrum and typically exponentially suppresses transport properties. However, we show here that weak Urca reactions become strongly enhanced and approach their ungapped level when the star undergoes density oscillations of sufficiently large amplitude. We study both the neutrino emissivity and the bulk viscosity due to direct Urca processes in hadronic, hyperonic and quark matter and discuss different superfluid and superconducting pairing patterns.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Correlation of myopia with age, axial length and anterior chamber depth

Background: Uncorrected myopia or near sightedness is a major cause of vision impairment and legal blindness in younger population. It has huge social, psychological, economic and developmental implications. Changes in anterior chamber depth and a significant increase in axial length increase the risk of myopia which can lead to a number of visual complications. Method: This hospital based observational study was conducted in the OPD of department of ophthalmology, government medical college, Jammu over a period of one month from November 2022 to December 2022. A total of 100 patients were involved in this study. Data was interpreted in both descriptive and inferential statistics i.e., frequency and percentage distribution by using SPSS, version 22. Results: It was observed that maximum patients were in the age group of 21-30 years (46%) and male:female ratio was 1.38:1. A positive correlation was found between myopia with axial length and anterior chamber depth (p<0.05). Conclusions: Understanding the role of ocular biometric parameters in myopia is important in not only interpreting the disease pattern but also modelling the pathology and management of ocular diseases. It will go a long way in reducing the burden of myopia and its associated complications

Clinical profile and histo-pathological profile of peri-ocular lesions

Background: Eyelid carcinoma is the most common malignant lesion of eyelid region, and may involve either skin or tarus or inner layer of eyelid. The most common primary eyelid malignancy is basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC), sebaceous gland carcinoma (SGC), malignant melanoma, and Merkel cell carcinoma. The prevalence of these malignant lesion vary according to the geographical region. The aim of the study was to correlate the diagnosis of various peri-ocular lesions with the histological diagnosis.Methods: This prospective longitudinal study was conducted over a period of two years in patients with ocular and periocular skin lesions. All the patients underwent incision biopsy of the lesion biopsy material was sent for histopathology examination. The histological profile of the tumour was confirmed by the report.Results: The mean age in our study was 32.7±18.4 years with age range of 18 to 78 years, with 108 females (54%) and 92 males (46%). 173 (86.5%) were benign lesions and 27 (13.5%) were malignant lesions. Right eye was involved in more cases (n=104, 52%) as compared to left eye (n=96, 48%). Upper eye lid was involved more (n=102, 51%) than lower eye lid (n=98, 49%). Epidermal cyst was most common lesion (n=43, 21.5%), followed by dermoid cyst (n=28, 14%). Sebaceous gland carcinoma was most (n=15, 7.5%) malignant lesion, followed by basal cell carcinoma (n=7, 3, 5%).Conclusions: All excised eyelid lesions must be submitted for histopathologic confirmation to achieve 100% accuracy in diagnosis and treatment. Early diagnosis remains essential for adequate functional and cosmetic lid reconstruction

The relationship between the axial length of the eye ball and the retinal vein occlusion

Background: Retinal vein occlusion is one of the most common form of retinal vascular diseases. There’s a need for better understanding of various predisposing factors and pathophysiology of retinal vascular occlusions in order to improve the treatment modalities and have a better visual outcome including the relationship between axial length and retinal vascular occlusions. Methods: The study was conducted on 60 patients attending the eye OPDs of upgraded department of ophthalmology of government medical college, Jammu during a period of six months from April 2022 to September 2022. 30 patients were clinically diagnosed cases of retinal vein occlusion whereas 30 patients were their age and sex matched controls. The axial length of both eyes of all the patients were measured using A scan Biometry. The data was then analysed by student t test and chi square test. Results: It was found that the axial length of the affected eye was significantly shorter than the unaffected eye and the axial length of the unaffected eye was also significantly shorter than the control eye. Conclusions: It was concluded that the axial lengths in the patients having retinal vein occlusion were significantly shorter than the controls. The significant difference in the axial lengths can be a risk factor in the development of retinal vein occlusion

Prevalence of refractive errors and their association with socio demographic characteristics in pediatric patients attending tertiary eye care centre

Background: Uncorrected refractive errors are one of the major culprits of visual impairment among children in our country. Children included in school going age groups i.e., 6-16 years, represent 25% of population in developing countries. They fall in the category of preventable age group for correction of refractive errors. This paper describes the salient features and results of the cross-sectional study conducted to determine the prevalence of refractive errors and their association with socio demographic characteristics in pediatric population objective were to study the prevalence of refractive errors and their association with socio demographic characteristics in pediatric patients attending tertiary eye care centre.Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted for a period of one year among children in 0-16 years age group and a total of 444 patients were included. All children were examined by ophthalmologists and refraction was done by optometrists. Data was analysed using web-based software open epi version 3.01.Results: Prevalence of refractive errors was found to be 29.5%. Amongst the socio demographic factors, there was a significant association of age and literacy with refractive errors whereas gender and residence were not found to be significant.Conclusions: Refractive errors are an important preventable cause of childhood ocular morbidity. Schools are an excellent platform to educate children and their parents regarding eye care and signs of ocular morbidity due to refractive errors. Health education activities in schools need to be intensified

Characterization of reward and effort mechanisms in apathy

AbstractApathy is a common but poorly understood condition with a wide societal impact observed in several brain disorders as well as, to some extent, in the normal population. Hence the need for better characterization of the underlying mechanisms. The processes by which individuals decide to attribute physical effort to obtain rewards might be particularly relevant to relate to apathy traits. Here, we designed two paradigms to assess individual differences in physical effort production and effort-based decision-making and their relation to apathy in healthy people. Apathy scores were measured using a modified version of the Lille Apathy Rating Scale, suitable for use in a non-clinical population.In the first study, apathy scores were correlated with the degree to which stake (reward on offer) and difficulty level impacts on physical effort production. Individuals with relatively high apathy traits showed an increased modulation of effort while more motivated individuals generally exerted greater force across different levels of stake. To clarify the underlying mechanisms for this behavior, we designed a second task that allows independent titration of stake and effort levels for which subjects are willing to engage in an effortful response to obtain a reward. Our results suggest that apathy traits in the normal population are related to the way reward subjectively affects the estimation of effort costs, and more particularly manifest as decreased willingness to exert effort when rewards are small, or below threshold. The tasks we introduce here may provide useful tools to further investigate apathy in clinical populations

Mimicking superinfection exclusion disrupts alphavirus infection and transmission in the yellow fever mosquito Aedes aegypti

Multiple viruses, including pathogenic viruses, bacteriophages, and even plant viruses, cause a phenomenon termed superinfection exclusion whereby a currently infected cell is resistant to secondary infection by the same or a closely related virus. In alphaviruses, this process is thought to be mediated, at least in part, by the viral protease (nsP2) which is responsible for processing the nonstructural polyproteins (P123 and P1234) into individual proteins (nsP1–nsP4), forming the viral replication complex. Taking a synthetic biology approach, we mimicked this naturally occurring phenomenon by generating a superinfection exclusion-like state in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, rendering them refractory to alphavirus infection. By artificially expressing Sindbis virus (SINV) and chikungunya virus (CHIKV) nsP2 in mosquito cells and transgenic mosquitoes, we demonstrated a reduction in both SINV and CHIKV viral replication rates in cells following viral infection as well as reduced infection prevalence, viral titers, and transmission potential in mosquitoes.</p