Response to letter to the editor, regarding Evidence-based CPGs for the Periodic Eye Examination in Children Aged 0-5 Years in Canada

Response to letter to the edito

Eye See Eye Learn The Benefit of Comprehensive Eye Examinations for Preschoolers

Objective: Undetected vision problems in children can lead to permanent vision loss, a condition known as amblyopia. Early detection and treatment of the causes of amblyopia may prevent this vision loss. The objective of this paper is to look for evidence that comprehensive eye examinations upon entry to junior Kindergarten are an effective way to identify and treat vision problems early. methods: Relevant peer-reviewed publications on amblyopia and the importance of comprehensive eye examinations were reviewed. Specific areas investigated include: the prevalence and causes of amblyopia; impact of vision problems on child development and education; impact of amblyopia and/or strabismus on quality of life; and the cost effectiveness of treating amblyopia. The validity of vision screening compared to a comprehensive eye examination was also reviewed. Synthesis:The review suggests that without a complete eye examination many eye or vision problems remain undetected at school entry. Left uncorrected these problems negatively impact child development, education and quality of life. Reduced vision due to amblyopia also restricts future employment opportunities and increases the risk of bilateral visual impairment in adulthood. Examination procedures with high sensitivity and specificity are required to accurately detect these problems. Studies show that amblyopia treatment initiated at an early age is one of the most cost-effective of all health interventions. Conclusion: There is good evidence in the literature that a full eye examination is critical to detect all cases of amblyopia. This and other visual problems can be detected and managed at an early age, which leads to better visual quality of life and economical outcomes. The Eye See Eye Learn program offers the “gold standard” of eye care

Review of the Canadian Association of Optometrists Frequency of Eye Examinations Guideline – Summary

Review of the Canadian Association of Optometrists Frequency of Eye Examinations Guideline – Summar

Differential functional benefits of ultra highfield MR systems within the language network

Several investigations have shown limitations of fMRI reliability with the current standard field strengths. Improvement is expected from ultra highfield systems but studies on possible benefits for cognitive networks are lacking. Here we provide an initial investigation on a prominent and clinically highly-relevant cognitive function: language processing in individual brains. 26 patients evaluated for presurgical language localization were investigated with a standardized overt language fMRI paradigm on both 3T and 7T MR scanners. During data acquisition and analysis we made particular efforts to minimize effects not related to static magnetic field strength differences. Six measures relevant for functional activation showed a large dissociation between essential language network nodes: although in Wernicke's area 5/6 measures indicated a benefit of ultra highfield, in Broca's area no comparison was significant. The most important reason for this discrepancy was identified as being an increase in susceptibility-related artifacts in inferior frontal brain areas at ultra high field. We conclude that functional UHF benefits are evident, however these depend crucially on the brain region investigated and the ability to control local artifacts

Combination treatment with zidovudine, didanosine, and nevirapine in infants with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection

BACKGROUND: In infants and children with maternally acquired human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection, treatment with a single antiretroviral agent has limited efficacy. We evaluated the safety and efficacy of a three-drug regimen in a small group of maternally infected infants. METHODS: Zidovudine, didanosine, and nevirapine were administered in combination orally to eight infants 2 to 16 months of age. The efficacy of antiretroviral treatment was evaluated by serial measurements of plasma HIV-1 RNA, quantitative plasma cultures, and quantitative cultures of peripheral-blood mononuclear cells. RESULTS: The three-drug regimen was well tolerated, without clinically important adverse events. Within four weeks, there were reductions in plasma levels of HIV-1 RNA of at least 96 percent (1.5 log) in seven of the eight study patients. Over the 6-month study period, replication of HIV-1 was controlled in two infants who began therapy at 2 1/2 months of age. Plasma RNA levels were reduced by 0.5 to 1.5 log in five of the other six infants. CONCLUSIONS: Although further observations are needed, it appears that in infants with maternally acquired HIV-1 infection, combined treatment with zidovudine, didanosine, and nevirapine is well tolerated and has sustained efficacy against HIV-1

Révision des lignes directrices de l’Association canadienne des optométristes sur la fréquence des examens de la vue – sommaire Approche factuelle

Révision des lignes directrices de l’Association canadienne des optométristes sur la fréquence des examens de la vue – sommaire Approche factuell

Dose-response effects of light at night on the reproductive physiology of great tits (Parus major): integrating morphological analyses with candidate gene expression

Artificial light at night (ALAN) is increasingly recognized as a potential threat to wildlife and ecosystem health. Among the ecological effects of ALAN, changes in reproductive timing are frequently reported, but the mechanisms underlying this relationship are still poorly understood. Here, we experimentally investigated these mechanisms by assessing dose‐dependent photoperiodic responses to ALAN in the great tit (Parus major). We individually exposed photosensitive male birds to one of three nocturnal light levels (0.5, 1.5, and 5 lux), or to a dark control. Subsequent histological and molecular analyses on their testes indicated a dose‐dependent reproductive response to ALAN. Specifically, different stages of gonadal growth were activated after exposure to different levels of light at night. mRNA transcript levels of genes linked to the development of germ cells (stra8 and spo11) were increased under 0.5 lux compared to the dark control. The 0.5 and 1.5 lux groups showed slight increases in testis size and transcript levels associated with steroid synthesis (lhr and hsd3b1) and spermatogenesis (fshr, wt1, sox9, and cldn11), although spermatogenesis was not detected in histological analysis. In contrast, all birds under 5 lux had 10 to 30 times larger testes than birds in all other groups, with a parallel strong increase in mRNA transcript levels and clear signs of spermatogenesis. Across treatments, the volume of the testes was generally a good predictor of testicular transcript levels. Overall, our findings indicate that even small changes in nocturnal light intensity can increase, or decrease, effects on the reproductive physiology of wild organisms

Eye See Eye Learn L’avantage des examens complets de la vue chez les enfants d’âge préscolaire

Objectifs : Chez les enfants, les problèmes de vision non détectés peuvent entraîner une perte permanente de la vision, problème appelé amblyopie. La détection et le traitement précoces des causes de l’amblyopie peuvent éviter cette perte de vision. Cette communication vise à chercher des éléments probants démontrant que les examens complets de la vue au moment de l’entrée en prématernelle constituent un moyen efficace de repérer et de traiter rapidement les problèmes de vision. Méthodes : Nous avons étudié des publications pertinentes critiquées par des pairs portant sur l’amblyopie et sur l’importance des examens complets de la vue. Les aspects précis étudiés comprennent la prévalence et les causes de l’amblyopie, l’effet des problèmes de vision sur le développement et l’éducation de l’enfant, l’effet de l’amblyopie ou du strabisme sur la qualité de vie et la rentabilité du traitement de l’amblyopie. Nous avons évalué aussi la validité de ces tests de dépistage comparativement à l’examen complet de la vue. Résumé : L ’étude indique que sans examen complet de la vue, beaucoup de problèmes oculovisuels ne sont pas détectés à l’arrivée de l’enfant à l’école. S’ils ne sont pas corrigés, ces problèmes ont un effet négatif sur le développement, l’éducation et la qualité de vie de l’enfant. La baisse de la vue causée par l’amblyopie limite aussi les possibilités d’emploi futures et accroît le risque de déficience visuelle bilatérale chez l’adulte. Des méthodes d’examen très sensibles et spécifiques s’imposent pour repérer ces problèmes avec précision. Des études montrent que le traitement de l’amblyopie à un jeune âge constitue une des interventions les plus rentables en santé. Conclusion : Les publications contiennent de bons éléments de preuve indiquant qu’un examen complet de la vue joue un rôle crucial dans la détection de tous les cas d’amblyopie. Il est possible de détecter et de traiter l’amblyopie et d’autres problèmes de vision à un jeune âge, ce qui améliore les résultats reliés à la vue, à la qualité de vie et à l’économie. Le programme Eye See Eye Learn offre « l'étalon-or » des soins oculovisuels. &nbsp

Construction and accessibility of a cross-species phenotype ontology along with gene annotations for biomedical research

Phenotype analyses, e.g. investigating metabolic processes, tissue formation, or organism behavior, are an important element of most biological and medical research activities. Biomedical researchers are making increased use of ontological standards and methods to capture the results of such analyses, with one focus being the comparison and analysis of phenotype information between species. We have generated a cross-species phenotype ontology for human, mouse and zebrafish that contains classes from the Human Phenotype Ontology, Mammalian Phenotype Ontology, and generated classes for zebrafish phenotypes. We also provide up-to-date annotation data connecting human genes to phenotype classes from the generated ontology. We have included the data generation pipeline into our continuous integration system ensuring stable and up-to-date releases. This article describes the data generation process and is intended to help interested researchers access both the phenotype annotation data and the associated cross-species phenotype ontology. The resource described here can be used in sophisticated semantic similarity and gene set enrichment analyses for phenotype data across species. The stable releases of this resource can be obtained from http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/hp/uberpheno/