Physical activity, time spent outdoors, and near work in relation to myopia prevalence, incidence, and progression:An overview of systematic reviews and meta-analyses

Myopia has reached epidemic levels in recent years. Stopping the development and progression of myopia is critical, as high myopia is a major cause of blindness worldwide. This overview aims at finding the association of time spent outdoors (TSO), near work (NW), and physical activity (PA) with the incidence, prevalence, and progression of myopia in children. Literature search was conducted in PubMed, Scopus, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, ProQuest, and Web of Science databases. Systematic reviews (SR) and meta-analyses (MA) on the TSO, NW, and PA in relation to myopia were reviewed. Methodological nature of qualified studies were evaluated utilizing the Risk of Bias in Systematic Review tool. We identified four SRs out of which three had MA, which included 62 unique studies, involving >1,00,000 children. This overview found a protective trend toward TSO with a pooled odds ratio (OR) of 0.982 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.979-0.985, I 2 = 93.5%, P < 0.001) per extra hour of TSO every week. A pooled OR 1.14 (95% CI 1.08-1.20) suggested NW to be related to risk of myopia. However, studies associating myopia with NW activities are not necessarily a causality as the effect of myopia might force children to indoor confinement with more NW and less TSO. PA presented no effect on myopia. Though the strength of evidence is less because of high heterogeneity and lack of clinical trials with clear definition, increased TSO and reduced NW are protective against myopia development among nonmyopes

An Insight into Knowledge, Perspective, and Practices of Indian Optometrists towards Childhood Myopia

The current understanding of clinical approaches and barriers in managing childhood myopia among Indian optometrists is limited. This research underscores the necessity and relevance of evidence-based practice guidelines by exploring their knowledge, attitude, and practice towards childhood myopia. A self-administered internet-based 26-item survey was circulated online among practicing optometrists in India. The questions assessed the demographics, knowledge, self-reported clinical practice behavior, barriers, source of information guiding their management, and extent of adult caregiver engagement for childhood myopia. Of 393 responses, a significant proportion of respondents (32.6–92.4%) were unaware of the ocular complications associated with high myopia, with less than half (46.5%) routinely performing ocular biometry in clinical practice. Despite the growing awareness of emerging myopia management options, the uptake remains generally poor, with single-vision distance full-correction spectacles (70.3%) being the most common mode of vision correction. Barriers to adopting optimal myopia care are medicolegal concerns, absence of clinical practice guidelines, and inadequate consultation time. Own clinical experience and original research articles were the primary sources of information supporting clinical practice. Most (>70%) respondents considered involving the adult caregiver in their child’s clinical decision-making process. While practitioners’ awareness and activity of newer myopia management strategies are improving, there is plenty of scope for its enhancement. The importance of evidence-based practice guidelines and continuing education on myopia control might help practitioners enhance their clinical decision-making skills

Mobile Payments - A Comparative study between European and Non-European Market

Mobile Payments’ is a new technological mantra not only for researchers, innovators, company executives, but also for every household across the globe. True to the statement, Mobile payments are in the verge of taking a giant leap towards a cashless society. Accordingly, mobile payment services are still followed in both developed and developing countries. In the developing economies, mobile based payment services has reached a pinnacle of success in a short span of time due to the favouring conditions such as very few banked people with more mobile phone penetration etc. But in the developed markets such as Europe, USA etc., with more advanced technology and payment solutions find it difficult to reach a steady growth. In this thesis, the main objective is to find out the factors that are hindering the uptake of mobile payments in European market. This is done by comparing the Non-European market with the European one and analysing the factors for success in the developing market and this success factors are considered for the European market which can be the lessons learnt for a better uptake of mobile payments. For this, four countries are selected in each of the markets. This analysis is made by diving into two phases. In the first phase, different cases of mobile payment present in both the markets are taken and analysed. In the second phase, factors considered for influencing the success of mobile payments such as Socio-economic conditions, Technology and Hardware used, Actors involvement, Pricing, Regulatory issues and Consumer acceptance are collected, analysed for both the markets. The analysis is done for two phases and for each phase a separate framework is used. Once the analyses are done, a summary of the results are produced. Based upon the summary of both the phases, the overlying factors causing success in Non-European market are identified and explained. Then they are compared with the European market to identify where certain suitable lessons can be learnt from the developing market. The identified factors are considered as the lessons to be learnt for a big break in mobile payment industry. In the future work section, Contactless mobile payments (CMP) is explained and their future scope in mobile payment ecosystem is discussed

Mobile Payments - A Comparative study between European and Non-European Market

Mobile Payments’ is a new technological mantra not only for researchers, innovators, company executives, but also for every household across the globe. True to the statement, Mobile payments are in the verge of taking a giant leap towards a cashless society. Accordingly, mobile payment services are still followed in both developed and developing countries. In the developing economies, mobile based payment services has reached a pinnacle of success in a short span of time due to the favouring conditions such as very few banked people with more mobile phone penetration etc. But in the developed markets such as Europe, USA etc., with more advanced technology and payment solutions find it difficult to reach a steady growth. In this thesis, the main objective is to find out the factors that are hindering the uptake of mobile payments in European market. This is done by comparing the Non-European market with the European one and analysing the factors for success in the developing market and this success factors are considered for the European market which can be the lessons learnt for a better uptake of mobile payments. For this, four countries are selected in each of the markets. This analysis is made by diving into two phases. In the first phase, different cases of mobile payment present in both the markets are taken and analysed. In the second phase, factors considered for influencing the success of mobile payments such as Socio-economic conditions, Technology and Hardware used, Actors involvement, Pricing, Regulatory issues and Consumer acceptance are collected, analysed for both the markets. The analysis is done for two phases and for each phase a separate framework is used. Once the analyses are done, a summary of the results are produced. Based upon the summary of both the phases, the overlying factors causing success in Non-European market are identified and explained. Then they are compared with the European market to identify where certain suitable lessons can be learnt from the developing market. The identified factors are considered as the lessons to be learnt for a big break in mobile payment industry. In the future work section, Contactless mobile payments (CMP) is explained and their future scope in mobile payment ecosystem is discussed

Evaluating Antivenom Efficacy against Echis carinatus Venoms&mdash;Screening for In Vitro Alternatives

In India, polyvalent antivenom is the mainstay treatment for snakebite envenoming. Due to batch-to-batch variation in antivenom production, manufacturers have to estimate its efficacy at each stage of IgG purification using the median effective dose which involves 100&ndash;120 mice for each batch. There is an urgent need to replace the excessive use of animals in snake antivenom production using in vitro alternatives. We tested the efficacy of a single batch of polyvalent antivenom from VINS bioproducts limited on Echis carinatus venom collected from three different locations&mdash;Tamil Nadu (ECVTN), Goa (ECVGO) and Rajasthan (ECVRAJ)&mdash;using different in vitro assays. Firstly, size-exclusion chromatography (SEC-HPLC) was used to quantify antivenom&ndash;venom complexes to assess the binding efficiency of the antivenom. Secondly, clotting, proteolytic and PLA2 activity assays were performed to quantify the ability of the antivenom to neutralize venom effects. The use of both binding and functional assays allowed us to measure the efficacy of the antivenom, as they represent multiple impacts of snake envenomation. The response from the assays was recorded for different antivenom&ndash;venom ratios and the dose&ndash;response curves were plotted. Based on the parameters that explained the curves, the efficacy scores (ES) of antivenom were computed. The binding assay revealed that ECVTN had more antivenom&ndash;venom complexes formed compared to the other venoms. The capacity of antivenom to neutralize proteolytic and PLA2 effects was lowest against ECVRAJ. The mean efficacy score of antivenom against ECVTN was the greatest, which was expected, as ECVTN is mainly used by antivenom manufacturers. These findings pave a way for the development of in vitro alternatives in antivenom efficacy assessment

Association of sunlight exposure with visual impairment in an Indian fishing community

Purpose: Indian fishermen belong to a marginalized population and are continuously exposed to extreme occupational hazards and sunlight. A high prevalence of visual impairment (VI) is reported in the coastal fishing community. We aimed to investigate the association between VI with sunlight exposure measurement (SEM). Methods: In this cross-sectional observational study, 270 eyes of 135 participants were enrolled from a coastal fishing village. Participants underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination which included best-corrected visual acuity, anterior and posterior segment examination. Ocular surface disease index (OSDI) and SEM questionnaire were administered to estimate the level of dry eye and ultraviolet-B exposure respectively. VI was defined as presenting visual acuity worse than 6/12 33 (LogMAR >0.3). Results: Mean age and spherical equivalent were 50.56 ± 11.72 years (range: 18 to 80 years) and 0.36 35 ± 1.68 diopters (D) (range: -7 to +3.0 D), respectively. Age, SEM, OSDI, fishing as an occupation, and 36 cataract were significantly associated with higher odds of VI in univariate analysis. Refraction, gender, education level, smoking status, amblyopia, systematic and other ocular diseases were not significantly associated with VI. In the multivariate analysis, age, SEM, and cataract remained significantly associated with a higher risk for VI. Area under-curve values for age and SEM scores demonstrate a fair index of discrimination for the detection of VI. Conclusion: SEM level is directly associated with a greater risk of VI among fishermen. The fishing community might benefit from regular eye examinations, awareness about the harmful effects of sunlight exposure, and preventive measures

Design and development of a noninvasive ocular pressure estimator

Significance: A snapshot intraocular pressure (IOP) is ineffective in identifying the IOP peak and fluctuation, especially during sleep. Since IOP variability play a significant role in the progression of glaucoma, 34 monitoring the IOP, especially during sleep is essential to capture the dynamic nature of IOP. Purpose: We aimed to design an ocular pressure estimator (OPE) that can reliably and accurately measure the IOP non-invasively over closed eyelid condition. Methods: OPE works on the principle that the external pressure applied by raising the intraocular pressure of the eyeball is transmitted through a compressible septum to the pressure sensor, thus recording the IOP. A fluid-filled pouch with a pressure sensor was placed over a rubber glove mimicking the eyelid (septum), covering the cornea of enucleated goat eyeballs. A pressure controlled setup was connected to a goat cadaver eye which was validated by a rebound tonometer. Cannulation of eyeballs through the lower limbus had the least difference from the control setup values documented using rebound tonometer, compared to cannulation through the optic nerve. Intraocular pressures ranging from 3–30 mmHg was induced, and the outputs recorded using OPE were amplified and recorded for 10 minutes (n=10 eyes). We stratified the randomization of the number of times and the induced pressures. Results: The measurements recorded were found to be linear when measured against an intraocular pressure range of 3–30 mmHg. The device has excellent reliability (Intraclass correlation coefficient 0.998). The repeatability coefficient and coefficient of variations were 4.24 (3.60–4.87) and 8.61% (7.33–9.90), respectively. The overall mean difference ±SD between induced IOP and the OPE was 0.22 ± 3.50 (95% confidence interval: -0.35, 0.79) mmHg across all IOP ranges. Conclusion: OPE offers a promising approach for reliably and accurately measuring IOP and its fluctuation non invasively under condition mimicking closed eye

Drosophila models of pathogenic copy-number variant genes show global and non-neuronal defects during development.

While rare pathogenic copy-number variants (CNVs) are associated with both neuronal and non-neuronal phenotypes, functional studies evaluating these regions have focused on the molecular basis of neuronal defects. We report a systematic functional analysis of non-neuronal defects for homologs of 59 genes within ten pathogenic CNVs and 20 neurodevelopmental genes in Drosophila melanogaster. Using wing-specific knockdown of 136 RNA interference lines, we identified qualitative and quantitative phenotypes in 72/79 homologs, including 21 lines with severe wing defects and six lines with lethality. In fact, we found that 10/31 homologs of CNV genes also showed complete or partial lethality at larval or pupal stages with ubiquitous knockdown. Comparisons between eye and wing-specific knockdown of 37/45 homologs showed both neuronal and non-neuronal defects, but with no correlation in the severity of defects. We further observed disruptions in cell proliferation and apoptosis in larval wing discs for 23/27 homologs, and altered Wnt, Hedgehog and Notch signaling for 9/14 homologs, including AATF/Aatf, PPP4C/Pp4-19C, and KIF11/Klp61F. These findings were further supported by tissue-specific differences in expression patterns of human CNV genes, as well as connectivity of CNV genes to signaling pathway genes in brain, heart and kidney-specific networks. Our findings suggest that multiple genes within each CNV differentially affect both global and tissue-specific developmental processes within conserved pathways, and that their roles are not restricted to neuronal functions