High-Accuracy Gaze Estimation for Interpolation-Based Eye-Tracking Methods

This study investigates the influence of the eye-camera location associated with the accuracy and precision of interpolation-based eye-tracking methods. Several factors can negatively influence gaze estimation methods when building a commercial or off-the-shelf eye tracker device, including the eye-camera location in uncalibrated setups. Our experiments show that the eye-camera location combined with the non-coplanarity of the eye plane deforms the eye feature distribution when the eye-camera is far from the eye’s optical axis. This paper proposes geometric transformation methods to reshape the eye feature distribution based on the virtual alignment of the eye-camera in the center of the eye’s optical axis. The data analysis uses eye-tracking data from a simulated environment and an experiment with 83 volunteer participants (55 males and 28 females). We evaluate the improvements achieved with the proposed methods using Gaussian analysis, which defines a range for high-accuracy gaze estimation between −0.5∘ and 0.5∘. Compared to traditional polynomial-based and homography-based gaze estimation methods, the proposed methods increase the number of gaze estimations in the high-accuracy range

Evaluation of the improvement of quality of life with Azithromycin in the treatment of eosinophilic nasal polyposis

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: The Sino-Nasal Outcome Test 22 (SNOT-22) is an important tool in assessing the quality of life (QoL) of patients with chronic rhinosinusitis with a validated version in Brazil. The eosinophilic nasal polyposis (ENP) represents most of the cases of nasal polyposis (85-90%) and belongs to the group of chronic rhinosinusitis. It is a chronic inflammatory disease that impacts the QoL of patients, not only causing localized symptoms, but also resulting in a general malaise. The standard treatments (corticosteroids and nasal endoscopic surgery) lead to partial control of symptoms, but relapses are frequent. Macrolide acting as an immunomodulator is a promising tool for more effective control of this disease. Studies are still lacking to assess the real impact on the QoL in patients treated with macrolides. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the improvement of QL, evaluated using SNOT-22, in patients with PNSE treated with immunomodulatory dose azithromycin. METHODS: This is a paired experimental study in patients with ENP. Comparison of pre-treatment and post-treatment with azithromycin was performed. Patients completed the SNOT-22 questionnaire before the start of treatment and returned for evaluation after eight weeks of treatment. Azithromycin was prescribed at a dose of 500 mg, orally, three times a week, for 8 weeks. RESULTS: SNOT-22 score decreased 20.3 points on average. There was a significant decrease in the SNOT-22 (difference greater than 14 points) in 19 patients (57.6%). There was no significant difference in improvement in SNOT in subgroups with or without asthma/aspirin intolerance. CONCLUSION: Azithromycin resulted in significant improvement of QoL, assessed by SNOT-22, in the studied population

Azithromycin for the Treatment of Eosinophilic Nasal Polyposis: Clinical and Histologic Analysis

Introduction Macrolides used as immunomodulators are a promising tool for chronic inflammatory airway diseases. Eosinophilic nasal polyposis (ENP) is still considered a disease that is difficult to control with the currently standardized treatments. Objectives To evaluate prolonged treatment with low-dose azithromycin for ENP based on clinical and histopathologic variables. Methods The present investigation was a self-paired case study of 33 patients with ENP. A comparison was performed between patients before and after treatment with azithromycin for 8 weeks. The patients were subjected to clinical examinations, staging (three-dimensional imaging by endoscopy), application of the questionnaire, and biopsy of nasal polyps at the beginning and at the end of the treatment. Results The treatment yielded a clinical improvement regarding the two variables studied: polyposis staging (69.7%) and questionnaire (57.6%). We did not find significant differences in the inflammatory pattern and in the percentage or absolute number of eosinophils per field between samples obtained before and after the treatment (p > 0.05). There was no difference between the answers obtained from groups with and without asthma and/or aspirin intolerance (p > 0.3). The patients with advanced initial staging exhibited lower subjective improvement index and staging reduction (p = 0.031 and p = 0.012, respectively). Conclusion Based on this study, azithromycin may be considered as another therapeutic option for ENP. However, further studies are necessary to define the real mechanism of action involved