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The COVID-19 pandemic has taken tragic proportions and has disrupted lives globally. In the wake of governmental lockdowns, ophthalmologists need practical and actionable guidelines based on advisories from national health departments on how to conduct their duties during nationwide lockdowns and after these are lifted. In this paper, we present a preferred practice pattern (PPP) based on consensus discussions between leading ophthalmologists and health care professionals in India including representatives from major governmental and private institutions as well as the All India Ophthalmological Society leadership. In this document, the expert panel clearly defines the range of activities for Indian ophthalmologists during the ongoing lockdown phase and precautions to be taken once the lockdown is lifted. Guidelines for triage, governmental guidelines for use of personal protective equipment from ophthalmologists' point of view, precautions to be taken in the OPD and operating room as well as care of various ophthalmic equipment have been described in detail. These guidelines will be applicable to all practice settings including tertiary institutions, corporate and group practices and individual eye clinics and should help Indian ophthalmologists in performing their professional responsibilities without being foci of disease transmission.

Background Acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have a significant negative impact on both patients and healthcare systems. Currently, there are no physiological biomarkers that effectively monitor clinical change or predict respiratory readmission. Acute exacerbations impose a change in the respiratory muscle load-capacity-drive relationship. It was hypothesised that lack of a fall in neural respiratory drive would identify patients at risk of treatment failure and early hospital readmission. Methods An observational study was performed at two UK teaching hospitals. Routine clinical physiological parameters and neural respiratory drive index (NRDI), calculated as the product of second intercostal space parasternal electromyography (EMG) activity normalised to the peak EMG activity during a maximum inspiratory sniff manoeuvre and respiratory rate, were recorded daily from admission to discharge. Results 30 acutely unwell patients of mean (SD) age 72 (10) years, forced expiratory volume in 1 s 0.60 (1.65) l, NRDI 455 (263) AU and median length of stay 6 days were studied. Changes in NRDI correlated with changes in Borg score (r¼+0.60; p<0.001), discriminated between patients deemed to have clinically improved rather than deteriorated (mean difference 339 AU; 95% CI 234 to 444; p<0.001) and identified those patients readmitted within 14 days (mean difference 203 AU; 95% CI 39 to 366; p¼0.017). Conclusions NRDI is a feasible clinical physiological parameter in patients with an acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and can provide useful information on treatment response and risk of readmission.

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The NMP22 BladderChek test is an in vitro qualitative test that is easily available and cheap; it can be performed by a urologist in the office and results can be interpreted within 30 min. The NMP22 test is superior to cytology for all grades and stages in the detection of recurrence in patients with a history of superficial bladder cancer. Our study indicates that the NMP22 test can be used as a substitute for urine cytology. The NMP22 test cannot replace cystoscopy, but it can be used as an adjunct to cystoscopy in the surveillance protocol for patients with superficial bladder cancer.

Purpose: To standardize a nomenclature system for defining clinical phenotypes, and outcome measures for reporting clinical and research data in patients with ocular tuberculosis (OTB). Methods: Uveitis experts initially administered and further deliberated the survey in an open meeting to determine and propose the preferred nomenclature for terms related to the OTB, terms describing the clinical phenotypes and treatment and reporting outcomes. Results: The group of experts reached a consensus on terming uveitis attributable to tuberculosis (TB) as tubercular uveitis. The working group introduced a SUN-compatible nomenclature that also defines disease "remission" and "cure", both of which are relevant for reporting treatment outcomes. Conclusion: A consensus nomenclature system has been adopted by a large group of international uveitis experts for OTB. The working group recommends use of standardized nomenclature to prevent ambiguity in communication and to achieve the goal of spreading awareness of this blinding uveitis entity.

IFT provides superior outcomes compared to SIP and, hence, could be considered as the surgical modality of choice in large MH. [Ophthalmic Surg Lasers Imaging Retina. 2018;49:236-240.].

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