The human eye is built from several specialized tissues which direct, capture and pre-process information to provide vision. The gene expression of the different eye tissues has been extensively profiled with RNA-seq across numerous studies. Large consortium projects have also used RNA-seq to study gene expression patterning across many different human tissues, minus the eye. There has not been an integrated study of expression patterns from multiple eye tissues compared with other human body tissues. We have collated all publicly available healthy human eye RNA-seq datasets as well as dozens of other tissues. We use this fully integrated dataset to probe the biological processes and pan expression relationships between the cornea, retina, retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)-choroid complex, and the rest of the human tissues with differential expression, clustering and gene ontology term enrichment tools. We also leverage our large collection of retina and RPE-choroid tissues to build the first human weighted gene correlation networks and use them to highlight known biological pathways and eye gene disease enrichment. We also have integrated publicly available single-cell RNA-seq data from mouse retina into our framework for validation and discovery. Finally, we make all these data, analyses and visualizations available via a powerful interactive web application (https://eyeintegration.nei.nih.gov/).

The human eye has several specialized tissues which direct, capture, and pre-process information to provide vision. RNA-seq gene expression analyses have been used extensively, for example, to profile specific eye tissues and in large consortium studies, like the GTEx project, to study tissue-specific gene expression patterning. However, there has not been an integrated study of multiple eye tissues expression patterning with other human body tissues. We have collated current publicly available healthy human RNA-seq datasets and a substantial subset of the GTEx project RNA-seq datasets and processed all in a consistent bioinformatic workflow. We use this fully integrated dataset to probe the relatedness and biological processes between the cornea, retina, RPE-choroid complex, and the rest of the human tissues with differential expression, clustering, and GO term enrichment tools. We also leverage our large collection of retina and RPE-choroid tissues to build the first human weighted gene correlation networks and use them to highlight known biological pathways and eye gene disease enrichment. Finally, we make these data, analyses, and visualizations available via a powerful interactive web application (https://eyeintegration.nei.nih.gov/).

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in closure of schools and playgrounds while requiring social distancing, changes that likely affected youth sports participation. The purpose of this study was to identify changes in the epidemiology of pediatric sports injuries during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients between the ages of 4 and 18 years who presented to orthopaedic clinics within a single children's hospital network with an acute injury sustained during athletic activity between March 20, 2020, and June 3, 2020 (the strictest period of state-level shelter-in-place orders). These patients were compared with those within the same dates in 2018 and 2019. Chi square and Mann-Whitney U tests were used, as appropriate. Results: Significantly less sports injuries were seen during the pandemic (n = 257) compared with the same dates in 2018 (n = 483) and 2019 (n = 444) despite more providers available in 2020 (P , 0.001). During the pandemic, patients with sports injuries were younger (median age 11 versus 13 years, P , 0.001) and had less delay in presentation (median 5 versus 11 days, P , 0.001). A higher proportion were White (66.9% versus 47.7%, P , 0.001), privately insured (63.4% versus 48.3%, P , 0.001), and seen at a nonurban location (63.4% versus 50.2%, P , 0.001). Most sports injuries during the pandemic were fractures (83.7%). Although 71.4% of all injuries in the prepandemic period occurred in the context of formal sports, only 15.2% were sustained in a formal athletic context in 2020 (P , 0.001). The frequency of surgical treatment was higher during the pandemic (14.8% versus 7.8%, P = 0.001), mainly because most of these injuries were fractures requiring surgical intervention. Conclusions: Fewer sports injuries were seen in the outpatient setting during the COVID-19 pandemic, and most of these injuries were fractures and occurred outside of organized sports settings. Patients were more likely to be White, privately insured, and seen at a nonurban location.

Reports to the Center for Disease Control on isolation of non-polio enteroviruses for the years 1971--1975 were analysed. During the 5 year period, enterovirus isolations were reported from 7 075 individuals. 90% of these occurred in the 7 month interval of May--November. Enteroviruses were isolated more frequently from males than females for all age groups in all 5 years. The incidence of reported isolations decreased with increasing age, and an inverse relationship between severity of disease and age was suggested. Clinical diagnoses associated with enteroviral isolations included aseptic meningitis, encephalitis, upper respiratory tract disease, non-specific febrile illness, gastroenteritis, pneumonia and lower respiratory tract disease, exanthem, and enanthem.

Previous studies have shown retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is associated with changes in vessel density visible on swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (ss-OCTA). This study aimed to characterize retinal changes on ss-OCTA among RVO patients stratified by the need for continuous anti-VEGF therapy. This cross-sectional study of 24 RVO patients ≥ 18 years were imaged with SS-OCT-A. Patients were categorized into continuous vs. limited therapy (≥1 vs. no injections in previous 12 months) based on recurrence of intraretinal fluid (IRF) on OCT. Images were analyzed using ImageJ. T-tests were used to compare vessel density of the macula and peripheral retina. Overall, RVO patients undergoing continuous therapy (n = 14) had higher diabetes prevalence, worse baseline visual acuity, and higher baseline macular thickness compared to the limited (n = 10) therapy group. Continuous therapy was associated with lower macular VD in the combined retina layer and the superficial capillary plexus (SCP), but not in the deep capillary plexus (DCP). Further, the continuous therapy group exhibited lower peripheral VD in the combined retina layer, and no difference in the SCP and DCP layers when analyzed separately. In conclusion, RVO patients requiring continuous anti-VEGF injections demonstrate reduced VD of the macula and in the periphery on SS-OCTA imaging. SS-OCTA may be valuable for monitoring and prognosticating treatment for RVO patients.

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