Purpose:
The aim of this report was to report 2 patients who presented with acute corneal graft rejection 2 weeks after receiving the BNT162b2 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.
Methods:
Case report.
Results:
Two men, aged 73 and 56 years, with a history of penetrating keratoplasty due to keratoconus were noted to have acute corneal graft rejection 2 weeks after receiving a first dose of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine. Both patients were treated with hourly dexamethasone 0.1% and oral prednisone 60 mg per day with prompt resolution of keratoplasty rejection.
Conclusions:
The BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine may be have been associated with a low-risk corneal graft rejection that responded well to topical and systemic steroids. Treating physicians should be aware of this potential complication and patients should be advised to report any visual changes after vaccination.
Intravitreal injections (IVI) of anti–vascular endothelial growth factor (anti–VEGF) agents have become the most prevalent intraocular procedure as they represent the major therapeutic modality for prevalent retinal conditions such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and diabetic retinopathy. Effective therapy requires adherence to a schedule of iterative IVI as well as routine clinic appointments. The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in the reduction of attendance at scheduled clinic visits and IVI. In this study, we attempted to analyze the effect of COVID-19 on compliance with anti–VEGF therapy. A total of 636 eyes received injections during a 4-week period of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Retina Clinic. The number of clinic visits for IVI during 1 month from March 15 to April 14 of 2020 was compared to a similar time period in each of the last 4 years. The study demonstrates a decrease in clinic visits for IVI when compared with the same 4-week interval in the four previous years. Based on the trend of the previous 4 years, 10.2% of the year’s total was expected for this time period. Using this model, the 636 reported number of injections for the March–April 2020 period was ~ 5%. This represents a decrease of ~ 50% of the expected IVI for this time period. The COVID-19 outbreak in Israel severely impacted compliance with anti–VEGF treatments.
Behavioral development was observed for the first 3 months of life on 18 infants from three troops of yellow balloons (Papio cynocephalus) in Mikumi National Park, Tanzania. Developmental rates were determined for each subject on six major behaviors using the slope from regression equations performed on developmental functions changes in behavior with age. These slopes were examined statistically for associations with social and physical variables that were hypothesized to influence developmental rates. Results showed that faster rates of development were significantly associated with certain environmental and social conditions. Infants born late in their cohort, infants born in a more physically immature state, infants living in a large troop, and female infants of low ranking mothers all had significantly faster rates of development than infants a t the other extreme in these categories. These results are interpreted as evidence for developmental processes that compensate for environmental or physical conditions that negatively influence survivorship. o 1995 WiIey-Liss, Inc.
Type-1 Gaucher disease (GD1) is considered to be non- neuronopathic however recent evidence of neurological involvement continues to accumulate. There is limited evidence of retinal abnormalities in GD1. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the retinal findings of patients with GD1. Thirty GD1 individuals and 30 healthy volunteers between the ages 40–75 years were prospectively enrolled. Macular and optic nerve optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans of both eyes of each patient were performed and thickness maps were compared between groups. Patients with a known neurodegenerative disease, glaucoma, high myopia and previous intraocular surgeries were excluded. It was shown that patients with GD1 presented with higher incidence of abnormal pRNFL OCT scan and showed significantly thinner areas of pRNFL and macular ganglion cell complex (GCC) when compared to a healthy control population. Changes in retinal thickness were not associated with GD1 genotype, treatment status, disease monitoring biomarker (lyso-Gb1) and severity score index (Zimran SSI). Further investigations are needed to determine whether these findings possess functional visual implications and if retinal thinning may serve as biomarker for the development of future neurodegenerative disease in this population.
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