According to our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the relationship between NLR, which is an inflammatory marker, and DR and its severity. Our results suggest that while evaluating diabetes patients in terms of DR, higher NLR values may be a remarkable marker.

Objectives:To determine factors influencing compliance in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (n-AMD) undergoing intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy.Materials and Methods:The files of n-AMD patients recommended treatment with ranibizumab were reviewed retrospectively. The treatment regimen was 3 consecutive monthly injections followed by monthly follow-up with intravitreal injections as needed (pro re nata, PRN). Demographic and ocular characteristics were recorded. The patients were categorized into 2 groups: full compliance to treatment, or incomplete loading schedule and/or irregular maintenance treatment. All patients were interviewed by phone about factors affecting continuation of treatment.Results:Mean age of the 314 patients (160 female, 154 male) included in the study was 71.6±9.1 years. A total of 246 patients (78.3%) could complete 3 consecutive injections at 1-month intervals after the start of treatment; 57 patients (18.2%) did not attend monthly follow-up during the 1-year follow-up period following the 3 consecutive monthly injections. Overall, 39.8% of the patients were not able to fully comply with the ranibizumab treatment by PRN regimen for 1 year. Better visual acuity at baseline, smaller lesion size, living closer to the hospital, higher education and sociocultural level, and better financial status were determined as factors affecting patient compliance. The most frequent reasons to discontinue treatment were fear of injection, disbelief in the benefit of the treatment, financial limitations, continuation of treatment at another center, and comorbid systemic diseases.Conclusion:Patient compliance and success rates of anti-VEGF therapy may be increased by determining the factors affecting patient compliance and raising awareness about n-AMD among patients and their relatives.

In Table 1 of this article, the ''cold-induced sweating'' row incorrectly contains a plus sign for individual CS_258 instead of a minus sign. That is, the authors did not observe cold-induced sweating for any individuals in the cohort with mutations in KLHL7. The authors apologize for the error and any confusion it may have caused.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a neurodegenerative disease of the retina characterized by loss of central vision in old age. In particular, wet-type or exudative AMD, which is characterized by choroidal neovascularization, may cause severe loss of vision in these patients. AMD is the leading cause of central blindness among patients aged over 65 years in developed countries. The prevalence of AMD among individuals aged between 65 and 75 years is 10% and it is 25% among those aged 75 years and over. Patients with AMD may face difficulties in relation to many of the basic activities of daily living, such as writing, housework, self-care, driving and shopping. They may also suffer emotional distress and depression, and have a reduced quality of life (QoL). 1 Furthermore, loss of vision increases the risk of falling and fall-related injuries. 2 In all of its aspects, AMD is recognized as an important public health problem. Although the effects of exudative AMD (e-AMD) on quality of life, depression and physical and mental health have been studied more extensively in well-developed countries, data is relatively lacking from developing or underdeveloped countries. Moreover, differences in its effects may be seen between communities. Different social traits, belief sets and cultural characteristics in different communities may lead patients to be influenced psychologically in different manners from the same disease. The hospital anxiety and depression scale (HADS) was designed to measure the risks of anxiety and depression and their levels. The test includes two subscales: HADS-A, which assesses anxiety, and HADS-D, which assesses depression, both including seven items. The cutoff points for HADS-A and HADS-D are ten and seven, respectively. Higher scores indicate a greater likelihood

Crisponi syndrome (CS)/cold-induced sweating syndrome type 1 (CISS1) is a very rare autosomal-recessive disorder characterized by a complex phenotype with high neonatal lethality, associated with the following main clinical features: hyperthermia and feeding difficulties in the neonatal period, scoliosis, and paradoxical sweating induced by cold since early childhood. CS/CISS1 can be caused by mutations in cytokine receptor-like factor 1 (CRLF1). However, the physiopathological role of CRLF1 is still poorly understood. A subset of CS/CISS1 cases remain yet genetically unexplained after CRLF1 sequencing. In five of them, exome sequencing and targeted Sanger sequencing identified four homozygous disease-causing mutations in kelch-like family member 7 (KLHL7), affecting the Kelch domains of the protein. KLHL7 encodes a BTB-Kelch-related protein involved in the ubiquitination of target proteins for proteasome-mediated degradation. Mono-allelic substitutions in other domains of KLHL7 have been reported in three families affected by a late-onset form of autosomal-dominant retinitis pigmentosa. Retinitis pigmentosa was also present in two surviving children reported here carrying bi-allelic KLHL7 mutations. KLHL7 mutations are thus associated with a more severe phenotype in recessive than in dominant cases. Although these data further support the pathogenic role of KLHL7 mutations in a CS/CISS1-like phenotype, they do not explain all their clinical manifestations and highlight the high phenotypic heterogeneity associated with mutations in KLHL7.

Purpose: To identify long-term changes in individual retinal layer thickness using automated retinal layer segmentation analysis on high-resolution spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) scans of eyes with macula-off rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) treated with vitreoretinal surgery (VRS) and gas or silicone oil tamponade and having single-operation success. Methods: A total of 58 patients operated on by VRS for RRD and followed up for 12 months were imaged by SD-OCT. The patients with retinal diseases such as an epiretinal membrane or cystic macular edema in the operated and fellow eyes were excluded. The thicknesses of the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL), ganglion cell layer (GCL), inner plexiform layer (IPL), inner nuclear layer (INL), outer plexiform layer (OPL), outer nuclear layer (ONL), photoreceptor layer, and retinal pigment epithelium were compared to those of the fellow eyes after the 12-month follow-up. Thickness changes in individual layers were quantitatively analyzed in the operated and fellow eyes and correlated with the type of tamponade used in the surgery. Results: Spectralis OCT automated segmentation software was used for the retinal layer analysis. There were 22 females and 36 males. Their mean age was 60.7 ± 11.2 years. The mean central macular thickness was 214.3 ± 29.5 µm in the operated and 229.7 ± 21.7 µm in the fellow eyes (p = 0.008). There was a statistically significant difference between the operated and the healthy fellow eyes in the following layers: the RNFL (p = 0.017), GCL (p = 0.02), INL (p = 0.005), and ONL (p = 0.008) in the central foveal area; the RNFL (p < 0.001), INL (p = 0.017), and ONL (p = 0.022) in the perifoveal ring; and the RNFL (p < 0.001), IPL (p = 0.042), INL (p = 0.001), and OPL (p = 0.001) in the peripheral ring. The logMAR best corrected visual acuities were 2.51 ± 0.68 and 2.69 ± 0.62 at baseline and 0.60 ± 0.38 and 0.50 ± 0.38 at month 12 in the silicone oil tamponade (n = 28) and the gas tamponade (n = 30) group (p = 0.52 and p = 0.21, respectively). The foveal GCL, OPL, and ONL and the perifoveal GCL and IPL were statistically significantly thinner in the silicone oil tamponade group (p = 0.01, p = 0.046, p = 0.024, p = 0.006, and p = 0.011, respectively). Conclusions: Significant changes were observed in the retinal layers after VRS for RRD. Individual retinal layers seem to be affected 1 year after VRS for RRD. The type of tamponade can influence the thickness of the retinal layers. The thickness of the retinal layers was significantly preserved in eyes treated with gas tamponade when compared to those treated with silicone oil tamponade in the long term. Further studies are needed to validate our results.

Background: Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is the most common acute optic neuropathy in patients over the age of 50 and is the second most common cause of permanent optic nerverelated visual loss in adults after glaucoma. Although the precise cause of NAION remains elusive, the etiology of NAION is believed to be multifactorial. Aims: To evaluate the utility of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) as a simple and readily available prognostic factor for clinical disease activity in patients with NAION. Study Design: Case-control study. Methods: Forty-five patients with the diagnosis of NAION and 50 age-and sex-matched controls with/ without any systemic or ocular diseases except cataract were retrospectively enrolled in the study. Demographic characteristics and laboratory findings including complete blood count of all patients and control subjects were obtained from the electronic medical record.The neutrophil and lymphocyte counts were recorded and the NLR was calculated. Results: White blood cell, neutrophil, NLR and platelet values of the NAION patients were significantly higher than those of the controls (p<0.001, p<0.001, p=0.004, p=0.037, respectively). Initial NLR values were negatively correlated with initial and the third month best corrected visual acuity levels in the study group. The optimum NLR cut-off point for NAION was 1.94. Conclusion: NLR could be considered as a new inflammatory marker for assessment of the severity of inflammation in NAION patients with its quick, cheap, easily measurable property with routine complete blood count analysis.

BackgroundMost of patients experience pain during the panretinal photocoagulation(PRP). Laser photocoagulation delivery has advanced with the introduction of pattern-scanning laser systems (PASCAL). Shorter pulse duration and less choroidal penetration believed to reduce pain during the laser treatment.ObjectivesTo compare the severity of expressed pain scores in patients with PDR who underwent PRP either with PASCAL laser or conventional laser.MethodsA total of 28 patients with a diagnosis of PDR who were scheduled for bilateral PRP therapy were enrolled into the prospective study. Both eyes were treated within the same session and while one eye was treated with PASCAL the other was treated with conventional laser randomly. Pulse duration was adjusted to 100-ms in conventional laser and 30 ms in PASCAL. The severity of pain was graded using a verbal scale and a visual analog scale (VAS).ResultsMean age was 61.36±9.10 years. Mean verbal and VAS scores were 1.32±0.47 and 2.86±1.21 in the PASCAL laser and 2.39±0.49 and 5.75±1.35 in the conventional laser group, respectively. Differences between expressed pain scores obtained by both two scales were statistically significant (p<0.001).ConclusionPASCAL laser significantly alleviates pain levels possibly due to the shorter laser pulse duration and lower intensity.