BackgroundParkinson disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative process that leads to a selective loss of dopaminergic neurons, mainly in the basal ganglia of the brain. Numerous studies have analyzed the ability of optical coherence tomography (OCT) to detect retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness abnormalities and changes in PD, but the results have not always been consistent. Therefore, we carried out a meta-analysis to evaluate the RNFL thickness measured with OCT in PD.Methods and FindingsCase-control studies were selected through an electronic search of the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register, PUBMED and EMBASE. For the continuous outcomes, we calculated the weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). The statistical analysis was performed by RevMan 5.0 software. Thirteen case-control studies were included in the present meta-analysis, containing a total of 644 eyes in PD patients and 604 eyes in healthy controls. The results of our study showed that there was a significant reduction in average RNFL thickness in patients with PD compared to healthy controls (WMD = −5.76, 95% CI: −8.99 to −2.53, P = 0.0005). Additionally, differences of RNFL thickness in superior quadrant (WMD = −4.44, 95% CI: −6.93 to −1.94, P = 0.0005), inferior quadrant (WMD = −7.56, 95% CI: −11.33 to −3.78, P<0.0001), nasal quadrant (WMD = −3.12, 95% CI: −5.63 to −0.61, P = 0.01) and temporal quadrant (WMD = −4.63, 95% CI: −7.20 to −2.06, P = 0.0004) were all significant between the two groups.ConclusionIn view of these results and the noninvasive nature of OCT technology, we surmise that OCT could be a useful tool for evaluating the progression of the Parkinson disease.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01928212

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is now one of the leading causes of blindness in the elderly population and oxidative stress-induced damage to retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells occurs as part of the pathogenesis of AMD. In the present study, we evaluated the protective effect of delphinidin (2-(3,4,5-trihydroxyphenyl) chromenylium-3,5,7-triol) against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-induced toxicity in human ARPE-19 cells and its molecular mechanism. MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay and flow cytometry demonstrated that pretreatment of ARPE-19 cells with delphinidin (25, 50, and 100 μg/ml) significantly increased cell viability and reduced the apoptosis from H2O2 (0.5 mM)-induced oxidative stress in a concentration-dependent manner, which was achieved by the inhibition of Bax, cytochrome c, and caspase-3 protein expression and enhancement of Bcl-2 protein. The same tendency was observed in ARPE-19 cells pre-treated with 15 mM of N-acetylcysteine (NAC) before the addition of H2O2. Furthermore, pre-incubation of ARPE-19 cells with delphinidin markedly inhibited the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and Nox1 protein expression induced by H2O2. Moreover, the decreased antioxidant enzymes activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and glutathione-peroxidase (GSH-PX) and elevated (MDA) level in H2O2-treated cells were reversed to the normal standard by the addition of delphinidin, which was regulated by increasing nuclear Nrf2 protein expression in ARPE-19 cells. Our results suggest that delphinidin effectively protects human ARPE-19 cells from H2O2-induced oxidative damage via anti-apoptotic and antioxidant effects.

Efficient collection of water from fog can effectively alleviate the problem of water shortage in foggy but water-scarce areas, such as desert, island and so on. Different with the inefficient fog meshes, corona discharge can release charged particles, charge water droplets and further enhance the water-collecting effect. This manuscript proposes a novel multi-electrode collecting structure, which can achieve the efficient and direction-independent collecting fog. The multi-electrode structure consists of three parts: charging electrode, intercepting electrode and ground electrode. Four types of water-collecting structures are compared experimentally, and the results show that the collection rates of traditional fog mesh, wire-mesh electrode with fog coming from high-voltage electrode (FH), wire-mesh electrode with fog coming from ground electrode (FG) and multi-electrode are 2~3 g/h, 100~120 g/h, 60~80 g/h, 200~220 g/h, respectively. The collection rate of multi-electrode structure is 100 ~ 150 times that of traditional fog mesh and 2 ~ 4 times that of wire-mesh electrode. These results demonstrate the superiority of the multi-electrode structure in fog collection. In addition, the motion equation of charged droplets in electric field is also derived, and the optimization strategy of electrode spacing is also discussed. This structure can be applied not only to fog collection, but also to air purification, factory waste gas treatment and other fields.

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Rationale:Neuroblastoma is one of the most common tumors found in children, and mostly arises in the adrenal gland and paravertebral regions. Orbital neuroblastoma metastasis is relatively rare, and is associated with poor prognosis. Since the symptoms and signs of orbital neuroblastoma are not specific, its diagnosis remains challenging.Patient concerns:A 3-year-old girl presented with periorbital ecchymoses (raccoon eyes) and proptosis for 40 days.Diagnoses:Abdominal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and sonography analysis revealed a large mass in the left adrenal gland (primary tumor). The computed tomography and MRI further revealed multiple soft tissue masses in the skull and both orbits with erosion of the adjacent bones (the metastasis). The histological analysis of the tumor removed from the right orbit confirmed the diagnosis of neuroblastoma.Interventions:The mass on the right face was surgically removed.Outcomes:The patient exhibited no deteriorative signs at the 6-month follow-up.Lessons:Clinical manifestations, such as periorbital ecchymoses and proptosis, in combination with radiological analysis and histological findings, are important for the diagnosis of orbital neuroblastoma metastasis.

This article aims to evaluate the outcomes of torsional and burst mode phacoemulsification in hard nuclear cataracts. Eighty eyes with grade IV or V nuclear opalescence were treated with phacoemulsification and intraocular lens implantation using conventional mode (Group A, n = 40) or torsional and burst mode phacoemulsification (Group B, n = 40). For good visualization of anterior capsule, trypan blue was injected to the anterior chamber before continuous circular capsulorhexis. The mean cumulative dissipated energy and ultrasound time were recorded. The best-corrected visual acuity, endothelial cell density, and central corneal thickness were measured before and at 1 month after surgery. The cumulative dissipated energy and ultrasound time of Group B were significantly less than that of Group A. The postoperative best-corrected visual acuities of the 2 groups were comparable. At 1 month after surgery, the changes in the endothelial cell density were significantly greater in Group A than in Group B, and the changes in the central corneal thickness were not significantly different between the 2 groups. Torsional and burst mode is a safe and effective surgical method for treating hard cataracts.

Purpose: To conduct a multi-center analysis and assess the economic burden due to dry eye disease (DED) in China.Design: A retrospective and cross-sectional study.Methods: Patients (n = 598) with diagnosed DED were recruited from 3 eye centers (in central, southeast, and northeast China) from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018. Data were collected regarding the examination, pharmacological therapy, and non-pharmacological therapy fees. Sub-group analyses were stratified by eye center, DED severity, types of DED, number of visits to physicians, and residential area. A logistic regression analysis was conducted to investigate the variables influencing total costs.Results: The per capita costs devoted to DED at the 3 centers were 422.6, 391.3, and 265.4 USD, respectively. The costs of non-pharmacological therapy accounted the largest part in three centers (75.6, 76.4, 76.5%, respectively). Patients with severe DED sustained the largest economic burden. Patients with mixed type of DED spent the most comparing to patients with either evaporative or aqueous-deficient types of DED. Patients spent more during the first visit compared with subsequent visits. Patients living in urban areas spent significantly more than did those living in rural areas (P = 0.001). The logistics regression analysis showed that total costs were significantly influenced by DED severity, number of visits to physicians, and area of residence (beta = 2.83, 0.83, 1.48; P &lt; 0.0001).Conclusions: DED is a chronic ocular disease that timely non-cost counseling, early diagnosis, and efficacious treatment can reduce its economic burden on patients and the society.

Needle electrodes are widely used in the research of corona discharge. Aiming at the problem of needle electrode discharge in a large‐scale space (tens or even hundreds of centimetres), a hybrid model was proposed in the previous work. However, its indispensable multiple iterations result in huge computation and further limit its wide applications. Therefore, a strategy to improve the computing efficiency by setting initial values in different computational domains is put forward in this work. Three types of setting initial values (global constant, partition constant and partition exponent) are simulated and compared in detail. The calculation results show that the calculation efficiency can be increased by 1.4 times simply through setting initial values of charged particles as different constants for the divided subdomains, and further be improved by 4.3 times by setting those in the ionization region as an exponential distribution. The extension of the proposed strategy has also been discussed under various voltages, which shows that the results under other voltages can be quickly obtained based on the fitted coefficients under a specific voltage, and the improvement can reach up to 10 times. The accuracy of calculated results has been demonstrated by a needle‐plate electrode device with a vertical distance of 25 cm. This research provides an effective strategy for improving the computing efficiency of corona discharge in a large‐scale space, and implies the potential in optimizing the analyses of complex electrodes.