INTERESTING EYE NEWS & CLINICAL PEARLS

This study in Current Eye Research concludes: Our findings provide evidence that total antioxidant status decreases in the plasma of POAG patients and that it may play a role in POAG pathogenesis. Association of antioxidant level with increased cup-to-disc ratio highlights antioxidant status potential role as a predictive-marker for POAG-severity.

This absract from Seminars in Ophthalmology: Purpose : To investigate the frequency of Alzheimer-related dementia in patients with pseudoexfoliation syndrome (PEX). Methods : Sixty-seven patients with PEX and 67 age-, gender-, and educational-background-matched control subjects were compared for the presence of Alzheimer-related dementia according to DSM- IV-TR. The effects of cataract, glaucoma, additional ocular and systemic disease on the dementia incidence were also evaluated in patients with PEX and the control group.  Results : The frequency of Alzheimer-related dementia was higher in patients with PEX ( p  = 0.0001). The frequency of dementia in patients who had cataract was higher than in patients without cataract ( p  = 0.003). There was also an association between additional ocular disease and dementia ( p  < 0.05). However, there was no association between systemic disease and dementia ( p  > 0.05). Furthermore, there was no difference for the frequency of deme...

This abstract from Clinical Ophthalmology Background:  The purpose of this study was to determine whether a combination of vitamins B6, B9, and B12 is an effective intervention for reducing the signs and symptoms of nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy. Methods:  Ten subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (n = 20 eyes) with clinically diagnosed mild to moderate nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy were recruited from a private practice ophthalmology clinic for this open-label, uncontrolled, prospective six-month study. Metanx ®  vitamin tablets (containing 3 mg L-methylfolate calcium, 35 mg pyridoxal-5′-phosphate, and 2 mg methylcobalamin) were administered at a dosage of two tablets daily. Primary outcome indicators were the percent change in mean retinal sensitivity threshold measured by macular microperimetry and the percent change in mean central retinal thickness measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography. Results:  Three subjects were lost t...

This study in Eye & Contact Lens concludes: Successful contact lens wearers fit as children are no more likely to report previous contact lens–related adverse events, problems with compliance, decreased wearing time, or worse ocular health than those fit as teenagers, so practitioners should not use age as a primary determinant in fitting children in contact lenses.