Publications

2019

Patak J, Gilfert J, Byler M, Neerukonda V, Thiffault I, Cross L, Amudhavalli S, Pacio-Miguez M, Palomares-Bralo M, Garcia-Minaur S, Santos-Simarro F, Powis Z, Alcaraz W, Tang S, Jurgens J, Barry B, England E, Engle E, Hess J, Lebel R. MAGEL2-related disorders: A study and case series. Clin Genet. 2019;96(6):493–505.
Pathogenic MAGEL2 variants result in the phenotypes of Chitayat-Hall syndrome (CHS), Schaaf-Yang syndrome (SYS) and Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS). We present five patients with mutations in MAGEL2, including the first patient reported with a missense variant, adding to the limited literature. Further, we performed a systematic review of the CHS and SYS literature, assess the overlap between CHS, SYS and PWS, and analyze genotype-phenotype correlations among them. We conclude that there is neither a clinical nor etiological difference between CHS and SYS, and propose that the two syndromes simply be referred to as MAGEL2-related disorders.
Chitnis G, Verma M, Lamazouade J, Gonzalez-Andrades M, Yang K, Dergham A, Jones PA, Mead B, Cruzat A, Tong Z, Martyn K, Solanki A, Landon-Brace N, Karp J. A resistance-sensing mechanical injector for the precise delivery of liquids to target tissue. Nat Biomed Eng. 2019;3(8):621–631.
The precision of the delivery of therapeutics to the desired injection site by syringes and hollow needles typically depends on the operator. Here, we introduce a highly sensitive, completely mechanical and cost-effective injector for targeting tissue reliably and precisely. As the operator pushes the syringe plunger, the injector senses the loss-of-resistance on encountering a softer tissue or a cavity, stops advancing the needle and delivers the payload. We demonstrate that the injector can reliably deliver liquids to the suprachoroidal space-a challenging injection site that provides access to the back of the eye-for a wide range of eye sizes, scleral thicknesses and intraocular pressures, and target sites relevant for epidural injections, subcutaneous injections and intraperitoneal access. The design of this simple and effective injector can be adapted for a broad variety of clinical applications.
Wolkow N, Habib L, Yoon M, Freitag S. Corneal Neurotization: Review of a New Surgical Approach and Its Developments. Semin Ophthalmol. 2019;:1–15.
Corneal neurotization is an innovative surgical approach for restoring corneal sensation, whereby the sensory functions of a normal donor nerve are rerouted to an anesthetic cornea. Many variations upon this basic surgical principal have been introduced and have proven successful in ameliorating corneal sensation in patients. It is unclear whether one surgical approach is superior to another, as each has advantages and disadvantages. Surgical approaches differ in the donor nerve selected and in whether a nerve graft is required. Surgical techniques have varied in the location, number and extent of incisions, methods of nerve coaptation, the number of surgeons required, the equipment and materials utilized and the duration of the procedure. The current review provides an overview of developments in this nascent field. A review of all peer-reviewed publications on corneal neurotization was performed. The various approaches to corneal neurotization are compared and discussed. The least morbid, simplest, most expedient and successful surgical approaches will ultimately become the most utilized.
Importance: Some marketing materials for yellow-lens night-driving glasses claim that they increase nighttime road visibility and reduce oncoming headlight glare (HLG). However, there is no scientific evidence to support these claims. Objective: To measure the association between yellow-lens glasses and the detection of pedestrians with and without an oncoming HLG, using a driving simulator equipped with a custom HLG simulator. Design, Setting, and Participants: A single-center cohort study was conducted between September 8, 2016, and October 25, 2017, at the Schepens Eye Research Institute. A total of 22 individuals participated in the study, divided into groups to determine response to a pedestrian wearing a navy blue shirt by younger individuals and, to control for participant's age and the interaction of the shirt color with the filter, response to a pedestrian wearing an orange shirt by a group of younger and older participants. Exposures: Participants drove scripted night-driving scenarios, 3 times with 3 commercially available yellow-lens glasses and once with clear-lens glasses, with the HLG simulator turned on and off. A total of 8 conditions were used for each participant. Main Outcomes and Measures: Pedestrian detection response time. Results: The 22 participants who completed the study included 12 younger (mean [SD] age, 28 [7] years; 6 men) individuals who responded to a pedestrian wearing a dark navy blue shirt, as well as 6 younger (mean [SD] age, 27 [4] years; 4 men) and 4 older (mean [SD], 70 [11] years; all men) participants who responded to a pedestrian in an orange shirt. All participants had normal visual acuity (mean [SD], -0.05 [0.06] logMAR). No significant difference in response time with yellow lens was found in all experiment conditions; younger participants for dark navy blue shirt pedestrians (F1,33 = 0.59; P = .45), orange shirt pedestrians (F1,15 = 0.13; P = .72), and older participants for orange shirt pedestrians (F1,9 = 0.84; P = .38). Among all participants (n = 22), no significant main effect of yellow lenses was found (F1,63 = 0.64; P = .42). In all measuring conditions, the response times with the yellow lenses were not better than with the clear lenses. Significant main effects of HLG were found with dark navy blue shirt pedestrian condition for young participants (F1,33 = 7.34; P < .001) and with orange shirt pedestrian condition for older individuals (F1,9 = 75.32; P < .001), where the difference in response time between with and without HLG was larger for older (1.5 seconds) than younger (0.3 seconds) participants. Conclusions and Relevance: Using a driver simulator equipped with an HLG simulator, yellow-lens night-driving glasses did not appear to improve pedestrian detection at night or reduce the negative effects of HLG on pedestrian detection performance. These findings do not appear to support having eye care professionals advise patients to use yellow-lens night-driving glasses.
Liu Y, Jassim F, Braaf B, Khoueir Z, Poon LYC, Ben-David G, Papadogeorgou G, Tsikata E, Simavli H, Que C, Lee R, Shieh E, Vakoc B, Bouma B, Boer J, Chen T. Diagnostic Capability of 3D Peripapillary Retinal Volume for Glaucoma Using Optical Coherence Tomography Customized Software. J Glaucoma. 2019;28(8):708–717.
PRéCIS:: The diagnostic capability of peripapillary retinal volume is similar to peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness for diagnosing glaucoma, but with fewer artifacts. PURPOSE: To compare the diagnostic capability of 3-dimensional peripapillary retinal volume (RV) versus 2-dimensional peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness for open-angle glaucoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective cross-sectional analysis was conducted. A total of 180 subjects (113 open-angle glaucoma, 67 normal participants) had spectral domain optical coherence tomography volume scans and RNFL thickness measurements. Peripapillary RV values were calculated using a custom-designed program with 4 circumpapillary annuli (CA): CA1 had circle diameters of 2.5 and 3.5 mm; CA2, 3 and 4 mm; CA3, 3.5 and 4.5 mm; and CA4, 4 and 5 mm. Area under the receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated for global, quadrant, and octant regions for RV (CA1 to CA4) and RNFL thickness. Pair-wise comparisons were conducted. Artifacts rates were determined. RESULTS: Mean age was 62.7±15.4 years, and 47.8% (86/180) were male. Among RV measurements, best diagnostic performances were for the smallest 2 annuli for inferior RV (CA1: 0.964, CA2: 0.955). Of the 4 annuli, CA1 had the highest diagnostic performance. Of specific regions, the inferior RV quadrant had the highest performance across CA1 to CA4. Peripapillary RV had similar diagnostic capability compared with RNFL thickness (P>0.05). The artifact rate per B-scan for RV was 6.0%, which was significantly lower compared with 2-dimensional RNFL thickness in the same patient population (32.2%, P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The diagnostic capability of RV is similar to RNFL thickness for perimetric open-angle glaucoma, but RV had fewer artifacts compared with RNFL thickness.
PURPOSE: To evaluate the changes in anterior corneal topography induced by short-time wear of scleral contact lenses (SLs) in keratoconic subjects with and without a history of corneal cross-linking (CXL). METHODS: Nine keratoconic patients (14 eyes) were fitted with 18.5 mm SLs for optical rehabilitation. Subjects were divided into 2 groups: 7 eyes without a history of CXL (Non-CXL group) and 7 with a history of CXL (CXL group). Corneal topography was performed at baseline and after 2 and 5 hours of lens wear. The differences for simulated flat (Kflat), steep (Ksteep) and maximal (Kmax) corneal curvatures, central corneal astigmatism (CCA), and central cornea thickness were evaluated. RESULTS: No statistically significant difference was detected between Non-CXL and CXL groups in any of these measures. Statistically significant flattening was detected in Ksteep Repeated measures analysis of variance ([RM-ANOVA), F (2,24) = 11.32, P < 0.0001], CCA [RM-ANOVA, F (2,24) = 15.34, P < 0.0001], and Kmax [RM-ANOVA, F (2,24) = 19.10, P < 0.0001). From baseline to 5 hours of SL wear, Ksteep decreased on average from 53.1 to 52.4 D, Kmax decreased from 56.7 to 55.8 D, and CCA decreased from 7.2 to 6.3 D. Kmax showed a trend toward more flattening in the Non-CXL group. Central cornea thickness showed significant thickening over time from baseline (451 μm) to 5 hours (458 μm) of SL wear [RM-ANOVA, F (1,12) = 319.3, P < 0.0001]. CONCLUSIONS: Short-term scleral lens wear in keratoconic patients may cause flattening of the anterior cornea. A history of CXL treatment does not guarantee corneal shape stability after scleral lens wear. Practitioners should be aware of these changes because scleral lens wear may mask the signs of keratoconus progression.
Chekuri A, Zientara-Rytter K, Soto-Hermida A, Borooah S, Voronchikhina M, Biswas P, Kumar V, Goodsell D, Hayward C, Shaw P, Stanton C, Garland D, Subramani S, Ayyagari R. Late-onset retinal degeneration pathology due to mutations in CTRP5 is mediated through HTRA1. Aging Cell. 2019;18(6):e13011.
Late-onset retinal degeneration (L-ORD) is an autosomal dominant macular degeneration characterized by the formation of sub-retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) deposits and neuroretinal atrophy. L-ORD results from mutations in the C1q-tumor necrosis factor-5 protein (CTRP5), encoded by the CTRP5/C1QTNF5 gene. To understand the mechanism underlying L-ORD pathology, we used a human cDNA library yeast two-hybrid screen to identify interacting partners of CTRP5. Additionally, we analyzed the Bruch's membrane/choroid (BM-Ch) from wild-type (Wt), heterozygous S163R Ctrp5 mutation knock-in (Ctrp5 ), and homozygous knock-in (Ctrp5 ) mice using mass spectrometry. Both approaches showed an association between CTRP5 and HTRA1 via its C-terminal PDZ-binding motif, stimulation of the HTRA1 protease activity by CTRP5, and CTRP5 serving as an HTRA1 substrate. The S163R-CTRP5 protein also binds to HTRA1 but is resistant to HTRA1-mediated cleavage. Immunohistochemistry and proteomic analysis showed significant accumulation of CTRP5 and HTRA1 in BM-Ch of Ctrp5 and Ctrp5 mice compared with Wt. Additional extracellular matrix (ECM) components that are HTRA1 substrates also accumulated in these mice. These results implicate HTRA1 and its interaction with CTRP5 in L-ORD pathology.