ARVO in Focus: The Balance of Power and Protein Knock-Out
We help you keep up to date with the latest vision research from ARVO’s journals
Oscelle Boye, Sarah Healey | | 2 min read | News
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The balance of power
How do multifocal spectacle lenses affect accommodative errors – and does this change over time? To answer this question, a multi-institutional research team in Australia randomly allocated 52 myopes (aged 18–27) to one of two progressive addition lens (PAL) types and measured lags of accommodation and COAS-HD over the course of 12 months in three month intervals (1). According to the findings, PALs can more effectively reduce accommodative lag, if i) additional power is tailored to typical working distances; after the first year, it should be boosted by at least 0.5D to maintain efficiency.
A point of progress
To assess the performance of geometric deep learning in diagnosing glaucoma, researchers acquired the optic nerve head OCT scans of 77 glaucoma and 2296 non-glaucoma subjects (2). After each optic nerve head was represented as a 3D point cloud, geometric deep learning (PointNet) was used to provide a glaucoma diagnosis. The results showed that PointNet provided a better diagnosis than that obtained with a 3D convolutional neural network.
Protein Knock-Out
New research conducted by the Department of Ophthalmology of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel, characterized the centrosome-associated protein CEP250 and its role in causing atypical Usher Syndrome in patients of Iranian Jewish origin (3). A Cep250 KO mouse model showed both retinal degeneration and hearing loss with a relatively late age of onset – results that could point to the development of efficient gene therapies.
Momentum and Energy
To investigate saccade kinematics in relation to eye-movement, researchers used a horizontal saccade task to compare the saccadic behavior of patients with central vision loss caused by age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with the behavior of patients with peripheral vision loss caused by retinitis pigmentosa (RP) (4). They found that both patient cohorts exhibited impaired saccade reaction times and target localization behavior, as well as modified saccade kinematics.
Managing MIGS
Researchers implanted six New Zealand white rabbits with a novel microstent for MIGS – a silicone elastomer-based device developed using dip coating, fs-laser cutting, and spray coating (5). The microstents were manufactured successfully and characterized in vitro. Implantation in vivo was successful for four animals with additional device fixation, showing a reduction in intraocular pressure during the six-month trial period.
- SR Varnas et al., J Vis, 23, 3 (2023). PMID: 36862107.
- AH Thiéry et al., Trans Vis Sci Technol, 12, 23 (2023). PMID: 36790820.
- A Abu-Diab et al., Transl Vis Sci Technol, 12, 3 (2023). PMID: 36857066.
- L Guadron et al., Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci, 64, 1 (2022). PMID: 36857076.
- S Siewert et al., Transl Vis Sci Technol, 12, 4 (2023). PMID: 36857065.
I have always been fascinated by stories. During my biomedical sciences degree, though I enjoyed wet lab sessions, I was truly in my element when sitting down to write up my results and find the stories within the data. Working at Texere gives me the opportunity to delve into a plethora of interesting stories, sharing them with a wide audience as I go.
Communicating stories in a way that is accessible to all was one of the focal points of my Creative Writing degree. Although writing magical realism is a fun endeavor (and one I still dabble in), getting to the heart of human stories has always been the driving motivator behind my writing. At Texere, I am able to connect with the people behind scientific breakthroughs and share their stories in a way that is impactful and engaging.
