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Eye (London, England) Oct 2023Endothelial keratoplasty (EK) is a commonly performed transplant procedure used in the treatment of corneal endothelial dysfunction. The aim of this systematic review... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES
Endothelial keratoplasty (EK) is a commonly performed transplant procedure used in the treatment of corneal endothelial dysfunction. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate the differences in visual acuity outcomes, endothelial cell density (ECD) and complications between two forms of EK, ultrathin Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (UT-DSAEK) and Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK).
METHODS
A literature search of MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane Library was conducted to identify studies reporting comparative results of UT-DSAEK versus DMEK. The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement was used for search strategy. Of 141 titles, 7 studies met the inclusion criteria; best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) (LogMAR), ECD (cells/mm), and complications were compared, with all statistical analysis performed using Review Manager.
RESULTS
A total of 362 eyes were included for analysis. DMEK resulted in significantly better BCVA at 3 months (0.14 vs 0.22, p = 0.003), 6 months (0.08 vs 0.18, p = 0.005) and 1 year post-op (0.07 vs 0.14, p = 0.0005). UT-DSAEK resulted in significantly lower total complications (25.2% vs 57.3%, p = 0.0001) and rates of re-bubbling (11.0% vs 33.7%, p = 0.004). No differences were found in ECD between the two procedures (1541 vs 1605, p = 0.77).
CONCLUSIONS
DMEK results in superior visual acuity rates with quicker recovery. However, UT-DSAEK has a more favourable complication profile, particularly regarding lower rates of re-bubbling. Both are valuable options in the treatment of corneal endothelial disease and choice of procedure may depend on surgical expertise.
Topics: Humans; Descemet Membrane; Descemet Stripping Endothelial Keratoplasty; Corneal Diseases; Visual Acuity; Research Design; Retrospective Studies; Fuchs' Endothelial Dystrophy; Endothelium, Corneal
PubMed: 36934158
DOI: 10.1038/s41433-023-02467-2 -
Patient Education and Counseling Nov 2023Risk communication (RC), as part of shared decision making, is challenging with people with limited health literacy (LHL). We aim to provide an overview of strategies to... (Review)
Review
OBJECTIVES
Risk communication (RC), as part of shared decision making, is challenging with people with limited health literacy (LHL). We aim to provide an overview of strategies to communicate benefits and harms of diagnostic and treatment options to this group.
METHODS
We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, Cinahl and PsycInfo. We included 28 studies on RC in informed/shared decision making without restriction to a health setting or condition and using a broad conceptualization of health literacy. Two researchers independently selected studies and one researcher performed data extraction. We descriptively compared findings for people with LHL towards recommendations for RC.
RESULTS
Health literacy levels varied in the included studies. Most studies used experimental designs, primarily on visual RC. Findings show verbal RC alone should be avoided. Framing of risk information influences risk perception (less risky when positively framed, riskier when negatively framed). Most studies recommended the use of icon arrays. Graph literacy should be considered when using visual RC.
CONCLUSIONS
The limited available evidence suggests that recommended RC strategies seem mainly to be valid for people with LHL, but more research is required.
PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS
More qualitative research involving people with LHL is needed to gain further in-depth insights into optimal RC strategies.
PROTOCOL REGISTRATION
PROSPERO ID 275022.
Topics: Humans; Health Literacy; Decision Making, Shared; Qualitative Research; Communication; Patients; Decision Making
PubMed: 37619376
DOI: 10.1016/j.pec.2023.107944 -
Heliyon Nov 2023Sensory Substitution (SS) allows the elaboration of information via non preferential sensory modalities. This phenomenon occurs in robotic-assisted surgery (RAS), in... (Review)
Review
Sensory Substitution (SS) allows the elaboration of information via non preferential sensory modalities. This phenomenon occurs in robotic-assisted surgery (RAS), in which haptic feedback is lacking. It has been suggested that SS could sustain surgeons' proficiency by means of visual clues for inferring tactile information, that also promotes the feeling of haptic phantom sensations. A critical role in reaching a good performance in procedural tasks is also sustained by the Sense of Embodiment (SE), that is, the capacity to integrate objects into subjective bodily self-representation. As SE is enhanced by haptic sensations, we hypothesize a role of SS in promoting SE in RAS. Accordingly, the goal of this systematic review is to summarize the evidence pertaining the study of SS in RAS in order to highlight the impact on the performance, and to identify a mediating role of the SE in increasing dexterity in RAS. Eight studies selected from the MEDLINE and Scopus® databases met inclusion criteria for a qualitative synthesis. Results indicated that haptic to other modalities SS enhanced force consistency and accuracy, and decreased surgeon fatigue. Expert surgeons, as compared to novices, showed a better natural SS processing, testified by a proficient performance with and without SS aids. No studies investigated the mediating role of SE. These findings indicate that SS is subjected to learning and memory processes that help surgeons to rapidly derive haptic-correlates from visual clues, which are highly required for a good performance. Also, the higher ability of doing SS and the associated perception of haptic sensations might increase multisensory integration, which might sustain performance.
PubMed: 38027699
DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e21665 -
Gait & Posture Jan 2024The vestibular system detects head accelerations within 6 degrees of freedom. How well this is accomplished is described by vestibular perceptual thresholds. They are a... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
The vestibular system detects head accelerations within 6 degrees of freedom. How well this is accomplished is described by vestibular perceptual thresholds. They are a measure of perceptual performance based on the conscious evaluation of sensory information. This review provides an integrative synthesis of the vestibular perceptual thresholds reported in the literature. The focus lies on the estimation of thresholds in healthy participants, used devices and stimulus profiles. The dependence of these thresholds on the participants clinical status and age is also reviewed. Furthermore, thresholds from primate studies are discussed.
RESULTS
Thresholds have been measured for frequencies ranging from 0.05 to 5 Hz. They decrease with increasing frequency for five of the six main degrees of freedom (inter-aural, head-vertical, naso-occipital, yaw, pitch). No consistent pattern is evident for roll rotations. For a frequency range beyond 5 Hz, a U-shaped relationship is suggested by a qualitative comparison to primate data. Where enough data is available, increasing thresholds with age and higher thresholds in patients compared to healthy controls can be observed. No effects related to gender or handedness are reported.
SIGNIFICANCE
Vestibular thresholds are essential for next generation screening tools in the clinical domain, for the assessment of athletic performance, and workplace safety alike. Knowledge about vestibular perceptual thresholds contributes to basic and applied research in fields such as perception, cognition, learning, and healthy aging. This review provides normative values for vestibular thresholds. Gaps in current knowledge are highlighted and attention is drawn to specific issues for improving the inter-study comparability in the future.
Topics: Humans; Animals; Motion Perception; Acceleration; Learning; Vestibule, Labyrinth; Primates; Sensory Thresholds
PubMed: 37778297
DOI: 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2023.09.011 -
Brain and Behavior May 2024The internal representation of verticality could be disturbed when a lesion in the central nervous system (CNS) affects the centers where information from the... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
INTRODUCTION
The internal representation of verticality could be disturbed when a lesion in the central nervous system (CNS) affects the centers where information from the vestibular, visual, and/or somatosensory systems, increasing the risk of falling.
OBJECTIVE
The aim was to evaluate the vestibular and somatosensory contribution to the verticality pattern in patients with stroke and other neurological disorders.
METHODS
A literature search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and CINAHL databases. Cross-sectional, case-control, and cohort studies comparing body verticality in patients with stroke or CNS diseases (CNSD) versus healthy controls were selected. Subjective postural vertical (SPV) in roll and pitch planes was used as the primary variable.
RESULTS
Ten studies reporting data from 390 subjects were included. The overall effect for CNSD patients showed a misperception of body verticality in roll (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 1.05; 95% confidence interval [CI] .84-1.25) and pitch planes (SMD = 1.03; 95% CI .51-1.55). In subgroup analyses, a high effect was observed in the perception of SPV both in roll and pitch planes in stroke (p = .002) and other CNSD (p < .001).
CONCLUSION
These findings suggest a potential misperception of SPV in patients with stroke and other neurological disturbances. Patients with CNSD could present an alteration of vestibular and somatosensory contribution to verticality construction, particularly stroke patients with pusher syndrome (PS), followed by those with PS combined with hemineglect.
Topics: Humans; Nervous System Diseases; Perceptual Disorders; Proprioception; Space Perception; Stroke
PubMed: 38688878
DOI: 10.1002/brb3.3496 -
Frontiers in Neuroscience 2024Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) applied to the Early Visual Cortex (EVC) has demonstrated the ability to suppress the perception on visual...
BACKGROUND
Single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (spTMS) applied to the Early Visual Cortex (EVC) has demonstrated the ability to suppress the perception on visual targets, akin to the effect of visual masking. However, the reported spTMS suppression effects across various studies have displayed inconsistency.
OBJECTIVE
We aim to test if the heterogeneity of the spTMS effects can be attributable to variations in experimental factors.
METHODS
We conducted a meta-analysis using data collected from the PubMed and Web of Science databases spanning from 1995 to March 2024. The meta-analysis encompassed a total of 40 independent experiments drawn from 33 original articles.
RESULTS
The findings unveiled an overall significant spTMS suppression effect on visual perception. Nevertheless, there existed substantial heterogeneity among the experiments. Univariate analysis elucidated that the spTMS effects could be significantly influenced by TMS intensity, visual angle of the stimulus, coil type, and TMS stimulators from different manufacturers. Reliable spTMS suppression effects were observed within the time windows of -80 to 0 ms and 50 to 150 ms. Multivariate linear regression analyses, which included SOA, TMS intensity, visual angle of the stimulus, and coil type, identified SOA as the key factor influencing the spTMS effects. Within the 50 to 150 ms time window, optimal SOAs were identified as 112 ms and 98 ms for objective and subjective performance, respectively. Collectively, multiple experimental factors accounted for 22.9% ( = 0.3353) and 39.9% ( = 0.3724) of the variance in objective and subjective performance, respectively. Comparing univariate and multivariate analyses, it was evident that experimental factors had different impacts on objective performance and subjective performance.
CONCLUSION
The present study provided quantitative recommendations for future experiments involving the spTMS effects on visual targets, offering guidance on how to configure experimental factors to achieve the optimal masking effect.
PubMed: 38894939
DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2024.1351399 -
Neuroprotective Strategies for Nonarteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy: A Systematic Review.Korean Journal of Ophthalmology : KJO Aug 2023Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is the second most common form of optic neuropathy. Most patients show no improvement over time. Until now, there...
PURPOSE
Nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) is the second most common form of optic neuropathy. Most patients show no improvement over time. Until now, there is still no definitive therapy for NAION. The available literatures on the possible treatment of NAION are quite diverse and controversial. Neuroprotection strategies have been suggested as one of the potential treatments for NAION. This review aims to critically evaluate the literature on neuroprotective strategy for NAION.
METHODS
This report was written in accordance with PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis) guidelines. We performed a systematic literature search in Pubmed, Science Direct, Proquest, and Cochrane databases. Only neuroprotective agents that directly work in protecting neurons were included. The outcome of interest in this review is retinal ganglion cell density and apoptosis for animal studies and retinal nerve fiber layer thickness for human studies.
RESULTS
The systematic search identified 591 studies of which 24 met the eligibility criteria, including 21 animal studies and three human studies. Only a few of the studies evaluated the same treatments, showing how diverse neuroprotector treatments are currently being evaluated as NAION treatment. From 21 animal studies, 14 studies showed significantly higher retinal ganglion cell density (1.49- to 2.81-fold) with neuroprotective treatment compared to control group. Two of three human studies in this review had also found a beneficial effect of preserving retinal nerve fiber layer thickness in NAION patients.
CONCLUSIONS
This review suggests the potential of neuroprotection as a viable option in the quest for an effective treatment strategy for NAION. Further studies, particularly clinical studies, are necessary to establish its efficacy in NAION patients.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Optic Neuropathy, Ischemic; Optic Disk; Neuroprotection; Visual Acuity; Tomography, Optical Coherence
PubMed: 37563973
DOI: 10.3341/kjo.2022.0166 -
Cognition Aug 2024Absolute pitch is the name given to the rare ability to identify a musical note in an automatic and effortless manner without the need for a reference tone. Those... (Review)
Review
Absolute pitch is the name given to the rare ability to identify a musical note in an automatic and effortless manner without the need for a reference tone. Those individuals with absolute pitch can, for example, name the note they hear, identify all of the tones of a given chord, and/or name the pitches of everyday sounds, such as car horns or sirens. Hence, absolute pitch can be seen as providing a rare example of absolute sensory judgment in audition. Surprisingly, however, the intriguing question of whether such an ability presents unique features in the domain of sensory perception, or whether instead similar perceptual skills also exist in other sensory domains, has not been explicitly addressed previously. In this paper, this question is addressed by systematically reviewing research on absolute pitch using the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) method. Thereafter, we compare absolute pitch with two rare types of sensory experience, namely synaesthesia and eidetic memory, to understand if and how these phenomena exhibit similar features to absolute pitch. Furthermore, a common absolute perceptual ability that has been often compared to absolute pitch, namely colour perception, is also discussed. Arguments are provided supporting the notion that none of the examined abilities can be considered like absolute pitch. Therefore, we conclude by suggesting that absolute pitch does indeed appear to constitute a unique kind of absolute sensory judgment in humans, and we discuss some open issues and novel directions for future research in absolute pitch.
Topics: Humans; Pitch Perception; Judgment; Synesthesia; Color Perception; Music
PubMed: 38761646
DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2024.105805 -
Frontiers in Psychology 2024Trustworthiness is the most significant predictor of trust and has a significant impact on people's levels of trust. Most trustworthiness-related research is empirical,...
Trustworthiness is the most significant predictor of trust and has a significant impact on people's levels of trust. Most trustworthiness-related research is empirical, and while it has a long history, it is challenging for academics to get insights that are applicable to their fields of study and to successfully transfer fragmented results into practice. In order to grasp their dynamic development processes through the mapping of network knowledge graphs, this paper is based on the Web of Science database and uses CiteSpace (6.2.R4) software to compile and visualize the 1,463 publications on trustworthy studies over the past 10 years. This paper aims to provide valuable references to theoretical research and the practice of Trustworthiness. The findings demonstrate that: over the past 10 years, trustworthiness-related research has generally increased in volume; trustworthiness research is concentrated in industrialized Europe and America, with American research findings having a bigger global impact; The University of California System, Harvard University, and Yale University are among the high-production institutions; the leading figures are represented by Alexander Todorov, Marco Brambilla, Bastian Jaeger, and others; the core authors are distinguished university scholars; however, the level of cooperation of the core author needs to be improved. The primary journal for publishing research on trustworthiness is the and . In addition, the study focuses on three distinct domains, involving social perception, facial clues, and artificial intelligence.
PubMed: 38855302
DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1351425 -
Graefe's Archive For Clinical and... Aug 2023Retinal toxicity with long-term hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) treatment is a major concern. This systematic review aims to assess the application of optical coherence... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND
Retinal toxicity with long-term hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) treatment is a major concern. This systematic review aims to assess the application of optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) to detect microvascular alterations in patients under HCQ.
METHODS
PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library databases were systematically searched until January 14, 2023. Studies using OCTA as a primary diagnostic method to evaluate the macular microvasculature of HCQ users were included. Primary outcomes were macular vessel density (VD) and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) at the superficial (SCP) and deep (DCP) capillary plexus. Meta-analysis was performed using a random-effects model.
RESULTS
Of 211 screened abstracts, 13 were found eligible, enrolling 989 eyes from 778 patients. High-risk patients due to longer duration of treatment presented lower VD in the retinal microvasculature than those with low-risk in SCP (P = 0.02 in fovea; P = 0.004 in parafovea) and in DCP (P = 0.007 in fovea; P = 0.01 in parafovea). When compared with healthy controls, HCQ users had lower VD in both plexus-no quantitative synthesis was presented.
CONCLUSIONS
Microvascular changes were found in autoimmune patients under HCQ treatment without any documented retinopathy. However, the evidence produced so far does not allow to draw conclusion concerning the effect of drug as studies were not controlled for disease duration.
Topics: Humans; Hydroxychloroquine; Fluorescein Angiography; Retinal Vessels; Tomography, Optical Coherence; Visual Acuity; Macula Lutea
PubMed: 36884062
DOI: 10.1007/s00417-023-06023-2