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Frontiers in Veterinary Science 2024The fundus is unique in that it is the only part of the body that allows for a noninvasive and uninterrupted view of vasculature and nervous tissue. Utilization of this... (Review)
Review
The fundus is unique in that it is the only part of the body that allows for a noninvasive and uninterrupted view of vasculature and nervous tissue. Utilization of this can be a powerful tool in uncovering salient incidental findings which point to underlying systemic diseases, and for monitoring response to therapy. Retinal venules and arterioles allow the clinician to assess changes in vascular color, diameter, outline, and tortuosity. The retina and optic nerve may exhibit changes associated with increased or decreased thickness, inflammatory infiltrates, hemorrhages, and detachments. While some retinal manifestations of systemic disease may be nonspecific, others are pathognomonic, and may be the presenting sign for a systemic illness. The examination of the fundus is an essential part of the comprehensive physical examination. Systemic diseases which may present with retinal abnormalities include a variety of disease classifications, as represented by the DAMNIT-V acronym, for Degenerative/Developmental, Anomalous, Metabolic, Neoplastic, Nutritional, Inflammatory (Infectious/Immune-mediated/ischemic), Toxic, Traumatic and Vascular. This review details systemic illnesses or syndromes that have been reported to manifest in the fundus of companion animals and discusses key aspects in differentiating their underlying cause. Normal variations in retinal anatomy and morphology are also considered.
PubMed: 38444779
DOI: 10.3389/fvets.2024.1337062 -
BMC Plant Biology Sep 2023Color-leaved O. fragrans is a variety of Osmanthus fragrans, which has both the fragrance of Osmanthus and the color of color-leaved plants. However, the molecular...
BACKGROUND
Color-leaved O. fragrans is a variety of Osmanthus fragrans, which has both the fragrance of Osmanthus and the color of color-leaved plants. However, the molecular mechanism of color change of color-leaved O. fragrans is not clear. In this study, we analyzed the regulatory mechanism of four different color leaves of 'Ziyan Gongzhu' through physiological, transcriptome and metabolome levels.
RESULTS
Firstly, we measured the leaf pigments content and leaf chromatic parameters for correlation analysis, indicating a significant correlation between them. Overall, the content of chlorophyll a + b is low and the content of anthocyanin is high in T1 and T2 leaves, along with low expression of chlorophyll synthesis genes (HEMA, CHLG, and CAO, etc.) and high expression of anthocyanin synthesis genes (F3H, F3'H, DFR and ANS, etc.), resulting purple red and light purple in T1 and T2 leaves, respectively. It was also found that the pigment closely related to the color leaves of 'Ziyan Gongzhu' was cyanidin. The content anthocyanins, may be regulated by two putative MYB activators (OfMYB3 and OfMYB4) and two putative MYB repressors (OfMYB1 and OfMYB2). In contrast, the content of chlorophyll a + b is high and the content of anthocyanin is low in T3 and T4 leaves, along with high expression of chlorophyll synthesis genes and low expression of anthocyanin synthesis genes, resulting yellow green and dark green in T3 and T4 leaves, respectively. And abnormal chloroplast development affects chlorophyll content in T1, T2, and T3 leaves. Although the content of carotenoids first dropped in T2 leaves, it then rapidly accumulated in T4 leaves, in sync with the increase in the expression of genes related to carotenoid biosynthesis (ZDS, LHYB, and ZEP, for example). Analysis of photosynthetic, carbohydrate and hormone-related differentially abundant metabolites (DAMs) and DEGs found that they may participate in the regulation of leaf color change of 'Ziyan Gongzhu' by affecting pigment synthesis.
CONCLUSION
Our results pave the way for a comprehensive knowledge of the regulatory processes governing leaf color in 'Ziyan Gongzhu' and identify possible genes for application regarding molecular colored-leaf cultivar breeding.
Topics: Anthocyanins; Transcriptome; Chlorophyll A; Gene Expression Profiling; Chlorophyll; Plant Leaves; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Color
PubMed: 37752431
DOI: 10.1186/s12870-023-04457-8 -
Etiologies of nontraumatic feline uveitis in the UK: A retrospective observational study of 72 cats.Open Veterinary Journal Sep 2023Uveitis is a common ophthalmic diagnosis in cats, that can lead to discomfort and loss of vision. Identification of nonidiopathic cases facilitates treatment and could...
BACKGROUND
Uveitis is a common ophthalmic diagnosis in cats, that can lead to discomfort and loss of vision. Identification of nonidiopathic cases facilitates treatment and could reduce morbidity associated with this condition.
AIM
To evaluate etiologies of nontraumatic uveitis in the UK, to compare diagnostic features between idiopathic cases and those with an established underlying etiology, and to investigate the association of clinical signs and abnormal diagnostic findings with a confirmed etiology.
METHODS
Records of cats diagnosed with uveitis at a UK referral center between August 2009 and April 2018 were retrospectively reviewed, excluding traumatic (and reflex) cases. Cases were categorized based on whether an underlying etiology had been established in cases with confirmed etiology, idiopathic, and inconclusive cases. All cases had a minimum of 12-month follow-up unless an underlying etiology had been established. Population characteristics, clinical signs, diagnostic investigation features, and results were reported.
RESULTS
72 cases of uveitis were included, of which male cats and domestic breeds were overrepresented. An underlying etiology was determined in 23.6% of cases: 9.7% had infectious diseases, 5.6% had systemic neoplasia, 4.2% had primary ocular neoplasia, and 4.2% had metabolic disease. Idiopathic uveitis comprised 37.5% of cases, and the remaining 38.9% were inconclusive, of which 35.7% died or were euthanased within the follow-up period. Among the study population, no significant age difference was found between cats with idiopathic disease or confirmed etiology. The unilateral disease was reported in 56.9% of cases and was not different across the idiopathic cases and confirmed etiology groups. The most common ophthalmic clinical sign was an aqueous flare, followed by keratic precipitates and hypotony. Iris color change ( = 0.015) and the presence of an intraocular mass ( = 0.025) were associated with an underlying etiology.
CONCLUSION
Idiopathic uveitis was found to be the most common diagnosis in this study population. However, a similar proportion of cases had possible underlying etiologies as a high proportion manifested systemic disease within the follow-up time. An underlying etiology could be established only in a quarter of cases. Further studies are required to standardize the investigations required when assessing cats with uveitis to minimize patient morbidity.
Topics: Animals; Cats; Male; Cat Diseases; Neoplasms; Retrospective Studies; United Kingdom; Uveitis
PubMed: 37842107
DOI: 10.5455/OVJ.2023.v13.i9.15 -
Cureus Sep 2023Beaver tail liver is a rare hepatic anatomical variant in which the left hepatic lobe extends into the left upper quadrant and surrounds the spleen. This extension of...
Beaver tail liver is a rare hepatic anatomical variant in which the left hepatic lobe extends into the left upper quadrant and surrounds the spleen. This extension of the left hepatic lobe consists of normal hepatic parenchyma with no functional liver impairment. In trauma cases, however, the extended left hepatic lobe is vulnerable to injury and confused for a splenic injury due to similar echogenicities and densities on ultrasound and CT. It is also misdiagnosed as a splenic subcapsular hematoma, perisplenic hemorrhage, or mass. Usually, the beaver tail liver is encountered incidentally in patients. We present a 67-year-old male with a history of chronic obstructive lung disease, coronary artery disease, myocardial infarction, and aortic valve replacement. The patient was admitted for further evaluation and placed under the Baker Act for attempting to overdose on oxycodone to commit suicide. Initial imaging identified an ill-defined lesion on CT angiography, which raised concerns for potential malignancy of the liver. Ultimately, an MRI of the abdomen ruled out a malignant lesion due to a lack of abnormal contrast enhancement over the circumscribed region. Consequently, further imaging of the liver led to the incidental discovery of the beaver tail liver in this patient. Due to the rarity of this variant, available literature regarding beaver tail liver is limited to several case reports describing it as an incidental finding. This case highlights the rare nature and unique challenges the beaver tail liver presents for emergency medicine physicians, surgeons, and radiologists interpreting imaging studies without knowledge of its existence. It is important to emphasize how the unexpected presence of the left hepatic lobe in the upper left quadrant of the abdomen can lead to misinterpretations in FAST (focused assessment with sonography in trauma) exams and CT scans. Using non-invasive tools, such as color Doppler, is one way to reduce the incorrect diagnosis of hepatic anatomic variants.
PubMed: 37789993
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.44579 -
Frontiers in Neurology 2024Highly myopic optic nerve head (ONH) abnormalities encompass a series of complications resulting from the stretching of papillary and peripapillary structures during... (Review)
Review
Highly myopic optic nerve head (ONH) abnormalities encompass a series of complications resulting from the stretching of papillary and peripapillary structures during significant axial elongation. The morphological changes in the ONH typically initiate with disk tilting or rotation, progressing to PHOMS and PPA. Tissue defects in each layer manifest as focal lamina cribrosa defects (FLDs), peripapillary intrachoroidal cavitations (PICCs), and acquired pits of the optic nerve (APON). Anterior vitreous/vascular traction and posterior scleral protrusion may lead to prelaminar schisis as well as paravascular cysts and holes, which can potentially develop into retinoschisis. Traditional color fundus photography (CFP) is often insufficient for visualizing most of these lesions, yet their description and quantification benefit significantly from the advancements in optical coherence tomography (OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA), complemented by fundus autofluorescence (FAF), indocyanine green angiography (ICGA), and three-dimensional imaging. The effective diagnosis and classification of ONH abnormalities heavily rely on a comprehensive understanding of their multimodal imaging features, as outlined in this review. These findings provide valuable insights into optic neuropathy in high myopia, establishing a solid foundation for future endeavors in disease monitoring and treatment guidance.
PubMed: 38715686
DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2024.1366593 -
Animals : An Open Access Journal From... Nov 2023The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of high temperature on internal egg yolk quality parameters and their possible mechanisms in Huaixiang chickens....
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of high temperature on internal egg yolk quality parameters and their possible mechanisms in Huaixiang chickens. This study consisted of two treatments, and each treatment had six replicates with six birds per cage. A total of seventy-two 26-week-old female Huaixiang chickens were randomly divided into a normal-temperature group (NT) and a high-temperature group (HT) for 6 weeks. And these hens were exposed to 25 ± 2 °C and 32 ± 2 °C, respectively. Their relative humidity was maintained at 55-65%. The results showed that the HT group significantly reduced yolk weight, yolk color, and egg weight compared to the NT group ( < 0.05). Heat stress caused vacuolar degeneration of the liver and reduced the absolute liver weight ( < 0.05). Both yolk triglyceride (TG) and liver TG in the HT group were significantly higher than in the NT group ( < 0.05). However, the liver total cholesterol (TC) level in the HT group was remarkably lower than that in the NT group ( < 0.05). Additionally, heat stress remarkably enhanced SREBP-1c, ACACA, and FASN lipid metabolism-related gene mRNA expression levels in Huaixiang chicken liver after 6 weeks of heat exposure ( < 0.05). Furthermore, the HT group had remarkably reduced total amino acid, Cys, and Tyr levels in the yolk when compared with the NT group in our experiment ( < 0.05). In conclusion, heat stress causes egg yolk quality reduction and abnormal lipid metabolism in Huaixiang chickens. These findings provided novel insights into the role of high temperature on egg yolk parameters and the underlying mechanisms in Chinese indigenous laying hens.
PubMed: 38003131
DOI: 10.3390/ani13223513 -
MedRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Jan 2024The Brazilian Multilabel Ophthalmological Dataset (BRSET) addresses the scarcity of publicly available ophthalmological datasets in Latin America. BRSET comprises 16,266...
INTRODUCTION
The Brazilian Multilabel Ophthalmological Dataset (BRSET) addresses the scarcity of publicly available ophthalmological datasets in Latin America. BRSET comprises 16,266 color fundus retinal photos from 8,524 Brazilian patients, aiming to enhance data representativeness, serving as a research and teaching tool. It contains sociodemographic information, enabling investigations into differential model performance across demographic groups.
METHODS
Data from three São Paulo outpatient centers yielded demographic and medical information from electronic records, including nationality, age, sex, clinical history, insulin use, and duration of diabetes diagnosis. A retinal specialist labeled images for anatomical features (optic disc, blood vessels, macula), quality control (focus, illumination, image field, artifacts), and pathologies (e.g., diabetic retinopathy). Diabetic retinopathy was graded using International Clinic Diabetic Retinopathy and Scottish Diabetic Retinopathy Grading. Validation used Dino V2 Base for feature extraction, with 70% training and 30% testing subsets. Support Vector Machines (SVM) and Logistic Regression (LR) were employed with weighted training. Performance metrics included area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) and Macro F1-score.
RESULTS
BRSET comprises 65.1% Canon CR2 and 34.9% Nikon NF5050 images. 61.8% of the patients are female, and the average age is 57.6 years. Diabetic retinopathy affected 15.8% of patients, across a spectrum of disease severity. Anatomically, 20.2% showed abnormal optic discs, 4.9% abnormal blood vessels, and 28.8% abnormal macula. Models were trained on BRSET in three prediction tasks: "diabetes diagnosis"; "sex classification"; and "diabetic retinopathy diagnosis".
DISCUSSION
BRSET is the first multilabel ophthalmological dataset in Brazil and Latin America. It provides an opportunity for investigating model biases by evaluating performance across demographic groups. The model performance of three prediction tasks demonstrates the value of the dataset for external validation and for teaching medical computer vision to learners in Latin America using locally relevant data sources.
PubMed: 38343827
DOI: 10.1101/2024.01.23.24301660 -
International Journal of Ophthalmology 2023To describe the subcutaneous pedicled propeller flap technique for the microscopic reconstruction of eyelid defects and evaluate its outcomes.
AIM
To describe the subcutaneous pedicled propeller flap technique for the microscopic reconstruction of eyelid defects and evaluate its outcomes.
METHODS
The clinical data of 23 patients (23 eyes) who underwent microscopic reconstruction of eyelid defects with the subcutaneous pedicled propeller flap technique were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent eyelid tumor resection and one-stage microscopic reconstruction with the subcutaneous pedicled propeller flap for anterior- or posterior-layer eyelid defects. The survival rate of the propeller flap, eyelid function and appearance, tumor recurrence rate, and patient satisfaction were evaluated after the surgery.
RESULTS
The patients consisted of 12 men and 11 women, aged 31-82y (mean, 58.9y). The longest follow-up time was 5y, and the shortest was 3mo. All the propeller flaps survived well. There was no significant difference in color and luster between the flap and adjacent tissues, and there was no dog ear phenomenon. No obvious scarring was observed. There were no obvious abnormalities of eyelid morphology or function, and no adverse complications such as exposure keratitis, entropion, ectropion, ptosis, and eyelid retraction. No tumor recurrence was found at the time of the last follow-up. All patients were satisfied with the surgical results.
CONCLUSION
The subcutaneous pedicled propeller flap technique for the microscopic reconstruction of eyelid defects has satisfactory outcomes in terms of eyelid function and esthetics, and merits clinical application.
PubMed: 37465506
DOI: 10.18240/ijo.2023.07.07 -
Scientific Reports Dec 2023Usher syndrome type 2A (USH2A) is a genetic disorder characterized by retinal degeneration and hearing loss. To better understand the pathogenesis and progression of...
Usher syndrome type 2A (USH2A) is a genetic disorder characterized by retinal degeneration and hearing loss. To better understand the pathogenesis and progression of this syndrome, animal models such as USH2A knockout (USH2AKO) rabbits have been developed. In this study, we employed multimodal imaging techniques, including photoacoustic microscopy (PAM), optical coherence tomography (OCT), fundus autofluorescence (FAF), fluorescein angiography (FA), and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA) imaging to evaluate the retinal changes in the USH2AKO rabbit model. Twelve New Zealand White rabbits including USH2AKO and wild type (WT) were used for the experiments. Multimodal imaging was implemented at different time points over a period of 12 months to visualize the progression of retinal changes in USH2AKO rabbits. The results demonstrate that ellipsoid zone (EZ) disruption and degeneration, key features of Usher syndrome, began at the age of 4 months old and persisted up to 12 months. The EZ degeneration areas were clearly observed on the FAF and OCT images. The FAF images revealed retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) degeneration, confirming the presence of the disease phenotype in the USH2AKO rabbits. In addition, PAM images provided high-resolution and high image contrast of the optic nerve and the retinal microvasculature, including retinal vessels, choroidal vessels, and capillaries in three-dimensions. The quantification of EZ fluorescent intensity using FAF and EZ thickness using OCT provided comprehensive quantitative data on the progression of degenerative changes over time. This multimodal imaging approach allowed for a comprehensive and non-invasive assessment of retinal structure, microvasculature, and degenerative changes in the USH2AKO rabbit model. The combination of PAM, OCT, and fluorescent imaging facilitated longitudinal monitoring of disease progression and provided valuable insights into the pathophysiology of USH2A syndrome. These findings contribute to the understanding of USH2A syndrome and may have implications for the development of diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for affected individuals. The multimodal imaging techniques employed in this study offer a promising platform for preclinical evaluation of potential treatments and may pave the way for future clinical applications in patients with Usher syndrome.
Topics: Humans; Rabbits; Animals; Infant; Tomography, Optical Coherence; Microscopy; Usher Syndromes; Fluorescein Angiography; Coloring Agents; Optical Imaging; Extracellular Matrix Proteins
PubMed: 38086867
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-48872-1 -
European Journal of Ophthalmology Nov 2023Achromatopsia is an autosomal recessive cone dysfunction syndrome, characterized by absence of color discrimination, low visual acuity, photophobia, and nystagmus....
BACKGROUND
Achromatopsia is an autosomal recessive cone dysfunction syndrome, characterized by absence of color discrimination, low visual acuity, photophobia, and nystagmus. Achromatopsia constitutes a common cause of visual impairment in children, with a prevalence of 1:30,000 worldwide.
OBJECTIVE
To characterize the clinical characteristics of achromatopsia, the main genes causing the disease in our population and the clinical course of the disease, with an emphasis on visual function stability with increasing age.
METHODS
Retrospective study based on medical charts of patients with achromatopsia. Patients were divided into two groups according to their age at last follow-up: older and younger than 10 years. A subset of patients with long term follow-up were analyzed separately, with patients being described in both age groups.
RESULTS
Seventy-six patients were included in the study. The mean age was 14.28 years. Variants in the CNGA3 gene were the most common (73.6%). Clinical characteristics included photophobia (96.2%), nystagmus (93.6%), hypermetropia (72.3%) and strabismus (51.1%). In the large cohort there was no correlation of age with visual acuity ( = 0.129). In the separate subset cohort with long follow-up there was a relative improvement in visual acuity with age ( < 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS
CNGA3 is the main gene associated with achromatopsia in our population (around ∼ 73%), which is in contrast to the distribution worldwide (∼ 25%). Most achromats suffer from photophobia and nystagmus, and the main refractive error is hypermetropia. Achromatopsia's natural course seems to be stationary, and there may even be a slight improvement in visual acuity with time.
PubMed: 37920903
DOI: 10.1177/11206721231212768