Normative data on the foveal avascular zone in a young healthy Irish population using optical coherence tomography angiography

Purpose To establish normative data on the size, shape and vascular profile of the foveal avascular zone (FAZ) in a young, healthy, Irish population, using the Cirrus 5000 HD-OCT. Certain diseases may alter FAZ appearance. Normative databases provide normal baseline values for comparison, thus improving diagnostic ability. Methods One hundred and fifty-four subjects aged 18–35 years old were recruited. Superficial FAZ area, diameter, circularity, ganglion cell layer, central macular thickness (CMT), vascular perfusion and density were measured using the Cirrus 5000. Axial length was measured with the IOL Master and blood pressure was measured using the Omron sphygmomanometer. Results Mean FAZ area was 0.22 ± 0.07 mm2, mean CMT was 263.08 ± 18.73μm. Both were larger in females than males (p = 0.022, p = 0.000). Mean vessel density and perfusion central were 14.11 ± 2.77 mm/mm2 and 24.70 ± 4.96% respectively. Both were lower in females (p = 0.010, p = 0.019). Vessel density and perfusion inner correlated positively with minimum ganglion cell layer plus inner plexiform layer (GCL + IPL) thickness (p = 0.001, p = 0.019). CMT correlated positively with vessel density and perfusion central (p = 0.000 for both) and negatively with FAZ area (p = 0.000). Conclusions This study provides normative data for FAZ appearance and vascularity for the first time in a young, healthy, Irish population, using the Cirrus 5000 HD-OCT. Establishing machine and population specific normative data, particularly in relation to vessel density and perfusion is paramount to the early identification of ocular disease using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography.

Immigration, Identity, and Anonymity: Intentionally Masked Intolerance in Ireland

Newcomers to Ireland confront a context of reception shaped by large-scale historical emigration and more recent immigration defined by an increasingly diverse set of origin contexts, both within and outside the European Union (EU). How has the Irish population responded to these groups, and how openly do Irish residents express their views toward different immigrant groups? We test this response using a survey experiment, which offered respondents an anonymous way to express any negative attitudes to immigrant groups they may have had. Results from the survey experiment show that Irish residents’ support for Black and Polish immigrations is overstated when expressed directly. In contrast, their sentiment toward Muslim immigrants is notably insensitive to the level of anonymity provided, indicating little difference between overt and covert expression of support (or antipathy). In other words, when race/ethnicity or EU origin is made salient, Irish respondents are more likely to mask negative sentiment. When Islam is emphasized, however, Irish antipathy is not masked. We find that in-group preferences, instead of determining support in an absolute sense, shape the reluctance with which opposition to immigrant groups is overtly expressed.

Dante’s Influence on Seamus Heaney’s Poetry on the Troubles in Northern Ireland: “The Strand at Lough Beg,” “An Afterwards” and “Ugolino”

Dante’s Divine Comedy had an enormous influence on Seamus Heaney’s oeuvre, especially from Field Work (1979) onwards. Heaney exploits the great Dantean epic poem to create a framework that allows him to contextualise some of the most painful political and social episodes in Irish history, namely the Great Hunger and the secular clashes between Protestants and Catholics. Heaney pays special attention to the problems originating from the outburst of the atavistic and sectarian violence—euphemistically known as “the Troubles”—between the unionist and nationalist communities in Northern Ireland as from 1969, causing great suffering and wreaking havoc on the Northern Irish population for decades.

The enigma of Sir William Robert Wills Wilde (1815–1876)

William Wilde, father of Oscar Wilde, made a significant contribution to ophthalmology and otology. Qualified as a surgeon. educated in statistics and showing sympathy for the Irish population, Wilde was appointed a Commissioner for the 1851 Census, which covered the time of the Irish Famine (1845–1852). Wilde, steeped in Irish mythology, used his knowledge to develop a close rapport with the Irish peasantry. However, his life was a paradox; he supported the British Government's approach to the Famine and at the same time he showed humanity to the Irish peasantry. In his personal life he was implicated in an abortive libel case involving a young female patient who had accused him of rape. Wilde lived as though he had two separate lives : on the one hand the successful surgeon, famine Commissioner and cataloguer of Irish antiquities, and the other a countryman and disciple of Irish mythology. Wilde was highly preceptive especially in his views on the recording of medical data and outcomes in clinical practice. We argue that Wilde was probably unmatched in the variety of his talents but was also perplexing in the various actions he took during his life and that indeed Wilde was an enigma.

Comparing non-invasive diabetes risk scores for detecting patients in clinical practice: a cross-sectional validation study

Background: Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, thus early identification is of paramount importance. A high proportion of T2DM cases are undiagnosed highlighting the importance of effective detection methods such as non-invasive diabetes risk scores (DRSs). Thus far, no DRS has been validated in an Irish population. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the ability of nine DRSs to detect T2DM cases in an Irish population. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 1,990 men and women aged 46–73 years. Data on DRS components were collected from questionnaires and clinical examinations. T2DM was determined according to a fasting plasma glucose level ≥7.0 mmol/l or a glycated haemoglobin A1c level ≥6.5% (≥48 mmol/mol). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis assessed the ability of DRSs and their components to discriminate T2DM cases. Results: Among the examined scores, area under the curve (AUC) values ranged from 0.71–0.78, with the Cambridge Diabetes Risk Score (AUC=0.78, 95% CI: 0.75–0.82), Leicester Diabetes Risk Score (AUC=0.78, 95% CI: 0.75–0.82), Rotterdam Predictive Model 2 (AUC=0.78, 95% CI: 0.74–0.82) and the U.S. Diabetes Risk Score (AUC=0.78, 95% CI: 0.74–0.81) demonstrating the largest AUC values as continuous variables and at optimal cut-offs. Regarding individual DRS components, anthropometric measures displayed the largest AUC values. Conclusions: The best performing DRSs were broadly similar in terms of their components; all incorporated variables for age, sex, BMI, hypertension and family diabetes history. The Cambridge Diabetes Risk Score, had the largest AUC value at an optimal cut-off, can be easily accessed online for use in a clinical setting and may be the most appropriate and cost-effective method for case-finding in an Irish population.

Migrant Consciousness and Catholic Confessional Identity Texts

Chapter 8 argues that migrants and exiles played a critical role in the elaboration of notions of Catholic identity in Ireland. It concentrates in particular on three authors from the early seventeenth-century—Peter Lombard, David Rothe, and Philip O’Sullivan Beare—who helped develop the notion that the Irish population was inherently Catholic and inscribed this idea in a particular delineation of history in which St Patrick and medieval Irish saints figured prominently. Close analysis of these texts reveal the profound influence of exilic experience on the writing of these various authors, and the ideas which they put forward came to exert an enduring influence on the self-understanding of Irish Catholics.