Sufficiency of the BOT-2 short form to screen motor competency in preschool children with strabismus

Background Strabismus is one of the most common visual disorders in children, with a reported prevalence of 2.48% in preschoolers. Additionally, up to 89.9% of preschool children with strabismus do not have normal stereopsis. Whether this lack of normal stereopsis affects the motor competency of preschool children with strabismus is unknown. The Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency Second Edition short form (BOT-2 SF) can be a useful tool for screening; however, its sufficiency as a diagnostic tool for children with various disorders is controversial. Objective The aims of this study were thus to examine motor competency in preschool children with strabismus by using the BOT-2 and to evaluate the usefulness of the BOT-2 SF to identify those at risk for motor competency issues. Methods Forty preschool children (aged 5–7 years) with strabismus were recruited, all of whom had abnormal stereopsis. The BOT-2 complete form (CF) was administered to all children. The BOT-2 CF was administered to all children. The scores of the BOT-2 SF were extracted from the relevant items of the BOT-2 CF for further analysis. Results The prevalence of children with strabismus who had below average performance in the composites of “Fine Manual Control”, “Manual Coordination”,”Body Coordination”, and “Strength and Agility” were 15%, 70%, 32.5%, and 5%, respectively, on the BOT-2 CF. Compared with these results, the sensitivity of the BOT-2 SF was 33.33% (95% CI = 7.49%–70.07%) and the specificity was 100% (95% CI = 88.78%–100%). Conclusion Preschool children with strabismus had a high prevalence of impaired motor competency, especially in fine motor competency. The BOT-2 SF was not as sensitive in identifying motor difficulties in preschool children with strabismus. Therefore, the BOT-2 CF is recommended for evaluating motor proficiency in preschool children with strabismus.

Cataract Disease Detection by Using Transfer Learning-Based Intelligent Methods

One of the most common visual disorders is cataracts, which people suffer from as they get older. The creation of a cloud on the lens of our eyes is known as a cataract. Blurred vision, faded colors, and difficulty seeing in strong light are the main symptoms of this condition. These symptoms frequently result in difficulty doing a variety of tasks. As a result, preliminary cataract detection and prevention may help to minimize the rate of blindness. This paper is aimed at classifying cataract disease using convolutional neural networks based on a publicly available image dataset. In this observation, four different convolutional neural network (CNN) meta-architectures, including InceptionV3, InceptionResnetV2, Xception, and DenseNet121, were applied by using the TensorFlow object detection framework. By using InceptionResnetV2, we were able to attain the avant-garde in cataract disease detection. This model predicted cataract disease with a training loss of 1.09%, a training accuracy of 99.54%, a validation loss of 6.22%, and a validation accuracy of 98.17% on the dataset. This model also has a sensitivity of 96.55% and a specificity of 100%. In addition, the model greatly minimizes training loss while boosting accuracy.

State of the venous system in patients with Pseudotumor cerebri

The article describes two clinical cases of idiopathic intracranial hypertension, the first manifestation of which was the development of retroorbital headache and the visual disorders. Leading in the clinical picture of the disease in both cases was the detection of stagnant optic nerve discs on the fundus. In both patients, the vascular system of the brain was examined using duplex scanning of the neck and brain vessels, MR angiography and MR venography, and in one case — SCT angiography, a lumbar puncture was performed with the study of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). An increase in CSF pressure was found, accompanied by changes in the large venous vessels of the skull and brain. This suggests a significant role of venous outflow disorders in the development of Pseudotumor cerebri syndrome.

FACTORS INFLUENCING FEEDING BEHAVIOR OF AMATEUR ATHLETES WITH VISUAL DISORDERS

Deficiente visual é o nome dado à pessoa que possui cegueira ou baixa visão. Essa deficiência pode trazer consigo limitações que provocam dependência para locomover-se, executar tarefas e alimentar-se, levando assim a uma maior exposição aos alimentos processados e ultraprocessados, mais práticos e ricamente calóricos, podendo caracterizar o comportamento alimentar desses indivíduos, uma vez que comportamento alimentar é um conjunto de ações que se associam desde o momento em que se escolhe o alimento até oconsumo do mesmo, relacionando-se a tudo que está envolvido nesse processo. Com o objetivo de avaliar o comportamento alimentar de atletas amadores com deficiência visual de um clube esportivo em Belém/PA, utilizou-se questionário de avaliação socioeconômica, história clínica, comportamento alimentar do participante e foram feitas associações estatísticas por meio do Teste de Fisher. Participaram da pesquisa 11 atletas deficientes visuais, na faixa etária de 25 a 54 anos. A principal prática alimentar observada foi comer mais do que deveria além da insatisfação com o próprio corpo. Os maiores obstáculos encontrados para práticas alimentares saudáveis foram: publicidade, oferta, preço dos alimentos saudáveis, falta de companhia, dependência e falta de autonomia. Já os principais aspectos que facilitariam escolhas saudáveis são: se os alimentos saudáveis fossem mais práticos, atraentes e saborosos, estivessem mais disponíveis em casa e se os participantes não dependessem de ninguém. Sendo assim, os resultados deste estudo sugerem que a deficiência visual influencia o comportamento alimentar de deficientes visuais.

The clinical profiles and outcomes of HIV-negative cryptococcal meningitis patients in type II diabetes mellitus

Background The clinical profiles and outcomes of cryptococcal meningitis have been shown to vary depending on the underlying condition. The aim of this study was to investigate clinical characteristics and outcomes in patients with and without type II diabetes mellitus. Methods A retrospective study was performed. Clinical data of HIV-negative cryptococcal meningitis patients with type II diabetes mellitus (n = 26) and without type II diabetes mellitus (n = 52) referring to the Jiangxi Chest Hospital between January 2012 to December 2018 were analyzed. The data were analyzed using chi square, none-parametric tests, and logistic regression. P-values < 0.05 were considered significant. Results In this study, cryptococcal meningitis patients suffering from type II diabetes mellitus had a higher mortality (23.08% vs. 7.69%; P = 0.055), and required longer hospitalization (59.58 vs. 42.88 days; P = 0.132). Moreover, cerebrospinal fluid examinations revealed that cryptococcal meningitis patients with type II diabetes mellitus had higher opening pressure (271.54 vs. 234.23 mmH2O; P = 0.125).The results of multivariate regression analysis revealed that cryptococcal meningitis patients with type II diabetes were more often presented with visual disorders (28.54% vs. 11.54%; [95% CI 0.056–0.705]; p = 0.012), and had higher cerebrospinal fluid protein levels (1027.62 ± 594.16 vs. 705.72 ± 373.88 mg/l; [95% CI 1.000–1.002]; p = 0.016). Among patients with type II diabetes mellitus, nausea and vomiting was more frequent at the initial visit in those died (100% vs. 50%; p = 0.027), and 66% of died type II diabetes mellitus patients were poorly controlled blood glucose level, compared with 30% in survival type II diabetes mellitus patients. Conclusion This study suggests that cryptococcal meningitis patients with type II diabetes mellitus differ significantly from cryptococcal meningitis patients without type II diabetes mellitus with respect to clinical symptoms such as visual disorders and cerebrospinal fluid examination. The presence of nausea and vomiting among type II diabetes mellitus patients could have implication in mortality.

Microfluidic organ-on-a-chip model of the outer blood–retinal barrier with clinically relevant read-outs for tissue permeability and vascular structure

This organ-on-a-chip device of the outer blood retinal barrier will allow future studies of complex disease mechanisms and treatments of visual disorders using clinically relevant endpoints in vitro.