Network Medicine applies network science approaches to investigate disease pathogenesis. Many different analytical methods have been used to infer relevant molecular networks, including protein-protein interaction networks, correlation-based networks, gene regulatory networks, and Bayesian networks. Network Medicine applies these integrated approaches to Omics Big Data (including genetics, epigenetics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and proteomics) using computational biology tools and, thereby, has the potential to provide improvements in the diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment of complex diseases. We discuss briefly the types of molecular data that are used in molecular network analyses, survey the analytical methods for inferring molecular networks, and review efforts to validate and visualize molecular networks. Successful applications of molecular network analysis have been reported in pulmonary arterial hypertension, coronary heart disease, diabetes mellitus, chronic lung diseases, and drug development. Important knowledge gaps in Network Medicine include incompleteness of the molecular interactome, challenges in identifying key genes within genetic association regions, and limited applications to human diseases.
PURPOSE. The purpose of this study was to study the incidence and factors influencing retinal displacement in eyes treated for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD) with pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) and gas or silicone oil.METHODS. This was a prospective observational case series. One hundred twenty-five eyes with macula-off RRD from 125 patients underwent 25-gauge PPV at two vitreoretinal institutional practices. Eyes without proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) or PVR grade A were tamponated with sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) gas, whereas eyes with PVR grade B received 1000 centistokes silicone oil (SO). The patients postured face-down immediately after surgery. Blue-fundus autofluorescence (B-FAF) pictures were obtained at each follow-up examination. Main outcome measures were incidence and direction of retinal displacement.RESULTS. Ninety-seven eyes (77.6%) were tamponated with SF6 and 28 eyes (22.4%) with SO. After retinal reattachment, displacement was observed in 44 of 125 (35.2%) eyes (40 eyes in the SF6 group and 4 eyes in the SO group, respectively). The type of tamponade, specifically gas, was the only significant predictor of retinal displacement (P ¼ 0.007). The displacement was downward in 39 (88.6%) eyes (36 tamponated with SF6 and 3 with SO) and upward in 5 (11.4%) eyes (4 tamponated with SF6 and 1 with SO).CONCLUSIONS. Displacement of the retina after repair of macula-off RRD with PPV is observed using either SF6 gas or SO. Downward and upward displacements may occur with both tamponades, but downward dislocation is more common. Of the factors potentially implicated in favoring displacement that were studied, only the type of tamponade, specifically the gas, was significant.Keywords: blue fundus autofluorescence, retinal vessel printings, retinal detachment, pars plana vitrectomy, retinal displacement T here has recently been a trend toward pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) as the preferred method for treatment for rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). The reasons behind this trend include the advent of outpatient ambulatory surgery and improvements in technology, instrumentation, and viewing systems. [1][2][3][4][5] When PPV is chosen for the treatment of RRD, it is typically accompanied with a postoperative intraocular tamponade agent-most commonly gases or silicone oils (SOs). Many surgeons prefer to use SO for complicated RRD or if postoperative airplane or high elevation travel is planned. However, a recent prospective study has shown that PPV with SO injection is also a safe and efficient surgical approach for treatment of primary uncomplicated RRD. 6 The use of both gas and SO in conjunction with PPV for repair of RRD may be associated with unintentional displacement of the retina. [7][8][9][10][11][12] Blue fundus autofluorescence (B-FAF) elegantly depicts this shift via lines of increased autofluorescence, which closely reflect the caliber and orientation of the adjacent retinal vessels. These lines indicate the original location of the retinal vessels, which have been displaced along with t...
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