Purpose: To investigate functional connectivity density (FCD) values of brain areas in children with strabismus and amblyopia (SA) by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).Methods: This study recruited 26 children (14 male, 12 female) with SA and 26 healthy children (14 male, 12 female) as healthy controls. Both groups matched in age, gender, educational level and socioeconomic background. All participants underwent fMRI scanning while resting. Visual function of participants was also evaluated by an ophthalmic examination; rs-fMRI data was then used to determine global and short-range FCD. Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed to investigate whether there was a significant difference between children with SA and healthy controls. This experiment has passed the ethical approval and obtained the logic number cdyfy201511.Results: Global FCD values of children with SA were found to be remarkably decreased in the right cerebellum, left lenticular nucleus, putamen, and right superior frontal gyrus as compared with healthy controls; global FCD values of children with SA were increased in the right angular gyrus, left middle cingulate gyrus, left angular gyrus, right superior parietal gyrus, and right middle frontal gyrus. In children with SA, short-range FCD values were found to be remarkably decreased in regions of the middle right temporal pole, right cerebellum, left lenticular nucleus, putamen, left hippocampus, right hippocampus, left thalamus, left cerebellum; values were increased in the right superior parietal gyrus as compared with healthy controls.Conclusion: We noted abnormal neural connectivity in some brain areas of children with SA; the detailing of such connectivity aberrations is helpful in exploring the pathophysiology of SA and providing useful information for future clinical management.

Background: It has been reported that the expression of aldo-keto reductase family 1 member B10 (AKR1B10) is abnormal in various types of cancer, and could be used as a prognostic biomarker. However, the results are controversial. Therefore, the aim of this study was to comprehensively evaluate the prognostic value of AKR1B10 expression in solid tumors by conducting a meta-analysis.Methods: The pooled hazard ratios (HRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for overall survival and disease-free survival/relapse-free survival were calculated to estimate the prognostic significance of AKR1B10 using the random effects model. Subgroup, meta-regression, and sensitivity analyses were used to investigate sources of heterogeneity. Begg’s test and Egger’s test were used to evaluate publication bias.Results: Eleven studies involving 1,389 patients were included in this meta-analysis. The pooled analysis displayed that high expression of AKR1B10 was not associated with OS(HR=1.22; 95% CI: 0.73–2.04) and DFS/PFS (HR=1.23, 95% CI 0.75–2.01) in solid tumors. Sensitivity analysis indicated that the results of the meta-analysis were stable. Begg’s test and Egger’s test also confirmed the absence of publication bias.Conclusions: We demonstrated that high expression of AKR1B10 was not associated with survival outcomes in patients with solid tumors. Further large-sample, prospective, multi-centric, and well-designed studies are warranted to investigate the prognostic role of AKR1B10 in various cancers.

Purpose To investigate the retinal vascular network alterations in eyes of patients with pterygium. Method 18 left eyes from 18 female pterygium patients and 18left eyes from 18female healthy control subjectswere enrolled.Optical coherence tomography angiography(OCTA) images were generated of the superficial retinallayer (SRL) and deeper retinal layer (DRL) of the macular retina for each eye. The microvascular(MIR) and macrovascular (MAR) densities were calculated and MIR, MAR, and total MIR (TMI) density was compared in the healthycontrol and pterygium groups. Results In pterygium group,in the SRL,the vascular density in SMIR (superficial MIR), SR(superior right), IR(inferior right), R(right), SC(superficial central annuli)1, SC2 and SC3decreased significantly in the maculararea (P<.05). Furthermore, the vascular density in all those decreased regions except R, was significantly and negatively correlated with the disease course ( r=-0.6038 to -0.7762, P=0.0008), and the area size of pterygium (r=-0.6043 to -0.9508, P<0.05). For the DRL, the densityof DTMI, DMIR (deeper MIR), SR, IR, R, DC2 and DC3 decreased significantly in macular area of pterygium patients (P<.05). Furthermore, the vascular density in all those decreased regions was significantly and negatively correlated with the disease course (r=-0.6901 to -0.7795, P=0.0015), and the area size of pterygium(r=-0.6043 to -0.9563, P<0.05). No statistically significant differences and correlation was foundin other region density (|r|＜0.47, P>0.05). Conclusion OCTA findings suggested that pterygium patients present with decreased retinal MIR density, which was negatively correlated with the disease course and the area size of pterygium.

Purpose To investigate the retinal vascular network alterations in eyes of patients with pterygium. Method 18 left eyes from 18 female pterygium patients and 18 left eyes from 18 female healthy control subjects were enrolled. Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) images were generated of the superficial retinal layer (SRL) and deeper retinal layer (DRL) of the macular retina for each eye. The microvascular (MIR) and macrovascular (MAR) densities were calculated and MIR, MAR, and total MIR (TMI) density was compared in the healthy control and pterygium groups. Results In pterygium group, in the SRL, the vascular density in SMIR (superficial MIR), SR, IR, R, SC1, SC2 and SC3 decreased significantly in the macular area (P<.05). Furthermore, the vascular density in all those decreased regions except R, was significantly and negatively correlated with the disease course ( r=-0.6038 to -0.7762, P=0.0008), and the area size of pterygium (r=-0.6043 to -0.9508, P<0.05). For the DRL, the density of DTMI, DMIR (deeper MIR), SR, IR, R, DC2 and DC3 decreased significantly in macular area of pterygium patients (P<.05). Furthermore, the vascular density in all those decreased regions was significantly and negatively correlated with the disease course (r=-0.6901 to -0.7795, P=0.0015), and the area size of pterygium (r=-0.6043 to -0.9563, P<0.05). No statistically significant differences and correlation was found in other region density (|r|＜0.47, P>0.05). Conclusion OCTA findings suggested that pterygium patients present with decreased retinal MIR density, which was negatively correlated with the disease course and the area size of pterygium.