DMEK showed better postoperative results regarding BCVA, patient satisfaction, and graft-related issues. However, the small number of studies with short follow-up times and other methodological issues prompt us to interpret these results carefully.

Botulinum toxin type A therapy for cervical dystonia.

Background Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of blindness due to diabetic macular edema (DME) or complications of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR). Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a noninvasive imaging technique well established for DME but less used to assess neovascularization in PDR. Developments in OCT imaging and the introduction of OCT angiography (OCTA) have shown significant potential in PDR. Objectives To describe the tomographic features of PDR, namely of neovascularization, both of the optic disc (NVD) and elsewhere (NVE), intraretinal microvascular abnormalities (IRMA), retinal nonperfusion areas (NPA), status of the posterior vitreous, vitreoschisis and vitreous and subhyaloid/sub-ILM hemorrhages. Data sources Electronic database search on PubMed and EMBASE, last run on December 19th 2019. Study eligibility criteria, participants and interventions Publications assessing OCT and/or OCTA findings in PDR patients. All study designs were allowed except for case-reports, conference proceedings and letters. Study appraisal Newcastle–Ottawa Scale for observational studies was used for purposes of risk of bias assessment. Results From the 1300 studies identified, 283 proceeded to full-text assessment and 60 were included in this comprehensive review. OCT was useful in detecting NVD and NVE, such as in characterizing disease activity and response to laser and/or anti-VEGF therapies. The absence of posterior vitreous detachment seemed determinant for neovascular growth, with the posterior hyaloid acting as a scaffold. OCTA allowed a more detailed characterization of the neovascular complexes, associated NPA and disease activity, allowing the quantification of neovessel area and flow index. However, changes in OCTA blood flow signal following local therapies did not necessarily correlate with structural regression. Widefield and ultra-widefield OCTA were highly sensitive in the detection of PDR, adding value to disease staging and monitoring. Compared to fluorescein angiography, OCTA was more sensitive in detecting microvascular changes indicating disease progression. Limitations Publication languages were restricted. Most included studies were observational and non-comparative. Risk of bias regarding case representativeness. Conclusions OCT-based retinal imaging technologies are advancing rapidly and the trend is to be noninvasive and wide-field. OCT has proven invaluable in diagnosing, staging and management of proliferative diabetic disease with daily application in clinical and surgical practices.

The purpose of this study was to determine the validity of non-contact infrared thermometry to measure mean skin temperature in resting and exercising subjects in cold, thermo-neutral and hot environments. The subjects for the study were six healthy volunteers. Skin temperature was measured at three sites: the forearm, chest and calf on each subject using both contact thermistors and a non-contact infrared thermometer. Data were collected at rest and during exercise in three different air temperatures (15, 25 and 35 degrees C). The correlation of resting mean skin temperature using infrared thermometry and contact thermistors was r = 0.95, while the correlation obtained during exercise was r = 0.98. The results of the current study strongly suggest that infrared thermometry is a valid measure of skin temperature during rest and exercise in both hot and cold environments. It is hoped that the results of this study will encourage the use of non-contact infrared thermometry by both clinicians and exercise, environmental, and sleep researchers in the future.