Antiviral treatment for acute retinal necrosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Acute retinal necrosis is a progressive intraocular inflammatory syndrome characterized by diffuse necrotizing retinitis that can lead to a poor visual outcome, mainly from retinal detachment. The antiviral treatment approach for acute retinal necrosis varies as there are no established guidelines. We summarize the outcomes of acute retinal necrosis with available antiviral treatments. Electronic searches were conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, Scopus, and Google Scholar for interventional and observational studies. Meta-analysis was performed to evaluate the pooled proportion of the predefined selected outcomes. This study was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022320987). Thirty-four studies with a total of 963 participants and 1,090 eyes were included in the final analysis. The estimated varicella-zoster virus and herpes simplex virus polymerase chain reaction-positive cases were 63% (95% CI: 55-71%) and 35% (95% CI: 28-42%), respectively. The 3 main antiviral treatment approaches identified were oral antivirals alone, intravenous antivirals alone, and a combination of systemic (oral or intravenous) and intravitreal antivirals. The overall pooled estimated proportions of visual acuity improvement, recurrence, and retinal detachment were 37% (95% CI: 27-47%), 14% (95% CI: 8-21%), and 43% (95% CI: 38-50%), respectively. Patients treated with systemic and intravitreal antivirals showed a trend towards better visual outcomes than those treated with systemic antivirals (oral or intravenous) alone, even though this analysis was not statistically significant (test for subgroup differences P = 0.83).

Vitamin C and IL-6 level during third trimester of pregnancy with preeclampsia.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between vitamin C intake and IL-6 level as a biomarker of oxidative stress during pregnancy. METHODS: Fourty pregnant women during third trimester were grouped into preeclampsia and non-preeclampsia, and surveyed using a Food Frequency Questionnaire. The ELISA assay for IL-6 expression was performed. Univariate and bivariate analyses were conducted using SPSS software ver. 20. RESULTS: Subjects in preeclampsia group were shown to consume slightly more vitamin C than the non-preeclampsia group, with median values of 76.37 (28.05 - 96.88) mg and 68.87 (8.57 - 198.53) mg, respectively (p = 0.36). A nonparametric correlation test showed no significant association between vitamin C and total IL-6 level, with p = 0.36 and r = -0.15. There was also no difference between vitamin C consumption and IL-6 level for each group, with r = -0.14 and r = -0.20, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: There was no statistically significant association between vitamin C intake and IL-6 level in women during third trimester of pregnancy (p = 0.36).

The link between vitamin A dietary status and anaemia in pregnancy: A comparative cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVE: Anaemia in pregnancy occurs mainly in the second and third trimesters. It is becoming more common among Indonesians and is associated with complications. Vitamin A assists in iron and cell metabolism but is unpopular during pregnancy. To assess the relationship between dietary status of vitamin A and anaemia in women in the third trimester of pregnancy. METHODS: A pilot comparative cross-sectional study of 22 women with anaemia and 22 women without anaemia was conducted between August to October of 2018. Vitamin A dietary status was measured using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire with a cut-off of 850 mcg/day deemed adequate. Anaemia status was assessed using a haematology analyser with a cut-off of 10.5 g/dL and values below the cut-off were considered anaemic. RESULTS: The difference in mean age between the anaemia and non-anaemia groups was not statistically significant. However, there was a clinical disparity in incidence of anaemia according to gestational age, with 55.2% at term gestational age and 40.0% at preterm gestational age. It was found that 38.6% of the initial subjects were anaemic and 81.8% did not have sufficient daily vitamin A. Despite its role in cell metabolism; there was no link between vitamin A dietary status and anaemia status. CONCLUSIONS: Vitamin A alone was unsuccessful in preventing anaemia in the third trimester. It is suggested, however, that it could be beneficial when combined with iron, folic acid and cobalamin.