Preliminary clinical validation of a new picture-based visual acuity test in children with amblyopia: a comparison of The Auckland Optotypes and crowded logMAR letters.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Amblyopia is the most common visual deficit in children and accurate visual acuity (VA) assessment is essential for diagnosis. While ETDRS high-contrast logMAR VA is the reference standard test for adults, less agreement exists for pre-literate children. A new picture optotype acuity test (The Auckland Optotypes [TAO]) has shown favourable comparison to letter acuity charts but has not yet been evaluated in children with amblyopia. This study aimed to compare VA obtained using TAO to crowded logMAR letters in children age 5-8 years with amblyopia. METHODS: Children with amblyopia (n = 54 [20.37% strabismic, 18.52% anisometropic, 61.11% mixed], mean age 78.30 ± 11.72 months) were recruited from paediatric ophthalmology/orthoptic clinics at Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, London, and Cambridge Community Services NHS Trust, Bedford. Best-corrected VA was measured in both the amblyopic eye (AE) and fellow eye (FE) using TAO and a crowded letter acuity chart. Bland-Altman analysis was used to measure 95% limits of agreement (LoA) for VA measures captured (AE, FE and interocular difference [IOD]). RESULTS: Good agreement between TAO and letter VA measurement was observed (mean bias: AE -0.01, FE 0.01, IOD -0.02). For AE measures 95% LoA were from -0.25 to 0.24 logMAR, this being similar for FE (-0.24 to 0.25) and IOD measures (-0.30 to 0.27). CONCLUSION: TAO and letters elicited similar VA in children with amblyopia. TAO could be a useful picture-based chart for paediatric vision assessment.

Improving adolescent human papillomavirus (HPV) immunization uptake in school-based health centers through awareness campaigns.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to measure the effect of a multicomponent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine promotion campaign on adolescent HPV vaccine uptake at school-based health centers (SBHCs) in Seattle, WA. METHODS: Youth-led HPV vaccine promotion campaigns were introduced in 2016 in 13 schools with SBHCs in Seattle. Five other schools with SBHCs served as controls. Vaccination records for students were obtained from the Washington Immunization Information System from September 2012 to August 2018. We compared increase in HPV vaccine uptake in SBHCs between 1) intervention and control schools, and 2) pre- and post-intervention periods in intervention schools using generalized estimating equations. RESULTS: HPV vaccine uptake was high at baseline among students that use SBHCs for vaccines and has steadily increased between 2012 and 2018. Implementing the promotion campaign resulted in 14% higher (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1%, 30%) HPV vaccine uptake in intervention SBHCs compared to control SBHCs, adjusting for time and confounders. Comparing pre-and post-intervention periods in intervention SBHCs, HPV vaccine uptake was 14% higher (95% CI: -4%, 35%) in the post-intervention period. SBHCs that received more active intervention activities saw 9% higher (95% CI: 1%, 21%) vaccine uptake compared to those that received passive intervention. CONCLUSION: The vaccination promotion program implemented in a school-based setting resulted in higher HPV vaccine uptake in the post-intervention period compared to pre-intervention period, but this increase was not statistically significant. Even so, schools that received more intervention activities for longer periods of time had higher HPV vaccine uptake.

A novel dynamic arc treatment planning solution to reduce dose to small bowel in preoperative radiotherapy for rectal cancer.

Preoperative radiotherapy or combined chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) can cause acute and late gastrointestinal (GI) side-effects. There is thought to be a dose-volume relationship between small bowel irradiation and the development of these effects. A planning study was undertaken to compare small bowel sparing for a range of 3D conformal and dynamic arc planning solutions. A planning study was carried out for 20 LARC patients. Organs at risk (OAR) contoured included bowel loops and peritoneal space (PS). For each of the 20 patients, 5 plans were created: (1) standard 3D conformal plan; (2) standard dual dynamic arc plan; (3) dual dynamic arc plan with 90° avoidance sector through the anterior portion of the patient; (4) dual dynamic arc plan with an anterior avoidance structure in the optimizer; (5) dual dynamic arc plan with both an anterior avoidance structure and an avoidance sector. The prescription was 50.4 Gy in 28 fractions to the planning target volume (PTV). Five Dose Volume Levels (DVLs; V15 Gy, V20 Gy, V25 Gy, V35 Gy, V40 Gy, and V50.4 Gy) for bowel and PS were selected. The DVLs were compared between the plans using Friedman Tests and Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests. Comparison of the 5 plans revealed that a dual dynamic arc plan containing both an anterior avoidance sector and structure significantly improved the dose to the bowel compared to a standard 3D conformal plan and to a standard dual dynamic arc plan. This improvement was achieved while maintaining PTV coverage. This novel dual dynamic arc planning technique that uses both an avoidance sector and structure reduces the dose to the bowel and PS, which may lead to a reduction in GI toxicity.