Dorsal Raphe Dopamine Neurons Represent the Experience of Social Isolation.

The motivation to seek social contact may arise from either positive or negative emotional states, as social interaction can be rewarding and social isolation can be aversive. While ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine (DA) neurons may mediate social reward, a cellular substrate for the negative affective state of loneliness has remained elusive. Here, we identify a functional role for DA neurons in the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN), in which we observe synaptic changes following acute social isolation. DRN DA neurons show increased activity upon social contact following isolation, revealed by in vivo calcium imaging. Optogenetic activation of DRN DA neurons increases social preference but causes place avoidance. Furthermore, these neurons are necessary for promoting rebound sociability following an acute period of isolation. Finally, the degree to which these neurons modulate behavior is predicted by social rank, together supporting a role for DRN dopamine neurons in mediating a loneliness-like state. PAPERCLIP.

Self-Reported Functional Vision in USH2A-Associated Retinal Degeneration as Measured by the Michigan Retinal Degeneration Questionnaire.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate self-reported functional vision (FV) and the impact of vision loss in patients with USH2A-associated retinal degeneration using a patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure, the Michigan Retinal Degeneration Questionnaire (MRDQ), to correlate MRDQ scores with well-established visual function measurements. Design: An observational cross-sectional study (n = 93) of participants who had Usher Syndrome Type 2 (USH2, n = 55) or autosomal recessive non-syndromic retinitis pigmentosa (ARRP; n = 38) associated with biallelic variants in the USH2A gene. Methods: The study protocol was approved by all ethics boards and informed consent was obtained from each participant. Participants completed the MRDQ at the 48-month study follow-up visit. Disease duration was self-reported by participants. One-way ANOVA was used to compare subgroups (clinical diagnosis, age, disease duration, and full-field stimulus threshold [FST] Blue-Red mediation) on mean scores per domain. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to assess associations between MRDQ domains and visual/retinal function assessments. Results: Of the study sample, 58% were female participants and the median disease duration was 13 years. MRDQ domains were sensitive to differences between subgroups of clinical diagnosis, age, disease duration, and FST Blue-Red mediation. MRDQ domains correlated with static perimetry, microperimetry, full-field stimulus testing, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA). Conclusions: Self-reported FV measured by the MRDQ, when applied to USH2 and ARRP participants, had good distributional characteristics and correlated well with visual function tests. MRDQ adds a new dimension of understanding on vision-related functioning and establishes this PRO tool as an informative measure in evaluating USH2A outcomes.

Effects of duration and number of symptoms on vision-related anxiety in patients with Inherited Retinal Diseases.

BACKGROUND: Patients with Inherited Retinal Diseases (IRDs) are at increased risk for vision-related anxiety due to progressive and irreversible vision loss, yet little is known about risk factors for anxiety in these patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a single-center, retrospective cross-sectional study at a large academic center. 128 adults with an IRD and without other significant eye conditions were recruited between December 2016 and March 2020. Participants were asked about the duration and number of symptoms they had in the following vision domains: reading, contrast vision, color vision, glare/light sensitivity, night vision, and peripheral vision. The outcomes of interest were the two domains of the Michigan Vision-Related Anxiety Questionnaire (MVAQ), rod- and cone-function related anxiety. We conducted an adjusted analysis to isolate the independent effect of duration and number of symptoms on vision-related anxiety. RESULTS: Of 126 participants had complete data, 62 (49%) were female and 64 (51%) were male, with an average age of 49 years (range: 18-87). Patients with duration of symptoms for greater than 25 years had an adjusted anxiety theta that was one-half standard deviations lower than patients with symptoms for less time. Patients with higher number of symptoms had higher anxiety theta after adjusting for confounding variables (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The number of symptoms but not the duration of symptoms, is an independent risk factor for vision-related anxiety. Patients with more symptoms are at higher risk for vision-related anxiety. Having symptoms for longer than 25 years may reduce this anxiety.

Question: How does the duration and number of symptoms that patients with Inherited Retinal Diseases have affect their vision-related anxiety?Findings: In this cross-sectional study of 126 patients with Inherited Retinal Diseases, the number of symptoms, but not the duration of symptoms, was associated with higher vision-related anxiety. Patients with symptoms for longer than 25 years had less vision-related anxiety.Meaning: Patients with more vision-related symptoms may experience more vision-related anxiety.

Construct Validity of Inherited Retinal Disease-Specific Patient-Reported Outcome Measures.

PURPOSE: To evaluate aspects of construct validity of the Michigan Retinal Degeneration Questionnaire (MRDQ) and the Michigan Vision-related Anxiety Questionnaire (MVAQ). METHODS: Subjects with a clinical diagnosis of an inherited retinal disease (IRD) were recruited prospectively and 3 tests were used to assess construct validity: the ability to distinguish different IRD phenotypes; test a priori hypothesis of an association between vision-related anxiety and vision-related disabilities; and correlate MRDQ and MVAQ with the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire 25 (NEI VFQ-25) and the Impact of Vision Impairment (IVI). One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to compare different phenotypes for mean domain scores for MRDQ/MVAQ. Pearson correlations were performed between; Cone-Function Anxiety and Central Vision controlling for better eye visual acuity, Rod-Function Anxiety and Scotopic Function controlling for visual field area (III4e and IV4e), and scores of MRDQ/MVAQ, NEI VFQ-25, and IVI. RESULTS: The study sample consisted of 146 patients evenly divided between males and females, and mean age was 50 years. The 1-way ANOVA test was significant for distinguishing IRD phenotypes in 6 domains of MRDQ/MVAQ. Cone-Function Anxiety correlated with Central Vision controlling for visual acuity, Rod-Function Anxiety correlated with Scotopic Function controlling for visual field area, and all domains in MRDQ/MVAQ had significant correlations with NEI VFQ-25 and IVI composite scores. CONCLUSION: MRDQ and MVAQ domenstrate aspects of construct-validity set forth by the US Food and Drug Administration. The study futher supports the use of both patient-reported outcome measures in IRD clinical trials and natural history studies.NOTE: Publication of this article is sponsored by the American Ophthalmological Society.

The validation of inherited retinal disease-specific patient-reported outcome measures in adolescent patients.

PURPOSE: To determine the validity of the validate the adult patient-reported outcome measure tools, the Michigan Retinal Degeneration Questionnaire (MRDQ) and Michigan Vision-Related Anxiety Questionnaire (MVAQ), in adolescent patients with inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). METHODS: Ninety-one adolescent patients diagnosed with IRDs were recruited at the Hospital for Sick Children (University of Toronto) and the Kellogg Eye Center (University of Michigan). The patients were administered the MRDQ, MVAQ, and Patient Health Questionnaire-4 (PHQ-4). Test-retest variability was assessed in eighteen patients within 14 days of the initial administration. Adolescent responses were analyzed for validity and reliability. As a further validation step, comparisons were made to adult data from the original MRDQ and MVAQ studies to ensure consistency in response ranges. RESULTS: The existing MRDQ and MVAQ content and format could accurately detect the impact of IRD on activities of daily living in adolescents with IRDs. No floor/ceiling effects were identified, test-retest reliability was established (r = 0.73-0.86), and no items were excluded after differential item functioning analysis. Domain and trait associations with visual acuity and IRD phenotypes were similar between adolescents and adults. CONCLUSIONS: The MRDQ and MVAQ are psychometrically validated questionnaires for which we have shown validity for use in adolescent patients with IRDs.

The State of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for Pediatric Patients with Inherited Retinal Disease.

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are questionnaires that assess health outcomes meaningful to the patient. PROMs have multiple applications, such as supporting clinicians' decision-making for patient care, understanding the impact of disease on patient functioning, and evaluating the efficacy of therapeutics. Though PROMs were developed for various eye conditions, no PROM was tailored to pediatric patients with inherited retinal disease (IRD). Hence, a literature search was conducted using MEDLINE and Embase to identify PROMs potentially relevant to this patient population. This review evaluated selected pediatric PROMs against the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines and found restricted use in the context of IRD. As there is a need for PROMs tailored to pediatric patients with IRD, we provide a perspective on applying the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research and FDA standards on the development of PROMs specific to IRD.

Inherited retinal diseases refer to a group of genetic conditions that affect the eye's light-sensing cells and lead to vision loss. When a patient undergoes an eye assessment, the measures used are technical (e.g., visual acuity, visual field) and do not routinely address the patient's experience. It is increasingly evident that the technical tools used do not really reflect how patients' vision affects their daily lives. Questionnaires designed to assess how a condition impacts a daily activity are referred to as patient-reported outcome measures. The perspective of the impact of a condition on daily activities differs between adults and children. These tools are being created to evaluate health outcomes important to the patient on the basis of their condition and age. This is especially important when determining the value of therapies from the patient perspective. To date, no such questionnaire has been designed for pediatric patients with inherited retinal disease, an important cause of blindness. We explored the literature to evaluate existing pediatric vision tools and found that those could not be used to fill this gap. Given that we found a need to develop questionnaires tailored to pediatric patients with IRD, we also provide insight into how such a tool can be created for this population.

Challenges of Cost-Effectiveness Analyses of Novel Therapeutics for Inherited Retinal Diseases.

PURPOSE: To investigate the challenges and potential improvement strategies of cost-effectiveness analyses performed for therapeutics targeting inherited retinal diseases (IRDs). DESIGN: Perspective. METHODS: A literature review was conducted with discussion of current limitations and improvement recommendations. RESULTS: Cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) performed for IRD therapeutics has multiple limitations. First, the available methods used to measure health-related quality of life and health utilities can be inaccurate when used in IRDs. Second, the financial burden to patients and society from vision impairment associated with IRDs has been inadequately studied and includes a variety of expenditures ranging from direct costs of IRD specialty health care to indirect expenses associated with daily living activities. Third, our collective understanding is limited in the areas of IRD natural history and health benefits gained from new IRD treatments (eg, gene therapies). In addition, the therapeutic effect from a patient perspective and its duration of action are not fully understood. Due to the scarcity of data, CEA for newly approved therapies has relied on assumptions and creations of predictive models for both costs and health benefits for these new therapeutics in order to calculate the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio. CONCLUSIONS: CEA studies performed for IRD therapeutics have been limited by the established health utilities in ophthalmology and the lack of disease-specific information. The assumptions and extrapolations in these studies create substantial uncertainty in incremental cost-effectiveness ratio results. An improved framework is required for CEA of IRD therapeutics in order to determine the cost-effectiveness of each therapy brought from clinical trials to clinical practice.

The Michigan Retinal Degeneration Questionnaire: A Patient-Reported Outcome Instrument for Inherited Retinal Degenerations.

PURPOSE: To create a psychometrically validated patient-reported outcome measure for inherited retinal degenerations. DESIGN: Qualitative and quantitative patient-reported outcome (PROs) questionnaire development using item response theory validation. METHODS: One hundred twenty-eight patients with a diagnosis of an inherited retinal degeneration at the Kellogg Eye Center (University of Michigan) were recruited and administered a 166-item questionnaire comprising 7 expert-defined domains. The questionnaire was re-administered 4-16 days later to a subset of 25 participants to assess test-retest variability. Graded response models were fit by Cai's Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro algorithm using the R (version 3.6.3) package mirt. Model data were fit to assess questionnaire dimensionality, to estimate item information, and to score participants. Poorly functioning items were removed, and the model was refit to create the final questionnaire. RESULTS: The psychometrically validated PROs measure was reduced to a 59-item questionnaire measuring 7 unidimesnional domains: central vision, color vision, contrast sensitivity, scotopic function, photopic peripheral vision, mesopic peripheral vision, and photosensitivity. A total of 39 items were removed because of poor factor loading, low item information, poor person-ability differentiation, or high item-level interdependence. This novel questionnaire produces a reliable domain score for person ability that does not show significant test-retest variability across repeated administration. CONCLUSIONS: The final PRO questionnaire, known as the Michigan Retinal Degeneration Questionnaire, is psychometrically validated and available for use in the evaluation of patients with inherited retinal degenerations.

The Michigan Vision-Related Anxiety Questionnaire: A Psychosocial Outcomes Measure for Inherited Retinal Degenerations.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to construct and validate a patient-reported outcome measure for screening and monitoring vision-related anxiety in patients with inherited retinal degenerations. DESIGN: Item-response theory and graded response modeling to quantitatively validate questionnaire items generated from qualitative interviews and patient feedback. METHODS: Patients at the Kellogg Eye Center (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA) with a clinical diagnosis of an inherited retinal degeneration (n = 128) participated in an interviewer-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire consisted of 166 items, 26 of which pertained to concepts of "worry" and "anxiety." The subset of vision-related anxiety questions was analyzed by a graded response model using the Cai Metropolis-Hastings Robbins-Monro algorithm in the R software mirt package. Item reduction was performed based on item fit, item information, and item discriminability. To assess test-retest variability, 25 participants completed the questionnaire a second time 4 to 16 days later. RESULTS: The final questionnaire consisted of 14 items divided into 2 unidimensional domains: rod function anxiety and cone function anxiety. The questionnaire exhibited convergent validity with the Patient Health Questionnaire for symptoms of depression and anxiety. This vision-related anxiety questionnaire has high marginal reliability (0.81 for rod-function anxiety, 0.83 for cone-function anxiety) and exhibits minimal test-retest variability (ρ = 0.81 [0.64-0.91] for rod-function anxiety and ρ = 0.83 [0.68-0.92] for cone-function anxiety). CONCLUSIONS: The Michigan Vision-Related Anxiety Questionnaire is a psychometrically validated 14-item patient-reported outcome measure to be used as a psychosocial screening and monitoring tool for patients with inherited retinal degenerations. It can be used in therapeutic clinical trials for measuring the benefit of an investigational therapy on a patient's vision-related anxiety.

Patient-reported outcome measures in inherited retinal degeneration gene therapy trials.

Patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures have the potential to uniquely capture patient experience and serve as an outcome measure in inherited retinal degeneration (IRD) gene therapy trials. An IRD-specific patient-reported outcome measure may yield valuable information that has not been obtained from inherited retinal dystrophy gene therapy trials published to-date. Existing PRO measures have inherent limitations for use in IRD gene therapy trials. Developing an applicable patient-reported outcome measure for such trials needs to incorporate patient input from the target population, demonstrate sound psychometric properties, and be made in accordance with U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) guidelines. This review will discuss the currently available PRO instruments, their limitations for IRD therapeutic trials, and suggestions for future PRO development in IRD populations. The PRO instruments highlighted were identified in PubMed search of English-language journals and previously published review articles.

Content generation for patient-reported outcome measures for retinal degeneration therapeutic trials.

PURPOSE: Generate content for a patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure for use in future clinical trials for inherited retinal degenerations. METHODS: Patients at the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center with a clinical diagnosis of inherited retinal degeneration with varying phenotypes were recruited for interviews. First, in-depth interviews were performed to solicit a wide range of patient experiences pertaining to visual function. Coders qualitatively analyzed the transcripts from these interviews using Atlas.ti software (Version 8.1.3 (522)) to draft questionnaire items. Next, the questionnaire was tested and refined based on participant feedback in cognitive interviews and administrator feedback in the pilot survey administration (pilot interviews). RESULTS: A total of 55 participants with a clinical diagnosis of inherited retinal degeneration were interviewed throughout the three study phases: in-depth interviews (n = 26), cognitive interviews (n = 16), and pilot interviews (n = 13). Coded items were analyzed for frequency of occurrence and related themes, then organized into common domains. Within each domain, PRO items were drafted to address the functional limitations or adaptations experienced by patients. CONCLUSIONS: Items for a PRO measure have been drafted and evaluated for interpretability in the target inherited retinal degeneration patient population. Content validity for the items was established through a process of in-depth interviews, cognitive interviews, and pilot interviews.