Scleral Suture Intraocular Lens Fixation Under Microscope-Intraoperative Optical Coherence Tomography.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the accessibility and potential value of intraoperative optical coherence tomography (iOCT) during scleral suture intraocular lens (IOL) fixation. METHODS: This was a prospective cohort study in the Department of Ophthalmology, Eye and ENT Hospital, Fudan University, China. Seven eyes with insufficient capsular support and undergoing two-point scleral suture IOL fixation were included. The potential value of iOCT was evaluated, as well as the safety and efficacy of the surgery. RESULTS: Seven eyes were included. With a tailor-made iOCT, the structure of the anterior segment could be clearly visualized during the surgery. Intraoperatively, iOCT helped locate the proper place for fixation and access the position of the IOL. After an average 4.43-month follow-up, the spherical equivalent changed significantly ( P < 0.001), but the intraocular pressure, best-corrected visual acuity, and endothelial cell density remained unchanged ( P > 0.05). The IOL was well-centered with a horizontal and a vertical tilt of 0.74 ± 0.60° and 1.13 ± 0.65°, and decentration of 0.28 ± 0.12 mm and 0.30 ± 0.13 mm. The estimated IOL-induced astigmatism was -0.11 diopters (D) ± 0.46 D. CONCLUSION: Real-time high-resolution images of the anterior segment acquired by the iOCT helped the surgeon to achieve satisfactory results in scleral suture IOL fixation.

Spatio-temporal pattern of ecological droughts and their impacts on health of vegetation in Northwestern China.

The ecological implications of drought have been widely discussed in recent years. Ecological drought was thus proposed as a new drought type to describe the impact of drought on ecosystems. The current study used an innovative drought index, called the standardized ecological water deficit index (SEWDI), to monitor terrestrial ecological drought in Northwestern China, which is an ecologically fragile region. Droughts and their characteristics, including drought affected area, drought severity, drought duration, drought frequency, and drought orientation, were extracted using a spatial and temporal identification method based on SEWDI at a three-month timescale. To investigate the variation in dominant factors determining vegetation health, the contributions of moisture and thermal conditions during different ecological drought events were determined using a gradient boosting regression model. The main results indicated that (1) the spatial and temporal identification method successfully identified the spatio-temporal patterns of ecological drought; (2) a total of 184 ecological drought events during 1982-2020 were identified, of which 56.6% occurred prior to the 21st century. Drought events in the 21st century always exhibit larger affected areas, longer durations, a higher frequency, and greater severity, and migrated westward; and (3) in all ecological drought events, vegetation health dominated by thermal conditions accounted for 42.7% and 48.2% before and during the 21st century, respectively. This illustrated that vegetation has experienced more severe thermal stress during the 21st century.

Mixed probiotics decrease the incidence of stage II-III necrotizing enterocolitis and death: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in premature infants. In order to evaluate the efficacy of probiotics in the prevention of stage II-III NEC, we performed a meta-analysis of clinical studies. METHODS: We searched in PubMed, Medline and Embase from 1 January 1990 to 16 January 2018. Heterogeneity was examined by Q-test. Publication bias was evaluated by funnel plot and Egger's regression test. RESULTS: 30 articles were identified meeting the inclusion criteria. Data showed that probiotics supplement could significantly reduce the risk of stage II-III NEC (RR = 0.51, 95% CI, 0.38 to 0.67, P < 0.001) and death rate (RR = 0.69, 95% CI, 0.55 to 0.87, P = 0.002). The mixed probiotics and lactobacillus could reduce the risk of stage II-III NEC (for mixed probiotics, RR = 0.39, 95% CI, 0.26 to 0.57; for lactobacillus, RR = 0.53, 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.78), while bifidobacterium or saccharomyces did not have such effect. The results also indicated that only the mixed probiotics could reduce the risk of deaths (RR = 0.52, 95%CI, 0.34 to 0.80). Subgroup analysis for mortality revealed that probiotics had significant effect in Asian region (RR = 0.54, 95% CI, 0.37 to 0.80, P = 0.002) but not in non-Asian region (RR = 0.84, 95% CI, 0.66 to 1.08, P = 0.179). CONCLUSIONS: Probiotics could significantly decrease the risk of stage II-III NEC and death. Compared to using single probiotics species, the application of combining different probiotics has a better efficacy in the prevention of stage II-III NEC and death, especially in the Asian population.