"Spaceflight-to-Eye Clinic": Terrestrial advances in ophthalmic healthcare delivery from space-based innovations.

The phrase "Bench-to-Bedside" is a well-known phrase in medicine, highlighting scientific discoveries that directly translate to impacting patient care. Key examples of translational research include identification of key molecular targets in diseases and development of diagnostic laboratory tests for earlier disease detection. Bridging these scientific advances to the bedside/clinic has played a meaningful impact in numerous patient lives. The spaceflight environment poses a unique opportunity to also make this impact; the nature of harsh extraterrestrial conditions and medically austere and remote environments push for cutting-edge technology innovation. Many of these novel technologies built for the spaceflight environment also have numerous benefits for human health on Earth. In this manuscript, we focus on "Spaceflight-to-Eye Clinic" and discuss technologies built for the spaceflight environment that eventually helped to optimize ophthalmic health on Earth (e.g., LADAR for satellite docking now utilized in eye-tracking technology for LASIK). We also discuss current technology research for spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome (SANS) that may also be applied to terrestrial ophthalmic health. Ultimately, various advances made to enable to the future of space exploration have also advanced the ophthalmic health of individuals on Earth.

Impact of COVID-19 on Neuro-Ophthalmology in the United States: A National Survey.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the impacts of the COVID-19 on neuro-ophthalmology practice in the United States. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. METHODS: The North American Neuro-ophthalmology Society distributed a survey on the impact of COVID-19 on neuro-ophthalmic practice to its members. The survey consisted of 15 questions regarding the impact of the pandemic on neuro-ophthalmic practice and perspectives. RESULTS: Twenty-eight neuro-ophthalmologists practicing in the United States responded to our survey. In this survey, 64% of survey respondents were male (n = 18), while 36% were female (n = 10). The average age of a respondent was 55 years old. According to 77% of survey respondents, various neuro-ophthalmic diseases were reported to have worsened during the pandemic including idiopathic intracranial hypertension, compressive optic neuropathy, optic neuritis, and giant cell arteritis. CONCLUSIONS: This survey represents one of the largest studies to describe the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic of neuro-ophthalmology. Given the underrepresentation of neuro-ophthalmology in the United States as described in the literature, this study strengthens the need for more neuro-ophthalmologists to provide timely care, particularly during the pandemic. Further interventions to incentivize the pursuit of neuro-ophthalmology training may help combat the effects of COVID-19 on neuro-ophthalmic conditions.

Radiation-induced ophthalmic risks of long duration spaceflight: Current investigations and interventions.

PURPOSE: As the average duration of space missions increases, astronauts will experience longer periods of exposure to risks of long duration space flight including microgravity and radiation. The risks from long-term exposure to space radiation remains ill-defined. We review the current literature on the possible and known risks of radiation on the eye (including radiation retinopathy) after long duration spaceflight. METHODS: A PubMed and Google Scholar search of the English language ophthalmic literature was performed from inception to July 11, 2022. The following search terms were utilized independently or in conjunction to build this manuscript: "Radiation Retinopathy", "Spaceflight", "Space Radiation", "Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome", "Microgravity", "Hypercapnia", "Radiation Shield", "Cataract", and "SANS". A concise and selective approach of references was conducted in including relevant original studies and reviews. RESULTS: A total of 65 papers were reviewed and 47 papers were included in our review. CONCLUSION: We discuss the potential and developing countermeasures to mitigate these radiation risks in preparation for future space exploration. Given the complex nature of space radiation, no single approach will fully reduce the risks of developing radiation maculopathy in long-duration spaceflight. Understanding and appropriately overcoming the risks of space radiation is key to becoming a multi-planetary species.

GPT-4 and Ophthalmology Operative Notes.

Operative notes are an essential piece of documentation made by an ophthalmic team following ocular or ophthalmic surgery. While the advanced language processing capabilities of GPT-4 can be utilized to enhance the comprehension of natural language in healthcare applications, the utilization of GPT-4 in writing operative notes is not explicitly referenced in the current literature. In this paper, we describe the potential applications for GPT-4 to write ophthalmic operative notes. It is imperative to acknowledge that despite the impressive capabilities exhibited by GPT-4, it remains constrained by certain limitations, and therefore, ought to be employed in tandem with human expertise and subjected to critical evaluation.

GPT-4: a new era of artificial intelligence in medicine.

GPT-4 is the latest version of ChatGPT which is reported by OpenAI to have greater problem-solving abilities and an even broader knowledge base. We examined GPT-4's ability to inform us about the latest literature in a given area, and to write a discharge summary for a patient following an uncomplicated surgery and its latest image analysis feature which was reported to be able to identify objects in photos. All things considered, GPT-4 has the potential to help drive medical innovation, from aiding with patient discharge notes, summarizing recent clinical trials, providing information on ethical guidelines, and much more.

The impact of COVID-19 on managing ophthalmic diseases: an international, descriptive study.

BACKGROUND: Anecdotally, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in more severe cases of eye disease, decreased medication compliance/availability, and decreased treatment volume due to the lockdown. AIMS: We aim to quantify and bring together a variety of international perspectives from ophthalmologists of different subspecialties to characterize the global impact of COVID-19 on managing various ophthalmic disease. METHODS: An online survey of 10 questions was conducted among ophthalmologists using a specialized survey program. RESULTS: Fifty-two ophthalmologists were successfully contacted. Survey respondents include ophthalmologists from USA, Canada, Korea, Mexico, and New Zealand. Based on the results of our survey, 1 year after the pandemic, ophthalmic disease severity has worsened as well as a decrease in examination and medication compliance. CONCLUSIONS: Ophthalmologists across the world have reported a general increase in disease severity and decrease in medication and examination compliance 1 year after the beginning of COVID-19.