Decisional answer tree analysis of exudative age-related macular degeneration treatment outcomes.

The use of intravitreal ranibizumab in exudative age-related macular degeneration (eAMD) has become commonplace. We aim to investigate the early predictors of this treatment outcome. Seventy-one treatment-naive eyes of 71 patients with eAMD of all lesion subtypes who received intravitreal ranibizumab treatment and completed 12 months of follow-up were included. All patients were loaded with three injections of ranibizumab at monthly intervals. Further injections were given if clinically indicated based on logMAR best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and optical coherence tomography findings. Casenotes of eligible patients were reviewed retrospectively. The main outcome measure was logMAR BCVA change at month 12. The mean number of injections given over 12 months was 5.4 ± 1.9. A total of 88.7 % of the patients achieved visual stabilisation (loss of <15 letters) and 15.0 % achieved visual improvement (gain of ≥15 letters). The mean letter change at 12 months was +0.3 letters. Regression analysis showed that baseline BCVA and letter change at month 3 predicted visual acuity outcome at month 12 (baseline BCVA: t = 6.97, p < 0.001; letter change: t = 5.84, p < 0.01) but age, gender and eAMD in the fellow eye were not predictive. Finally, a decisional answer tree model demonstrated that letter change at month 3 was a strong predictor of visual outcome at month 12 with an overall accuracy of 69 %. We found that letter change from baseline at month 3 was strongly predictive of visual outcome at month 12.

Evaluation of quality of life and priorities of patients with glaucoma.

PURPOSE: To investigate the quality of life and priorities of patients with glaucoma. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with glaucoma and no other ocular comorbidity were consecutively recruited. Clinical information was collected. Participants were asked to complete three questionnaires: EuroQuol (EQ-5D), time tradeoff (TTO), and choice-based conjoint analysis. The latter used five-attribute outcomes: (1) reading and seeing detail, (2) peripheral vision, (3) darkness and glare, (4) household chores, and (5) outdoor mobility. Visual field loss was estimated by using binocular integrated visual fields (IVFs). RESULTS: Of 84 patients invited to participate, 72 were enrolled in the study. The conjoint utilities showed that the two main priorities were "reading and seeing detail" and "outdoor mobility." This rank order was stable across all segmentations of the data by demographic or visual state. However, the relative emphasis of these priorities changed with increasing visual field loss, with concerns for central vision increasing, whereas those for outdoor mobility decreased. Two subgroups of patients with differing priorities on the two main attributes were identified. Only 17% of patients (those with poorer visual acuity) were prepared to consider TTO. A principal component analysis revealed relatively independent components (i.e., low correlations) between the three different methodologies for assessing quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Assessments of quality of life using different methodologies have been shown to produce different outcomes with low intercorrelations between them. Only a minority of patients were prepared to trade time for a return to normal vision. Conjoint analysis showed two subgroups with different priorities. Severity of glaucoma influenced the relative importance of priorities.

Coping with Stress in Deprived Urban Neighborhoods: What Is the Role of Green Space According to Life Stage?

This study follows previous research showing how green space quantity and contact with nature (via access to gardens/allotments) helps mitigate stress in people living in deprived urban environments (Ward Thompson et al., 2016). However, little is known about how these environments aid stress mitigation nor how stress levels vary in a population experiencing higher than average stress. This study used Latent Class Analysis (LCA) to, first, identify latent health clusters in the same population (n = 406) and, second, to relate health cluster membership to variables of interest, including four hypothetical stress coping scenarios. Results showed a three-cluster model best fit the data, with membership to health clusters differentiated by age, perceived stress, general health, and subjective well-being. The clusters were labeled by the primary health outcome (i.e., perceived stress) and age group (1) Low-stress Youth characterized by ages 16-24; (2) Low-stress Seniors characterized by ages 65+ and (3) High-stress Mid-Age characterized by ages 25-44. Next, LCA identified that health membership was significantly related to four hypothetical stress coping scenarios set in people's current residential context: "staying at home" and three scenarios set outwith the home, "seeking peace and quiet," "going for a walk" or "seeking company." Stress coping in Low stress Youth is characterized by "seeking company" and "going for a walk"; stress coping in Low-stress Seniors and High stress Mid-Age is characterized by "staying at home." Finally, LCA identified significant relationships between health cluster membership and a range of demographic, other individual and environmental variables including access to, use of and perceptions of local green space. Our study found that the opportunities in the immediate neighborhood for stress reduction vary by age. Stress coping in youth is likely supported by being social and keeping physically active outdoors, including local green space visits. By contrast, local green space appears not to support stress regulation in young-middle aged and older adults, who choose to stay at home. We conclude that it is important to understand the complexities of stress management and the opportunities offered by local green space for stress mitigation by age and other demographic variables, such as gender.

Understanding Relationships between Health, Ethnicity, Place and the Role of Urban Green Space in Deprived Urban Communities.

Very little is known about how differences in use and perceptions of urban green space impact on the general health of black and minority ethnic (BME) groups. BME groups in the UK suffer from poorer health and a wide range of environmental inequalities that include poorer access to urban green space and poorer quality of green space provision. This study used a household questionnaire (n = 523) to explore the relationship between general health and a range of individual, social and physical environmental predictors in deprived white British and BME groups living in ethnically diverse cities in England. Results from Chi-Squared Automatic Interaction Detection (CHAID) segmentation analyses identified three distinct general health segments in our sample ranging from "very good" health (people of Indian origin), to "good" health (white British), and "poor" health (people of African-Caribbean, Bangladeshi, Pakistani origin and other BME groups), labelled "Mixed BME" in the analyses. Correlated Component Regression analyses explored predictors of general health for each group. Common predictors of general health across all groups were age, disability, and levels of physical activity. However, social and environmental predictors of general health-including use and perceptions of urban green space-varied among the three groups. For white British people, social characteristics of place (i.e., place belonging, levels of neighbourhood trust, loneliness) ranked most highly as predictors of general health, whilst the quality of, access to and the use of urban green space was a significant predictor of general health for the poorest health group only, i.e., in "Mixed BME". Results are discussed from the perspective of differences in use and perceptions of urban green space amongst ethnic groups. We conclude that health and recreation policy in the UK needs to give greater attention to the provision of local green space amongst poor BME communities since this can play an important role in helping address the health inequalities experienced by these groups.

Safety and efficacy of a dexamethasone anterior segment drug delivery system in patients after phacoemulsification.

PURPOSE: To compare the safety and efficacy of the Surodex dexamethasone anterior segment drug delivery system (Oculex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.) and dexamethasone 0.1% eyedrops (Maxidex) in patients with inflammation after cataract surgery. SETTING: Cataract Service, Department of Ophthalmology, Lothian University Hospitals, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. METHODS: This comparative single-masked parallel-group study comprised 1 eye of 19 patients having phacoemulsification cataract extraction and posterior chamber intraocular lens implantation. The Surodex group had the dexamethasone drug delivery system inserted into the anterior chamber (AC) angle during surgery and was treated with saline eyedrops (Isopto Plain) for 4 weeks. The control group had no drug delivery system or a placebo inserted at surgery and were treated with dexamethasone 0.1% eyedrops for 4 weeks. A Kowa FM-500 laser flare meter was used to objectively measure AC flare, the main outcome measure. Slitlamp biomicroscopy to grade AC flare and cells, intraocular pressure measurement, and corneal endothelial specular microscopy, performed up to 60 days after surgery, were the secondary outcome measures. The Surodex group had safety follow-ups after completion of the initial study period. RESULTS: Both groups had a steady increase in laser flare meter readings postoperatively. The readings peaked at 3 days in the control group and at 7 days in the Surodex group. This was followed by a gradual decline toward baseline values up to 28 days, after which the values remained at a similar level to 60 days in both groups. There were no significant differences in flare meter readings between the groups throughout the study. There were also no significant between-group differences in subjective assessment of intraocular inflammation and in impact on corneal endothelial cell count (P =.67). Surodex remnants persisted up to a mean of 22.0 months +/- 2.5 (SD) postoperatively in 6 eyes (54%). Neither group had a severe adverse event. CONCLUSION: Surodex appeared to be as effective as dexamethasone 0.1% eyedrops in controlling intraocular inflammation after cataract surgery by phacoemulsification, and both methods had a similar safety profile.

Green space and stress: evidence from cortisol measures in deprived urban communities.

Contact with green space in the environment has been associated with mental health benefits, but the mechanism underpinning this association is not clear. This study extends an earlier exploratory study showing that more green space in deprived urban neighbourhoods in Scotland is linked to lower levels of perceived stress and improved physiological stress as measured by diurnal patterns of cortisol secretion. Salivary cortisol concentrations were measured at 3, 6 and 9 h post awakening over two consecutive weekdays, together with measures of perceived stress. Participants (n = 106) were men and women not in work aged between 35-55 years, resident in socially disadvantaged districts from the same Scottish, UK, urban context as the earlier study. Results from linear regression analyses showed a significant and negative relationship between higher green space levels and stress levels, indicating living in areas with a higher percentage of green space is associated with lower stress, confirming the earlier study findings. This study further extends the findings by showing significant gender differences in stress patterns by levels of green space, with women in lower green space areas showing higher levels of stress. A significant interaction effect between gender and percentage green space on mean cortisol concentrations showed a positive effect of higher green space in relation to cortisol measures in women, but not in men. Higher levels of neighbourhood green space were associated with healthier mean cortisol levels in women whilst also attenuating higher cortisol levels in men. We conclude that higher levels of green space in residential neighbourhoods, for this deprived urban population of middle-aged men and women not in work, are linked with lower perceived stress and a steeper (healthier) diurnal cortisol decline. However, overall patterns and levels of cortisol secretion in men and women were differentially related to neighbourhood green space and warrant further investigation.

Adolescents' daily activities and the restorative niches that support them.

This paper explores wellbeing from the perspective of the psychological dynamics underlying adolescents' relationship with place. It uses a dynamic model of wellbeing called personal project analysis (PPA) which captures the concept of 'flourishing', defined as functioning well in your activities, strivings and interactions with the world [1]. Using PPA methods we identified adolescents' daily activities and the 'restorative niches' that best support them. A series of settings (including home, urban and natural outdoor places) were explored using PPA with 45 young people (aged 11-13) living in Edinburgh, Central Scotland. Participants were asked to think of eight projects of current importance to them, to say where the project took place and to rate each project against a series of core wellbeing dimensions measuring project meaning, manageability, support and affect (how much fun, stress etc.). Latent class analysis was carried out to explore clusters-or sub-groups-in the data and to identify the significant discriminators between clusters. A three-cluster model produced the best fit with project type, project place and wellbeing indicators (fun and stress) significantly discriminating between the three clusters. The three clusters were labeled by their dominant environmental context, 'faraway' (e.g., beach, national parks, hills), 'everyday' (e.g., home, school, local streets) and 'citywide' (e.g., sport settings, urban town context). 'Faraway' and 'citywide' clusters had a significantly higher wellbeing content, especially for fun and stress; the 'everyday' cluster indicated local environs remain a dominant project place for this age group, but are associated with greater stress. We compare findings with adults and suggest that outdoor settings further afield from home have greater significance within adolescent project systems, but that support is needed to facilitate access to these places.

Retinal vessel tortuosity in response to hypobaric hypoxia.

PURPOSE: Retinal vascular tortuosity is associated with retinopathy of differing etiologies, including hypertension, diabetes, and hypoxia. However, detailed understanding of the underlying pathophysiology is lacking. The aim of this study was to map changes in tortuosity associated with hypoxia at high altitude, and to determine the influence of sildenafil and an antioxidant preparation on altitude-induced tortuosity. METHODS: We measured the tortuosity of retinal vessels using a semi-automated method in 35 young, healthy subjects exposed to hypobaric hypoxia for 7 days at 5200 m, and compared the measurements to those from the same vessels at sea level. These subjects simultaneously took part in a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial of sildenafil and antioxidant. Comparison of tortuosity between these subgroups was performed. RESULTS: High altitude was associated with the development of retinal tortuosity in individual vessels. A nonsignificant trend suggests this is limited by prophylaxis with sildenafil or antioxidant. CONCLUSIONS: Retinal vessel tortuosity increases rapidly at high altitude. We suggest that retinal vessel tortuosity at altitude may result from increased sheer stress causing elongation of vessel segments and that this might be limited by agents that act to preserve nitric oxide dependent vasodilation. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS: NCT00664001, NCT00627965.