The 100 top-cited articles in uveitis from 1950 to 2022.

OBJECTIVES: This bibliometric analysis aimed to clarify research characteristics and trends in research on uveitis by analyzing the top 100 most-cited articles. METHODS: We used the Web of Science database to search articles published in English from January 1, 1950, to February 10, 2022, without other restrictions. The 100 most-cited articles related to uveitis were screened. The publication year, institution, author, journal, country, research topic, and research type of each article were analyzed. RESULTS: The citations of the top 100 articles ranged from 144 to 2292 times. The years 2004 and 2005 included the largest number of articles published, with 17 in total. Most of the papers were published in Ophthalmology (n = 19), a specialized ophthalmology journal. The top 100 articles originated from 14 countries, with the most from the USA (n = 44). Twenty research institutions and 18 authors contributed two or more articles, with the National Eye Institute (USA) (n = 10) and Robert B. Nussenblatt (n = 10) contributing the most. The types of studies were mainly clinical studies (n = 64), focusing on the treatment of uveitis (n = 36). CONCLUSION: This study summarizes and analyzes the research characteristics and trends of uveitis. The contribution of the USA is explained, the past and current treatments of uveitis are emphasized, and the directions of future research are clarified.

Automated Detection of Epiretinal Membranes in OCT Images Using Deep Learning.

INTRODUCTION: Development and validation of a deep learning algorithm to automatedly identify and locate ERM regions in OCT images. METHODS: OCT images of 468 eyes were retrospectively collected from a total of 404 ERM patients. One expert manually annotated the ERM regions for all images. A total of 422 images (90%) and the rest 46 images (10%) were used as the training dataset and validation dataset for deep learning algorithm training and validation, respectively. One senior and one junior clinician read the images. The diagnostic results were compared. RESULTS: The algorithm accurately segmented and located the ERM regions in OCT images. The image-level accuracy was 95.65%, and the ERM region-level accuracy was 90.14%, respectively. In comparison experiments, the accuracies of the junior clinician improved from 85.00% and 61.29% without the assistance of the algorithm to 100.00% and 90.32% with the assistance of the algorithm. The corresponding results of the senior clinician were 96.15%, 95.00% without the assistance of the algorithm, and 96.15%, 97.50% with the assistance of the algorithm. CONCLUSIONS: The developed deep learning algorithm can accurately segmenting ERM regions in OCT images. This deep learning approach may help clinicians in clinical diagnosis with better accuracy and efficiency.

Quantitative vessel density analysis of macular and peripapillary areas by optical coherence tomography angiography in adults with primary nephrotic syndrome.

PURPOSE: To compare the microvascular parameters of macular and peripapillary areas in adults with primary nephrotic syndrome (PNS) and healthy controls (HCs). METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) was used to evaluate the changes in retinal microvascular in 37 adult patients with PNS and 30 HCs in this study. All subjects underwent OCTA for measuring vascular density (VD), perfusion density (PD), and foveal avascular zone (FAZ) in the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) for measuring central macular thickness (CMT) and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness. The following clinical data of the PNS group were collected: hemoglobin, platelet, total protein, albumin, prealbumin, creatinine, urea nitrogen, glomerular filtration rate, blood lipid, urinary protein, urine microalbumin, urine microalbumin/creatinine, 24-h urine volume, and 24-h urine protein quantification. The OCTA data were compared between patients with PNS and HCs, and the correlation between the OCTA data and clinical data was analyzed in the PNS group. RESULTS: VD and PD in the macular area of the PNS group were significantly lower than those in the HC group (VD: 17.025 ± 2.229 vs. 18.290 ± 0.721, P = 0.001; PD: 0.417 ± 0.058 vs. 0.450 ± 0.019, P = 0.003). No significant differences in the FAZ area and perioptic disc microvascular parameters were observed between the two groups, and patients in the PNS group showed consistent changes in the left and right eyes. VD and PD in the central macular area were positively correlated with plasma prealbumin level (VD: ρ = 0.541, P = 0.001; PD: ρ = 0.562, P < 0.001) and negatively correlated with urinary protein level (VD: ρ = -0.579, P < 0.001; PD: ρ = -0.596, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In adult patients with PNS, the decrease in VD and PD was mainly occurred in the macular area. Partly vascular density of the macular area was positively correlated with plasma prealbumin level and negatively correlated with urinary protein level. OCTA provides a convenient, non-invasive and effective method for evaluating and monitoring retinal microcirculation damage in patients with PNS.

Effect of Sirt3 on retinal pigment epithelial cells in high glucose through Foxo3a/ PINK1-Parkin pathway mediated mitophagy.

Sirt3 is closely associated with mitophagy. This study aimed to investigate the effect and potential mechanism of Sirt3 on mitophagy in retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in a high glucose environment. The expression levels of Sirt3, Foxo3a, PINK1, Parkin and LC3B in RPE subjected to high-glucose (HG, 30 mM D-glucose) conditions were detected by RT-PCR and western blotting. Dichloro-dihydro-fluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA) staining was used to detect the level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in RPE treated with HG. MitoTracker and LysoTracker probes were used to label mitochondria and lysosomes, respectively, to observe the occurrence of autophagy. Sirt3-dependent regulation of mitophagy through the Foxo3a/PINK1-Parkin pathway was further investigated by virus transfection-mediated Sirt3 overexpression and PINK1 silencing. The effect of Sirt3 overexpression on apoptosis was detected by flow cytometry. The Sirt3 expression was decreased, the Foxo3a/PINK1-Parkin pathway was inhibited, intracellular ROS level was increased, and mitophagy was attenuated in RPE under HG condition. Sirt3 overexpression activated the Foxo3a/PINK1-Parkin signaling pathway and mitophagy, and inhibited cell apoptosis. Silencing PINK1 inhibited the effect of Sirt3 overexpression on mitophagy. In summary, Sirt3 can activate mitophagy through the Foxo3a/PINK1-Parkin pathway and reduce HG-induced apoptosis of RPE. This study provides a new direction to understand the pathogenesis and develop a potential therapeutic target for diabetic retinopathy.

The 100 top-cited articles in macular edema from 1950 to 2020.

OBJECTIVES: Systematically summarize the trend of research and the orientation of macular edema in recent decades by analyzing the characteristics of the 100 top-ranked articles. METHODS: The 100 most cited papers on macular edema published from January 1, 1950, to August 27, 2020, were reviewed by Web of Science (including the Scientific Citation Index). The each article is analyzed by extracting information such as the publication date, journal, author, country of origin, institution, number of citations, research topics, and research design types. RESULTS: Among the 100 articles, the highest cited number was 1907, and the lowest cited number was 166. These articles were published in 18 journals from 1983 to 2016, as well as in 10 countries. The most published newspapers were Ophthalmology (n = 51). The countries were the USA (n = 66). Out of 100 articles, 12 institutions and 10 authors contributed over 3 articles. The emphasis of these studies was placed on clinical studies. The most prevalent design type was the randomized controlled trial (n = 42). The etiology on macular edema can be divided into diabetic (n = 68), retinal vein occlusion (n = 21), and other (n = 11), of which the most common research topic is the non-surgical treatment of macular edema (n = 65). CONCLUSION: This study analyzed the research trends and progress of macular edema in the past 70 years, emphasizing the treatment of diabetic macular edema and the contribution of USA in the study of macular edema.

DNMT1-mediated lncRNA MEG3 methylation accelerates endothelial-mesenchymal transition in diabetic retinopathy through the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the serious complications that occurs in diabetic patients that frequently causes blindness. Long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been associated with DR pathology. This study aimed to determine the underlying mechanism of lncRNA maternally expressed gene 3 (MEG3) in association with DNA methyltransferase 1 (DNMT1) in the endothelial-mesenchymal transition (endMT) that occurs in DR. A rat model of DR was induced by streptozotocin (STZ) injection, and a high-glucose (HG)-induced cell model was established by exposing microvascular endothelial cells obtained from retina of rats to HG. Subsequently, MEG3 was overexpressed in rat and cell models to characterize its impact on endMT in DR and the involvement of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. Furthermore, the methylation level of MEG3 promoter region was determined with the application of methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction, followed by chromatin immunoprecipitation assay for methyltransferase enrichment. Finally, we examined the regulation of DNMT1 on MEG3 methylation and endMT in the HG-induced cell model. The results obtained revealed downregulated MEG3 expression in DR rat and cell models. Overexpressed MEG3 was shown to suppress endMT in DR rat and cell models through the inhibition of the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway. Notably, DNMT1 could promote MEG3 promoter methylation to inhibit MEG3 expression by recruiting methyltransferase, which activated the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway to accelerate endMT in DR. These findings further highlighted the inhibitory effect of MEG3 on endMT in DR, thus presenting a novel therapeutic target candidate for DR treatment.