Sector Retinitis Pigmentosa Associated With Novel Compound Heterozygous Mutations of CDH23

Usher syndrome is an autosomal recessive condition characterized by retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and congenital hearing loss, with or without vestibular dysfunction. Allelic variants of CDH23 cause both Usher syndrome type 1D (USH1D) and a form of nonsyndromic hearing loss (DFNB12). The authors describe here a 34-year-old patient with congenital hearing loss and a new diagnosis of sector RP who was found to have two novel compound heterozygous mutations in CDH23, including one missense (c.8530C > A; p.Pro2844Thr) and one splice-site (c.5820 + 5G > A) mutation. This is the first report of sector RP associated with these types of mutations in CDH23.

The relationship between retinal microvascular abnormalities and coronary heart disease: a review

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the United States despite decades of advancement in its diagnosis and treatment. Because of the limitations of traditional risk stratification for heart disease, evaluation of the retinal vasculature has been proposed as an easily and safely measured adjunct to commonly used screening methods. This article provides a comprehensive review of the literature concerning the relationships between retinal microvascular abnormalities and coronary heart disease. We outline details of the most recent large epidemiologic studies and discuss their potential implications for clinical practice. Finally, we propose a change to the current guidelines regarding the screening of "low-risk" women, a group that is often failed by traditional evaluation algorithms.