Dengue fever ophthalmic manifestations: A review and update

Dengue fever, the most common arbovirus disease, affects an estimated 390 million people annually. Dengue virus (DENV) is an RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family with four different serotypes. Dengue haemorrhagic fever is the deadliest form of dengue infection and is characterised by thrombocytopaenia, hypotension, and the possibility of multi-system organ failure. The mechanism hypothesised for DENV viral replication is intrinsic antibody-dependent enhancement, which refers to Fcγ receptor-mediated viral amplification. This hypothesis suggests that the internalisation of DENV through the Fcγ receptor inhibits antiviral genes by suppressing type-1 interferon-mediated antiviral responses. DENV NS1 antibodies can promote the release of various inflammatory mediators in the nuclear transcription factor pathway (NF-κB-dependent), including monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1, interleukin (IL)-6, and IL-8. As a result, MCP-1 increases ICAM-1 expression and facilitates leukocyte transmigration. In addition, anti-DENV NS1 antibodies induce endothelial cell apoptosis via a nitric oxide-regulated pathway. A chain reaction involving pre-existing DENV heterotypic antibodies and innate immune cells causes dysfunction in complement system activity and contributes to the action of autoantibodies and anti-endothelial cells, resulting in endothelial cell dysfunction, blood-retinal barrier breakdown, haemorrhage, and plasma leakage. A spectrum of ocular diseases associated with DENV infection, ranging from haemorrhagic to inflammatory manifestations, has been reported in the literature. Although rare, ophthalmic manifestations can occur in both the anterior and posterior segments and are usually associated with thrombocytopenia. The most common ocular complication is haemorrhage. However, ophthalmic complications, such as anterior uveitis and vasculitis, suggest an immune-mediated pathogenesis.

Acquired acoria and iris pearls in leprosy: Case report

PURPOSE

To describe a case of a patient presenting with acquired acoria and iris pearls, a rare eye manifestation and pathognomonic finding for leprosy; to reinforce clinical, histopathological, and therapeutic aspects of ocular involvement in leprosy.

METHODS

Case report.

CASE DESCRIPTION

A 62-year-old male presenting with acquired acoria and iris pearls in both eyes due to leprosy also had anterior uveitis and cataract. Histopathological diagnosis of iris pearls was confirmed by the presence of Hansen's bacilli. Ophthalmological examination revealed improvement of the visual acuity after iridectomy and extracapsular cataract extraction.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of acquired acoria in a leprosy patient. It led to impaired vision and reversible blindness. Proper diagnosis and ophthalmological treatment of patients with these conditions are essential for the maintenance of a good quality of life.

An Innovative Streaming Video System With a Point-of-View Head Camera Transmission of Surgeries to Smartphones and Tablets: An Educational Utility

Purpose: In order to engage medical students and residents from public health centers to utilize the telemedicine features of surgery on their own smartphones and tablets as an educational tool, an innovative streaming system was developed with the purpose of streaming live footage from open surgeries to smartphones and tablets, allowing the visualization of the surgical field from the surgeon’s perspective. The current study aims to describe the results of an evaluation on level 1 of Kirkpatrick’s Model for Evaluation of the streaming system usage during gynecological surgeries, based on the perception of medical students and gynecology residents. Methods: Consisted of a live video streaming (from the surgeon’s point of view) of gynecological surgeries for smartphones and tablets, one for each volunteer. The volunteers were able to connect to the local wireless network, created by the streaming system, through an access password and watch the video transmission on a web browser on their smartphones. Then, they answered a Likert-type questionnaire containing 14 items about the educational applicability of the streaming system, as well as comparing it to watching an in loco procedure. This study is formally approved by the local ethics commission (Certificate No. 53175915.7.0000.5171/2016). Results: Twenty-one volunteers participated, totalizing 294 items answered, in which 94.2% were in agreement with the items affirmative, 4.1% were neutral, and only 1.7% answers corresponded to negative impressions. Cronbach’s α was .82, which represents a good reliability level. Spearman’s coefficients were highly significant in 4 comparisons and moderately significant in the other 20 comparisons. Conclusions: This study presents a local streaming video system of live surgeries to smartphones and tablets and shows its educational utility, low cost, and simple usage, which offers convenience and satisfactory image resolution, thus being potentially applicable in surgical teaching.