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Purpose: To summarize actual literature data on clinical signs, differential diagnosis, and treatment of acanthamoeba keratitis. Methods: Review of literature. Results: Clinical signs of acanthamoeba keratitis are in early stages grey-dirty epithelium, pseudodendritiformic epitheliopathy, perineuritis, multifocal stromal infiltrates, ring infiltrate and in later stages scleritis, iris atrophy, anterior synechiae, secondary glaucoma, mature cataract, and chorioretinitis. As conservative treatment, we use up to one year triple-topical therapy (polyhexamethylene-biguanide, propamidine-isethionate, neomycin). In therapy resistant cases, surgical treatment options such as corneal cryotherapy, amniotic membrane transplantation, riboflavin-UVA cross-linking, and penetrating keratoplasty are applied. Conclusion: With early diagnosis and conservative or surgical treatment, acanthamoeba keratitis heals in most cases. Keywords: Acanthamoeba, Keratitis, Cornea, Contact lens

Abstract Background The purpose of this report was to describe a single case of recurrent interstitial keratitis in a young patient leading to keratoconus-like corneal changes. Results Over the 2 years follow-up, the patient developed clinical signs of keratoconus with Vogt’s striae, Fleischer Ring and paracentral stromal thinning in the affected eye only. The tomographic measurements revealed a rapid reduction of corneal thickness from 581 to 303 μm and an irregular steepening of the pathological cornea. True net corneal power increased from 42.8 to 48.8 dioptres (D) and maximal power of the anterior surface from 44.9 to 66.9 D. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) decreased from 20/20 to 20/200. A penetrating excimer laser keratoplasty was performed to restore vision and corneal stability. Conclusion Keratoconus-like changes can occur in young patients with recurrent interstitial keratitis and request corneal transplantation.

Purpose. Keratoconus (KC) has been defined as a “noninflammatory” corneal disease, but recent studies have noted a potential inflammatory origin. We analysed the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and ocular surface temperature (OST) in KC patients compared to controls. Patients and Methods. A total of 179 eyes in 90 patients with KC (topographic keratoconus classification 0-1 to 4, age 36.1 ± 12.5 years, 65.9% males) and 82 eyes in 41 controls (age 36.4 ± 12.8 years, 47.6% males) were examined. The participants completed the OSDI questionnaire and underwent corneal topography, tomography, and thermography. Additional outcome measures were vision- and discomfort-related OSDI subscores and mean OST at the corneal centre during 10 seconds of sustained eye opening after blinking. Results. The OSDI score (31.4 ± 22.4 vs. 17.5 ± 17.9) and vision- (17.7 ± 14.6 vs. 10.5 ± 13.2) and discomfort-related (14.3 ± 10.7 vs. 9.4 ± 10.5) OSDI subscores were significantly higher in KC patients than in controls (p 0.174, p

In keratoconus (KC), an increase of the corneal back surface area may result in endothelial cell density (ECD) decrease and an increase of the corneal front surface area in ocular surface temperature (OST) decrease due to increased heat dissipation. Along with these hypotheses, we aimed to analyse the correlation between ECD and central corneal OST in patients with KC and healthy controls. A total of 154 eyes with KC (mean age 36.1 ± 12.5 years) and 92 healthy eyes (mean age 36.4 ± 12.8 years) were examined. Corneal front and back surface area at the central 5 mm corneal diameter (FSA and BSA) were calculated based on Pentacam measurement data: FSA or BSA = 2×3.14×R(R-√R2-D/2)2, where R referred to corneal front or back surface radius of curvature and D to the corneal front or back surface diameter (5 mm for the present study), respectively. ECD was determined by specular microscopy (EM-3000) and central corneal OST by thermography (TG-1000). ECD was significantly lower in KC (2498 ± 356/mm2) patients than in controls (2638 ± 294/mm2; p <.001). FSA (20.35 ± 0.26 mm2 vs. 20.17 ± 0.03 mm2) and BSA (20.84 ± 0.58 mm2 vs. 20.45 ± 0.08 mm2) were significantly higher in KC patients than in controls (p =.001; p <.001), but the average central corneal OST did not differ significantly between both groups (34.2 ± 0.6°C vs.34.3 ± 0.7°C; p =.62). OST at the corneal centre correlated weakly, positively with ECD (r = 0.2; p <.05), but OST did not correlate with FSA (r = 0.045) or BSA (r = 0.064). Endothelial cell density seems to have a mild impact on central ocular surface temperature in keratoconus and normal subjects. This effect is not correlated to the corneal front or back surface area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose. Keratoconus (KC) has been defined as a "noninflammatory" corneal disease, but recent studies have noted a potential inflammatory origin. We analysed the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) and ocular surface temperature (OST) in KC patients compared to controls. Patients and Methods. A total of 179 eyes in 90 patients with KC (topographic keratoconus classification 0-1 to 4, age 36.1 ± 12.5 years, 65.9% males) and 82 eyes in 41 controls (age 36.4 ± 12.8 years, 47.6% males) were examined. The participants completed the OSDI questionnaire and underwent corneal topography, tomography, and thermography. Additional outcome measures were vision- and discomfort-related OSDI subscores and mean OST at the corneal centre during 10 seconds of sustained eye opening after blinking. Results. The OSDI score (31.4 ± 22.4 vs. 17.5 ± 17.9) and vision- (17.7 ± 14.6 vs. 10.5 ± 13.2) and discomfort-related (14.3 ± 10.7 vs. 9.4 ± 10.5) OSDI subscores were significantly higher in KC patients than in controls (p < 0.001). We found no significant difference in the central corneal OST (34.2 ± 0.6°C vs. 34.2 ± 0.7°C; p = 0.41) between the two groups (p ≥ 0.22). The OSDI score and subscores poorly to fairly correlated with the surface asymmetry index (SAI) and surface regularity index (SRI; r > 0.174, p < 0.005), but did not correlate with the central corneal OST (r < 0.001). OST also did not correlate with the SAI, SRI, and central corneal thickness (r ≥ −0.086). Conclusion. KC patients had increased OSDI scores and vision- and discomfort-related OSDI subscores without an increase in the OST compared to a normal population. OSDI score/subscores weakly correlate with SAI and SRI but do not correlate with OST in KC patients or controls. Vision- and discomfort-related symptoms of KC have to be managed in parallel in ophthalmological practice, but the necessity of anti-inflammatory treatment cannot be verified through ocular thermography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

s The aim of the joint industrial and academic project 'SupraMetall' is to enable the large scale production of superconducting tapes. This is a report of the recent achievements in the production of cube textured metal substrates and the coating techniques of the buffer and superconductive layers. The final coated conductor tapes of 2 m length reached critical current densities of 120 A/cm-width. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: The purpose of this report was to describe a single case of recurrent interstitial keratitis in a young patient leading to keratoconus-like corneal changes.Results: Over the 2 years follow-up, the patient developed clinical signs of keratoconus with Vogt’s striae, Fleischer Ring and paracentral stromal thinning in the affected eye only. The tomographic measurements revealed a rapid reduction of corneal thickness from 581 to 303 μm and an irregular steepening of the pathological cornea. True net corneal power increased from 42.8 to 48.8 dioptres (D) and maximal power of the anterior surface from 44.9 to 66.9 D. Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) decreased from 20/20 to 20/200. A penetrating excimer laser keratoplasty was performed to restore vision and corneal stability.Conclusion: Keratoconus-like changes can occur in young patients with recurrent interstitial keratitis and request corneal transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]