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Background: Poor adherence to glaucoma medication regimens may be associated with subsequent optic nerve damage and irreversible visual loss. Specific barriers to effective patient adherence in low-middle income countries are not fully recognized and new disease-specific instruments to assess adherence have been developed. Objective: The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to evaluate adherence of primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients to treatment in a middle-income country. Methods: POAG patients were recruited from the Glaucoma Service – Irmandade da Santa Casa de Misericordia de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Clinical and demographic data were retrieved from participants' electronic records. All patients answered the Glaucoma Treatment Compliance Assessment Tool (GTCAT). This 27-item questionnaire was designed to evaluate multiple behavioral factors associated with glaucoma medication adherence. Results: The sample comprised 96 patients with POAG. The mean age was 63.2 ± 8.9 years; 48 were male and 48 female; 55 (57.3%) were White, 36 (37.5%) African-Brazilian, and five (5.2 %) were of mixed color. Most patients (97.9%) had less than a high school degree and all had a family income < US$10,000. The GTCAT identified 69 (71.8%) patients who "sometimes forget to use drops," 68 (70.8%) patients who "sometimes fall asleep before dosing time," and 60 (62.5%) patients "whose drops aren't with them at the time to take them"; 82 (85.4%) patients admitted to using "reminders to take medications." Eighty-two (85.4%) patients agreed that "doctor answers my questions," and 77 (80.5%) said "they are happy with their eye doctor." Conclusions: The GTCAT identified a number of mostly unintentional factors associated with adherence in this cohort of Brazilian patients. The data may impact on how to understand and improve adherence to ocular hypotensive treatment in the Brazilian population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new miniature tridentine catfish is described from the rio Purus drainage, Amazon basin, Brazil. It differs from all other tridentines in having several unique autapomorphies: conspicuous anteromedial protuberance in the snout; set of symphyseal premaxillary and dentary teeth inclined posteromedially; distal process of the hyomandibula directed anteriorly; rod-like orbitosphenoid ossified only ventral to the optic nerve; mesethmoid cornua inclined ventrolaterally; opercular and interopercular odontodophores separated by a large interspace; basipterygia fused sagittally; and conspicuous dark brown horizontal stripe in the middle of the caudal fin. The new taxon is hypothesized to be sister to the clade formed by Tridensimilis and Tridens. A detailed osteological description of the new taxon is provided based on X-ray microcomputed tomography (µCT-scans) data and on cleared and stained specimens. Our analysis also reveals that “Tridens” brevis, an enigmatic species that has been indecisively assigned to three different tridentine genera over the past 134 years, belongs to Tridentopsis. Consequently, Tridensimilis is a monotypic genus that currently includes only T. venezuelae. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The mammalian retina captures a multitude of diverse features from the external environment and conveys them via the optic nerve to a myriad of retinorecipient nuclei. Understanding how retinal signals act in distinct brain functions is one of the most central and established goals of neuroscience. Using the common marmoset (Callithrix jacchus), a monkey from Northeastern Brazil, as an animal model for parsing how retinal innervation works in the brain, started decades ago due to their marmoset's small bodies, rapid reproduction rate, and brain features. In the course of that research, a large amount of new and sophisticated neuroanatomical techniques was developed and employed to explain retinal connectivity. As a consequence, image and non-image-forming regions, functions, and pathways, as well as retinal cell types were described. Image-forming circuits give rise directly to vision, while the non-image-forming territories support circadian physiological processes, although part of their functional significance is uncertain. Here, we reviewed the current state of knowledge concerning retinal circuitry in marmosets from neuroanatomical investigations. We have also highlighted the aspects of marmoset retinal circuitry that remain obscure, in addition, to identify what further research is needed to better understand the connections and functions of retinorecipient structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Sector retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a rare form of rod-cone degeneration typically associated with mutations in the RHO gene. We describe six unrelated patients presenting with this atypical phenotype in association with biallelic mutations in EYS gene. Methods: Multinational, multicentre cross-sectional case series. Patients with biallelic disease-causing variants in EYS and a clinical diagnosis of sector RP were recruited from specialized centres in Portugal and Brazil. All patients underwent a comprehensive ophthalmologic examination complemented by deep phenotyping. Peripheral blood samples were collected from all probands and available relatives for genetic analysis. Genetic counselling was provided to all subjects. Results: Seven disease-causing variants (4 pathogenic; 3 likely pathogenic) were identified in 6 unrelated female patients. Best-corrected visual acuity ranged from 75 to 85 ETDRS letters. All eyes showed bilateral and symmetrical areas of outer retinal atrophy distributed along the inferior vascular arcades and extending temporally and/or nasally in a crescent-shaped pattern. On fundus autofluorescence (AF), a foveal-sparing curvilinear band of hyperAF encroaching the optic nerve head and extending temporally was seen in 4 patients. The remaining 2 presented bilateral and symmetrical patches of hypoAF inside crescent-shaped areas of hyperAF along the inferior temporal vascular arcade. Visual field testing revealed superior visual field defects of varying extents, always in close association with the fundus AF findings. Conclusions: Even though EYS has only recently been listed as a cause of the sector RP phenotype, we believe that this presentation is not infrequent and should be considered an important differential for sector RP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The causes of the beaching and death of sea turtles have not been fully clarified and continue to be studied. Mild, moderate and severe lesions caused by spirorchiidiosis have been seen for decades in different organs and were recently defined as the cause of death of a loggerhead turtle. In the present study, eyes and optic nerves were analysed in green sea turtles with spirorchiidiosis and no other debilitating factors. Injuries to the optic nerve and choroid layer were described in 235 animals (90%) infected with spirorchiids. Turtles with ocular spirorchiidiosis are approximately three times more likely to be cachectic than turtles with spirorchiidiosis without ocular involvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Congenital Zika syndrome (CZS) is a recently described disease. Our main objective was to evaluate and monitor, over 3 years, the ophthalmoscopic findings in children exposed to zika virus (ZIKV) during gestation., Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, between April 2016 and May 2019. We evaluated two groups with exanthema serving as a proxy for viremia: (i) children whose mothers had exanthema during pregnancy and (ii) children who had microcephaly without maternal exanthema during pregnancy. We performed indirect ophthalmoscopy at recruitment and every 6 months thereafter. We also tested the association between ocular findings with maternal exanthema, microcephaly, CZS and maternal infection confirmed by reverse transcriptase quantitative polymerase chain reaction and gender., Results: Of the 72 children included, 16 (22.2%) had optic nerve and/or retinal lesions. All 16 had CZS and 15 (93.7%) had microcephaly (14 at birth and 1 postnatally). The child with postnatally acquired microcephaly was born to a mother without exanthema during pregnancy. Fifty-six (77.8%) of the 72 children were followed for a median time of 24 months and none exhibited differences between admission and follow-up examinations. After logistic regression, only microcephaly at birth was associated with eye abnormalities (odds ratio, 77.015; 95% confidence interval, 8.85-670.38; p < 0.001)., Conclusion: We observed that there was no progression of the lesions over the follow-up period. We also showed that the eye findings were associated only with microcephaly at birth. Attention should be paid to all children born during a ZIKV epidemic, regardless of maternal exanthema and/or microcephaly at birth., (© The Author(s) [2023]. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

The causes of the beaching and death of sea turtles have not been fully clarified and continue to be studied. Mild, moderate and severe lesions caused by spirorchiidiosis have been seen for decades in different organs and were recently defined as the cause of death of a loggerhead turtle. In the present study, eyes and optic nerves were analysed in green sea turtles with spirorchiidiosis and no other debilitating factors. Injuries to the optic nerve and choroid layer were described in 235 animals (90%) infected with spirorchiids. Turtles with ocular spirorchiidiosis are approximately three times more likely to be cachectic than turtles with spirorchiidiosis without ocular involvement.