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During coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, students were obliged to switch to online learning. Nevertheless, a long time spent in front of the screens is one of the risk factors of dry eye disease (DED).To evaluate ocular symptoms typical for DED presented by Polish students during online learning and entertainment before and during the pandemic, as well as to assess the prevalence of these symptoms.The original questionnaire was distributed online via social media (Facebook) to Polish students in November 2020. Three hundred sixty-eight anonymous questionnaires were collected and statistically analyzed.During the pandemic, online learning and screen entertainment time extended on average by 4 h and 40 min, respectively. Only 8% of students admitted to having no ocular symptoms and 77% reported the exacerbation in previous ocular complaints. Reported symptoms included pain/discomfort of the eyes, itchiness, dryness, red eyes, feeling gritty particles under eyelids, and blurred vision. Actions such as using eye drops, having breaks from studying to have distant vision, consultation with an ophthalmologist, using warm and cold compresses, or none of these were undertaken by 45%, 42%, 8%, 7%, and 19% of students, respectively. Nonmedical students reported worsening of previous symptoms more often than medical students (p0.05). A correlation was observed between the number of new/intensified symptoms and the change in screen learning time (r = 0.17, p0.05).Eye complaints are prevalent in the population of students. During the pandemic these symptoms intensified, which may have been caused by the extension of the screen time. There is a need for better education on ocular hygiene to improve visual clarity and awareness of risk factors of DED.

Anna Pacwa,1,2 Joanna Machowicz,1 Alicja Wojtyniak,1 Marita Pietrucha-Dutczak,1 Elisa Toropainen,3,4 Ali Koskela,4 Ewa Mrukwa-Kominek,5,6 Joanna Lewin-Kowalik,1,2 Adrian Smedowski1,2,6 1Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland; 2GlaucoTech Co, Katowice, Poland; 3School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; 4Department of Ophthalmology, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland; 5Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medical Sciences in Katowice, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland; 6Department of Ophthalmology, Professor K. Gibinski University Clinical Center, Medical University of Silesia, Katowice, PolandCorrespondence: Adrian SmedowskiDepartment of Physiology, Medical University of Silesia, Medykow 18, Katowice, 40-752, Poland, Tel +48 530813996, Fax +48 322525087, Email asmedowski@sum.edu.plIntroduction: Prostaglandin analogs are the first line of treatment in patients with glaucoma. Recently, many preservative-free prostaglandin analogs have been marketed to increase their tolerance in chronic use. However, potentially safer formulations have been reported to induce inflammation within ocular surface and adnexa, associated with pronounced activation of tissue macrophages.Aim: We aimed to evaluate the effect of a Stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1 (SCD1) inhibitor, MF-438, on the differentiation of monocytes exposed to eye drop detergents, representing saturated fatty acid derivatives.Methods: A culture of human peripheral blood monocytes was exposed to eye drops containing fatty acid derivatives (eye drop detergents), pf-latanoprost (Monoprost®, hydroxystearate macrogolglycerol – MGHS40) or pf-tafluprost (Taflotan®, polysorbate 80 – PS80), as well as pf-latanoprost+MF-438, MGHS40, and PS80. For the negative control C(-), monocytes were cultured in basal medium, and for the positive controls, monocytes were stimulated with Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and Interferon γ (IFNγ) (M1 macrophages) or Interleukin-4 (IL-4) (M2 macrophages). The concentration of desaturase in the cell homogenates was determined by ELISA. The number of cells was counted under a microscope at 20x magnification.Results: The following concentrations of SCD1 (ng/mL) were measured: 7.8± 0.3 – pf-latanoprost group; 1.5± 0.4 – pf-tafluprost group; 6.8± 0.7 – MGHS40 group; 0.4± 0.002 – PS80 group; 0.9± 0.02 – pf-latanoprost+MF-438 group; 5.4± 1.6 – C(-) control; 0.5± 0.04 – M1 control; 2.2± 0.13 – M2 control. The percentages of macrophages in culture were 33.6%, 17.6%, 33%, 0%, 13.5%, 18.6%, 36.3%, and 39.3% for the pf-latanoprost, pf-tafluprost, MGHS40, PS80, pf-latanoprost+MF-438, C(-), M1, and M2 cultures, respectively. There was a strong correlation between SCD1 concentration and macrophage count in the culture (r=0.8, p< 0.05).Conclusion: Inhibition of SCD1 in monocytes prevents their transformation into macrophages after exposure to saturated fatty acid derivatives contained in eye drops, which may contribute to the limitation of latent inflammation within ocular adnexa and could possibly translate into better tolerability of the topical treatment.Keywords: prostaglandin analogs, Stearoyl-CoA desaturase-1, latent inflammation, macrophages &nbsp

Background Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a rare liver cholestatic disease with unknown aetiology, severe clinical course and poor prognosis. PSC most often co-occurs with inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), especially ulcerative colitis (UC). The aim of the study. We aimed to analyse the clinical course of patients diagnosed with PSC hospitalised in the Department of Gastroenterology, Medical University of Silesia in Katowice in 2009–2018. Methods The analysis included 30 patients, aged from 7 to 18 years (mean age 13.5 years), 21/30 boys (70%) and 9/30 girls (30%), diagnosed with PSC. The analysis included age of diagnosis, clinical symptoms, course of the disease, laboratory and imaging results and complications. Results The average diagnosis age was 13 years. 22/30(73.3%) patients suffered from UC and 4/30 (13.3%) were diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. 2/30 (6.66%) patients remained IBD-free. Among them 7/30(23.3%) had an overlap syndrome—primary sclerosing cholangitis and autoimmune hepatitis. At the time diagnosis 6/30 (20%) patients presented abdominal pain, which was the most common symptom, while 16/30 (57%) were asymptomatic but had abnormal laboratory test results. When PSC was detected before IBD, patients had complications more often compared with those diagnosed with IBD first or PSC and IBD at the same time. Moreover, complications were observed more often in patients with changes characteristic of PSC visible in their first USG than in patients without mentioned abnormalities in first USG. Conclusion Patients diagnosed with PSC before IBD diagnosis are more likely to have a more aggressive course of the disease. Monitoring liver markers in IBD patients is important since most PSC cases are asymptomatic and their elevation might be the first sign of the disease.