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Doina Georgescu,1,* Oana-Elena Ancusa,1 Daniel Azoulay,2,* Ana Lascu,3 Ioana Ionita,1 Despina Calamar-Popovici,1 Mihai Ionita,1 Ciprian Ilie Rosca,1 Gelu-Mihai Brează,4 Daniela Reisz,5 Daniel Lighezan1 1Center of Advanced Researches in Cardiovascular Diseases and Hemostaseology, Department of Internal Medicine I, “V Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania; 2Hepato-Biliary Center, Paul-Brousse Hospital, Paris-Saclay University, Villejuif, France; 3Department of Functional Sciences, “V Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania; 4Department IX of Surgery I, Compartment of Hepatic-Biliary-Pancreatic Surgery, “V Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania; 5Department of Neurosciences, “V Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Oana-Elena Ancusa, Center of Advanced Researches in Cardiovascular Diseases and Hemostaseology, Department of Internal Medicine I,“V Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, 2 Piata Eftimie Murgu, Timisoara, Timis, 300041, Romania, Tel +40 722 814024, Fax +40 256 490626, Email oancusa@gmail.comPurpose: This study aimed to explore inflammatory biomarkers, stool’s functional bacterial groups and their possible link to portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in patients with liver cirrhosis (LC).Materials and Methods: An observational study of 300 participants: 200 inhospital cirrhotic patients, who met inclusion criteria, equally assigned into two groups, based on the presence or absence of PVT and 100 healthy controls was carried out.Results: The PVT group displayed significant differences related to older age, cigarettes smoking history, emergency admission, higher Child-Pugh score, metabolic related disorders and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, as well as non-obstructive aspects, with chronic thrombi. The PVT group exhibited significant differences related to biomarkers such as tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimers (D-D), as well as gut overall dysbiosis (DB) and alteration of different functional bacterial groups of the gut microbiota. Strong positive correlations were observed between PVT severity, and TNF-alpha, CRP, D-D as well as lipopolysaccharide (LPS) positive bacteria. Esophageal varices, age and abdominal pain were independent predictors for PVT severity as well as CRP, TNF-alpha and D-D.Conclusion: Patients with LC and PVT displayed elevation of TNF-alpha, CRP, D-D alterations of the functional gut microbiota, as well as several morphological and clinical particularities. Although the LPS positive gut microbiota was linked to inflammatory biomarkers and PVT severity, it was not proven to be an independent predictor of the PVT severity like CRP, TNF-alpha and D-D.Graphical Abstract: Keywords: portal vein obstruction, end stage liver disease, biomarkers, gut functional bacteria

Rachel Eichler,1 Gila Mivtachi,1 Dina Hershkovitz-Azoulay,1 Mitchell Scheiman,2 Hadas Ben-Eli1,3 1Department of Optometry and Vision Science, Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel; 2Pennsylvania College of Optometry, Salus University, Elkins Park, PA, USA; 3Department of Ophthalmology, Hadassah Medical Organization and Faculty of Medicine, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, IsraelCorrespondence: Hadas Ben-Eli, Department of Optometry and Vision Science, Hadassah Academic College, Neviim St. 37, Jerusalem, 9101001, Israel, Tel +972-50-4638006, Email hadasben@hac.ac.ilPurpose: To provide additional normative data for the OculoMotor Assessment Tool (OMAT) for horizontal and vertical saccades and vergence jumps and to compare the results of children to adults.Methods: Participants with visual acuity of logMAR ≥ 0.0 (6/6) and Randot stereopsis of at least 250 sec of arc without binocular disorders were recruited. Horizontal and vertical saccades, near point of convergence (NPC), accommodation and vergence jumps were evaluated using the OMAT. Means and standard deviations were reported for all parameters in children and adults.Results: A total of 52 participants (ages 9– 34, mean age 17.5 ± 7.2 years) participated in this study. Statistically significant differences were found for horizontal and vertical saccades with lower mean results in children, aged 9– 18 (111.5 ± 20.9 and 112.5 ± 22.7, respectively) compared to adults, aged 19– 34 (131.6 ± 23.9 and 126.2 ± 24.2, respectively) (P = 0.002 and 0.04, respectively). The mean of the last 30 seconds of both horizontal and vertical saccades were statistically significantly lower in the children’s group (52.5 ± 10.6 and 52.1 ± 11.3, respectively) compared to the adults (63.2 ± 10.2 and 59.3 ± 13.4, respectively) (P = 0.001 and 0.04, respectively). The normative values for horizontal and vertical saccades were 119.6 ± 23.9 and 118.1 ± 24.1 saccades per minute, respectively. NPC break and recovery were 2.3 ± 2.3cm and 3.0 ± 3.3cm, respectively. The vergence jumps assessment was 79.3 ± 21.19 movements per minute.Conclusion: Normative values for the OMAT test were found in this study for children and adults. Assessment of endurance found children norms significantly lower for horizontal and vertical saccades compared to adults.Keywords: OculoMotor Assessment Tool, OMAT, oculomotor abilities, saccadic dysfunction, endurance