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Aims: This study aimed to report corneal steep island (CSI) formation following primary pterygium surgery and to identify preoperative pterygium morphological features that predict the likelihood of CSI. Methods: A total of 93 eyes from 84 subjects with primary nasal pterygium, who underwent pterygium excision combined with conjunctival-limbal autograft, were included in this retrospective longitudinal cohort study. CSI was defined using anterior segment swept-source optical coherence tomography (AS SS-OCT). Eyes were divided into two groups: those with postoperative CSI formation (Group 1) and those without postoperative CSI (Group 2). We compared postoperative anterior corneal astigmatism (ACA, in diopters [D]) and root mean square (RMS) values of anterior corneal lower-order (LoA) and higher-order aberrations (HoA) between the groups. Baseline clinical severity grades of pterygium based on the pre-established pterygium body morphology and vascularity, ACA, and AS SS-OCT-guided pterygium morphological profiles (horizontal invasion length [HIL, mm], height [μm], thickness (μm), and residual corneal thickness [RCT]/central corneal thickness [CCT] ratio [RCT/CCT]) were also compared. Results: Postoperative CSI occurred in 26 eyes (28.0%) with a maximum follow-up duration of 22.9±27.4 months. Group 1 exhibited significantly higher postoperative anterior corneal RMS LoA and HoA, as well as the RMS values of the 4th to 6th orders. Although clinical severity grades of pterygium did not differ between groups, baseline ACA was higher in Group 1 (4.56±5.49 D vs. 2.70±3.80 D, P = 0.009). HIL (4.49±0.84 mm vs. 3.77±1.29 mm, P = 0.010) was higher in Group 1, while pterygium height (930.8±84.4 μm vs. 999.3±128.0 μm, P = 0.015) and RCT/CCT ratio (1.07±0.13 vs. 1.14±0.16, P = 0.049) were lower in Group 1. Conclusions: CSI may develop after primary pterygium surgery, particularly in patients with relatively higher preoperative ACA, longer HIL, and shorter height. Given that CSI can significantly increase both lower and higher-order aberrations, it is crucial to anticipate CSI probability and inform patients before surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To propose the optimal value of baseline corneal astigmatism and pterygial morphological profiles for primary pterygium surgery to restore the corneal optical properties. Methods: We analysed 93 eyes from 84 subjects with nasal‐only primary pterygium who underwent pterygium excision with conjunctival‐limbal autograft and were assessed perioperatively using anterior segment swept‐source optical coherence tomography (AS SS‐OCT). We collected data on anterior corneal astigmatism (ACA) and root mean square (RMS) values for anterior corneal lower‐ (LoA) and higher‐order aberrations (HoA) as corneal optical properties using AS SS‐OCT. Using preoperative ACA and four pterygial morphological profiles (horizontal invasion length [HIL], height, thickness and the ratio of residual corneal thickness [RCT] to central corneal thickness [CCT]) measured in AS SS‐OCT, we plotted receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. These curves aimed to determine cut‐off values predicting a perioperative decrease exceeding 50% in ACA, RMS LoA and RMS HoA, as well as postoperative residual ACA higher than 1.25D. Results: Preoperative ACA > 1.42D (AUC = 0.934) and >3.60D (AUC = 0.946) proved most effective in identifying subjects with perioperative decrease exceeding in ACA and RMS LoA, respectively. HIL > 3.34 mm (AUC = 0.941) was most effective in distinguishing subjects with perioperative reduction exceeding 50% in RMS HoA. Preoperative ACA > 5.78D (AUC = 0.776) and HIL > 5.03 mm (AUC = 0.700) significantly distinguished subjects with postoperative residual ACA higher than 1.25D. Conclusion: Optimizing the restoration of corneal astigmatism and aberrations after pterygium surgery may be facilitated by determining the optimal surgical timing based on preoperative ACA and HIL values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has had a major influence on working patterns worldwide, given the various lockdown periods and the shift to remote working. As people's noise perception is known to be closely linked with their work performance and job satisfaction, investigating the noise perception in indoor spaces, especially in situations where people work from home, is crucial; however, studies on this aspect are limited. Thus, here, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between indoor noise perception and remote work during the pandemic. The study assessed how people who worked from home perceived indoor noise, and how it related with their work performance and job satisfaction. A social survey was conducted with respondents who worked from home during the pandemic in South Korea. A total of 1,093 valid responses were used for data analysis. Structural equation modeling was used as a multivariate data analysis method to simultaneously estimate multiple and interrelated relationships. The results showed that indoor noise disturbance significantly affected annoyance and work performance. Annoyance with indoor noise affected job satisfaction. Job satisfaction was found to have a significant impact on work performance, particularly on two dimensions of the work performance that are crucial for achieving organizations' goals. Moreover, one dimension of the work performance had a significant impact on annoyance. The study proposed that reducing negative perception of indoor noise and improvement of job satisfaction can lead to the maximization of one's work performance when working from home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]