The effectiveness and uses of chitosan nanoparticles (CNPs) in drug delivery systems are examined in this work. Important results include the improved drug encapsulating efficiency: CNPs showed up to 90% encapsulation for different therapeutic agents. Furthermore, the research shows that CNPs provide extended-release patterns, greatly enhancing medication bioavailability especially for hydrophobic compounds. One interesting outcome was the greater drug stability in acidic surroundings, which are common in the stomach, where CNPs turn into a gel and later inflate in the intestine where the drug is released. Moreover, CNPs showed a 2–3-fold improvement in the absorption of encapsulated pharmaceuticals relative to traditional formulations, therefore indicating their capacity to overcome the problems of low oral bioavailability. These nanoparticles’ pH-sensitive character produced a 50–70% increase in drug release at certain pH values, hence maximizing therapeutic results. Significantly less systemic toxicity was seen in the in vivo tests, and at therapeutic dosages there were no noted side effects. Histological study confirmed the biocompatibility and non-toxicity of CNPs, therefore attesting their fit for long-term usage. These results highlight the great potential of CNPs in providing effective, focused, continuous drug release, hence improving therapeutic effectiveness and patient compliance.

Digital device usage has increased significantly in last decade among all age groups, both for educational and recreational purposes. Computer vision syndrome (CVS), also known as digital eye strain (DES), represents a range of ocular, musculoskeletal, and behavioral conditions caused by prolonged use of devices with digital screens. This paper reviews the principal environmental, ocular, and musculoskeletal causes for this condition. Due to the high prevalence of DES and frequent usage of digital devices, it is important that eye care practitioners be able to provide advice and management options based on quality research evidence.

This is a literature review of 31 case series of endogenous endophthalmitis (EE) published in the last ten years, identified from a literature search of several databases (PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library). While diabetes mellitus and malignancies remain the most frequently associated medical conditions, intravenous drug use is a significant risk factor (especially in the last years, in studies from Western countries). Ophthalmologic screening is recommended for candidaemia, but not in patients with sepsis of other aetiologies (however, the physician treating patients with sepsis must be well aware of EE). The most frequent Gram-positive microorganisms that cause EE are Staphylococcus and Streptococcus; the most frequent Gram-negative organism is Pseudomonas, and yeasts, probably Candida, usually cause fungal infections. In all-cause EE, prognostic factors of better visual outcomes are initial VA better than counting fingers, performing a pars plana vitrectomy (PPV), performing an intravitreal injection within the first 24 hours after clinical diagnosis, and the presence of a focal type of EE. In endogenous fungal endophthalmitis, more than 1/4 of patients have bilateral involvement. Blood samples have a low rate of positivity. Yeasts remain the most prevalent cause. Many authors report using azoles and echinocandins for systemic therapy (and voriconazole for intravitreal injections). Although PPV was performed in small proportions of eyes, the anatomical success rate is quite high. Klebsiella pneumoniae is an important cause of EE in Southeast Asia (and probably an emergent etiology in other regions), which is frequently associated with diabetes. There is a robust association with pyogenic liver abscess (PLA) (but in up to half of the cases, the diagnosis of EE precedes that of PLA). Blood cultures have a high diagnostic yield, while vitreous samples have a low yield. K. pneumoniae may carry antibiotic resistance. Anatomical and functional success rates are small, but they may be improved with PPV.

Background: Having several applications in medicine, and in ophthalmology in particular, artificial intelligence (AI) tools have been used to detect visual function deficits, thus playing a key role in diagnosing eye diseases and in predicting the evolution of these common and disabling diseases. AI tools, i.e., artificial neural networks (ANNs), are progressively involved in detecting and customized control of ophthalmic diseases. The studies that refer to the efficiency of AI in medicine and especially in ophthalmology were analyzed in this review. Materials and Methods: We conducted a comprehensive review in order to collect all accounts published between 2015 and 2022 that refer to these applications of AI in medicine and especially in ophthalmology. Neural networks have a major role in establishing the demand to initiate preliminary anti-glaucoma therapy to stop the advance of the disease. Results: Different surveys in the literature review show the remarkable benefit of these AI tools in ophthalmology in evaluating the visual field, optic nerve, and retinal nerve fiber layer, thus ensuring a higher precision in detecting advances in glaucoma and retinal shifts in diabetes. We thus identified 1762 applications of artificial intelligence in ophthalmology: review articles and research articles (301 pub med, 144 scopus, 445 web of science, 872 science direct). Of these, we analyzed 70 articles and review papers (diabetic retinopathy (N = 24), glaucoma (N = 24), DMLV (N = 15), other pathologies (N = 7)) after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Conclusion: In medicine, AI tools are used in surgery, radiology, gynecology, oncology, etc., in making a diagnosis, predicting the evolution of a disease, and assessing the prognosis in patients with oncological pathologies. In ophthalmology, AI potentially increases the patient’s access to screening/clinical diagnosis and decreases healthcare costs, mainly when there is a high risk of disease or communities face financial shortages. AI/DL (deep learning) algorithms using both OCT and FO images will change image analysis techniques and methodologies. Optimizing these (combined) technologies will accelerate progress in this area.

Wearable devices (wearables) have recently gained significant traction and are predicted to dominate many areas of research over the next 5 years. Many wearables contain a host of sensors that feedback vital bodily parameters to a central system. Although many artificial sensors exist, the biggest challenge to medical wearables is to interface and harness the “big data” set from the human bodies own complex sensor network to better allow early diagnosis and/or treatment and prevention of diseases that have a huge economic burden on society such as type II diabetes. Cybernetics and medicine are joining their forces to overcome the new challenges in developing smarter, more intuitive and smaller sensors that interface with the human sensory system. This review is focused on the interface of devices to ion‐mediated transduction pathways both through G‐Coupled Protein Receptors and direct or mechanically transduced ion pathways.

Purpose: To compare 3‐year iontophoretic corneal collagen cross‐linking (I‐CXL) outcomes with epithelium‐off corneal collagen cross‐linking (epi‐off CXL) for early stage of progressive keratoconus.Methods: Eighty eyes of 80 patients with early progressive keratoconus treated by I‐CXL (n = 40) or epi‐off CXL (n = 40) were included in this study. Uncorrected (UDVA) and corrected (CDVA) distance visual acuities, refraction, corneal topography and pachymetry were assessed at baseline and at 1, 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months of follow‐up.Results: Visual acuity (VA) showed a significant improvement (p < 0.05) at the end of follow‐up in both groups. In the I‐CXL group, the UDVA showed a rapid recovery after 3 months (p = 0.04). There was a statistically significant different trend in CDVA between groups with a more favourable outcome for the standard CXL group (p < 0.01). The cylinder improved beginning with 3 months after CXL in both groups. Maximum keratometry showed a significant reduction by 0.9 dioptres (D) in the I‐CXL group and by 1.2 D in the epi‐off CXL group after 36 months (p = 0.283). Pachymetry values decreased at 3 months while a statistically significant increase occurred in both groups at 24 months. Progression occurred to one patient (2.5%) in I‐CXL group. Adverse effects occurred to eight eyes (20%) in the epi‐off CXL group.Conclusion: Iontophoretic corneal collagen cross‐linking (I‐CXL) is non‐inferior to epi‐off CXL for stopping the progression of keratoconus in its early stages with a higher degree of safety for the patients and a faster recovery of VA.