Purpose.: It has been hypothesized that the macular carotenoids protect against age-related macular degeneration (AMD). In this study, the association between serum concentrations of carotenoids and the presence of AMD was evaluated in a case–control sample of elderly Chinese subjects. Methods.: Two hundred sixty-three individuals aged between 50 and 88 years enrolled in the study. Subjects included 82 cases with exudative AMD, 92 cases with early AMD, and 89 control individuals. Serum carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin, lycopene, α- and β-carotenes, and β-cryptoxanthin) and retinol were measured with reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Results.: Serum levels of carotenoids and retinol were significantly lower in the cases with exudative AMD than in the controls. Median levels of lutein and zeaxanthin were 0.538 and 0.101 μM, respectively, in the control subjects, and 0.488 and 0.076 μM, respectively, in cases with exudative AMD. After adjustment for age, sex, smoking status, and body mass index (BMI), a significant inverse association was observed for exudative AMD with serum zeaxanthin (relative risk ratio [RRR], 0.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0–0.35), lycopene (RRR, 0.22; 95% CI, 0.1–0.48), and α-carotene (RRR, 0.24; 95% CI, 0.12–0.51). Early AMD was inversely associated only with lycopene (RRR, 0.49; 95% CI, 0.28–0.86) but was positively associated with α-carotene (RRR, 2.22; 95% CI, 1.37–3.58). No significant associations were observed between serum lutein and cases with early or exudative AMD. Conclusions.: The data suggest that higher levels of serum carotenoids, in particular zeaxanthin and lycopene, are associated with a lower likelihood of having exudative AMD. Serum levels of carotenoids were relatively higher in this Chinese cohort than in samples of other ethnicities in previous reports.

Purpose: To report surgical outcomes of 25-gauge pars plana vitrectomy using air as an internal tamponade for patients with primary rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD). Methods: A retrospective clinical study of 59 eyes of 59 consecutive patients presented with primary RRD at the Beijing Tongren Eye Center in China. From August 2016 to May 2018, medical records of the patients who underwent 25-gauge pars plana vitrectomy with air tamponade for RRD were reviewed. The main outcome measures were primary and final anatomical success (retinal re-attachment) rates, and postoperative complications. Results: Of the 59 patients, aged 54.47 ± 11.81 years, 31 (52.5%) were men. Vitrectomy was performed 3 to 40 (averaged 16.98 ± 10.17) days after the onset of symptoms, and the mean follow-up period was 12.90 ± 5.92 months (ranging 6.07–26.10 months). Forty-two eyes (71.2%) had RRD with retinal breaks in the superior half of the retina, and the mean number of retinal breaks was 1.75 ± 0.94. Three eyes (5.1%) had RRD with giant retinal tears. Of the 59 eyes, 35 (59.3%) had RRD with inferior quadrants involved. Proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR) gradings were C1 in 2 (3.4%) eyes and B or below in 57 (96.6%) eyes. The primary and final anatomical success rates were 94.9% (56/59) and 98.3% (58/59), respectively. Of the three eyes which developed re-detachment of the retina, one eye had postoperative progression of PVR and two eyes were RRD associated with macular hole in high myopia. Postoperative complications included 5 eyes (8.5%) with serous choroidal detachment within 3 days after surgery and 4 eyes (6.8%) with macular epiretinal membrane formation 1 to 8 months after surgery. Secondary cataract surgery was performed in 13 of the 53 phakic eyes (24.5%) during follow-up. Conclusion: Small-gauge pars plana vitrectomy with air tamponade may be effective in treating selected cases of relatively simple primary RRD. Additional studies are needed to verify the efficacy of this surgical approach for more complicated cases such as those with giant retinal tears.

Variants in complement factor H (CFH), the hypothetical LOC387715, and the high-temperature requirement A-1 (HTRA1) genes have been reported to be associated with age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The purpose of this study was to investigate the association of reported common single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in CFH, LOC387715, and HTRA1 with exudative AMD in a northern Chinese population. A cohort of 121 unrelated patients with exudative AMD and 132 control subjects were enrolled in this study. Genomic DNA was extracted from blood leukocytes. Genotyping for SNPs rs1061170:T>C in CFH (Y402H), rs10490924:G>T in LOC387715 (A69S), and rs11200638:G>A in the promoter of HTRA1 was performed using a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method followed by allele-specific restriction enzyme digestion and direct sequencing. The Y402H variant in CFH was not associated with exudative AMD in our study population. Frequencies of Y402H was 10.3% in AMD cases and 8.0% in controls (p=0.353). Significant associations were detected for exudative AMD with SNPs rs10490924:G>T in LOC387715 (A69S), and rs11200638:G>A in the promoter of HTRA1. The risk T-allele frequency of rs10490924 in LOC387715 was 64.9% in cases versus 43.2% in controls (p<0.001). The odds ratio for risk of AMD was 1.56 (95% CI; 0.80–3.03) for the GT genotype and 5.45 (95% CI; 2.59–11.49) for the TT genotype. The A allele frequency of rs11200638 in the HTRA1 promoter was 67.8% in cases versus 42.4% in controls (p<0.001). The odds ratio was 2.75 (95% CI; 1.34–5.64) for the GA genotype and 7.90 (95% CI; 3.61–17.26) for the AA genotype. An odds ratio of 7.94 (95% CI; 3.49–18.04) was obtained for carriers with both TT genotype in LOC387715 and AA genotype in the HTRA1 promoter. Our data suggest that the LOC387715 and HTRA1 polymorphisms are associated with a higher risk of exudative AMD in northern Chinese. We found no association of CFH Y402H with exudative AMD. The low frequency of CFH Y402H variant was further confirmed in this study population.

Objective. Patients with intraocular foreign bodies were retrospectively analyzed. Population characteristics, pathogenic factors, and the outcomes during the past ten years were discussed. Design. Retrospective case series study. Method. Medical records of 1340 patients hospitalized in Beijing Tongren Hospital from January 1, 2004, to December 31, 2013, were collected. Results. Average age was 33.0 ± 13.8 (1–76) years old in 1340 patients. There were more males (1270, 94.8%) than females (70, 5.2%). Patients from outside of Beijing (82.1%, n=1100) prevailed. Farmers (32.1%, n=430) and workers (22.3%, n=299) were the top two affected professions. Leading two causes were splashing of foreign bodies (SFB) (58.6%, n=785) and explosives (31.8%, n=426). More males than females were injured by SFB (59.4% versus 44.3%, P=0.009). Firework injury was the commonest (41.6% versus 3.1%–15.3%, P<0.05) in patients under nine. The annual percentages in patients over 50 increased (P<0.001) and in patients by explosives decreased (P=0.027). Conclusion. Most patients in this study were young males from outside of Beijing and farmers. SFB accounted most for patients over 10 years old and fireworks for those under ten. Patients over 50 increased while those by explosives decreased annually over the period.

To investigate the association between a set of six candidate genes and the risk of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in an urban community cohort of Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A population-based cross-sectional study. The diabetic subjects were recruited from an urban community in Beijing and categorized into groups of proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR), non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR), or diabetic without any retinopathy (DWR) based on the fundus photography and duration of diabetes. Six candidate genes, including advanced glycation end product specific receptor (AGER), aldose reductase (AKR1B1), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), pigment epithelium derived factor (PEDF), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and paraoxonase 1 (PON1), were chosen based on Meta-analysis of genetic association studies for DR and biochemical pathways implicated in DR progression. The allele and genotype distribution of 21 functional single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in those 6 candidate genes were investigated using MassARRAY genotyping system. Among 1461 diabetic patients recruited from community, 569 were selected in following genotyping analysis, including 97 patients with PDR, 217 with NPDR, and 255 with DWR. For the promoter variant rs1051993 in AGER gene, the distribution of allele and genotype in PDR group differed from that in DWR group (allele: P=0.011; genotype: P=0.01). Compared with DWR, patients with PDR had lower frequencies of heterozygous genotype GT (9.8% for DWR, 1% for PDR, OR: 0.10, 95%CI: 0.01-0.72) and minor allele T (4.9% for DWR, 0.5% for PDR, OR: 0.10, 95%CI: 0.01-0.75). In multivariate model, the distribution of genotype for rs1051993 in PDR group was significantly different from that in DWR group (GT vs GG: OR: 0.07, 95%CI: 0.01-0.61, P<0.001). No association with DR was observed in other genotyped SNPs. The data suggest a significant association of the promoter variant rs1051993 in AGER gene with PDR in Chinese cohort with T2DM.