Background: Understanding how individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) learn is important for developing and implementing effective educational and behavioral interventions. Evidence suggests that individuals with ASD are relatively stronger in certain areas of perception (Simmons et al., 2009; Dakin and Frith, 2005); it therefore cannot be assumed that individuals with ASD learn using the same rules and strategies as neurotypicals (NT). Of particular interest, perceptual learning (PL) is a class of learning that is based upon changes induced by the repeated exposure and response to specific types of perceptual information. Such learning often includes feedback, indicating whether or not a response was correct during a trial within a PL task. The objectives of this study were to perform a pilot investigation of; (I) perceptual learning in adults with and without ASD using a low-level orientation discrimination task; and (II) the influence of feedback on accuracy in this task.

Methods: Eleven adults with ASD and fifteen NT adults, matched on Wechsler full-scale IQ and age (18–31 years), performed a low-level PL task. They were asked to indicate whether a grating was tilted to the left (i.e., counter-clockwise) or to the right (i.e., clockwise) relative to an oblique 45-degree reference orientation. Thresholds, defined by the minimal deviation in degrees needed to discriminate tilt orientation, were measured for each participant every 15 minutes, with each block consisting of 420 trials. To assess baseline performance, all participants completed a first block with no feedback. Participants were then randomly assigned to either feedback (NASD =6, NTD =8) or no feedback groups (NASD =5, NTD =7) and completed six subsequent testing blocks.

Results: PL was defined as the percent change in orientation discrimination threshold in each of the six testing blocks relative to baseline performance. No significant increase was found in performance as a function of testing block for any group; PL was therefore not evidenced under the conditions tested. ASD performance remained equal to that of baseline across testing blocks, whether or not trial-by-trial feedback was present. In contrast, NT performance was significantly increased when feedback was present.

Conclusions: NT individuals significantly benefited from feedback, while individuals with ASD did not. These results provide preliminary evidence for a divergent learning style in ASD and NT individuals. These pilot findings raise important questions regarding the impact of feedback during interventions, and at a more basic level, the atypical underlying perceptual and cognitive processes in individuals with ASD.

Background: The oxygen induced retinopathy rodent model is widely used, notably for the assessment of developmental dystrophies in preclinical studies of vascular retinal diseases. Typically, the quantification of vessel tufts and avascular regions is computed manually from flat mounted retinas imaged using fluorescent probes that highlight the vascular network. However, such manual measurements are time-consuming and hampered by user variability and bias, thus a rapid and objective alternative is required.

Methods: We employ a machine learning approach to segment and characterize vascular tufts. The proposed quantitative retinal vascular assessment (QuRVA) technique uses quadratic discrimination analysis and morphological techniques to provide reliable measurements of vascular density and pathological vascular tuft regions, devoid of user intervention within seconds. Our algorithms allow also delineating the whole vasculature network, and identifying and analyzing avascular regions.

Results: Our first experiment shows the high degree of error and variability of manual segmentations. In consequence, we developed a set of algorithms to perform this task automatically. We benchmark and validate the results of our analysis pipeline using the consensus of several manually curated segmentations using commonly used computer tools. We describe the method, provide details for reproducing the algorithm, and validate all aspects of the analysis.

Conclusions: Manual and semi-automated procedures for tuft detection present strong fluctuations among users, demonstrating the need for fast and unbiased tools in this highly active research field with tremendous implications for basic research and industry.

Abstract: Pediatric neuro-ophthalmology is a subspecialty within neuro-ophthalmology. Pediatric neuro-ophthalmic diseases must be considered separate from their adult counterparts, due to the distinctive nature of the examination, clinical presentations, and management choices. This manuscript will highlight four common pediatric neuro-ophthalmic disorders by describing common clinical presentations, recommended management, and highlighting recent developments. Diseases discussed include pediatric idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH), pseudopapilledema, optic neuritis (ON) and optic pathway gliomas (OPG). The demographics, diagnosis and management of common pediatric neuro-ophthalmic disease require a working knowledge of the current research presented herein. Special attention should be placed on the differences between pediatric and adult entities such that children can be appropriately diagnosed and treated.

Abstract: Complications of myopia have become an important public health issue with serious socio-economic burdens. Prevention and treatment are both important. The Taiwan Student Vision Care Program (TSVCP) promoted by Ministry of Education (MOE) has been carried out for 3 decades in Taiwan. The myopia prevalence has increased rapidly to a high level and therefore myopia prevention has continued to be the most important item in the program. Therefore, TSVCP aims to decrease the prevalence of myopia, in order to decrease the high myopia related blindness in the future. Recently, outdoor activity has been found to be an important protective factor for myopia and was implemented in TSVCP since 2010. Afterwards, the nationwide vision impairment rate (uncorrected vision 20/25 or less) of elementary school students declined unprecedentedly and continuously in recent years. Evidence-based protective and risk factors for myopia are now clearer. Widespread acknowledgement of myopic disease, preventing the onset of myopia, prompt diagnosis, and early treatment to control progression are all important.

Abstract: Corneal blindness represents one of the world’s three major causes of blindness, and the fundamental problem of corneal transplantation is a severe shortage of donor tissues worldwide, resulting in approximately 1.5 million new cases of blindness annually. To address the growing need for corneal transplants two main approaches are being pursued: allogenic and bioengineering cornea. Bioengineering corneas are constructed by naturally generating an extracellular matrix (ECM) component as the scaffold structure with or without corneal cells. It is well established that the scaffold structure directs the fate of cells, therefore, the fabrication of the correct scaffold structure components could produce an ideal corneal substitute, able to mimic the native corneal function. Another key factor in the construction of tissue engineering cornea is seed cells. However, unlike the epithelium and stroma cells, human cornea endothelium cells (HCECs) are notorious for having a limited proliferative capacity in vivo because of the mitotic block at the G1 phase of the cell cycle due to “contact-inhibition”. This review will focus on the main concepts of recent progress towards the scaffold and seed cells, especially endothelial cells for bioengineering cornea, along with future perspectives.

Abstract: The biological mechanisms of eye growth and refractive development are increasingly well characterised, a result of many careful studies that have been carried out over many years. As the outer coat of the eye, the sclera has the ultimate impact on the restraint or facilitation of eye growth, thus any changes in its biochemistry, ultrastructure, gross morphology and/or biomechanical properties are critical in refractive error development and, in particular, the development of myopia. The current review briefly revisits our basic understanding of the structure and biomechanics of the sclera and how these are regulated and modified during eye growth and myopia development. The review then applies this knowledge in considering recent advances in our understanding of how the mechanisms of scleral remodelling may be manipulated or controlled, in order to constrain eye growth and limit the development of myopia, in particular the higher degrees of myopia that lead to vision loss and blindness. In doing so, the review specifically considers recent approaches to the strengthening of the sclera, through collagen cross-linking, scleral transplantation, implantation or injection of biomaterials, or the direct therapeutic targeting and manipulation of the biochemical mechanisms known to be involved in myopia development. These latest approaches to the control of scleral changes in myopia are, where possible, placed in the context of our understanding of scleral biology, in order to bring a more complete understanding of current and future therapeutic interventions in myopia, and their consequences.

Abstract: Cornea serves as the partial front barrier and major light reflection organ of the eye. The integrity of corneal surface is essential for ocular function. Injuries or congenital diseases could significantly destruct the homeostasis of the ocular surface, especially the microenvironment of limbal epithelial stem cells (LESCs), and will eventually cause dysfunction of corneal regeneration and diminish of LESCs. The loss of LESCs by different reasons are named limbal stem cell deficiency (LSCD), which is one of the leading cause of vision loss worldwide. To restore the corneal surface, LESC transplantation in the form of tissue or cell cultures is currently a viable and promising method to treat LSCD. In this review, we aim to introduce the characters and niche of LESCs, and discuss different aspects of its application in cornea surface reconstruction.

Keywords: Diabetic macular edema (DME); diabetic macular oedema (DMO); anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF); laser photocoagulation; randomised clinical trials (RCTs); retina; diabetic retinopathy