Inflammation

SAN FRANCISCO — An intracameral travoprost implant reduced IOP for up to 9 months in preliminary results from a phase 1 study, according to a speaker here.

KOLOA, Hawaii — At Hawaiian Eye 2020, Ashley Brissette, MD, MSc, FRCSC, discusses the importance of testing for inflammation and dry eye before performing cataract surgery.

Sustained blood sugar elevations were linked to an increased risk for cognitive decline in older adults, according to results of a population-based study published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Researchers also found that the hormone adiponectin was likely a risk factor for cognitive decline in older adults without abdominal obesity.

Future cardiovascular risk among adult patients with depression may be identifiable early using combined data on metabolic syndrome and inflammation, according to results of a population-based cohort study published in JAMA Psychiatry. Researchers used this data to determine that one-third of the association of depression with elevated arterial stiffness index levels during midlife may be accounted for by combined inflammatory and metabolic syndrome processes.

This was an odd decade — uneven and erratic for the biggest killer and contributor to poor quality of life in the United States, CVD; yet, celebratory and euphoric in other areas of medicine.

KOLOA, Hawaii — Surgeons can ease the burden of managing inflammation in their postoperative cataract patients by using FDA-approved sustained release steroids, Cynthia A. Matossian, MD, FACS, said at Hawaiian Eye 2020.

Lipid oxidation rate — an indicator of “metabolic flexibility” — may be greater among women with normal weight vs. women with overweight or obesity during pregnancy, according to findings published in Metabolism. In addition, insulin resistance and inflammation may be influenced by this flexibility.

KOLOA, Hawaii — As interest in orthobiologics continues to grow, Matthew T. Provencher, MD, noted in a Facebook Live event hosted at Orthopedics Today Hawaii that orthopedists need to be cognizant of the exact definition of orthobiologics and where it fits within the specialty.

Akero Therapeutics announced that it has completed enrollment for a phase 2a study of AKR-001, the company’s FGF21 analog candidate for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, according to a press release.

The “no rub, no cone” theory states that excessive eye rubbing is a necessary ingredient in the genesis of keratoconus, which is considered a traumatic condition. Current dogma states that keratoconus is a multifactorial condition whose mechanisms remain to be elucidated, and eye rubbing is considered as a simple risk factor. This is a major mistake from my point of view and an example of confusion between correlation and cause, although usually confusion occurs in the other direction (correlated factors are confused with causal mechanisms). It is important to reinterpret the medical literature and realize that repeated eye rubbing episodes exerted on the cornea, which precede by months or years the discovery of keratoconus, can inflict tissue trauma that alone can cause the corneal deformation and thinning characteristic of the disease.