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(1) To investigate the functional and anatomical outcomes of anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (anti-VEGF) treatment in patients with exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD) with or without obstructive sleep apnea (OSA); (2) In total, 65 patients with AMD with or without OSA who received three consecutive doses of intravitreal anti-VEGF injections were enrolled. The primary outcomes—best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central macular thickness (CMT)—were assessed at 1 and 3 months. Moreover, morphological changes observed through optical coherence tomography were analyzed; (3) In total, 15 of the 65 patients had OSA and were included in the OSA group; the remaining 50 patients were included in the non-OSA (control) group. At 1 and 3 months after treatment, BCVA and CMT had improved but did not differ significantly between the groups. More patients in the OSA group demonstrated subretinal fluid (SRF) resorption at 3 months after treatment than in the non-OSA group (p = 0.009). Changes in other imaging biomarkers, such as intraretinal cysts, retinal pigment epithelium detachment, hyperreflective dots, and ellipsoid zone disruptions, did not differ significantly between the groups; (4) Our results suggest that the BCVA and CMT outcomes 3 months after anti-VEGF treatment are similar between patients with and without OSA. Moreover, patients with OSA may exhibit superior SRF resorption. A large-scale prospective study is mandatory to evaluate the association between SRF resorption and visual outcomes in AMD patients with OSA.

Background/Objectives The purpose of this study was to present an association between the treatment response of diabetic macular edema (DME) to intravitreal ranibizumab (IVR) injections and different morphology patterns using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). Subjects/Methods This retrospective study included 216 eyes of 142 subjects who received IVR for DME and were observed for at least 2 years. Medical charts and SD-OCT images of consecutive patients were reviewed at baseline, 1, 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after first IVR treatment. The OCT patterns were characterized as diffuse retinal thickening (DRT), cystoid macular edema (CME), serous retinal detachment (SRD), and vitreomacular interface abnormalities (VMIAs). All patients were classified into four groups based on the OCT findings. Results For a total of 216 eyes, 36 eyes were classified into the DRT group, 76 in the CME group, 42 in the SRD group, and 62 in the VMIA group. There were significant central macula thickness (CMT) improvements in all groups at the 1st month and the 2nd year, except for the DRT group at the 2nd year. Patients with OCT findings of hyperreflective dots (HRDs), metabolic parameters of hyperlipidemia, and coronary artery disease (CAD) had significantly less improvements in CMT at 2-year follow-up (P=0.029, 0.007

Obesity contributes to multiple systemic disorders, however, extensive discussion regarding obesity and open-angle glaucoma (OAG) remains limited, and conclusions in the existing literature diverge. This study aims to analyze the risk of OAG among obese adults in Taiwan. In this study, adults (aged ≥18 years) with a diagnostic code of obesity or morbid obesity registered in the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database (LHID) 2000 and LHID2005 from 1 January 2001 to 31 December 2010 were included. All adults were traced until the diagnosis of OAG, the occurrence of death, or 31 December 2013. Risk of OAG was significantly higher in obese adults than in non-obese adults after multivariable adjustment (adjusted hazard ratio (aHR): 1.43 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.11–1.84)/aHR: 1.54 (95% CI 1.23–1.94) in the LHID2000/LHID2005). Both databases demonstrated that young obese adults (aged ≤40 years) had a remarkably increased risk of OAG compared with young non-obese adults (aHR 3.08 (95% CI 1.82–5.21)/aHR 3.81 (95% CI 2.26–6.42) in the LHID2000/LHID2005). This two-database matched-cohort study suggests that obese adults have an increased risk of OAG. In young adults, in particular, obesity could be a potential risk factor of OAG.

This study aims to optimize angular placements of the LEDs with novel cone-shaped caps for achieving high optical efficiency in an ultra-thin, directly-lit RGB LED backlight unit (BLU) for large-sized LCD-TVs. This novel lens cap is used as a diffuser with the purpose to gain higher efficiency and provide satisfactory uniformity over a display panel. To this aim, the outer surface of the novel lens is coated with aluminum for mirroring effects to reflect most of the LED emitted light horizontally and then reflect the light at the BLU boundaries, finally to the output plane. Since the emitted white light from LEDs result from color-mixing of three individual RGB chips in a LED package, the addition of the LED cap however deteriorates the aforementioned expected color mixing. The optimal design on angular placements of LEDs presented in this study for satisfactory color-mixing and emission uniformity is achieved by necessary optics simulations via TracePro, followed by utilizing an intelligent numerical optimization technique, genetic algorithm (GA). The design parameters for GA optimization are different combinations of LED placement angles in a backlight module. Favorable color balance is shown achievable in terms of high low color difference resulted. Finally, experiments are conducted, which successfully validate the expected performance of color balance and emission uniformity for a novel cone-shaped LED lens with optimized angular placements in a large-area backlight module.

This study presents a battery fast-charging mechanism for an intelligent generic photovoltaic (PV) system and also a pulse-charging method for the on-line temperature compensation. The fuzzy logic control (FLC) is adopted for fast maximum power point tracking (MPPT) of the PV system. Along with proposed battery charging algorithms, the controller presented in this study is named a fuzzy battery-managing controller (FBMC). The fast battery charging by this controller does not only prolong battery lifetime by restoring the maximum battery state of charge (SOC) in the shortest time but also with the temperature compensation. The designed charging algorithm consists of three different stages, namely constant current (CC), pulse charging and trickle charging. In the CC mode, the current at maximum power of the PV array is used for fast charging. The pulse charging mode is next adopted to contain temperature rise while maintaining relatively fast charging speed. To prevent battery damage by charging as battery capacity is close to its full status, 100 % SOC, the float charging mode is finally activated by further decreasing charging currents. Simulations are conducted via Powersim to validate the FBMC performance and the PV system model. The FBMC is next implemented by a DSP module (TMS320F2812) in order to adjust the switching duty cycle during operations of the buck converter. Finally, experimental results were compared with a general constant current and/or voltage method. The results show favorable performance of the propose charging method.