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Background/Aims: To determine the clinical features, predisposing factors, and management of infectious keratitis caused by Candida spp. Methods: Retrospective chart review. Results: The medical records of 52 patients (54 eyes) with Candida keratitis were available for statistical analysis. Thinning of the corneal stroma was identified in 34 eyes (63.0%), and corneal perforation occurred in 16 eyes (29.6%). Corneal thinning and perforation were more common in Candida albicans compared with non-albicans (P-val <.001, P =.09, respectively). The most common predisposing factors for Candida keratitis were topical steroid use (21 patients, 40.4%), previous corneal transplantation (17 patients, 32.7%), and preexisting ocular surface disease (15 patients, 28.8%). Fourteen eyes (25.9%) required cyanoacrylate glue application and 10 eyes (18.5%) underwent therapeutic penetrating keratoplasty (TPK). Conclusion: Local immunosuppression and ocular surface disease play an important role in Candida keratitis. C. albicans appears to be more invasive compared with non-albicans spp. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of predicting global crude oil prices is well recognized in academic circles. The notion of hybrid modeling suggests that the integration of several methodologies has the potential to optimize advantages while reducing limitations. Consequently, hybrid techniques are extensively used in contemporary research. In this paper, a novel decompose-ensemble prediction approach is proposed by integrating various optimization algorithms, namely biography-based optimization (BBO), backtracking search algorithm (BSA), teaching-learning-based algorithm (TLBO), cuckoo optimization algorithm (COA), multi-verse optimization (MVO), and multilayer perceptron (MLP). Furthermore, the aforementioned approaches, namely BBO-MLP, BSA-MLP, and TLBO-MLP, include the de-compose-ensemble technique into the individual artificial intelligence model in order to enhance the accuracy of predictions. In order to validate the findings, the forecast is conducted using the authoritative data on oil prices. This study will use three primary indicators, including EMA 20, EMA 60, EMA 100, ROC, and AUC assessments, to assess and evaluate the efficacy of the five methodologies under investigation. The below findings are derived from the conducted research: Based on the achieved AUC values of 0.9567 and 0.9429, it can be concluded that using a multi-verse optimization technique is considered the most suitable strategy for effectively handling the dataset pertaining to crude oil revenue. The next four approaches likewise have a significant AUC value, surpassing 0.8. The AUC values for the BBO- MLP, BSA-MLP, TLBO-MLP, and COA-MLP approaches were obtained as follows: (0.874 and 0.792) for training and testing stages, (0.809 and 0.792) for training and testing stages, (0.9353 and 0.9237) for training and testing stages, and (0.9092 and 0.8927) for training and testing stages, respectively. This model has the potential to contribute to the resolution of default probability and is very valuable to the credit card industry. Broadly speaking, this novel forecasting approach serves as a notable predictor of crude oil prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Keratoconjunctivitis is one of the most common pathologies worldwide, caused by several infectious and noninfectious factors. This study aimed to determine the effect of povidone-iodine 2% eye drops in treating adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis. METHODS: This analytic cross-sectional study was conducted on patients referred to Farabi Eye Hospital Records of patients with adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis, more than 12 years of age, and no allergy to iodine who were treated by povidone-iodine 2% eye drops four times a day were assessed. Data included demographic characteristics, family history of adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis, follicular conjunctivitis, petechial conjunctival hemorrhages, periauricular lymphadenopathy, and the presence of conjunctival pseudomembrane were collected from the records. Discharge decrease, injection decrease, swelling decrease, pseudomembrane formation, periauricular lymphadenopathy, and subepithelial infiltration on the 7th day of assessment by physical examination were reported. RESULTS: Patients with a mean (±standard deviation) age of 33.77 (11.01) years were assessed. At the baseline, 95 (99.0%) follicular conjunctivitis, 94 (97.9%) petechial conjunctival hemorrhages, 29 (30.2%) periauricular lymphadenopathy, and 5 (5.2%) conjunctival pseudomembrane were recorded. On the 7th day of treatment, the discharge decreased in 92.7% of patients, and the injection decreased in 90.6%. The swelling decrease was also detected in 79.2% of patients. Subepithelial infiltration was only seen in 21.9% of the study population. Results showed that 2.1% of patients had periauricular lymphadenopathy, and only 13 out of 96 patients (13.5%) had pseudomembrane formation after 7 days. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the safety, availability, and tolerability of povidone-iodine and its promising effects on patients with adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis, further clinical trials assessing the impact of this drug in a longer duration of follow-up can be recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to determine the most accurate formula for intraocular lens (IOL) power calculation among five currently used formulas in eyes with phacomorphic glaucoma (PG) undergoing cataract extraction surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective interventional case series Patients diagnosed with PG were undergone uneventful phacoemulsification and IOL implantation. After 3 months, the refractive outcome for each formula was evaluated with mean prediction error (PE), mean absolute error (MAE), and the percentages of eyes within 0.25 D and 0.5 D of predicted error. RESULTS: Twenty-three patients completed the study. PEs were significantly different among the 5 formulas (P = 0.019), and Holladay I had the least error (-0.02 ± 1.11). Haigis formula had the highest hyperopic shift (0.37 ± 1.22), highest MAE (0.99 ± 0.78) and the lowest percentages of desired PEs, while the SRK II produced the greatest percentages. The overall differences in MAE between the 5 formulas were statistically insignificant (P = 0.547). CONCLUSION: In some extreme situations like patients with PG, lower generation of IOL power calculation formulas may still produce more acceptable refractive outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]