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129 EW IN OTHER NEWS October 2018 higher number of risk factors for possibly developing anterior capsu- lar contraction syndrome. Reference Hartman M, et al. Evaluation of anterior capsular contraction syndrome after cataract surgery with commonly used intraocular lens- es. Clin Ophthalmol. 2018;12:1399–1403. New method of microdose drug delivery shows success In a proof-of-concept study, a new method of latanoprost delivery by Eyenovia (New York) showed not only IOP-lowering ability but ease of patient usability. Using a pat- ented piezo-print technology, the microdose of latanoprost 0.005% was delivered once daily in the form of a spray, not the more typical eye dropper patients may be familiar with. After what the company de- scribed in a press release as limited training with the drug applicator, patients were 88% successful in lat- anoprost administration, with each administration being within 1 µL of the prescribed dose. The diurnal IOP reduction in study participants with one microdose of the drug daily was 29% from a baseline of unmedicated IOP. "Conventional eye drops may overdose the eye's tear film capacity by as much as 300%, causing signifi- cant ocular and systemic side effects leading to hyperemia, sunken globe (peri-orbitopathy), pharmacologic dermatitis and bradycardia, and ultimately the poor compliance that plagues almost all front-of-the-eye treatments," Louis Pasquale, MD, professor of ophthalmology, Har- vard Medical School, Boston, said in the company's press release. "Micro- dosing has the potential to address all those problems by providing physiologic high-precision dosing to the eye that stays in the eye." The company is moving toward Phase 3 trials with this technology's applications in progressive myopia, chronic angle closure glaucoma, and mydriasis. EW rate—75% in the failed graft group compared to 19% in the group with a successful graft. Of the eyes that had success with the DMEK proce- dure, 37.5% had femtosecond laser- enabled DMEK; none of the eyes in the group that failed had femtosec- ond laser assistance, according to the researchers. With these findings, the researchers concluded, "DMEK failure after PKP might be associat- ed with lower visual acuity before DMEK surgery, higher number of rebubble interventions, and manual descemetorhexis rather than femto- second laser-enabled DMEK." Reference Einan-Lifshitz A, et al. Descemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty after penetrating keratoplasty: features for success. Cornea. 2018;37:1093–1097. Comparing anterior capsular contraction syndrome between two IOLs The rate of anterior capsular con- traction syndrome was compared between two commonly used hydrophobic acrylic IOLs. Published in the journal Clinical Ophthalmol- ogy, Hartman et al. compared the Tecnis ZCB00 (Johnson & Johnson Vision, Santa Ana, California) and the AcrySof SN60WF (Alcon, Fort Worth, Texas). The study included 1,047 eyes of 811 patients who re- ceived either the ZCB00 or SN60WF with surgery by the same surgeon. The researchers found that anterior capsular contraction syndrome was more frequent in those who received the SN60WF IOL, even though the group receiving the ZCB00 had a of these lipids to maintain clear vision was recently discovered and published in the Journal of Lipid Research. The researchers from Queensland University of Technolo- gy, Brisbane, Australia, are working with Allergan (Dublin, Ireland) on incorporating a synthetic version of these lipid structures into drops to treat dry eye. "This type of work provides a framework to produce a product that mimics, and is based on, the actual components that are present in human tears," Stephen Blanksby, PhD, Queensland Uni- versity of Technology, said in a press release. Reference Hancock SE, et al. Mass spectrometry-direct- ed structure elucidation and total synthesis of ultra-long chain (O-acyl)-omega-hydroxy fatty acids. J Lipid Res. 2018;59:1510–1518. DMEK after PKP Research published in Cornea evaluated Descemet's membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) after penetrating keratoplasty (PKP), identifying factors that could be associated with DMEK success after PKP failure. Twenty-eight eyes that had failed PKP followed by DMEK were included in the retrospective analysis. Einan-Lifshitz et al. found that 43% had rebubbling within the first few weeks postop. Forty-three percent were regrafted after DMEK and experienced secondary failures. According to the research, best corrected visual acuity before DMEK was worse in the eyes that expe- rienced DMEK failure. This group experienced a higher rebubbling How "toxic" blue light from screens leads to a blinding disease Researchers from the University of Toledo, Ohio, discovered that the blue light from digital devices, and the sun for that matter, can cause macular degeneration to develop. "We are being exposed to blue light continuously, and the eye's cornea and lens cannot block or reflect it," Ajith Karunarathne, PhD, Depart- ment of Chemistry and Biochemis- try, University of Toledo, said in a press release. "It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop." Dr. Karunarathne and fellow researchers determined, using live cell imaging and optogenetic signaling control, that blue light causes chemical reactions that affect specific cellular structures, leading to cell death, according to the paper published in Scientific Reports. "You need a continuous supply of retinal mol- ecules if you want to see," Kasun Ratnayake, a doctoral candidate, University of Toledo, said in a state- ment. "Photo receptors are useless without retinal, which is produced in the eye." Ratnayake et al. found that blue light results in a "toxic" reaction with retinal. "If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dis- solves," Dr. Ratnayake continued. The researchers hope that their work can someday help lead to therapies that slow macular degeneration, but for now they recommend wearing UV and blue light-filtering glasses when outside and when looking at screens. Reference Ratnayake K, et al. Blue light excited retinal intercepts cellular signaling. Sci Rep. 2018;8:10207. New research could improve quality of drops for dry eye The importance of the lipid layer in tear film to prevent evaporation is well known, but the structure News in brief

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