A prospective, multicenter, double-masked study evaluating sustained release dexamethasone for the treatment of allergic conjunctivitis found subjects presented "statistically significant lower ocular itching and conjunctival redness scores than the placebo group" at all times points in the study, developer Ocular Therapeutics (Bedford, Mass.) said in a news release.

OTX-DP met one of the two criteria for treatment success (achieving a mean difference of more than 0.5 units on a 5-points scale at day 14 for both ocular itching and conjunctival redness). The study did not find a 1.0 unit mean difference at the majority of time points in either ocular itching or conjunctival redness.

OTX-DP is placed in the canaliculus and designed to deliver dexamethasone, a steroid, to the ocular surface for about 4 weeks. If approved, OTX-DP will be the first sustained release corticosteroid punctal plug for allergic conjunctivitis. The product is also under evaluation for the treatment of postop inflammation and pain.

Genomic technology has found microbes that commonly infect the eye have special, previously unknown properties. These properties are predicted to allow the bacterium-Streptococcus pneumoniae-to specifically stick to the surface of the eye, grow, and cause damage and inflammation, according to researchers at Massachusetts Eye and Ear/Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology, Boston.

Allergan (Irvine, Calif.) has approved amendments to its bylaws that streamline the process associated with calling a special meeting of stockholders, the company announced. Its board of directors amended the bylaws "to ensure the December 18 Special Meeting of Stockholders ... is focused on the question of value," the company said.

EyePromise (St. Louis) is launching an EZ Tears Dry Eye Challenge as well as an educational campaign that includes a contest, free prizes, and special learning resources to educate the "estimated 40 million Americans who suffer from dry eye without realizing they have the condition or that treatment options to manage symptoms are available," the company announced.

The National Space Biomedical Research Institute (NSBRI) and the Center for Space Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine (Houston) have jointly launched the Vision for Mars Challenge to help identify and advance medical technologies for ocular health in space through collaboration and funding support, the groups announced.

RESEARCH BRIEFS

• Wearable technology with head-mounted displays (Google Glass, Google, Mountain View, Calif.) creates a clinically meaningful visual field obstruction in the upper right quadrant, according to a very small case series. Tsontcho Ianchulev, MD, and colleagues tested three healthy emmetropic individuals with 20/20 best corrected visual acuity using Google Glass for a 60-minute acclimation period. They then underwent 30-2 and 60-4 threshold perimetric testing with the Humphrey Visual Field Analyzer II (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Jena, Germany). Visual field testing demonstrated "significant scotomas" in all three participants while wearing the device, with more than 10 degrees of visual field in the horizontal axis subtended. When compared to images the researchers found online of general consumers using the device, the prism covered the pupillary axis and covered the eye but not the axis in 29.5% each, respectively, and was superior to the limbus in 41%. The researchers concluded 59% would therefore have interference with vision. The series is published in JAMA.
• Malignant glaucoma can occur after phacoemulsification and presents with myopic surprise, anterior chamber shallowing, and possibly elevated intraocular pressure (IOP), according to Devesh K. Varma, MD, and colleagues. They retrospectively reported on a series 20 eyes of 18 female patients aged 44 to 86 years who developed malignant glaucoma after cataract surgery and were treated with medical therapy. This therapy was followed by laser iridozonulohyaloidotomy, anterior chamber reformation and IOL pushback, and surgical iridozonulohyaloidovitrectomy (if all other measures were unsuccessful). Preoperatively, the mean refraction was +3.11 D±2.89, the mean axial length was 21.30±1.40 mm, and all eyes had narrow or closed angles. At diagnosis, the mean refraction was −2.15±2.95 D; the mean anterior chamber depth, 2.49±0.72 mm; and the mean IOP, 28.3 mm Hg on a mean of 1.3 medications. Two eyes responded to cycloplegia, 7 to laser iridozonulohyaloidotomy, and 6 to anterior chamber reformation/IOL pushback; 5 eyes required vitrectomy. Post-treatment, the mean refraction was −0.56±1.07 D; the mean anterior chamber depth, 3.30±0.50 mm; and the mean IOP, 14.4 mm Hg on a mean of 1.2 medications. The study is published in the Journal of Cataract & Refractive Surgery.
• Iris surface features, assessed and measured from slit lamp photographs, correlated well with anterior chamber angle width; irises with more crypts and lighter color were associated with wider angle, according to a large population-based study. E. Sidhartha and colleagues recruited 600 subjects from the Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases (SEED) study. They obtained standardized digital slit lamp iris photographs and graded the iris crypts (by number and size), furrows (by number and circumferential extent), and color (higher grade denoting darker iris). Vertical and horizontal cross-sections of anterior chamber were imaged using anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT). There were 464 eyes with complete and gradable data for crypts and color, and 423 eyes had gradable data for furrows. After adjustment for age, gender, ethnicity, pupil size, and corneal arcus, higher crypt grade was independently associated with wider angle opening distance, angle recess area, and trabecular-iris space area, and darker iris was associated with narrower angle recess area and trabecular-iris space area. All findings were statistically relevant. The study is published online ahead of print in Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science.