John H Chang

• BSc(Med) MBBS(Hons 1), PhD
• Lecturer at UNSW Sydney

Purpose: Few studies have explored the association of genetic variants in microRNA genes and binding sites with diabetic retinopathy (DR) in type 1 diabetes. We conducted a genome-wide scan for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in these genes by using data from a genome-wide association study (GWAS). Methods: All known SNPs were imputed fro...

Mitochondrial haplogroups H1, H2 and UK have previously been reported to be associated with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) in Caucasian patients with diabetes. We aimed to replicate this finding with a larger sample and expand the analysis to include different severities of DR, and diabetic macular edema (DME). Caucasian participants (n =...

Background: Diabetic macular edema (DME) and proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) are sight-threatening complications of diabetes mellitus and leading causes of adult-onset blindness worldwide. Genetic risk factors for diabetic retinopathy (DR) have been described previously, but have been difficult to replicate between studies, which have oft...

Purpose: To assess the vision-related (VR) and health-related (HR) quality-of-life (QoL) of patients with uveitis. Methods: In total, 60 patients with uveitis, 81 patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR), and 70 healthy subjects completed the National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Questionnaire and the Medical Outcome Study 36-Item Short Form....

Aims: This study aimed to investigate whether the single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs2910164 residing within microRNA-146a (miR-146a) is associated with diabetic microvascular complications diabetic nephropathy (DN), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) or diabetic macular oedema (DME) in either Caucasian patients with type 1 (T1DM) or typ...

Aim: To investigate, in a large cohort of 2494 individuals with diabetes mellitus, whether functional single nucleotide polymorphisms in the promoter region of tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and lymphotoxin-alpha (LTA) genes are associated with type of diabetes or presence of diabetic retinopathy. Methods: A total of 334 type 1 diabetes and 999 ty...

Diabetic retinopathy is a serious complication of diabetes mellitus and can lead to blindness. A genetic component, in addition to traditional risk factors, has been well described although strong genetic factors have not yet been identified. Here, we aimed to identify novel genetic risk factors for sight-threatening diabetic retinopathy using a ge...

To investigate associations between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the VEGFC gene and the development of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in white patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) or type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Cross-sectional, case control study. White patients with T1DM or T2DM (n = 2899) were recruited from ophthalmology an...

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a blinding disease of increasing prevalence, caused by a complex interplay of genetic and environmental factors. Here we describe the patient recruitment methodology, case and control definitions, and clinical characteristics of a study sample to be used for genome-wide association (GWAS) analysis to detect genetic risk...

A bstract Uveitis involves acute, recurrent or chronic inflammation of the uvea, and occurs when the normal state of ocular immune privilege has broken down. Accumulating evidence implicates the role of microbial triggers in the development of various forms of immune‐mediated uveitis in addition to its causative role in infectious uveitis. Toll‐lik...

Background: To describe the clinical features and management of cat-scratch-inflicted corneal lacerations. Design: Retrospective, observational case series. Participants: Three patients (aged 3, 7 and 35 years) with cat-scratch-inflicted full-thickness corneal lacerations. Methods: Retrospective medical chart review and review of the publish...

This study aimed to describe the phenotype of Australian patients with a clinical diagnosis of dominant optic atrophy (DOA) and provide long-term follow-up data on its natural history. Retrospective analysis. All patients with the clinical diagnosis of DOA observed during a 30-year period at a single tertiary referral center (Save Sight Institute,...

Background: To report the prevalence of current and previous uveitis within the indigenous population living within Central Australia. Design: Population-based cross-sectional study in Central Australia. Participants: One thousand eight hundred and eighty-four subjects who identified themselves as indigenous Australians, presenting to the remo...

Acute anterior uveitis (AAU) is the most common form of uveitis, accounting for approximately 90% of all cases. Half of all cases of AAU are HLA-B27 positive. The disease is typically acute in onset, unilateral, nongranulomatous inflammation involving the iris and ciliary body, with a tendency to recurrent attacks. Approximately 50% of all patients...

Ocular pigment epithelial cells are hypothesized to play a role in the pathogenesis of acute anterior uveitis (AAU), where LPS activation of Toll-like receptors (TLRs) may serve as a trigger. In this study, the expression of LPS receptors in iris pigment epithelium (IPE) was determined. RT-PCR, flow cytometry, Western blot, and immunohistochemistry...

A bstract A 3‐year‐old girl from the Northern Territory developed suppurative keratitis after swimming in pools. A mycelial organism suspected to be Pythium insidiosum was cultured. Treatment with polyhexamethylene biguanide and voriconazole for 5 days was unsuccessful, and a corneal graft was performed. The infection was cleared and when last seen...

To investigate the incidence and patterns of acute anterior uveitis (AAU) in Central Australia and specifically to study the relative frequency of AAU in Australian Aborigines compared with that in non-Aboriginal patients. Prospective, observational study of all patients seen by the Central Australian Ophthalmology service over an 8-month period. T...

The pathogenesis of acute and recurrent anterior uveitis is poorly understood. Here, recent evidence is presented for the hypothesis that this disease may be associated with activation of receptors of the innate immune system, such as Toll-like receptors, by pathogen associated molecule patterns, such as lipopolysaccharide, derived from triggering...

Acute anterior uveitis (AAU) is by far the most common form of uveitis [6]. It is characterized by a breakdown in the blood–aqueous barrier and acute inflammation of the iris and ciliary body. Immunopathologically, there is up-regulation of cell adhesion molecules on the uveal vasculature and aqueous humor expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines s...

To evaluate the short-term safety and efficacy of intravitreal (IV) triamcinolone acetonide (TA) for treating pediatric cystoid macular edema (CME) secondary to noninfectious uveitis. A retrospective noncomparative interventional case series. The medical records of 15 consecutive children (16 eyes) with uveitic CME treated with IVTA (2 or 4 mg) wer...

To investigate the expression and polymorphisms of Toll-like receptor (TLR)-2 and -4 in the peripheral neutrophils and monocytes of patients with acute anterior uveitis (AAU). Nine patients with active AAU and nine age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects were studied. TLR2 and -4 protein expression on CD16(+) neutrophils and CD14(+) monocytes...

The typical ocular manifestation of pauciarticular juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) is an insidious, non-granulomatous chronic anterior uveitis (CAU). The main risk factors for the development of uveitis in JIA are being female, antinuclear antibody (ANA) positivity, and oligoarticular disease at onset.1,2 Even during acute exacerbations of JIA...

A bstract Centurion syndrome is an uncommon, idiopathic medial canthal anomaly that causes epiphora due to the forward displacement of the lacrimal punctum out of the tear lake associated with the abnormal anterior insertion of the medial canthal tendon and enophthalmos. A case of Centurion syndrome is presented together with the description of a p...

To describe a secondary, two-stage eyelid-sharing tarsoconjunctival flap advancement technique for the repair of full-thickness lower eyelid defect, using the remaining upper eyelid marginal tarsus that was spared in a previously performed Hughes procedure. A computerized database search was performed on all cases of Hughes repair of the lower eyel...

Microbial agents have an important role in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory eye diseases, such as uveitis and keratitis. Microbial infections of the eye such as microbial keratitis, ocular onchocerciasis, bacterial endophthalmitis, viral retinitis, and other infectious uveitis are unfortunately common. In addition, microbial agents have bee...

Ocular cicatricial pemphigoid (OCP) is a chronic, progressive cicatrizing inflammatory disease of presumed autoimmune etiology affecting the mucous membranes and skin. It has sight-threatening ocular manifestations and potentially life-threatening extraocular manifestations. The ocular signs include: chronic cicatricial conjunctivitis, progressive...

Acute anterior uveitis is the most common form of uveitis. HLA-B27-associated acute anterior uveitis is a distinct clinical entity that has wide-ranging medical significance due to its ocular, systemic, immunologic, and genetic features. The association between HLA-B27 and the spectrum of HLA-B27-associated inflammatory diseases remains one of the...

To investigate the in vivo expression of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and its associated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) receptor complex in the human eye. Normal human ocular tissues were evaluated for in vivo TLR4, MD-2, and CD14 mRNA and protein expression by RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry, respectively. The distribution patterns and phenotypes of the...

To report the use of methotrexate therapy as first-line systemic therapy in the treatment of ocular-cicatricial pemphigoid and drug-induced ocular-cicatricial pemphigoid. Retrospective, noncomparative, interventional case series. Twelve patients with ocular-cicatricial pemphigoid and 5 patients with drug-induced ocular-cicatricial pemphigoid treate...

To study the patterns of uveitis in various geographic regions. A systematic literature review was performed using the MEDLINE database, from 1966 to present. Studies that satisfied our described selection criteria were analyzed to provide a global perspective on uveitis. Twenty-two studies, which were the best available representatives of Australi...