Diabetes affects more than 382 million people worldwide and can lead to vision loss as a result of progressive degeneration of the neurovascular unit in the retina, a condition known as diabetic retinopathy (DR). Early stage DR is characterized by microangiopathies including microaneurysms, microhemorrhages, and hyperpermeability. Analyses of postmortem human retinal tissue and retinas from animal models indicate that degeneration of the pericytes, the cells that make up the outer layer of capillaries, is an early event in DR; however, the relative contribution of specific cellular components to DR pathobiology has been difficult to dissect due to the complexity of existing models.

The aim of this study was to determine management regimens and level of knowledge of diabetes and its‟ ocular complications among private patients in a sample of the population of the Western Cape region of South Africa. A population-based cross-sectional study design, using purposive accidental random sampling, was used. Questionnaires completed by diabetic patients who fund their condition privately outside of the South African Public Health sector were used. One hundred and twenty-two subjects participated in the research, 66 (54%) males and 56 (46%) females. There were 73 rural and 49 urban participants. The overall sample mean BMI was 30.7, average fasting plasma glucose (FPG) 8.1 mmol/l and the majority of respondents did not perform a daily FPG test or know the significance of the HbA1c test. The majority of participants were unaware of the serious ocular consequences of prolonged hyperglycaemia. Sixty-seven percent of respondents considered that they knew enough about diabetes to manage their own condition. From the data it is apparent that private patients‟ knowledge of the systemic and ocular complications of diabetes is sub-optimal. Whilst the majority considered annual eye examinations as important, less than one-third of respondents actually undertook them. Optometrists should be offered programmes to enhance their skills and co-manage and educate diabetic patients with other health care practitioners on a formal basis. Health insurance institutions should take cognisance of the value of patient education and preventative diabetic management and incentivize patients and health care providers in this regard. / Thesis (M.Optom.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2011.

Master of Public Health / OBJECTIVES: In Australia, diabetes causes significant morbidity and mortality. Whilst the need to prevent diabetes and its complications has been widely recognised, the capacity of health care systems - which organise diabetes care - to facilitate prevention has not been fully established. METHODS: A series of seven population-based case-control studies were used to examine the effectiveness of the Australian health care system and its capacity to manage diabetes. Six of the studies compared the patterns of care of patients who had developed advanced diabetes complications in 2000 (cases), to similar patients who remained free of the condition (controls) across Australia and for various risk groups. A secondary study investigated the role of treating GPs in the development of the outcome. RESULTS: A strong relationship between the patterns of care and the development of advanced diabetes complications was found and is described in Chapter 4. In Chapter 5, this same relationship was investigated for each Australian state and territory, and similar findings were made. The study in Chapter 6 investigated whether late diagnosis or the patterns of care was the stronger risk factor for advanced diabetes complications, finding that the greatest risk was associated with the latter. In Chapter 7 the influence of medical care during the pre-diagnosis period was explored, and a strong relationship between care obtained in this period and the development of advanced complications was found. In Chapter 8, which investigated the role of socio-economic status in the development of advanced complications, found that the risk of advanced diabetes complications was higher in low socio-economic groups. Chapter 9 investigated geographic isolation and the development of advanced diabetes complications and found that the risk of advanced complications was higher in geographically isolated populations. Finally, Chapter 10, which utilised a provider database, found that some GP characteristics were associated with the development of advanced diabetes complications in patients. CONCLUSION: A number of major risk factors for the development of advanced complications in Australia was found. These related to poorer diabetes management, later diagnosis, low socioeconomic status and geographic isolation. Strategies must be devised to promote effective diabetes management and the early diagnosis of diabetes across the Australian population.

[Truncated abstract] One of the barriers to understanding and preventing proliferative diabetic retinopathy in humans has been the lack of an appropriate animal model. Historically dog, rat and mouse models of diabetic retinopathy have been studied but none of these exhibit the later changes of proliferative diabetic retinopathy. Animals can be rendered diabetic by surgical pancreatectomy or the use of chemicals such as allozan or streptozotocin or by feeding of a high galactose diet. Alternatively, spontaneous rodent models of diabetes have been examined such as the BB rat, KK mouse or NOD mouse. However, in each case the retinal vascular changes observed are those of early nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy comprising at most saccular microaneurysms, increased thickness of the capillary basement membrane, acellular capillaries and pericyte ghosts. … Fluorecein angiography of this transgenic line clearly demonstrates the presence of leaky new vessels, by the appearance of leakage spots scattered throughout the retina from 1 month of age. These mice constitute a valuable model of diabetic retinopathy. Neovascularization in this animal model is induced by VEGF as in human diabetic retinopathy. The source of VEGF in human diabetic retinopathy is the ischemic inner retina. In this transgenic model the source of VEGF are the photoreceptor cells, which are situated just underneath the inner retina. The neovascularization is not dependent on a particular developmental stage and there is no spontaneous regression of new vessels. Thus any results generated in this model are highly relevant to human diabetic retinopathy.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Linköping : Linköpings universitet, 2006. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2005. / [School of Medicine] Department of Pharmacology. Includes bibliographical references. Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (M.S.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: Diabetes; imaging; phosphorescence; retina. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oklahoma. / Bibliography: leaves 190-220.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Florida, 2005. / Typescript. Title from title page of source document. Document formatted into pages; contains 95 pages. Includes Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

PURPOSE: This study examined the surgical outcomes after pars plana vitrectomy in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy at various stages of posterior vitreous detachment. The investigation assessed the changes in visual acuity and the frequency of complications associated with each stage of detachment. METHODS: This retrospective, single-site, single-surgeon study reviewed 328 medical records of patients at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (Boston, MA) requiring pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) for complications of proliferative diabetic retinopathy between 2000 and 2017. The 328 patients were separated into 4 groups based on their vitreous status (Stages 0 and 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, and Stage 4). Preoperative characteristics were collected, including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and diabetes duration. Complications, visual acuity, and reoperation data were collected postoperatively. RESULTS: Sixty-one percent of the patients in the combined group (Stages 0 and 1), 56% in Stage 2, 67% in Stage 3, and 77% in Stage 4 did not require a revision PPV. Thirteen percent of the patients in the combined group, 13% in Stage 2, 5% in Stage 3, and 0% in Stage 4 required a revision PPV for retinal detachment. This represented a statistically significant difference between the groups (p = 0.0254). The combined group had a postoperative change in BCVA of 0.31 compared with 0.29 for Stage 2, 0.67 for Stage 3, and 0.90 for Stage 4. These BCVA changes represented a statistically significant difference (p = 0.0001) between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that having a preoperative posterior vitreous detachment leads to improved visual acuity postoperatively and decreased chance of developing a postoperative retinal detachment. The study also indicates that increased vitreoretinal traction results in less change in visual acuity and an increase in complications. Further research is needed to validate these findings.