Žemaitienė, Reda
Item type:Publication, research article[2026][S1][M001][10]; Visual impairment (VI) is a leading cause of disability in young people and profoundly affects their psychological well-being and that of their families. In Italy, Legislative Decree No. 62/2024 redefined disability according to the biopsychosocial model and focused on the individualised life project. Given the limited research in this field, this study explores the subjective experiences of disability among young people with VI and their close networks, within their social context.
24 Item type:Publication, clinical study[2026][S1][M001][9]; ; ; ; ; ; The New England journal of medicine, 2026-01-29, vol. 394, no. 5, p. 442-450Background: Central retinal artery occlusion can result in permanent vision loss. Effective treatment is lacking.
49WOS© Citations 3 Item type:Publication, book[2025][K1a][M001][574]; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Kaunas : Medicininės informacijos centras, 2025-12-31Nutukimas - viena aktualiausių dabartinės visuomenės problemų, neigiamai veikianti daugelį organizmo sistemų ir trikdanti sergančiojo šia liga gyvenimo kokybę, darbingumą bei trumpinanti gyvenimą. Tai - metaboliškai aktyvi ir recidyvuojanti liga, kurios metu kūno masė didėja riebalinio audinio sąskaita. Nutukimą kaip ligą Amerikos medicinos asociacija oficialiai pripažino 2013 metais. Nutukimas pastaruoju metu yra labiausiai aptarinėjama tema tiek medicinos, tiek plačiojoje visuomenėje. Kalbant apie nutukimą, dažnai ši būklė siejama su asmeniniu kaltės priskyrimu: „reikia tik noro“, „reikia suimti save į rankas“ ir t. t. Įvairiais istoriniais laikotarpiais požiūris į žmogaus kūno formas keitėsi nuo Rubenso tipo moterų iki anoreksinių mados manekenių formų. Menamų kūno formų standartų neatitinkantis žmogus gali būti pavadintas putliu, stambiu, apkūniu, didelio dydžio ar net storuliu ar apsileidusiu. Medicinos bendruomenėje vyrauja terminai: antsvoris, hipotalaminis, pilvinis, centrinio tipo, kušingoidinis, morbidinis nutukimas ir kt. Nutukimas turi kompleksines pasekmes - skatina lėtines ligas, galinčias sutrumpinti žmogaus amžių 10-15 metų. Per pastaruosius 5 dešimtmečius nutukimo paplitimas pasaulyje padidėjo daugiau nei 3 kartus, ir dabar tai įvardijama kaip nutukimo pandemija. Klinikinėje praktikoje nustatomos įvairiausios nutukimo priežastys - nuo genetinių (Prader-Willi sindromas, Aistrom sindromas, LEPR (leptino receptoriaus) ar LEP (leptino) geno mutacijos ir kt.), endokrininių (hipotirozė, hiperkorticizmas, hipogonadizmas ir kt.) iki valgymo priklausomybių. Skirtingos yra ir nutukusių kūno formos bei kūno kompozicija. Todėl kūno masės indeksas (KMI) klinikiniu požiūriu jau nebetenka prasmės. KMI tikslinga naudoti populiaciniams, palyginamiesiems tyrimams. Statistiniais duomenimis (HIS Lietuva, Eurostat, 2019-2022 m.), pagal KMI nutukusių suaugusių Lietuvoje buvo 21-23 proc. Skaičiuojama, kad apie 60 proc. suaugusiųjų Lietuvoje turi antsvorio ar yra nutukę. Tai - tik statistika, neatspindinti konkrečios individo būklės. 2025 m. pasaulio 58 ekspertų grupė, atstovaujanti įvairioms medicinos specialybėms ir šalims, išanalizavo turimus įrodymus ir, pritarus 75 medikų ir pacientų organizacijoms, rekomendavo klasifikaciją, kurioje išskiriamas ikiklinikinis ir klinikinis nutukimas. Pagal epidemiologinius ir klinikinius duomenis, nutukimas susijęs su daugiau nei 200 skirtingų ligų ir sveikatos sutrikimų. [...]
40 - conference paper[2025][T1e][N010][2]
; ; ; ; ; ; 17th International Conference of the Lithuanian Neuroscience Association „Brain Function, Dysfunction, and Translational Research“ : 28th November 2025, Kaunas, Lithuania, 2025-11-28, p. 72-73Ageing changes are heterogenous, with substantial variation in health impacts of ageing across populations, individuals and tissues [Grimbly MJ, et al. BMJ Open Ophth 2024;9:e001794. doi:10.1136/bmjophth-2024-001794]. Biological ageing markers have emerged to better represent the ageing process and predict the risk of diseases. Retinal age is an imaging-based biomarker for biological age assessment from retinal fundus photographs. Accelerated ageing, or Retinal age gap (RAG) – the difference between calculated retinal age and chronological age, provides a valuable metric for quantifying the risk of vascular, neurodegenerative, metabolic diseases and even assessing the risk of mortality. However, an undisclosed controversy remains whether generated retinal age models are accurate predictors of biological age. Moreover, further clinical trials exploring their applicability across diverse healthy populations are warrant. We aimed to determine the accuracy of retinal age prediction models and evaluate their ability to reflect age-related parameters from retinal images exploring their estimation to chronological age of healthy Lithuanian population subjects. Color fundus images from 92 patients were analyzed for age prediction, allocating 80% of patients (n = 74) for training and 20% (n = 18) for validation. Images were split into training and validation sets at the patient level to avoid data leakage. Each patient contributed 8 images, except for one patient who had 6 images, resulting in a total of 734 fundus images included in the analysis. Preliminary experiments using grayscale OCTA images resulted in insufficient prediction performance, therefore the analysis focused exclusively on color fundus data. A convolutional neural network based on EfficientNet-B2 was adapted for regression by replacing the classification head with a single linear output unit predicting normalized age values. EfficientNet-B2 was selected based on findings from our previous study, in which several convolutional and transformer-based architectures were compared for classifying fundus images of healthy versus pathological images. The evaluated models in-
17 Item type:Publication, review article[2025][S1][M001]; Ophthalmology and Therapy, 2025-09-26, vol. 14, no. 11, p. 2735-2452Postoperative endophthalmitis (POE) is a rare but severe intraocular infection that can lead to irreversible vision loss if not promptly and adequately treated. This condition occurs when infecting organisms enter the eye through direct inoculation, such as during intraocular surgery, penetrating trauma, or contiguous spread from adjacent tissues. The risk of infection has also increased with the growing use of intravitreal pharmacotherapy, such as treatments with antivascular endothelial growth factor agents. Sources of infection in POE include bacteria colonized on the patient's eyelid margin and conjunctiva, healthcare personnel, surgical instruments, solutions, and intraocular lenses. Microbial trends indicate that Staphylococcus epidermidis (S. epidermidis) and unspecified coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) are the most prevalent pathogens. Fungal endophthalmitis, commonly caused by Candida albicans, primarily affects patients who are immunocompromised, including those with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), malignancies, diabetes mellitus, immunosuppressive medication or intravenous drug use, solid organ transplantation, lung disease, and renal insufficiency. The management of POE relies on the prompt initiation of appropriate empirical antibiotic therapy targeting the most common causative organisms. However, antimicrobial resistance (AMR) has become one of the most pressing global health challenges, with the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizing AMR as one of the top ten global public health threats. The goal is to ensure the judicious use of antibiotics while preventing AMR development. A critical preventive strategy in ophthalmology is the use of antiseptics before interventional eye procedures. Studies have shown that the application of effective antiseptic agents-such as povidone-iodine (PVP-I), chlorhexidine (CHX), hypochlorous acid (HOCl), polyhexamethylene biguanide (PHMB), and picloxydine dihydrochloride can significantly reduce the incidence of postoperative infections, thereby minimizing the risk of endophthalmitis. This article reviews the importance, effectiveness, and benefits of preoperative antiseptic use in ophthalmology, emphasizing their role in preventing infections without encouraging antibiotic resistance. In addition to their preventive role, it also examines the potential therapeutic applications of these same agents in the management of ocular infections.
36WOS© Citations 1 Item type:Publication, review article[2025][S1][M001][12]; Neurological disorders significantly affect ocular surface homeostasis, influencing parameters such as blink rate (BR), tear production, corneal nerve density, and sensitivity. This review summarizes recent findings on ocular surface alterations associated with neurological diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), trigeminal neuralgia (TN), multiple sclerosis (MS), and Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease (CMT). Notably, ocular manifestations such as reduced BR, decreased tear break-up time (TBUT), impaired tear secretion, and corneal nerve fiber loss are consistently reported. In AD, elevated tear amyloid-beta and tau proteins emerge as promising biomarkers for early disease detection. PD patients frequently experience dry eye symptoms attributed to reduced BR and tear film instability. GBS is linked to lagophthalmos and corneal nerve impairment, potentially leading to severe ocular surface damage. TN demonstrates bilateral ocular surface dysfunction despite unilateral neuropathic symptoms. MS is associated with significant ocular surface alterations, reflecting broader neuroinflammatory and autonomic disturbances. Similarly, CMT patients show reduced corneal sensitivity and tear production, underscoring the systemic nature of neurological impacts. Awareness of these ocular manifestations is essential for improving patient care and guiding future research into ocular biomarkers and targeted therapies.
39WOS© Citations 1 Item type:Publication, [Relationship between the Iris Phenotypic Traits, Lens Opacification, Sun Exposure Habits and the Risk of Cutaneous Melanoma]doctoral thesis[2025][R1][M001][104]; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Szepietowski, JacekOdos melanoma – tai piktybinis melanocitų kilmės navikas, sukeliantis didžiausią mirtingumą tarp odos vėžių. Per pastaruosius dešimtmečius jos sergamumas nuolat didėja, ypač tarp vyresnio amžiaus gyventojų. Lietuvoje odos melanomos ligotumas 2014 m. siekė 77 atvejus 100 000 gyventojų, o 2023 m. išaugo iki 121 atvejo. Vienas svarbiausių šios ligos rizikos veiksnių – ultravioletinė spinduliuotė, susijusi ir su kitomis ligomis, pavyzdžiui, katarakta. Tyrime siekta nustatyti, ar tam tikri fenotipiniai požymiai – rainelės raštas, strazdanos, lęšiuko drumstėjimas – bei buvimo saulėje įpročiai gali būti susiję su padidėjusia odos melanomos rizika. Atliktas atvejo ir kontrolės tyrimas, vertintas šių veiksnių paplitimas ir tarpusavio sąsajos, o gauti duomenys leido kurti prognostinį rizikos modelį. Šis tyrimas pirmasis tokio tipo Baltijos šalyse, kurio metu apjungti dermatologiniai ir oftalmologiniai duomenis, siekiant geresnės šios ligos ankstyvosios diagnostikos ir profilaktikos.
88 Item type:Publication, journal-article[2025][S1][M001][11]; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Genes, 2025-08-23, vol. 16, no. 9, p. 1-11Background: Leber’s hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) is the most common mitochondrial disorder and an inherited optic neuropathy. Recently, two different LHON inheritance types have been discovered: mitochondrially inherited LHON (mtLHON) and autosomal recessive LHON (arLHON). Our case report is the first diagnosed case of arLHON in a patient of Lithuanian descent and confirms the DnaJ Heat Shock Protein Family (Hsp40) Member C30 (DNAJC30) c.152A>G p.(Tyr51Cys) founder variant. Case Presentation: A 34-year-old Lithuanian man complained of headache and sudden, painless loss of central vision in his right eye. On examination, the visual acuity of the right and left eyes was 0.1 and 1.0, respectively. Visual-field examination revealed a central scotoma in the right eye, and visual evoked potentials (VEPs) showed prolonged latency in both eyes. Optical coherence tomography showed thickening of the retinal nerve fiber layer in the upper quadrant of the optic disk in the left eye. Magnetic resonance imaging of the head showed evidence of optic nerve inflammation in the right eye. Blood tests were within normal range and showed no signs of inflammation. Retrobulbar neuritis of the right eye was suspected, and the patient was treated with steroids, which did not improve visual acuity. He later developed visual loss in the left eye as well. A genetic origin of the optic neuropathy was suspected, and a complete mitochondrial DNA analysis was performed, but it did not reveal any pathologic mutations. Over time, the visual acuity of both eyes slowly deteriorated, and the retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thinning of the optic disks progressed. A multidisciplinary team of specialists concluded that vasculitis or infectious disease was unlikely to be the cause of the vision loss, and a genetic cause for the disease was still suspected, although a first-stage genetic test did not yield the diagnosis. Thirty-three months after disease onset, whole-exome sequencing revealed a pathogenic variant in the DNAJC30 gene, leading to the diagnosis of arLHON. Treatment with Idebenone was started 35 months after the onset of the disease, resulting in no significant worsening of the patient’s condition. Conclusion: This case highlights the importance of considering arLHON as a possible diagnosis for patients with optic neuropathy, because the phenotype of arLHON appears to be identical to that of mtLHON and cannot be distinguished by clinicians.
43 Item type:Publication, [Relationship Between Myopia Progression with Functional and Morphological Changes in Ocular Parameters and Genetic Markers during Treatment with Low–Concentration Atropine Eye Drops]doctoral thesis[2025][R1][M001][157]; ; ; ; ; Trumparegystė yra greičiausiai plintanti refrakcijos yda, kuri per pastaruosius dešimtmečius tapo reikšminga visuomenės sveikatos problema. Didėjantis trumparegystės paplitimas pabrėžia būtinybę gilinti žinias apie šios ligos rizikos veiksnius ir progresavimo kontrolės metodus. Atropino akių lašai yra plačiausiai pasaulyje vartojama farmakologinė priemonė trumparegystės progresavimui stabdyti. Tyrimo tikslas – nustatyti trumparegystės progresavimo sąsajas su akies funkciniais ir morfologiniais pokyčiais bei genetiniais žymenimis, gydant mažos koncentracijos atropino akių lašais. Darbo uždaviniai: 1. Įvertinti ir palyginti trumparegių vaikų akių klinikinę refrakciją ir morfologinius parametrus bei jų pokyčius 1 metų laikotarpiu, gydant mažos koncentracijos (0,01 proc. arba 0,03 proc.) atropino akių lašais. 2. Nustatyti trumparegių vaikų regos sutrikimų ir skundų dėl akių diskomforto sąsajas su ilgalaikiu mažos koncentracijos (0,01 proc. arba 0,03 proc.) atropino akių lašų vartojimu 1 metų laikotarpiu. 3. Nustatyti akių ligomis nesergantiems ir trumparegiams vaikams vieno nukleotido variantus COL1A1 (rs2075555, rs2269336, rs1107946) ir APLP2 (rs7127037) bei įvertinti jų sąsajas su trumparegystės atsiradimu ir progresavimu. 4. Nustatyti trumparegių vaikų akių klinikinės refrakcijos ir morfologinių akių parametrų bei jų pokyčių sąsajas su gyvensenos veiksniais, gydant mažos koncentracijos (0,01 proc. arba 0,03 proc.) atropino akių lašais.
46 Item type:Publication, research article[2025][S1][M001][9]; ; Central retinal artery occlusion (CRAO) is an ophthalmologic emergency that, without prompt reperfusion, is associated with a high risk of permanent blindness. There is currently no evidence-based, effective treatment for CRAO.
23WOS© Citations 4