Objective This study investigated how simulated central vision loss (SimCVL) affected emotion identification and categorisation in individuals with normal vision.Methods and analysis The study recruited 29 healthy volunteers, including young adults (YA: 20–35 years) (n=10), mid-aged (MA: 40–55 years) (n=10) and older adults (60–75 years) (n=9). The participants were presented with human faces displaying three emotions, neutral, happy and sad, as stimuli. SimCVL was simulated using custom-made MATLAB programming. The study developed two experiments to investigate emotion identification (experiment 1: oddball design) and categorisation (experiment 2: equiprobable design). The behavioural responses and event-related potential (ERP) waveforms were analysed using E-prime and electroencephalogram laboratory toolbox in MATLAB, and the data was analysed using SPSS V.20.Results Emotion identification was present for both happy and sad in the Oddball (P300) paradigm. However, reduced amplitudes and delayed latencies were observed in OAs, particularly in simulated conditions (p<0.01). OAs had delayed reaction times and reduced accuracy in the simulated condition compared with MA and YA (p<0.01). No or minimal differences in amplitudes and latencies were found for early visual processing (P100) and encoding of facial features (N170) across age groups in simulated conditions. Delayed latencies and reduced amplitudes were observed in OAs when decoding (N250) facial features.Conclusion Emotion identification and categorisation are affected in older individuals with SimCVL compared with young and MA adults. Negative emotions had reduced performance index than happy across age groups, and this effect was maximum in OAs. The study suggests that further research is needed to explore the neural basis of emotional processing in patients with CVL using event-related potentials.
Introduction Although anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) therapy is the standard treatment for branch retinal vein occlusion (BRVO), treatment costs, the number of required injections and concerns about systemic adverse effects remain challenges. The REMEDY-BRVO study aims to evaluate the efficacy of ranibizumab biosimilar (BS) in patients with macular oedema due to untreated BRVO and to determine whether ranibizumab BS is non-inferior to aflibercept.Methods and analysis This study is a randomised, open-label, multicentre, parallel-group comparative trial. A total of 140 patients aged 50 years or older with BRVO, central retinal thickness ≥300 µm, and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) of 20–70 Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (ETDRS) letters within 6 months after BRVO onset will be enrolled. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either ranibizumab BS or aflibercept using a single loading dose followed by pro re nata treatment over 24 weeks. The primary endpoint is the mean change in BCVA from baseline to week 24. Secondary endpoints include changes in central retinal thickness, the proportion of patients with visual acuity improvement, number of injections, quality of life assessed by the National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire-25, incidence of ocular and systemic adverse events and changes in serum VEGF levels. The non-inferiority margin is set at 4.9 letters.Ethics and dissemination The study has been approved by the Juntendo University Certified Review Board (CRB3180012) and will be conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Patients and the public were not involved in the design of this study protocol. The results of this study will be disseminated through publication in peer-reviewed journals and presentations at domestic and international scientific conferences.Trial registration number jRCTs031240691.
