Background: Visio-spatial skills (VSS) are fundamental perceptual-cognitive capacities that enable athletes to process dynamic visual information, interpret spatial relationships, and execute precise motor responses under competitive conditions. In taekwondo, where scoring actions are executed within milliseconds and success depends on the rapid detection and anticipation of an opponent's movements, well-developed VSS are considered a functional prerequisite for performance. Method: This cross-sectional observational study examined differences in VSS between amateur taekwondo athletes (n = 50) and non-athletes (n = 50) recruited from the King Cetshwayo Municipality District, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Six VSS were assessed using standardized, validated instruments: accommodation facility (AF), saccadic eye movement (SEM), speed of recognition (SR), hand-eye coordination (HEC), peripheral awareness (PA), and visual memory (VM). Between-group comparisons were performed using the Mann-Whitney U test, with effect sizes reported as rank-biserial correlations (r). Results: Taekwondo athletes demonstrated significantly superior performance across all VSS domains (all p ≤ 0.05), with a large effect observed for SR (r = 0.91), HEC (r = 0,87), SEM (r = 0.78), and AF (r = 0.74), and moderate effect for VM (r = 0.58) and PA (r = 031). The largest between-group percentage differences were observed for SR (79.43%), HEC (48.13%), and SEM (33.33%), with smaller but significant differences in AF (31.05%), VM (14.92%), and PA (4.23%). Pearson correlation analysis revealed a dense, globally integrated VSS network in non-athletes anchored by AF, contrasting with a sparse pattern in taekwondo athletes, in which SEM showed the greatest number of moderate or stronger associations with other variables. These within-group correlation structures are presented as preliminary and descriptive observations only. Intraclass correlation coefficients were excellent for five of the six VSS (ICC ≥ 0.963), with PA yielding a point estimate of ICC = 0.853, characterized by a wide confidence interval. Conclusions: These findings indicate that amateur taekwondo athletes show superior perceptual, oculomotor, and visuo-motor performance compared to non-athletes. Within-group VSS correlation pattern differs descriptively between the groups. The cross-sectional design cannot determine whether these differences reflect training-associated perceptual adaptation, pre-existing trait-based self-selection into taekwondo, or a combination of both mechanisms. Both interpretations carry applied implications for talent identification and vision training program design. A longitudinal investigation is required to establish causal directionality. SEM and AF are proposed as the most diagnostically informative VSS markers for taekwondo screening, under either interpretation.

Precise coordination between neurons and cortical areas is crucial for sensory perception, yet in vision, continuous fixational eye movements constantly shift retinal input. Traditionally considered random, these drifts modulate neural activity and may challenge the temporal precision needed for perceptual integration, particularly given their partial interocular independence. Recent evidence suggests that ocular drifts are not purely stochastic and play an active role in visual processing. Here, we investigated the impact of fixational eye movements on visual perception using a figure-ground segmentation task. Participants maintained central fixation while viewing textures composed of oriented line segments and reported the presence or absence of a centrally embedded figure. We simultaneously recorded binocular drift and microsaccades, analyzing interocular coordination through 2D cross-correlograms of angular velocities. We found that figure-presents trials exhibited narrow peaks in interocular correlation, while figure-absent trials showed broader, less synchronized drift patterns. Microsaccades were observed to facilitate drift alignment across the eyes. The decrease in microsaccade rate in figure-present trials may contribute to the change in drift synchrony, but it is not required for it. Changes in eye synchrony are also observed under monocular viewing conditions, whereas variations in accommodation and pupil size appear to be unrelated. These results identify two distinct ocular drift modes associated with different perceptual outcomes. Our findings suggest that ocular drift operates under closed-loop control and contributes to effective visual processing.

The vertebrate eye, while commonly perceived as a soft-tissue structure, is reinforced in numerous taxa by an internal ocular skeleton composed of scleral cartilage and ossicles. This manuscript presents a histological case report documenting scleral cartilage in the Himalayan Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos daphanea) and integrates these findings with a comprehensive synthesis of current understanding of the ocular skeleton's evolution, development and functional morphology. These findings are consistent with previously described avian scleral architecture. Although based on a single specimen, the study contributes additional histological observations for a large raptor species and provides a comparative perspective on vertebrate ocular skeletal organization. We demonstrate that the ocular skeleton is not merely a passive structural component but a dynamic, highly plastic system that has actively enabled visual radiations in response to distinct ecological demands. Histological examination of the eagle eye revealed a well-developed scleral stroma containing hyaline cartilage extending from the optic nerve posteriorly to the corneoscleral limbus anteriorly, consistent with the avian scleral cartilage sensu stricto cup morphology. By integrating ecological drivers of visual performance with comparative anatomy and developmental biology, we construct a unified model revealing how birds and teleosts leveraged homologous ancestral cartilage to solve fundamentally different biomechanical challenges: optical precision under accommodation-induced pressure in air versus hydrodynamic integrity during high-speed locomotion in water.

The tumour microenvironment comprising tumour cells, immune infiltrates, stromal components, and the extracellular matrix (ECM) plays a central role in cancer biology, modulating key hallmarks, such as proliferation, immune evasion, and metastasis. The ECM is a dynamic network of collagens, elastin, glycoproteins, and proteoglycans and emerging evidence highlights its role in tumour progression, with loss of matrix organisation altering tumour cell behaviour through both pro- and anti-tumourigenic mechanisms. Uveal melanoma (UM), the most common primary intraocular malignancy in adults, carries a poor prognosis due to its propensity for hepatic metastasis and limited therapeutic options. The uveal tract, comprising the choroid, ciliary body, and iris, relies on highly specialised ECM architectures, and we describe in this review how they support nutrient exchange, lens accommodation, and light regulation while mediating essential biochemical and biomechanical signalling. Understanding this baseline ECM is essential for interpreting the pathological matrix remodelling that occurs in UM. We describe marked compositional differences in ECM between low- and high-metastatic risk primary UM, revealing key mechanisms of tumour progression, including upregulation of structural collagens, fibronectin, laminins, and ECM-remodelling enzymes that activate oncogenic signalling pathways enhancing proliferation, invasion, and metastatic competence. We also explore the hepatic metastatic niche, where stellate cell-driven ECM remodelling promotes a fibrotic, immune-restrictive microenvironment that limits therapeutic efficacy. Finally, we discuss experimental constraints limiting ECM research and highlight advances in decellularised scaffolds, three-dimensional culture systems, and multi-omics technologies to dissect tumour-matrix interactions and uncover ECM-targeted therapeutic vulnerabilities with the potential to improve UM's poor clinical outcomes.

In our case study, we present a patient with postoperative macular edema who received hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) as adjunctive treatment. Our study aimed to evaluate the potential therapeutic efficacy of HBOT in accelerating the healing process of postoperative macular edema. A 58-year-old healthy male developed blurred vision one week following phacoemulsification with multifocal intraocular lens implantation in the left eye, despite clear optical media. In spite of standard therapy administration (topical corticosteroid and non-steroid anti-inflammatory drug - NSAID), his symptoms persisted, with central retinal thickness measuring 327 μm on postoperative day 35, and visual acuity of 0.4. At this point, while continuing conservative ophthalmic therapy, we initiated adjunctive hyperbaric oxygen therapy, totaling 11 sessions of 2.5 ATA/90 minutes, 100% oxygen breathing, with air breaks every 20 minutes. The patient presented for follow-up examination after the fourth HBOT treatment, reporting significant reduction in subjective complaints of blurred vision. During this examination, visual acuity improved to 0.9. Despite the significant and rapid symptom regression, we continued HBOT treatment to maintain the results and facilitate neuroplasticity and cerebral accommodation. Final optical coherence tomography (OCT) examination was performed one month after completion of HBOT treatment: visual acuity 1.0, macular thickness 267 μm. During hyperbaric oxygen therapy, regression of blurred vision due to postoperative macular edema accelerated significantly, with results objectified by OCT examination that cannot be explained by spontaneous improvement. The application of HBOT in treating macular edema of this etiology may provide significant quality of life improvement in cases where the time factor of recovery is a significant consideration. Orv Hetil. 2026; 167(28): 1120-1126.

Astigmatism is defined as a condition where there is an unequal curvature of the front surface of the eyes. Astigmatism can occur in the cornea (corneal astigmatism), the crystalline lens (lenticular astigmatism), or, less frequently, in the retina. Astigmatism is usually congenital but may change in location and amount as the individual ages. A rare occurrence is when excessive congenital astigmatism results from a toric growth of the crystalline lens onto the underlying capsule in a condition known as lenticonus.  It is commonplace to see the terms "meridians" and "axes" when dealing with this topic. An astigmatic axis is the exact location of astigmatism on the 360-degree scale, while a meridian is a plane along which that power exerts its optical characteristics. Types of Astigmatism Encountered in Refractive Errors (See Images) Simple Myopic astigmatism - One axis is on the retina while the other is in the front of the retina (in the hypothetical vitreous space). Compound myopic astigmatism - Both axes are in front of the retina (in the hypothetical vitreous space). Simple hyperopic astigmatism - One axis is on the retina, while the other is behind the retina. Compound hyperopic astigmatism - Both axes are behind the retina. Mixed astigmatism - One axis is in front of the retina, and the other is behind the retina. Astigmatic dials are instruments used for the detection and quantification of ocular astigmatism. They usually consist of black lines arranged radially (i.e., Fan dial, Sunburst dial, and Clock dial) or in a cross, as in the Cross dial (see image). The dial may be stationary and fixed in one position or rotate around an axis. They are usually made of plastic as an accessory to a distance wall-mounted chart, which can have a digital chart component.  Twelve radial lines comprise the astigmatic dial. The lines may be single in some models or consist of three parallel lines per clock hour. The sunburst dial consists of a semi-circle facing upwards like a sunrise, with the radiating lines 5 degrees away from each other, running from 0 to 180 degrees. The Lancaster dial consists of two lines perpendicularly bisecting each other similar to the cross dial.