Eye AI is moving fast, but will it work for people living at high altitude? In a study accepted by Science Bulletin, Dr. Wu Yuan’s team found that leading ophthalmic foundation models can lose accuracy across high-altitude retinal image cohorts. The team developed MIXFound, a lightweight way to combine several models and make AI diagnosis more robust in underrepresented settings.

Type 2 diabetes usually develops over many years, yet preventive measures often begin only once blood glucose levels are already elevated. An international panel of experts led by University Hospital Tübingen and the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD) is therefore calling for a fundamental shift in thinking: diabetes prevention should take the entire life course into account—from the period before pregnancy through older adulthood. In an article published in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers present the first jointly developed ten-point framework for preventing type 2 diabetes and its complications. The publication was initiated and led by researchers from University Hospital Tübingen and the DZD. Together with leading experts in basic research, clinical medicine, and diabetes prevention, they reviewed the current evidence and developed concrete recommendations for research, prevention, and healthcare.

For children with early-onset progressive high myopia, the concern is not limited to stronger glasses or longer eyeballs. Over time, high myopia can be associated with structural changes at the back of the eye, including fundus tessellation, choroidal thinning, and myopic maculopathy. These changes may accumulate over many years and increase the risk of future visual impairment. This means that evaluating high myopia interventions should not rely only on refractive error and axial length, but should also consider whether the fundus is undergoing early structural deterioration.  A study published in Eye Discovery provides new evidence from this perspective. Researchers from the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University and the Key Laboratory of Myopia and Related Eye Diseases evaluated three-year changes in refractive status, axial length, and quantitative fundus parameters in children with progressive high myopia who underwent posterior scleral reinforcement (PSR). The procedure used a crosslinked bovine pericardial patch, with the aim of reinforcing the posterior part of the eye and exploring its potential effect on high myopia-related fundus changes.

A real-world study from the Eye & ENT Hospital of Fudan University shows that, after implementation of a multifaceted surgical safety culture intervention, the rate of postoperative endophthalmitis after inpatient ophthalmic surgery continued to decline, offering a practical framework for surgical quality improvement.

Researchers from Keio University have found that D-serine increases the growth of gastric cancer by creating an immunosuppressive and anti-inflammatory tumor microenvironment. Higher levels of D-serine in serum correlated with greater immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy resistance in tumors. Suppressing D-serine in circulation could improve the efficacy of immunotherapies against gastric cancer. These findings position D-serine within the broader field of cancer amino acid metabolism and point to it as a possible target for tumor evasion.

A research team led by Johnson Shayo at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Center (KCMC) in Tanzania published research in Eye & ENT Research examining sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) among hypertensive adults. The cross-sectional study of 201 hypertensive patients aged 18–60 years found a 23.9% prevalence of SNHL, predominantly bilateral (81.3%) and mild (70.8%) in severity. Six independent risk factors were identified: smoking (OR = 21.2), hypertension duration ≥ 5 years (OR = 16.0), female sex (OR = 9.4), age >50 years (OR = 6.4), alcohol consumption (OR = 5.5), and ototoxic drug use (OR = 4.5). These findings from East Africa highlight an often-overlooked aspect of hypertension management—hearing health.