326 research outputs found
Delayed Tear Clearance in Contact Lens Associated Papillary Conjunctivitis
No full textPurpose. To study the tear film clearance in contact lens associated papillary conjunctivitis patients.Methods. Fifty- eight daily-wear soft contact lens wearers completed a questionnaire regarding a survey of their contact lens usage and subjective symptoms. They were grouped according to the size of conjunctival papillae, namely PC1 with no papillae, PC2 with papillae of less than 0.3 mm, and PC3 with papillae of 0.3-1.0 mm in diameter. Tear film breakup time and fluorescein clearance tests were performed.Results. There was a median of 1, 2, and 3 subjective symptoms in PC1 , PC2, and PC3 groups respectively (p < 0.001). Patients with larger papillae on their upper tarsus had more subjective symptoms such as burning sensation, discharge, limbal injection, foreign body sensation and dryness sensation (p = 0.018, 0.001, 0.004, 0.005, and 0.036 respectively). They also had shorter tear film breakup time (p = 0.05), delayed tear clearance (p = 0.002) and more corneal neovascularization (p < 0.001). Patients having delayed tear clearance test tended to have more subjective symptoms (p = 0.004) and larger papillae on upper tarsus (p = 0 .002). However, neither the way the patients cleaned their contact lenses nor their enzyme cleaning frequency associated with the tear fluorescein clearance (p = 0.528 and 0.394, respectively). Meibomian gland dysfunction and corneal neovascularization did not correlate with the delayed tear clearance either (p = 0.111 and 0.717, respectively).Conclusions. Tear clearance in contact lens associated papillary conjunctivitis patients was delayed. We proposed that delayed tear clearance might increase the protein and inflammatory mediator concentrations in the tear film and contribute to the pathogenesis or aggravate the severity of contact lens associated papillary conjunctivitis
Rapidly Changing Incidence and Age-Distribution of Female Breast Cancer in Taiwan during 1980-1999
No full textIncome Inequality and Infant Mortality in New York City
No full textA series of studies have demonstrated that people who live in regions where there are disparities in income have poorer average health status than people who live in more economically homogeneous regions. To test whether such disparities might explain health variations within urban areas, we examined the possible association between income inequality and infant mortality for zip code regions within New York City using data from the 1990 census and the New York City Department of Health. Both infant mortality and income inequality (percentage of income received by the poorest 50% of households) varied widely across these regions (range in infant mortality: 0.6-29.611,000 live births; range in income inequality: 12.7-27.3). An increase of one standard deviation in income inequality was associated with an increase of 0.80 deaths/1,000 live births (P < .001), controlling for other socioeconomic factors. This finding has important implications for public health practice and social epidemiological research in large urban areas, which face significant disparities both in health and in social and economic conditions
Dietary sesame reduces serum cholesterol and enhances antioxidant capacity in hypercholesterolemia
No full textThe impact of depression on survival of head and neck cancer patients: A population-based cohort study
No full textBACKGROUND: Depression is common among patients with head and neck cancer, thereby affecting their survival rate. However, whether close monitoring of depression affects the survival outcomes of these patients is unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to determine whether depression treatment continuity after the diagnosis of cancer affects the survival of these patients. METHODS: A total of 55,069 patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer in the Cancer Registration System database in Taiwan were enrolled. This cohort was followed from January 1, 2007 to December 31, 2017. Furthermore, the patients were divided into four groups, namely, “no depression,” “pre-cancer only,” “post-cancer only,” and “both before and after cancer,” on the basis of the diagnosis of depression and the duration of the follow-up period in the psychiatric clinic. Further, the Cox proportional hazard model was applied to estimate the hazard of death for the four groups. RESULTS: A total of 6,345 (11.52%) patients were diagnosed with depression in this cohort. The “pre-cancer only” group had a lower overall survival (HR = 1.18; 95% CI = 1.11–1.25) compared with the “no depression” group. Moreover, the “post-cancer only” group had better overall survival (HR = 0.88; 95% CI = 0.83–0.94) compared with the “no depression” group, especially in advanced-stage patients. Patients who were diagnosed with depression before cancer and had continuous depression treatments after the cancer diagnosis had better overall survival (HR = 0.78; 95% CI = 0.71–0.86) compared with patients who had treatment interruptions. CONCLUSION: Patients with pre-cancer depression had poorer survival outcomes, especially those who did not receive psychiatric clinic visits after their cancer diagnosis. Nonetheless, in patients with advanced-stage cancer, depression treatment may improve overall survival
Associations Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome, Dry Eye Disease, and CPAP Usage Among Taiwanese Patients: A Retrospective Analysis
No full textYuan-Kai Fu,1 Chi-chin Sun,2,3 Kuan-Jen Chen,1,3 Yu-Jr Lin,4 Chee-Jen Chang,4– 6 Shu-Chen Chang,4 Ming-Hui Sun1,3 1Department of Ophthalmology, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan; 3College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 4Research Services Center for Health Information, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 5Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Sciences, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, Taiwan; 6Clinical Informatics and Medical Statistics Research Center, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan, TaiwanCorrespondence: Ming-Hui Sun, Department of Ophthalmology, Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, No. 5, Fuxing Street, Guishan District, Taoyuan, 333, Taiwan, Tel +886-3-3281200 ext 8666, Fax +886-3-3287798, Email [email protected] Objectives: To evaluate the association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and dry eye disease (DED) and analyze the impact of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) on DED.Methods: This is a retrospective population-based case-control study. Patients who underwent polysomnography in Taiwan from March 1, 2009, to March 1, 2020, were identified from the database of a sleep center. Patients who were diagnosed with keratoconjunctivitis sicca or tear film insufficiency were included. Patients without data from Schirmer’s test, lacking tear break-up time values, or with a history of refractive surgery, Sjögren’s syndrome, ocular injuries, or a disability in eyelid closure were excluded. All patients with DED enrolled had DED in both eyes. OSA severity between patients with and without DED was compared.Results: In total, 86 patients with DED and 86 age-matched patients without DED were enrolled. Significant differences in apnea-hypopnea index values (patients with DED: 29.1 ± 23.4, patients without DED: 17.9 ± 20.2, P < 0.001), OSA severity (P < 0.001), and lowest oxygen saturation (P = 0.040) between patients with and without DED were observed. A multivariate logistic regression model indicated that the use of CPAP was independently associated with DED after adjustments for OSA severity. Patients undergoing CPAP were at greater risk of developing DED than those not undergoing CPAP (Odds ratio: 3.93, 95% confidence interval: 1.47– 10.49, P = 0.006).Conclusion: OSA severity is associated with DED and might be attributed to the use of CPAP.Keywords: dry eye disease, obstructive sleep apnea, continuous positive airway pressur
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