Blepharitis is a relatively common disorder that manifests various clinical signs such as foreign body sensation, tearing and dry sensation, etc. The complete treatment of this condition is believed to be difficult because of abnormal meibomian gland function and changes in the normal flora of conjunctiva. Consequently, the course is often chronic, frustrating both clinicians and patients. Meibomian gland dysfunction is a common type of chronic blepharitis and although it is so common it can be easy to overlook clinically. Because symptoms can improve with appropriate treatment, it is very important to identify the disorder in patients who complain of dry eye symptoms.Chronic meibomian gland dysfunction particularly affects the lipid layer of tear film, destabilizing the tear film and quickening the tear film's evaporation, and ultimately causes many disorders of the external eye, including dry eye syndrome. 1In order to treat this dysfunction, physicians have reported prescribing 200 mg twice-daily doxycycline (α -6 deoxy-5 hydroxytetracycline), a long acting analogue of tetracycline that inhibits collagenase and also has antichemotactic effects, thus improving patients' symptoms by stabilizing the lipid layer of tear film. Recently, in the field of dentistry, low-dose doxycycline hyclate (20 mg) has been used to treat and prevent periodontitis by inhibiting collagenase. 3 The authors wanted to investigate the effectiveness of such therapy in the chronic meibomian gland dysfunction patients.One hundred fifty patients were selected (55 male, 95 female) that reported to the department of ophthalmology between January and December of 2003 and newly diagnosed with chronic meibomian gland dysfunction with grade 2 or worse meibomian gland destruction or meibomian gland Department of Ophthalmology, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, KoreaPurpose: The aim was to investigate the effect of low dose doxycycline (20 mg) therapy in patients with chronic meibomian gland dysfunction that were refractory to conventional therapy. Methods: The randomized prospective study enrolled 150 patients (300 eyes) who have chronic meibomian gland dysfunction and who didn't respond to lid hygiene and topical therapy for more than 2 months. All topical therapy was stopped for at least 2 weeks prior to beginning the study. After conducting the tear break up time test (TBUT) and Schirmer test, the authors randomly divided the patients into three groups a high dose group (doxycycline, 200 mg, twice a day), a low dose group (doxycycline, 20 mg, twice a day) and a control group (placebo). After one month, the author repeated the TBUT and Schirmer tests, and analyzed the degree of symptomatic improvement. Results: Compared to the control group, both the high and low dose group showed statistically significant differences after treatment in TBUT, Schirmer test, the number of symptoms reported and the degree of improvement of subjective symptoms. However, there was no statistically significant difference between the high and low dose ...
PurposeWe evaluated the performance of the Gail model for a Korean population and developed a Korean breast cancer risk assessment tool (KoBCRAT) based upon equations developed for the Gail model for predicting breast cancer risk.MethodsUsing 3,789 sets of cases and controls, risk factors for breast cancer among Koreans were identified. Individual probabilities were projected using Gail's equations and Korean hazard data. We compared the 5-year and lifetime risk produced using the modified Gail model which applied Korean incidence and mortality data and the parameter estimators from the original Gail model with those produced using the KoBCRAT. We validated the KoBCRAT based on the expected/observed breast cancer incidence and area under the curve (AUC) using two Korean cohorts: the Korean Multicenter Cancer Cohort (KMCC) and National Cancer Center (NCC) cohort.ResultsThe major risk factors under the age of 50 were family history, age at menarche, age at first full-term pregnancy, menopausal status, breastfeeding duration, oral contraceptive usage, and exercise, while those at and over the age of 50 were family history, age at menarche, age at menopause, pregnancy experience, body mass index, oral contraceptive usage, and exercise. The modified Gail model produced lower 5-year risk for the cases than for the controls (p = 0.017), while the KoBCRAT produced higher 5-year and lifetime risk for the cases than for the controls (p<0.001 and <0.001, respectively). The observed incidence of breast cancer in the two cohorts was similar to the expected incidence from the KoBCRAT (KMCC, p = 0.880; NCC, p = 0.878). The AUC using the KoBCRAT was 0.61 for the KMCC and 0.89 for the NCC cohort.ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the KoBCRAT is a better tool for predicting the risk of breast cancer in Korean women, especially urban women.
PurposeThe Gail model is one of the most widely used tools to assess the risk of breast cancer. However, it is known to overestimate breast cancer risk for Asian women. Here, we validate the Gail model and the Korean model using Korean data, and subsequently update and revalidate the Korean model using recent data.MethodsWe validated the modified Gail model (model 2), Asian American Gail model, and a previous Korean model using screening patient data collected between January 1999 and July 2004. The occurrence of breast cancer was confirmed by matching the resident registration number with data from the Korean Breast Cancer Registration Program. The expected-to-observed (E/O) ratio was used to validate the reliability of the program, and receiver operating characteristics curve analysis was used to evaluate the program's discriminatory power. There has been a rapid increase in the incidence of breast cancer in Korea, and we updated and revalidated the Korean model using incidence and mortality rate data from recent years.ResultsAmong 40,229 patients who were included in the validation, 161 patients were confirmed to have developed breast cancer within 5 years of screening. The E/O ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were 2.46 (2.10-2.87) for the modified Gail model and 1.29 (1.11-1.51) for the Asian American Gail model. The E/O ratio and 95% CI for the Korean model was 0.50 (0.43-0.59). For the updated Korean model, the E/O ratio and 95% CI were 0.85 (0.73-1.00). In the discriminatory power, the area under curve and 95% CI of the modified Gail model, Asian American Gail model, Korean model and updated Korean model were 0.547 (0.500-0.594), 0.543 (0.495-0.590), 0.509 (0.463-0.556), and 0.558 (0.511-0.605), respectively.ConclusionThe updated Korean model shows a better performance than the other three models. It is hoped that this study can provide the basis for a clinical risk assessment program and a future prospective study of breast cancer prevention.
If a pregnant women has symptoms of severe vomiting along with other ocular findings such as retinal hemorrhage or restricted extraocular movement, one must suspect the diagnosis of Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome, and should start appropriate treatment immediately.
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