NSDD patients have both structural and functional alterations of subbasal corneal nerves and these changes are related to the severity of dry eye.

The relationship between students' gender, personality traits, predicted first-year grades, and quality of effort put forth in academic and personal/social activities with academic achievement and critical thinking was examined for 265 first-year science and engineering undergraduates enrolled at a selective doctoral-extensive university. Results show that some personality traits influence the quality of effort expended with academic and personal/social activities as well as end-of-first-year grades and a measure of critical thinking.

The double-pass system allowed the monitoring of the dynamic changes of optical quality in patients with DED. Optical quality should be evaluated in patients with DED because these alterations cannot be determined from the classical DED clinical tests.

Early diagnosis and appropriate therapy are key elements for a good prognosis in Acanthamoeba keratitis (AK). AK should be considered in any case of corneal trauma complicated by exposure to soil or contaminated water, and in all contact lens (CL) wearers. A presumptive diagnosis of AK can be made clinically and with in vivo confocal microscopy, although a definitive diagnosis requires identification of Acanthamoeba on direct scraping, histology, or identification of Acanthamoeba DNA by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We use cysticidal drugs for treating AK because encysted forms are more resistant than trophozoites to treatment. The treatment protocol used a biguanide (PHMB 0.02% or chlorhexidine 0.02%) and a diamidine (propamidine 0.1% or hexamidine 0.1%). New diagnostic modalities and more specific topical anti-amoebic treatments would substantially benefit patients with AK.

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Gram positive cocci was the predominant pathogen of chronic dacryocystitis. Levo-ofloxacin and amikacin had the best effect in vitro.

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PURPOSE. To evaluate spontaneous eye blink patterns and their correlations with clinical tests in dry eye disease (DED). METHODS. Twenty-five DED patients and 25 healthy subjects were included in this prospective case-controlled study. Clinical evaluations included the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI), lipid layer thickness (LLT), spontaneous eye blink pattern analysis, fluorescein tear film breakup time (FBUT), and so on. Eye blinks were recorded for 20 seconds with a high-speed camera. Eye blink patterns were divided into the following five phases: the eyelid closing phase (ECP), eyelid closed phase (CDP), early opening phase (EOP), late opening phase (LOP), and interblink intervals (IBI). The correlations between blink parameters and clinical tests were analyzed. RESULTS. Compared with the control group, mean ECP, CDP, and EOP were significantly longer in DED patients (P < 0.001, P ¼ 0.029, and P < 0.001, respectively). DED patients also had significantly shorter LOP and blink intervals (both P < 0.001) and more partial blinks as compared with control subjects (P ¼ 0.001). FBUT was negatively correlated with ECP (r ¼ À0.618, P¼0.001) and the number of partial blinks (r ¼ À0.413, P ¼ 0.040). There was a positive correlation between OSDI and the number of partial blinks (r ¼ 0.446, P ¼ 0.026). The LLT coefficient of variation (LLT-CV) also showed a positive correlation with ECP, CDP, and LOP