PURPOSE: To evaluate the relationship between initial postoperative overcorrection and long-term surgical success in exotropia patients. METHODS: The medical records of 46 patients who underwent surgery for intermittent exotropia after the age of 18 were enrolled. Enrolled patients also had at least 2 years of postoperative follow-up. Based on the initial postoperative deviation at distance measured by prism and the alternating cover test at 1 week, patients were assigned to one of the following groups: group A included patients who demonstrated any esodeviation, while group B included patients who showed orthophoria to exodeviation of 10 prism diopters. The records were analyzed to determine the preoperative deviation with stereoacuity and postoperative deviations with stereoacuity at the follow-up examinations at the following intervals: 1 week; 1, 3, and 6 months; and 1 and 2 years. A comparison between groups for demographic data and preoperative and postoperative angles of deviation was performed using analysis of variance. RESULTS: Of the 46 patients with intermittent exotropia included in this study, 18 (39%) belonged to group A, while 28 (73%) belonged to group B. The postoperative angle of deviation for distant fixation until 2 years of follow-up showed statistically significant differences in each group (p < 0.003 in all comparisons). The amount of exodrift until 2 years in group A (from −9.7 ± 6.1 to 1.6 ± 3.7) was greater than that in group B (from 2.0 ± 2.7 to 6.8 ± 5.6). The long-term surgical success rate within 2 years of surgery was significantly better in group A than in group B (p = 0.027). The number of patients with intermittent diplopia and the duration of diplopia were greater in group A (n = 8) than in group B (n = 2). CONCLUSIONS: Long-term surgical success was achieved in 89% of patients who were initially overcorrected. Overcorrection of an average of 10 prism diopters at the first postoperative week was found to be associated with a more favorable long-term surgical outcome.
Adult* ; Depth Perception ; Diplopia ; Esotropia ; Exotropia* ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Medical Records

Purpose: This study aimed to examine the influence of nurses’ general and job-related characteristics, nursing practice environment, and grit on the intent to stay of operating room nurses. Methods: This descriptive study focused on 198 operating room nurses employed in university hospitals at Busan metropolitan city and Kyungnam district, with a minimum of six months of experience in the operating room. Data were collected between February 16, 2022 and May 25, 2022, using self-report questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS 21.0. Results: The average of operating room nurses' intent to stay was 5.01, indicating a high intent to stay. Positive correlations were found between grit(r=.58, p<.001) and nursing practice environment(r=.36, p<.001) with intent to stay. Grit(β=.52, p<.001) and nursing practice environment(β=.13, p=.035) significantly influenced the intent to stay and explained 35% of the variance in the intent to stay. Conclusion The findings of this study suggest that strengthening nurses’ grit and providing a healthy practice environment may help increase their intent to stay. Developing a grit-enhancing program, especially one that fosters enthusiasm and perseverance toward long-term goals, can improve operating room nurses’ psychological resources and enhance their willingness to stay.

BACKGROUND: To accelerate the healing of diabetic wounds, various kinds of growth factors have been employed. It is the short half-life of administered growth factors in hostile wound beds that have limited wide-spread clinical usage. To overcome this limitation, growth factor gene therapy could be an attractive alternative rather than direct application of factors onto the wound beds. We administered two growth factor DNAs, epidermal growth factor (EGF) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) into a cutaneous wound on diabetic mice. We compared the different characteristics of the healing wounds. METHODS: Streptozotocin was injected intraperitoneally to induce diabetes into C57BL/6J mice. The ultrasound micro-bubble destruction method with SonoVue as a bubbling agent was used for non-viral gene delivery of EGF828 and VEGF165 DNAs. Each gene was modified for increasing efficacy as FRM-EGF828 or minicircle VEGF165. The degree of neoangiogenesis was assessed using qualitative laser Doppler flowmetry. We compared wound size and histological findings of the skin wounds in each group. RESULTS: In both groups, accelerated wound closure was observed in the mice receiving gene therapy compared with non treated diabetic control mice. Blood flow detected by laser doppler flowmetry was better in the VEGF group than in the EGF group. Wound healing rates and histological findings were more accelerated in the EGF gene therapy group than the VEGF group, but were not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Both non-viral EGF and VEGF gene therapy administrations could improve the speed and quality of skin wound healing. However, the detailed histological characteristics of the healing wounds were different.
Animals ; DNA ; Epidermal Growth Factor ; Genetic Therapy ; Half-Life ; Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins ; Laser-Doppler Flowmetry ; Mice ; Phospholipids ; Skin ; Streptozocin ; Sulfur Hexafluoride ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor A ; Wound Healing

BACKGROUND: Omega-3 fatty acids derived from fish oil have been reported to exert a beneficial effect on reducing cardiovascular disease. Reports about their mechanism have generated several interesting findings, including a change in small dense low density lipoprotein (sdLDL) cholesterol proportion, adiponectin, and apolipoprotein B (apoB), in addition to changes in the lipid profile. The principal objective of our study was to evaluate the effects of omega-3 fatty acids on plasma sdLDL, adiponectin, apoB100, and B48 in type 2 diabetic patients with hypertriglyceridemia. METHODS: We randomized 28 type 2 diabetic patients in a placebo-controlled, double-blind trial to receive either omega-3 fatty acids or placebo, both administered at a dose of 4 g daily for 12 weeks. LDL subfractions prior to and after treatment were separated via low-speed ultracentrifugation and analyzed via immunoelectrophoresis. Adiponectin, apoB100, and B48 levels were measured using an ELISA kit. RESULTS: sdLDL proportions were reduced in the omega-3 fatty acids group by 11% after 12 weeks of treatment (n = 17, P = 0.001), and were reduced by 4% in the control group (n = 11, P = 0.096). The patients receiving the omega-3 fatty acids evidenced a significant reduction in the levels of triglyceride (P = 0.001), apoB100, and B48 after 12 weeks (P = 0.038 and P = 0.009, respectively) relative to the baseline. Omega-3 fatty acids supplementation increased fasting blood glucose (P = 0.011), but the levels of HbA1c in each group did not change to a statistically significance degree. The adiponectin value was not reduced in the omega-3 fatty acids group (P = 0.133); by way of contrast, the placebo group evidenced a significant reduction in adiponectin value after 12 weeks (P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Omega-3 fatty acid treatment proved effective in the reduction of atherogenic sdLDL and apoB in type 2 diabetic patients (Clinical trials reg. no. NCT 00758927, clinicaltrials.gov).
Adiponectin ; Apolipoprotein B-48 ; Apolipoproteins ; Apolipoproteins B ; Blood Glucose ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Cholesterol ; Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Fasting ; Fatty Acids, Omega-3 ; Humans ; Immunoelectrophoresis ; Lipoproteins ; Plasma ; Ultracentrifugation