Purpose: To investigate the pattern of Symptom Assessment in Dry Eye (SANDE) questionnaire symptom scores in dry eye disease (DED) patients and to assess the relationships with several dry eye signs. Methods: The medical records of 173 patients with DED were analyzed retrospectively. Each patient’s SANDE score and history of autoimmune disease and ocular surgery were investigated, and Schirmer’s test, tear film breakup time (TBUT), ocular surface staining score (OSS), tear osmolarity, and tear MMP-9 test were assessed. The distribution of SANDE scores and relationships between the SANDE score and various dry eye signs were analyzed. The relationships between the SANDE scores of TBUT (< 5 / ≥ 5) and OSS (< 3 / ≥ 3) subgroups were compared. Results: The average SANDE score was 52.6 ± 28.1. The SANDE scores were significantly higher in OSS ≥ 3 than in OSS < 3 (79.1 ± 21.6 vs. 51.1 ± 27.6, p = 0.030), and TBUT ≥ 5 had marginally significantly lower SANDE scores than TBUT < 5 (47.2 ± 25.6 vs. 55.6 ± 29.0, p = 0.050). TBUT was significantly negatively (R = -0.151, p = 0.024) correlated with the SANDE score, while OSS was marginally significantly positively (R = 0.111, p = 0.073) correlated. As OSS increased, the SANDE scores tended to increase (p for trend = 0.008). Other dry eye signs were not associated with the SANDE score. Conclusions The DED symptom score from the SANDE questionnaire was related to TBUT and OSS, but there was still a discrepancy between the symptoms and signs of DED.

Purpose: The main goal of this study was to identify the impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on grocery purchases (i.e., fresh and processed foods by grain, vegetable, fruit, seafood, and meat categories) in Korea. To understand the specific impact of COVID-19, the study period was divided into 3 segments: PRE-COVID-19, INTER-COVID-19, and POST-COVID-19. Methods: We used the microdata of household income and expenditure from Statistics Korea (KOSTAT), representing households across the country. The data comprised monthly grocery expenditure data from January 2019 to September 2022. First, we compared the PRECOVID-19 period to INTER-COVID-19 and then INTER-COVID-19 to POST-COVID-19 and used multiple regression analysis. The covariates used were the gender and age of the head of the household, the household’s monthly income, the number of family members, the price index, and the month (dummy variable). Results: The expenditures on all grocery categories except fresh fruit increased from PRE-COVID-19 to INTER-COVID-19. From INTER-COVID-19 to POST-COVID-19, almost all grocery category spending declined, with processed meat being the only exception.Most purchases of protein sources, increased during INTER-COVID-19 compared to PRECOVID-19, while ham/sausage/bacon for meat protein, fish cakes and canned seafood for seafood protein, and soy milk for plant-based protein did not decrease during POSTCOVID-19 compared to INTER-COVID-19. Conclusion These results show an overall increase in in-home grocery expenditure during COVID-19 due to an increase in eating at home, followed by a decrease in this expenditure in the POST-COVID-19 period. Among the trends, the protein and highly processed convenience food categories did not see a decline in spending during the POST-COVID-19 period, which is a reflection of the preferences of consumers in the post-COVID-19 period.

The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review of the literature for application of intranasal sodium citrate in the patients with olfactory dysfunction to help determine the sodium citrate treatments for this condition. Two authors independently searched the data base (Medline, Scopus, and the Cochrane database) for relevant studies from inception to January 2018. Included studies were randomized controlled studies published in English comparing topical sodium citrate application (treatment group) with saline (control group) in patients who had olfactory dysfunction. Outcomes of interest included the change of olfactory identification and threshold during 2 hours post-treatment. Three studies were enrolled in the meta-analysis. Compared with control group, treatment group did not increase posttreatment score of olfactory identification [standardized mean difference (SMD)=-0.03; 95% confidence interval (CI)=-0.29-0.24; I²=0%] and olfactory threshold (SMD=0.18; 95% CI=-0.09-0.45; I²=0%) significantly. In the degree of pre-post improvement of two outcomes, although treatment group statistically showed the significant improvement in olfactory threshold (SMD=0.30; 95% CI=0.05-0.55; I²=17%), the clinical significance of this outcome was meaningless. Similarly, there was no significant difference in olfactory identification between two groups (SMD=0.17; 95% CI=-0.11-0.45; I²=22%). Unlike the recent favorable results, our summated results presented the uselessness for the local application of sodium citrate in improving patient's olfactory function. However, we also had some limitation such as small sample size and inconsistent application methods. Therefore, larger trials and standardized methodology are needed to reach more stronger and exact results.

The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review of the literature for application of intranasal sodium citrate in the patients with olfactory dysfunction to help determine the sodium citrate treatments for this condition. Two authors independently searched the data base (Medline, Scopus, and the Cochrane database) for relevant studies from inception to January 2018. Included studies were randomized controlled studies published in English comparing topical sodium citrate application (treatment group) with saline (control group) in patients who had olfactory dysfunction. Outcomes of interest included the change of olfactory identification and threshold during 2 hours post-treatment. Three studies were enrolled in the meta-analysis. Compared with control group, treatment group did not increase posttreatment score of olfactory identification [standardized mean difference (SMD)=-0.03; 95% confidence interval (CI)=-0.29-0.24; I²=0%] and olfactory threshold (SMD=0.18; 95% CI=-0.09-0.45; I²=0%) significantly. In the degree of pre-post improvement of two outcomes, although treatment group statistically showed the significant improvement in olfactory threshold (SMD=0.30; 95% CI=0.05-0.55; I²=17%), the clinical significance of this outcome was meaningless. Similarly, there was no significant difference in olfactory identification between two groups (SMD=0.17; 95% CI=-0.11-0.45; I²=22%). Unlike the recent favorable results, our summated results presented the uselessness for the local application of sodium citrate in improving patient's olfactory function. However, we also had some limitation such as small sample size and inconsistent application methods. Therefore, larger trials and standardized methodology are needed to reach more stronger and exact results.
Citric Acid ; Humans ; Sample Size ; Sodium

A 35-year-old male presented with atypical aphasia following left anterior choroidal artery infarction associated with distal internal carotid artery dissection. He presented with 1) lexical-semantic deficit without semantic impairment, 2) frequent surface errors (both surface dyslexia and dysgraphia), and 3) intact non-word reading/repetition (preserved sub-lexical route), suggesting deficit in the phonological output lexicon. Diffusion-tensor tractography analysis revealed disruption in the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and inferior longitudinal fasciculus, which might serve as potential subcortical neural correlates for phonological output lexicon.