AIM: To evaluate the clinical success of living related conjunctival limbal and amniotic membrane transplantation for treatment of chemical injury induced limbal stem cell deficiency.METHODS: From July 2005 to December 2007, 10 eyes of 9 male patients with chemical injury induced limbal stem cell deficiency were included in the study. All subjects underwent living related conjunctival limbal and amniotic membrane transplantation. Blepharorrhaphy was performed in two cases. Systemic immunosuppression with cyclosporine and prednisolone was initiated.RESULTS: Complete corneal epithelialization was observed in 3 eyes (30%). In one of the patients immunologic rejection and corneal melting led to perforation 1.5 months after surgery. The increasing dose of systemic immunosuppression was used to control it. Three eyes were described as primary failure because graft could not re-epithelialize the corneal surface. The remained four eyes showed partial re-epithelialization, but failed to cover the entire corneal surface with epithelium. Best corrected visual acuity ranged from hand movement to counting finger at 1 meter before the surgery and after the surgery was light perception to 20/80. Five eyes had visual improvement without any additional procedure. Dry eye and persistent inflammation were known as main causes of failure.CONCLUSION: Living related conjunctival limbal allograft and amniotic membrane transplantation can be a good option in the management of limbal stem cell deficiency in selected cases in which tear production and control of ocular inflammation are adequate.

INTRODUCTIONObstructive sleep apnoea syndrome (OSAS), characterised by intermittent hypoxia/re-oxygenation, has been identified as an independent risk factor for cardiovascular diseases and endothelial dysfunction. Our aim was to investigate flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea with and without metabolic syndrome.

MATERIALS AND METHODSFifty-two subjects with OSAS diagnosed by polysomnography were classified into 2 groups according to the presence and absence of the metabolic syndrome and also according to the severity: mild to moderate OSAS group and severe OSAS group. Endothelial function of the brachial artery was evaluated by using high-resolution vascular ultrasound. Endothelial-dependent dilatation (EDD) was assessed by establishing reactive hyperaemia and endothelial-independent dilatation (EID) was determined by using sublingual isosorbide dinitrate. Spearman correlation and regression analysis were performed.

RESULTSEDD was not significantly different in patients with OSAS and metabolic syndrome as compared with OSAS without metabolic syndrome (4.62 +/- 0.69 versus 4.49 +/- 0.93, P >0.05).

CONCLUSIONSEndothelial dysfunction in OSA may be independent of metabolic syndrome.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Case-Control Studies ; Endothelium, Vascular ; diagnostic imaging ; physiopathology ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Metabolic Syndrome ; Middle Aged ; Sleep Apnea, Obstructive ; complications ; Ultrasonography ; Young Adult

It has been shown that some opium derivatives promote cell death via apoptosis. This study was designed to examine the influence of opium addiction on brain and liver cells apoptosis in male and female diabetic and non-diabetic Wistar rats. This experimental study was performed on normal, opium-addicted, diabetic and diabetic opium-addicted male and female rats. Apoptosis was evaluated by TUNEL and DNA fragmentation assays. Results of this study showed that apoptosis in opium-addicted and diabetic opium-addicted brain and liver cells were significantly higher than the both normal and diabetic rats. In addition, we found that apoptosis in brain cells of opium-addicted and diabetic opium-addicted male rats were significantly higher than opium-addicted and diabetic opium-addicted female, whereas apoptosis in liver cells of opium-addicted and diabetic opium-addicted female rats were significantly higher than opium-addicted and diabetic opium-addicted male. Overall, these results indicate that opium probably plays an important role in brain and liver cells apoptosis, therefore, leading neurotoxicity and hepatotoxicity. These findings also in away possibly means that male brain cells are more susceptible than female and interestingly liver of females are more sensitive than males in induction of apoptosis by opium.
Animals ; Apoptosis ; Brain ; Cell Death ; DNA Fragmentation ; Female ; Humans ; In Situ Nick-End Labeling ; Liver ; Male ; Opium ; Rats ; Rats, Wistar

Purpose: Investigations of the hemodynamic changes of the venous system in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) have shown contradictory results. Herein, the biomechanical parameters of the internal jugular vein (IJV) and common carotid artery (CCA) of MS patients were extracted and compared to healthy individuals. Methods: B-mode and Doppler sequential ultrasound images of 64 IJVs and CCAs of women including 22 healthy individuals, 22 relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients, and 20 primary-progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) patients were recorded and processed. The biomechanical parameters of the IJV and the CCA walls during three cardiac cycles were calculated. Results: The IJV maximum and minimum pressures were higher in the MS patients than in the healthy subjects, by 31% and 19% in RRMS patients and 39% and 24% in PPMS patients. The venous wall thicknesses in RRMS and PPMS patients were 51% and 60% higher than in healthy subjects, respectively. IJV distensibility in RRMS and PPMS patients was 70% and 75% lower, and compliance was 40% and 59% lower than in healthy subjects. The maximum intima-media thicknesses of the CCAs were 38% and 24%, and the minimum intima-media thicknesses were 27% and 23% higher in RRMS and PPMS patients than in healthy individuals, respectively. The shear modulus of CCA walls in RRMS and PPMS patients was 17% and 31%, and the radial elastic moduli were 47% and 9% higher than in healthy individuals. Conclusion Some physical and biomechanical parameters of the CCA and IJV showed significant differences between MS patients and healthy individuals.

OBJECTIVES: Although the effect of physical activity (PA) on the incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) has been studied, contradictory results have been reported. Such discrepancies may reflect the different effects of various types of PA upon AF, as well as gender interactions. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the associations of PA types (total, moderate/vigorous, and intentional), as well as walking pace, with AF risk in men and women.METHODS: Using the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Typical Week Physical Activity Survey, 3 PA measures and walking pace were calculated among 6,487 men and women aged 45-84 years. The incidence of AF over approximately 11 years of follow-up was ascertained. The association of each PA measure and walking pace with AF incidence was estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazard models. An extended Cox model with Heaviside functions (hv) of time was used to estimate the effects of time-varying covariates.RESULTS: During 11 years of follow-up (49,557 person-years), 242 new AF cases occurred. The incidence rate of AF was 48.83 per 10,000 person-years. The proportional hazard (PH) assumption for total PA among women was not met; hence, we used the hv to calculate the hazard ratio. Total PA in women in the hv2 analysis was negatively associated with AF in all 3 models, although for hv1 no significant association was observed. The PH assumption for walking pace among men was not met, and none of the hv showed a statistically significant association between walking pace and AF in men.CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that PA is inversely associated with AF in women.
Atherosclerosis ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Incidence ; Male ; Motor Activity ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Survival Analysis ; Walking

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of pre-hypertension and its sub-classification on the development of diabetes.METHODS: In this cohort study, 2,941 people 40 to 64 years old without hypertension or diabetes were followed from 2009 through 2014. According to the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure (JNC)-7 criteria, we classified participants into normal and pre-hypertension groups. The effect of pre-hypertension on the 5-year incidence rate of diabetes was studied using inverse probability of treatment weighting. We modeled the exposure and censored cases given confounding factors such as age, sex, body mass index, smoking, economic status, and education.RESULTS: The 5-year incidence rate of diabetes among people with pre-hypertension and those with normal blood pressure (BP) was 12.7 and 9.7%, respectively. The risk ratio (RR) for people with pre-hypertension was estimated to be 1.13 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.90 to 1.41). The RRs among people with normal BP and high-normal BP, according to the JNC-6 criteria, compared to those with optimal BP were 0.96 (95% CI, 0.73 to 1.25) and 1.31 (95% CI, 1.01 to 1.72), respectively.CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that participants who had higher levels of BP (high-normal compared to optimal BP) had a higher risk of diabetes development. With regard to the quantitative nature of BP, using the specifically distinguishing of stage 1 hypertension or high-normal BP may be a more meaningful categorization for diabetes risk assessment than the JNC-7 classification.
Blood Pressure ; Body Mass Index ; Classification ; Cohort Studies ; Diabetes Mellitus ; Education ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Iran ; Joints ; Models, Structural ; Odds Ratio ; Prehypertension ; Prospective Studies ; Risk Assessment ; Smoke ; Smoking

OBJECTIVES: We analyzed dietary patterns using reduced rank regression (RRR), and assessed how well the scores extracted by RRR predicted stroke in comparison to the scores produced by partial least squares and principal component regression models.METHODS: Dietary data at baseline were used to extract dietary patterns using the 3 methods, along with 4 response variables: body mass index, fibrinogen, interleukin-6, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The analyses were based on 5,468 males and females aged 45–84 years who had no clinical cardiovascular disease, using data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.RESULTS: The primary factor derived by RRR was positively associated with stroke incidence in both models. The first model was adjusted for sex and race and the second model was adjusted for the variables in model 1 as well as smoking, physical activity, family and sibling history of stroke, the use of any lipid-lowering medication, the use of any anti-hypertensive medication, hypertension, and history of myocardial infarction (model 1: hazard ratio [HR], 7.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.66 to 33.69; p for trend=0.01; model 2: HR, 6.83; 95% CI, 1.51 to 30.87 for quintile 5 compared with the reference category; p for trend=0.02).CONCLUSIONS: Based primarily on RRR, we identified that a dietary pattern high in fats and oils, poultry, non-diet soda, processed meat, tomatoes, legumes, chicken, tuna and egg salad, and fried potatoes and low in dark-yellow and cruciferous vegetables may increase the incidence of ischemic stroke.
Atherosclerosis ; Body Mass Index ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Chickens ; Cholesterol ; Continental Population Groups ; Diet ; Fabaceae ; Fats ; Female ; Fibrinogen ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Interleukin-6 ; Least-Squares Analysis ; Lipoproteins ; Lycopersicon esculentum ; Male ; Meat ; Methods ; Motor Activity ; Myocardial Infarction ; Oils ; Ovum ; Poultry ; Risk Factors ; Siblings ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Solanum tuberosum ; Stroke ; Tuna ; Vegetables

OBJECTIVES: Although the effect of physical activity (PA) on the incidence of atrial fibrillation (AF) has been studied, contradictory results have been reported. Such discrepancies may reflect the different effects of various types of PA upon AF, as well as gender interactions. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the associations of PA types (total, moderate/vigorous, and intentional), as well as walking pace, with AF risk in men and women. METHODS: Using the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis Typical Week Physical Activity Survey, 3 PA measures and walking pace were calculated among 6,487 men and women aged 45-84 years. The incidence of AF over approximately 11 years of follow-up was ascertained. The association of each PA measure and walking pace with AF incidence was estimated using multivariable Cox proportional hazard models. An extended Cox model with Heaviside functions (hv) of time was used to estimate the effects of time-varying covariates. RESULTS: During 11 years of follow-up (49,557 person-years), 242 new AF cases occurred. The incidence rate of AF was 48.83 per 10,000 person-years. The proportional hazard (PH) assumption for total PA among women was not met; hence, we used the hv to calculate the hazard ratio. Total PA in women in the hv2 analysis was negatively associated with AF in all 3 models, although for hv1 no significant association was observed. The PH assumption for walking pace among men was not met, and none of the hv showed a statistically significant association between walking pace and AF in men. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that PA is inversely associated with AF in women.
Atherosclerosis* ; Atrial Fibrillation* ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Hydrogen-Ion Concentration ; Incidence ; Male ; Motor Activity* ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Survival Analysis* ; Walking

OBJECTIVES: The lower mortality rate of obese patients with heart failure (HF) has been partly attributed to reverse causation bias due to weight loss caused by disease. Using data about weight both before and after HF, this study aimed to adjust for reverse causation and examine the association of obesity both before and after HF with mortality. METHODS: Using the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) study, 308 patients with data available from before and after the incidence of HF were included. Pre-morbid and post-morbid obesity were defined based on body mass index measurements at least three months before and after incident HF. The associations of pre-morbid and post-morbid obesity and weight change with survival after HF were evaluated using a Cox proportional hazard model. RESULTS: Pre-morbid obesity was associated with higher mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04 to 2.49) but post-morbid obesity was associated with increased survival (HR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.37 to 0.88). Adjusting for weight change due to disease as a confounder of the obesity-mortality relationship resulted in the absence of any significant associations between post-morbid obesity and mortality. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that controlling for reverse causality by adjusting for the confounder of weight change may remove or reverse the protective effect of obesity on mortality among patients with incident HF.
Atherosclerosis* ; Bias (Epidemiology) ; Body Mass Index ; Heart Failure* ; Heart* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mortality* ; Obesity* ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Weight Loss

OBJECTIVES: We analyzed dietary patterns using reduced rank regression (RRR), and assessed how well the scores extracted by RRR predicted stroke in comparison to the scores produced by partial least squares and principal component regression models. METHODS: Dietary data at baseline were used to extract dietary patterns using the 3 methods, along with 4 response variables: body mass index, fibrinogen, interleukin-6, and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. The analyses were based on 5,468 males and females aged 45–84 years who had no clinical cardiovascular disease, using data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis. RESULTS: The primary factor derived by RRR was positively associated with stroke incidence in both models. The first model was adjusted for sex and race and the second model was adjusted for the variables in model 1 as well as smoking, physical activity, family and sibling history of stroke, the use of any lipid-lowering medication, the use of any anti-hypertensive medication, hypertension, and history of myocardial infarction (model 1: hazard ratio [HR], 7.49; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.66 to 33.69; p for trend=0.01; model 2: HR, 6.83; 95% CI, 1.51 to 30.87 for quintile 5 compared with the reference category; p for trend=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Based primarily on RRR, we identified that a dietary pattern high in fats and oils, poultry, non-diet soda, processed meat, tomatoes, legumes, chicken, tuna and egg salad, and fried potatoes and low in dark-yellow and cruciferous vegetables may increase the incidence of ischemic stroke.
Atherosclerosis* ; Body Mass Index ; Cardiovascular Diseases ; Chickens ; Cholesterol ; Continental Population Groups ; Diet ; Fabaceae ; Fats ; Female ; Fibrinogen ; Humans ; Hypertension ; Incidence ; Interleukin-6 ; Least-Squares Analysis ; Lipoproteins ; Lycopersicon esculentum ; Male ; Meat ; Methods* ; Motor Activity ; Myocardial Infarction ; Oils ; Ovum ; Poultry ; Risk Factors* ; Siblings ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Solanum tuberosum ; Stroke* ; Tuna ; Vegetables