PURPOSE: To establish the strength of the association between routine tear function tests and conjunctival impression cytology (CIC) and to determine whether they simulate the morphological and cytological changes that occur on the ocular surface in dry eye. What are the sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive values of these tests when CIC is considered the gold standard? METHODS: The tear film profile included tear film break up time (TBUT), Schirmer's-1, Rose Bengal scores (RBS), and impression cytology. CIC samples were obtained from the inferior bulbar conjunctiva and stained with periodic acid-Schiff and counter stained with hematoxylin and eosin. RESULTS: The mean Schirmer's value was 11.66 +/- 5.90 in patients and 17.17 +/- 2.97 in controls (p < 0.001). The mean TBUT in participants was 8.88 +/- 3.54 and 13.53 +/- 2.12 in controls (p < 0.001). Patients had a mean goblet cell density (GCD) of 490 +/- 213, while the value for controls was 1,462 +/- 661 (p < 0.001). Abnormal CIC was observed in 46.7% cases of dry eye and in 32.8% of controls. The correlation coefficient (L) for Schirmer's was 0.2 and 0.24 for participants and controls, respectively, while TBUT values were 0.26 and 0.38, RBS were 0.5 and 0.5, and GCD was 0.8 and 0.6 in cases and controls, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: GCD, RBS, and TBUT were better predictors of morphological and cytological changes in the conjunctiva than Schirmer's in dry eye syndrome. The sensitivity of tear function tests in diagnosing dry eye was TBUT > Schirmer's > RBS, and the specificity was Schirmer's > TBUT > RBS in decreasing order when CIC was considered the gold standard.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Conjunctiva/pathology ; Diagnostic Techniques, Ophthalmological/*standards ; Dry Eye Syndromes/*diagnosis/*pathology ; Eosine Yellowish-(YS)/diagnostic use ; Female ; Goblet Cells/pathology ; Hematoxylin/diagnostic use ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Ophthalmology/*standards ; Periodic Acid-Schiff Reaction/standards ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Rose Bengal/diagnostic use ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; *Tears ; Young Adult

Subacute posttraumatic ascending myelopathy is a rare disorder, unrelated to syrinx formation or mechanical instability, which may gradually emerge within the first 1-2 weeks after a spinal cord injury and may lead to diagnostic and prognostic dilemmas. We present a case of 24-year-old female with unstable wedge compression fracture of L1 vertebrae with signal changes in the upper lumbar cord causing complete paraplegia below D9 with bladder and bowel involvement. In the subsequent week, she developed a delayed progressively increasing neurological deficit with cord signal abnormality on MRI extending cephalad from the injury site to the upper dorsal cord. The patient had no initial clinical improvement initially but showed a delayed recovery over months.
Adult ; Female ; Humans ; Spinal Cord Diseases ; etiology ; therapy ; Spinal Cord Injuries ; complications ; Spinal Fractures ; complications

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to assess the attractive facial features of the Indian population. We tried to evaluate subjective ratings of facial attractiveness and identify which facial aesthetic subunits were important for facial attractiveness. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted of 150 samples (referred to as candidates). Frontal photographs were analyzed. An orthodontist, a prosthodontist, an oral surgeon, a dentist, an artist, a photographer and two laymen (estimators) subjectively evaluated candidates' faces using visual analog scale (VAS) scores. As an objective method for facial analysis, we used balanced angular proportional analysis (BAPA). Using SAS 10.1 (SAS Institute Inc.), the Turkey's studentized range test and Pearson correlation analysis were performed to detect between-group differences in VAS scores (Experiment 1), to identify correlations between VAS scores and BAPA scores (Experiment 2), and to analyze the characteristic features of facial attractiveness and gender differences (Experiment 3); the significance level was set at P=0.05. RESULTS: Experiment 1 revealed some differences in VAS scores according to professional characteristics. In Experiment 2, BAPA scores were found to behave similarly to subjective ratings of facial beauty, but showed a relatively weak correlation coefficient with the VAS scores. Experiment 3 found that the decisive factors for facial attractiveness were different for men and women. Composite images of attractive Indian male and female faces were constructed. CONCLUSIONS: Our photogrammetric study, statistical analysis, and average composite faces of an Indian population provide valuable information about subjective perceptions of facial beauty and attractive facial structures in the Indian population.
Beauty ; Cross-Sectional Studies ; Dentists ; Female ; Humans ; India ; Male ; Photogrammetry ; Statistics as Topic ; Visual Analog Scale