Polyethylene covers are claimed to be useful in preventing ocular surface diseases (OSD); however, evidence of their clinical efficacy is limited. This clinical trial aimed to compare the use of ...polyethylene eye covers and artificial teardrops versus normal saline on the incidence and severity of OSD in comatose patients.
Of 90 eligible patients randomly assigned to three treatment groups, 79 patients completed the study, In group A, patients (n = 25) received artificial teardrops for left and normal saline for right eyes, in group B (n = 29) polyethylene covers for left and normal saline for right eyes, and in group C (n = 25) polyethylene covers for left and artificial teardrops for right eyes. As the patients were comatose, their blinding did not applicable, and a blinded observer evaluated the patients' eyes based on the Corneal Fluorescein Staining Pattern. The blinded analyzer analyzed collected data by SPSS-16 software at a 95% confidential level.
The OSDs were observed in 65 (41.14%) out of 158 eyes examined. The artificial teardrop was more effective than the normal saline in group A, polyethylene eye cover was more useful than the normal saline in group B, and polyethylene eye cover was more effective than the artificial teardrop in group C in reducing the incidence of OSD (p< 0.01). Polyethylene eye covers had the most impact on reducing the severity of the OSD compared to the other interventions (p< .001).
Polyethylene eye covers significantly reduced the incidence and severity of OSD. Using polyethylene cover is suggested as a safe, effective, and accessible eye care intervention for preventing OSD in comatose patients.
(IRCT201609129014N115), Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials.
The main goal of this article is to present new inequalities for the spectral geometric mean
$ A\natural _t B $
A
♮
t
B
of two positive definite operators A, B on a Hilbert space. The obtained ...results complement many known inequalities for the geometric mean
$ A\sharp _t B $
A
♯
t
B
. In particular, explicit comparisons between
$ A\natural _t B $
A
♮
t
B
and
$ A\sharp _t B $
A
♯
t
B
are given, with applications towards Ando-type inequalities and Ando-Hiai inequalities for
$ A\natural _t B $
A
♮
t
B
and some other consequences.
We compare different possible scanning geometries for prostate photoacoustic tomography (PAT) while considering a realistic reconstruction scenario in which the limited view of the prostate and the ...directivity effect of the transducer are considered. Simulations and experiments confirm that an intra-operative configuration in which the photoacoustic signal is received by a pickup transducer from the anterior surface of the prostate provides the best approach. We propose a PAT acquisition system that includes a da Vinci system controlled by the da Vinci Research Kit, an illumination laser, and an ultrasound machine with parallel data acquisition. The robot maneuvers the pickup transducer to form a cylindrical detection surface around the prostate. The robot is programmed to acquire trajectories in which the transducer face is parallel to and oriented toward a rotational tomography axis, while the laser is fired and PAT data are collected at regular intervals. We present our initial images acquired with this novel system.
Background Red cell distribution width (RDW) is an index of red blood cell volume variability that has historically been used as a marker of iron deficiency anemia. More recently, studies have shown ...that elevated RDW is associated with higher mortality risk in the general population. However, there is lack of data demonstrating the association between RDW and mortality risk in hemodialysis (HD) patients. We hypothesized that higher RDW is associated with higher mortality in HD patients. Study Design Retrospective observational study using a large HD patient cohort. Setting & Participants 109,675 adult maintenance HD patients treated in a large dialysis organization from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2011. Predictor Baseline and time-varying RDW, grouped into 5 categories: <14.5%, 14.5% to <15.5%, 15.5% to <16.5%, 16.5% to <17.5%, and ≥17.5%. RDW of 15.5% to <16.5% was used as the reference category. Outcome All-cause mortality. Results Mean age of study participants was 63 ± 15 (SD) years and the study cohort was 44% women. In baseline and time-varying analyses, there was a graded association between higher RDW and incrementally higher mortality risk. Receiver operating characteristic, net reclassification analysis, and integrated discrimination improvement analyses demonstrated that RDW is a stronger predictor of mortality as compared with traditional markers of anemia, such as hemoglobin, ferritin, and iron saturation values. Limitations Lack of comprehensive data that may be associated with both RDW and HD patient outcomes, such as blood transfusion data, socioeconomic status, and other unknown confounders; therefore, the possibility of residual confounding could not be excluded. Also, lack of information for cause of death; thus, cardiovascular mortality outcomes could not be examined. Conclusions In HD patients, higher RDW is associated with incrementally higher mortality risk. RDW is also a stronger predictor of mortality than traditional laboratory markers of anemia. Further studies are needed to determine the mechanisms underlying the association between RDW and mortality.
•The effect of LCZ696 (sacubitril/valsartan) on uremic cardiomyopathy was evaluated.•LCZ696 improved CKD-related cardiomyopathy more effectively than valsartan therapy alone.•LCZ696 attenuated ...CKD-related cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis and aortic fibrosis.•Salutary effects of LCZ696 were partly mediated by anti-inflammatory and antioxidant mechanisms.•LCZ696 also improved indicators of mitochondrial mass/function.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with cardiac hypertrophy, fibrosis, and increased risk of cardiovascular mortality. LCZ696 (sacubitril/valsartan) is a promising agent that has shown significant potential in treatment of heart failure. We hypothesized that LCZ696 is more effective than valsartan alone in the treatment of cardiovascular abnormalities associated with experimental CKD.
Male Sprague-Dawley rats underwent 5/6 nephrectomy and were subsequently randomized to no treatment (CKD), 30 mg/kg valsartan (VAL), or 60 mg/kg LCZ696 (LCZ). After 8 weeks, cardiovascular parameters, including markers of inflammation, oxidative stress, mitochondrial abundance/function, hypertrophy, and fibrosis, were measured. Treatment with LCZ resulted in significant improvements in the heart-body weight ratio and serum concentrations of N-terminal pro–B-type natriuretic peptide and fibroblast growth factor 23 along with improvement of kidney function. In addition, LCZ ameliorated aortic fibrosis and cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis, reduced markers of cardiac oxidative stress and inflammation, and improved indicators of mitochondrial mass/function. Although VAL also improved some of these indices, treatment with LCZ was more effective than VAL alone.
CKD-associated cardiovascular abnormalities, including myocardial hypertrophy, fibrosis, inflammation, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial depletion/dysfunction, were more effectively attenuated by LCZ treatment than by VAL alone.
We prove an inner product inequality for Hilbert space operators. This inequality will be utilized to present a general numerical radius inequality using convex functions. Applications of the new ...results include obtaining new forms that generalize and extend some well known results in the literature, with an application to the newly defined generalized numerical radius. We emphasize that the approach followed in this article is different from the approaches used in the literature to obtain such versions.
Consumption of cannabis and various related products (cannabinoids) for both medicinal and recreational use is gaining popularity. Furthermore, regulatory changes are fostering a cultural shift ...toward increasing liberalization of cannabis use, thereby increasing the likelihood of even larger numbers of individuals being exposed in the future. The two different types of receptors (CB
and CB
) that are activated by the pharmacologically active ingredients of cannabis are found in numerous tissues, including the kidneys. Experimental studies suggest that stimulation of these receptors using pharmacologic agents or their naturally occurring ligands could have both deleterious and beneficial effects on the kidneys, depending on receptor distribution, type of renal insult, or the timing of the activation during acute or chronic states of kidney injury. To date, the mechanisms by which the CB
or CB
receptors are involved in the pathology of these renal conditions remain to be fully described. Furthermore, a better understanding of the impact of exocannabinoids and endocannabinoids on the renal system may lead to the development of new drugs to treat kidney disease and its complications. Given the increasing public health relevance of cannabis exposure, it is clear that more research is necessary to clarify the various physiological and pathophysiological effects of cannabis and related analogs on the kidney. This will help limit the deleterious effects of these substances while promoting their potential beneficial impact on renal function in various types of kidney diseases.
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