Use of complementary and alternative therapies in outpatients with Parkinson's disease in Argentina.

We interviewed 300 patients (54.7% male; mean age was 65.8 ± 9.5) attending the Movement Disorders Clinic at the Buenos Aires University Hospital to determine the prevalence of CATs use and their association with demographic, social, or disease-specific characteristics among patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We found that 25.7% of the PD patients interviewed (77/300) stated they had used CATs to improve their PD symptoms whereas 38.0% (114/300) had used some CATs without any relation to PD, at least once in life. At the moment of the interview, CATs prevalence use was 50.6% in the former group and 25.0% in the latter. The use of CATs was much more frequent among women and more common in the 50- to 69-year age group. Friends and neighbors of the patients had most frequently recommended these therapies. No major association was observed between CATs use and the duration of the disease, side of initial involvement, PD phenotype, or the Hoehn and Yahr staging. Acupuncture, homeopathy, yoga, and therapeutic massage were the most widely used therapies. After the initiation of conventional treatment the use of massage, yoga, and acupuncture in patients using CATs to improve PD significantly increased. Neurologists should be aware and inquire about the use of CATs to rule out potentially harmful effects.

Disinfecting solutions for soft contact lenses using different color indicators.

PURPOSE: The color change reached in two commercial disinfecting solutions for soft contact lenses using new color indicators has been analyzed, and its relationship with the temporal evolution of the hydrogen peroxide concentration, responsible for the disinfection process, has been examined. The results are compared with another commercial solution using a different color indicator. METHODS: Color measurements of the disinfecting solutions were performed at 2-minute intervals for over 2 hours using a Photo-Research PR-704 spectroradiometer with horizontal optical axis. Samples were placed at the floor of a VeriVide CAC 120 light booth with a Munsell gray mask behind them. Two different standard light sources, representative of outdoor and indoor illumination, were used. The hydrogen peroxide concentration during the disinfection process was measured for each commercial solution using a Beckman DU-7 spectrophotometer. RESULTS: The temporal evolutions of color for the two new disinfecting solutions were qualitatively different. CIELAB color differences induced in these two new disinfecting solutions were 1.5 and 2.2 times greater than that measured in the earlier comparative solution and occur in a more appropriate direction of color space for users with defective color vision. Although the earlier solution generated color changes close to the deutan confusion line, the changes produced by the new solutions are close to the tritan confusion line. After 2 hours, the hydrogen peroxide concentration for the two new solutions was approximately one-third the one reached by the earlier solution. There are statistically significant correlations (p < 0.01) between color change and hydrogen peroxide concentration for the two new solutions (r = -0.878 and r = -0.990). CONCLUSIONS: Color changes in these hydrogen peroxide systems can be used as a safe and useful tool by contact lens wearers. The two new disinfecting solutions analyzed in this article show noteworthy improvements over the earlier solution.