The association of dry eye syndrome and psychiatric disorders: a nationwide population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Several previous studies reported a greater prevalence of dry eye syndrome (DES) among patients with psychiatric diseases. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of DES in patients with psychiatric disorders (PD) using nationwide population-based data in Taiwan. METHODS: This population-based cohort study retrospectively identified patients with PD from 1997 to 2011. Patients with both PD and DES served as the DES cohort, and PD patients without DES comprised the non-DES cohort. PD was defined as a diagnosis of PD (ICD-9-CM 290-319) made by psychiatrists only, with at least three consecutive outpatient visits or at least one inpatient visit. DES was defined as a diagnosis of DES (ICD-9-CM 375.15) and a prescription for an eye lubricant (anatomical therapeutic chemical code, ATC code: S01XA). The main outcome measures were the prevalence of DES in these patients and associated risk factors. RESULTS: A total of 75,650 patients with PD (3665 in the DES cohort and 71,985 in the non-DES cohort) were included in the final analysis. The majority of patients in the DES group were women (72.6%), compared the non-DES group (57.8%). The mean age of patients in the DES cohort was 62.2 ± 14.9, which was significantly older than those in the non-DES group (50.9 ± 17.5). The patients with DES had a significantly greater likelihood of having dementia, bipolar disorder, depression, and neurotic disorders. Conditional regression analyses revealed that patients with dry eye disease were more likely to have schizophrenia (OR = 1.34), bipolar disorder (OR = 1.9), depression (OR = 1.54), and neurotic disorders (OR = 1.62). In addition, patients with DES were more likely to use 1st generation anti-psychotics (OR = 1.28) and had a lower risk of using 2nd generation anti-psychotics (OR = 0.64). CONCLUSION: The study demonstrated that among PD patients, DES is highly prevalence in certain subtypes of PD, such as depression, bipolar disorder, and neurotic disorders, after adjusting for the comorbidities.

The harmful effects of acute PM2.5 exposure to the heart and a novel preventive and therapeutic function of CEOs.

Epidemiological researches have demonstrated the relationship between PM2.5 exposure and increased morbidity and mortality of cardiovascular injury. However, no effective therapeutic method was established. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of acute PM2.5 exposure on the mice heart tissue and explore the therapeutic effects of compound essential oils (CEOs) in this model. In this study, after mice were exposed to PM2.5 intratracheally, some obvious histopathological changes as well as some great alterations of proinflammatory cytokines were observed in the heart tissue. The imbalance of oxidative stress, the altered Ca2+ channel related proteins and the increased intracellular free Ca2+ were all involved in the heart impairment and would also be investigated in this model. The CEOs alleviated the heart impairment via its antioxidant effect rather than its anti-inflammatory function because our results revealed that oxidative stress related indicators were restored after CEOs administration. At the same time, increased concentration of intracellular free Ca2+ and ROS induced by PM2.5 were reduced after NAC (N-Acetyl-L-cysteine) administration. These data suggested that the acute PM2.5 exposure would damage heart tissue by inducing the inflammatory response, oxidative stress and intracellular free Ca2+ overload. PM2.5-induced oxidative stress probably increase intracellular free Ca2+ via RYR2 and SERCA2a. CEOs have the potential to be a novel effective and convenient therapeutic method to prevent and treat the acute heart impairment induced by PM2.5 via its antioxidant function.

Effects of pidotimod soluble powder and immune enhancement of Newcastle disease vaccine in chickens.

The aims of this study were to prepare pidotimod (PDM) soluble powder and to investigate the immune enhancement properties of PDM in chickens vaccinated with Newcastle disease virus vaccine. In vivo experiment, 360 6-day-old chickens were averagely divided into 6 groups. The chickens, except blank control (BC) group, were vaccinated with Newcastle disease vaccine (NDV). At the same time of the vaccination, the chickens in three PDM groups were given water with PDM for 5days, respectively, with the PDM at low, medium and high concentrations (0.25g/L, 0.5g/L, 1g/L), in control drug group was treated with 0.2ml/PDM dose via drinking water, in vaccination control (VC) and BC group, with equal volume physiological saline, once a day for five successive days. On days 14, 21 and 28 after the vaccination, the growth performance, the lymphocyte proliferation, serum antibody titer, the CD4/CD8 cell ratios and interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) were measured. The results showed that PDM at suitable dose could significantly promote growth performance, lymphocyte proliferation, enhance serum antibody titer, CD4/CD8 cell ratios and improve serum IL-2 and IFN-γ concentrations. It indicated that PDM could significantly improve the immune efficacy of Newcastle disease vaccine using doses of 0.5g/L, these results are consistent with the drug acting as an immunopotentiator.