Application of optical coherence tomography and keratograph in the measurements of lower lid margin thickness.

PURPOSE: This study aims to investigate the applicability of lower lid margin thickness (LLMT) measurements in adults with and without meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD) by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and keratograph. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional, observational study. A hundred and eight volunteers aged 20 to 79, including 68 MGD patients and 40 normal subjects, were recruited. Using OCT and keratograph to measure the LLMT from the posterior lash line to anterior edge or outer edge of the tear meniscus was separately performed two times by the same person. RESULTS: The mean age of normal and MGD subjects was 50.5 ± 14.2 years and 55.8 ± 15.5 years, respectively. The LLMT with OCT and keratograph in MGD patients was significantly greater than that in normal subjects (1.06 ± 0.27 and 1.03 ± 0.25 mm vs. 0.90 ± 0.20 and 0.86 ± 0.16 mm, respectively). In both normal and MGD subjects, the tear meniscus height and LLMT with OCT were both greater than that with keratograph (P < 0.05), and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) demonstrated a good agreement in the LLMT measurements between two devices (ICC = 0.83 and 0.79, respectively). Additionally, the LLMT in MGD patients was appeared to be positively correlated with meiboscore (rs = 0.37, P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: The OCT and keratograph were two reliable tools in the LLMT measurements, which may have potential applications for diagnosis and evaluation of MGD. Furthermore, we found that the LLMT measured by OCT was greater than that measured by keratograph.

Effect of the Meibomian Gland Squeezer for Treatment of Meibomian Gland Dysfunction.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of the meibomian gland squeezer for treatment of meibomian gland dysfunction (MGD). METHODS: Seventy patients (140 eyes) with MGD were randomly divided into 2 groups: 36 patients who were treated by the meibomian gland squeezer as the treatment group and 34 patients were selected as the control group. Patients were evaluated at baseline, and 2-week and 1-month visits for subjective symptoms, objective signs and pain assessments, including ocular symptom scores, Ocular Surface Disease Index, tear breakup time, corneal fluorescein staining, Schirmer scores with no anesthetic (Schirmer I test), meibum quality, meibum expressibility, and Numeric Rating Scale-11. RESULTS: Sixty-five patients were followed in the study, and mean (±SD) age was 57.0 (±12.6) years. Compared with baseline, the 2 groups had varying degrees of improvement in ocular symptom scores and Ocular Surface Disease Index at the 2-week and 1-month visits; there was a statistically significant difference between groups (P < 0.001). At the 1-month visit, the treatment group showed a greater improvement in the breakup time (3.8 ± 1.6 vs. 1.8 ± 1.0 seconds, P < 0.001), corneal fluorescein staining (-2.1 ± 2.13 vs. -0.9 ± 1.3, P = 0.03), Schirmer I test (5.3 ± 2.9 vs. 2.3 ± 2.8 mm, P < 0.001), meibum quality (-7.5 ± 2.9 vs. -5.3 ± 2.4, P = 0.004), and meibum expressibility (-1.2 ± 0.8 vs. -0.7 ± 0.4, P = 0.007). In the treatment group, the mean (±SD) of total pain scores was 2.4 ± 1.0, which indicated that mild pain was still predominant under topical anesthesia. CONCLUSIONS: The meibomian gland squeezer may be safe, effective, and helpful for treatment of MGD and may offer an attractive treatment option for some patients with MGD, although it can cause mild pain or discomfort.

Clinical features and early treatment effects in intermediate risk and poor risk acute myeloid leukemia with EVI1 positive / 北京大学学报(医学版)

Objective:To investigate the clinical biological characteristics of EVI1 positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and its effect on early chemotherapy.Methods:The clinical and biological characteristics of 33 AML patients with EVI1 positive were retrospectively analyzed in 361 AML patients who were diagnosed and treated in our institute from March 2015 to July 2016,and the clinical and biological features,and rates of the induced remission were compared between the intermediate risk and poor risk with EVI1 positive AML,moreover,the influential factors on complete remission (CR) were analyzed.The expression of EVI1/ABL was tested in 32 healthy donors to confirm the abnormal threshold of EVI1 expression.Results:The definition of EVI1 positive was that the quantitative expression of EVI1/ABL was more than 8.0％.The 33 AML patients with EVI1 positive were found in 361 newly diagnosed AML patients,in which the female and male patients were 17 and 16 respectively,the median age was 45 (18-67) years,with a median follow-up of 6.6 (0.7-13.2) months.Intermediate karyotype was found in 17 patients (including 9 patients with normal karyotypes,1 patient with + 8);unfavorable karyotype was found in 14 patients [including 7 patients with-7/7q-,4 patients with t (v;11q23),3 patients with inv (3)/t (3;3),and 2 patients without mitotic figures].The rate of CR in the first induction chemotherapy was 42.4％,and the rate of total CR was 60.6％.According to the NCCN,16 intermediate risk patients and poor risk patients were divided,without favorable risk patients.The rate of CR in the first induction chemotherapy were 68.8％ and 17.6％ (P =0.005) in the intermediate risk and poor risk respectively,that of total CR were 81.3％ and 41.2％ (P =0.032),and the rates of relapse were 7.7％ and 14.3％.Univariable analysis revealed that unfavorable karyotype could affect the rate of CR in the first reduction chemotherapy and that of total CR (P =0.004,0.029).The poor risk patients had higher mortality (41.2％ vs.6.3％,P =0.039) and lower overall survival (OS) (P =0.012).Conclusion:EVI1 may be not an independent prognostic factor for the AML patients considering the appearance in the intermediate and poor risk patients.It predicts poor outcome in the EVI1 positive AML patients who have unfavorable karyocytes,such as-7/7q-,t (v;11 q23),and inv (3)/t (3;3),and also a low rate of both CR in the first induction chemotherapy and total CR.It also has a low rate of long-term survival and high mortality in the AML patients with EVI1 positive,who may benefit from allogeneic bone marrow transplantation as soon as possible.

Effects of phacoemulsification on intraocular pressure and anterior chamber depth.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of phacoemulsification with intraocular lens (IOL) implantation on intraocular pressure (IOP) and anterior chamber depth (ACD) in patients with cataract or cataract associated with primary angle closure (PAC). A total of 361 patients (481 affected eyes) with senile cataract (cataract group) and 44 patients (52 affected eyes) with cataract associated with PAC (cataract with PAC group) underwent phacoemulsification with IOL implantation from July 2005 to May 2007 and were followed up for 3 to 25 months. There was a significant difference between pre-operative and post-operative IOPs (t=9.270, P<0.01) in the cataract group and in the cataract with PAC group (t=3.29, P<0.01). No significant differences were identified in pre-operative IOP (t=-2.437, P>0.05) and the IOP three months after surgery (t=2.154, P>0.05) between the two groups. There was a significant difference between the pre-operative and post-operative ACDs (t=7.781, P<0.01) in the cataract group and in the cataract with PAC group (t=4.528, P<0.01). A significant difference in ACD between the two groups (t=8.325, P<0.01) existed prior to surgery but following surgery, the ACDs of the two groups were not significantly different (t=2.86, P>0.05). Phacoemulsification with IOL implantation has IOP-lowering effects on cataract and cataract with PAC patients. The International Society of Geography and Epidemiology of Ophthalmology classification method for angle closure glaucoma was adopted in our study. Furhter studies are required to prove the safety and mechanism of lowering IOP impact of phacoemulsifation towards PAC glaucoma (PACG).