Eyelid fissure dimensions in Japanese and in Brazilians of European descent over 50 years of age

<div><p>ABSTRACT Purpose: To investigate differences in the palpebral fissure eyelid position in Japanese subjects and in Brazilian subjects of European descent over 50 years of age. Methods: A cross-sectional study evaluating 50 Japanese subjects and 50 Brazilian subjects of European descent over 50 years of age was performed to evaluate the effect of aging on eyelid position. Digital photographs were taken with the eyes in the primary position and transferred to a computer to be processed by Scion imaging software for evaluation of palpebral fissure width, height, and margin reflex distance (MRD). The data were statistically analyzed according to sex, age, and race. Results: The width of the eyelid fissure in Japanese subjects was higher than that in Brazilian subjects, whereas the height of the eyelid fissure and the MRD1 was higher in Brazilians than in Japanese (p<0.01). Width, height, and MRD1 were linearly associated with age only in the Japanese group (p<0.05); this association was observed only with width in the Brazilian group (p<0.05). There were no differences according to laterality in either group (p>0.05). Conclusion: There are racial differences in age-related changes in the eyelids, which are more marked in Japanese subjects.</p></div

Frequency of occurrence of affections of the adnexa and external eye

<p></p><p>ABSTRACT Purpose: To observe the frequency of occurrence of affections involving the adnexa or the external eye, as well as to describe the demographic profile of patients. Methods: A prospective, population based, randomized study was done in the Midwest region of the state of São Paulo, in the years 2004/2005. Using a Mobile Ophthalmic Unit we evaluated 11,000 people. A comprehensive eye exam was performed. Data were transferred to excel table and for this study we used information relating to annexes and external eye diseases. The frequency of occurrence of the problems detected was statistically analyzed. Results: We identified 1,581(14.4%) disorders in the adnexa or in the external eye. The most common disorders were pterygium (9.4%), hordeolum (0.8%) and changes in eyelid position (1.7%) (ectropion, ptosis and trichiasis). Trauma, ectropion and pterygium were statistically more frequent in the male population. Conclusion: Of the surveyed disorders the most frequent in the population was pterygium, followed by inflammatory changes and alterations in the eyelid position.</p><p></p

Ocular trauma at the Botucatu medical school

<p></p><p>ABSTRACT Purpose: To evaluate serious eye trauma requiring admission for treatment at a university hospital. Methods: This was a retrospective study involving 303 patients with severe ocular trauma who required hospitalization at the Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of Botucatu - Unesp, from January 1998 to December 2008. Demographic data were evaluated and also the causes of accidents, factors involved, initial and final visual acuity (VA) as well as the procedures performed. Data were statistically analyzed. Results: Three hundred and seven severe eye traumas were admitted for surgery, most commonly affecting subjects between the ages of 26 and 40 (26%) who were male (82%). The trauma affecting adults occurred due to work or traffic accidents and in children, during leisure time or in the domestic environment. The cornea (75%) and area I (82%) was the most affected place. A penetrating trauma was most frequent, and the main causal agent was glass (18%), mainly affecting farmers (41%). The majority of the affected patients were not wearing protective equipment at the time of the ocular trauma. After surgery, the AV remained below 0.1 in 48% of affected individuals. The time between trauma and treatment influenced the visual prognosis. Conclusion: Severe eye trauma remains an important cause of morbidity and preventable monocular blindness. Although the severity of the ocular traumas, surgical treatment that is well conducted can minimize the damage to visual function and should reinforce the need for preventive measures.</p><p></p

Pathological hypertrophy and cardiac dysfunction are linked to aberrant endogenous unsaturated fatty acid metabolism

<div><p>Pathological cardiac hypertrophy leads to derangements in lipid metabolism that may contribute to the development of cardiac dysfunction. Since previous studies, using high saturated fat diets, have yielded inconclusive results, we investigated whether provision of a high-unsaturated fatty acid (HUFA) diet was sufficient to restore impaired lipid metabolism and normalize diastolic dysfunction in the pathologically hypertrophied heart. Male, Wistar rats were subjected to supra-valvar aortic stenosis (SVAS) or sham surgery. After 6 weeks, diastolic dysfunction and pathological hypertrophy was confirmed and both sham and SVAS rats were treated with either normolipidic or HUFA diet. At 18 weeks post-surgery, the HUFA diet failed to normalize decreased E/A ratios or attenuate measures of cardiac hypertrophy in SVAS animals. Enzymatic activity assays and gene expression analysis showed that both normolipidic and HUFA-fed hypertrophied hearts had similar increases in glycolytic <u>enzyme</u> activity and down-regulation of fatty acid oxidation <u>genes</u>. Mass spectrometry analysis revealed depletion of unsaturated fatty acids, primarily linoleate and oleate, within the endogenous lipid pools of normolipidic SVAS hearts. The HUFA diet did not restore linoleate or oleate in the cardiac lipid pools, but did <u>maintain</u> body weight and adipose mass in SVAS animals. Overall, these results suggest that, in addition to decreased fatty acid oxidation, aberrant unsaturated fatty acid metabolism may be a maladaptive signature of the pathologically hypertrophied heart. The HUFA diet is insufficient to reverse metabolic remodeling, diastolic dysfunction, or pathologically hypertrophy, <u>possibly</u> do to preferentially partitioning of unsaturated fatty acids to adipose tissue.</p></div

Air-Puff Tonometry in population research - a comparison with Goldmann tonometer in individuals with suspected ocular hypertension

<p></p><p>ABSTRACT Purpose: to evaluate the use of air tonometer (TA) in population studies in individuals suspected of ocular hypertension, comparing values with those provided by the Goldmann Tonometer (GT). Methods: a cross-sectional study was done using a probabilistic sample consisting of 11,452 individuals e"20 years old.A subsample composed by the individuals with IOP values obtained with TA e"20 mmHg was selected, in which IOP was repeated with the GT. The results of both tonometers were compared considering gender, referred color of skin, laterality, cup-to-disc ratio (Â0.6; e"0.6 and <0.8; e"0.8) and diagnosis, considering three situations: without glaucoma (NG), suspected glaucoma (SG) and patients with glaucoma (CG). The Student t test was used for paired samples and the Pearson correlation test to evaluate the association between IOP, age and tonometry. Results: we identified 198 individuals (339 eyes) with IOP e"20mmHg with the TA, who had the measures repeated with the GT. Two hundred and thirty-three eyes were considered as NG, 47 eyes as SG and 19 eyes as CG. In eyes with cup-to-disc ratio e"0.8, the TA and GT measurements were similar. In NG and SG, the TA overestimated values. There was an association between increased IOP and increasing age with both tonometers. Conclusion: IOP values are higher with TA compared to GT, especially when IOP is normal.There is agreement between the methods when IOP is high and the optic nerve excavation is increased, which validates the application of TA in population campaigns.</p><p></p

Echocardiographic data 6 weeks post SVAS surgery.

<p>Echocardiographic data 6 weeks post SVAS surgery.</p

Unsaturated fatty acid diet does not prevent upregulation of glycolytic enzyme activity in hypertrophied hearts.

<p>(A-C) Activities of hexokinase, phosphofructokinase and lactate dehydrogenase in heart lysates from sham and AS groups fed normolipidic (Normo) or high unsaturated fat diet (HUFA); (D) Citrate synthase activity; (E) Beta hydroxy-acyl CoA dehydrogenase (OHADH). * p<0.05 vs. respective sham (n = 9–13 per group).</p

Caloric content and fatty acid composition of diets used in the study.

<p>(A-B) The percentage of total calories arising from fats (black), protein (grey), and carbohydrates (white) in the normolipid (Normo) and high unsaturated fat diet (HUFA). (C) The relative abundance of fatty acids in both diets. Fatty acids are organized by degree of unsaturation and carbon length.</p

Unsaturated fat diet does not reverse down-regulation of fatty acid oxidation (FAO) related genes.

<p>Expression of cardiac genes involved in fatty acid oxidation from sham and AS groups fed normolipidic (Normo) or high-unsaturated fat diet (HUFA). (A) PGC1α: peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma coactivator 1-alpha; (B) PPARα: peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha; (C) FAT/CD36: fatty acid translocase; (D) CPT1β: carnitine palmitoyltransferase I beta; (E) MCAD: medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase. Data presented as fold-change from Sham-Normo. * p<0.05 vs. respective sham, (n = 9–11 per group).</p

Altered myosin heavy chain or calcium handling protein expression are not affected by high-unsaturated fat diet.

<p>Representative image of protein bands from (A) myosin heavy chain (MyHC), sarco/endoplasmic reticulum Ca2+-ATPase (SERCA2a), phospholamban (PLB), phosphorylated PLB at serine-16 (pPLB-Ser¹⁶), phosphorylated PLB at threonine-17 (pPLB-Thr¹⁷), and beta-actin (β-actin). (B) Quantification of the β-MyHC to α-MyHC isoforms. (C) Quantification of the SERCA2 normalized to β-actin. (D) Quantification of pPLB-Ser¹⁶ normalized to PLB. (E) Quantification of pPLB-Thr¹⁷ normalized to PLB. Data reported as fold change relative to Sham-Normo. * P <0.05 vs. respective sham; # <0.05 vs. AS-N, n = 6 each group.</p