Scleral contact lenses for visual rehabilitation in keratoconus and irregular astigmatism after refractive surgery

AbstractThis study aims to report our experience of using fluid-ventilated, gas-permeable scleral contact lenses (SCLs) for visual rehabilitation of patients with keratoconus and irregular astigmatism after refractive surgery. This is a noncomparative interventional case series reporting eight consecutive patients fitted with SCLs because of irregular astigmatism following the failure of other optical corrections. Retrospective chart review and data analysis included age, sex, etiology prior to lens fitting, visual outcomes, follow-up time, and complications. Twelve eyes of eight patients were studied. All eyes were fitted with SCLs due to unsatisfactory vision with spectacle correction or other contact lens modalities. Five eyes had keratoconus and seven had irregular corneas post refractive surgery. The mean follow-up period was 14.4 ± 1.3 months (range 11–17 months). The mean age was 32.63 ± 7.68 years (range 18–48 years). The average steepest keratometry(Kmax) of our series was 49.56 ± 12.2 D. The mean refractive astigmatism was 5.50 ± 5.3 D. The mean best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) in logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution improved from 0.71 ± 0.50 (range 0.10–1.40) to 0.05 ± 0.07 (range 0.00–0.15) after SCL fitting (p < 0.001). All reported eyes achieved significant improvement in the BCVA with SCL fitting. None of the patients discontinued to wear SCLs. SCLs should be considered lenses of choice in irregular corneas refractory to conventional optical correction

Distribution of corneal and ocular spherical aberrations in eyes with cataract in the Taiwanese population

AbstractPurposeTo investigate the distribution of corneal and ocular spherical aberrations (SAs) in eyes with cataract in the Taiwanese population.MethodsCorneal and ocular SAs were measured in the central 6-mm optical zone using wavefront aberrometry. Axial length (AL) and keratometry (K) were also evaluated in each eye.ResultsA total of 413 eyes in 234 patients were analyzed. The mean age of the patients was 66.8 ± 10.64 years. The mean AL and K values were 24.32 mm and 44.08 D, respectively. The mean corneal SA was 0.307 ± 0.135 μm and ocular SA was −0.042 ± 0.487 μm. Ocular and corneal SAs were significantly correlated (r2 = 0.04, p < 0.001). Corneal and ocular SAs were not significantly correlated with K (p = 0.096 and p = 0.634, respectively), but were significantly correlated with AL (p < 0.001). Multilinear regression showed that corneal SAs and age were the dependent variables that predicted ocular SAs (r2 = 0.143, F = 13.65, p < 0.01), especially in patients who were aged > 50 years, for whom a strongly significant positive correlation was found (r2 = 0.102, F = 11.10, p < 0.001).ConclusionCorneal and ocular SAs varied among cataract patients and correlated with AL. After 50 years of age, ocular SAs increased significantly because of an increase in internal (lenticular) SAs. Corneal SAs in Taiwanese patients were larger than those in Japanese patients and similar to those in Chinese and Malaysian populations. Preoperative measurement of wavefront aberrations is necessary to select which aspherical intraocular lenses are most suitable for achieving better postoperative visual quality

Clinical development of liposome-based drugs: formulation, characterization, and therapeutic efficacy

Research on liposome formulations has progressed from that on conventional vesicles to new generation liposomes, such as cationic liposomes, temperature sensitive liposomes, and virosomes, by modulating the formulation techniques and lipid composition. Many research papers focus on the correlation of blood circulation time and drug accumulation in target tissues with physicochemical properties of liposomal formulations, including particle size, membrane lamellarity, surface charge, permeability, encapsulation volume, shelf time, and release rate. This review is mainly to compare the therapeutic effect of current clinically approved liposome-based drugs with free drugs, and to also determine the clinical effect via liposomal variations in lipid composition. Furthermore, the major preclinical and clinical data related to the principal liposomal formulations are also summarized

Exploring the Dynamic Model of the Returns from Value Stocks and Growth Stocks Using Time Series Mining

[[abstract]]This study considered that value stocks and growth stocks are 2-dimensional concepts. We defined the book-to-market ratio as the value factor and the return on equity as the growth factor. We used these 2 factors to divide stocks into 4 types: high-value, low-value, high-growth, and low-growth stocks. Furthermore, we explored the change in stock prices and stock returns for these 4 categories before and after the formation of investment portfolios. We also established a dynamic model showing the returns from value stocks and growth stocks, called the exponential decay model. Finally, we used Taiwan Stock Exchange data to examine effectiveness of the model during the period from 1995-2009. The results are as follows: First, high-value stocks and low-value stocks exhibit a significantly over-reacting phenomenon. Second, high-growth stocks and low-growth stocks exhibit an obviously under-reacting phenomenon. Third, in each current quarter, high-value stocks exhibit the lowest returns; however, in the subsequent quarter, they have the highest returns, and then demonstrate a slow declining trend in the following quarters. These results showed that the stock market can exhibit a dramatic response to extraordinary information and proved that the stock market requires considerable time to correct themselves from an excessive reaction, thus high-value stocks exhibited a higher return. Fourth, in each current quarter, high-growth stocks had the highest return, followed by a rapidly decreasing trend in the following quarters. The t+3 quarter returns were lower than those of low-growth stocks. This result demonstrated that the stock market does not exhibit an adequate reaction, but still remains rather efficient for routine financial information. Finally, regardless of value stocks or growth stocks, exponential decay models could accurately match with the data.[[incitationindex]]SCI[[booktype]]電子

Estimating Distribution of Concrete Strength Using Quantile Regression Neural Networks

[[abstract]]This paper is aimed at demonstrating the possibilities of adapting Quantile Regression Neural Network (QRNN) to estimate the distribution of compressive strength of high performance concrete (HPC). The database containing 1030 compressive strength data were used to evaluate QRNN. Each data includes the amounts of cement, blast furnace slag, fly ash, water, superplasticizer, coarse aggregate, fine aggregate (in kilograms per cubic meter), the age, and the compressive strength. This study led to the following conclusions: (1) The Quantile Regression Neural Networks can build accurate quantile models and estimate the distribution of compressive strength of HPC. (2) The various distributions of prediction of compressive strength of HPC show that the variance of the error is inconstant across observations, which imply that the prediction is heteroscedastic. (3) The logarithmic normal distribution may be more appropriate than normal distribution to fit the distribution of compressive strength of HPC. Since engineers should not assume that the variance of the error of prediction of compressive strength is constant, the ability of estimating the distribution of compressive strength of HPC is an important advantage of QRNN.[[journaltype]]國外[[incitationindex]]EI[[ispeerreviewed]]Y[[booktype]]紙本[[countrycodes]]CH

Comparison of the Prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome Between the Criteria for Taiwanese and Japanese and the Projected Probability of Stroke in Elderly Hypertensive Taiwanese

SummaryBackgroundThe cutoff of abdominal circumference for metabolic syndrome (MS) defined by the Bureau of Health Promotion (BHP) of Taiwan for Taiwanese (men, 90cm; women, 80cm) and by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) for Japanese (men, 85cm; women, 90cm) differs. This study aimed to examine the impact of this difference on the prevalence of MS and the impact of an MS diagnosis on the projected risk of stroke in hypertensive Taiwanese.MethodsMS was examined in a sample of 3,472 hypertensive patients (aged 55–80 years; 1,709 women) across Taiwan. The 10-year probability of stroke estimated from the Framingham equation was compared between MS and non-MS patients.ResultsThe prevalence of MS using the BHP criteria was 59.2% using the BHP criteria (95% confidence interval, CI, 57.6–60.8%; men, 52.5%; women, 66.1%) and 48.9% by the IDF criteria (95% CI, 47.2–50.5%; men, 61.3%; women, 36.1%). Both criteria showed that, compared with non-MS, MS has higher predicted 10-year probability of stroke (BHP, 0.153 ± 0.115 vs. 0.133 ± 0.105; IDF, 0.159 ± 0.109 vs. 0.132 ± 0.112; both p < 0.001) because of the difference in women (BHP, 0.143 ± 0.124 vs. 0.102 ± 0.091; IDF, 0.147 ± 0.121 vs. 0.118 ± 0.110; both p < 0.001) rather than men (BHP, p = 0.21; IDF, p = 0.29).ConclusionBoth criteria demonstrate that MS is highly prevalent in elderly hypertensive patients in Taiwan. Additionally in women, but not men, the predicted probability of stroke is higher in MS than in non-MS patients. The diagnosis of MS is potentially useful for identifying elderly hypertensive females with an elevated risk of stroke in Taiwan

Slow conduction and gap junction remodeling in murine ventricle after chronic alcohol ingestion

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Long-term heavy alcohol drinkers are prone to the development of cardiac arrhythmia. To understand the mechanisms, we evaluated the cardiac structural and electrophysiological changes in mice chronically drinking excessive alcohol.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Male C57BL/6J mice were given 36% alcohol in the drinking water. Those given blank water were used as control. Twelve weeks later, the phenotypic characteristics of the heart, including gap junctions and electrical properties were examined. In the alcohol group the ventricles contained a smaller size of cardiomyocytes and a higher density of capillary networks, compared to the control. Western blots showed that, after drinking alcohol, the content of connexin43 (Cx43) protein in the left ventricle was increased by 18% (p < 0.05). Consistently, immunoconfocal microscopy demonstrated that Cx43 gap junctions were up-regulated in the alcohol group with a disorganized distribution, compared to the control. Optical mapping showed that the alcohol group had a reduced conduction velocity (40 ± 18 vs 60 ± 7 cm/sec, p < 0.05) and a higher incidence of ventricular tachyarrhythmia (62% vs 30%, p < 0.05).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Long-term excessive alcohol intake resulted in extensive cardiac remodeling, including changes in expression and distribution of gap junctions, growth of capillary network, reduction of cardiomyocyte size, and decrease of myocardial conduction.</p