scholarly journals Contrast Sensitivity of Thyroid Associated Ophthalmopathy Patients without Obvious Optic Neuropathy

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ümit Beden ◽  
Sümeyra Kaya ◽  
Volkan Yeter ◽  
Dilek Erkan

Purpose. To compare the contrast sensitivity levels of thyroid associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) patients without obvious optic neuropathy with those of healthy people.Methods. Forty eyes of 20 TAO patients without dysthyroid optic neuropathy and 40 eyes of 20 healthy subjects were evaluated in this prospective case-controlled study. The contrast sensitivity functions (CSFs) of all subjects were measured by the functional acuity contrast test (FACT) in five frequencies which were 1,5 cpd (A), 3 cpd (B), 6 cpd (C), 12 cpd (D), and 18 cpd (E). Results were compared for both groups, and a correlation of CSF with Hertel and clinical activity scores was assessed.Results. There was no statistically significant difference between TAO patients and control groups for age and sex. TAO patients had lower levels than the control group in all the frequencies of CSFs (P<0.05) and the difference in contrast sensitivity functions between the groups seems to be more significant in higher frequencies (B, C, D, and E) (P<0.001).Conclusions. TAO patients without DON can have contrast sensitivity loss and this would probably imply subtle optic nerve dysfunction in early disease phase.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lixia Lin ◽  
Wenhui Zhu ◽  
Nan Ma ◽  
Xiaofeng Lin ◽  
Hui Yang

Abstract Background To explore the effects of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) and its underlying influencing factors in nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) patients. Methods Patients at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center with recent-onset (<8 weeks) NAION were retrospectively recruited. The patients had decided whether or not they would undergo EECP treatment, and the patients who declined were included in the control group. The effectiveness of EECP was evaluated by comparing the visual function and fellow eye involvement in patients with and without EECP treatment. Results In total, 61 patients (76 eyes) were included. Twenty-nine patients (37 eyes) underwent EECP treatment, while 32 patients (39 eyes) were included in the control group. Mean time from NAION onset to EECP initiation was 27.59±16.70 days. In the EECP group, the mean EECP duration was 31.57±18.45 days. EECP was well tolerated by all patients. However, there was no significant difference in visual function between the EECP and control groups, regardless of time to treatment initiation. Furthermore, there was no evidence of the effectiveness of EECP in the subgroup analysis of patients with different systemic health conditions. Among the 42 patients with monocular NAION, the sequential attack rate was comparable between the EECP (27.78%) and control (25.00%) groups. Conclusion This study is the first nonrandomized controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness of EECP in NAION patients. Unfortunately, we failed to demonstrate the effectiveness of EECP in NAION at the 6-month follow-up. Any further application of EECP in NAION patients should be cautious.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lixia Lin ◽  
Wenhui Zhu ◽  
Nan Ma ◽  
Xiaofeng Lin ◽  
Hui Yang

Abstract Background To explore the effects of enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP) and its underlying influencing factors in nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) patients. Methods Patients at Zhongshan Ophthalmic Center with recent-onset (<8 weeks) NAION were retrospectively recruited. The patients had decided whether or not they would undergo EECP treatment, and the patients who declined were included in the control group. The effectiveness of EECP was evaluated by comparing the visual function and fellow eye involvement in patients with and without EECP treatment. Results In total, 61 patients (76 eyes) were included. Twenty-nine patients (37 eyes) underwent EECP treatment, while 32 patients (39 eyes) were included in the control group. Mean time from NAION onset to EECP initiation was 27.59±16.70 days. In the EECP group, the mean EECP duration was 31.57±18.45 days. EECP was well tolerated by all patients. However, there was no significant difference in visual function between the EECP and control groups, regardless of time to treatment initiation. Furthermore, there was no evidence of the effectiveness of EECP in the subgroup analysis of patients with different systemic health conditions. Among the 42 patients with monocular NAION, the sequential attack rate was comparable between the EECP (27.78%) and control (25.00%) groups. Conclusion This study is the first nonrandomized controlled study to evaluate the effectiveness of EECP in NAION patients. Unfortunately, we failed to demonstrate the effectiveness of EECP in NAION at the 6-month follow-up. Any further application of EECP in NAION patients should be cautious.


2018 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 496-503 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emine Yılmaz ◽  
Funda Kavak

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of mindfulness-based psychoeducation on internalized stigma in patients with schizophrenia. The patients were recruited from the community mental health centers. This quasiexperimental study was conducted using pretests and posttests with a control group. The participants were 69 patients with schizophrenia; 34 were part of the experimental group and 35 were part of the control group. The patients in the experimental group participated 2 days a week for 6 weeks in a total of 12 sessions which were given in the form of face-to-face group training. The difference between the scale mean posttest scores of the patients in the experimental and control groups was found to be statistically significant ( p < .05). In the intragroup comparisons, a significant difference was found between the stigma mean scores in the experimental group ( p < .05). It was concluded that mindfulness-based psychoeducation was effective in reducing stigma in patients with schizophrenia.


2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S232-S232
Author(s):  
H Korkmaz ◽  
K Fidan

Abstract Background In this study, we investigated the importance of netrin-1 levels in ulcerative colitis (UC) in clinical activity of the disease, and its association with other proinflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α. Methods This study is a type of case–control study. Sixty-seven patients with UC (36 of them activation, 31 of remission) and 50 healthy controls were included in the study. UC patients; ‘Truelove Witts clinical activity index by remission (n = 31), mild activation (n = 21), moderate activation (n = 6) and severe activation (n = 9) were divided into groups. Netrin, IL-6 and TNF-α measurements in plasma samples were performed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kit. Results Between the patient group and the control group; there was a statistically significant difference between netrin-1, IL-6, TNF-α, neutrophil, platelet (p &lt; 0.05 for all). The plasma netrin-1 mean of UC with severe activation group (139.21 ± 48.09 pg/ml) was statistically significantly higher than that of the mild activation (p = 0,037), remission group (p = 0,001) and control group(p = 0,011). The plasma netrin-1 mean of UC with moderate activation group was statistically significantly higher than that of the mild activation(p = 0,045) and remission group(p = 0,004). Conclusion Our results reveal that plasma netrin-1 levels have been shown to be associated with UC activation, similar to proinflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α and IL-6, in UC.


2010 ◽  
Vol 76 (10) ◽  
pp. 1112-1114 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bonnie R. Wang ◽  
Vincent L. Rowe ◽  
Sung Wan Ham ◽  
Sukgu Han ◽  
Kaushal Patel ◽  
...  

No standard presently exists for the use of systemic heparin during angioaccess surgery to decrease the incidence of postoperative thrombotic complications. Our objective was to study the effects of intraoperatively administered heparin on 30-day patency and postoperative bleeding complications in patients undergoing autogenous arteriovenous (AV) fistula surgery. A prospective, double-blinded, randomized controlled study was performed on 48 patients undergoing AV fistula creation from April 2007 through November 2009. Of the 48 patients, 22 were randomized to the control group and received no heparin. Twenty-six were randomized to receive heparin (75 units/kg intravenously) before clamping of the artery. There was no significant difference in 30-day patency between the heparin and control groups (92% vs 86%, P = 0.65), respectively. Three patients (12%) developed hematomas in the heparin group compared with one (5%) in the control group; however the difference was not statistically significant ( P = 0.61). The results suggest that intraoperative administration of heparin has no statistically significant effect on 30-day patency rates or postoperative bleeding complications. Larger trials with longer term follow-up and assessment of maturation rates are needed to determine the effect of intraoperative anticoagulation on these outcomes of arteriovenous fistula surgery.


2015 ◽  
Vol 172 (5) ◽  
pp. 553-559
Author(s):  
Ömer Akyürek ◽  
Duran Efe ◽  
Zeynettin Kaya

ObjectiveTo evaluate thoracic periaortic adipose tissue (TAT) volume in patients with subclinical hypothyroidism (SH) in comparison with controls and in relation to cardiovascular risk factors.MethodsThe study population consisted of 28 newly diagnosed SH patients (mean (s.d.) age: 37.3 (±11.4) years, 85.7% were females) and 37 healthy volunteers (mean (s.d.) age: 35.3 (±10.7) years, 81.5% were females). Comparisons between patient and control groups used demographic characteristics, anthropometrics, and laboratory findings. All participants underwent thoracic radiographic assessment in the supine position, using an eight-slice multidetector computed tomography scanner and TAT volume was measured.ResultsThe TAT volume was determined to be 27.2 (±12.7) cm3 in the SH group and 16.3 (±8.1) cm3 in the control group, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.001). In addition, TSH levels were significantly higher in the patient group compared with the control group (P<0.001). A significant correlation was also found between TSH levels and TAT volume (r=0.572; P<0.001). In SH patients, no significant difference was noted in TAT levels with respect to sex (P=0.383) or concomitant smoking status (P=0.426).ConclusionsOur findings indicate that SH patients have significantly higher TAT values than controls and that increased TAT levels correlate with increased TSH levels.


1970 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Erna Setiawati

ABSTRACTIntroduction: Kinesiotaping (KT) is one of current method that being used for hands problems in cerebral palsy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of kinesiotaping at wrist combined with hand motor exercise in fine motor skill for children with cerebral palsy.Methods: The design was simple randomized controlled study pre and post intervention. There were 18 children who divided into kinesiotaping and control group. Subjects in the KT group received hand motor exercise and wrist kinesiotaping. Subjects in control group received only hand motor exercise.Both groups received the exercise for 4 weeks. There were difference in the MACS score which is used to measure fine motor skills in this study. Pre and posttest scores were collected before applying kinesiotaping and after 4 weeks of intervention.Results: Both groups showed an increase in MACS score after 4 weeks intervention. For MACS score, there was statistically significant difference in KT group (p = 0.025), but not statistically significant in control group (p = 0.083).Conclusion: Wrist kinesiotaping can be used for adjunct therapy combined with conventional hand motor exercise for improving manual ability in the hand and fin e motor skill in cerebral palsy.Keywords: Cerebral palsy, fine motor skill, wrist kinesiotaping.


Author(s):  
Dang Thi Thu Huong ◽  

The current study determines the effectiveness of using task-based language instructions in teaching writing at a high school in Thai Nguyen province. The participants consist of 92 grade 10 students from Bing Yen high school, Dinh Hoa district. The study employs a mix method research design (MMR) as the plan for the research. The results of the study reveals that the results of writing performance were reported at a low level (M=3.72). The results also confirmed that the intervention worked well for the experimental group. The mean score of the pre-test (the baseline for both groups) was M=3.72. The intervention focused on TBLT instructions. After first five weeks, the means of post-test1 were M=4.96 and M=3.83 for experimental group and control group respectively. There was a significant difference between the mean of pre-test and post-test1 for the experimental group (M=3.72 compared to M=4.96), while the control group showed a little improvement (M=3.72 compared to M=3.83) the difference was not significant. After another five weeks, the difference in the mean scores of the experimental group were far more than the mean scores of the control group, M=5.56 and M=4.45 respectively. By the end of the fifteenth week of the intervention, the mean of post-test 3 of the experimental group reached M=6.41, the mean for control group was M=5.54. The difference of the mean scores in the pre-test and post-test revealed a significant improvement in both groups. However, the experimental group showed a greater improvement, M=6.41 and M=5.54 respectively. It can infer that the uses of TBLT writing instruction improved writing achievement greatly.


2022 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 230949902110696
Author(s):  
Necip GÜVEN ◽  
Sezai ÖZKAN ◽  
Tulin TURKOZU ◽  
Adem YOKUS ◽  
Cihan ADANAS ◽  
...  

Purpose Many factors in the etiology of anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tears, predisposing factors related to knee morphology have also been reported. This study aimed to determine whether the Insall–Salvati (IS) index, which measures patella height, is a predisposing risk factor for ACL tears. Methods The IS index, patellar length (PL), and patellar tendon length (PTL) values of patients (study group) that underwent arthroscopic reconstruction for ACL tears obtained by preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) were compared with the index values in the preoperative MRIs of patients that underwent knee arthroscopy for reasons besides ACL tears. In addition, the anterior tibial translation (ATT) of both groups was also measured and compared on MRI images. The MRI findings of the subjects included in both study groups were arthroscopically confirmed. Results The mean ages of the study group (n = 120) and control group (n = 90) were 29.1 ± 8.2 years and 31.8 ± 9.8 years, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference between the study and control groups in terms of the PL and PTL values ( p = 0.016 and p = 0.001, respectively). The IS index was statistically significantly higher in the study group with ACL tears ( p = 0.009). The ATT was 8.61 ± 4.68 mm in the study group and 3.80 ± 1.92 mm in the control group. The ATT results of both groups were evaluated, and it was found that the study group was significantly higher than the control group ( p = 0.001) Conclusions As a result of our current study, we observed higher IS index values in patients with ACL tears than in patients without ACL tears. It should be kept in mind that patella alta, which is associated with a high IS index as one of the factors of knee morphology associated with ACL tears, may play a role in the etiology of ACL tears.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. s860-s860
Author(s):  
T. Dlhosova ◽  
R. Kundt

The belief in deterministic luck is considered to be one of the factors contributing to maintenance of gambling behavior. This belief was found to be stronger during the gamble situation in problematic gamblers than non-problematic. The present study deals with the difference in luck attribution between the Czech gamblers and the control group. The main goal was to find out whether the difference between belief in luck is also present in non-gamble situation. A questionnaire containing the Belief in luck and luckiness scale and 14 stories of uncontrollable events was administered to 30 pathological gamblers and 30 matched participant (by age, education, gender and nationality), who did not play any hazard games regularly. In uncontrollable events participants chose from non-material causes (luck, chance, god, destiny) one they believed to be the best fit. Results have shown a statistically significant difference between gamblers and control group in the way of attributing the causes. Control group has chosen significantly more “chance” option meanwhile gamblers opted for luck, God and destiny. There was no statistically significant difference in explicitly formulated belief in luck. It seems that the stronger casual attribution of luck, god and destiny in pathological gamblers compared to non-gamblers are not restricted only to gaming situations. Rather we can find it in other uncontrollable events as well. The absence of the difference between patients and control group in explicit belief in luck measured by questionnaire could be pointing to the stronger effect of the treatment for explicit belief than for more subtle causal attributing.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document