A Review of Clinical Disease Scoring Systems for Cicatricial Diseases of the Conjunctiva

Cicatricial conjunctival diseases (CCDs), are a diverse group of ocular surface diseases characterized by chronic scarring of the conjunctiva. These diseases can cause significant ocular morbidity. They are life-long once acquired and can be debilitating, painful diseases leading to visual loss. A recent international consensus of ocular surface disease experts have placed emphasis on the need of validated clinical disease scoring systems for CCDs, important for the objective evaluation of disease severity, outcomes of therapies, and longitudinal monitoring of disease. This review aims to describe the various published clinical disease scoring systems available for CCDs and evaluates the benefits and limitations of each system. It can be used as a guide for clinicians managing patients with CCDs and for researchers evaluating potential therapies in clinical trials.

Scoring disease in an animal model of multiple sclerosis using a novel infrared-based automated activity-monitoring system

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system (CNS). Its corresponding animal model, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), is widely used to understand disease pathogenesis and test novel therapeutic agents. However, existing methods to score EAE disease severity are subjective and often vary between individual researchers, making it difficult to translate findings across different studies. An enhanced automated method of disease scoring would eliminate subjectivity and reduce operator-dependent errors. Here, we used an Infra-Red Activity Monitoring System (IRAMS) to measure murine locomotor activity as a surrogate measure of disease severity and compared it to standard EAE scoring methods. In mice immunized with CNS-specific myelin antigens, we observed an inverse correlation between disease severity and mouse activity, with the IRAMS showing enhanced disease scoring compared to standard EAE scoring methods. Relative to standard EAE scoring methods, IRAMS showed comparable measurement of disease relapses and remissions in the SJL/J-relapsing-remitting model of EAE, and could comparably assess the therapeutic efficiency of the MS drug, Copaxone (Glatiramer acetate-GA). Thus, the IRAMS is a method to measure disease severity in EAE without subjective bias and is a tool to consistently assess the efficacy of novel therapeutic agents for MS.

Application of concomitant disease scoring in acute cerebral infarction

Background: This study aims to explore the predictive value of concomitant disease scoring for the prognosis of patients with acute cerebral infarction (ACI). Methods: A total of 399 patients with ACI, who met the inclusion criteria, were enrolled into the present study. The concomitant disease score was assessed within 24 hours after admission, and the risk degree of death was analyzed. Then, the goodness of fit test and validity analysis were carried out, the best survival/death cut-off value was determined, and its predictive value for the prognosis of ACI patients was assessed. Results: The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for the concomitant disease score was 0.700, the distinctiveness was relatively good, and the prediction cut-off value was 10 points. Furthermore, the mortality rate of patients with a higher score was significantly higher, when compared to patients with a lower score. Conclusion: This concomitant disease score has good predictive value for the prognosis of ACI patients, and is an ideal system for evaluating the condition of cerebral infarction. The survival/death cut-off value was 10 points.