Risk factor profile and angiography findings in military and non-military patients with coronary artery disease

Military personnel come from the general population and have the same epidemiological style for coronary artery disease [CAD]. There are two significant questions: Is there a higher rate of premature CAD in military personnel in comparison with general population and does the risk factor profile in military personnel differ from that of the general population? The present study was designed to answer these questions. The present case control study was performed on all military and non-military patients referred to angiographic departments due to CAD symptoms between 2003 and 2005. We collected demographic data with major coronary risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, hypertension, and smoking [cigarette or pipe]. We divided the recruited patients according the angiographic findings and the number of involved vessels into three groups. Among the patients, 9709 [81%] were affected by CAD. From this total, 3586 [36.93%] were military and 6123 [63.07%] were non-military patients. Premature CAD in the military personnel [868, 24.21%] was significantly higher in the non-military [503, 8.3%] persons [P=0.00]. Diabetes and hypertension were significantly lower in the military personnel in comparison with the non-military group. Smoking in the military personnel was significantly higher than in the non-military group. There was a significant association between the number of risk factors and involved vessels in our participants. In light of the fact that the rate of premature CAD was higher in the military personnel in our study, we suggest that screening programs with sensitive tools might be necessary for an earlier detection of the military personnel at a higher risk of CAD

Pterygium surgery: amniotic membrane or conjunctival autograft transplantation / 国际眼科杂志(Guoji Yanke Zazhi)

· AIM: This study was conducted to compare the outcomes of amniotic membrane transplantation (AMT) with conjunctival autograft transplantation (CAT) in primary and recurrent pterygium. The main outcome measurement was the recurrence rate after surgery.· METHODS: This study was designed as a prospective study on consecutive cases of pterygium from April 2004 to Feb2006. The cases were randomly divided into two groups of AMT (26 cases) and CAT (24 cases). All subjects were operated with an extensive excision of the fibro vascular tissues with AMT or CAT approach. Patients were followed for recurrence and complications for 24 months. The surgical procedures were performed by a single surgeon.The associations between demographic variables, surgical techniques (AMT, CAT), recurrences and postoperative complications were analyzed.· RESULTS: The patients' male to female ratio was 4:1. Involvement of right to left eye ratio was 3:2. Pterygium in70% of cases was primary and in 30% was recurrent. The most common clinical signs were red eye and reduced visual acuity while the most common complications were recurrence and corneal scar. In the first month of follow up, the recurrence rates in AMT and CAT approaches were 3.8% vs 8.3%respectively and these rates increased to 46.2% vs 25% respectively after 24 months of follow up.· CONCLUSION: The success rate of 2 years follow up was better in CAT technique. The AMT technique for pterygium surgery has an unacceptably high recurrence rate.