ABSTRACT
Objective@#To analyze the prevalence of dry and wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in patients with diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia, and to analyze the risk factors for AMD.@*Methods@#A population-based cross-sectional epidemiologic study was conducted involving 14,440 individuals. We assessed the prevalence of dry and wet AMD in diabetic and non-diabetic subjects and analyzed the risk factors for AMD.@*Results@#The prevalence of wet AMD in diabetic and non-diabetic patients was 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, and the prevalence of dry AMD was 17% and 16.4%, respectively. The prevalence of wet AMD in healthy, hypertensive, hyperlipidemic, and hypertensive/hyperlipidemic populations was 0.5%, 0.3%, 0.2%, and 0.7%, respectively. The prevalence of dry AMD in healthy, hypertensive, hyperlipidemic, and hypertensive/hyperlipidemic populations was 16.6%, 16.2%, 15.2%, and 17.2%, respectively. Age, sex, body mass index, and use of hypoglycemic drugs or lowering blood pressure drugs were corrected in the risk factor analysis of AMD. Diabetes, diabetes/hypertension, diabetes/hyperlipidemia, and diabetes/hypertension/hyperlipidemia were analyzed. None of the factors analyzed in the current study increased the risk for the onset of AMD.@*Conclusion@#There was no significant difference in the prevalence of wet and dry AMD among diabetic and non-diabetic subjects. Similarly, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of wet and dry AMD among subjects with hypertension and hyperlipidemia. Diabetes co-existing with hypertension and hyperlipidemia were not shown to be risk factors for the onset of dry AMD.
Subject(s)
Humans , Cross-Sectional Studies , Diabetes Mellitus/epidemiology , Hyperlipidemias/epidemiology , Hypertension/epidemiology , Macular Degeneration/etiology , Risk FactorsABSTRACT
Owing to the intrinsic factors and some extrinsic environmental conditions, many foods, agricultural products and Chinese materia medicas (CMMs), if not handled properly in the processes of growth, harvesting, processing and storage, can be easily contaminated by all kinds of molds to produce mycotoxins of serious toxicity, which will not only affect the quality, safety and effectiveness of CMMs, but also result in potential threatens to human and animal's health and life. Therefore, in recent decades, it has become the focus on how to prevent and control the foods, agricultural products and CMMs from being moldy and producing toxicity for scientific preservation. Many Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) especially those with high content of volatile oils with strong antifungal activities have been applied for the scientific preservation of foods, agricultural products and CMMs. Based on these situations, natural anti-mildew agents have been further developed and made into some useful dosage forms, such as tablets, aerosol, liposomes and inclusion, which will not only greatly expand the application scope of CHMs to make the use of anti-mildew agents more convenient, but also achieve the sustained or controlled release of the antifungal effect for scientific preservation of foods, agricultural products and CMMs.
ABSTRACT
<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Posterior capsule opacification (PCO) compromises vision development in infants after cataract surgery and lead to amblyopia. To observe the effects of curcumin on PCO in infant rabbits, curcumin was injected under the capaule and into the anterior chamber during phacoemulsification.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Seventy-five 1-month-old healthy New Zealand white rabbits were randomized into 3 groups, one eye of each rabbit was randomly selected to be operated. The operation involved continuous circular capsulorhexis, followed by hydrodissection with 0.6 ml each of balanced salt solution (BSS, group A), hydroxypropyl-β-dodextrin (HP-β-CD, 90 µg/ml, group B) or CUR-HP-β-CD (123 µg/ml, group C), respectively. After phacoemulsification, 0.4 ml of each drug solution was injected into the anterior chamber via an incision. The extent of corneal edema and the inflammatory response within the anterior chamber were considered as measures PCO and observed postoperatively. All eyes were examined 1 and 2 months postoperative by slit lamp microscopy and photography after pupil dilation. On the third day postoperative, 6 rabbits from each group were executed. Paraffin-embedded sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) or terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling assay (TUNEL, indicative of apoptosis). Stained sections were observed under light microscopy. Proliferation of lens epithelial cells (LECs) was observed microscopically on day 3, day 7, month 1 and month 2 after the operation with HE staining.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>The remission of cornea edema occurred earlier in group C than in groups A and B (P < 0.05); there were no significant differences between groups A and B. The remission of anterior chamber exudation in group C was earlier than those in groups A and B (P < 0.05). No significant difference in the times when PCO occurred, was observed among groups. Compared to groups A and B, the extent of PCO was less severe (P < 0.05). Three days after the operation, LECs aggregated at the orbit. Meanwhile, minor apoptosis was observed in all groups. One month after the operation transparent, cortex and proliferating LECs were observed near the orbit in groups A and B. Two months postoperative, heavy cortex proliferation was observed in all groups: epithelial cells migrated and aggregated at the posterior capsule and rearranged under the anterior capsule in the control group. Proliferation was also observed in group C, but to a less severe extent than in the other two groups.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>CUR-HP-β-CD exerts an inhibitory effect on PCO.</p>