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Methods@#Patients who underwent PCLF and received postoperative cervical collars from 2018 to 2020 were included in this retrospective cohort study. Their data were compared with an age- and sex-matched group of subjects who did not receive collars after PCLF during the same period. Pain intensity (using the Visual Analog Scale), Neck Disability Index, and quality of life (using 36-item Short Form Health Survey) of the patients were compared at baseline, 1, 3, 6, and 12 months postoperatively. @*Results@#A total of 36 patients who received cervical collars after surgery and 40 controls were included. At baseline and 1-month follow-up, there were no differences in pain intensity, functional status, and quality of life between the groups. However, at 3 months postoperatively, the quality of life of the subjects with no orthosis was higher than those who received cervical collars (p =0.01). At 6- and 12-month follow-up, there were no differences between the groups in pain intensity, functional status, and quality of life. @*Conclusions@#No difference in the pain intensity and functional status of patients who used cervical collars and controls was shown in our study. Patients who did not wear cervical collars had a higher quality of life during the 3-month postoperative evaluation. Future prospective, well-controlled studies with longer follow-ups are needed to further investigate the effects of cervical orthosis on the clinical outcome of patients after PCLF.
ABSTRACT
PurposeTo evaluate the role of patient facial mask on the occurrence of post- intravitreal injection (IVI) endophthalmitis in a real word setting. DesignRetrospective cohort. ParticipantsPatients receiving IVIs between 20 February 2019 and 20 February 2021; a 12-month period before the official beginning of COVID-19 epidemic in Iran and a 12-month period after that. InterventionIn the pre-COVID era patients underwent IVI without a facial mask while in the COVID era patients were treated with an untapped facial mask. Physicians and staff had facial mask in both periods. IVIs were administered in a dedicated operating room and no strict talk policy was followed. Main outcome measureThe rate of post-IVI endophthalmitis. ResultsA total number of 53927 injections was performed during the study period: 34277 in pre-COVID and 19650 in COVID periods; with a 42.7 % decrease in the number of injections. The endophthalmitis occurred in 7 eyes (0.02%) in pre-COVID and 7 eyes (0.03%) in COVID era (p=0.40). In multivariate analysis, after adjustment for intercorrelations between eyes and multiple injections in one patient, there was no statistically significant association between wearing facial masks by the patients and risk of endophthalmitis (relative risk= 1.47, 95% confidence interval of 0.97-2.22; p=0.071). ConclusionPatients facial masking is probably not associated with increased risk of post-injection endophthalmitis.
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This prospective study was aimed to detect acute and chronic ocular toxoplasmosis by comparison of anti-Toxoplasma gondii IgM and IgG antibody levels and IgG avidity test. One hundred and seventeen patients with ocular toxoplasmosis (OT) who referred to the Farabi Eye Hospital, Tehran, Iran were included in this study. Of the patients, 77 cases were positive for anti-T. gondii IgG, and 8 cases were positive for anti-T. gondii IgM. IgG avidity test revealed 11, 4, and 102 cases were low, intermediate, and high, respectively, and 6.8% and 9.4% of cases were positive for IgM and IgG avidity tests, respectively (P=0.632). Agreement (Kappa value) between paired tests IgG-IgM, IgG-IgG avidity, and IgM-IgG avidity was 0.080, 0.099, and 0.721, respectively (P < 0.05). This study showed that conventional serologic tests (IgM and IgG levels) and IgG avidity correlate well each other and can be used to differentiate recent infections from old OT. It seems that reactivated old infections rather than recently acquired infections are majority of Iranian OT patients.
Subject(s)
Humans , Antibodies , Diagnosis , Immunoglobulin G , Immunoglobulin M , Iran , Prospective Studies , Serologic Tests , Toxoplasma , Toxoplasmosis, OcularABSTRACT
It has been observed cannabinoid CB1 receptor signalling and the levels of endocannabinoid ligands significantly increased in the basal ganglia and cerebrospinal fluids of Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. These evidences suggest that the blocking of cannabinoid CB1 receptors might be beneficial to improve movement disorders as a sign of PD. In this study, a dose-response study of the effects of intrastriatal injection of a cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonist, AM251 and agonist, ACPA, on movement activity was performed by measuring the catalepsy of reserpinized and non-PD (normal) rats with bar test. Also the effect of co-administration the most effective dose of AM251 and several doses of ACPA were assessed. AM251 decreases the reserpine induced catalepsy in dose dependent manner and ACPA causes catalepsy in normal rats in dose dependant manner as well. AM251 significantly reverse the cataleptic effect in all three groups (1, 10, 100 ng/rat) that received ACPA. These results support this theory that cannabinoid CB1 receptor antagonists might be useful to alleviate movement disorder in PD. Also continuance of ACPA induced catalepsy in rats after AM251 injection can indicate that other neurotransmitters or receptors interfere in ACPA induced catalepsy. Based on the present finding there is an incomplete overlapping between cannabinoid CB1 receptor agonist and antagonist effects.
