The Efficacy of Kohl (Surma) and Erythromycin in Treatment of Blepharitis: An Open-Label Clinical Trial.

INTRODUCTION: Blepharitis is a common and chronic form of eyelid inflammation. Blepharitis treatment aims to decrease symptoms through antibacterial effects. One of the most common treatments of eyelid diseases in traditional medicine is using kohl. This clinical trial aimed to investigate its efficacy as a complementary treatment in staphylococcal blepharitis through an open-label clinical trial. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty patients were randomized to receive kohl in one eye contralateral and erythromycin ointment in another eye for 90 days. At baseline and after 90 days of treatment, symptoms, clinical signs, and side effects of treatments were recorded. Statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS software, version 19. RESULTS: Despite randomization, there was a significant difference between the intervention and control eyes in the baseline mean clinical score (intervention eye: 9.86 (2.95) and control eye: 4.30 (2.81), P < 0.001). The degree of reduction of related signs and symptoms in the eyes treated with kohl was significantly higher than that in the control group: (5.2 vs. 2.20, P < 0.001) for symptoms and (7.40 vs. 2.46, P < 0.001) for clinical signs. Cohen's d statistic for mean difference of sign and symptom was 2.4 and 1.75, respectively, indicating a very strong effect. CONCLUSION: The present study results demonstrated a significant improvement in blepharitis-related signs and symptoms. The degree of improvement in the eyes treated with kohl was much higher than that in the control eyes.

Use of Some Additives for Improving Mesenchymal Stem Cell Isolation Outcomes in Non-Mobilized Peripheral Blood.

BACKGROUND: The mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) of peripheral blood (PB) have been recognized as a promising source for allogeneic cell therapy. The objective of the present study was to isolate and characterize MSCs derived from non-mobilized PB, and evaluate their differentiation potential. METHODS: The buffy coat mononuclear fractions of the PB were concentrated using the Ficoll-Paque density gradient centrifugation and were grown on primary and secondary culture media, respectively. The isolated cells were characterized using a multidisciplinary approach which was based on morphology, immunophenotyping, gene expression, and multipotentiality. Flow cytometry and Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) were used to identify the expression of different MSC markers. Finally, after culturing in osteogenic and adipogenic induction media, the isolated cells were stained by Alizarin red and Oil-Red O. RESULTS: In spite of absence of any bone marrow stimulating factor, the isolation approach in this study yielded a rather homogeneous and spindle-shaped mononuclear cell population (the yield of passage 0 was 0.65 ± 0.15) that stained positive for CD90, CD105, and CD73, and were negative for CD45 and CD34. These cells have high proliferative capacity (confirmed by the expression of Oct-4, Nucleostemin, and Nanog genes) and were able to differentiate into lineage-specific committed cells, when exposed to the appropriate medium. CONCLUSION: Overall, it can be concluded that conventional, labour-intensive and time-consuming approaches are not necessary in isolating MSCs from PB. This relatively accessible and minimally invasive source, PB, represents a good alternative reservoir of homogeneous MSCs that could open a new era for practical exploitation in regenerative medicine.