Myopia control efficacy of peripheral defocus soft contact lenses in children and adolescents: A meta-analysis.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the effect of peripheral defocus soft contact lenses (PDSCLs) on controlling myopia progression in children and adolescents, and to compare it with orthokeratology (Ortho-K) and single vision lenses (SVLs). METHODS: We conducted a systematic search of PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Medline, CNKI, CBM, VIP, and WanFang Data databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies that investigated the effects of PDSCLs on myopia control in children and adolescents. The published languages were limited to English and Chinese. The risk bias tool provided by the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool and Newcastle-Ottawa Scale were used to assess the risk bias of included studies of RCTs and CTs. The published biases of included studies were assessed by Egger`s test. RESULTS: We included 21 studies, comprising 13 RCTs and 8 cohort studies, with a total of 1337 participants in the PDSCLs group, 428 in the Ortho-K group, and 707 in the SVLs group. The meta-analysis indicated no significant difference between PDSCLs and Ortho-K in controlling the increase of diopter (MD = 0.01, 95% CI: -0.06, 0.09; P = 0.69) and axial length (MD = -0.01, 95% CI: -0.02, 0.00; P = 0.28). Compared with SVLs, PDSCLs had a better effect in controlling the increase of diopter (MD = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.17, 0.28; P < 0.00001) and axial length (MD = -0.11, 95% CI: -0.12, -0.09; P < 0.00001) in children and adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Children and adolescents wearing PDSCLs can achieve better myopia control than those wearing SVLs, and their effect is comparable to that of Ortho-K.

Disability and health-related quality of life in Chinese patients with rheumatoid arthritis: A cross-sectional study.

AIM: The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) on physical function and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in China. METHOD: A cross-section survey was conducted in 21 general hospitals in China. Eight hundred and seven patients were recruited. Data on demographics, clinical data, physical function (Stanford Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index, HAQ-DI) and HRQoL (Study Short Form 36 Health Survey, SF-36) were collected on site. RESULTS: In our cohort, physical function was impaired in 77.6% of patients (HAQ-DI >0). The median (interquartile range, IQR) of HAQ-DI was 0.750 (0.125, 1.500). Rated by HAQ-DI 0-1, >1-2, and >2-3, percentage of patients with mild, moderate and severe disability was 61.0%, 25.4%, and 13.6%, respectively. Older age, long disease duration, presence of extra-articular manifestations, tender joint count (TJC), overall status (assessed by patient Global Visual Analogue Scale [G-VAS] and physician G-VAS) and lacking disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs were identified as predictive factors for worse physical function (P < .05). The composite scores of SF-36 in the observed patients were: physical component summary 40.4 (IQR 27.4, 60.3), and mental component summary 49.0 (IQR 33.6, 70.9). Impaired physical health may be predicted by low income, presence of extra-articular manifestations, TJC, patient G-VAS and high HAQ-DI. Predictors for suboptimal mental health were low income, physical labor, married status, increased swollen joint count (SJC), physician G-VAS and high HAQ-DI. CONCLUSION: Rheumatoid arthritis has profound effects on physical function and HRQoL in Chinese patients. Patients with identified predictive factors for poor outcome should be closely monitored.

Composition-induced phase evolution and high strain response in Ba(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3-modified (Bi0.5Na0.5)TiO3-based lead-free ferroelectrics.

In this work, a paraelectric complex perovskite Ba(Zn1/3Nb2/3)O3 (BZN) was introduced into the morphotropic boundary composition (Bi0.5Na0.5)0.93Ba0.07TiO3 (BNBT) to modulate the phase structure and electrical properties as well as the field-induced strain behavior. Using a columbite route, the ceramics with pure perovskite structure were successfully fabricated. The structure and electrical measurements showed that the introduction of BZN into BNBT results in the decrease of the rhombohedrality 90-γ, and promotes the evolution from ferroelectric to antiferroelectric (AFE) relaxor. Besides, the introduction of BZN induces the volume increase and dimension reduction of the nanosized AFE relaxor domains. A large field-induced strain of 0.39% with good stability against frequency, field, and temperature was obtained at the BNZ addition of composition x = 0.01, which locates at the critical composition boundary between ferroelectric state and AFE relaxor state.