Safety & efficacy of single subconjunctival triamcinolone 5 mg depot vs topical loteprednol post cataract surgery: less drop cataract surgery

AIM: To do a randomized prospective interventional study for comparing the effects of a single subconjunctival triamcinolone acetonide (SCTA) injection to tapering topical loteprednol in patients undergoing phacoemulsification surgery under topical anesthesia. METHODS: A total of 400 patients were randomized into 2 groups; Group A (200 patients) received 5 mg SCTA at the end of surgery and topical ketorolac tromethamine (0.5%) with ofloxacin (0.3%) combination for 3wk. Group B (200 patients) received tapering topical loteprednol etabonate (0.5%) along with ofloxacin (0.3%) and ketorolac tromethamine (0.5%) for 3wk. Outcomes evaluated were intraocular pressure (IOP), anterior chamber cells/flare and macular oedema postoperatively at 1, 6 and 12wk. RESULTS: Baseline parameters were almost similar in both the groups. No statistical difference was seen between the preoperative and postoperative IOP values for Group A (P=0.82) and Group B (P=0.61) and postoperative IOP values in between both groups (P=0.14) at 1wk. Incidence of cells/flare postoperative was statistically not significant (P=0.82) in both groups at all follow up visits. Postoperative macular oedema was not observed at any follow up visit. CONCLUSION: SCTA appears to be an effective alternative to prolong postoperative topical steroid use.     

Resting Energy Expenditure and Systolic Blood Pressure Relationships in Women Across 4.5 Years

Recent studies have reported a strong association between blood pressure (BP) and resting energy expenditure (REE). However, it is not known whether this relationship persists over time. Therefore, the authors examined the temporal relationship between REE and systolic BP. In addition, the impact of sympathetic tone and anthropometric variables on this relationship was examined. All testing was performed on healthy, overweight African American and European American women aged 25 to 45 years over 4.5 years in the University of Alabama at Birmingham General Clinical Research Center. Repeated‐measures mixed‐models revealed REE as a significant determinant of systolic BP (β=0.0155, P<.0001), independent of catecholamines, leg fat, visceral fat, fat‐free mass, fat mass, height, relative skeletal muscle index, and resting heart rate. Observations that REE is predictive of systolic BP across 4.5 years support previous findings that REE may potentially mediate resting BP, independent of anthropometric variables and a marker for sympathetic tone.     

An evaluation of microleakage of various glass ionomer based restorative materials in deciduous and permanent teeth: An in vitro study

AimTo evaluate the microleakage of recently available glass ionomer based restorative materials (GC Fuji IX GP, GC Fuji VII, and Dyract) and compare their microleakage with the previously existing glass ionomer restorative materials (GC Fuji II LC) in primary and permanent teeth.MethodOne hundred and fifty (75 + 75) non-carious deciduous and permanent teeth were restored with glass ionomer based restorative materials after making class I cavities. Samples were subjected to thermocycling after storing in distilled water for 24 h. Two coats of nail polish were applied 1 mm short of restorative margins and samples sectioned buccolingually after storing in methylene blue dye for 24 h. Microleakage was assessed using stereomicroscope.ResultSignificant differences (P < 0.05) were found when inter group comparisons were done. Except when GC Fuji VII (Group III) was compared with GC Fuji II LC (Group II) and Dyract (Group IV), non-significant differences (P > 0.05) were observed. It was found that there was no statistically significant difference when the means of microleakage of primary teeth were compared with those of permanent teeth.ConclusionsGC Fuji IX GP showed maximum microleakage and GC Fuji VII showed least microleakage.     

APOE and LRPAP1 gene polymorphism and risk of Parkinson’s disease

Epidemiologic findings suggest that lipids and alteration in lipid metabolizing protein/gene may contribute to the development of neurodegenerative disorders. The aim of the current study was to determine the serum lipid levels and genetic variation in two lipid metabolizing genes, low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein-associated protein (LRPAP1) and apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene in Parkinson’s disease (PD). Based on well-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria, this study included 70 patients with PD and 100 age-matched controls. LRPAP1 and APOE gene polymorphism were analyzed by polymerase chain reaction and restriction fragment length polymorphism, respectively. Fasting serum lipid levels were determined using an autoanalyser. The logistic regression analysis showed that high levels of serum cholesterol [odds ratio (OR) = 1.101, 95 % confidence interval (CI_95%) = 1.067–1.135], LRPAP1 I allelic variant alone (OR = 2.766, CI_95% = 1.137–6.752) and in combination with APOE ε4 allelic variant (OR = 4.187, CI_95% = 1.621–10.82) were significantly associated with increase in PD risk. Apart from that, the high levels of LDL cholesterol appears to have a protective role (OR = 0.931, CI_95% = 0.897–0.966) against PD. The LRPAP1 I allelic variant may be considered a candidate gene for PD, predominantly in patients having the APOE ε4 allelic variant.     

Medical Research Misconduct Need Regulatory Reforms

The medical research misconduct has become a global problem. Except from countries like the USA, China, and Germany the exact figures of misconduct are not available. The research misconduct include fabricating the data, falsifying data, and plagiarism. The irresponsible research practices are publishing research data more than once, conflicts of interest is not declared, selective reporting of data and including an author who has not contributed at all and many more. About 2% of scientists have been found to admit the fabricating the data and 33% researchers were involved in irresponsible research practices. There is no formal regulatory programs available to monitor the research projects. Few developed countries like the USA, Germany, and China tried to develop programs which can monitor the medical research misconduct. There is a need to develop a regulatory system at national and institutional level to regulate the research activity to ensure that good ethical and scientific standards are practiced by medical researchers.