Ophthalmological knowledge of Family Health Network physicians working as first care providers in Brazil.

Objective: First care providers working in the Brazilian Unified Health System are often physicians from the Family Health Program. Their knowledge on ophthalmology could indicate whether there is a need for training to decrease ophthalmological demands to secondary or tertiary health levels.

Methods: A cross-sectional observational study based on an electronic questionnaire was conducted to evaluate the ophthalmological knowledge of Family Health Program physicians working at the VI Regional Health Department, Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Graves' ophthalmopathy: low-dose dexamethasone reduces retinoic acid receptor-alpha gene expression in orbital fibroblasts.

Objective: Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) is an autoimmune disease that leads to ocular proptosis caused by fat accumulation and inflammation, and the main treatment is corticosteroid therapy. Retinoid acid receptor-alpha (RARα) seems to be associated with inflammation and adipocyte differentiation. This study aimed to assess the effect of glucocorticoid treatment on orbital fibroblasts of GO patient treated or not with different glucocorticoid doses.

Gene expression of estrogen receptor-alpha in orbital fibroblasts in Graves' ophthalmopathy.

Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) is one of the most severe clinical manifestations of Graves' disease (GD), and its treatment might involve high-dose glucocorticoid therapy. The higher incidence of GO among females, and the reported association between polymorphisms of estrogen receptor (ER) and GD susceptibility have led us to question the role of estrogen and its receptor in GO pathogenesis. We, thus, assessed estrogen receptor-alpha (ERA) gene expression in cultures of orbital fibroblasts from a patient with GO before (controls) and after treatment with 10 nM and 100 nM dexamethasone (DEX).