Comparison of N-terminal pro B-natriuretic Peptide and echocardiographic indices in patients with mitral regurgitation.

Introduction: Echocardiographic indices can form the basis of the diagnosis of systolic and diastolic left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in patients with Mitral regurgitation (MR). However, using echocardiography alone may bring us to a diagnostic dead-end. The aim of this study was to compare N-Terminal pro B-natriuretic peptide (BNP) and echocardiographic indices in patients with mitral regurgitation.

A modified Schirmer test in dry eye and normal subjects: open versus closed eye and 1-minute versus 5-minute tests.

Objective: To assess the results of 1-minute and 5-minute Schirmer test (ST) when eyes are open (STo) and closed (STc) in normal subjects and patients with dry eye disease.

Methods: In a comparative, observational case series study, 34 normal volunteers (group 1) and 34 patients with dry eye disease (DED) associated with Sjogren syndrome (group 2) were included in the study. STo and STc for 1 minute and 5 minutes were performed separately for all subjects with an interval of at least 24 hours using Whatman No.