Personalized Management of Dry Eye Disease: Beyond Artificial Tears.

Dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial disease of the ocular surface that may be accompanied by discomfort and visual disturbances to a level that reduces quality of life. Artificial tears are a common first-line therapy for DED that aim to supplement the tear film but do not address the underlying causes of DED. Because of the complexity and variability of the disease, personalized treatment beyond artificial tears is important for successful management.

APOA1 polymorphisms are associated with variations in serum triglyceride concentrations in hypercholesterolemic individuals.

Background: Apolipoprotein A-I gene (APOA1) polymorphisms have been associated with variations in serum low-density lipoprotein (LDL)- and high-density lipoprotein (HDL)-cholesterol. We have investigated whether APOA1 common variants are also associated with variations in basal triglyceride serum concentrations and response to atorvastatin in individuals with hypercholesterolemia.

Methods: APOA1 G-75A and C83T polymorphisms and variations in serum lipids were evaluated in 150 hypercholesterolemic (HC) and 93 normolipidemic (NL) unrelated European-derived Brazilians treated with atorvastatin (10 mg/day for 4 weeks).

Spring: a general framework for collaborative, real-time surgical simulation.

We describe the implementation details of a real-time surgical simulation system with soft-tissue modeling and multi-user, multi-instrument, networked haptics. The simulator is cross-platform and runs on various Unix and Windows platforms. It is written in C++ with OpenGL for graphics; GLUT, GLUI, and MUI for user interface; and supports parallel processing.

Algorithmic tools for real-time microsurgery simulation.

Today, there is growing interest in computer surgical simulation to enhance surgeons' training. This paper presents a simulation system based on novel algorithms for animating instruments interacting with deformable tissue in real-time. The focus is on computing the deformation of a tissue subject to external forces, and detecting collisions among deformable and rigid objects.

Respiratory allergy and specific immunoglobin E and immunoglobin G antibodies to reactive dyes used in the wool industry.

Respiratory symptoms among six employees in wool dye-houses in the United Kingdom were investigated. Clinical histories revealed that all had work-related respiratory symptoms, which they associated with exposure to Lanasol dyes. Five of the six subjects had specific Immunoglobin E to human serum albumin conjugates of one or more of the dyes to which they were exposed, providing evidence of sensitization to these dyes.