Dry Sensation Research Articles

Discrepancies in Persistent Dry Eye Signs and Symptoms in Bilateral Pseudophakic Patients.

Despite the increased awareness of early prophylaxis and treatment for dry eye disease (DED) during the first few weeks after cataract surgery, the chronic effect of cataract surgery on the risk of ocular surface abnormalities has not been fully explored. This study was to assess the prevalence of DE subjective symptoms and clinical tests according to the cataract surgery. A total of 172 patients who underwent bilateral cataract surgeries at least 5 months before the recruitment date and 1225 controls with no cataracts were evaluated for their subjective DE symptoms (dry sensation, foreign-body sensation, ocular pain, ocular fatigue, sensitivity to bright light, and blurred vision) and ophthalmic parameters (tear break-up time, keratoconjunctival staining scores, and maximum blinking interval). The presence of subjective DE symptoms was generally inversely associated with cataract surgeries, whereas abnormal clinical tests were more pronounced among postsurgical cataract patients than among controls. Pseudophakic patients showed a 57% increased prevalence of severe keratoconjunctivitis, compared to controls (P = 0.02). In contrast, among subjective DE symptoms, significantly lower odds of sensitivity to bright light were detected among cases than controls; the multivariable-adjusted odds ratio (95% confidence interval) comparing pseudophakic patients with noncataract patients was 0.56 (0.34–0.92) (P = 0.02). In conclusion, persistent tear instability and corneal epitheliopathy were found even at several months or more after cataract surgery. This study demonstrates the importance of evaluating ocular surface conditions in pseudophakic patients, even if they lack DE symptoms.

Vaginal atrophy across the menopausal age: results from the ANGEL study

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of vaginal atrophy (VA) in women across the menopausal age.Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional investigation was performed on 747 females, 40–55 years of age, in 30 outpatient public services across the nation. The VA diagnosis was based on the combination of patient sensation of vaginal dryness, an objective sign of VA, and pH >5.Results: VA was diagnosed in 36.8% of women. Prevalence ranged from 19.2% (40–45 year olds) to 53.8% (52–55 year olds). pH >5 (37.5%) was less prevalent than isolated VA symptoms or signs. Vaginal dryness (64.0%) was the most prevalent symptom followed by dyspareunia (54.5%), itching (38.5%) burning (38.3%), and dysuria (28.9%). Prevalence of vaginal signs declined from vaginal dryness (60.3%) to vaginal thinning (54.5%), vaginal pallor (47.4%), presence of petecchiae (15.7%), and mucosa fragility (15.1%). Most signs and symptoms showed an age-related increase in frequency and intensity. VA was independently associated (R2 = 0.139; p < 0.0001) with age (odds ratio [OR] 1.08; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.03–1.13), being in postmenopause (OR 3.45; 95% CI 2.29–5.19), and presence of vasomotor symptoms (OR 3.10; 95% CI 2.09–4.60).Conclusion: VA and its symptoms are common in women across the menopausal age. VA identification may favor early management and treatment.

Medicaments and oral healthcare. Systematic review of the -literature assessing the effect of drugs on the salivary glands

Evidence-based reviews of drugs causing medication-induced salivary gland dysfunction, such as xerostomia (sensation of oral dryness) and subjective sialorrhea are lacking. To compile a list of medicaments that influence salivary gland function, electronic databases were searched for relevant articles published up to June 2013. A total of 269 papers out of 3,867 records located satisfied the inclusion criteria (relevance, quality of methodology, strength of evidence). A total of 56 active substances with a higher level of evidence and 50 active substances with a moderate level of evidence of causing salivary gland dysfunction are described in this article. While xerostomia was a commonly reported outcome, the objective effect on salivary secretion was rarely measured. Xerostomia was, moreover, mostly reported as a negative side effect instead of the intended effect of that drug. A comprehensive list of medications having documented effects on salivary gland function or symptoms was compiled, which may assist practitioners in assessing patients who complain of dry mouth while taking medications.

Comfort, Ocular Dryness, and Equilibrium Water Content Changes of Daily Disposable Contact Lenses.

The objective of this investigation was to evaluate the level of comfort and ocular dryness during wear with six daily disposable contact lenses (DDCL) and also determine the changes in contact lens equilibrium water content (EWC) resulting from their wear. In this contralateral open trial, 27 subjects were randomly fitted with six DDCL (stenfilcon A, delefilcon A, nelfilcon A, narafilcon A, nesofilcon A, and omafilcon A). The evaluation of comfort and ocular dryness sensation was recorded by the participants at two moments of the day (11 AM and 5 PM) over a period of 10 days of contact lens wear. The assessment was made with the aid of visual analogue scales (0-10). The refractive index of 54 contact lenses was accessed by a single operator using a digital automated refractometer (CLR 12-70; Index Instruments). The EWC of the lenses was estimated based on its refractive index values. Comfort ratings were slightly higher for delefilcon A (9.56±0.67, P=0.01) and narafilcon A (9.40±0.93, P=0.01) and these lenses wearers also reported less ocular dryness. The results revealed a pronounced water content reduction for omafilcon A (P=0.002), narafilcon A (P=0.008), and nesofilcon A (P=0.003). Although changes in subjective responses and EWC were distinct among the materials analyzed, all the contact lenses performed well during the 10 days of wear.

Photophobia and sensations of dryness in patients with migraine occur independent of baseline tear volume and improve following botulinum toxin A injections

BackgroundTo evaluate the efficacy of botulinum toxin A (BoNT-A) in reducing photophobia and dry eye symptoms in individuals with chronic migraine. Additionally, we aimed to evaluate tear film volume as...

Impact of seamless compression garments on limb functionality, comfort and quality of life.

Lymphoedema is a chronic disease affecting the patients' quality of life (QoL) especially with regard to mobility and daily activities. Lymphoedema cannot be cured but symptoms can effectively be improved by a comprehensive approach and the continuous use of compression therapy. An appropriate fitted compression garment is essential for compliance and thus a prerequisite for successful lymphoedema management. Compression garments with bulky seams are not only uncomfortable they also can lead to severe pressure marks or even reduce the mobility and function of the affected limb, which may negatively impact the already reduced QoL of lymphoedema patients. A prospective multicentre observational study was conducted to compare compression garments without and with a seam for hands and toes in 143 patients with lymphoedema. Product performance, lymphoedema symptoms, functionality of hands/toes, QoL and patient satisfaction were documented for the previously worn compression garment as well as for the 3D flat knitted JOBST® Elvarex Plus compression garment without a seam. The JOBST Elvarex Plus glove was perceived very positively by patients, who rated the mobility of the fingers, the adaptability to the shape of the hand/fingers, the fit of cuffs/welts, and the tactile sense of the fingers to be significantly better compared to the previous glove. Also pressure marks between fingers/toes and pressure marks due to cuffs/welts were significantly less frequent when wearing JOBST Elvarex Plus. Also pain, sensation of heaviness, swelling, tightness and dryness of skin were significantly improved when wearing JOBST Elvarex Plus gloves. Furthermore, 80% of the patients rated the wearing comfort of JOBST Elvarex Plus to be better than their previous garments with a seam. Regarding functionality, patients were significantly less limited in their daily activities when wearing JOBST Elvarex Plus garments. Finally, when wearing JOBST Elvarex Plus gloves and toe caps, patients rated the negative effect of their lymphoedema on their QoL to be significantly lower. In conclusion, the application of anatomically adapted compression garments without a seam led to improving patient's reported lymphoedema symptoms, increased patient's satisfaction with the compression garment and supported a better QoL.

Discomfort self‐perception in contact lens wearers

PurposeChronic use of contact lenses (CLs) disturb ocular surface, leading to loss of corneal epithelium integrity and ocular discomfort. In many patients, there is no correlation between the severity of ocular surface disturbances and the perceived discomfort. In the present work, we analyzed the correlation between discomfort self‐perception and ocular surface disease index in contact lens wearers.MethodsForty contact lens wearers of both sexes, 18‐25 years old participated voluntarily in the study. An ad‐hoc questionnaire (Likert scale survey type) was used to score the frequency and intensity of ocular surface discomfort and dryness sensation. Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) adapted for Spanish speakers was also administered. An equivalent group of age and sex‐matched volunteers with similar refractive errors that never wore CLs served as control.ResultsSignificant differences were found between CL and eyeglasses wearers in medium‐high intensity discomfort sensations (72.5% vs 32.5%, CL vs spectacle wearers, p=0.003), eye dryness sensation (87.5% vs 57.5%, p= 0.001), presence discomfort sensation during the day (92.5% vs 77.5%, p=0.011) and frequency of watering eye sensation (90% vs 27.5%, p=0.001). There were no significant differences in the frequency of headache nor in the need to use artificial tears. Surprisingly, no differences were found in OSDI questionnaire between CL and eyeglasses wearers.ConclusionsContact lens wearers most frequently perceive eye surface alterations than eyeglass wearers, although there are no significant differences in OSDI questionnaire.(Supported by SAF2014‐54518‐C3‐1‐R, MINECO, Spain, and ERDF, European Commission)

Pharmacological interventions for preventing dry mouth and salivary gland dysfunction following radiotherapy.

Pharmacological interventions for preventing dry mouth and salivary gland dysfunction following radiotherapy.

Sensory space of battered surimi rings: Key features determined by Flash Profiling

AbstractThe aim of this study was to define the sensory space of commercial battered surimi rings (including final fried and baked samples), evaluated by the Flash Profiling (FP) method, focusing on the coatings, and to relate their principal sensory characteristics to their instrumental texture and color parameter values and to their final fat and moisture content. The instrumental texture of the coatings after cooking, the external color of the final cooked coatings, and the moisture and fat contents of the coatings before and after final cooking were also determined. The results showed that the sensory characteristics of the samples varied greatly, and that texture and color were the attributes most often mentioned by the participants to identify the differences between samples. Most of the texture characteristics of the coatings were explained by their mechanical behavior; and the sensations of fattiness and dryness, and other textural attributes, were related to differences in final moisture and fat content. In general, the pre‐cooking step and the composition of the coating were more important than the final cooking method for their sensory characteristics. FP proved to be a useful approach for obtaining the key features of hot served, complex foods such as battered surimi rings.Practical applicationsSelecting frying or baking does not decide the sensory characteristics of commercial battered food products. The ingredients and, notably, the final fat and moisture contents are decisive factors affecting the most important sensory features related to texture. Although color was also found to be important for the sensory appearance of the samples in the consumers’ mind, the differences observed between samples were not very large and their relation with sample composition is not straightforward.

A field study of the effectiveness and practicality of a novel hybrid personal cooling vest worn during rest in Hong Kong construction industry

A novel hybrid cooling vest (HCV) incorporated with phase change materials (PCMs) and ventilation fans has been developed for construction workers in Hong Kong to attenuate heat stress and prevent heat-related illnesses, and its effectiveness and practicality have been validated in this study. A total of 140 wear trials involving of 140 workers were conducted in Hong Kong construction sites during the summer time. Each wear trial involves a two-day wear test, of which one day workers wore the HCV (denoted as VEST) during resting, and another day they wore traditional workwear (denoted as CON). Subjects were asked to rate their perceived exertion (RPE), thermal sensations (TS) and 7 other subjective attributes. There were significant differences in the effectiveness on reducing workers’ heat strain between VEST and CON in terms of alleviations of heart rate (ΔHR), ΔTS, ΔRPE as well as ΔPeSI (p < 0.001). The practicality of HCV is evidenced by a significant improvement by 0.93–1.34 on the rating scores of perceived cooling effect, sensations of comfort and skin dryness during rest and fatigue recovery in VEST at the level of 0.05, and high ratings of 4.85–5 (rating scale from 1 to 7, and the higher the better) by subjects on the preference, fitness as well as effectiveness to combat heat stress. In addition, a remarkable proportion of 91 per cent of subjects prefer to use this newly designed HCV as a cooling measure during rest. The power to alleviate perceptual heat stain (PeSA) in VEST is about twice of that by rest, which means HCV can notably improve the workers’ perceptual heat strain in a limited resting duration. However, the strain alleviation power of HCV nearly remains unchanged with the prolonged rest duration. Thus, the optimal work-rest schedule needs to be investigated in a further study.

Combined interventional sialendoscopy and intraductal steroid therapy for recurrent sialadenitis in Sjögren's syndrome: Results of a pilot monocentric trial.

To evaluate the effectiveness of interventional sialendoscopy alone or combined with outpatient intraductal steroid irrigations in patients with sialadenitis due to Sjögren's syndrome (SS). A pilot therapeutic study. ENT Clinics, Universities of Milan and Pavia. We included 22 patients with SS of whom 12 underwent interventional sialendoscopy followed by intraductal steroid irrigations (group A), and 10 interventional sialendoscopy alone (group B). The following outcome measures were considered and recorded before and after the therapeutic intervention: (i) number of episodes of glandular swelling, (ii) cumulative prevalence of patients with glandular swelling assessed by the specific domain, the EULAR SS Disease Activity Index (ESSDAI), (iii) severity of pain by means of a 0-10 pain visual analogue scale (VAS), (iv) severity of xerostomia and other disease symptoms assessed by the EULAR SS Patient Reported Index (ESSPRI) and the Xerostomia Inventory questionnaire. The postoperative reduction in the mean number of episodes of glandular swelling was 87% (95% CI: 77-93) and 75% (95% CI: 47%-88%) in the groups A and B, respectively. The percentage of patients with glandular swelling decreased from 41.7% to 0.0% in the group A and from 30.0% to 0.0% in the group B, respectively. Most of the patients experienced a subjective clinical improvement documented by the statistically significant reductions in the postoperative mean pain VAS (group A P<.001; group B P=.004), Xerostomia Inventory (P<.001 and P=.003) and ESSPRI scores (P<.001 and P=.008). Interventional sialendoscopy followed by outpatient intraductal steroid irrigations was more effective than interventional sialendoscopy alone, when pain VAS, Xerostomia Inventory and ESSPRI scores before and after treatment were analysed together using the multivariate Hotelling T2 test (P=.0173). This pilot study confirms that interventional sialendoscopy with steroid duct irrigation significantly reduces the number of painful episodes of sialadenitis and improves the subjective sensation of oral dryness and other disease symptoms in patients with SS. The study results also suggest that the improvement is greater when interventional sialendoscopy is combined with a cycle of outpatient steroid ductal irrigations. Larger controlled randomised studies are certainly needed to confirm these preliminary data.

The impact of chronic vulvar dystrophy on sexual function at menopause

Chronic vulvar dystrophy is defined as growth of abnormal skin on the vulva, having two types according to the thickness of the skin – thin as lichen sclerosus, or thick like squamous hyperplasia. Lichen sclerosus appears as white, shiny patches of parchment-like tegument on the labia affecting mainly menopausal women. Symptoms are variable, from no obvious manifestations to intense itching and increasing vulvar pain. The affected skin area can easily bleed sometimes just by touch, often making sexual intercourse impossible. With squamous hyperplasia the vulvar skin becomes thick with white elevations, causing intense itching. Treatment includes topical corticosteroid and testosterone application, retinoids to reduce the connective tissue destruction and in advanced cases surgery. We examined a number of 25 menopausal patients, aged between 48 and 64 diagnosed with vulvar dystrophy in the interval 2014–2016. A percentage of 92% experienced difficulties in engaging sexual intercourse due to local pain, itching, dryness sensation, bleeding or labial fusion. From these, a number of 14 patients (56%) declared that vulvar symptoms determined them to cease any sexual activity because of intense complaints (40%) or physical impossibility caused by labial fusion (16%). All patients declared that the vulvar dystrophy had a negative impact on their sexual function and couple activity, affecting their quality of life between 7 and 10 on a visual analog scale. Topical corticosteroid and testosterone application was useful in most cases, relieving the symptoms after 3 months in 72% of the cases, while in the rest of the cases where the disease caused scarring or fusion of the labia surgical treatment was necessary. In conclusion, based on our study group we can affirm that chronic vulvar dystrophy can be a debilitating disease, affecting greatly menopausal women's quality of sexual life with long-term psychological implications.

Temporal drivers of liking for oral nutritional supplements for older adults throughout the day with monitoring of hunger and thirst status

Thomas, van der Stelt, Prokop, Lawlor, and Schlich (2016) recently introduced the Alternated Temporal Drivers of Liking (A-TDL) method in which consumers did both Temporal Dominance of Sensations (TDS) and dynamic liking evaluations on a full portion of two oral nutritional supplements (ONS) in the same session. This new study reports further development of this research in which TDS and dynamic liking were still paired at the lab, but were conducted twice a day (morning and afternoon sessions) for each product. In addition, hunger and thirst status were monitored at the lab along the successive sips and also before and after lunch and dinner at home. The objective was to reproduce the full daily experience of an ONS.A total of 62 French older adults tested the two products over two days, a week apart (a single product per day). Ten small glasses of the product were given to each participant in both morning and afternoon sessions; each one was consumed in a single sip. The protocol consisted of a TDS evaluation during each sip, followed by liking-thirst-hunger scales appearing successively. This protocol was repeated over the ten glasses. Before and after lunch and dinner, thirst and hunger status were recorded online at home.Participants seemed to be able to perform these rather sophisticated tasks quite well. Their use of the hunger scale was quite narrow and ONS consumed at the lab reduced hunger very moderately, at least compared to a regular meal being taken at home. Both products increased thirst by an average of 2 scale points along the ten sips, confirming that drinking an ONS increased thirst during tasting. Interestingly, no difference in liking was observed in the first sip, but one of the two products was slightly more appreciated on average over multiple sips. Temporal drivers of liking of this preferred product may be due to longer lasting praline and coffee-milk flavours and shorter metallic flavor and dry sensations.

STRES ÜRİNER İNKONTİNANSLI KADINLARDA PELVİK TABAN KAS EĞİTİMİNE EK OLARAK UYGULANAN ELEKTROMYOGRAFİK BİOFEEDBACK EĞİTİMİNİN ETKİNLİĞİNİN İNCELENMESİ

Aim: The aim was to investigate the effects of electromyography biofeedback training applied in addition to pelvic floor muscle training on the quality of life, amount of urine leakage and pelvic floor muscle strength in women with stress urinary incontinence. Materials and Methods: 52 women with stress urinary incontinence included in the study. The patients were divided into two groups. First group received pelvic floor muscle training (n= 27) and the other group received electromyography biofeedback training in addition to pelvic floor muscle training (n= 25). The perceived quality of life and dryness sensation of the women were assessed by using a visual analog scale. The pelvic floor muscle strength was evaluated by a vaginal pressure manometer. Their amount of urine leakage was evaluated by a 1-hour pad test. The evaluations were performed before the treatment and after an 8 weeks treatment. Results: Pelvic floor muscle training and electromyographic biofeedback training in addition to pelvic floor muscle training showed improvement in dryness sensation, perceived quality of life, pelvic floor muscle strength and amount of urine leakage before and after treatment in intra-group analyzes (p<0.05). The assessments showed that there was no difference between the groups (p>0.05) . Discussion and Conclusion: The electromyography biofeedback training in addition to pelvic floor muscle training did not show an additional healing effect in the treatment of women with stress urinary incontinence.

The effect of spherical refractive error on tear volume

Background: Dry eye disease (DED) is the most common multifactorial annoying ocular surface disorder, of various ocular symptoms, ranging from eye discomfort, dryness, itching, irritation, and foreign body sensation up to noticeable visual disturbance. Eventually ends with reducing quality of life. Optical refractive quality might deteriorate in these DED individuals, especially in hot-dry-windy climates like in Sudan. Aim: This study aims to determine the influence of spherical refractive errors (REs) on the tear volume and DED. Materials and Methods: In a comparative cross-sectional hospital-based study 90 (n = 90) participants were included; all were free from any ocular or systemic diseases and not using contact lenses. They were of equal numbers of hypermetropes and myopes of mixed gender; males and females, with their ages range between (18-28) years. The mean ages in both groups of RE states were 21.97 ± 2.35 and 22.55 ± 3.29 hypermetropes and myopes, respectively. The study was performed at Makkah Eye complex (MEC), Khartoum, Sudan, from May to July 2015; where the participants were recruited from the general refraction clinics at MEC. All individuals were subjected to the full eye examination. The Schirmer's test was used for all the participants. SPSS statistical analysis program was used to analyze the data. Results: Dry eye was found in 26.6% on hypermetropic patients and 1.1% myopic patients. In this study, the spherical REs showed a significant difference between males (16.6%) and females (12%) P = 0.001. Conclusion: REs may be considered to be one of the risk factors to cause dry eye condition. Correcting RE may reduce the risk factor of dry eye, and that may reduce its prevalence.

A Guide to Medications Inducing Salivary Gland Dysfunction, Xerostomia, and Subjective Sialorrhea: A Systematic Review Sponsored by the World Workshop on Oral Medicine VI.

BackgroundMedication-induced salivary gland dysfunction (MISGD), xerostomia (sensation of oral dryness), and subjective sialorrhea cause significant morbidity and impair quality of life. However, no evidence-based lists of the medications that cause these disorders exist.ObjectiveOur objective was to compile a list of medications affecting salivary gland function and inducing xerostomia or subjective sialorrhea.Data SourcesElectronic databases were searched for relevant articles published until June 2013. Of 3867 screened records, 269 had an acceptable degree of relevance, quality of methodology, and strength of evidence. We found 56 chemical substances with a higher level of evidence and 50 with a moderate level of evidence of causing the above-mentioned disorders. At the first level of the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system, 9 of 14 anatomical groups were represented, mainly the alimentary, cardiovascular, genitourinary, nervous, and respiratory systems. Management strategies include substitution or discontinuation of medications whenever possible, oral or systemic therapy with sialogogues, administration of saliva substitutes, and use of electro-stimulating devices.LimitationsWhile xerostomia was a commonly reported outcome, objectively measured salivary flow rate was rarely reported. Moreover, xerostomia was mostly assessed as an adverse effect rather than the primary outcome of medication use. This study may not include some medications that could cause xerostomia when administered in conjunction with others or for which xerostomia as an adverse reaction has not been reported in the literature or was not detected in our search.ConclusionsWe compiled a comprehensive list of medications with documented effects on salivary gland function or symptoms that may assist practitioners in assessing patients who complain of dry mouth while taking medications. The list may also prove useful in helping practitioners anticipate adverse effects and consider alternative medications.

Associations between Parents' Perceived Air Quality in Homes and Health among Children in Nanjing, China.

The increasing prevalence of respiratory diseases in Chinese children has focused attention on indoor environmental quality. We investigated associations between perceived air quality in domestic environments and children’s allergic diseases with a questionnaire survey study. A total of 4017 children aged 1–8 years old from 23 kindergartens in urban, suburban and industrial areas in Nanjing were randomly recruited for this study. Parents’ perceived odors, including stuffy odor, unpleasant odor, pungent odor, moldy odor, humid air and dry air were found to be associated with asthma, wheeze, dry cough and rhinitis (P < 0.05). Both perceived dry and humid air were found to be positively associated with dampness indices, and we present evidence that the sensation of dryness may not be due to the actual indoor relative humidity, but rather to indoor air irritants. Parents’ perception of odors and relative humidity may be indicators of environment pollutants, which are likely the real factors associated with children’s allergic diseases.

Understanding Ocular Discomfort and Dryness Using the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire.

PurposeTo utilize the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ) to assess the influence of pain sensitivity on perceptions of ocular discomfort and dryness.MethodsSubjects completed a battery of questionnaires, including history of ocular and general health, contact lens wear history, the Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) questionnaire, visual analog scale (VAS) 100-point rating scales to assess severity and frequency of average and end of day (EOD) discomfort and dryness, and the PSQ to assess pain sensitivity level. Masked subjects were then instructed to wear one inverted and one normally oriented soft contact lens contralaterally for 30 minutes to induce an inter-eye difference in comfort and dryness sensations. Subjects rated comfort and dryness in each eye on VAS every 5 minutes during contact lens wear. A slit lamp examination was performed to evaluate ocular surface health and to assess contact lens fit.ResultsOne hundred and fifty-three subjects (111 females, 42 males) completed the study. In separate models, a higher PSQ score was significantly associated with higher OSDI score (p = 0.002), lower average and EOD comfort (p = 0.005 and 0.001, respectively), and greater EOD dryness (p = 0.04). The minimum (0.14) and maximum (7.14) PSQ scores observed in our subject cohort (i.e., from the subjects who were the least and most sensitive to pain, respectively) corresponded to an estimated difference of 11 points on the OSDI, 20 points on the VAS scale for average comfort, 31 points for EOD comfort and 17 points for EOD dryness. In a mixed effects model, a higher PSQ score was significantly associated with a greater inter-eye difference in comfort (p = 0.013) and dryness (p = 0.010) during CL wear.ConclusionsPain sensitivity influences perceptions of ocular discomfort and dryness, and should be taken into account when evaluating subjective assessments of these symptoms.

Clinical analysis of 421 cases of rosacea

Objective To analyze clinical manifestations of patients with rosacea so as to improve the understanding of clinical characteristics of rosacea. Methods Clinical data on patients' gender, age, lesion location and type, and subjective symptoms were collected from 421 patients with rosacea, and retrospectively analyzed. Results Of the 421 patients, 58 were male and 363 were female with a male/female ratio of 1 ∶ 6.25. The patients aged 33.81 ± 11.32 years, and rosacea could occur at all ages in both genders. The most common skin lesions were intermittent flushing (93.8%, 395/421) , persistent erythema (84.3%, 355/421) and inflammatory papules (68.9%, 290/421) . Two or more types of skin lesions were usually concurrent, and 83.1% of these patients had concurrent skin lesions. Intermittent flushing and persistent erythema were the most common concurrent lesions. Moreover, the most frequently involved regions were the cheek (87.2%, 367/421) , nose (76.5%, 322/421) , and perioral areas (63.7%, 268/421) . Three or more areas were involved concurrently in 67.2% of these patients, and the cheek, nose and perioral areas appeared to be the most frequently concurrently affected regions. The three most common subjective symptoms were burning sensation (73.6% , 310/421) , dryness sensation (69.6% , 293/421) and itching (66.0% , 278/421) . Conclusion Intermittent flushing and persistent erythema in the cheek, nose, or perioral regions are the main clinical symptoms of rosacea, and papules/pustules, rhinophyma, telangiectasia, burning sensation, dryness sensation and itching are important clinical manifestations of rosacea. Key words: Rosacea; Disease attributes; Signs and symptoms; Retrospective studies

World Workshop on Oral Medicine VI: a systematic review of medication-induced salivary gland dysfunction.

The aim of this paper was to perform a systematic review of the pathogenesis of medication-induced salivary gland dysfunction (MISGD). Review of the identified papers was based on the standards regarding the methodology for systematic reviews set forth by the World Workshop on Oral Medicine IV and the PRISMA statement. Eligible papers were assessed for both the degree and strength of relevance to the pathogenesis of MISGD as well as on the appropriateness of the study design and sample size. A total of 99 papers were retained for the final analysis. MISGD in human studies was generally reported as xerostomia (the sensation of oral dryness) without measurements of salivary secretion rate. Medications may act on the central nervous system (CNS) and/or at the neuroglandular junction on muscarinic, α-and β-adrenergic receptors and certain peptidergic receptors. The types of medications that were most commonly implicated for inducing salivary gland dysfunction were those acting onthe nervous, cardiovascular, genitourinary, musculoskeletal, respiratory, and alimentary systems. Although many medications may affect the salivary flow rate and composition, most of the studies considered only xerostomia. Thus, further human studies are necessary to improve our understanding of the association between MISGD and the underlying pathophysiology.