PURPOSE Two new drugs with mucin-inducing and secretion-promotive effects, rebamipide and diquafosol, were recently approved as topical dry-eye treatments. We report two cases in which the long-term use of mucin-inducing eye drops improved chronic ocular graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD)-related dry eye and ocular cicatricial pemphigoid (OCP)-like disease. CASE REPORTS Case 1. A 61-year-old w...

Purpose Interface bonding with corneal crosslinking (CXL) after LASIK using two different photosensitizers was studied ex vivo. Methods A LASIK flap was created in enucleated rabbit eyes using a femtosecond laser. After the dissection, CXL was performed to seal the interface. In one group interface CXL was performed using rose bengal and green light, whereas in a second group riboflavin and U...

Divergent opinions regarding the effect of streptozotocin- (STZ) induced diabetes on bile flow rate may be due to the differing lengths of time after STZ administration at which bile flow was measured. Also, the biliary excretion of bile acids can influence the canalicular transport of several organic anions. Therefore, the hepatic clearance of the bile acid-dependent organic anion rose bengal ...

Although cultural surveys of airborne fungi are pursued widely, the comparative virtues of popular media have not been systematically tested. To facilitate an informed choice, eight different agar media were compared using paired single-plate exposures of identical, wind-oriented, Andersen samplers. Modified Mehrlich's (MM), Sabouraud's dextrose (SAB), malt extract (MALT), V8 juice (V8), and po...

PURPOSE To evaluate the incidence of dry eye in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with or without Sjögren syndrome (SS), and to investigate the correlation between dry eye and RA activity. DESIGN Prospective case-control study. METHODS In 72 RA patients, the severity of dry eye was assessed by the Schirmer test, tear break-up time, rose bengal staining, and fluorescein staining. The RA act...

Our purpose was to evaluate the efficacy of a new formulation of methylcellulose, preservative-free 0.5% hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), for the treatment of dry eye. In the clinical part of our study, two groups of dry-eye patients, those with Sjögren's syndrome (SS) and those without (non-SS), were treated topically with 0.5% HPMC and evaluated for symptoms, ocular surface vital stainin...

In dentistry, residual infection remains a major cause of failure after endodontic treatment; many of these infections involve Enterococcus faecalis. In the current study, we explored the possibility that blue light activated photosensitizers could be used, in principle, to inactivate this microbe as an adjunct disinfection strategy for endodontic therapy. Three blue light absorbing photosensit...