J Formos Med Assoc
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Pruritus, or itch, is a prevalent symptom causing profound health burden in many dermatological and non-dermatological disorders. Several itch questionnaires have been created to assess itch. Particularly, Eppendorf Itch Questionnaire (EIQ) is widely accepted since it encompasses various aspects of itch, including intensity, affects, coping behavior, and motivation to scratch. ⋯ We demonstrated the reliability and validity of Chinese EIQ in adult patients with chronic itch at the outpatient setting. The study also revealed the diversified aspects of itch across patients with various dermatoses.
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Sjögren's syndrome (SS) is an autoimmune disease and its conventional treatment has exhibited limited therapeutic efficacy. Traditional Chinese medicine has been demonstrated to ameliorate the sicca symptoms of SS by decreasing the level of TH1 and TH2 cytokines and increasing salivary flow rate. A newly designed traditional Chinese medicine, SS-1, showed improved efficacy in alleviating the dryness symptoms of SS patients in the National Taiwan SS cohort investigation. Here, we investigated the effect of SS-1 on T cell responses. ⋯ Our results suggest that SS-1 inhibits T cell activation and diminishes TH1, TH2, and IL-17+IFN-γ+ TH responses in SS patients.
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Cataract surgery in combination with or after trabeculectomy is often required for improving vision in glaucoma patients. Intraocular pressure (IOP) changes may influence refractive outcomes after cataract surgery. We compared refractive outcomes of the combined and sequential approaches in managing glaucoma and cataract. ⋯ Both approaches resulted in similar effective IOP control and accurate intraocular lens predictability. The IOP change affected the postoperative refraction prediction error only in the sequential approach.
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The purpose of the work is to analyze population adaptation to SARS-CoV-2 in Europe in March-May 2020, predict herd immunity formation in the nearest several months on the basis of our SIR modified epidemiological model of the virus spread and elaborate recommendations to governments regarding a second wave of COVID-19 pandemic. ⋯ In case of a second wave of COVID-19 disease in Europe, it will coincide with seasonal common cold surge, spanning from mid-September 2020 to mid-February 2021, with a median in November-December 2020. Strict epidemiological surveillance must be observed in Europe at that time.
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The neurosensory disturbance is a common complication following sagittal split ramus osteotomy (SSRO) whereas the shortest buccal bone marrow (SBM) is an important risk factor. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between the occurrence rates of SBM among three skeletal patterns. ⋯ Class III had a significantly higher occurrence of probability (SBM < 1 mm) than Class II. Therefore, patients with Class III were more likely to experience postoperative neurosensory abnormalities and unfavorable split than patients with Class II.