Defining Dry Eye from a Clinical Perspective

Over the past decades, the number of patients with dry eye disease (DED) has increased dramatically. The incidence of DED is higher in Asia than in Europe and North America, suggesting the involvement of cultural or racial factors in DED etiology. Although many definitions of DED have been used, discrepancies exist between the various definitions of dry eye disease (DED) used across the globe. This article presents a clinical consensus on the definition of DED, as formulated in four meetings with global DED experts. The proposed new definition is as follows: “Dry eye is a multifactorial disease characterized by a persistently unstable and/or deficient tear film (TF) causing discomfort and/or visual impairment, accompanied by variable degrees of ocular surface epitheliopathy, inflammation and neurosensory abnormalities.” The key criteria for the diagnosis of DED are unstable TF, inflammation, ocular discomfort and visual impairment. This definition also recommends the assessment of ocular surface epitheliopathy and neurosensory abnormalities in each patient with suspected DED. It is easily applicable in clinical practice and should help practitioners diagnose DED consistently. This consensus definition of DED should also help to guide research and clinical trials that, to date, have been hampered by the lack of an established surrogate endpoint.     

Distribution of carbon contamination in MgAl2O4 spinel occurring during spark-plasma-sintering (SPS) processing: I – Effect of heating rate and post-annealing

Carbon contamination from the carbon paper/dies during spark-plasma-sintering (SPS) processing was examined in the MgAl₂O₄ spinel. The carbon contamination sensitively changes with the heating rate during the SPS processing. At the high heating rate of 100 °C/min, the carbon contamination having organized structures occurred over almost the entire area from the surface to deep inside the SPSed spinel disk. In contrast, at the slow heating rate of 10 °C/min, the carbon contamination having disordered structures occurred only around the surface area. The carbon phases transform into high pressure CO/CO₂ gases by post-annealing in air and lead to pore formation along the grain junctions. The pore formation significantly occurs at the high heating rate due to the large amount of the contaminant carbon phases. This suggests that if once the carbon contamination was formed in the materials, it is very difficult to remove the carbon phases from the materials.     

A case of chronic encephalitis due to double infection with herpes simplex and measles viruses

In a healthy 49-year-old man, a decrease in job efficiency was noticed along with bizarre behavior. On admission, he was euphoric, childish, superficial and had increased libido. Neurological findings were normal. There were no abnormal findings on routine blood tests, hematochemistry or urine analysis. MRI showed no abnormal findings. However, single photon emission CT (SPECT) showed diffuse hypoaccummulation of tracer from the temporal to frontal regions. Lumbar puncture showed clear cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with pleocytosis and an elevated protein level. Moreover, antibody IgG titers to herpes simplex virus (HSV) and measles virus were elevated, according to EIA [serum HSV -1,202.2x, measles virus 47.1x: CSF HSV-116.1x, measles virus 9.9x]. The ratio of serum to CSF antibody titers of HSV and measles virus were 12.5 and 4.75, respectively. The antibody index values of HSV and measles virus IgG titers were 8.42 and 22.22. The ratio of albumin was 105.7. Chronic, progressive HSV encephalitis is rare, and there have been very few reports of encephalitis due to double infection by HSV and another virus. Our patient was diagnosed as having encephalitis due to double infection with HSV and measles virus, because the ratio of serum to CSF antibody titers was less than 20 and the antibody index values were over 1.91. Moreover, since the IgG index was elevated and the ratio of albumin was not low, it was suggested that the blood-brain-barrier had not been disrupted, and antibodies were being produced chronically in the medullary cavity. Hyperaccummulation of tracer on SPECT studies has been reported in the early stages of HSV encephalitis. In our case, while CT and MRI showed no abnormal findings, SPECT showed diffuse hypoaccummulation. SPECT appears to be a useful tool in the diagnosis of this disorder. In case of chronic, progressive personality change in middle-aged adults, we must be aware of double virus infection of the brain as a possible causal factor.     

Involvement of brain serotonergic function in lidocaine-induced convulsions in mice

Influences of drug-induced manipulations of central serotonergic function on lidocaine- and pentylenetetrazol (PTZ)-induced convulsions were examined in mice. Agents that suppressed serotonergic transmission increased, whereas drugs that facilitated serotonin (5-HT) function decreased the incidence of lidocaine-induced convulsions. These treatments had similar influences on the incidence of PTZ-induced convulsions. Lidocaine (10(-5)-10(-3) M) reduced the stimulation evoked [3H]5-HT release from cortical slices, followed with an increased spontaneous [3H] overflow at higher concentrations. These results may suggest that brain 5-HT neurons are causally involved as inhibitory neurons in lidocaine-induced convulsions as in the case of PTZ-induced convulsions.     

Boron removal by titanium addition in solidification refining of silicon with Si-Al melt

In order to effectively remove B from Si for its use in solar cells, a process involving B removal by solidification refining of Si using a Si-Al melt with Ti addition was investigated. For clarifying the effect of Ti addition on B removal from the Si-Al melt, TiB₂ solubilities in Si-64.6 at. pct Al melt at 1173 K and Si-60.0 at. pct Al melt at 1273 K were determined by measuring the equilibrium concentrations of B and Ti in the presence of TiB₂ precipitates. The small solubilities of TiB₂ in the Si-Al melt indicate the effective removal of B from the Si-Al melt by Ti addition. Further, solidification experiments of Si-Al alloys containing B by Ti addition were performed, and the effect of Ti addition on the solidification refining of Si with the Si-Al melt was successfully confirmed.     

On‐Line Detection Of State‐Of‐Charge In Lead Acid Battery Using Radial Basis Function Neural Network

To realize a stable supply of electric power in an automobile, an accurate and reliable detection method of SOC (state‐of‐charge) in a lead acid battery is required. However the dynamics of the battery is very complicated. The characteristics of the battery greatly change due to its degradation. Moreover a automobile has many driving patterns, which are unknown beforehand. Thus it is not easy to detect the SOC analytically. In this paper, to overcome this problem, a new on‐line SOC detection method with a radial basis function neural network is proposed. In order to increase the detection accuracy of degraded batteries, physical values related to the degradation degree are used as input signal in the neural network. The detection accuracies for different sized batteries and various degradation states are investigated.     

Sensorless control of synchronous reluctance motors using on‐line parameter identification method not affected by position estimation accuracy

This paper presents a novel on‐line parameter identification method for sensorless control of Synchronous Reluctance Motors (SynRMs). Although conventional sensorless control methods based on mathematical models usually need some complex measurements of motor parameters in advance, the proposed identification method does not require them and can be realized on‐line. The proposed method identifies motor parameters under sensorless control, so rotor position and velocity cannot be used to identify these parameters. However, the proposed method does not need rotor position and velocity, and identified parameters are not affected by these estimation errors. The sensorless control using identified motor parameters is realized, and the effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by experimental results. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 155(3): 62–69, 2006; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.20258