Purpose To determine the prevalence of normal tension glaucoma (NTG) in patients with obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) and further investigate whether the severity of OSAHS would increase the risk of glaucoma. Patients and Methods Two hundred fifty-six participants were consecutively admitted for polysomnographic exam to diagnose OSAHS. All participants, then underwent a complete ophthalmologic evaluation, including best-corrected visual acuity, intraocular pressure, slit lamp biomicroscopy, gonioscopy, fundoscopy, automated visual field (VF), and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) evaluation. Results A total of 247 participants were enrolled in the study. Two hundred nine patients were OSAHS and 38 participants were classified as the normal group. Among the OSAHS patients, NTG was found in 12 patients with a prevalence of 5.7%, which was higher than that in the normal group (P=0.003). In the NTG patients, 1 was in the mild, 3 were in the moderate, and 8 were in the severe OSAHS group. There was no glaucoma patient in the normal group. The prevalence of NTG in moderate/severe OSAHS patients was 7.1%, significantly higher (P=0.033) than that in normal/mild OSAHS patients. The mean saturation of oxygen and lowest saturation of oxygen correlated with the average thickness of RNFL in the OSAHS patients. Conclusions Patients with OSAHS had a high prevalence of NTG, especially in patients with moderate and severe OSAHS. The severity of OSAHS inversely correlated with retinal nerve fiber layer thickness. Clinicians need to consider the possibility of glaucoma in patients with moderate and severe OSAHS.

Objective. Kikuchi9s disease (KD), or histiocytic necrotizing lymphadenitis, is a unique form of self-limiting lymphadenitis and typically affects the head and neck regions. It usually occurs in young adults and has a female predilection. The aim of this study was to review the authors9 institutional experience with KD in children over a 16-year period. Methods. Between January 1986 and May 2002, a total of 23 patients who were younger than 16 years underwent cervical lymph node biopsies and received a diagnosis of KD. Clinical features, laboratory values, pathologic parameters, specific characteristics of our pediatric patients, and long-term follow-up results are discussed. The follow-up period averaged 8 years. Results. There were 8 girls and 15 boys with a mean age of 12.8. All 23 patients had affected cervical lymph nodes located in the posterior cervical triangle, and 2 cases additionally had affected nodes in the anterior triangle. Cervical lymph nodes were affected unilaterally in 82.6% (19) and bilaterally in 17.4% (4) of these patients. The dimensions of the affected lymph nodes were commonly in the range of 0.5 to 3 cm (52.2%; 12 of 23) and 3 to 6 cm (39.1%; 9 of 23). In 2 (8.7%) patients, the size of the enlarged lymph nodes reached >6 cm. Leukopenia was observed in 5 (21.7%) patients, and fever was observed in 7 (30.4%) patients. One child with KD developed systemic lupus erythematosus 5 years later. The cervical lymphadenopathy usually resolved itself without any medical treatment within 6 months after definite diagnosis was made. Neither recurrence nor persisting KD has since been noted. Conclusion. KD, although rare, should be part of the differential diagnosis for posterior cervical lymphadenopathy in children, especially in patients of Asian descent. In our pediatric series, KD demonstrated a male predominance, which is in contrast to previously reported adult series demonstrating a female predominance. The children with KD require a systemic survey and regular follow-up for several years to rule out the development of systemic lupus erythematosus.

Circadian misalignment plays an important role in disease processes and can affect disease severity, treatment outcomes, and even survivorship. In this study, we aim to investigate whether expression and daily oscillation patterns of core circadian clock genes were disturbed in patients with obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea (OSA) syndrome. We performed real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reactions to examine the expression of the nine core circadian clock genes in leukocytes of peripheral blood collected at 12 AM, 6 AM, 12 PM, and 6 PM from 133 patients with OSA and 11 normal controls. Daily expression patterns of the nine circadian clock genes were observed in normal controls, but three of these genes (BMAL1, CLOCK, CRY2) were disrupted in patients with OSA. The expressions of eight circadian clock genes (except PER1) at midnight were significantly downregulated in patients with severe OSA. Binary logistic regression analysis selected CRY1 and PER3 as independent factors for severe OSA and showed that the combined expressions of CRY1 and PER3 enhanced the capability of predicting severe OSA (Odds ratio, 5.800; 95% CI, 1.978 to 17.004; p = 0.001). Our results show that combined expressions of CRY1 and PER3 at midnight could be a potential predictor for severe OSA.

Background: Vascular abnormalities are the predominant histologic changes associated with radiation in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). This study examined if the duration after radiotherapy correlates with the progression of carotid intima-media thickness (IMT) and investigated its relationship with inflammatory markers. Methods: One hundred and five NPC patients post-radiotherapy for more than one year and 25 healthy control subjects were examined by B-mode ultrasound for IMT measurement at the far wall of the common carotid artery (CCA). Surrogate markers including lipid profile, HbA1c, and high sensitive C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) were assessed. Results: The IMT of CCA was significantly increased in NPC patients and carotid plaque was detected in 38 NPC patients (38/105, 36.2%). Significant risk factors for carotid plaques included age, duration after radiotherapy, and HbA1c levels. Age, duration after radiotherapy, hs-CRP, HbA1c, and platelet count positively correlated with IMT. The cut-off value of age and duration after radiotherapy for the presence of plaque was 52.5 years and 42.5 months, respectively. In NPC subjects, multiple linear regression analysis revealed that age, gender, duration after radiotherapy and platelet counts were independently associated with CCA IMT. After adjustments for age, gender and platelet counts, IMT increased in a linear manner with duration after radiotherapy. Conclusions: Radiation-induced vasculopathy is a dynamic and progressive process due to late radiation effects. Extra-cranial color-coded duplex sonography can be part of routine follow-up in NPC patients aged ≥50 years at 40 months post-radiotherapy.