Macular Microcysts in Mitochondrial Optic Neuropathies: Prevalence and Retinal Layer Thickness Measurements.

PurposeTo investigate the thickness of the retinal layers and to assess the prevalence of macular microcysts (MM) in the inner nuclear layer (INL) of patients with mitochondrial optic neuropathies (MON).MethodsAll patients with molecularly confirmed MON, i.e. Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) and Dominant Optic Atrophy (DOA), referred between 2010 and 2012 were enrolled. Eight patients with MM were compared with two control groups: MON patients without MM matched by age, peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, and visual acuity, as well as age-matched controls. Retinal segmentation was performed using specific Optical coherence tomography (OCT) software (Carl Zeiss Meditec). Macular segmentation thickness values of the three groups were compared by one-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni post hoc corrections.ResultsMM were identified in 5/90 (5.6%) patients with LHON and 3/58 (5.2%) with DOA. The INL was thicker in patients with MON compared to controls regardless of the presence of MM [133.1±7μm vs 122.3±9μm in MM patients (p<0.01) and 128.5±8μm vs. 122.3±9μm in no-MM patients (p<0.05)], however the outer nuclear layer (ONL) was thicker in patients with MM (101.4±1mμ) compared to patients without MM [77.5±8mμ (p<0.001)] and controls [78.4±7mμ (p<0.001)]. ONL thickness did not significantly differ between patients without MM and controls.ConclusionThe prevalence of MM in MON is low (5-6%), but associated with ONL thickening. We speculate that in MON patients with MM, vitreo-retinal traction contributes to the thickening of ONL as well as to the production of cystic spaces

Virtual and rapid prototyping of an underactuated space end effector

A fast and reliable verification of an initial concept is an important need in the field of mechatronics. Usually, the steps for a successful design require multiple iterations involving a sequence of design phases-the initial one and several improvements-and the tests of the resulting prototypes, in a trial and error scheme. Now a day’s software and hardware tools allow for a faster approach, in which the iterations between design and prototyping are by far reduced, even to just one in favorable situation. This work presents the design, manufacturing and testing of a robotic end effector for space applications, realized through virtual prototyping, followed by rapid prototyping realization. The first process allows realizing a mathematical model of the robotic system that, once all the simulations confirm the effectiveness of the design, can be directly used for the rapid prototyping by means of 3D printing. The workflow and the results of the process are described in detail in this paper, showing the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the performance of both the virtual end effector and the actual physical robotic hand

Platform-independent Dynamic Reconfiguration of Distributed Applications

The aim of dynamic reconfiguration is to allow a system to evolve incrementally from one configuration to another at run-time, without restarting it or taking it offline. In recent years, support for transparent dynamic reconfiguration has been added to middleware platforms, shifting the complexity required to enable dynamic reconfiguration to the supporting infrastructure. These approaches to dynamic reconfiguration are mostly platform-specific and depend on particular implementation approaches suitable for particular platforms. In this paper, we propose an approach to dynamic reconfiguration of distributed applications that is suitable for application implemented on top of different platforms. This approach supports a platform-independent view of an application that profits from reconfiguration transparency. In this view, requirements on the ability to reconfigure components are expressed in an abstract manner. These requirements are then satisfied by platform-specific realizations

Melanopsin-expressing retinal ganglion cells are resistant to cell injury, but not always

Melanopsin retinal ganglion cells (mRGCs) are intrinsically photosensitive RGCs deputed to non-image forming functions of the eye such as synchronization of circadian rhythms to light-dark cycle. These cells are characterized by unique electrophysiological, anatomical and biochemical properties and are usually more resistant than conventional RGCs to different insults, such as axotomy and different paradigms of stress. We also demonstrated that these cells are relatively spared compared to conventional RGCs in mitochondrial optic neuropathies (Leber's hereditary optic neuropathy and Dominant Optic Atrophy). However, these cells are affected in other neurodegenerative conditions, such as glaucoma and Alzheimer's disease. We here review the current evidences that may underlie this dichotomy. We also present our unpublished data on cell experiments demonstrating that melanopsin itself does not explain the robustness of these cells and some preliminary data on immunohistochemical assessment of mitochondria in mRGCs

Territorialisation dynamics for Italian farms adhering to Alternative Food Networks

The demographic processes of the last decades have led to variations in urban and peri-urban territorial configurations, questioning the patterns of traditional productive localisation. They have begun to outline new perspectives related to proximity to trading and commerce sites as well as to the services offered by the city. Business strategies, such as multifunctionality and diversification, have begun to consider these new possibilities that, at a larger scale, have triggered the process of territorialisation. The study analyses the influence of proximity to the city on the strategies of farms diversifying income through short food chains, with the aim of identifying the prevailing behaviours adopted in three different concentric areas at the urban centre of gravity: peri-urban, belt and rural. The study involves a dataset constituted by 217 farms, where each farm has been associated with a set of explanatory variables that outline some structural, social and economic characteristics. The sample has been segmented through a hierarchical cluster analysis, which allowed us to identify 5 groups of farms, after having reduced the number of variables through PCA (Principal Component Analysis). The results show that short food chains and, more generally, AFNs, are based on strategies alternative to those of traditional chains, and which involve a different economic dimension of the same chains and the construction of a different place-based agro-food system, also envisaging a re-localisation of space near the final market

Is Malaysian Islamic home financing bay’ bithaman al-ajil (‘BBA’) compatible with Islamic law? A critical examination on the issue of ‘beneficial ownership’

Islamic Banking has been established since 1980s in Malaysia. It was initially commenced with the incorporation of Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad (BIMB) in 1983. Until today, Islamic Banking has robustly developed in Malaysia providing various kinds of Islamic transaction products including Islamic home finance. Various Islamic home finance products have been introduced and practised in Malaysia. Among the products are: Bay’ Bithaman al-Ajil (BBA), Musharakah al-Mutanaqisah (MM), Commodity Murabahah and Ijarah. Nonetheless, there are many issues in these products when faced with the problems of abandoned housing projects.One of the issues is the issue of beneficial ownership in BBA.It is evident that, the application of BBA is proven to be defective and contains many flaws, if involves abandoned housing projects in Malaysia. This paper aims to highlight this issue and provide solutions to the issues discussed.This paper used shariah (Islamic Law) doctrinal and qualitative case study research methodologies. This paper finds that the current terms in the BBA are inadequate and warranted it to be provided with equitable terms on beneficial ownership thus can fully comply with the requirements of the shariah.The outcome of this paper will help the Islamic banking industry in dealing with issues arising from ‘beneficial ownership’ in transaction involving abandoned housing projects in Malaysia

Evaluation of Naked Barley Landraces for Agro-morphological Traits

Naked barley (Hordeum vulgare var. nudum L.) is a traditional, culturally important, climate-resilient winter cereal crop of Nepal. Evaluation of the naked barely genotypes for yield and disease is fundamental for their efficient utilization in plant breeding schemes and effective conservation programs. Therefore, to identify high yielding and yellow rust resistant landraces of naked barley for hilly and mountainous agro-ecosystem, twenty naked barley landraces collected from different locations of Nepal, were evaluated in randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications during winter season of 2016 and 2017 at Khumaltar, Lalitpur, Nepal. Combined analysis of variances revealed that NGRC04902 (3.46 t/ha), NGRC00886 (3.28 t/ha), NGRC02309 (3.21 t/ha) and NGRC06026 (3.10 t/ha) were the high yielding landraces and statistically at par with the released variety 'Solu Uwa' (3.15 t/ha). The landraces namely NGRC00837 (ACI Value: 1.86) was found resistant to yellow rust diseases. Landraces NGRC06034 (131.7 days) and NGRC02363 (130.8 days) were found early maturing and NGRC02306 (94.36 cm) was found dwarf landraces among tested genotypes. These landraces having higher yield and better resistance to yellow rust need to be deployed to farmers' field to diversify the varietal options and used in resistant breeding program to improve the productivity of naked barley for Nepalese farmers

Space Time MUSIC: Consistent Signal Subspace Estimation for Wide-band Sensor Arrays

Wide-band Direction of Arrival (DOA) estimation with sensor arrays is an essential task in sonar, radar, acoustics, biomedical and multimedia applications. Many state of the art wide-band DOA estimators coherently process frequency binned array outputs by approximate Maximum Likelihood, Weighted Subspace Fitting or focusing techniques. This paper shows that bin signals obtained by filter-bank approaches do not obey the finite rank narrow-band array model, because spectral leakage and the change of the array response with frequency within the bin create \emph{ghost sources} dependent on the particular realization of the source process. Therefore, existing DOA estimators based on binning cannot claim consistency even with the perfect knowledge of the array response. In this work, a more realistic array model with a finite length of the sensor impulse responses is assumed, which still has finite rank under a space-time formulation. It is shown that signal subspaces at arbitrary frequencies can be consistently recovered under mild conditions by applying MUSIC-type (ST-MUSIC) estimators to the dominant eigenvectors of the wide-band space-time sensor cross-correlation matrix. A novel Maximum Likelihood based ST-MUSIC subspace estimate is developed in order to recover consistency. The number of sources active at each frequency are estimated by Information Theoretic Criteria. The sample ST-MUSIC subspaces can be fed to any subspace fitting DOA estimator at single or multiple frequencies. Simulations confirm that the new technique clearly outperforms binning approaches at sufficiently high signal to noise ratio, when model mismatches exceed the noise floor.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures. Accepted in a revised form by the IEEE Trans. on Signal Processing on 12 February 1918. @IEEE201

Urbanisation and changes in fertility pattern in Poland and in the selected countries of Western and Southern Europe

Since the beginning of the 1990s profound changes have occurred in reproductive behaviour in Central and Eastern Europe. They involve a sudden fall in the fertility rate, accompanied by an increase in the age of mothers giving birth to their first child, and a growth in the percentage of extramarital births. A similar course of changes in reproductive behaviour was observed almost a decade earlier in the countries of Southern Europe (Greece, Spain and Italy), and at the beginning of the 1960s in the countries of Western Europe (e.g. France). The aim of the study is to show the spatial changes in the fertility pattern in Poland compared to the selected European countries - Italy, Spain and France. Since new fertility patterns take hold most quickly among the inhabitants of large cities, as a result of the weaker effects of tradition and earlier formation of social norms owing to suburbanisation processes, the analysis of changes in reproductive behaviours will be conducted in the context of changes in urbanisation level. The time frame of the study encompasses an extended duration, especially taking into account the period of 1970-2010. For the comparison of large cities, data from 2010 or the nearest available were examined

Exploiting biodiversity of traditional crops for mainstreaming nutrition sensitive agriculture in Nepal

Traditional crops cultivated and consumed over generationsare important components of agrobiodiversity and support dietary diversity, productivity and livelihoods of marginalized populations in Nepal. This paper outlines the value of traditional nutrient dense crops to promote nutrition sensitive agriculture by exploiting rich biodiversity of these crops through nutrition sensitive value chain development. Use of traditional crop biodiversity for nutrition sensitive value chain development can play positive role by taking into consideration not only how diverse nutrient-dense foods are produced but also how theyare processed, distributed, marketed and consumed to supply nutrient value for household nutrition security. However, presently value chains of biodiversity of traditional crops are weak, fragmented and not properly connected among sub-components of production, processing, marketing and consumption system. Considering this, focus of biodiversity-based value chain upgrading is suggested to improve their performance, efficiency and interlinkages in different sub-components. Creating enabling policy for investment in research, education, extension and value chain development is essential to exploit rich biodiversity of traditional nutrient dense crops. Promotion of organic and ecofriendly production, marketing and certification system linking with geographic indication and fair trading is suggested for mainstreaming traditional nutrient dense crops in national policies, program and institutions