Great imitator — ocular syphilis

We examined a 44-year-old woman without any known systemic disease with a decreased vision of a month duration in her left eye. She had undergone left uneventful cataract surgery with intraocular lens implantation elsewhere 14 years ago. On examination, her Snellen visual acuity was 1.0 (with the correction of –0.50–0.25 × 120) in the right eye and 0.4 (with the correction of +0.75–2.25 × 115) in the left. There was left hypochromic heterochromia. While the right anterior segment was unremarkable, there were small to medium-sized keratic precipitates, 3+ anterior chamber cells, a posterior chamber intraocular lens with an intact posterior capsule, and a few vitreous cells in the left eye. Fundus autofluorescence imaging revealed peripapillary hyperautofluorescence in the left eye, and fluorescein angiography revealed a marked optic nerve head and perivascular leakage at the posterior pole. The findings were not compatible with Fuchs uveitis, so the full infectious panel was worked out. Serologic investigations yielded the presence of syphilis, and the patient was treated successfully with systemic antibiotics. Our case demonstrates the mimicking nature of ocular syphilis and the importance of high clinical suspicion when reaching the correct diagnosis

Parametric design optimisation of proximal humerus plates based on finite element method

Optimal treatment of proximal humerus fractures remains controversial. Locking plates offer theoretical advantages but are associated with complications in the clinic. This study aimed to perform parametric design optimisation of proximal humerus plates to enhance their mechanical performance. A finite element (FE) model was developed that simulated a two-part proximal humerus fracture that had been treated with a Spatial Subchondral Support (S3) plate and subjected to varus bending. The FE model was validated against in vitro biomechanical test results. The predicted load required to apply 5 mm cantilever varus bending was only 0.728% lower. The FE model was then used to conduct a parametric optimisation study to determine the orientations of inferomedial plate screws that would yield minimum fracture gap change (i.e. optimal stability). The feasible design space was automatically identified by imposing clinically relevant constraints, and the creation process of each FE model for the design optimisation was automated. Consequently, 538 FE models were generated, from which the obtained optimal model had 4.686% lower fracture gap change (0.156 mm) than that of the manufacturer’s standard plate. Whereas its screws were oriented towards the inferomedial region and within the range of neck-shaft angle of a healthy subject. The methodology presented in this study promises future applications in patient-specific design optimisation of implants for other regions of the human body

A novel method of support vector machine to compute the resonant frequency of annular ring compact microstrip antennas

An application of support vector machine (SVM) to compute the resonant frequency at dominant mode TM11 of annular ring compact microstrip antennas (ARCMAs) is presented in this paper. ARCMAs have some useful features; resonant modes can be adjusted by controlling the ratio of the outer radius to the inner radius. The resonant frequencies of 100 ARCMAs with varied dimensions and electrical parameters in accordance with UHF band covering GSM, LTE, WLAN, and WiMAX applications were simulated with IE3D™ which is a robust numerical electromagnetic computational tool. Then, the SVM model was built with simulation data and 88 simulated ARCMAs were operated for training and the remaining 12 ARCMAs were used for testing this model. The proposed model has been confirmed by comparing with the suggestions reported elsewhere via measurement data published earlier in the literature, and it has further validated on an ARCMA operating at 3 GHz fabricated in this study. The obtained results show that this technique can be successfully used to compute the resonant frequency of ARCMAs without involving any sophisticated methods. The novelty of the approach described here is to offer ease of designing the process using this method

Computing resonant frequency of C-shaped compact microstrip antennas by using ANFIS

In this work, the resonant frequency of C-shaped compact microstrip antennas (CCMAs) operating at UHF band is computed by using the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). For this purpose, 144 CCMAs with various relative dielectric constants and different physical dimensions were simulated by the XFDTD software package based on the finite-difference time domain (FDTD) method. One hundred and twenty-nine CCMAs were employed for training, while the remaining 15 CCMAs were used for testing of the ANFIS model. Average percentage error (APE) values were obtained as 0.8413% and 1.259% for training and testing, respectively. In order to demonstrate its validity and accuracy, the proposed ANFIS model was also tested over the simulation data given in the literature, and APE was obtained as 0.916%. These results show that ANFIS can be successfully used to compute the resonant frequency of CCMAs

AN APPLICATION OF ARTIFICIAL NEURAL NETWORK TO COMPUTE THE RESONANT FREQUENCY OF E-SHAPED COMPACT MICROSTRIP ANTENNAS

An application of artificial neural network (ANN) based on multilayer perceptrons (MLP) to compute the resonant frequency of E-shaped compact microstrip antennas (ECMAs) is presented in this paper. The resonant frequencies of 144 ECMAs with different dimensions and electrical parameters were firstly determined by using IE3D((tm)) software based on the method of moments (MoM), then the ANN model for computing the resonant frequency was built by considering the simulation data. The parameters and respective resonant frequency values of 130 simulated ECMAs were employed for training and the remaining 14 ECMAs were used for testing the model. The computed resonant frequencies for training and testing by ANN were obtained with the average percentage errors (APE) of 0.257% and 0.523%, respectively. The validity and accuracy of the present approach was verified on the measurement results of an ECMA fabricated in this study. Furthermore, the effects of the slots loading method over the resonant frequency were investigated to explain the relationship between the slots and resonant frequency

An Assessment On Permeability And Grout Take Of Limestone: A Case Study At Mut Dam, Karaman, Turkey

The main purposes of the present study are to evaluate pilot grouting and to develop regression equations for prediction of grout intake. There are no permeability problems with the sandstone-siltstone-claystone alternations and basement clayey limestone at the dam site. Karstic limestone block is permeable due to karstification and heavy discontinuities. For the purpose of the study, Q system, geological strength index (GSI), secondary permeability index (SPI), joint spacing (JSP), joint apertures (Ap), Lugeon (Lu), and the permeability coefficient (k) were determined. Karstic limestone block rock mass properties correlated with grouting material amount. A series of simple and multiple nonlinear regression analyses was performed between grout take material amount (Gt) and average values of these rock mass properties. Significant determination coefficients were determined. Prediction capacity of the empirical equations were also examined with root mean square error (RMSE), values account for (VAF), mean absolute percentage error (MAPE), and prediction error evaluations. Considering simple regression analyses, the equation derived with Gt-SPI gives the best performance. The best prediction is determined with the equation derived with rock quality designation values (RQD), SPI, and joint aperture as input parameters with the multiple nonlinear regression analysis, in addition to this, other empirical equations also provide acceptable results.WoSScopu