Impact of Baseline Retinal Nonperfusion and Macular Retinal Capillary Nonperfusion on Outcomes in the COPERNICUS and GALILEO Studies

To evaluate the impact of baseline retinal capillary nonperfusion (RNP) and macular retinal capillary nonperfusion (MNP) status on outcomes at week 24 (W24)

MACUSTAR: Development and Clinical Validation of Functional, Structural, and Patient-Reported Endpoints in Intermediate Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Purpose: Currently, no outcome measures are clinically validated and accepted as clinical endpoints by regulatory agencies for drug development in intermediate age-related macular degeneration (iAMD). The MACUSTAR Consortium, a public-private research group funded by the European Innovative Medicines Initiative intends to close this gap. Procedures: Development of study protocol and statistical analysis plan including predictive modelling of multimodal endpoints based on a review of the literature and expert consensus. Results: This observational study consists of a cross-sectional and a longitudinal part. Functional outcome measures assessed under low contrast and low luminance have the potential to detect progression of visual deficit within iAMD and to late AMD. Structural outcome measures will be multimodal and investigate topographical relationships with function. Current patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are not acceptable to regulators and may not capture the functional deficit specific to iAMD with needed precision, justifying development of novel PROMs for iAMD. The total sample size will be n = 750, consisting mainly of subjects with iAMD (n = 600). Conclusions: As clinical endpoints currently accepted by regulators cannot detect functional loss or patient-relevant impact in iAMD, we will clinically validate novel candidate endpoints for iAMD

Development and validation of novel clinical endpoints in intermediate age-related macular degeneration in MACUSTAR

Background Currently, no validated clinical endpoints for treatment studies exist for intermediate age-related macular degeneration (iAMD). Objective The European MACUSTAR study aims to develop and clinically validate adequate clinical endpoints for future treatment studies in iAMD and to identify early determinants of disease progression to late stage AMD. Material and methods The MACUSTAR study protocol was developed by an international consortium of researchers from academia, the pharmaceutical industry and medical device companies. The MACUSTAR project is funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 (IMI2) of the European Union. Results The MACUSTAR study consists of a cross-sectional and a longitudinal investigation. A total of 750 subjects with early, intermediate and late AMD as well as control subjects with no signs of AMD will be included with a follow-up period of 3 years. Overall, 20 European study centers are involved. Conclusion The MACUSTAR project will generate large high-quality datasets, which will allow clinical validation of novel endpoints for future interventional trials in iAMD. The aim is that these endpoints will be accepted as suitable for medication approval studies by the regulatory authorities and that understanding of the disease process will be improved

Nematóides nos Sistemas de Produção de Algodão em Mato Grosso

A ocorrência de nematóides fitoparasitas causando danos no algodoeiro é histórica no Brasil, e foi verificada em todas as regiões onde a cultura foi explorada, como São Paulo, Paraná, Goiás, Mato Grosso do Sul e, mais recentemente, em Mato Grosso. Os danos verificados variam de leves, onde a área de ataque é pequena, a grandes, especialmente em locais onde o nematóide está disseminado na maior parte da área da lavoura. Existem diversos estudos sobre como manejar a população dos nematóides, de forma a minimizar os danos. As estratégias baseiam-se no uso de cultivares resistentes, rotação de culturas, plantas de cobertura, manejo da fertilidade e característica físicas dos solos, entre outros. Estas estratégias de controle estão disponíveis na literatura, como em Galbieri et al. (2012). Para que a melhor estratégia possa ser utilizada, é fundamental conhecer o sistema de produção na qual o produtor está trabalhando, o histórico da área, bem como suas condições físicas, químicas, biológicas, etc. Este trabalho apresenta um esforço nesta direção, realizado em parceria entre o Instituto Mato-grossense de Algodão (IMA), a Associação Mato-grossense dos Produtores de Algodão (AMPA), o Instituto Brasileiro do Algodão (IBA), a Associação dos Produtores de Sementes de Mato Grosso (Aprosmat) e a Embrapa (Embrapa Algodão, Embrapa Instrumentação, Embrapa Agropecuária Oeste e Embrapa Agrossilvipastoril), que foi iniciado em 2012 e continuará a ser realizado em 2013. O objetivo do trabalho é avaliar a ocorrência de espécies de fitonematóides associados à cultura do algodoeiro no estado de MT, e correlacionar estes dados com características físicas, químicas e biológicas do solo, possibilitando analisar essas relações para indicar medidas de manejo desses parasitas no estado

Simultaneous in situ measurements of small-scale structures in neutral, plasma, and atomic oxygen densities during the WADIS sounding rocket project

In this paper we present an overview of measurements conducted during the WADIS-2 rocket campaign. We investigate the effect of small-scale processes like gravity waves and turbulence on the distribution of atomic oxygen and other species in the mesosphere-lower thermosphere (MLT) region. Our analysis suggests that density fluctuations of atomic oxygen are coupled to fluctuations of other constituents, i.e., plasma and neutrals. Our measurements show that all measured quantities, including winds, densities, and temperatures, reveal signatures of both waves and turbulence. We show observations of gravity wave saturation and breakdown together with simultaneous measurements of generated turbulence. Atomic oxygen inside turbulence layers shows two different spectral behaviors, which might imply a change in its diffusion properties. © 2019 Author(s)

The microphytobenthos of Königshafen — spatial and seasonal distribution on a sandy tidal flat

A microphytobenthic species composition of a tidal flat in the northern Wadden Sea was analysed regarding cell numbers and biomass (in carbon units). The three sampling sites differed in tidal inundation from 15 cm to about 90 cm water depth at high tide. The sediment was sandy at all three stations. A cluster analysis revealed a separation of the benthic diatoms into three areas: aNereis-Corophium-belt, a seagrass-bed and theArenicola-flat. Small epipsammic diatoms were most abundant and dominated the microalgal biomass. A microphytobenthic “spring bloom” even started beneath the ice cover of the flat in January. Lowest values of cell numbers and biomass of benthic microalgae were found in summer. Highest values were measured in the uppermost area (Nereis-Corophium-belt), and only here was an autumnal increase of benthic microalgae found. Further cluster analysis within each of the three areas revealed seasonal differences although the majority of species were present all year round. Many species were most abundant in spring, and some showed a bimodal distribution (spring-autumn) in the year of investigatio

Recycling graphene from supercapacitor electrodes as reinforcing filler for epoxy resins

A wet shredding process has been developed for recycling graphene from the electrodes of supercapacitors into polymer composites. At first, supercapacitors are cut open to expose the interior graphene based electrodes. The electrodes are heat-treated at 200o C to remove the contained solvent, and the heat treatment temperature can be further increased to remove the polymer binder, which binds the graphene on an aluminium foil current collector. After heat treatment, the electrodes are shredded in an epoxy resin to strip off the graphene and the graphene was subsequently dispersed using a high shear mixer. The dispersed graphene is used directly as reinforcing filler for the epoxy resin. A content of 0.40% (wt) of the recycled graphene resulted in a significant increase in both the tensile strength and elongation at break of the epoxy resin. Removal of the binder increases the reinforcing effect of the recycled graphene. However, a compromise can be made to leave the binder in the recycled graphene in order to avoid secondary pollution