Treatment of two postoperative endophthalmitis cases due to Aspergillus flavus and Scopulariopsis spp. with local and systemic antifungal therapy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Endophthalmitis is the inflammatory response to invasion of the eye with bacteria or fungi. The incidence of endophthalmitis after cataract surgery varies between 0.072–0.13 percent. Treatment of endophthalmitis with fungal etiology is difficult.</p> <p>Case Presentation</p> <p><b>Case 1: </b>A 71-year old male diabetic patient developed postoperative endophthalmitis due to <it>Aspergillus flavus</it>. The patient was treated with topical amphotericin B ophthalmic solution, intravenous (IV) liposomal amphotericin-B and caspofungin following vitrectomy.</p> <p><b>Case 2: </b>A 72-year old male cachectic patient developed postoperative endophthalmitis due to <it>Scopulariopsis </it>spp. The patient was treated with topical and IV voriconazole and caspofungin.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p><it>Aspergillus </it>spp. are responsible of postoperative fungal endophthalmitis. Endophthalmitis caused by <it>Scopulariopsis </it>spp. is a very rare condition. The two cases were successfully treated with local and systemic antifungal therapy.</p

Reasons for facebook usage: Data from 46 countries

Seventy-nine percent of internet users use Facebook, and on average they access Facebook eight times a day (Greenwood et al., 2016). To put these numbers into perspective, according to Clement (2019), around 30% of the world\u2019s population uses this Online Social Network (OSN) site. Despite the constantly growing body of academic research on Facebook (Chou et al., 2009; Back et al., 2010; Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; McAndrew and Jeong, 2012; Wilson et al., 2012; Krasnova et al., 2017), there remains limited research regarding the motivation behind Facebook use across different cultures. Our main goal was to collect data from a large cross-cultural sample of Facebook users to examine the roles of sex, age, and, most importantly, cultural differences underlying Facebook use

Affective interpersonal touch in close relationships: a cross-cultural perspective

Interpersonal touch behavior differs across cultures, yet no study to date has systematically tested for cultural variation in affective touch, nor examined the factors that might account for this variability. Here, over 14,000 individuals from 45 countries were asked whether they embraced, stroked, kissed, or hugged their partner, friends, and youngest child during the week preceding the study. We then examined a range of hypothesized individual-level factors (sex, age, parasitic history, conservatism, religiosity, and preferred interpersonal distance) and cultural-level factors (regional temperature, parasite stress, regional conservatism, collectivism, and religiosity) in predicting these affective-touching behaviors. Our results indicate that affective touch was most prevalent in relationships with partners and children, and its diversity was relatively higher in warmer, less conservative, and religious countries, and among younger, female, and liberal people. This research allows for a broad and integrated view of the bases of cross-cultural variability in affective touch

Sex differences in mate preferences across 45 countries: A large-scale replication

Considerable research has examined human mate preferences across cultures, finding universal sex differences in preferences for attractiveness and resources as well as sources of systematic cultural variation. Two competing perspectives—an evolutionary psychological perspective and a biosocial role perspective—offer alternative explanations for these findings. However, the original data on which each perspective relies are decades old, and the literature is fraught with conflicting methods, analyses, results, and conclusions. Using a new 45-country sample (N = 14,399), we attempted to replicate classic studies and test both the evolutionary and biosocial role perspectives. Support for universal sex differences in preferences remains robust: Men, more than women, prefer attractive, young mates, and women, more than men, prefer older mates with financial prospects. Cross-culturally, both sexes have mates closer to their own ages as gender equality increases. Beyond age of partner, neither pathogen prevalence nor gender equality robustly predicted sex differences or preferences across countries

Relationship between parental consanguinity and digit ratios (2D:4D) among Turkish newborns in Sivas.

Objectives The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of parental consanguinity on the 2D:4D digit ratio of newborn infants, whose parents were the first cousins. Methods The study included healthy and full-term newborn infants, delivered in a hospital, at the gestational ages from 37 to 41 weeks. A total of 225 newborns and their parents were included in the study. Of these 225 newborns; 100 were inbred and 125 were outbred infants. We used a Vernier caliper to measure the length of the second and fourth digits of the newborns (accuracy: 0.01 mm). Results Controlling for education and number of pregnancies, male newborns had lower digit ratios than female newborns, for both left and right hands. There were, moreover, differences between inbred and outbred samples. We determined that inbreeding was related to a reduction in the digit ratios regardless of the side of the hand and the sex of the infant, showing a consistent tendency to appear more masculine. Interaction between marriage type*sex was highly significant. Conclusions Parental consanguinity appears to cause fetal masculinization of digit ratios by increasing fetal stress among Turkish newborns

Relationship between shortness of final body height and fluctuating asymmetry in Turkish young males.

Background: Body height is a versatile bio-indicator in that it reflects the quality of physical development. Fluctuating asymmetry, on the other hand, refers to small random deviations from perfect symmetry in bilaterally paired structures and is believed to reflect the ability of an organism to cope with genetic and environmental stresses during its development

Prenatal exposure to oestrogens estimated by digit ratio (2d/4d) and breast size in young nulliparous women.

Digit ratio (2d/4d) in humans is commonly used as a proxy for the exposure to oestrogens and androgens in prenatal life. Masculinisation/feminisation in adults may be also related to digit ratio and therefore to the oestrogen/androgen ratio in prenatal life. It has been shown, for instance, that Waist-to-Hip ratio (WHR) and the amount and distribution of body fat are related to digit ratio in women. A species-specific, sexually dimorphic morphological trait in humans is also a pair of permanent breasts that develop during puberty, under the influence of oestrogens. Here we test if prenatal exposure to oestrogens (in relation to androgens), measured by digit ratio, may also be related to breast size in young, nulliparous women. 133 Turkish students (mean age 22.2) were measured. Breast size was calculated as the difference between breast and under-breast circumferences. We found that when controlling for body mass index (BMI), both right and left digit ratios correlate positively with breast size. This relationship is stronger for the digit ratio of the right hand, which confirms that this side is a better measure of sex differences. Thus, higher exposure to oestrogens in prenatal life is related with stronger expression of a sexually dimorphic trait, such as breast size, in adult women