Visualization of sliding and deformation of orbital fat during eye rotation

PURPOSE: Little is known about the way orbital fat slides and/or deforms during eye movements. We compared two deformation algorithms from a sequence of MRI volumes to visualize this complex behavior. METHODS: Time-dependent deformation data were derived from motion-MRI volumes using Lucas and Kanade Optical Flow (LK3D) and nonrigid registration (B-splines) deformation algorithms. We compared how these two algorithms performed regarding sliding and deformation in three critical areas: the sclera-fat interface, how the optic nerve moves through the fat, and how the fat is squeezed out under the tendon of a relaxing rectus muscle. The efficacy was validated using identified tissue markers such as the lens and blood vessels in the fat. RESULTS: Fat immediately behind the eye followed eye rotation by approximately one-half. This was best visualized using the B-splines technique as it showed less ripping of tissue and less distortion. Orbital fat flowed around the optic nerve during eye rotation. In this case, LK3D provided better visualization as it allowed orbital fat tissue to split. The resolution was insufficient to visualize fat being squeezed out between tendon and sclera. CONCLUSION: B-splines performs better in tracking structures such as the lens, while LK3D allows fat tissue to split as should happen as the optic nerve slides through the fat. Orbital fat follows eye rotation by one-half and flows around the optic nerve during eye rotation. TRANSLATIONAL RELEVANCE: Visualizing orbital fat deformation and sliding offers the opportunity to accurately locate a region of cicatrization and permit an individualized surgical plan

Het vaststellen van de mate van religieuze tolerantie bij leraren in opleiding

In recent years, schools and education authorities worldwide have been paying increased attention to issues surrounding diversity and religious tolerance. Tolerance constitutes one of the most important preconditions for social justice, fairness and peaceful coexistence. Hence, the authors of this article decided to develop an instrument measuring the degree and nature of religious tolerance among student teachers. It is not this article’s purpose to enter into a discussion about how to actually resolve religious, cultural and political conflict, but merely to embark on the process of developing an instrument to measure the degree of religious tolerance among teachers and student teachers.Religious intolerance is increasingly viewed as problematic, and it appears that education has been assigned the role of inculcating religious tolerance in young people. Teachers are expected to be able to inculcate in their students the respect, empathy, critical thinking and acceptance of differences among people associated with the notion of tolerance. To be able to do this, teachers have to possess the traits of a tolerant person.Whether teachers are indeed tolerant in practice depends on the extent to which they have mastered the capacity to be tolerant. This article reports on a study that culminated in the construction of a questionnaire for measuring the degree to which students on the threshold of entering the teaching profession displayed a tolerant attitude.The construction of the questionnaire was based on a theoretical study of tolerance and intolerance. The questionnaire was then applied in three different countries (South Africa, the Netherlands and India). Factor analyses were performed on the data to establish the validity of the instrument. The first round of application revealed a number of shortcomings in the questionnaire. The study therefore recommends a revision of the questionnaire. Among other things, the factoral structure and the reliability of some of the sub-scales require further attention. The study ascribes the lower than expected explanation of variance in the data set to the cultural differences existing among the different groups of respondents in the three countries.The article closes by drawing a conclusion regarding the degree of religious tolerance among the respondents who participated in this first round of application of the questionnaire

Corporate social responsibility and earnings management of South African companies

BACKGROUND : Enron was considered a strong corporate social performer when their infamous accounting scandal emerged in 2000. Literature suggests that companies use corporate social responsibility (CSR) to disguise corporate misconduct. AIM AND SETTING : This study examines one type of corporate misconduct, namely, earnings management (EM). Prior studies have found significant associations between CSR performance and EM; however, none of these studies controlled for CSR disclosure. This study unbundles the effects of CSR performance and CSR disclosure on EM. To examine the relationship between CSR performance and CSR disclosures and EM of listed South African companies. METHODS : A company included on the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)1 index is used as an indicator of CSR performance. Four measures of CSR disclosure are used. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION : The study tests both CSR performance and CSR disclosure against both real earnings management (REM) and accrual-based earnings management (AEM). CSR performance and earnings management: Companies with better CSR performance were more likely to engage in EM through income increasing discretionary accruals. This suggests that managers who inflate earnings may engage in CSR activities to avoid unwanted scrutiny from stakeholders. Companies with better CSR performance were less likely to engage in REM, suggesting that managers with better CSR performance regard the management of earnings through accruals that reverse in the next period less incriminating than managing earnings through actual company resources. CSR disclosure and earnings management: Companies that integrated their CSR disclosures more into their annual report engaged less in income decreasing discretionary accruals, suggesting that managers with incentives to make more CSR disclosures to reduce information asymmetry will also be less inclined to manage earnings.L.A.J. (University of South Africa) was responsible for generating the idea, gathering the data, performing the analyses, concluding and writing the article. M.D.K. (University of Pretoria) and C.J.D.V. (University of Auckland, New Zealand and University of Pretoria) were involved in providing guidance throughout the process.http://www.sajems.org/am2018Accountin

Cell lineage-specific mitochondrial resilience during mammalian organogenesis

Mitochondrial activity differs markedly between organs, but it is not known how and when this arises. Here we show that cell lineage-specific expression profiles involving essential mitochondrial genes emerge at an early stage in mouse development, including tissue-specific isoforms present before organ formation. However, the nuclear transcriptional signatures were not independent of organelle function. Genetically disrupting intra-mitochondrial protein synthesis with two different mtDNA mutations induced cell lineage-specific compensatory responses, including molecular pathways not previously implicated in organellar maintenance. We saw downregulation of genes whose expression is known to exacerbate the effects of exogenous mitochondrial toxins, indicating a transcriptional adaptation to mitochondrial dysfunction during embryonic development. The compensatory pathways were both tissue and mutation specific and under the control of transcription factors which promote organelle resilience. These are likely to contribute to the tissue specificity which characterizes human mitochondrial diseases and are potential targets for organ-directed treatments

Corporate social responsibility and earnings management of South African companies

L.A.J. (University of South Africa) was responsible for generating the idea, gathering the data, performing the analyses, concluding and writing the article. M.D.K. (University of Pretoria) and C.J.D.V. (University of Auckland, New Zealand and University of Pretoria) were involved in providing guidance throughout the process.BACKGROUND : Enron was considered a strong corporate social performer when their infamous accounting scandal emerged in 2000. Literature suggests that companies use corporate social responsibility (CSR) to disguise corporate misconduct. AIM AND SETTING : This study examines one type of corporate misconduct, namely, earnings management (EM). Prior studies have found significant associations between CSR performance and EM; however, none of these studies controlled for CSR disclosure. This study unbundles the effects of CSR performance and CSR disclosure on EM. To examine the relationship between CSR performance and CSR disclosures and EM of listed South African companies. METHODS : A company included on the Socially Responsible Investment (SRI)1 index is used as an indicator of CSR performance. Four measures of CSR disclosure are used. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION : The study tests both CSR performance and CSR disclosure against both real earnings management (REM) and accrual-based earnings management (AEM). CSR performance and earnings management: Companies with better CSR performance were more likely to engage in EM through income increasing discretionary accruals. This suggests that managers who inflate earnings may engage in CSR activities to avoid unwanted scrutiny from stakeholders. Companies with better CSR performance were less likely to engage in REM, suggesting that managers with better CSR performance regard the management of earnings through accruals that reverse in the next period less incriminating than managing earnings through actual company resources. CSR disclosure and earnings management: Companies that integrated their CSR disclosures more into their annual report engaged less in income decreasing discretionary accruals, suggesting that managers with incentives to make more CSR disclosures to reduce information asymmetry will also be less inclined to manage earnings.http://www.sajems.org/am2018Accountin

Self-assembly of a functional oligo(aniline)-based amphiphile into helical conductive nanowires

A tetra(aniline)-based cationic amphiphile, TANI-NHC(O)C5H10N(CH3)3+Br– (TANI-PTAB) was synthesized, and its emeraldine base (EB) state was found to self-assemble into nanowires in aqueous solution. The observed self-assembly is described by an isodesmic model, as shown by temperature-dependent UV–vis investigations. Linear dichroism (LD) studies, combined with computational modeling using time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT), suggests that TANI-PTAB molecules are ordered in an antiparallel arrangement within nanowires, with the long axis of TANI-PTAB arranged perpendicular to the nanowire long axis. Addition of either S- or R- camphorsulfonic acid (CSA) to TANI-PTAB converted TANI to the emeraldine salt (ES), which retained the ability to form nanowires. Acid doping of TANI-PTAB had a profound effect on the nanowire morphology, as the CSA counterions’ chirality translated into helical twisting of the nanowires, as observed by circular dichroism (CD). Finally, the electrical conductivity of CSA-doped helical nanowire thin films processed from aqueous solution was 2.7 mS cm–1. The conductivity, control over self-assembled 1D structure and water-solubility demonstrate these materials’ promise as processable and addressable functional materials for molecular electronics, redox-controlled materials and sensing

Electrochromic and electrochemical capacitive properties of tungsten oxide and its polyaniline nanocomposite films obtained by chemical bath deposition method

Polyanine and its nanocomposite WO3/PANI films were deposited on fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) glassslides by simple chemical bath deposition method. The morphology structure of the composite film wasstudied using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while the elec-trochemical capacitive properties were determined using cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronopotentiometry(CP) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The WO3/PANI nano-composite exhibited mul-tiple colors (electrochromism) during the CV scans, from brownish green to transparent to light greenthen back to brownish green. Surprisingly, the integration of the PANI with the WO3led to synergisticperformance of nanohybrid wherein a true electrochemical double layer capacitor was obtained. Also,interestingly and unlike literature reports, the CBD method led to excellent capacitance retention (>98%)of the PANI even at 1000 continuous cycles. This work demonstrates that simple CBD can be used toget WO3/PANI films that give good electrochromism and pseudo-capacitance comparable to the onesobtained by other methods. Hence the obtained nanocomposite film of WO3/PANI can be a promisingmaterial for electrochromic and energy storage applications.US Army Research Laboratory–Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) (under Contract number W911NF-12-1-0588).http://www.elsevier.com/locate/electactahb201

Bronchiectasis in African children : challenges and barriers to care

Bronchiectasis (BE) is a chronic condition aecting the bronchial tree. It is characterized by the dilatation of large and medium-sized airways, secondary to damage of the underlying bronchial wall structural elements and accompanied by the clinical picture of recurrent or persistent cough. Despite an increased awareness of childhood BE, there is still a paucity of data on the epidemiology, pathophysiological phenotypes, diagnosis, management, and outcomes in Africa where the prevalence is mostly unmeasured, and likely to be higher than high-income countries. Diagnostic pathways and management principles have largely been extrapolated from approaches in adults and children in high-income countries or from data in children with cystic fibrosis. Here we provide an overview of pediatric BE in Africa, highlighting risk factors, diagnostic and management challenges, need for a global approach to addressing key research gaps, and recommendations for practitioners working in Africa.http://www.frontiersin.org/Pediatricsdm2022Paediatrics and Child Healt