Diversity of the Photoreceptors and Spectral Opponency in the Compound Eye of the Golden Birdwing, Troides aeacus formosanus

The compound eye of the Golden Birdwing, Troides aeacus formosanus (Papilionidae, Lepidoptera), is furnished with three types of ommatidia, which are clearly different in pigmentation around the rhabdom. Each ommatidium contains nine photoreceptors, whose spectral sensitivities were analyzed electrophysiologically. We identified nine spectral types of photoreceptor with sensitivities peaking at 360 nm (UV), 390 nm (V), 440 nm (B), 510 nm (BG), 540 nm (sG), 550 nm (dG), 580 nm (O), 610 nm (R), and 630 nm (dR) respectively. The spectral sensitivities of the V, O, R and dR receptors did not match the predicted spectra of any visual pigments, but with the filtering effects of the pigments around the rhabdom, they can be reasonably explained. In some of the receptors, negative-going responses were observed when they were stimulated at certain wavelengths, indicating antagonistic interactions between photoreceptors

Cyberbullying Detection on Social Network Services

Social networks such as Facebook or Twitter promote the communication between people but they also lead to some excessive uses on the Internet such as cyberbullying for malicious users. In addition, the accessibility of the social network also allows cyberbullying to occur at anytime and evoke more harm from other users’ dissemination. This study collects cyberbullying cases in Twitter and attempts to establish an auto-detection model of cyberbullying tweets base on the text, readability, sentiment score, and other user information to predict the tweets with harassment and ridicule cyberbullying tweets. The novelty of this study is using the readability analysis that has not been considered in past studies to reflect the author\u27s education level, age, and social status. Three data mining techniques, k-nearest neighbors, support vector machine, and decision tree are used in this study to detect the cyberbullying tweets and select the best performance model for cyberbullying prediction

Serum Soluble CD40 Ligand in Predicting Simple Appendicitis and Complicated Appendicitis at Different Time Points in Children

Objectives: Appendicitis is a common abdominal emergency in children. It is difficult for clinicians to distinguish between simple appendicitis (SA), gangrenous appendicitis (GA), and ruptured appendicitis (RA) in children based on physical and current laboratory tests. Abdominal computed tomography with the disadvantage of excess radiation exposure is usually used in the emergency room for appendicitis surveys. Serum soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) is an inflammatory biomarker. This study aimed to use sCD40L to distinguish SA, GA, and RA.Methods: All patients aged <18 years old with suspected appendicitis were tested once for serum sCD40L within 72 h of appendicitis symptoms. We compared sCD40L levels of SA, GA, and RA individually on days 1, 2, and 3 in patients with normal appendix (NA), a total of nine subgroups. Thereafter, the diagnostic performance of sCD40L in predicting appendicitis and the receiver operating characteristic curves were carried out.Results: Of 116 patients, 42 patients had SA, 20 GA, 44 RA, and 10 NA. We found six subgroups with significant p-values of sCD40L predicting appendicitis as follows: SA on day 2, GA on days 2 and 3, and RA on days 1–3. The sensitivity and specificity of sCD40L at the best cutoff point with 178 pg/mL in these six subgroups range from 0.75 to 1.00 and 0.90, respectively.Conclusions: SCD40L is a good predictor of pediatric appendicitis. Clinicians can use sCD40L to distinguish from SA, GA, and RA in children with suspected appendicitis

Effects of Transapical Transcatheter Mitral Valve Implantation

Purpose: In this study, transapical transcatheter mitral valve-in-valve implantation (TAMVI) was compared with surgical redo mitral valve replacement (SRMVR) in terms of clinical outcomes.Methods: We retrospectively identified patients with degenerated mitral bioprosthesis or failed annuloplasty rings who underwent redo SRMVR or TAMVI at our medical center. Clinical outcomes were based on echocardiography results.Results: We retrospectively identified patients with symptomatic mitral bioprosthetic valve dysfunction (n = 58) and failed annuloplasty rings (n = 14) who underwent redo SRMVR (n = 36) or TAMVI (n = 36). The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Predicted Risk of Mortality scores were higher in the TAMVI group (median: 9.52) than in the SRMVR group (median: 5.59) (p-value = 0.02). TAMVI patients were more severe in New York Heart Association (p-value = 0.04). The total procedure time (skin to skin) and length of stay after procedures were significantly shorter in the TAMVI group, and no significant difference in mortality was noted after adjustment for confounding factors (p-value = 0.11). The overall mean mitral valve pressure gradient was lower in the TAMVI group than in the SRMVR group at 24 months (p < 0.01). Both groups presented a decrease in the severity of mitral and tricuspid regurgitation at 3–24 months.Conclusions: In conclusion, the statistical analysis is still not robust enough to make a claim that TAMVI is an appropriate alternative. The outcome of the patient appears only to be related to the patient's pre-operative STS score. Additional multi-center, longitudinal studies are warranted to adequately assess the effect of TAMVI

Comparison of coplanar and noncoplanar intensity-modulated radiation therapy and helical tomotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To compare the differences in dose-volume data among coplanar intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), noncoplanar IMRT, and helical tomotherapy (HT) among patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and portal vein thrombosis (PVT).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Nine patients with unresectable HCC and PVT underwent step and shoot coplanar IMRT with intent to deliver 46 - 54 Gy to the tumor and portal vein. The volume of liver received 30Gy was set to keep less than 30% of whole normal liver (V30 < 30%). The mean dose to at least one side of kidney was kept below 23 Gy, and 50 Gy as for stomach. The maximum dose was kept below 47 Gy for spinal cord. Several parameters including mean hepatic dose, percent volume of normal liver with radiation dose at X Gy (Vx), uniformity index, conformal index, and doses to organs at risk were evaluated from the dose-volume histogram.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>HT provided better uniformity for the planning-target volume dose coverage than both IMRT techniques. The noncoplanar IMRT technique reduces the V10 to normal liver with a statistically significant level as compared to HT. The constraints for the liver in the V30 for coplanar IMRT vs. noncoplanar IMRT vs. HT could be reconsidered as 21% vs. 17% vs. 17%, respectively. When delivering 50 Gy and 60-66 Gy to the tumor bed, the constraints of mean dose to the normal liver could be less than 20 Gy and 25 Gy, respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Noncoplanar IMRT and HT are potential techniques of radiation therapy for HCC patients with PVT. Constraints for the liver in IMRT and HT could be stricter than for 3DCRT.</p

Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Neural Injury

Mitochondria are the double membrane organelles providing most of the energy for cells. In addition, mitochondria also play essential roles in various cellular biological processes such as calcium signaling, apoptosis, ROS generation, cell growth, and cell cycle. Mitochondrial dysfunction is observed in various neurological disorders which harbor acute and chronic neural injury such as neurodegenerative diseases and ischemia, hypoxia-induced brain injury. In this review, we describe how mitochondrial dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis of neurological disorders which manifest chronic or acute neural injury