Charactersing a holographic modal phase mask for the detection of ocular aberrations

This is the final version of the article. Available from Society of Photo-optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) via the DOI in this record.The accurate measurement of the double-pass ocular wave front has been shown to have a broad range of applications from LASIK surgery to adaptively corrected retinal imaging. The ocular wave front can be accurately described by a small number of Zernike circle polynomials. The modal wave front sensor was first proposed by Neil et al. and allows the coefficients of the individual Zernike modes to be measured directly. Typically the aberrations measured with the modal sensor are smaller than those seen in the ocular wave front. In this work, we investigated a technique for adapting a modal phase mask for the sensing of the ocular wave front. This involved extending the dynamic range of the sensor by increasing the pinhole size to 2.4mm and optimising the mask bias to 0.75λ. This was found to decrease the RMS error by up to a factor of three for eye-like aberrations with amplitudes up to 0.2μm. For aberrations taken from a sample of real-eye measurements a 20% decrease in the RMS error was observed

Modulation of extracellular matrix by nutritional hepatotrophic factors in thioacetamide-induced liver cirrhosis in the rat

Nutritional substances associated to some hormones enhance liver regeneration when injected intraperitoneally, being denominated hepatotrophic factors (HF). Here we verified if a solution of HF (glucose, vitamins, salts, amino acids, glucagon, insulin, and triiodothyronine) can revert liver cirrhosis and how some extracellular matrices are affected. Cirrhosis was induced for 14 weeks in 45 female Wistar rats (200 mg) by intraperitoneal injections of thioacetamide (200 mg/kg). Twenty-five rats received intraperitoneal HF twice a day for 10 days (40 mL·kg-1·day-1) and 20 rats received physiological saline. Fifteen rats were used as control. The HF applied to cirrhotic rats significantly: a) reduced the relative mRNA expression of the genes: Col-α1 (-53%), TIMP-1 (-31.7%), TGF-β1 (-57.7%), and MMP-2 (-41.6%), whereas Plau mRNA remained unchanged; b) reduced GGT (-43.1%), ALT (-17.6%), and AST (-12.2%) serum levels; c) increased liver weight (11.3%), and reduced liver collagen (-37.1%), regenerative nodules size (-22.1%), and fibrous septum thickness. Progranulin protein (immunohistochemistry) and mRNA (in situ hybridization) were found in fibrous septa and areas of bile duct proliferation in cirrhotic livers. Concluding, HF improved the histology and serum biochemistry of liver cirrhosis, with an important reduction of interstitial collagen and increased extracelullar matrix degradation by reducing profibrotic gene expression

Physical Fitness and Telomere Length in Patients with Coronary Heart Disease: Findings from the Heart and Soul Study

Background: Short telomere length (TL) is an independent predictor of mortality in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). However, the relationship between physical fitness and TL has not been explored in these patients. Methods: In a cross sectional study of 944 outpatients with stable CHD, we performed exercise treadmill testing, assessed self-reported physical activity, and measured leukocyte TL using a quantitative PCR assay. We used generalized linear models to calculate mean TL (T/S ratio), and logistic regression models to compare the proportion of patients with short TL (defined as the lowest quartile), among participants with low, medium and high physical fitness, based on metabolic equivalent tasks achieved (METs). Results: 229 participants had low physical fitness (,5 METS), 334 had moderate physical fitness (5–7 METS), and 381 had high physical fitness (.7 METS). Mean6 T/S ratio ranged from 0.8660.21 (534963781 base pairs) in those with low physical fitness to 0.9560.23 (556663829 base pairs) in those with high physical fitness (p,.001). This association remained strong after adjustment for numerous patient characteristics, including measures of cardiac disease severity and physical inactivity (p = 0.005). Compared with participants with high physical fitness, those with low physical fitness had 2-fold greater odds o

Conservation planning in a fire-prone Mediterranean region: threats and opportunities for bird species

In response to the processes threatening biodiversity such as habitat loss, effective selection of priority conservation areas is required. However, reserve selection methods usually ignore the drivers of future habitat changes, thus compromising the effectiveness of conservation. In this work, we formulated an approach to explicitly quantify the impact of fire on conservation areas, considering such disturbance as a driver of land-cover changes. The estimated fire impact was integrated as a constraint in the reserve selection process to tackle the likely threats or opportunities that fire disturbance might cause to the targeted species depending on their habitat requirements. In this way, we selected conservation areas in a fire-prone Mediterranean region for two bird assemblages: forest and open-habitat species. Differences in conservation areas selected before and after integrating the impact of fire in the reserve selection process were assessed. Integration of fire impact for forest species moved preferences towards areas that were less prone to burn. However, a larger area was required to achieve the same conservation goals. Conversely, integration of fire impacts for open-habitat species shifted preferences towards conservation areas in locations where the persistence of their required habitat is more likely (i.e. shrublands). In other words, we prioritized the conservation of not only the current distribution of open-habitat birds, but also the disturbance process (i.e. fire) that favours their preferred habitat and distributions in the long term. Finally, this work emphasizes the need to consider the opposing potential impacts of wildfires on species for an effective conservation planning

2017 update of the WSES guidelines for emergency repair of complicated abdominal wall hernias

Emergency repair of complicated abdominal wall hernias may be associated with worsen outcome and a significant rate of postoperative complications. There is no consensus on management of complicated abdominal hernias. The main matter of debate is about the use of mesh in case of intestinal resection and the type of mesh to be used. Wound infection is the most common complication encountered and represents an immense burden especially in the presence of a mesh. The recurrence rate is an important topic that influences the final outcome. A World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) Consensus Conference was held in Bergamo in July 2013 with the aim to define recommendations for emergency repair of abdominal wall hernias in adults. This document represents the executive summary of the consensus conference approved by a WSES expert panel. In 2016, the guidelines have been revised and updated according to the most recent available literature.Peer reviewe

Demographic, clinical and antibody characteristics of patients with digital ulcers in systemic sclerosis: data from the DUO Registry

OBJECTIVES: The Digital Ulcers Outcome (DUO) Registry was designed to describe the clinical and antibody characteristics, disease course and outcomes of patients with digital ulcers associated with systemic sclerosis (SSc). METHODS: The DUO Registry is a European, prospective, multicentre, observational, registry of SSc patients with ongoing digital ulcer disease, irrespective of treatment regimen. Data collected included demographics, SSc duration, SSc subset, internal organ manifestations, autoantibodies, previous and ongoing interventions and complications related to digital ulcers. RESULTS: Up to 19 November 2010 a total of 2439 patients had enrolled into the registry. Most were classified as either limited cutaneous SSc (lcSSc; 52.2%) or diffuse cutaneous SSc (dcSSc; 36.9%). Digital ulcers developed earlier in patients with dcSSc compared with lcSSc. Almost all patients (95.7%) tested positive for antinuclear antibodies, 45.2% for anti-scleroderma-70 and 43.6% for anticentromere antibodies (ACA). The first digital ulcer in the anti-scleroderma-70-positive patient cohort occurred approximately 5 years earlier than the ACA-positive patient group. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides data from a large cohort of SSc patients with a history of digital ulcers. The early occurrence and high frequency of digital ulcer complications are especially seen in patients with dcSSc and/or anti-scleroderma-70 antibodies

A922 Sequential measurement of 1 hour creatinine clearance (1-CRCL) in critically ill patients at risk of acute kidney injury (AKI)

Meeting abstrac

Scintillation light detection in the 6-m drift-length ProtoDUNE Dual Phase liquid argon TPC

DUNE is a dual-site experiment for long-baseline neutrino oscillation studies, neutrino astrophysics and nucleon decay searches. ProtoDUNE Dual Phase (DP) is a 6  ×  6  ×  6 m 3 liquid argon time-projection-chamber (LArTPC) that recorded cosmic-muon data at the CERN Neutrino Platform in 2019-2020 as a prototype of the DUNE Far Detector. Charged particles propagating through the LArTPC produce ionization and scintillation light. The scintillation light signal in these detectors can provide the trigger for non-beam events. In addition, it adds precise timing capabilities and improves the calorimetry measurements. In ProtoDUNE-DP, scintillation and electroluminescence light produced by cosmic muons in the LArTPC is collected by photomultiplier tubes placed up to 7 m away from the ionizing track. In this paper, the ProtoDUNE-DP photon detection system performance is evaluated with a particular focus on the different wavelength shifters, such as PEN and TPB, and the use of Xe-doped LAr, considering its future use in giant LArTPCs. The scintillation light production and propagation processes are analyzed and a comparison of simulation to data is performed, improving understanding of the liquid argon properties