N-acetylcarnosine (NAC) drops for age-related cataract.

BACKGROUND: Cataract is the leading cause of world blindness. The only available treatment for cataract is surgery. Surgery requires highly-trained individuals with expensive operating facilities. Where these are not available, patients go untreated. A form of treatment that did not involve surgery would be a useful alternative for people with symptomatic cataract who are unable or unwilling to undergo surgery. If an eye drop existed that could reverse or even prevent progression of cataract, then this would be a useful additional treatment option.Cataract tends to result from oxidative stress. The protein, L-carnosine, is known to have an antioxidant effect on the cataractous lens, so biochemically there is sound logic for exploring L-carnosine as an agent to reverse or even prevent progression of cataract. When applied as an eye drop, L-carnosine cannot penetrate the eye. However, when applied to the surface of the eye, N-acetylcarnosine (NAC) penetrates the cornea into the front chamber of the eye (near to where the cataract is), where it is metabolised into L-carnosine. Hence, it is possible that use of NAC eye drops may reverse or even prevent progression of cataract, thereby improving vision and quality of life. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effectiveness of NAC drops to prevent or reverse the progression of cataract. SEARCH METHODS: We searched CENTRAL (which contains the Cochrane Eyes and Vision Trials Register) (2016, Issue 6), Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid MEDLINE In-Process and Other Non-Indexed Citations, Ovid MEDLINE Daily, Ovid OLDMEDLINE (January 1946 to June 2016), Embase (January 1980 to June 2016), Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) (January 1985 to June 2016), Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL) (1982 to June 2016), the ISRCTN registry (www.isrctn.com/editAdvancedSearch), ClinicalTrials.gov (www.clinicaltrials.gov) and the World Health Organization (WHO) International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP) (www.who.int/ictrp/search/en). We did not use any date or language restrictions in the electronic searches for trials. We last searched the electronic databases on 28 June 2016. We handsearched the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) and the European Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgeons (ESCRS) meetings from 2005 until September 2015. SELECTION CRITERIA: We planned to include randomized or quasi-randomised controlled trials where NAC was compared to control in people with age-related cataract. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. MAIN RESULTS: We identified two potentially eligible studies from Russia and the United States. One study was split into two arms: the first arm ran for six months, with two-monthly follow-up; the second arm ran for two years with six-monthly follow-up. The other study ran for four months with a data collection point at the start and end of the study only. A total of 114 people were enrolled in these studies. The ages ranged from 55 to 80 years.We were unable to obtain sufficient information to reliably determine how both these studies were designed and conducted. We have contacted the author of these studies, but have not yet received a reply. Therefore, these studies are assigned as 'awaiting classification' in the review until sufficient information can be obtained from the authors. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is currently no convincing evidence that NAC reverses cataract, nor prevents progression of cataract (defined as a change in cataract appearance either for the better or for the worse). Future studies should be randomized, double-masked, placebo-controlled trials with standardised quality of life outcomes and validated outcome measures in terms of visual acuity, contrast sensitivity and glare, and large enough to detect adverse effects

Sensitivity analysis and determination of free relaxation parameters for the weakly-compressible MRT-LBM schemes

It is well-known that there exist several free relaxation parameters in the MRT-LBM. Although these parameters have been tuned via linear analysis, the sensitivity analysis of these parameters and other related parameters are still not sufficient for detecting the behaviors of the dispersion and dissipation relations of the MRT-LBM. Previous researches have shown that the bulk dissipation in the MRT-LBM induces a significant over-damping of acoustic disturbances. This indicates that MRT-LBM cannot be used to obtain the correct behavior of pressure fluctuations because of the fixed bulk relaxation parameter. In order to cure this problem, an effective algorithm has been proposed for recovering the linearized Navier-Stokes equations from the linearized MRT-LBM. The recovered L-NSE appear as in matrix form with arbitrary order of the truncation errors with respect to ${\delta}t$. Then, in wave-number space, the first/second-order sensitivity analyses of matrix eigenvalues are used to address the sensitivity of the wavenumber magnitudes to the dispersion-dissipation relations. By the first-order sensitivity analysis, the numerical behaviors of the group velocity of the MRT-LBM are first obtained. Afterwards, the distribution sensitivities of the matrix eigenvalues corresponding to the linearized form of the MRT-LBM are investigated in the complex plane. Based on the sensitivity analysis and the recovered L-NSE, we propose some simplified optimization strategies to determine the free relaxation parameters in the MRT-LBM. Meanwhile, the dispersion and dissipation relations of the optimal MRT-LBM are quantitatively compared with the exact dispersion and dissipation relations. At last, some numerical validations on classical acoustic benchmark problems are shown to assess the new optimal MRT-LBM

Development of a human model for the study of effects of hypoxia, exercise, and sildenafil on cardiac and vascular function in chronic heart failure

Background: Pulmonary hypertension is associated with poor outcome in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and may be a therapeutic target. Our aims were to develop a noninvasive model for studying pulmonary vasoreactivity in CHF and characterize sildenafil's acute cardiovascular effects. Methods and Results: In a crossover study, 18 patients with CHF participated 4 times [sildenafil (2 × 20 mg)/or placebo (double-blind) while breathing air or 15% oxygen] at rest and during exercise. Oxygen saturation (SaO2) and systemic vascular resistance were recorded. Left and right ventricular (RV) function and transtricuspid systolic pressure gradient (RVTG) were measured echocardiographically. At rest, hypoxia caused SaO2 (P = 0.001) to fall and RVTG to rise (5 ± 4 mm Hg; P = 0.001). Sildenafil reduced SaO2 (−1 ± 2%; P = 0.043), systemic vascular resistance (−87 ± 156 dyn·s−1·cm−2; P = 0.034), and RVTG (−2 ± 5 mm Hg; P = 0.05). Exercise caused cardiac output (2.1 ± 1.8 L/min; P < 0.001) and RVTG (19 ± 11 mm Hg; P < 0.0001) to rise. The reduction in RVTG with sildenafil was not attenuated by hypoxia. The rise in RVTG with exercise was not substantially reduced by sildenafil. Conclusions: Sildenafil reduces SaO2 at rest while breathing air, this was not exacerbated by hypoxia, suggesting increased ventilation–perfusion mismatching due to pulmonary vasodilation in poorly ventilated lung regions. Sildenafil reduces RVTG at rest and prevents increases caused by hypoxia but not by exercise. This study shows the usefulness of this model to evaluate new therapeutics in pulmonary hypertension

Multi-Channel Stochastic Variational Inference for the Joint Analysis of Heterogeneous Biomedical Data in Alzheimer's Disease

The joint analysis of biomedical data in Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is important for better clinical diagnosis and to understand the relationship between biomarkers. However, jointly accounting for heterogeneous measures poses important challenges related to the modeling of the variability and the interpretability of the results. These issues are here addressed by proposing a novel multi-channel stochastic generative model. We assume that a latent variable generates the data observed through different channels (e.g., clinical scores, imaging, ...) and describe an efficient way to estimate jointly the distribution of both latent variable and data generative process. Experiments on synthetic data show that the multi-channel formulation allows superior data reconstruction as opposed to the single channel one. Moreover, the derived lower bound of the model evidence represents a promising model selection criterion. Experiments on AD data show that the model parameters can be used for unsupervised patient stratification and for the joint interpretation of the heterogeneous observations. Because of its general and flexible formulation, we believe that the proposed method can find important applications as a general data fusion technique.Comment: accepted for presentation at MLCN 2018 workshop, in Conjunction with MICCAI 2018, September 20, Granada, Spai

Fine-needle aspiration biopsy: its Use in orbital tumors

Fifteen orbital tumors have been evaluated with the fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) technique. The best indication for FNAB is supposed malignant orbital disease. The technique has not been helpful in tumors or inflammatory disease with a high fibrous content. Lesions that are suspected of being pseudotumors are not recommended for FNAB since, even in histologic sections, they are notoriously difficult to distinguish from well-differentiated lymphocytic malignant lymphoma. Benign encapsulated tumors should not be subjected to FNAB

Steady State Thermal Analyses of SCEPTOR X-57 Wingtip Propulsion

Electric aircraft concepts enable advanced propulsion airframe integration approaches that promise increased efficiency as well as reduced emissions and noise. NASA's fully electric Maxwell X-57, developed under the SCEPTOR program, features distributed propulsion across a high aspect ratio wing. There are 14 propulsors in all: 12 high lift motor that are only active during take off and climb, and 2 larger motors positioned on the wingtips that operate over the entire mission. The power electronics involved in the wingtip propulsion are temperature sensitive and therefore require thermal management. This work focuses on the high and low fidelity heat transfer analysis methods performed to ensure that the wingtip motor inverters do not reach their temperature limits. It also explores different geometry configurations involved in the X-57 development and any thermal concerns. All analyses presented are performed at steady state under stressful operating conditions, therefore predicting temperatures which are considered the worst-case scenario to remain conservative

Indicators of biodiversity in agroecosystems: insights from Article 17 of the Habitat Directive and IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

In the current decade, the main goals for biodiversity conservation and environmental protection at the level of the European Union are set in the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020: halting biodiversity loss and restoring ecosystem services. A key requirement for the implementation of the Strategy in terms of targeting measures and funds, and monitoring trends is the construction of a biodiversity knowledge base, including spatially explicit information on biodiversity distribution and ecosystem condition. The work presented in this report is based on the analysis of two primary datasets on biodiversity and habitat status. The first one is the Habitats assessment carried out by EU Members States under Art.17 of the Habitats and Birds Directive. Information reported by Member States is analysed to derive the links between pressures and conservation status, showing that agriculture-related habitats have, on average, a worse conservation status when compared to other habitats. Consequently, threats and pressures having most influenced the status of the agricultural-related habitats can be identified. The second one is the global dataset on species threat status elaborated by The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Spatially explicit representations of species distribution, status and richness across the EU 28 are provided, and most importantly the identification of wide geographic variables linked to ecological theory is presented, that explain to a large extent the continental trend in species richness. Finally, an example is presented of how the two exploited datasets can be jointly used by cross-tabulating data on habitats assessments and species threat status in a spatially explicit way at 10 km resolution, aiming at identifying hotspots were policy intervention is needed

The Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA) Explorer 1.0

The Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA) has been developed to support the European Union’s efforts in strengthening our capacity to mobilize and use biodiversity data, information and forecasts so that they are readily accessible to policymakers, managers, experts and other users. Conceived as a set of web based services, DOPA provides a broad set of free and open source tools to assess, monitor and even forecast the state of and pressure on protected areas at local, regional and global scale. DOPA Explorer 1.0 is a web based interface available in four languages (EN, FR, ES, PT) providing simple means to explore the nearly 16,000 protected areas that are at least as large as 100 km2. Distinguishing between terrestrial, marine and mixed protected areas, DOPA Explorer 1.0 can help end users to identify those with most unique ecosystems and species, and assess the pressures they are exposed to because of human development. Recognized by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as a reference information system, DOPA Explorer is based on the best global data sets available and provides means to rank protected areas at the country and ecoregion levels. Inversely, DOPA Explorer indirectly highlights the protected areas for which information is incomplete. We finally invite the end-users of DOPA to engage with us through the proposed communication platforms to help improve our work to support the safeguarding of biodiversity.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

The Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA) Explorer 1.0

The Digital Observatory for Protected Areas (DOPA) has been developed to support the European Union’s efforts in strengthening our capacity to mobilize and use biodiversity data, information and forecasts so that they are readily accessible to policymakers, managers, experts and other users. Conceived as a set of web based services, DOPA provides a broad set of free and open source tools to assess, monitor and even forecast the state of and pressure on protected areas at local, regional and global scale. DOPA Explorer 1.0 is a web based interface available in four languages (EN, FR, ES, PT) providing simple means to explore the nearly 16,000 protected areas that are at least as large as 100 km2. Distinguishing between terrestrial, marine and mixed protected areas, DOPA Explorer 1.0 can help end users to identify those with most unique ecosystems and species, and assess the pressures they are exposed to because of human development. Recognized by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) as a reference information system, DOPA Explorer is based on the best global data sets available and provides means to rank protected areas at the country and ecoregion levels. Inversely, DOPA Explorer indirectly highlights the protected areas for which information is incomplete. We finally invite the end-users of DOPA to engage with us through the proposed communication platforms to help improve our work to support the safeguarding of biodiversity