Peripapillary and macular choroidal thickness in glaucoma.

PurposeTo compare choroidal thickness (CT) between individuals with and without glaucomatous damage and to explore the association of peripapillary and submacular CT with glaucoma severity using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT).MethodsNinety-one eyes of 20 normal subjects and 43 glaucoma patients from the UCLA SD-OCT Imaging Study were enrolled. Imaging was performed using Cirrus HD-OCT. Choroidal thickness was measured at four predetermined points in the macular and peripapillary regions, and compared between glaucoma and control groups before and after adjusting for potential confounding variables.ResultsThe average (± standard deviation) mean deviation (MD) on visual fields was -0.3 (±2.0) dB in controls and -3.5 (±3.5) dB in glaucoma patients. Age, axial length and their interaction were the most significant factors affecting CT on multivariate analysis. Adjusted average CT (corrected for age, axial length, their interaction, gender and lens status) however, was not different between glaucoma patients and the control group (P=0.083) except in the temporal parafoveal region (P=0.037); nor was choroidal thickness related to glaucoma severity (r=-0.187, P=0.176 for correlation with MD, r=-0.151, P=0.275 for correlation with average nerve fiber layer thickness).ConclusionsChoroidal thickness of the macular and peripapillary regions is not decreased in glaucoma. Anatomical measurements with SD-OCT do not support the possible influence of the choroid on the pathophysiology of glaucoma

The Case for Climate Conscious, Low Carbon Federal Procurement

Purchasing practices are one of many contributors to the climate crisis. As the world’s largest purchaser of goods and services, the U.S. Federal Government is in a unique position to cut a significant portion of national emissions through the development of more responsible, sustainable, and—most importantly—climate-conscious supply chains. According to the Office of the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer, federal supply chain emissions associated with federal contracts are twice as high as Federal Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, combined. As such, reforming Federal procurement practices to limit direct emissions as well as emissions in supply chains can play a crucial role in reaching the goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. The Biden Administration has taken a strong stance on climate change, initiating, reinstating, and further developing necessary policy adjustments such as transitioning the government fleet to electric vehicles, supporting energy efficiency in buildings, and the uptake in renewable energy generation, and drafting a new Federal Sustainability Plan. The RCRC Committee has prepared recommendations relevant to Federal procurement practices to help achieve maximum emissions reductions at both the government and national levels

Brainomaly: Unsupervised Neurologic Disease Detection Utilizing Unannotated T1-weighted Brain MR Images

Harnessing the power of deep neural networks in the medical imaging domain is challenging due to the difficulties in acquiring large annotated datasets, especially for rare diseases, which involve high costs, time, and effort for annotation. Unsupervised disease detection methods, such as anomaly detection, can significantly reduce human effort in these scenarios. While anomaly detection typically focuses on learning from images of healthy subjects only, real-world situations often present unannotated datasets with a mixture of healthy and diseased subjects. Recent studies have demonstrated that utilizing such unannotated images can improve unsupervised disease and anomaly detection. However, these methods do not utilize knowledge specific to registered neuroimages, resulting in a subpar performance in neurologic disease detection. To address this limitation, we propose Brainomaly, a GAN-based image-to-image translation method specifically designed for neurologic disease detection. Brainomaly not only offers tailored image-to-image translation suitable for neuroimages but also leverages unannotated mixed images to achieve superior neurologic disease detection. Additionally, we address the issue of model selection for inference without annotated samples by proposing a pseudo-AUC metric, further enhancing Brainomaly's detection performance. Extensive experiments and ablation studies demonstrate that Brainomaly outperforms existing state-of-the-art unsupervised disease and anomaly detection methods by significant margins in Alzheimer's disease detection using a publicly available dataset and headache detection using an institutional dataset. The code is available from https://github.com/mahfuzmohammad/Brainomaly.Comment: Accepted in WACV 202

Effects of Isometric Resistance Training and a Maintenance Dose on Ambulatory Blood Pressure and Morning Blood Pressure Surge in Young Normotensives

Introduction Hypertension, a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) is associated with approximately one third of deaths globally each year. Diurnal blood pressure (BP) variability and more specifically morning blood pressure surge (MBPS) are associated with increased risk of stroke, end-organ damage and are considered to be destabilising factors for atherosclerotic plaques. Isometric resistance training (IRT) has been shown to reduce ambulatory BP and MBPS following 8-10 weeks of training. However, there is no data at present which has established the dose of training needed to maintain these reported reductions following the initial IRT period. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to determine the effects of IRT on ambulatory BP and the MBPS in young normotensives following (i) 8 weeks of IRT and (ii) 8 weeks of a once a week maintenance dose. Methods Twenty-five normotensive individuals (15 men, age=21±4 years; 10 women, age=22±3 years) were randomly assigned to a training-maintenance (TRA-MT, n=13) or control (CON, n=12) group. Ambulatory BP and MBPS were measured prior to, after an 8-week (3 days/week) training period and following an 8-week maintenance period (1 day/week) of bilateral leg IRT using an isokinetic dynamometer (4 x 2-minute contractions at 20% MVC with 2-minute rest periods). A two-way repeated measures MANOVA was used to assess the within and between groups changes in ambulatory BP and MBPS. MBPS was calculated as: mean systolic BP 2 hours after waking, minus the lowest sleeping 1-hour mean systolic BP. Results There were significant reductions in 24-h ambulatory systolic BP following IRT (pre-to-post training, -7±5 mmHg, p=0.001) and these reductions remained after the maintenance period (pre-to-post maintenance, -6±4 mmHg, p=0.000). There were significant reductions in daytime BP (pre-to-post training, -5±5 mmHg, p=0.034) which remained following maintenance (pre-to-post maintenance, -5±5 mmHg, p=0.02), but there was no change in night-time systolic BP (pre-to-post training, -2±5 mmHg, p=0.685) or post maintenance period (pre-to-post maintenance, 1±6 mmHg, p=0.94). Additionally, there were significant reductions in the MBPS (pre-to-post training, -9±10 mmHg, p=0.005) which were maintained post maintenance period (pre-to-post maintenance, -8±11 mmHg, p=0.014). Additionally, significant correlation was identified between the magnitude of the change in MBPS and the magnitude of changes in mean SBP 2-h after waking (r = 0.78, P=0.002). Discussion These results provide further evidence that IRT causes significant reductions in MBPS in addition to the previously reported reductions in ambulatory BP. Additionally, these reductions seem to be maintained with a reduced exercise dose. These findings may also have important clinical implications, the significant reductions in the MBPS offer the potential for meaningful CVD and stroke risk reduction, provided these effects can be demonstrated in those who are at risk

Evaluation of Cage Designs and Feeding Regimes for Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Laboratory Experiments

The aim of this study was to improve cage systems for maintaining adult honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) workers under in vitro laboratory conditions. To achieve this goal, we experimentally evaluated the impact of different cages, developed by scientists of the international research network COLOSS (Prevention of honey bee COlony LOSSes), on the physiology and survival of honey bees. We identified three cages that promoted good survival of honey bees. The bees from cages that exhibited greater survival had relatively lower titers of deformed wing virus, suggesting that deformed wing virus is a significant marker reflecting stress level and health status of the host. We also determined that a leak- and drip-proof feeder was an integral part of a cage system and a feeder modified from a 20-ml plastic syringe displayed the best result in providing steady food supply to bees. Finally, we also demonstrated that the addition of protein to the bees' diet could significantly increase the level of vitellogenin gene expression and improve bees' survival. This international collaborative study represents a critical step toward improvement of cage designs and feeding regimes for honey bee laboratory experiment

Overfishing Drives Over One-Third of All Sharks and Rays Toward a Global Extinction Crisis

The scale and drivers of marine biodiversity loss are being revealed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List assessment process. We present the first global reassessment of 1,199 species in Class Chondrichthyes-sharks, rays, and chimeras. The first global assessment (in 2014) concluded that one-quarter (24%) of species were threatened. Now, 391 (32.6%) species are threatened with extinction. When this percentage of threat is applied to Data Deficient species, more than one-third (37.5%) of chondrichthyans are estimated to be threatened, with much of this change resulting from new information. Three species are Critically Endangered (Possibly Extinct), representing possibly the first global marine fish extinctions due to overfishing. Consequently, the chondrichthyan extinction rate is potentially 25 extinctions per million species years, comparable to that of terrestrial vertebrates. Overfishing is the universal threat affecting all 391 threatened species and is the sole threat for 67.3% of species and interacts with three other threats for the remaining third: loss and degradation of habitat (31.2% of threatened species), climate change (10.2%), and pollution (6.9%). Species are disproportionately threatened in tropical and subtropical coastal waters. Science-based limits on fishing, effective marine protected areas, and approaches that reduce or eliminate fishing mortality are urgently needed to minimize mortality of threatened species and ensure sustainable catch and trade of others. Immediate action is essential to prevent further extinctions and protect the potential for food security and ecosystem functions provided by this iconic lineage of predators