Clinical application of impression cytology

Introduction: Impression cytology is an alternative to excisional biopsy minimally invasive method of histological examination of the ocular surface.Aim: The purpose of this study was to determine changes in impression cytology samples of patients with ocular surface disease and to assess the diagnostic capabilities of the classical method introduced by Tseng et al. and standard histological techniques.Materials and Methods: Analysis of 31 patients (36 eyes) and 15 healthy controls (30 eyes) from the Department of Ophthalmology, Alexandrovska University Hospital was conducted.Results and Discussion: The pathology included mainly limbal stem cell deficiency in 77.42% (n=24) of the patients, 18 of whom had associated neurotrophic keratopathy. Optical coherence tomography demonstrated epithelial defects in 80.65% (n=25), stromal hyperreflectivity in all patients and specific changes. Samples processed using the classic method of Tseng et al., demonstrated hypercellularity and characteristic morphology of conjunctival and corneal cells. PAS+ cells in the corneal epithelium is a hallmark of conjunctivalization, which was present in 87.09% (n=27) of the patients. In some cases, the stratified squamous epithelium was keratinizing (keratinization). Inflammatory infiltration was found in 67.74% (n=21) of patients. However, due to hypercellularity the assessment of the reaction type was ambiguous. Standard histological samples demonstrated hypocellularity, stratified squamous non-keratinizing epithelium, and in 31.25% typical finds of regenerative processes were present. Cellular morphology in inflammatory reactions allowed defining the cells as lymphocytes or neutrophils.Conclusion: The method of choice for processing the samples should be tailored to the investigated pathology and an individualized approach to every patient is required in order to obtain optimal diagnostic and therapeutic results

Le Sujet de l’Acteur. An Anthropological Outlook on Actor-Network Theory

In the past few years, the Actor-Network Theory of French philosopher and sociologist Bruno Latour has become a hotly debated topic in the humanities. From a philosophical perspective, his theory of things keeps being reevaluated: is it possible for ‘Human and Non-Human Actors’ (Latour) to be analyzed as equally important actors? Does Latour’s theory of a simultaneous ‘agency’ of things and concepts indeed move beyond a subject-object relation? If it does, how far does it in fact go? Is it possible to develop a common new ontology by moving away from the notion of substance, and instead reducing any kind of entities to what they reveal in the course of their (inter)action? The contributions to Le Sujet de l’Acteur are looking for interferences between the idea of ‘agency’ and cultural dynamics. How can we relate questions of (social) action with those of cultural manifestations? Focusing on questions of symmetry or dissymmetry between the world of ‘things’ and ‘human beings,’ the volume includes contributions from the fields of social studies, literary studies, and philosophy. Although the contents are categorized in systematic and historical aspects, all contributions draw on the importance of case studies for the theoretical framework, either starting with systematic questions that are then answered exemplary, or starting from historical cases as well as theoretical options

Strategy for the management of diabetic macular edema: the European Vitreo-Retinal Society macular edema study

Objective. To compare the efficacy of different therapies in the treatment of diabetic macular edema (DME). Design. Nonrandomized, multicenter clinical study. Participants. 86 retina specialists from 29 countries provided clinical information on 2,603 patients with macular edema including 870 patients with DME. Methods. Reported data included the type and number of treatment(s) performed, the pre-and posttreatment visual acuities, and other clinical findings.The results were analyzed by the French INSEE (National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies). Main Outcome Measures. Mean change of visual acuity and mean number of treatments performed. Results.The change in visual acuity over time in response to each treatment was plotted in second order polynomial regression trend lines. Intravitreal triamcinolone monotherapy resulted in some improvement in vision. Treatmentwith threshold or subthreshold grid laser also resulted in minimal vision gain. Anti-VEGF therapy resulted in more significant visual improvement. Treatment with pars plana vitrectomy and internal limiting membrane (ILM) peeling alone resulted in an improvement in vision greater than that observed with anti-VEGF injection alone. In our DME study, treatment with vitrectomy and ILM peeling alone resulted in the better visual improvement compared to other therapies

Learned mutation strategies in genetic programming for evolution and adaptation of simulated snakebot

In this work we propose an approach of incorporating learned mutation strategies (LMS) in genetic programming (GP) employed for evolution and adaptation of locomotion gaits of simulated snake-like robot (Snakebot). In our approach the LMS are implemented via learned probabilistic context-sensitive grammar (LPCSG). The LPCSG is derived from the originally defined context-free grammar, which usually expresses the syntax of genetic programs in canonical GP. Applying LMS implies that the probabilities of applying each of particular production rules in LPCGS during the mutation depend on the context. These probabilities are learned from the aggregated reward values obtained from the parsed syntax of the evolved best-of-generation Snakebots. Empirically obtained results verify that LMS contributes to the improvement of computational effort of both (i) the evolution of the fastest possible locomotion gaits for various fitness conditions and (ii) the adaptation of these locomotion gaits to challenging environment and degraded mechanical abilities of Snakebot. In all of the cases considered in this study, the locomotion gaits, evolved and adapted employing GP with LMS feature higher velocity and are obtained faster than with canonical GP

Implications of incorporating learning probabilistic context-sensitive grammar in genetic programming on evolvability of adaptive locomotion gaits of snakebot

Abstract. In this work we propose an approach of incorporating learning contextsensitive grammar in strongly typed genetic programming (GP) employed for evolution and adaptation of locomotion gaits of simulated snake-like robot (Snakebot). In our approach the probabilistic context-sensitive grammar is derived from the originally defined context-free grammar (which usually expresses the syntax of genetic programs in strongly typed GP), using aggregated reward values obtained from the evolved best-of-run healthy, undamaged Snakebots. The probabilities of applying each of particular production rules with multiple right-hand side alternatives in derived probabilistic context-sensitive grammar depend on the context, and these probabilities are “learned ” from the aggregated reward values. Empirically obtained results indicate that employing probabilistic context-sensitive grammar contributes to the improving the ability of Snakebot to adapt to partial damage by gradually improving its velocity characteristics. Snakebot recovers completely from single damage and recovers a major extent of its original velocity when more significant damage is inflicted. In all considered cases of inflicted partial damage of 1, 2, 4, and 8 out of 15 morphological segments, the incorporation of learning context sensitive grammar in GP improves the evolvability of adaptive locomotion gaits in that the recovery of partially damaged Snakebot is (i) faster and to (ii) higher values of velocity of locomotion

Evolution, Generality and Robustness of Emerged Surrounding Behavior in Continuous Predators-Prey Pursuit Problem

Abstract. We present the result of our work on the use of strongly typed genetic programming with exception handling capabilities for the evolution of surrounding behavior of agents situated in an inherently cooperative environment. The predators-prey pursuit problem is used to verify our hypothesis that relatively complex surrounding behavior may emerge from simple, implicit, locally defined, and therefore—scalable interactions between the predator agents. Proposing two different communication mechanisms ((i) simple, basic mechanism of implicit interaction, and (ii) explicit communications among the predator agents) we present a comparative analysis of the implications of these communication mechanisms on evolution, generality and robustness of the emerged surrounding behavior. We demonstrate that relatively complex-surrounding behavior emerges even from implicit, proximity-defined interactions among the agents. Although the basic model offers the benefits of simplicity and scalability, compared to the enhanced model of explicit communications among the agents, it features increased computational effort and inferior generality and robustness of agents ’ emergent surrounding behavior when the team of predator agents is evolved in noiseless environment and then tested in noisy and uncertain environment. Evolution in noisy environment virtually equalizes the robustness and generality characteristics of both models

Hormone-Inspired Behaviour Switching for the Control of Collective Robotic Organisms

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