The Effects of 3% Diquafosol Sodium Eye Drops on Tear Function and the Ocular Surface of Cu, Zn-Superoxide Dismutase-1 (Sod1) Knockout Mice Treated with Antiglaucoma Eye Medications.

Anti-glaucoma eye drop treatment often induces dry eyes and can lead to poor medication adherence. This study aimed to investigate the effects of 3% diquafosol sodium eye drops on tear function and the ocular surface epithelium in Sod1−/− mice after treatment with anti-glaucoma eye drops. The mice were divided into four groups: group 1, control group; group 2, anti-glaucoma eye drop; group 3, anti-glaucoma eye drops followed by a secretagogue eye drop (3% diquafosol); and group 4, simultaneous anti-glaucoma and secretagogue eye drop. Mice underwent assessments of tear quantity, tear film breakup time, and vital staining score. Mice in groups 3 and 4 showed significantly better tear stability and lower corneal staining scores than mice in group 2 after eye drop instillations (p < 0.05). Mice in group 4 showed significantly better tear stability, lower corneal staining scores, and higher goblet cell densities than those in group 1 after eye drop instillations (p < 0.05). The conjunctival epithelium showed stratification and abundance of Muc5AC-positive goblet cells in group 4, whereas thinning with desquamation was observed with a few goblet cells in group 2. Thus, simultaneous administration of 3% diquafosol sodium eye drops with topical anti-glaucoma drops showed favorable effects on tear stability and the corneal epithelium against the ocular surface toxicity inflicted by the anti-glaucoma eye drops

Avaliacao da densidade basica da madeira e de sua relacao com os caracteres de crescimento, em uma populacao base de Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh.

O presente trabalho teve por objetivo basico estudar a associacao entre a densidade basica da madeira (dbm) e o diam etro a altura do peito (dap) em uma populacao base de Eucalyptus camaldulensis, instalada em abril de 1986, em Selviria-MG, obedecendo a um delineamento em blocos casualizados, tendo 25 tratamentos (matrizes, 10 repeticoes, e uma arvore por aprcela,, no espacamento de 4,0 x 4,0 metros. O estudo envolveu a obtencao de estimativas de parametros geneticos para o dap e a dbm. Aos 7 anos apos o plantio as medias do dzap e da dbm foram de: 19,65 cm e 0,666 g/cm cubico, respectivamente. As estimativas de ehrdabilidade, ao nivel de media de familias, foram de 0,49 para o dap e de 0,55 para a dbm. O estudo da resposta correlacionado, envolvendo essas duas caracteristicas evidenciou que a selecao indireta de uma delas e prejudicial a outra. Assim, estrategias diferentes para essas duas caracteristicas sao recomendadas em um programa de melhoramento florestal

Multi-layer scintillation detector for the MOON double beta decay experiment: Scintillation photon responses studied by a prototype detector MOON-1

An ensemble of multi-layer scintillators is discussed as an option of the high-sensitivity detector Mo Observatory Of Neutrinos (MOON) for spectroscopic measurements of neutrino-less double beta decays. A prototype detector MOON-1, which consists of 6 layer plastic-scintillator plates, was built to study the sensitivity of the MOON-type detector. The scintillation photon collection and the energy resolution, which are key elements for the high-sensitivity experiments, are found to be 1835+/-30 photo-electrons for 976 keV electrons and sigma = 2.9+/-0.1% (dE/E = 6.8+/-0.3 % in FWHM) at the Qbb ~ 3 MeV region, respectively. The multi-layer plastic-scintillator structure with good energy resolution as well as good background suppression of beta-gamma rays is crucial for the MOON-type detector to achieve the inverted hierarchy neutrino mass sensitivity.Comment: 8 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Nucl.Instrum.Met

The predictability of graft thickness for Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty using a mechanical microkeratome system

Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) is used for treating corneal endothelial dysfunction, and the postoperative visual acuity outcome depends on the thickness of the graft. We created a simple nomogram using factors affecting the cutting thickness during graft preparation via a mechanical microkeratome system for DSAEK. This retrospective study was conducted from May 2018 through October 2022 and included donor eyes cut by automatic methods. We measured the graft thickness, cutting accuracy, and assessed ten variables with donor/cornea-related factors potentially affecting the cutting thickness. Subsequently, we created a simple nomogram. We analyzed 81 donor tissues, and the donor median age was 76 years. The mean central graft thickness was 122.2 μm, with 62% of the grafts that could be cut within the target central graft thickness range. Comparatively, donor corneas from those with cardiac diseases were cut deeper (P = 0.007). The developed nomogram provided a 83% probability of estimating the post-cutting graft thickness within 25 µm. Our nomogram, which considers cause of death, enables reproducible production of graft of a desired thickness. A detailed analysis of donor tissues, including the cause of donor death and the characteristics from pressurization to cutting, will enable more precise DSAEK graft preparation

Peripheral Nα\alpha Scattering: A Tool For Identifying The Two Pion Exchange Component Of The NN Potential

We study elastic N$\alpha$ scattering and produce a quantitative correlation between the range of the effective potential and the energy of the system. This allows the identification of the waves and energies for which the scattering may be said to be peripheral. We then show that the corresponding phase shifts are sensitive to the tail of the NN potential, which is due to the exchange of two pions. However, the present uncertainties in the experimental phase shifts prevent the use of N$\alpha$ scattering to discriminate the existing models for the NN interaction.Comment: 19 pages, 6 PostScript figures, RevTeX, to be appear in Phys. Rev.

Coupled-channel effective field theory and proton-7^7Li scattering

We apply the renormalisation group (RG) to analyse scattering by short-range forces in systems with coupled channels. For two S-wave channels, we find three fixed points, corresponding to systems with zero, one or two bound or virtual states at threshold. We use the RG to determine the power countings for the resulting effective field theories. In the case of a single low-energy state, the resulting theory takes the form of an effective-range expansion in the strongly interacting channel. We also extend the analysis to include the effects of the Coulomb interaction between charged particles. The approach is then applied to the coupled $p+{^7}$Li and $n+{^7}$Be channels which couple to a $J^P=2^-$ state of $^8$Be very close to the $n+{^7}$Be threshold. At next-to-leading order, we are able to get a good description of the $p+{^7}$Li phase shift and the ${^7}$Be(n,p)${^7}$Li cross section using four parameters. Fits at one order higher are similarly good but the available data are not sufficient to determine all five parameters uniquely.Comment: 22 pages, 2 figures, RevTeX4, typos corrected, accepted for publication in European Physical Journal

Nucleon-Nucleon Interaction: A Typical/Concise Review

Nearly a recent century of work is divided to Nucleon-Nucleon (NN) interaction issue. We review some overall perspectives of NN interaction with a brief discussion about deuteron, general structure and symmetries of NN Lagrangian as well as equations of motion and solutions. Meanwhile, the main NN interaction models, as frameworks to build NN potentials, are reviewed concisely. We try to include and study almost all well-known potentials in a similar way, discuss more on various commonly used plain forms for two-nucleon interaction with an emphasis on the phenomenological and meson-exchange potentials as well as the constituent-quark potentials and new ones based on chiral effective field theory and working in coordinate-space mostly. The potentials are constructed in a way that fit NN scattering data, phase shifts, and are also compared in this way usually. An extra goal of this study is to start comparing various potentials forms in a unified manner. So, we also comment on the advantages and disadvantages of the models and potentials partly with reference to some relevant works and probable future studies.Comment: 85 pages, 5 figures, than the previous v3 edition, minor changes, and typos fixe

On the wellposedness of some McKean models with moderated or singular diffusion coefficient

We investigate the well-posedness problem related to two models of nonlinear McKean Stochastic Differential Equations with some local interaction in the diffusion term. First, we revisit the case of the McKean-Vlasov dynamics with moderate interaction, previously studied by Meleard and Jourdain in [16], under slightly weaker assumptions, by showing the existence and uniqueness of a weak solution using a Sobolev regularity framework instead of a Holder one. Second, we study the construction of a Lagrangian Stochastic model endowed with a conditional McKean diffusion term in the velocity dynamics and a nondegenerate diffusion term in the position dynamics