A Review of Last Decade Developments on Epiretinal Membrane Pathogenesis

Epiretinal membrane (ERM) is a pathologic tissue that develops at the vitreoretinal interface. ERM is responsible for pathological changes of vision with varying degrees of clinical significance. It is either idiopathic or secondary to a wide variety of diseases such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). A great variation in the prevalence of idiopathic ERM among different ethnic groups proposed that genetic and lifestyle factors may play a role in ERM occurrence. Histopathological studies demonstrate that various cell types including retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells, fibrocytes, fibrous astrocytes, myofibroblast-like cells, glial cells, endothelial cells (ECs) and macrophages, as well as trophic and transcription factors, including transforming growth factor (TGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) etc., are directly or indirectly involved in the pathogenesis of  idiopathic or secondary ERMs. These processes are driven (on the last count) by more than 50 genes, such as Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF), CCL2 ((chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2)), MALAT1, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, TGF-β2, Interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-10, VEGF and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), some of which have been studied more intensely than others. The present paper tried to summarize, highlight and cross-correlate the major findings made in the last decade on the function of these genes and their association with different types of cells, genes and gene expression products in the ERM formation

A Review of Last Decade Developments on Epiretinal Membrane Pathogenesis

Epiretinal membrane (ERM) is a pathologic tissue that develops at the vitreoretinal interface. ERM is responsible for pathological changes of vision with varying degrees of clinical significance. It is either idiopathic or secondary to a wide variety of diseases such as proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and proliferative vitreoretinopathy (PVR). A great variation in the prevalence of idiopathic ERM among different ethnic groups proposed that genetic and lifestyle factors may play a role in ERM occurrence. Histopathological studies demonstrate that various cell types including retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells, fibrocytes, fibrous astrocytes, myofibroblast-like cells, glial cells, endothelial cells (ECs) and macrophages, as well as trophic and transcription factors, including transforming growth factor (TGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) etc., are directly or indirectly involved in the pathogenesis of  idiopathic or secondary ERMs. These processes are driven (on the last count) by more than 50 genes, such as Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF), CCL2 ((chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2)), MALAT1, transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1, TGF-β2, Interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-10, VEGF and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), some of which have been studied more intensely than others. The present paper tried to summarize, highlight and cross-correlate the major findings made in the last decade on the function of these genes and their association with different types of cells, genes and gene expression products in the ERM formation

Evaluating the Use of Daily Care Notes Software for Older People with Dementia

There has been little research to investigate the impact of software to support the care for older people with dementia care. This article reports the evaluation of software adapted to support one key person-centered task for the care of older residents with dementia – recording and sharing daily care notes. The evaluation on the dementia wing of 1 residential home for over 6 months revealed that use of the software on mobile devices carried by the carers increased the number and volume of daily care notes recorded, but only for the types of content that were already being recorded by carers. Carers reported more advantages that resulted from daily care notes once in digital form than from the documenting task, as well as barriers to the use of mobile digital software to record daily care notes

MORCIC: Model Order Reduction Techniques for Electromagnetic Models of Integrated Circuits

Model order reduction (MOR) is crucial for the design process of integrated circuits. Specifically, the vast amount of passive RLCk elements in electromagnetic models extracted from physical layouts exacerbates the extraction time, the storage requirements, and, most critically, the post-layout simulation time of the analyzed circuits. The MORCIC project aims to overcome this problem by proposing new MOR techniques that perform better than commercial tools. Experimental evaluation on several analog and mixed-signal circuits with millions of elements indicates that the proposed methods lead to x5.5 smaller ROMs while maintaining similar accuracy compared to golden ROMs provided by ANSYS RaptorX.Comment: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:2311.0847

Using mobile devices and apps to support reflective learning about older people with dementia

There has been little research to develop computing technologies to support the care of people with dementia, in spite of the growing challenges that the condition poses for society. To design such technologies, an existing model of computer-support reflective learning was instantiated with findings from a pre-design study in one residential home. The result was a mobile device running an adapted enterprise social media app to support person-centred care. Evaluations of the device and app in two residential homes revealed that use of the app both motivated and increased different styles of care note recording, but little reflective learning was identified or reported. The results suggest the need for more comprehensive and flexible computer-based support for reflective learning about residents in their care – and new designs of this more comprehensive support are also introduced

Using discovered services to create requirements for service-centric systems

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Study of the bacterial flora of the appendiceal lumen and peritoneal cavity in children with acute appendicitis

Acute appendicitis is the most common cause of acute surgical abdomen in the pediatric population. The etiology is not clear, and different microorganisms have been considered as the primary cause. Moreover, during the last years, non-surgical therapy for non-complicated cases gains ground, and for that reason many researchers try, not only diagnose, but also to perform early staging of the disease.The demographics, clinical assessment, and laboratory examinations of 72 pediatric patients, that underwent surgery for acute appendicitis, were recorded in this prospective study. Cultures were performed from material extracted both from the lumen of the appendix and the peritoneal cavity, while the appendix itself underwent histopathologic investigation. The bacteria identified in the lumen of the appendix and the peritoneal cavity were studied both in qualitative and quantitative manners, and according to their potential correlation with the severity of the inflammation. Furthermore, a new, easy to use method was constructed, for the staging of acute appendicitis, without the necessity of radiological examinations.The study outcome showed as the most common bacteria Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Streptococcus spp. No statistical significance was found between certain microorganisms and the severity of the acute appendicitis. However, the combination of more than one bacteria extracted in the cultures of the intraperitoneal fluid, was correlated with the presentation of complicated forms of acute appendicitis. For the timely staging of acute appendicitis, an easy-to-use algorithm has been constructed, with the use of a regression tree model. This algorithm which has high sensitivity and specificity values, uses data from the routine clinical and laboratory investigation, without the need of use of radiological equipment, and is considered ideal for use in healthcare institutions deprived of high-tech equipment, or in developing countries.Η οξεία σκωληκοειδίτιδα αποτελεί τον πιο συχνό λόγο οξείας χειρουργικής κοιλίας στον παιδιατρικό πληθυσμό. Η αιτιολογία δεν είναι ξεκάθαρη και διάφοροι μικροοργανισμοί έχουν ενοχοποιηθεί από ερευνητές ως το πρωτογενές αίτιο. Επίσης, τα τελευταία χρόνια κερδίζει έδαφος η μη χειρουργική θεραπεία για τα μη επιπλεγμένα περιστατικά, και για το λόγο αυτό πολλοί ερευνητές προσπαθούν, όχι μόνο να διαγνώσουν, αλλά και να σταδιοποιήσουν τη νόσο όσο πιο έγκαιρα γίνεται. Στη διάρκεια της έρευνάς μας καταγράφηκαν τα δημογραφικά χαρακτηριστηκά, η κλινική εικόνα και οι εργαστηριακές εξετάσεις 72 παιδιατρικών ασθενών, οι οποίοι χειρουργήθηκαν για οξεία σκωληκοειδίτιδα στο νοσοκομείο μας. Υλικό από τον αυλό της σκωληκοειδούς αποφύσεως και της περιτοναϊκής κοιλότητας υποβλήθηκε σε καλλιέργεια, ενώ για τη σκωληκοειδή απόφυση διενεργήθηκε ιστοπαθολογικός έλεγχος. Στην μελέτη μας διερευνήθηκε ποιοτικά και ποσοτικά ο πληθυσμός των βακτηρίων από τον αυλό της σκωληκοειδούς αποφύσεως και του ενδοπεριτοναϊκού υγρού όλων των ασθενών, καθώς και η πιθανή σχέση τους με τη σοβαρότητα της φλεγμονής. Επιπλέον, αναζητήθηκε ένας νέος εύχρηστος τρόπος για τη σταδιοποίηση της νόσου, χωρίς να είναι απαραίτητες ακτινοσκοπικές εξετάσεις. Στο σύνολο των καλλιεργειών τα πιο συχνά βακτήρια ήταν η Escerichia. coli, η Pseudomonas aeruginosa και οι Streptococcus spp. Δεν ανευρέθηκε στατιστικά σημαντική συσχέτιση μεταξύ συγκεκριμένων μικροοργανισμών και της σοβαρότητας της οξείας σκωληκοειδίτιδας. Ωστόσο, ο συνδυασμός περισσότερων του ενός παθογόνων στις καλλιέργειες του ενδοπεριτοναϊκού υγρού, συσχετίσθηκε με την εμφάνιση επιπλεγμένης σκωληκοειδίτιδας. Για την έγκαιρη σταδιοποίηση της οξείας σκωληκοειδίτιδας, δημιουργήθηκε ένας εύχρηστος διαγνωστικός αλγόριθμος με τη βοήθεια δενδρικής παλινδρόμησης. Ο συγκεκριμένος αλγόριθμος έχει υψηλή ευαισθησία και ειδικότητα, χρησιμοποιεί στοιχεία από τον απλό κλινικοεργαστηριακό έλεγχο, χωρίς να είναι αναγκαία η χρήση ακτινοσκοπικών μέσων και θεωρείται ιδανικός για χρήση σε ιατρικά κέντρα με ένδεια εξοπλισμού υψηλής τεχνολογίας ή σε αναπτυσσόμενες χώρες

Ontology-aided Translation in the Comparison of Candidate Service Quality

In engineering service-centric systems, it is possible to receive early feedback on candidate services that best match requirements. This includes the possibility of comparing the quality (not just functionality) of candidate services. This paper concentrates on the assessment of service quality at the requirements stage. In doing so, it is found that there is a problem in reaching a common understanding between the parties involved - i.e. different service providers and requirements engineers may use different metrics, units, etc. We present an approach in which our requirements-based service discovery tool exploits an ontology-based quality specification mechanism. This simplifies the problem of reaching a common understanding of quality and allows translation where providers choose to specify quality differently