Investigation of adaptive optics imaging biomarkers for detecting pathological changes of the cone mosaic in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Purpose To investigate a set of adaptive optics (AO) imaging biomarkers for the assessment of changes of the cone mosaic spatial arrangement in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (DM1). Methods 16 patients with 20/20 visual acuity and a diagnosis of DM1 in the past 8 years to 37 years and 20 age-matched healthy volunteers were recruited in this study. Cone density, cone spacing and Voronoi diagrams were calculated on 160x160 μm images of the cone mosaic acquired with an AO flood illumination retinal camera at 1.5 degrees eccentricity from the fovea along all retinal meridians. From the cone spacing measures and Voronoi diagrams, the linear dispersion index (LDi) and the heterogeneity packing index (HPi) were computed respectively. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to discriminate DM1 patients without diabetic retinopathy from controls using the cone metrics as predictors. Results Of the 16 DM1 patients, eight had no signs of diabetic retinopathy (noDR) and eight had mild nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) on fundoscopy. On average, cone density, LDi and HPi values were significantly different (P<0.05) between noDR or NPDR eyes and controls, with these differences increasing with duration of diabetes. However, each cone metric alone was not sufficiently sensitive to discriminate entirely between membership of noDR cases and controls. The complementary use of all the three cone metrics in the logistic regression model gained 100% accuracy to identify noDR cases with respect to controls. PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0151380 March 10, 2016 1 / 14 OPEN ACCESS Citation: Lombardo M, Parravano M, Serrao S, Ziccardi L, Giannini D, Lombardo G (2016) Investigation of Adaptive Optics Imaging Biomarkers for Detecting Pathological Changes of the Cone Mosaic in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus. PLoS ONE 11(3): e0151380. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0151380 Editor: Knut Stieger, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, GERMANY Received: December 17, 2015 Accepted: February 27, 2016 Published: March 10, 2016 Copyright: © 2016 Lombardo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files. Funding: Research for this work was supported by the Italian Ministry of Health (5x1000 funding), by the National Framework Program for Research and Innovation PON (grant n. 01_00110) and by Fondazione Roma. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Vision Engineering Italy srl funder provided support in the form of salaries for author GL, but did not have any Conclusion The present set of AO imaging biomarkers identified reliably abnormalities in the spatial arrangement of the parafoveal cones in DM1 patients, even when no signs of diabetic retinopathy were seen on fundoscopy

Studio bioarcheologico di un campione di inumati del villaggio medievale di Geridu (Sassari, XIV secolo)

La presente tesi di laurea riguarda lo studio antropologico e paleopatologico del cimitero basso-medievale del villaggio di Geridu (XIV secolo), in provincia di Sassari. L'indagine archeologica, condotta dal Professor Marco Milanese, si è svolta tra il 1996 e il 1998; gli individui, seppelliti in fosse semplici, furono rinvenuti in un'area adiacente all'abside della chiesa di Sant'Andrea. La scoperta ha confermato l'usanza, durante il tardo medioevo, di seppellire i defunti dentro e fuori gli edifici religiosi. Attraverso lo studio dei reperti osteologici è stato possibile studiare e valutare le caratteristiche fisiche, lo stile di vita e le diverse patologie che affliggevano questa comunità rurale. L'esame antropologico ha permesso di individuare 9 individui di sesso femminile, 8 di sesso maschile e 5 subadulti; le fasce di età con maggiore incidenza di mortalità sono quelle comprese tra i 30-39 anni e i 20-29. Per quanto riguarda le patologie, gli individui sono risultati affetti in particolare da affezioni dento-alveolari, come carie e tartaro, e da alterazioni dovute ad episodi di stress fisico, nutrizionale e di malattia. Dall'osservazione dell'intero campione si può ipotizzare uno stato di salute buono e uno stile di vita non troppo usurante e abbastanza simile nei due sessi

PROCINORTE workshop unites scientists to combat climate change in North American agriculture

El taller inaugural de PROCINORTE sobre Suelo, Agua y Cambio Climático para buscar medidas que puedan ayudar a tomar estrategias acordes para combatir el cambio climático en la agricultura de América del Norte (México, Estados Unidos y Canadá). Los participantes (científicos) del taller también reconocieron los desafíos en calidad, disponibilidad y acceso al agua. Hay brechas en nuestra comprensión y falta de herramientas predictivas, y los países carecen de muchos datos. Los científicos necesitan definir los cambios en la lluvia y la hidrología para comunicar los impactos y las estrategias de adaptación. Al final, los participantes acordaron tres formas principales de colaborar en el futuro

Deep graphical regression for jointly moderate and extreme Australian wildfires

Recent wildfires in Australia have led to considerable economic loss and property destruction, and there is increasing concern that climate change may exacerbate their intensity, duration, and frequency. Hazard quantification for extreme wildfires is an important component of wildfire management, as it facilitates efficient resource distribution, adverse effect mitigation, and recovery efforts. However, although extreme wildfires are typically the most impactful, both small and moderate fires can still be devastating to local communities and ecosystems. Therefore, it is imperative to develop robust statistical methods to reliably model the full distribution of wildfire spread. We do so for a novel dataset of Australian wildfires from 1999 to 2019, and analyse monthly spread over areas approximately corresponding to Statistical Areas Level~1 and~2 (SA1/SA2) regions. Given the complex nature of wildfire ignition and spread, we exploit recent advances in statistical deep learning and extreme value theory to construct a parametric regression model using graph convolutional neural networks and the extended generalized Pareto distribution, which allows us to model wildfire spread observed on an irregular spatial domain. We highlight the efficacy of our newly proposed model and perform a wildfire hazard assessment for Australia and population-dense communities, namely Tasmania, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth

Deep graphical regression for jointly moderate and extreme Australian wildfires

Recent wildfires in Australia have led to considerable economic loss and property destruction, and there is increasing concern that climate change may exacerbate their intensity, duration, and frequency. Hazard quantification for extreme wildfires is an important component of wildfire management, as it facilitates efficient resource distribution, adverse effect mitigation, and recovery efforts. However, although extreme wildfires are typically the most impactful, both small and moderate fires can still be devastating to local communities and ecosystems. Therefore, it is imperative to develop robust statistical methods to reliably model the full distribution of wildfire spread. We do so for a novel dataset of Australian wildfires from 1999 to 2019, and analyse monthly spread over areas approximately corresponding to Statistical Areas Level 1 and 2 (SA1/SA2) regions. Given the complex nature of wildfire ignition and spread, we exploit recent advances in statistical deep learning and extreme value theory to construct a parametric regression model using graph convolutional neural networks and the extended generalised Pareto distribution, which allows us to model wildfire spread observed on an irregular spatial domain. We highlight the efficacy of our newly proposed model and perform a wildfire hazard assessment for Australia and population-dense communities, namely Tasmania, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.</p

Potamoplancton en la cuenca media del río Cuarto(Córdoba, Argentina)

El objetivo de esta investigación es analizar la composición y abundancia de las algas en transporte y su relación con variables ambientales y microbiol'ogicas en la zona de llanura aluvial ancha de la cuenca del río Cuarto. Se consideraron cinco períodos de muestreo: primavera 1999, verano 2000, otoño 2000, invierno 2000 y primavera 2000. Se seleccionaron 5 localidades en el trayecto longitudinal del río Cuarto: Tres Acequias, ElMogote (tramo urbano), Puente Antártida Argentina, Cloacas (sector de efluvios cloacales de la ciudad) y Paso del Durazno. Se recolectaron 25 muestras para el estudio biológico, 25 para el análisis microbiológico y 25 para determinar nutrientes. Las muestras de fitoplancton se obtuvieron por filtración de 100 litros de agua a través de una red de plancton de 25 μm de diámetro de poro y simultáneamente se registraron parámetros fisicoquímicos e hidráulicos. Se determinaron un total de 142 taxa: 6 son Cyanophyceae, 9 son Chlorophyceae, 1 Euglenophyceae y 127 son Bacillariophyceae. La densidad algal osciló entre 215.09 células/ml en Paso del Durazno, en primavera 1999 y 0.1 células/ml en Tres Acequias, en otoño 2000. La m'axima densidad de la clase Bacillariophyceae se registró en primavera 1999 en Paso del Durazno con 106.82 células/ml. La máxima y mínima diversidad se registró en Las Cloacas con 4.49 bits/cél en verano y 2.57 bits/cél en invierno respectivamente. La equidad varió entre 0.45 en primavera 1999 en Paso del Durazno y 0.95 en otoño para el mismo sitio de muestreo. Los resultados microbiológicos obtenidos infieren la importancia del vuelco de los efluentes cloacales al curso fluvial, evidenciado también por la presencia de especies algales de mayor valor sapróbico. Los valores del Índice Diatómico de Sladecek caracteriza al tramo en estudio dentro del rango β-mesosaprobios, contaminación moderada a alta, para los sitios Tres Acequias, El Mogote y Puente Antártica Argentina y polisaprobios, contaminación alta, en el sector Cloacas y Paso del Durazno.The aim of this research is to analyse the flowing algal composition and abundance as well as its relationship with the environmental and microbiological variables throughout the broad alluvial plain of the Cuarto River basin. Five sampling periods were considered: spring of 1999, summer of 2000, fall of 2000, winter 2000 and spring of 2000. Five sites were selected along the Cuarto River: Tres Acequias, El Mogote (urban stretch), Puente Antártida Argentina, Las Cloacas (city sewages outflow), and Paso del Durazno. Twenty five samples were collected for the biological study, 25 samples for microbiological analysis and 25 samples for nutrients determination. Phytoplankton samples were obtained by filtrating 100 L of water through a 25 μm pored plankton-net, with the physicochemical and hydraulic patterns being registered at the same time. A total of 142 taxa were found: 6 Cyanophyceae, 9 Chlorophyceae, 1 Euglenophyceae and 127 Bacillariophyceae. The algal density ranged between 215.09 cells/ml in the spring of 1999 at Paso del Durazno and 0.1 cells/ml in the fall of 2000 at Tres Acequias. The greatest density for the Bacillariophyceae class was registered in the spring of 1999 at Paso del Durazno with 106 cells/ml. The maximum and minimum diversity was registered at Las Cloacas with 4.49 bits/cell in summer and 2.57 bits/cell in winter, respectively. The equity varied between 0.45 in the spring of 1999 at Paso del Durazno and 0.95 in the fall of 2000 for the same sampling site. The microbiological results show an important effect caused by the sewage outflow, which is also indicated by the presence of algae with a high saprobic value. The Sladecek Diatomic Index values indicate that the studied river section show β-ranging mesoprobes and medium to high pollution level for Tres Acequias, El Mogote and Puente Antártida Argentina sampling sites, and polysaprobes and high pollution level for Las Cloacas and Paso del Durazno