Optical quality variation of different intraocular lens designs in a model eye: lens placed correctly and in an upside-down position

Introduction: Intraocular lenses (IOLs) may lose their optical quality if they are not correctly placed inside the capsular bag once implanted. One possible malpositioning of the IOL could be the implantation in an upside-down position. In this work, three aspheric IOLs with different spherical aberration (SA) have been designed and numerically tested to analyse the optical quality variation with the IOL flip, and misalignments, using a theoretical model eye. Methods: Using the commercial optical design software OSLO, the effect of decentration and tilt was evaluated by numerical ray tracing in two conditions: IOL in their designed position and flipped. The Atchison theoretical model eye used. Seven IOL designs of +27.00 diopters were used: a lens with negative SA to correct the corneal SA, a lens to partially correct the corneal SA and a lens to not add any SA to the cornea (aberration-free IOL). These lenses were designed with the aspherical surface located on the anterior and posterior IOL surface. A lens with no aspherical surfaces was also included. For the optical quality analysis, the Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) and Zernike wavefront aberration coefficients of defocus, astigmatism and primary coma were used. Results: Off-centering and tilting the IOL reduced overall MTF values, and increased wavefront aberration errors. With the IOL correctly positioned within the capsular bag, an aberration-free IOL is the best choice for maintaining optical quality. When the IOL is flipped inside the capsular bag the optical quality changes, with the aberration-free IOL and the IOL without aspheric surfaces providing the worst results. With the lens in an upside-down position, an IOL design to partially correct corneal SA shows the best optical quality results in decentration and tilt. Conclusion: The aberration-free IOL is the best choice when minimal postoperative errors of decentration or tilt are predicted. With IOL flip, the negative SA lens design is the best choice, regarding the root mean square wavefront aberrations. However, in a proper IOL implantation, the IOL designed to partially compensate the corneal SA including asphericity on its posterior surface is the better possible option, even in the presence of decentration or tilt

Spanish ATLAS tier-2: Facing up to LHC Run 2

The goal of this work is to describe the way of addressing the main challenges of Run 2 by the Spanish ATLAS Tier-2. The considerable increase of energy and luminosity for the upcoming Run 2 with respect to Run 1 has led to a revision of the ATLAS computing model as well as some of the main ATLAS computing tools. In this paper, the adaptation to these changes will be described. The Spanish ATLAS Tier-2 is a R&D project which consists of a distributed infrastructure composed of three sites and its members are involved in ATLAS computing progress, namely the work in different tasks and the development of new tools (e.g. Event Index)This work has been supported by MINECO, Spain (Proj. Ref. FPA2010-21919-C03-01,02,03 & FPA2013-47424-C3,01,02,03), which include FEDER funds from the European Unio

Neonatal Androgenization Exacerbates Alcohol-Induced Liver Injury in Adult Rats, an Effect Abrogated by Estrogen

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) affects millions of people worldwide and is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. However, fewer than 10% of heavy drinkers progress to later stages of injury, suggesting other factors in ALD development, including environmental exposures and genetics. Females display greater susceptibility to the early damaging effects of ethanol. Estrogen (E2) and ethanol metabolizing enzymes (cytochrome P450, CYP450) are implicated in sex differences of ALD. Sex steroid hormones are developmentally regulated by the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis, which controls sex-specific cycling of gonadal steroid production and expression of hepatic enzymes. The aim of this study was to determine if early postnatal inhibition of adult cyclic E2 alters ethanol metabolizing enzyme expression contributing to the development of ALD in adulthood. An androgenized rat model was used to inhibit cyclic E2 production. Control females (Ctrl), androgenized females (Andro) and Andro females with E2 implants were administered either an ethanol or isocalorically-matched control Lieber-DeCarli diet for four weeks and liver injury and CYP450 expression assessed. Androgenization exacerbated the deleterious effects of ethanol demonstrated by increased steatosis, lipid peroxidation, profibrotic gene expression and decreased antioxidant defenses compared to Ctrl. Additionally, CYP2E1 expression was down-regulated in Andro animals on both diets. No change was observed in CYP1A2 protein expression. Further, continuous exogenous administration of E2 to Andro in adulthood attenuated these effects, suggesting that E2 has protective effects in the androgenized animal. Therefore, early postnatal inhibition of cyclic E2 modulates development and progression of ALD in adulthood

Rotavirus symptomatic infection among unvaccinated and vaccinated children in Valencia, Spain

BACKGROUND: Human group A rotavirus is the leading cause of severe acute gastroenteritis in young children worldwide. Immunization programs have reduced the disease burden in many countries. Vaccination coverage in the Autonomous Region of Valencia, Spain, is around 40%, as the rotavirus vaccine is not funded by the National Health System. Despite this low-medium vaccine coverage, rotavirus vaccination has substantially reduced hospitalizations due to rotavirus infection and hospital-related costs. However, there are very few studies evaluating symptomatic rotavirus infections not requiring hospitalization in vaccinated children. The objective of this study was to investigate symptomatic rotavirus infections among vaccinated children in the health area served by the Hospital Clínico Universitario of Valencia, Spain, from 2013 to 2015. METHODS: A total of 133 children younger than 5 years of age with rotavirus infection were studied. Demographic and epidemiological data were collected and informed consent from their caretakers obtained. Rotavirus infection was detected by immunological methods and G/P rotavirus genotypes were determined by RT-PCR, following standard procedures from the EuroRotaNet network. RESULTS: Forty infants (30.1%; 95% CI: 22.3-37.9) out of 133 were diagnosed with symptomatic rotavirus infection despite having been previously vaccinated, either with RotaTeq (85%) or with Rotarix (15%). Children fully vaccinated against rotavirus (24.8%), partially vaccinated (5.3%) and unvaccinated (69.9%) were found. The infecting genotypes showed high G-type diversity, although no significant differences were found between the G/P genotypes infecting vaccinated and unvaccinated children during the same time period. G9P[8], G12P[8] and G1P[8] were the most prevalent genotypes. Severity of gastroenteritis symptoms required 28 (66.6%) vaccinated and 67 (73.6%) unvaccinated children to be attended at the Emergency Room. CONCLUSION: Rotavirus vaccine efficacy in reducing the incidence of severe rotavirus infection has been well documented, but symptomatic rotavirus infection can sometimes occur in vaccinees

Determination of Heavy Metal Pollution by ICP and AAS in the Suspended Matter of the Gulf of Cadiz

ICP, GFAAS and FAAS are appropriate techniques for the study of metal pollution related to suspended particulate matter at sea. Metal concentrations detected by these techniques in the Gulf of Cádiz are coherent with other observation

DynApp: a mobile application for vibration serviceability assesment

Human loading may induce significant vibrations in some types of structures such as long-span floor slabs or light-weight pedestrian bridges, affecting their vibration serviceability limit state. In many cases, this limit state is not taken into account properly within the structural design process or this is not fulfilled during its life span. Finding the source of the problem may be an awkward task and a monitoring campaign to check this behavior may be expensive. In this paper, a dynamic analysis mobile phone tool named DynApp has been developed in Android. This allows the user to make in one go the measurements and the identification of the resonant frequencies of the structure avoiding engineers to carry out dynamic analysis of structure with tedious setups (accelerometers, long cables, acquisition systems, power suppliers, etc.) and difficult-to-use specialized software. DynApp guides practitioners/engineers easily through frequency and time domain tests and helps them to make a decision shortly about the serviceability Comfort Class. This tool is also used in master clases for teaching the background content.The authors acknowledge the Educational Innovation Project Técnicas Experimentales de análisis dinámico: caracterización dinámica y cancelación de vibraciones (IE1819.0407). They also want to acknowledge the master students for using and check DynApp. The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the project SEED-SD (RTI2018-099639-B-I00). Finally, Carlos M. Renedo would like to thank Universidad Politécnica de Madrid for the financial support through a PhD research grant

Letter to the editor regarding “Rotavirus infection beyond the gut”

Alejandro Orrico-Sánchez,1 Mónica López-Lacort,1 Cintia Muñoz-Quiles,1 Miguel Angel Martinez-Beneito,2 Javier Díez-Domingo1 1Vaccine Research, Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunitat Valenciana, FISABIO-Public Health, Valencia, Spain; 2Health Inequalities, Fundación para el Fomento de la Investigación Sanitaria y Biomédica de la Comunitat Valenciana, FISABIO-Public Health, Valencia, Spain Gomez-Rial et al, in their review paper “Rotavirus infection beyond the gut”,1 concluded that there is some degree of protection of the RV vaccination against seizure hospitalizations. A detailed analysis of the potential biases of the literature could lead to a less optimistic position for the vaccine. For example, the protection found in the USA and Australia could be partly due to the uncontrolled influenza vaccine (where the coverage in children under 5 years in EEUU reached 66–75%2). Other studies have small sample sizes, or used poorly adjusted analyses.Beyond their different degrees of appraisal of the papers depending on the direction of the results, there is a lack of discussion of the publication bias, as this bias disrupts the literature promoting positive findings and hiding negative results. View the original paper by Gomez-Rial and colleagues