Central retinal vein occlusion associated with high blood levels of lipoprotein (a). Is lipoprotein (a) a reliable marker for identification of predisposed individuals?

AbstractTo report a case of central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO) associated with abnormal elevation of Lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] plasma levels, without local or systemic risk factors.A 74-year-old man was referred to our department for cataract surgery in his left eye, and his anamnesis was negative for systemic diseases. Two months later, the patient presented with sudden visual loss in his operated eye, and comprehensive ophthalmic examination was performed, including Fluorescein Angiography (FA) and Optical Coherent Tomography (OCT). Serum concentrations of anticardiolipin and antiphospholipids antibodies, homocysteine and Lp(a) were measured.Ophthalmoscopy showed the classic features of acute CRVO, FA and OCT confirmed the initial diagnosis. Blood tests were negative for hyperhomocysteinemia, anticardiolipin and antiphospholipids antibodies, and an abnormal Lp(a) plasma concentration of 1.7g/L was found. The patient was sent to the internist for further investigation and treatment.Lp(a) can be an useful marker for early identification of predisposed individuals to CRVO and may be involved in its pathogenesis, presumably through its pro-atherogenic and antifibrinolytic action

Modeling and Sizing of a MW Solar DSG plant

Direct Steam Generation (DSG) Concentrated Solar technology, based on Linear Fresnel Reflectors (LFR) and aimed at supplying saturated steam to industrial processes, is a promising application; nevertheless, nowadays few case studies and very few installations have been developed. A methodology for the design optimization of a MW solar DSG plant is presented in this article and applied to a real case study of a Brazilian tire manufacturing facility. A steady-state model, with spatial discretization of the ordinary equations, allows characterizing the physical phenomena such as pressure drop and heat transfer, and therefore to determine the pressure and specific enthalpy trend along the recirculation loop. For each receiver tube of the solar collectors, the occurring single or two-phase flow pattern is calculated based on specific empirical equations developed for evaporation in horizontal tubes. Two reference operating conditions have been identified for the present case study, at which the optimal field layout results to be a series connection of all the collectors, and the optimal nominal flow rate to avoid possible harmful operating conditions for the absorber tubes is 1.0 kg/s. © 2016 The Authors

Measuring the Effectiveness of National Enforcers in the IFRS Context: A Proactive Approach

It is widely acknowledged that an effective enforcement system represents a crucial element to achieve significant improvements in financial reporting through the adoption of high-quality accounting standards. Indeed, the quality of financial reporting is considerably influenced not only by the standards to be adopted but also by their actual implementation, and consequently by enforcement mechanisms.The topic has generated considerable interest among scholars, who devoted their attention to developing different measures of the quality of the enforcement system. Building upon this literature, this paper aims at exploring the accounting enforcement system and focuses on controls over financial reporting considering two levels, namely the auditing activity and the controls performed by national enforcers.This paper extends the prior literature by proposing a dynamic measure of the accounting enforcement system capturing controls at those two levels. More specifically, the index here proposed focuses on the quality of the accounting enforcement operated by national enforcers in terms of proactivity, intended as the national enforcers’ capability to detect problems not highlighted in the auditors’ opinions, thus shifting the focus from an input to an output perspective. Indeed, the activities of auditors and national enforcers are strictly connected, given that the auditors’ opinion is the first public output of accounting controls and that is normally one of the bases for further investigation by national enforcers. An illustrative empirical analysis is carried out on the German and the Italian contexts to show the potential of the index for enforcement studies.</jats:p

Optical Crosstalk in InGaAs/InP SPAD Array: Analysis and Reduction with FIB-Etched Trenches

This letter describes the reduction of optical crosstalk by means of focused ion beam-etched trenches in InGaAs/InP single-photon avalanche diode arrays. Platinum-filled trenches have been fabricated in a linear array in order to limit the direct optical crosstalk between neighboring pixels. Experimental measurements prove that optical crosstalk has been reduced by ∼60 % thanks to a strong suppression of direct optical paths. An optical model is introduced in order to describe the main contributions to crosstalk and to validate measurements

Plano de Segurança da Água : uma proposta metodológica para Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul

Este estudo busca difundir a metodologia de gerenciamento de riscos aplicada ao controle da qualidade da água para consumo humano, denominada Plano de Segurança da Água. Para tanto, é realizado um estudo aplicado ao município de Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul, de forma a identificar as metodologias de gestão de riscos mais adequadas para o caso. A maior parte do município é abastecida pela Companhia Rio-grandense de Saneamento, a qual capta em média 400 litros por segundo de água em dois reservatórios artificiais (Barragem do Moinho e Barragem Barracão), trata-a através de processos convencionais, armazena-a em 23 reservatórios e distribui-a através de 325 quilômetros de rede. Através de informações acerca dos problemas relacionados ao sistema de abastecimento de água, propôs-se que sejam utilizadas metodologias de gestão de riscos mais básicas (como HAZID e APR) para as etapas menos críticas (captação e tratamento); e metodologias que exigem maior detalhamento e nível de conhecimento para analisar e avaliar os riscos do sistema de distribuição, propondo por fim o uso de mapas de riscos e simulações hidráulicas

A polymorphism in the human serotonin 5-HT2A receptor gene may protect against systemic sclerosis by reducing platelet aggregation

Introduction: Platelet aggregation may contribute to the pathogenesis of systemic sclerosis: following activation, platelets release significant amounts of serotonin - which promotes vasoconstriction and fibrosis, and further enhances aggregation. The C+1354T polymorphism in the exonic region of the serotonin 2A receptor gene determining the His452Tyr substitution was associated with blunted intracellular responses after serotonin stimulation, and may have a role in susceptibility to scleroderma. Methods: One hundred and fifteen consecutive systemic sclerosis patients and 140 well-matched healthy control individuals were genotyped by sequence-specific primer-PCR for the His452Tyr substitution of the serotonin 2A receptor gene, and associations were sought with scleroderma and its main clinical features. The functional relevance of the His452Tyr substitution was also assessed by evaluating the aggregation of platelet-rich plasma from His452/ His452 and His452/Tyr452 healthy individuals after stimulation with adenosine diphosphate ± serotonin. Results: The T allele of the C+1354T polymorphism was underrepresented in scleroderma patients compared with control individuals (5.2% versus 12.4%, P < 0.001, chi-square test and 1,000-fold permutation test) and its carriage reduced the risk for systemic sclerosis (odds ratio = 0.39, 95% confidence interval = 0.19 to 0.85, P < 0.01). Platelets from His452/Tyr452 healthy subjects more weakly responded to serotonin stimulation compared with platelets from His452/His452 individuals (3.2 ± 2.6-fold versus 9.6 ± 8.6-fold increase in aggregation, P = 0.017 by Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and P = 0.003 after correction for baseline adenosine diphosphate-induced aggregation values). Conclusion: The His452Tyr substitution may influence susceptibility to systemic sclerosis by altering platelet aggregation in response to serotonin

Deployment requirements for deorbiting electrodynamic tether technology

In the last decades, green deorbiting technologies have begun to be investigated and have raised a great interest in the space community. Among the others, electrodynamic tethers appear to be a promising option. By interacting with the surrounding ionosphere, electrodynamic tethers generate a drag Lorentz force to decrease the orbit altitude of the satellite, causing its re-entry in the atmosphere without using propellant. In this work, the requirements that drive the design of the deployment mechanism proposed for the H2020 Project E.T.PACK—Electrodynamic Tether Technology for Passive Consumable-less Deorbit Kit—are presented and discussed. Additionally, this work presents the synthesis of the reference profiles used by the motor of the deployer to make the tethered system reach the desired final conditions. The result is a strategy for deploying electrodynamic tape-shaped tethers used for deorbiting satellites at the end of their operational life.Open Access funding provided by Università degli Studi di Padova. This work was supported by European Union’s H2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 828902 (E.T.PACK Project). Gonzalo Sánchez-Arriaga's work is supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades of Spain under the Grant RYC-2014-15357

Inflammation and Epstein-Barr Virus Infection Are Common Features of Myasthenia Gravis Thymus: Possible Roles in Pathogenesis

The thymus plays a major role in myasthenia gravis (MG). Our recent finding of a persistent Epstein-Barr (EBV) virus infection in some MG thymuses, combined with data showing that the thymus is in a proinflammatory state in most patients, supports a viral contribution to the pathogenesis of MG. Aim of this study was to gain further evidence for intrathymic chronic inflammation and EBV infection in MG patients. Transcriptional profiling by low density array and real-time PCR showed overexpression of genes involved in inflammatory and immune response in MG thymuses. Real-time PCR for EBV genome, latent (EBER1, EBNA1, LMP1) and lytic (BZLF1) transcripts, and immunohistochemistry for LMP1 and BZLF1 proteins confirmed an active intrathymic EBV infection, further supporting the hypothesis that EBV might contribute to onset or perpetuation of the autoimmune response in MG. Altogether, our results support a role of inflammation and EBV infection as pathogenic features of MG thymus