Beyond deficiency:Potential benefits of increased intakesof vitamin K for bone and vascular health

Vitamin K is wellknown for its role in the synthesisof a number of blood coagulationfactors.During recent years vitaminK-dependent proteins werediscovered to be of vital importancefor bone and vascular health.Recommendations for dietary vitaminK intake have been made onthe basis of the hepatic requirementsfor the synthesis of bloodcoagulation factors.Accumulatingevidence suggests that the requirementsfor other functions thanblood coagulation may be higher.This paper is the result of a closedworkshop (Paris,November 2002)in which a number of Europeanvitamin K experts reviewed theavailable data and formulated theirstandpoint with respect to recommendeddietary vitamin K intakeand the use of vitamin K-containingsupplements

Stress-strain behavior and geometrical properties of packings of elongated particles

We present a numerical analysis of the effect of particle elongation on the quasistatic behavior of sheared granular media by means of the Contact Dynamics method. The particle shapes are rounded-cap rectangles characterized by their elongation. The macroscopic and microstructural properties of several packings subjected to biaxial compression are analyzed as a function of particle elongation. We find that the shear strength is an increasing linear function of elongation. Performing an additive decomposition of the stress tensor based on a harmonic approximation of the angular dependence of branch vectors, contact normals and forces, we show that the increasing mobilization of friction force and the associated anisotropy are key effects of particle elongation. These effects are correlated with partial nematic ordering of the particles which tend to be oriented perpendicular to the major principal stress direction and form side-to-side contacts. However, the force transmission is found to be mainly guided by cap-to-side contacts, which represent the largest fraction of contacts for the most elongated particles. Another interesting finding is that, in contrast to shear strength, the solid fraction first increases with particle elongation, but declines as the particles become more elongated. It is also remarkable that the coordination number does not follow this trend so that the packings of more elongated particles are looser but more strongly connected.Comment: Submited to Physical Review

Joint Segmentation and Uncertainty Visualization of Retinal Layers in Optical Coherence Tomography Images using Bayesian Deep Learning

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is commonly used to analyze retinal layers for assessment of ocular diseases. In this paper, we propose a method for retinal layer segmentation and quantification of uncertainty based on Bayesian deep learning. Our method not only performs end-to-end segmentation of retinal layers, but also gives the pixel wise uncertainty measure of the segmentation output. The generated uncertainty map can be used to identify erroneously segmented image regions which is useful in downstream analysis. We have validated our method on a dataset of 1487 images obtained from 15 subjects (OCT volumes) and compared it against the state-of-the-art segmentation algorithms that does not take uncertainty into account. The proposed uncertainty based segmentation method results in comparable or improved performance, and most importantly is more robust against noise

The anisotropy of granular materials

The effect of the anisotropy on the elastoplastic response of two dimensional packed samples of polygons is investigated here, using molecular dynamics simulation. We show a correlation between fabric coefficients, characterizing the anisotropy of the granular skeleton, and the anisotropy of the elastic response. We also study the anisotropy induced by shearing on the subnetwork of the sliding contacts. This anisotropy provides an explanation to some features of the plastic deformation of granular media.Comment: Submitted to PR

Role of RhoA and rho kinase in lysophosphatidic acid-induced endothelial barrier dysfunction.

The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is located on th

Retinal damage extends beyond the border of the detached retina in fovea-on retinal detachment

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the preoperative and postoperative change in retinal sensitivity in relation to the distance to the retinal detachment (RD) in patients with fovea-on RD. Methods: We prospectively evaluated 13 patients with fovea-on RD and a healthy control eye. Preoperatively, OCT scans of the RD border and the macula were obtained. The RD border was highlighted on the SLO image. Microperimetry was used to assess the retinal sensitivity at the macula, the RD border and the retina around the RD border. At 6 weeks, 3 and 6 months postoperatively, follow-up examinations of OCT and microperimetry were performed in the study eye. Microperimetry was performed once in control eyes. Microperimetry data were overlaid on the SLO image. The shortest distance to the RD border was calculated for each sensitivity measurement. The change in retinal sensitivity was calculated as control-study. The relation between the change in retinal sensitivity and the distance to the RD border was assessed using a locally weighted scatterplot smoothing curve. Results: Preoperatively, the greatest loss in retinal sensitivity was 21 dB at 3° inside the RD which decreased linearly, through the RD border, and reached a plateau of 2 dB at 4°. For 6 weeks and 3 months postoperatively, the greatest retinal sensitivity loss remained at 3° inside the RD but was 4 dB and sensitivity loss decreased linearly to a plateau of 0 dB at 5° outside the RD. At 6 months postoperatively, the greatest sensitivity loss was 2 dB at 3° inside the RD, and decreased linearly to a plateau of 0 dB at 2° outside the RD. Conclusions: Retinal damage extends beyond the detached retina. Retinal sensitivity loss of the attached retina decreased drastically as the distance to the RD increased. Postoperative recovery occurred for both attached and detached retina.</p

A quadrature filter approach for registration accuracy assessment of fundus images

This paper presents a method to automatically assess the accuracy of image registration. It is applicable to images in which vessels are the main landmarks such as fundus images and angiography. The method simultaneously exploits not only the position, but also the intensity profile across the vasculatures. The accuracy measure is defined as the energy of the odd component of the 1D vessel profile in the difference image divided by the total energy of the corresponding vessels in the constituting images. Scale and orientation-selective quadrature filter banks have been employed to analyze the 1D signal profiles. Subsequently, the relative energy measure has been calibrated such that the measure translates to a spatial misalignment in pixels. The method was validated on a fundus image dataset from a diabetic retinopathy screening program at the Rotterdam Eye Hospital. An evaluation showed that the proposed measure assesses the registration accuracy with a bias of -0.1 pixels and a precision (standard deviation) of 0.9 pixels. The small Fourier footprint of the orientation selective quadrature filters makes the method robust against noise

Rheophysics of dense granular materials : Discrete simulation of plane shear flows

We study the steady plane shear flow of a dense assembly of frictional, inelastic disks using discrete simulation and prescribing the pressure and the shear rate. We show that, in the limit of rigid grains, the shear state is determined by a single dimensionless number, called inertial number I, which describes the ratio of inertial to pressure forces. Small values of I correspond to the quasi-static regime of soil mechanics, while large values of I correspond to the collisional regime of the kinetic theory. Those shear states are homogeneous, and become intermittent in the quasi-static regime. When I increases in the intermediate regime, we measure an approximately linear decrease of the solid fraction from the maximum packing value, and an approximately linear increase of the effective friction coefficient from the static internal friction value. From those dilatancy and friction laws, we deduce the constitutive law for dense granular flows, with a plastic Coulomb term and a viscous Bagnold term. We also show that the relative velocity fluctuations follow a scaling law as a function of I. The mechanical characteristics of the grains (restitution, friction and elasticity) have a very small influence in this intermediate regime. Then, we explain how the friction law is related to the angular distribution of contact forces, and why the local frictional forces have a small contribution to the macroscopic friction. At the end, as an example of heterogeneous stress distribution, we describe the shear localization when gravity is added.Comment: 24 pages, 19 figure

Climate related sea-level variations over the past two millennia

Author Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of National Academy of Sciences for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 108 (2011): 11017-11022, doi:10.1073/pnas.1015619108.We present new sea-level reconstructions for the past 2100 years based on salt-marsh sedimentary sequences from the US Atlantic coast. The data from North Carolina reveal four phases of persistent sea-level change after correction for glacial isostatic adjustment. Sea level was stable from at least BC 100 until AD 950. It then increased for 400 years at a rate of 0.6 mm/yr, followed by a further period of stable, or slightly falling, sea level that persisted until the late 19th century. Since then, sea level has risen at an average rate of 2.1 mm/yr, representing the steepest, century-scale increase of the past two millennia. This rate was initiated between AD 1865 and 1892. Using an extended semi-empirical modeling approach, we show that these sea-level changes are consistent with global temperature for at least the past millennium.Research was supported by NSF grants (EAR-0951686) to BPH and JPD. ACK thanks a NOSAMS internship, UPenn paleontology stipend and grants from GSA and NAMS. North Carolina sea-level research was funded by NOAA (NA05NOS4781182), USGS (02ERAG0044) and NSF (EAR-0717364) grants to BPH with S. Culver and R. Corbett (East Carolina University). JPD (EAR-0309129) and MEM (ATM-0542356) acknowledge NSF support. MV acknowledges Academy of Finland Project 123113 and COST Action ES0701