Presbyopia:Effectiveness of correction strategies

Presbyopia is a global problem affecting over a billion people worldwide. The prevalence of unmanaged presbyopia is as high as 50% of those over 50 years of age in developing world populations due to a lack of awareness and accessibility to affordable treatment, and is even as high as 34% in developed countries. Definitions of presbyopia are inconsistent and varied, so we propose a redefinition that states “presbyopia occurs when the physiologically normal age-related reduction in the eye's focusing range reaches a point, when optimally corrected for distance vision, that the clarity of vision at near is insufficient to satisfy an individual's requirements”. Presbyopia is inevitable if one lives long enough, but intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors including cigarette smoking, pregnancy history, hyperopic or astigmatic refractive error, ultraviolet radiation, female sex (although accommodation is similar to males), hotter climates and some medical conditions such as diabetes can accelerate the onset of presbyopic symptoms. Whilst clinicians can ameliorate the symptoms of presbyopia with near vision spectacle correction, bifocal and progressive spectacle lenses, monovision, translating or multifocal contact lenses, monovision, extended depth of focus, multifocal (refractive, diffractive and asymmetric designs) or ‘accommodating’ intraocular lenses, corneal inlays, scleral expansion, laser refractive surgery (corneal monovision, corneal shrinkage, corneal multifocal profiles and lenticular softening), pharmacologic agents, and electro-stimulation of the ciliary muscle, none fully overcome presbyopia in all patients. While the restoration of natural accommodation or an equivalent remains elusive, guidance is gives on presbyopic correction evaluation techniques

Robust estimation of bacterial cell count from optical density

Optical density (OD) is widely used to estimate the density of cells in liquid culture, but cannot be compared between instruments without a standardized calibration protocol and is challenging to relate to actual cell count. We address this with an interlaboratory study comparing three simple, low-cost, and highly accessible OD calibration protocols across 244 laboratories, applied to eight strains of constitutive GFP-expressing E. coli. Based on our results, we recommend calibrating OD to estimated cell count using serial dilution of silica microspheres, which produces highly precise calibration (95.5% of residuals <1.2-fold), is easily assessed for quality control, also assesses instrument effective linear range, and can be combined with fluorescence calibration to obtain units of Molecules of Equivalent Fluorescein (MEFL) per cell, allowing direct comparison and data fusion with flow cytometry measurements: in our study, fluorescence per cell measurements showed only a 1.07-fold mean difference between plate reader and flow cytometry data

The fifteenth data release of the Sloan Digital Sky Surveys : first release of MaNGA derived quantities, data visualization tools and stellar library

Twenty years have passed since first light for the Sloan Digital SkySurvey (SDSS). Here, we release data taken by the fourth phase of SDSS(SDSS-IV) across its first three years of operation (July 2014-July2017). This is the third data release for SDSS-IV, and the fifteenth from SDSS (Data Release Fifteen; DR15). New data come from MaNGA - we release 4824 datacubes, as well as the first stellar spectra in the MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar), the first set of survey-supported analysis products (e.g. stellar and gas kinematics, emission line, andother maps) from the MaNGA Data Analysis Pipeline (DAP), and a new data visualisation and access tool we call "Marvin". The next data release, DR16, will include new data from both APOGEE-2 and eBOSS; those surveys release no new data here, but we document updates and corrections to their data processing pipelines. The release is cumulative; it also includes the most recent reductions and calibrations of all data taken by SDSS since first light. In this paper we describe the location and format of the data and tools and cite technical references describing how it was obtained and processed. The SDSS website (www.sdss.org) has also been updated, providing links to data downloads, tutorials and examples of data use. While SDSS-IV will continue to collect astronomical data until 2020, and will be followed by SDSS-V(2020-2025), we end this paper by describing plans to ensure the sustainability of the SDSS data archive for many years beyond the collection of data.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Rendu D4.4-1 de Wiser : Bilan des indicateurs poissons pour l'évaluation de la qualité écologique des eaux de transition

[Departement_IRSTEA]Eaux [TR1_IRSTEA]QUASAREEstuaries (areas where rivers meet with the sea) and other coastal areas have been under the damaging influence of human habitation since historical times. Human alteration to once pristine habitats for wildlife has resulted in symptoms of degradation including alteration of watercourses, water quality problems and loss of aquatic fauna such as fish. It is important that these habitats and wildlife are protected from further damage, and that damaged areas are restored through effective management plans. One way to assess habitat conservation status is to analyse a sample of fish living in an estuary. The presence of any fish species indicates that the basic ecological requirements (food, shelter and reproduction) and a minimum water quality or habitat availability are being met. Likewise, finding species with stricter habitat requirements indicates better conservation status and hence less disturbed conditions for that area. Researchers worldwide have used this basic principle to define habitat integrity in monitoring programs. This work reviews sixteen published fish-based indices of estuarine habitat integrity and summarises common development strategies with the aim of improving fish-based monitoring tools in Europe. Most indices are computed from a number of independent fish diversity measures, presence-absence of key species and composition of functional guilds (i.e. group of fish that rely on the same quality attribute). All index developers invest a large amount of effort on the formulation of the reference values, that is the quality or conservation value given to pristine, undisturbed, condition or reference status. Comparatively less effort is invested in the evaluation of the relevance and precision of the assessment. Only half of the indices reviewed attempt any validation and these are limited to simple comparisons between fish-based quality measures and human disturbance level. As yet, there are no fish-based quality measures applicable to all areas in Europe -also known as common metrics. Widening of the geographical relevance will require better precision in the formulation of reference conditions and greater inclusion of functional guild metrics. Improvements are therefore needed in linking human disturbance (or pressure) intensity to new European-wide fish indices and to improve the confidence and robustness of fish-based environmental quality assessment

A dataset of the effects of therapeutic exercise programs on physical function in patients undergoing hemodialysis

The dataset presented in this article belongs to a randomized controlled trial, conducted between November 2015 and May 2016, where therapeutic exercise interventions were implemented in patients with End-Stage Renal Diseases undergoing hemodialysis. The intervention was carried out at the Hospital de Manises, in Manises (Spain). Participants performed a 16-week exercise program either during dialysis (intradialytic) or at home, combining resistance and aerobic training. Tests were assessed prior to the dialysis session, and include several dimensions of the patient's functional status, such as functional capacity, physical performance, balance, lower limb strength and endurance, and handgrip strength. Data was collected prior to and after the implementation of an intervention. The dataset contains the raw data obtained in this data collection. The analysis consisted in the improvement of these outcomes when a therapeutic exercise intervention is implemented. Further analysis could potentially include the stratification of the sample in several subgroups according to demographic characteristics of the participants, according to levels of compliance to the intervention and according to even more specific changes within the tests performed. For instance, the improvement of the overall assessment of the Short Performance Physical Battery Test might differ from the improvement of any of the components that build this “battery” of tests, such as gait speed, balance, or the Sit-to stand-to sit 5 tests