Normative Findings for Periocular Anthropometric Measurements among Chinese Young Adults in Hong Kong

Measurement of periocular structures is of value in several clinical specialties including ophthalmology, optometry, medical and clinical genetics, oculoplastic surgery, and traumatology. Therefore we aimed to determine the periocular anthropometric norms for Chinese young adults using a noninvasive 3D stereophotography system. Craniofacial images using the 3dMDface system were acquired for 103 Chinese subjects (51 males and 52 females) between the ages of 18 and 35 years. Anthropometric landmarks were identified on these digital images according to standard definitions, and linear distances between these landmarks were calculated. It was found that ocular measurements were significantly larger in Chinese males than females for intercanthal width, biocular width, and eye fissure lengths. No gender differences were found in the eye fissure height and the canthal index which ranged between 43 and 44. Both right and left eye fissure height-length ratios were significantly larger in females. This is the first study to employ 3D stereophotogrammetry to create a database of anthropometric normative data for periocular measurements. These data would be useful for clinical interpretation of periocular pathology and serve as reference values when planning aesthetic and posttraumatic surgical interventions

Transdisciplinary transformative change: an analysis of some best practices and barriers, and the potential of critical social science in getting us there

Biodiversity experts now widely acknowledge that transformative change is best supported through transdisciplinary collaborations. Yet, such collaborations rarely successfully occur in major biodiversity research institutions and those that do rarely achieve the paradigmatic effects they aim to deliver. To gain some insight into this global phenomenon, we surveyed Swiss-based researchers and non-academic stakeholders addressing global change and biodiversity. In this article, we connect our findings to global patterns in transdisciplinary transformative change initiatives (TTCIs) and heuristically divide collaboration barriers into two categories: lack of resources and lack of vital functional elements. Two of the major themes that emerged from this research were the continued difficulties with (1) establishing a common ‘language’, understanding, and goals, and (2) meaningful pluralization of knowledge in transdisciplinary collaborations aimed at addressing global change and biodiversity loss. The former is widely cited in the literature as contributing to the failure of TTCIs in the form of incoherent problem-framing, while the latter is often identified as contributing to the lack of structural transformative change (e.g., paradigmatic shifts) in completed initiatives. Another major theme reflected in TTCI literature was limited time. Moreover, based on our own extensive inter- and transdisciplinary experience, we agree with other experts that there is a persistent lack of understanding of the potential contributions of critical social science (CSS) to TTCIs. We thus argue that enhancing resource availability for TTCIs, especially tools for improving CSS literacy, could save time and support both problem-framing alignment and delivery of the structural/paradigmatic changes we aspire to

Determining remote sensing spatial resolution requirements for the monitoring of harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have become a major health and environmental concern in the Great Lakes. In 2014, severe HABs prompted the State of Ohio to request NASA Glenn Research Center (GRC) to assist with monitoring algal blooms in Lake Erie. The most notable species of HAB is Microcystis aeruginosa, a hepatotoxin producing cyanobacteria that is responsible for liver complications for humans and other fauna that come in contact with these blooms. NASA GRC conducts semiweekly flights in order to gather up-to-date imagery regarding the blooms\u27 spatial extents and concentrations. Airborne hyperspectral imagery is collected using two hyperspectral imagers, HSI-2 and HSI-3. Hyperspectral imagery is necessary in order to conduct experiments on differentiation of algal bloom types based on their spectral reflectance. In this analysis, imagery from September 19, 2016 was utilized to study the subpixel variability within the footprint of arbitrary sized pixels using several analysis techniques. This particular data set is utilized because it represents a worst case scenario where there is significant potential for public health concern due to high concentrations of microcystin toxin found in the water on this day and the concurrent observational challenges to accurately measure the algal bloom concentration variability with a remote sensing system due to the blooms high spatial variability. It has been determined that the optimal spatial resolution to monitor algal blooms in the Great Lakes is at most 50 m, and for much lower error 25 m, thus allowing for greater ease in identifying high concentration blooms near the surface. This resolution provides the best sensitivity to high concentration areas that are of significant importance in regard to human health and ecological damage

Conservation practice could benefit from routine testing and publication of management outcomes

Effective conservation requires a step change in the way practitioners can contribute to science and can have access to research outputs. The journal Conservation Evidence was established in 2004 to help practitioners surmount several obstacles they face when attempting to document the effects of their conservation actions scientifically. It is easily and freely accessible online. It is free to publish in and it enables global communication of the effects of practical trials and experiments, which are virtually impossible to get published in most scientific journals. The driving force behind Conservation Evidence is the need to generate and share scientific information about the effects of interventions

The Uncertainty Principle in the Presence of Quantum Memory

The uncertainty principle, originally formulated by Heisenberg, dramatically illustrates the difference between classical and quantum mechanics. The principle bounds the uncertainties about the outcomes of two incompatible measurements, such as position and momentum, on a particle. It implies that one cannot predict the outcomes for both possible choices of measurement to arbitrary precision, even if information about the preparation of the particle is available in a classical memory. However, if the particle is prepared entangled with a quantum memory, a device which is likely to soon be available, it is possible to predict the outcomes for both measurement choices precisely. In this work we strengthen the uncertainty principle to incorporate this case, providing a lower bound on the uncertainties which depends on the amount of entanglement between the particle and the quantum memory. We detail the application of our result to witnessing entanglement and to quantum key distribution.Comment: 5 pages plus 12 of supplementary information. Updated to match the journal versio

Constraining Pulsar Magnetosphere Geometry with Gamma-Ray Light Curves

We demonstrate a method for quantitatively comparing gamma-ray pulsar light curves with magnetosphere beaming models. With the Fermi LAT providing many pulsar discoveries and high quality pulsar light curves for the brighter objects, such comparison allows greatly improved constraints on the emission zone geometry and the magnetospheric physics. Here we apply the method to Fermi LAT light curves of a set of bright pulsars known since EGRET or before. We test three approximate models for the magnetosphere structure and two popular schemes for the location of the emission zone, the Two Pole Caustic (TPC) model and the Outer Gap (OG) model. We find that OG models and relatively physical B fields approximating force-free dipole magnetospheres are preferred at high statistical significance. An application to the full LAT pulsar sample will allow us to follow the emission zone's evolution with pulsar spindown.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures. To appear in the Astrophysical Journal, Vol 71

Analysis of Systemic Inflammatory Factors and Survival Outcomes in Endometrial Cancer Patients Staged I-III FIGO and treated with Postoperative External Radiotherapy

Background: The causal link between elevated systemic inflammation biomarkers and poor survival has been demonstrated in cancer patients. However, the evidence for this correlation in endometrial cancer (EC) is too weak to influence current criteria of risk assessment. Here, we examined the role of inflammatory indicators as a tool to identify EC patients at higher risk of death in a retrospective observational study. Methods: A total of 155 patients surgically diagnosed with EC stage I-III FIGO 2009 and treated with postoperative External Beam Radiotherapy (EBRT) brachytherapy and chemotherapy according to ESMO-ESTRO-ESGO recommendation for patients at high risk of recurrence at the Gustave Roussy Institut, France, and Hospital Clínic, Spain, between 2008 and 2017 were evaluated. The impact of pre-treatment Neutrophil-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (NLR 2.2), Monocyte-to-Lymphocyte Ratio (MLR 0.18), Systemic Immune-Inflammatory Index (SII 1100) and lymphopenia (<1.0 109/L) on overall survival (OS), cancer-specific survival and progression-free survival was evaluated. Subsequently, a cohort of 142 patients within high-advanced risk groups according to ESMO-ESGO-ESTRO classification was evaluated. Results: On univariate analysis, NLR (HR = 2.2, IC 95% 1.1-4.7), SII (HR = 2.2, IC 95% 1.1-4.6), MLR (HR = 5.0, IC 95% 1.1-20.8) and lymphopenia (HR = 3.8, IC 95% 1.6-9.0) were associated with decreased OS. On multivariate analysis, NLR, MLR, SII and lymphopenia proved to be independent unfavorable prognostic factors. Conclusions: lymphopenia and lymphocytes-related ratio are associated with poorer outcome in surgically staged I-III FIGO EC patients classified as high risk and treated with adjuvant EBRT and could be considered at cancer diagnosis. External validation in an independent cohort is required before implementation for patients' stratification

MOPED: Model Organism Protein Expression Database

Large numbers of mass spectrometry proteomics studies are being conducted to understand all types of biological processes. The size and complexity of proteomics data hinders efforts to easily share, integrate, query and compare the studies. The Model Organism Protein Expression Database (MOPED, htttp://moped.proteinspire.org) is a new and expanding proteomics resource that enables rapid browsing of protein expression information from publicly available studies on humans and model organisms. MOPED is designed to simplify the comparison and sharing of proteomics data for the greater research community. MOPED uniquely provides protein level expression data, meta-analysis capabilities and quantitative data from standardized analysis. Data can be queried for specific proteins, browsed based on organism, tissue, localization and condition and sorted by false discovery rate and expression. MOPED empowers users to visualize their own expression data and compare it with existing studies. Further, MOPED links to various protein and pathway databases, including GeneCards, Entrez, UniProt, KEGG and Reactome. The current version of MOPED contains over 43 000 proteins with at least one spectral match and more than 11 million high certainty spectra

Induced pseudoscalar coupling of the proton weak interaction

The induced pseudoscalar coupling $g_p$ is the least well known of the weak coupling constants of the proton's charged--current interaction. Its size is dictated by chiral symmetry arguments, and its measurement represents an important test of quantum chromodynamics at low energies. During the past decade a large body of new data relevant to the coupling $g_p$ has been accumulated. This data includes measurements of radiative and non radiative muon capture on targets ranging from hydrogen and few--nucleon systems to complex nuclei. Herein the authors review the theoretical underpinnings of $g_p$, the experimental studies of $g_p$, and the procedures and uncertainties in extracting the coupling from data. Current puzzles are highlighted and future opportunities are discussed.Comment: 58 pages, Latex, Revtex4, prepared for Reviews of Modern Physic