Intraocular pressure fluctuations in professional brass and woodwind musicians during common playing conditions.

BACKGROUND: We investigated the effects on intraocular pressure (IOP) and blood pressure (BP) of playing brass and woodwind instruments by monitoring IOP and BP in a representative group of professional musicians under a variety of common playing conditions. METHODS: IOP and BP measurements were recorded from 37 brass and 15 woodwind instrument players, before and after playing tones of low, middle and high frequency. We also measured IOP and BP before and during playing common exercises of 10 minutes duration, as well as after playing a sustained high-pitched tone, to test for changes in IOP under conditions of maximum effort. RESULTS: Playing tones on brass and woodwind instruments causes a temporary elevation in IOP and BP, depending on the tone frequency: brass instrument players showed a significant elevation after playing high and middle frequency tones (p < 0.0001) whereas woodwind instrument players showed a significant increase only for high frequencies (e.g., oboe, 17 ± 2.9 mm Hg to 21 ± 4.4 mm Hg; p = 0.017). Playing a typical exercise of 10 minutes temporarily increased IOP in both groups of musicians. Finally, playing a sustained tone of high pitch caused a significant elevation in IOP in brass instrument players only (16.6 ± 3.5 mm Hg to 23.3 ± 8.9 mm Hg; p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: The temporary and sometimes dramatic elevations and fluctuations in IOP observed in this study, coupled with daily exposure to instrument play, puts professional wind instrument players at increased risk of developing glaucoma. Consequently, these musicians should be monitored for signs of glaucoma, especially those with co-existing risk factors

Shape recognition: convexities, concavities and things in between.

Visual objects are effortlessly recognized from their outlines, largely irrespective of viewpoint. Previous studies have drawn different conclusions regarding the importance to shape recognition of specific shape features such as convexities and concavities. However, most studies employed familiar objects, or shapes without curves, and did not measure shape recognition across changes in scale and position. We present a novel set of random shapes with well-defined convexities, concavities and inflections (intermediate points), segmented to isolate each feature type. Observers matched the segmented reference shapes to one of two subsequently presented whole-contour shapes (target or distractor) that were re-scaled and re-positioned. For very short segment lengths, performance was significantly higher for convexities than for concavities or intermediate points and for convexities remained constant with increasing segment length. For concavities and intermediate points, performance improved with increasing segment length, reaching convexity performance only for long segments. No significant differences between concavities and intermediates were found. These results show for the first time that closed curvilinear shapes are encoded using the positions of convexities, rather than concavities or intermediate regions. A shape-template model with no free parameters gave an excellent account of the data

Heart rate, mortality, and the relation with clinical and subclinical cardiovascular diseases: results from the Gutenberg Health Study

BACKGROUND: Higher, but also lower resting heart rate (HR), has been associated with increased cardiovascular events and mortality. Little is known about the interplay between HR, cardiovascular risk factors, concomitant diseases, vascular (endothelial) function, neurohormonal biomarkers, and all-cause mortality in the general population. Thus, we aimed to investigate these relationships in a population-based cohort. METHODS: 15,010 individuals (aged 35-74 at enrolment in 2007-2012) from the Gutenberg Health Study were analyzed. Multivariable regression modeling was used to assess the relation between the variables and conditional density plots were generated for cardiovascular risk factors, diseases, and mortality to show their dependence on HR. RESULTS: There were 714 deaths in the total sample at 7.67 +/- 1.68 years of follow-up. The prevalence of diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, coronary and peripheral artery disease, chronic heart failure, and previous myocardial infarction exhibited a J-shaped association with HR. Mortality showed a similar relation with a nadir of 64 beats per minute (bpm) in the total sample. Each 10 bpm HR reduction in HR \u3c 64 subjects was independently associated with increased mortality (Hazard Ratio 1.36; 95% confidence interval 1.06-1.75). This increased risk was also present in HR \u3e 64 subjects (Hazard Ratio 1.29; 95% confidence interval 1.19-1.41 per 10 bpm increase in HR). Results found for vascular and neurohormonal biomarkers exhibited a differential picture in subjects with a HR below and above the nadir. DISCUSSION: These results indicate that in addition to a higher HR, a lower HR is associated with increased mortality

Modular and predictable assembly of porous organic molecular crystals

Nanoporous molecular frameworks are important in applications such as separation, storage and catalysis. Empirical rules exist for their assembly but it is still challenging to place and segregate functionality in three-dimensional porous solids in a predictable way. Indeed, recent studies of mixed crystalline frameworks suggest a preference for the statistical distribution of functionalities throughout the pores rather than, for example, the functional group localization found in the reactive sites of enzymes. This is a potential limitation for 'one-pot' chemical syntheses of porous frameworks from simple starting materials. An alternative strategy is to prepare porous solids from synthetically preorganized molecular pores. In principle, functional organic pore modules could be covalently prefabricated and then assembled to produce materials with specific properties. However, this vision of mix-and-match assembly is far from being realized, not least because of the challenge in reliably predicting three-dimensional structures for molecular crystals, which lack the strong directional bonding found in networks. Here we show that highly porous crystalline solids can be produced by mixing different organic cage modules that self-assemble by means of chiral recognition. The structures of the resulting materials can be predicted computationally, allowing in silico materials design strategies. The constituent pore modules are synthesized in high yields on gram scales in a one-step reaction. Assembly of the porous co-crystals is as simple as combining the modules in solution and removing the solvent. In some cases, the chiral recognition between modules can be exploited to produce porous organic nanoparticles. We show that the method is valid for four different cage modules and can in principle be generalized in a computationally predictable manner based on a lock-and-key assembly between modules

Proton Transfer, Hydrogen Bonding, and Disorder: Nitrogen Near-Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy of Bipyridine-Acid Salts and Co-crystals

The sensitivity of near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy to Brønsted donation and the protonation state of nitrogen in the solid state is investigated through a series of multicomponent bipyridine–acid systems alongside X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) data. A large shift to high energy occurs for the 1s → 1π* resonance in the nitrogen K-edge NEXAFS with proton transfer from the acid to the bipyridine base molecule and allows assignment as a salt (C═NH+), with the peak ratio providing the stoichiometry of the types of nitrogen species present. A corresponding binding energy shift for C═NH+ is observed in the nitrogen XPS, clearly identifying protonation and formation of a salt. The similar magnitude shifts observed with both techniques relative to the unprotonated nitrogen of co-crystals (C═N) suggest that the chemical state (initial-state) effects dominate. Results from both techniques reveal the sensitivity to identify proton transfer, hydrogen bond disorder, and even the potential to distinguish variations in hydrogen bond length to nitrogen

Abundance estimation of Ixodes ticks (Acari: Ixodidae) on roe deer (Capreolus capreolus)

Despite the importance of roe deer as a host for Ixodes ticks in central Europe, estimates of total tick burden on roe deer are not available to date. We aimed at providing (1) estimates of life stage and sex specific (larvae, nymphs, males and females, hereafter referred to as tick life stages) total Ixodes burden and (2) equations which can be used to predict the total life stage burden by counting the life stage on a selected body area. Within a period of 1½ years, we conducted whole body counts of ticks from 80 hunter-killed roe deer originating from a beech dominated forest area in central Germany. Averaged over the entire study period (winter 2007–summer 2009), the mean tick burden per roe deer was 64.5 (SE ± 10.6). Nymphs were the most numerous tick life stage per roe deer (23.9 ± 3.2), followed by females (21.4 ± 3.5), larvae (10.8 ± 4.2) and males (8.4 ± 1.5). The individual tick burden was highly aggregated (k = 0.46); levels of aggregation were highest in larvae (k = 0.08), followed by males (k = 0.40), females (k = 0.49) and nymphs (k = 0.71). To predict total life stage specific burdens based on counts on selected body parts, we provide linear equations. For estimating larvae abundance on the entire roe deer, counts can be restricted to the front legs. Tick counts restricted to the head are sufficient to estimate total nymph burden and counts on the neck are appropriate for estimating adult ticks (females and males). In order to estimate the combined tick burden, tick counts on the head can be used for extrapolation. The presented linear models are highly significant and explain 84.1, 77.3, 90.5, 91.3, and 65.3% (adjusted R2) of the observed variance, respectively. Thus, these models offer a robust basis for rapid tick abundance assessment. This can be useful for studies aiming at estimating effects of abiotic and biotic factors on tick abundance, modelling tick population dynamics, modelling tick-borne pathogen transmission dynamics or assessing the efficacy of acaricides

Retinal Vascular Occlusion after COVID-19 Vaccination : More Coincidence than Causal Relationship? Data from a Retrospective Multicentre Study

Background: To investigate whether vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 is associated with the onset of retinal vascular occlusive disease (RVOD). Methods: In this multicentre study, data from patients with central and branch retinal vein occlusion (CRVO and BRVO), central and branch retinal artery occlusion (CRAO and BRAO), and anterior ischaemic optic neuropathy (AION) were retrospectively collected during a 2-month index period (1 June–31 July 2021) according to a defined protocol. The relation to any previous vaccination was documented for the consecutive case series. Numbers of RVOD and COVID-19 vaccination were investigated in a case-by-case analysis. A case– control study using age- and sex-matched controls from the general population (study participants from the Gutenberg Health Study) and an adjusted conditional logistic regression analysis was conducted. Results: Four hundred and twenty-one subjects presenting during the index period (61 days) were enrolled: one hundred and twenty-one patients with CRVO, seventy-five with BRVO, fifty-six with CRAO, sixty-five with BRAO, and one hundred and four with AION. Three hundred and thirty-two (78.9%) patients had been vaccinated before the onset of RVOD. The vaccines given were BNT162b2/BioNTech/Pfizer (n = 221), followed by ChadOx1/AstraZeneca (n = 57), mRNA1273/Moderna (n = 21), and Ad26.COV2.S/Johnson & Johnson (n = 11; unknown n = 22). Our case–control analysis integrating population-based data from the GHS yielded no evidence of an increased risk after COVID-19 vaccination (OR = 0.93; 95% CI: 0.60–1.45, p = 0.75) in connection with a vaccination within a 4-week window. Conclusions: To date, there has been no evidence of any association between SARS-CoV-2 vaccination and a higher RVOD risk

Trapping virtual pores by crystal retro-engineering

Stable guest-free porous molecular crystals are uncommon. By contrast, organic molecular crystals with guest-occupied cavities are frequently observed, but these cavities tend to be unstable and collapse on removal of the guests—this feature has been referred to as ‘virtual porosity’. Here, we show how we have trapped the virtual porosity in an unstable low-density organic molecular crystal by introducing a second molecule that matches the size and shape of the unstable voids. We call this strategy ‘retro-engineering’ because it parallels organic retrosynthetic analysis, and it allows the metastable two-dimensional hexagonal pore structure in an organic solvate to be trapped in a binary cocrystal. Unlike the crystal with virtual porosity, the cocrystal material remains single crystalline and porous after removal of guests by heating

Cross-Sectional Associations between Homoarginine, Intermediate Phenotypes, and Atrial Fibrillation in the CommunityThe Gutenberg Health Study

Homoarginine has come into the focus of interest as a biomarker for cardiovascular disease. Atrial fibrillation (AF) causes a substantial increase in morbidity and mortality. Whether circulating homoarginine is associated with occurrence or persistence of AF and may serve as a new predictive biomarker remains unknown. We measured plasma levels of homoarginine in the population-based Gutenberg health study (3761 patients included, of them 51.7% males), mean age 55.6 +/- 10.9 years-old. Associations between homoarginine and intermediate electrocardiographic and echocardiographic phenotypes and manifest AF were examined. Patients with AF (124 patients, of them 73.4% males) had a mean age 64.8 +/- 8.6 years-old compared to a mean age of 55.3 +/- 10.9 in the population without AF (p-value < 0.001) and showed a less beneficial risk factor profile. The median homoarginine levels in individuals with and without AF were 1.9 mol/L (interquartile range (IQR) 1.5-2.5) and 2.0 mol/L (IQR 1.5-2.5), respectively, p = 0.56. In multivariable-adjusted regression analyses homoarginine was not statistically significantly related to electrocardiographic variables. Among echocardiographic variables beta per standard deviation increase was -0.12 (95% confidence interval (CI) -0.23-(-0.02);p = 0.024) for left atrial area and -0.01 (95% CI -0.02-(-0.003);p = 0.013) for E/A ratio. The odds ratio between homoarginine and AF was 0.91 (95% CI 0.70-1.16;p = 0.45). In our large, population-based cross-sectional study, we did not find statistically significant correlations between lower homoarginine levels and occurrence or persistence of AF or most standard electrocardiographic phenotypes, but some moderate inverse associations with echocardiographic left atrial size and E/A. Homoarginine may not represent a strong biomarker to identify individuals at increased risk for AF. Further investigations will be needed to elucidate the role of homoarginine and cardiac function

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