Quantifying interactions between accommodation and vergence in a binocularly normal population

AbstractStimulation of the accommodation system results in a response in the vergence system via accommodative vergence cross-link interactions, and stimulation of the vergence system results in an accommodation response via vergence accommodation cross-link interactions. Cross-link interactions are necessary in order to ensure simultaneous responses in the accommodation and vergence systems. The crosslink interactions are represented most comprehensively by the response AC/A (accommodative vergence) and CA/C (vergence accommodation) ratios, although the stimulus AC/A ratio is measured clinically, and the stimulus CA/C ratio is seldom measured in clinical practice. The present study aims to quantify both stimulus and response AC/A and CA/C ratios in a binocularly normal population, and determine the relationship between them. 25 Subjects (mean±SD age 21.0±1.9years) were recruited from the university population. A significant linear relationship was found between the stimulus and response ratios, for both AC/A (r2=0.96, p<0.001) and CA/C ratios (r2=0.40, p<0.05). Good agreement was found between the stimulus and response AC/A ratios (95% CI −0.06 to 0.24MA/D). Stimulus and response CA/C ratios are linearly related. Stimulus CA/C ratios were higher than response ratios at low values, and lower than response ratios at high values (95% CI −0.46 to 0.42D/MA). Agreement between stimulus and response CA/C ratios is poorer than that found for AC/A ratios due to increased variability in vergence responses when viewing the Gaussian blurred target. This study has shown that more work is needed to refine the methodology of CA/C ratio measurement

A four-equation two-phase flow model for sodium boiling simulation of LMFBR fuel assemblies

A three-dimensional numerical model for the simulation of sodium boiling transients has been developed. The model uses mixture mass and energy equations, while employing a separate momentum equation for each phase. Thermal equilibrium on the saturation line between coexisting phases is assumed.The four governing equations are supplemented by a number of constitutive relations, addressing the interphase and intraphase exchanges, as well as the fluid-solid interactions. It should be noted that this four-equation two-phase flow model requires only one interfacial relation, i.e., the momentum exchange, compared to the six-equation model which needs two additional relations, describing the mass and energy exchanges. Consequently, the relatively high degree of uncertainty currently associated with the interfacial exchange phenomena is considerably reduced.From a numerical point of view, the basic approach in this work is a semi-implicit method, in which pressure pulse propagation and local effects characterized by short characteristic times are treated implicitly, while convective transport and diffusion heat transfer phenomena, associated with longer time constants, are handled explicitly. The method remains tractable and efficient in multidimensional applications.Simulation of a number of experiments has yielded very encouraging results. The numerical method and the constitutive relations have performed well, especially so in light of the extreme severity of the conditions involving sodium boiling

Sexual violence as a public health issue: the importance of searching for the aggressor

Apesar de predominar junto à população a idéia de que a violência sexual é praticada por pessoas desconhecidas, na realidade a maioria desses crimes é praticada por pessoa identificável pela vítima. Além de conseqüências físicas e psicológicas, também há risco em adquirir o vírus HIV. Para prevenção deste, em situação de risco, há orientação para uso da quimioprofilaxia anti-retroviral. Esse uso, por 28 dias, pode trazer efeitos adversos com intensidades variáveis. O conhecimento da sorologia anti-HIV do agressor torna-se fundamental para manter, ou suspender, com segurança, essa indicação. Este estudo descritivo, realizado no Conjunto Hospitalar de Sorocaba, teve como objetivo identificar os agressores e suas respectivas sorologias. Foi realizado a partir de fichas de notificação e os prontuários no período de julho de 2003 a dezembro de 2005. Encontraram-se 920 vítimas de violência sexual, com idades entre oito meses e 77 anos, havendo predomínio do sexo feminino (86,5 por cento). Dentre os agressores, 76 por cento foram referidos como identificáveis. Indicou-se profilaxia anti-retroviral para 24,9 por cento das vítimas. Para 80 (33,2 por cento) agressores localizados, a busca foi realizada através de contato telefônico. Encontrou-se 52,5 por cento em seus domicílios, 45 por cento em Presídio/Delegacia e 2,5 por cento no Pronto Socorro. Um agressor (1,3 por cento) apresentou sorologia positiva para HIV. As buscas encerraram-se, em sua maioria, em até seis dias (80 por cento), possibilitando a suspensão da quimioprofilaxia em 30,6 por cento dos casos. Concluiu-se que a busca ao denunciado permitiu conhecer sua sorologia anti-HIV e suspender, para um terço das vítimas, o uso da quimioprofilaxia anti-retroviral, diminuindo, com isso, a possibilidade de efeitos adversosAlthough people believe that sexual violence is practiced by unknown people, most crimes are actually practiced by someone close to the victim. Besides physical and psychological consequences, there is the risk of acquiring the HIV virus. To prevent the latter, in risky situations, the advice is to use antiretroviral chemoprophylaxis during 28 days. This therapy may bring adverse effects. Knowing the aggressor's anti-HIV serology is vital to safely maintain or suspend the therapy indication. This descriptive study, carried out at Conjunto Hospitalar de Sorocaba, aimed to identify the aggressors and their serology. The study was conducted after analyzing notification index cards and charts from July 2003 to December 2005, in 30 months of active search. The researchers found 920 sexual violence victims, with ages ranging from 8 months to 77 years, most of them female (86.5%). Concerning the aggressors, 76% were referred to as identifiable. Antiretroviral prophylaxis was advised to 24.9% of the victims. For 80 (33.2%) aggressors who were found, the search was carried out through telephone calls. Regarding the places where the aggressors were located, 52.5% were found at home, 45% in a prison/police station and 2.5% in the Emergency Room. One aggressor (1.3%) presented positive HIV serology. Most searches were concluded within 6 days (80%), allowing the suspension of chemoprophylaxis in 30.6% of the cases. It was concluded that after finding the aggressors and learning about their anti-HIV serology, the use of antiretroviral chemoprophylaxis could be safely suspended in one third of the victims, therefore reducing the chances of adverse effect

Advanced information processing system for advanced launch system: Avionics architecture synthesis

The Advanced Information Processing System (AIPS) is a fault-tolerant distributed computer system architecture that was developed to meet the real time computational needs of advanced aerospace vehicles. One such vehicle is the Advanced Launch System (ALS) being developed jointly by NASA and the Department of Defense to launch heavy payloads into low earth orbit at one tenth the cost (per pound of payload) of the current launch vehicles. An avionics architecture that utilizes the AIPS hardware and software building blocks was synthesized for ALS. The AIPS for ALS architecture synthesis process starting with the ALS mission requirements and ending with an analysis of the candidate ALS avionics architecture is described

The dual nature of trehalose in citrus canker disease: A virulence factor for Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri and a trigger for plant defence responses

Xanthomonas citri subsp. citri (Xcc) is a bacterial pathogen that causes citrus canker in susceptible Citrus spp. The Xcc genome contains genes encoding enzymes from three separate pathways of trehalose biosynthesis. Expression of genes encoding trehalose-6-phosphate synthase (otsA) and trehalose phosphatase (otsB) was highly induced during canker development, suggesting that the two-step pathway of trehalose biosynthesis via trehalose-6-phosphate has a function in pathogenesis. This pathway was eliminated from the bacterium by deletion of the otsA gene. The resulting XccΔotsA mutant produced less trehalose than the wild-type strain, was less resistant to salt and oxidative stresses, and was less able to colonize plant tissues. Gene expression and proteomic analyses of infected leaves showed that infection with XccΔotsA triggered only weak defence responses in the plant compared with infection with Xcc, and had less impact on the host plant's metabolism than the wild-type strain. These results suggested that trehalose of bacterial origin, synthesized via the otsA-otsB pathway, in Xcc, plays a role in modifying the host plant's metabolism to its own advantage but is also perceived by the plant as a sign of pathogen attack. Thus, trehalose biosynthesis has both positive and negative consequences for Xcc. On the one hand, it enables this bacterial pathogen to survive in the inhospitable environment of the leaf surface before infection and exploit the host plant's resources after infection, but on the other hand, it is a tell-tale sign of the pathogen's presence that triggers the plant to defend itself against infection.Fil: Piazza, Ainelén Melanie. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Zimaro, Tamara. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Garavaglia, Betiana Soledad. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Ficarra, Florencia Andrea. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Thomas, Ludivine. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Arabia SauditaFil: Marondedze, Claudius. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Arabia SauditaFil: Feil, Regina. Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology; AlemaniaFil: Lunn, John E.. Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology; AlemaniaFil: Gehring, Chris. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology; Arabia SauditaFil: Ottado, Jorgelina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Gottig Schor, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario; Argentin

Mechanisms of robustness in gene regulatory networks involved in neural development

The functions of living organisms are affected by different kinds of perturbation, both internal and external, which in many cases have functional effects and phenotypic impact. The effects of these perturbations become particularly relevant for multicellular organisms with complex body patterns and cell type heterogeneity, where transcriptional programs controlled by gene regulatory networks determine, for example, the cell fate during embryonic development. Therefore, an essential aspect of development in these organisms is the ability to maintain the functionality of their genetic developmental programs even in the presence of genetic variation, changing environmental conditions and biochemical noise, a property commonly termed robustness. We discuss the implication of different molecular mechanisms of robustness involved in neurodevelopment, which is characterized by the interplay of many developmental programs at a molecular, cellular and systemic level. We specifically focus on processes affecting the function of gene regulatory networks, encompassing transcriptional regulatory elements and post-transcriptional processes such as miRNA-based regulation, but also higher order regulatory organization, such as gene network topology. We also present cases where impairment of robustness mechanisms can be associated with neurodevelopmental disorders, as well as reasons why understanding these mechanisms should represent an important part of the study of gene regulatory networks driving neural development

Quality of Child Health: Expanding the Scope and Flexibility of Measurement Approaches

Proposes a measurement framework to make data collection on the quality of children's health care more efficient and comprehensive. Considerations include focusing on measures with the greatest potential impact and adding new content or methods

Chromatin and alternative splicing

Alternative splicing affects more than 90% of human genes. Coupling between transcription and splicing has become crucial in the complex network underlying alternative splicing regulation. Because chromatin is the real template for nuclear transcription, changes in its structure, but also in the "reading" and "writing" of the histone code, could modulate splicing choices. Here, we discuss the evidence supporting these ideas, from the first proposal of chromatin affecting alternative splicing, performed 20 years ago, to the latest findings including genome-wide evidence that nucleosomes are preferentially positioned in exons. We focus on two recent reports from our laboratories that add new evidence to this field. The first report shows that a physiological stimulus such as neuron depolarization promotes intragenic histone acetylation (H3K9ac) and chromatin relaxation, causing the skipping of exon 18 of the neural cell adhesion molecule gene. In the second report, we show how specific histone modifications can be created at targeted gene regions as a way to affect alternative splicing: Using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), we increased the levels of H3K9me2 and H3K27me3 in the proximity of alternative exon 33 of the human fibronectin gene, favoring its inclusion into mature messenger RNA (mRNA) through a mechanism that recalls RNAmediated transcriptional gene silencing. © 2010 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.Fil:Alló, M. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:Schor, I.E. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:Muñoz, M.J. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:De La Mata, M. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina.Fil:Kornblihtt, A.R. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina

Good practice in mental health care for socially marginalised groups in Europe: a qualitative study of expert views in 14 countries

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

The bacterial hydrophobin BslA is a switchable ellipsoidal Janus nanocolloid

BslA is an amphiphilic protein that forms a highly hydrophobic coat around <i>Bacillus subtilis</i> biofilms, shielding the bacterial community from external aqueous solution. It has a unique structure featuring a distinct partition between hydrophilic and hydrophobic surfaces. This surface property is reminiscent of synthesized Janus colloids. By investigating the behavior of BslA variants at water-cyclohexane interfaces through a set of multiscale simulations informed by experimental data, we show that BslA indeed represents a biological example of an ellipsoidal Janus nanoparticle, whose surface interactions are, moreover, readily switchable. BslA contains a local conformational toggle, which controls its global affinity for, and orientation at, water–oil interfaces. This adaptability, together with single-point mutations, enables the fine-tuning of its solvent and interfacial interactions, and suggests that BslA could be a basis for biotechnological applications