Neuroprotective role of phosphoserine in primary open-angle glaucoma patients

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the neuroprotective role of phosphoserine (P-Ser) in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG) patients and to compare its therapeutic effectiveness to placebo treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Fifty-one patients (24 males and 27 females) between 35 and 61 years (average 46 years ± 3.8 SD) affected by POAG were enrolled in this study. Patients were divided in two groups: group A included 28 subjects that received an oral P-Ser treatment for 12 months; and group B included 23 subjects that received an oral placebo treatment for 12 months. Complete ophthalmological examination, standard automated perimetric examination, analysis of ON fibers via scanning laser polarimetry and glaucoma staging was performed in all patients at enrolment and 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after. Statistical analysis was performed using STATA 14.0 (Collage Station, TX, USA). RESULTS: Mean deviation (MD) and pattern standard deviation (PSD) analysis by means of 30-2 full threshold of the visual fields (VFs), retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness by means of GDx, and IOP were considered to evaluate P-Ser therapy effectiveness in both groups. A statistically significant improvement (p<0.05) in VF, RNFL thickness and IOP compared to pre-treatment was found in patients in group A. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows a significant improvement in several variables in patients with glaucoma treated with P-Ser compared to placebo and suggests a potential neuroprotective effect of P-Ser in treating glaucoma patients in association with the traditional hypotonic topical therapy

El estornino pinto en Argentina: desafíos y prioridades

El día 11 de septiembre de 2015 se desarrolló la mesa redonda “Invasión del estornino pinto (Sturnus vulgaris) en Argentina”, en el marco de la XVI Reunión Argentina de Ornitología organizada por la Sección Ornitología del Museo de La Plata (Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo, Universidad Nacional de La Plata). En esa oportunidad se informó acerca de las características de la especie, de las consecuencias de su introducción en distintos países, del estado actual de la invasión en Argentina y de los antecedentes relacionados con su control. Además, se realizó una actividad en la que los participantes propusieron medidas de acción prioritarias para el manejo de la especie a nivel local, regional y nacional. En esta contribución resumimos los aspectos más relevantes de la reunión y las conclusiones de la misma

The Impact of the Implementation of the Dutch Combined Meeting Centres Support Programme for Family Caregivers of People with Dementia in Italy, Poland and UK

Objectives: The MEETINGDEM research project aimed to implement the combined Dutch Meeting Centre Support Programme (MCSP) for community-dwelling people with dementia and caregivers within Italy, Poland and UK and to assess whether comparable benefits were found in these countries as in the Netherlands. Method: Nine pilot Meeting Centres (MCs) participated (Italy-5, Poland-2, UK-2). Effectiveness of MCSP was compared to usual care (UC) on caregiver outcomes measuring competence (SSCQ), mental health (GHQ-12), emotional distress (NPI-Q) and loneliness (UCLA) analysed by ANCOVAs in a 6-month pre-test/post-test controlled trial. Interviews using standardised measures were completed with caregivers. Results: Pre/post data were collected for 93 caregivers receiving MCSP and 74 receiving UC. No statistically significant differences on the outcome measures were found overall. At a country level MC caregivers in Italy showed significant better general mental health (p=0.04, d=0.55) and less caregiver distress (p=0.02, d=0.62) at post-test than the UC group. Caregiver satisfaction was rated on a sample at 3 months (n=81) and 6 months (n=84). The majority of caregivers reported feeling less burdened and more supported by participating in MCSP. Conclusion: The moderate positive effect on sense of competence and the greater mental health benefit for lonely caregivers using the MCSP compared to UC as found in the original Dutch studies were not replicated. However, subject to study limitations, caregivers in Italy using MCSP benefitted more regarding their mental health and emotional distress than caregivers using UC. Further evaluation of the benefits of MCSP within these countries in larger study samples is recommended

Wong–Zakai approximations for quasilinear systems of Itô’s type stochastic differential equations

We extend to the multidimensional case a Wong–Zakai-type theorem proved by Hu and Øksendal (1996) for scalar quasi-linear Itô stochastic differential equations (SDEs). More precisely, with the aim of approximating the solution of a quasilinear system of Itô’s SDEs, we consider for any finite partition of the time interval [0,T] a system of differential equations, where the multidimensional Brownian motion is replaced by its polygonal approximation and the product between diffusion coefficients and smoothed white noise is interpreted as a Wick product. We remark that in the one dimensional case this type of equations can be reduced, by means of a transformation related to the method of characteristics, to the study of a random ordinary differential equation. Here, instead, one is naturally led to the investigation of a semilinear hyperbolic system of partial differential equations that we utilize for constructing a solution of the Wong–Zakai approximated systems. We show that the law of each element of the approximating sequence solves in the sense of distribution a Fokker–Planck equation and that the sequence converges to the solution of the Itô equation, as the mesh of the partition tends to zero

A Small Time Approximation for the Solution to the Zakai Equation

We propose a novel small time approximation for the solution to the Zakai equation from nonlinear filtering theory. We prove that the unnormalized filtering density is well described over short time intervals by the solution of a deterministic partial differential equation of Kolmogorov type; the observation process appears in a pathwise manner through the degenerate component of the Kolmogorov’s type operator. The rate of convergence of the approximation is of order one in the lenght of the interval. Our approach combines ideas from Wong-Zakai-type results and Wiener chaos approximations for the solution to the Zakai equation. The proof of our main theorem relies on the well-known Feynman-Kac representation for the unnormalized filtering density and careful estimates which lead to completely explicit bounds

Effects of language on bimanual objects lifting

none3noneC. Scorolli; A.M. Borghi; A. GlenbergC. Scorolli; A.M. Borghi; A. Glenber