Influence of contact lens care solutions on the water content of hydrogel and silicone-hydrogel contact lenses

Purpose The aim of this work was to study variations in water content (WC) of hydrogel and silicone-hydrogel contact lenses (CL) when preserved in different lens care systems. Material and Method Four silicone-hydrogel CL (Senofilcon A, Balafilcon A, Comfilcon A, Lotrafilcon B) and one conventional CL (Etafilcon A) and commercially available lens care solutions (Renu Multiplus™ and Biotrue (Bausch & Lomb), Optifree Puremoist and Aosept® Plus (CIBA Vision) were used. Lenses were immersed in each lens care system during 12 hours and then RI was determined with the digital automated refractometer (CLR 12-70, Index Instruments, 174 Cambridge, UK). Water content was directly obtained with this instrument using RI values and the equation given in BSO ISO 10339:1997. Measurements were performed before and after the lenses have been immersed in each care solution. Two CL of each combination (CL + solution) were tested, and five measurements per lens were obtained. Results The mean values of WC (in %) obtained for each lens material when CL were removed from their blisters (baseline value) was for: Etafilcon A (55.75 ± 0.52); Comfilcon A (45.84 ± 0.28); Senofilcon A (37.01 ± 0.98), Lotrafilcon B (25.53 ± 0.42) and Balafilcon A (34.61 ± 1.03). Substantial changes and statistically significant were observed on these parameters when exposed to lens care systems depending on the CL material and the solution. Senofilcon A decreased the WC with all the solutions contrary of lotrafilcon B where it was observed an increase in WC with all the solutions. Comfilcon A remained approximately with the same values of WC. Balafilcon A and Etafilcon A showed an irregular behavior increasing or decreasing depending on the solution. Conclusions The present study reveals that solutions induce changes in the CL properties studied showing the existence of interactions between CL material and lens care solution. These interactions can be essential when eye care practitioners choose the most appropriate lens care product for CL, especially when the patient present symptoms of discomfort or dryness.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

E-Hospital Management & Hospital Information System – Use of IOT

To operate successfully and efficiently, a healthcare institution needs high-quality data and information management. To say that many companies, organizations, or government agencies are critically dependent on the use of database systems for their success, especially in hospitals, would be an understatement. This work aims to develop an improved hospital information management system using an activity-based approach. This study presents an effective hospital information management system that can be used to handle patient information and its administration. This aims to solve the issues that the current hospital information system has with inappropriate data retention, erroneous reports, and time wastage when storing, processing, and retrieving information to increase the overall effectiveness of the medical facility. Express.JS, Mongo DB, React.JS, and Node.JS were used to create the system. The technology offers a crucial storage and retrieval platform for information in hospitals. Many tests have been carried on, and they are attached and discussed in the document

Elasto-Plastic Behavior of Aluminum Foams Subjected to Compression Loading

The non-linear behavior of uniform-size cellular foams made of aluminum is investigated when subjected to compressive loads while comparing numerical results obtained in the Finite Element Method software (FEM) ANSYS workbench and ANSYS Mechanical APDL (ANSYS Parametric Design Language). The numerical model is built on AUTODESK INVENTOR, being imported into ANSYS and solved by the Newton – Raphson iterative method. The most similar conditions were used in ANSYS mechanical and ANSYS workbench, as possible. The obtained numerical results and the differences between the two programs are presented and discussed.Досліджено нелінійну поведінку однорідних кліткоподібних пін, зроблених з алюмінію і підданих стиску. Порівнено числові результати, одержані двома програмними пакетами: Finite Element Method software (FEM) ANSYS workbench і ANSYS Mechanical APDL (ANSYS Parametric Design Language). Числову модель побудовано в AUTODESK INVENTOR і надалі її імпортовано в ANSYS і розв'язано за допомогою методу Ньютона - Рафсона. Використано якомога ближчі умови у вказаних пакетах. Представлено і прокоментовано одержані числові результати і спостережені відмінності між двома пакетами

Topological Quantum Codes On Compact Surfaces With Genus G≥2

In this paper we propose a construction procedure of a class of topological quantum error-correcting codes on surfaces with genus g2. This generalizes the toric codes construction. We also tabulate all possible surface codes with genus 2-5. In particular, this construction reproduces the class of codes obtained when considering the embedding of complete graphs Ks, for s1 mod 4, on surfaces with appropriate genus. We also show a table comparing the rate of different codes when fixing the distance to 3-5. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.502Shor, P.W., , p. 124. , Proceedings of the 35th Annual Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (unpublished),Shor, P.W., (1995) Phys. Rev. A, 52, p. 2493. , 1050-2947 10.1103/PhysRevA.52.R2493Calderbank, A.R., Shor, P.W., (1996) Phys. Rev. A, 54, p. 1098. , 1050-2947 10.1103/PhysRevA.54.1098Steane, A.M., (1996) Phys. Rev. Lett., 77, p. 793. , 0031-9007 10.1103/PhysRevLett.77.793Gottesman, D., (1996) Phys. Rev. A, 54, p. 1862. , 1050-2947 10.1103/PhysRevA.54.1862Kitaev, A.Yu., (2003) Ann. Phys., 303, p. 2. , 0003-3804 10.1016/S0003-4916(02)00018-0Freedman, M.H., Meyer, D.A., (1998), www.arXiv.org/quant-ph/9810055Dennis, E., Kitaev, A., Landahl, A., Preskill, J., (2002) J. Math. Phys., 43, p. 4452. , 0022-2488 10.1063/1.1499754Bombin, H., Martin-Delgado, M.A., (2007) J. Math. Phys., 48, p. 052105. , 0022-2488 10.1063/1.2731356Cavalcante, R.G., Lazari, H., Lima, J.D., Palazzo Jr., R., (2005) Discrete Mathematics and Theoretical Computer Science, 68, pp. 145-177. , in, DIMACS Series, edited by A. Ashikhimin and A. Barg (American Mathematical Society, Providence), VolSilva, E.B., Firer, M., Costa, S.R., Palazzo Jr., R., (2006) J. Franklin Inst., 343, p. 69. , 0016-0032 10.1016/j.jfranklin.2005.09.001De Albuquerque, C.D., Palazzo Jr., R., Da Silva, E.B., (2008), pp. 391-395. , Proceedings of the Information Theory Workshop, Porto, Portugal, May (unpublished)Gottesman, D., (1997), www.arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/9705052Nilsen, M.A., Chuang, I.L., (2000) Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, , (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge)Katok, S., (1992) Fuchsian Groups, , (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago)Beardon, A., (1983) The Geometry of Discrete Groups, , (Springer-Verlag, New York)Stillwell, J., (2000) Geometry of Surfaces, , (Springer-Verlag, New York)Firby, P.A., Gardiner, C.F., (1991) Surface Topology, , Ellis Horwood Series in Mathematics and Its Applications (Halsted Press, New York)Edmonds, A.L., Ewing, J.H., Kulkarni, R.S., (1982) Ann. Math., 116, p. 113. , 0003-486X 10.2307/2007049Artin, E., Braun, H., (1969) Introduction to Algebraic Topology, , (Charles E. Merrill, Columbus, Ohio

Classification of protein interaction sentences via gaussian processes

The increase in the availability of protein interaction studies in textual format coupled with the demand for easier access to the key results has lead to a need for text mining solutions. In the text processing pipeline, classification is a key step for extraction of small sections of relevant text. Consequently, for the task of locating protein-protein interaction sentences, we examine the use of a classifier which has rarely been applied to text, the Gaussian processes (GPs). GPs are a non-parametric probabilistic analogue to the more popular support vector machines (SVMs). We find that GPs outperform the SVM and na\"ive Bayes classifiers on binary sentence data, whilst showing equivalent performance on abstract and multiclass sentence corpora. In addition, the lack of the margin parameter, which requires costly tuning, along with the principled multiclass extensions enabled by the probabilistic framework make GPs an appealing alternative worth of further adoption

Video-game epilepsy: a European study.

Epilepsia. 1999;40 Suppl 4:70-4. Video-game epilepsy: a European study. Kasteleijn-Nolst Trenité DG, da Silva AM, Ricci S, Binnie CD, Rubboli G, Tassinari CA, Segers JP. Stichting Epilepsie Instellingen Nederland, Heemstede, The Netherlands. [email protected] Abstract With the introduction of Nintendo video-games on a large scale, reports of children having seizures while playing suggested a possible specific, provocative factor. Although 50% of the photosensitive patients are also sensitive to a 50-Hz television, nonphotosensitive patients with a history of video-game seizures were described as well. The question arises whether this is a mere coincidence, provoked by fatigue and stress, is related to the reaction to the television screen itself, or depends on the movement and color of the pictures of this specific game. A European study was performed in four countries and five sites. All patients were selected because of a history of television, video- or computer-game seizures, with a history of sun-light-, discotheque-, or black and white pattern-evoked seizures, or were already known to be sensitive to intermittent photic stimulation. A total of 387 patients were investigated; 220 (75%) were female and 214 (55%) of those were < 18 years of age. After a routine examination, intermittent photic, pattern, and television stimulation were performed in a standardized way. The patients were investigated with Super Mario World and a standard relatively nonprovocative TV program, both on a 50- and 100-Hz television. Regardless of the distance, Super Mario World proved to be more provocative than the standard program (Wilcoxon, p < 0.05). Eighty-five percent showed epileptiform discharges evoked by intermittent photic stimulation. Forty-five percent of patients were 50-Hz television sensitive and 26% were 100-Hz television sensitive. Pattern sensitivity was found in 28% of patients. The patients, referred because of a television, video- or computer-game seizure, were significantly more sensitive to pattern and to the 50-Hz television (chi square, p < 0.001). More patients are sensitive when playing Super Mario, compared with the standard program (Wilcoxon, p = 0.001) and more sensitive with playing versus viewing (p = 0.016). Of the patients who were referred because of seizures in front of the television, or evoked by a video- or computer game, 14% proved not to be photosensitive. Although no difference in age or use of medication was found, twice as many men were found in this nonphotosensitive group. PMID: 10487177 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE

Microfluidics for controlled self-assembly of cubosome nanoparticles of tunable size

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Progress in the Preclinical Discovery and Clinical Development of Class I and Dual Class I/IV Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase (PI3K) Inhibitors

The phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks) constitute an important family of lipid kinase enzymes that control a range of cellular processes through their regulation of a network of signal transduction pathways, and have emerged as important therapeutic targets in the context of cancer, inflammation and cardiovascular diseases. Since the mid-late 1990s, considerable progress has been made in the discovery and development of small molecule ATP-competitive PI3K inhibitors, a number of which have entered early phase human trials over recent years from which key clinical results are now being disclosed. This review summarizes progress made to date, primarily on the discovery and characterization of class I and dual class I/IV subtype inhibitors, together with advances that have been made in translational and clinical research, notably in cancer

Effective cytocompatible nanovectors based on serine-derived gemini surfactants and monoolein for small interfering RNA delivery

Supplementary data to this article can be found online athttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcis.2020.09.077.Non-viral gene therapy based on gene silencing with small interfering RNA (siRNA) has attracted great interest over recent years. Among various types of cationic complexation agents, amino acid-based surfactants have been recently explored for nucleic acid delivery due to their low toxicity and high biocompatibility. Monoolein (MO), in turn, has been used as helper lipid in liposomal systems due to its ability to form inverted nonbilayer structures that enhance fusogenicity, thus contributing to higher transfection efficiency. In this work, we focused on the development of nanovectors for siRNA delivery based on three gemini amino acid-based surfactants derived from serine (12Ser)2N12, amine derivative; (12Ser)2COO12, ester derivative; and (12Ser)2CON12, amide derivative individually combined with MO as helper lipid. The inclusion of MO in the cationic surfactant system influences the morphology and size of the mixed aggregates. Furthermore, the gemini surfactant:MO systems showed the ability to efficiently complex siRNA, forming stable lipoplexes, in some cases clearly depending on the MO content, without inducing significant levels of cytotoxicity. High levels of gene silencing were achieved in comparison with a commercially available standard indicating that these gemini:MO systems are promising candidates as lipofection vectors for RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapies.The authors acknowledge Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnolo-gia (FCT) for financial support through projects UIDB/00081/2020 and UIDB/50006/2020. This work was supported by the‘‘Contrato-Programa” UIDB/04050/2020 funded by national fundsthrough the FCT I.P. Dr. Marisa Passos is gratefully acknowledged for help with the statistical analysis of cytotoxicity data. Fundingby the CCDR-N/NORTE2020/Portugal2020 through project DESign-BIOtechHealth (ref. Norte-01-0145-FEDER-000024) is also acknowledged. I. S. Oliveira and S.G. Silva also acknowledge finan-cial support from FCT through PhD grant SFRH/BD/108629/2015 and Individual Call to Scientific Employment Stimulus - CEEC Indi-vidual grant CEECIND/01932/2017, respectivelyinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio