Efficiency of current diabetic retinopathy screening recommendations in a pediatric population

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a microvascular complication that typically occurs with greater frequency as disease duration increases. Both the American Diabetes Association and the International Society for Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes make recommendations that patients be screened for retinopathy starting at age 10 and after a disease duration of greater than 2 years. Because it is important to catch DR early to prevent vision loss to the patient, sensitive screening techniques such as digital fundus photography are in important tool in this effort. The public health cost of DR complications can be effectively reduced by instituting smarter screening recommendations, not screening those who are at very low risk, and preventing vision loss by early identification and treatment of DR. In this study, patients attending a large pediatric diabetes clinic that met the screening recommendations were offered DR screening using digital fundus photography. A total of 440 patients both met screening criteria and had retinopathy screening data. Of the 440, 203 were screened in-clinic by an opthalmologist, and 236 had already been screened by an outside practitioner. 5.4% of those screened in-clinic were positive for DR, while 0.42%of those screened elsewhere were found to be DR+. Those with retinopathy had significantly longer disease duration, were older at the time of screening, had higher HbA1c, and higher triglycerides. All of the cases had measures exceeding the screening guidelines, with a minimum age at screening of 13.4 years, and a minimum diabetes duration of 6.5 years. It is unknown if the difference in prevalence between the two screening locations is due to a true difference in prevalence, or a systematic underreporting of DR in the outside-screened group, or a combination of these factors. The screening method of the 236 screened outside was not reported, and cases may have been missed in this cohort. Further study will need to be done to better quantify who would benefit most from screening, but building a risk model will require a much larger, comprehensive study. While it appears that the current screening guidelines may be revised without decreasing sensitivity, when screening is done it must be done using the most accurate methods in order to be most effective in catching DR in early stages when treatment is still effective. This study emphasizes the public health benefit to screening for diabetic retinopathy as a routine element of diabetes management. In fact, the patients who took advantage of screening offered by the clinic showed over 10 times the prevalence of those who had already received screening by an outside practice, and most of these patients would have not otherwise completed screening, even though they were within the guidelines. The benefit to state-of-the-art digital fundus photography DR screening in this at-risk cohort is clear

Analysis of cytosine methylation in genomic dna of solanum × michoacanum (+) s. tuberosum somatic hybrids

Interspecific somatic hybridization is a noteworthy breeding strategy that allows the production of novel genetic variability when crossing barriers exist between two parental species. Although the genetic consequences of somatic hybridization have been well documented, little is known on its impact at the epigenetic level. The objective of our research was to investigate the epigenetic changes, in particular DNA methylation, occurring in a population of potato somatic hybrids. The analysis of 96 Solanum × michoacanum (+) S. tuberosum somatic hybrids from five fusion combinations and their parents was carried out by methylation-sensitive amplified polymorphism (MSAP) and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) methods. Six MSAP primer combinations generated 622 unique bands, of which 295 were fully methylated. HPLC analysis showed from 15.5% to 16.9% total cytosine methylation within the parental forms. Overall, the MSAP and HPLC methods indicated an increase in DNA methylation in the somatic hybrids in comparison to their parents. Among the latter, a lower degree of DNA methylation in the wild S. × michoacanum species than S. tuberosum was found. Our findings indicated that somatic hybridization changed the level of cytosine methylation in the studied potato somatic hybrids

Morphological, genetic and molecular characteristics of barley root hair mutants

Root hairs are tubular outgrowths of specialized epidermal cells called trichoblasts. They affect anchoring plants in soil, the uptake of water and nutrients and are the sites of the interaction between plants and microorganisms. Nineteen root hair mutants of barley representing different stages of root hair development were subjected to detailed morphological and genetic analyses. Each mutant was monogenic and recessive. An allelism test revealed that nine loci were responsible for the mutated root hair phenotypes in the collection and 1–4 mutated allelic forms were identified at each locus. Genetic relationships between the genes responsible for different stages of root hair formation were established. The linkage groups of four loci rhl1, rhp1, rhi1 and rhs1, which had previously been mapped on chromosomes 7H, 1H, 6H and 5H, respectively, were enriched with new markers that flank the genes at a distance of 0.16 cM to 4.6 cM. The chromosomal position of three new genes – two that are responsible for the development of short root hairs (rhs2 and rhs3) and the gene that controls an irregular root hair pattern (rhi2) – were mapped on chromosomes 6H, 2H and 1H, respectively. A comparative analysis of the agrobotanical parameters between some mutants and their respective parental lines showed that mutations in genes responsible for root hair development had no effect on the agrobotanical performance of plants that were grown under controlled conditions. The presented mutant collection is a valuable tool for further identification of genes controlling root hair development in barley

Self-Face Processing After and Before Neurofeedback in Youth with Varying Levels of Depressive Symptoms

Faculty Advisor: Karina QuevedoThis research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

Daughters of feminists in New York-that the debate between postfeminizmem a third wave of feminism in the TV series "Sex and the City"

Przedmiotem niniejszej pracy jest analiza serialu "Seks w wielkim mieście" oraz dyskusja, czy jest on raczej postfeministyczny czy przynależy do nurtu feminizmu trzeciej fali. w pracy omówiono istotę i znaczenie kultury popularnej oraz jej związek z mediami, zajęto się także teorią serialu jako gatunku telewizyjnego. Wykorzystano tu pracę na temat mediów autorstwa między innymi: Anny Nacher, Wiesława Godzica i Briana McNaira. Przy analizie wybranych scen i odcinków serialu wykorzystano teksty teoretyczek i teoretyków feminizmu, takich jak Joanna Bator, Agnieszka Gajewska, Agnieszka Graff oraz Kazimierz Ślęczka. Konkluzja pracy jest taka, że serial "Seks w wielkim mieście" można uznać raczej za feministyczny a nie postfeministyczny, choćby dlatego, że porusza on tematy które dotychczas uznawane były za tabu: seks, antykoncepcja, homoseksualizm, nie rezygnując jednocześnie z krytyki nierówność płci.The subject of this paper is to analyze the television series "Sex and the City" and to discuss whether it is more postfeminism and belongs to the third wave of feminism. The paper discusses the nature and meaning of popular culture and its relationship with the media, dealt with the theory of the TV series as a species. Used to work here on the media by inter alia: Anna Nacher, Wiesław Godzic and Brian McNair. In the analysis of selected scenes and episodes of the series used texts theorists and feminist theorists, such as Joanna Bator, Agnieszka Gajewska, Agnieszka Graff and Kazimierz Ślęczka. The conclusion of this work is that the show "Sex and the City" can be considered rather as a feminist and not postfeminism, if only because it raises issues that previously were considered taboo: sex, contraception, homosexuality, while not giving up the critique of gender inequality

Słuchanie popularnych piosenek w języku angielskim jako strategia uczenia się słownictwa

Celem tej pracy było zademonstrowanie w jaki sposób można wykorzystać popularne piosenki do nauki słownictwa oraz zbadanie postaw uczniów wobec tego rodzaju ćwiczeń. Na wstępie omówiono różne strategie uczenia się języków obcych. Następnie, jako jedną z wymienionych strategii, zbadano rolę i wpływ muzyki na rozwój słownictwa.W drugiej części opisano badanie, które zostało przeprowadzone wśród 12 uczniów na poziomie początkującym (pre-intermediate) i 12 uczniów na poziomie średnio zaawansowanym (intermediate). Do oceny efektów zajęć wykorzystano ćwiczenia z piosenkami, test końcowy oraz ankietę dotyczącą opinii uczniów na temat ćwiczeń z piosenkami. Dane zebrane na podstawie testu wykazały, że w wyniku zajęć z piosenkami uczniowie wzbogacili swój zasób słownictwa. Z ankiety wynika, że uczniowie entuzjastycznie odnieśli się do wykorzystania zajęć z piosenkami w celu poprawy jakości nauki słownictwa. Można zatem wnioskować, że uczenie się języka obcego poprzez ćwiczenia z piosenkami może pomóc uczniom w nauce słownictwa.The objective of this thesis was to demonstrate the ways in which pop song activities can be useful for vocabulary learning and to investigate students’ attitudes towards such activities. At the outset, a variety of language learning classifications are discussed. Subsequently, as one of the vocabulary learning strategies, the role and impact of music on vocabulary development are examined to see their effectiveness.The second part describes the study which was conducted among 12 pre-intermediate and 12 intermediate students. Song activities, a posttest, and a questionnaire regarding students' opinions of song activities were used to assess the outcomes of the activities. The data collected from the test showed that students’ vocabulary improved as a consequence of song activities. The questionnaire showed that students were enthusiastic about employing song activities to improve their vocabulary learning. Therefore, it can be inferred that learning a foreign language through pop song activities can help pupils in learning vocabulary

Virus Elimination from In Vitro Potato Plants

The routine and the most effective method of viruses elimination from potato plants is in vitro culture of apical shoots combined with thermo- and/or chemotherapy. At times electrotherapy or cryotherapy is also applied. Elimination of potato viruses by thermotherapy required treatment of infected plants with high temperature (35°C - 45°C) for about two weeks. Thermotherapy is useful for elimination of PLRV and PVY from potato plants. In chemotherapy antimetabolite, like ribavirin is used. Chemotherapy is dedicated for elimination of PVM, PVS and PVX. Very often the successful virus elimination require a few cycles of thermo- and/ or chemotherapy

Cryopreservation of Shoot Tips and Pollen of Potato

Cryopreservation is a frequently used method of long-term storage of potato meristems and pollen in liquid nitrogen (LN) in temperature of -196°C. This technique allows for theoretically unlimited storage of potato material. The most popular method of potato shoot tips preservation is cryopreservation by the solidification of liquids without crystallization (vitrification).The best method of pollen conservation is its direct immersion in LN. The successful regeneration after vitrification is genotype-dependent, which require optimization of protocol