Strabismus decompensation as a possible neurological manifestation of COVID-19: A case report

A 27-year-old female presents to the emergency room with acute onset horizontal binocular diplopia and a history of COVID-19 infection two weeks prior. She has a history of longstanding intermittent right esotropia. Before her COVID-19 infection she only had diplopia after extended reading and typically sees clearly. After the infection, she has constant double vision which started acutely and worsened over several hours. Her only other symptom at the time was increased fatigue. During examination of eye tracking, there was a left esotropia when looking left and a right esotropia when looking right. She was discharged with a Medrol Dosepak for 6th nerve palsy with follow up as needed. Around 3 weeks later, she presented to the optometrist with horizontal diplopia. Diplopia has been stable and constant since her visit to the emergency department 3 weeks prior. On physical examination, an alternating esotropia greater than 45 prism diopters in primary gaze was found with the cover-uncover test. She was diagnosed with alternating esotropia after decompensation of an intermittent esotropia in the right eye. Three weeks later during follow up, she reports a gradual and small improvement of the diplopia in her near vision with little to no improvement of the diplopia for her distance vision. Conclusion and significance: COVID-19 has neurotropic effects which can result in decompensation for patients with strabismus. Understanding the neurological manifestations of the disease may help in the recognition and diagnosis while promoting the need for targeted therapeutics. This is the first reported case we are aware of with decompensated strabismus due to COVID-19

Does Meeting Expectations of Relative Income Improve Well-Being?

In recent years economists began studying subjective well-being thoroughly, and often find a certain set of variables affect subjective well-being. Relative income is one variable which is regularly found to strongly influence subjective well-being in many different settings around the world. This study investigates whether or not meeting one’s expectations for relative income change affects subjective well-being by taking advantage of individual level panel survey data from South Africa. A fixed effects model is used to eliminate unobservable fixed effects and estimate the effect of moving from the ‘met expectations’ category in time period one, to ‘below expectations’ or ‘above expectations’ in time period two. Falling below expectations significantly reduces subjective well-being in comparison to meeting expectations. Exceeding expectations improves subjective well-being compared to meeting expectations. Meeting our relative income expectations is nearly as important as being healthy, and exceeding those expectations almost doubles the benefit

Evaluating State Anxiety Levels in Nursing Students

Anxiety, dependent upon the frequency and severity, can be a serious problem that reduces physical, cognitive, and clinical performance. Nursing students have been found to experience especially high levels of state and trait anxiety which, according to Dorothea Orem’s self-care deficit theory, causes a deficit in health promotion and the health of oneself. There is little evidence available about how progression through a baccalaureate nursing program in the United States impacts anxiety. This research investigates anxiety in baccalaureate nursing students and how progression through the program influences self-reported anxiety levels. A descriptive cross-sectional study was performed on a convenience sample at a Midwestern public university in the United States via an online survey, which included both demographic questions and the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale (GAD-7). It was determined statistically significant that sophomore students have a higher level of anxiety compared to junior and senior year nursing students. There is also a positive correlation between GPA and GAD-7 scores. Education for sophomore nursing students focused on improved familiarity with the program is discussed as a possible solution for high anxiety levels in this cohort

Gingival Crevicular Flow (Volume) as a Biomarker of Orthodontic Tooth Movement

Tooth movement is caused by the application of force. In short, applied force strains structures present in the PDL space – cells, ligaments, blood vessels. Cells in the PDL are damaged by extension and by diminished oxygen supply due to compression of blood vessels. Compounds released from damaged or dead cells trigger an innate inflammatory response. One of the biomarkers of that response is increased formation of extracellular fluid (edema), specifically gingival crevicular fluid (GCF). Our goal is to monitor changes of GCF flow during the orthodontic treatment with Invisalign

Integrating population biology into conservation management for endangered Nassau grouper Epinephelus striatus

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Groupers are a phylogenetically diverse group and include many ecologically and economically valuable predatory marine fishes that have experienced drastic population declines. Reproduction via spawning aggregations increases the vulnerability of grouper species such as Nassau grouper Epinephelus striatus to overfishing, and this is likely to be a major contributing factor to population declines. However, the lack of information pertaining to population structure and dynamics of Nassau grouper spawning aggregations has impeded effective ecosystem-based fisheries management for remaining stocks. Worldwide, The Bahamas has the largest number of known Nassau grouper spawning aggregations, yet very little is known about the overall status of groupers in the region. Landings of Nassau grouper in The Bahamas have declined by 86% in the last 20 years from a peak of 514 t in 1997. Available data suggest that existing management measures are failing in their attempts to prevent further declines. Effective management strategies are urgently needed that balance ecological and socioeconomic considerations to enable a sustainable Nassau grouper fishery. This review provides an analysis of the reproductive and population biology of Nassau grouper and a suggested framework to direct future research efforts for enhancing conservation management of this endangered marine fish species.Financial support was provided to K.D.S. from the Shirley Oakes Butler (Overseas) and (Bahamian) Charitable Trust via the Lyford Cay Foundation and the East Nassau Rotary Club Foundation and to C.P.D. by the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation and a grant to the Perry Institute for Marine Science by the Disney Conservation Fund’s Reverse The Decline Program

There’s Never Enough: A Taxonomy of Online Retail Scarcity Cues

E-commerce continues to change the landscape of modern retail. Consider for instance that the majority of consumers (81%) now begin the decision making process with online searches (Morrison, 2014). Not only are more people researching products online, but consumers are increasingly purchasing those products online as well. This past November, the United States experienced its biggest online shopping day in history (Peterson, 2017). A record $6.59 billion was spent shopping online during Cyber Monday, a figure that is up 17% from 2016 (Rubin, 2017). Of course, perceived scarcity fuels the thrill of the hunt contributing to these enormous expenditures. A number of different scarcity cues are regularly used online that may influence a consumer’s shopping experience. It is well established that scarcity increases consumers’ preference for desired products (Verhallen, 1982). Essentially, the more challenging it is to acquire a product, the more valuable it is perceived to be (Lynn, 1992). While scarcity has been well-explored in the context of brickand-mortar retailers (e.g., Parker and Lehmann, 2011; Aggarwal, Jun, and Huh, 2011; Gierl and Huettl, 2010) there are still considerable gaps to explore within the online environment. Strategies applied to traditional retail may not translate to the online environment. For example, Wu and Lee (2016) argue that specific attention be paid to scarcity in the online environment since technological advancements provide online retailers with unique challenges and opportunities over their brick-and-mortar counterparts. How does scarcity translate to the online environment? The research presented aims to understand how scarcity cues are used online. Specifically, this research investigates a sample of major online retailers in the United States to create a taxonomy of scarcity cues that influence online purchase. Our findings suggest that online retail scarcity can be categorized into three types—product-related cues (indicates a perceived limited quantity available), social cues (indicates that other consumers desire this product), and temporal cues (indicates a temporal limit on availability). Based on these findings, scarcity is a larger concept than has been previously conceptualized in the literature. E-retailers have more flexibility and greater freedom to communicate scarcity online and consumers may respond to different depictions of scarcity cues

Integrating population biology into conservation management for endangered Nassau grouper Epinephelus striatus

This is the final version of the article. Available from the publisher via the DOI in this record.Groupers are a phylogenetically diverse group and include many ecologically and economically valuable predatory marine fishes that have experienced drastic population declines. Reproduction via spawning aggregations increases the vulnerability of grouper species such as Nassau grouper Epinephelus striatus to overfishing, and this is likely to be a major contributing factor to population declines. However, the lack of information pertaining to population structure and dynamics of Nassau grouper spawning aggregations has impeded effective ecosystem-based fisheries management for remaining stocks. Worldwide, The Bahamas has the largest number of known Nassau grouper spawning aggregations, yet very little is known about the overall status of groupers in the region. Landings of Nassau grouper in The Bahamas have declined by 86% in the last 20 years from a peak of 514 t in 1997. Available data suggest that existing management measures are failing in their attempts to prevent further declines. Effective management strategies are urgently needed that balance ecological and socioeconomic considerations to enable a sustainable Nassau grouper fishery. This review provides an analysis of the reproductive and population biology of Nassau grouper and a suggested framework to direct future research efforts for enhancing conservation management of this endangered marine fish species.Financial support was provided to K.D.S. from the Shirley Oakes Butler (Overseas) and (Bahamian) Charitable Trust via the Lyford Cay Foundation and the East Nassau Rotary Club Foundation and to C.P.D. by the Atlantis Blue Project Foundation and a grant to the Perry Institute for Marine Science by the Disney Conservation Fund’s Reverse The Decline Program

Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Keyword Management Process and Lifecycle

The Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) keywords are a hierarchical set of controlled vocabulary covering the Earth science disciplines that have been evolving for over 25 years. The process for how these keywords have been curated and reviewed has also evolved. This presentation will convey the process for reviewing and approving the GCMD keywords, including fast track and yearly reviews through the ESDIS Standards Office, and how Earth science users can influence keyword additions and modifications. The presentation will also highlight how keywords facilitate the discovery of EOSDIS data and services and how other organizations are using the GCMD keywords

Evolving UMM-S to Better Accommodate NASA EOSDIS Web User Interfaces and Downloadable Tools for Data Use

EOSDIS has a services metadata model that is growing too complex and trying to serve multiple use cases. A potential solution being explored is to break out the model for front-end and back-end use cases. This talk will discuss how best to accommodate web user interfaces and downloadable tools in NASA's Common Metadata Repository (CMR) and how to model this information for improved discovery centered around the user experience (UI/UX) approach. The challenges and strategy for addressing the evolution of the model will be discussed along with a proposed path forward for implementation