Optimized refractive surgery in keratoconus

Purpose: The aim of the study is to compare the refractive results after simultaneous TransPRK and Cross-linking procedure for treatment of keratoconus with optimized and non-optimized customized ablation profiles; to introduce the concept of optimization in keratoconus and discuss its clinical significance; to find predictive factors for better refractive outcomes in simultaneous combined procedures and to propose therapeutic algorithm.Methods: Syrius schimpflug aberrometer (Schwind) was used to create non-optimized custom and optimized custom ablation profiles in keratoconic corneas. TransPRK ablation was performed with Schwind Amaris Eximer Laser (500 Hz). Cross-linking was done with Avedro cross-linking suit. Analysis of preoperative and postoperative refraction, visual acuity, keratometric and aberometric data was done for both groups. Correlative analysis of the preoperative and postoperative variables was done with Pierson statistical analysis.Results: 44 patients (70 eyes), age 19-67, 29 eyes with optimization, 41 eyes without optimization were followed for 18 months. A positive correlation was found between CCT and the amount of postoperative flattening in patients over 40 years of age. No correlation was found with Kavg.Conclusions: Long term results after simultaneous TransPRK + Cross linking show stability and safety. Optimization of refraction brings better refractive results compared to non-optimized procedure. It can be safely performed in thinner corneas and compensates for the hypermetropic shift generated by the cross-linking procedure

Small bowel carcinoma associated with Crohn`s disease: clinical review and case report

Crohn`s disease is a chronic relapsing and remitting inflammation of the bowel involving all its layers. A small bowel adenocarcinoma in Crohn`s disease is a rare entity. The literature about this disease is reviewed. A case report of a 41-year male patient illustrates the significance of the diagnostic and therapeutic procedures

Herb Stem Cutter -Design and Research

Abstract IVANOV, D., G. KOSTADINOV, T. MITOVA and I. DIMITROV, 2006. Herb stem cutter -design and research. Bulg. J. Agric. Sci., The article presents the results of investigations on a herb stem cutting machine. Investigations were performed as a series of controlled single-factor experiments. The basic target functions of the study were as follows: drive's absorbed power of the machine (kW); specific energy consumption (kWh/t) and average cutting length (mm). The levels of controlled trial factors were as follows: machine load capacity with herb stem mass: Q = 0.5; 1 and 1.5 kg/s and feeding velocity of stem mass to the cutting drum: V = 2.0; 2.4 and 2.8 m/s. Here are the factors, maintained at stable levels: cutting drum peripheral velocity -25 m/s at rotation frequency of 1176 min -1 ; cutting drum working width -Β=0.558 mm; cutting drum diameter D=0.406 m; number of blades z=6; blade thickness b=10 mm; blade sharpening angle β=34°; inclination of blades' edges to the counteredge α=15°; front cutting angle ϕ=50°; gap between blade and counterblade edges ∆=0.5 mm; sharpening angle of the counterblade β 1 =90° and sharpness of counterblade cutting edge δ=0.2 mm. The correlation between the variation of drive's absorbed power for startup of the cutting drum, specific energy consumption and average cutting length, on the one hand, and the variation of controlled factors, on the other, was established. The respective adequate regression equations were simulated, describing the herb stem cutting processes with specific accuracy

Standing in a Garden of Forking Paths

According to the Path Principle, it is permissible to expand your set of beliefs iff (and because) the evidence you possess provides adequate support for such beliefs. If there is no path from here to there, you cannot add a belief to your belief set. If some thinker with the same type of evidential support has a path that they can take, so do you. The paths exist because of the evidence you possess and the support it provides. Evidential support grounds propositional justification. The principle is mistaken. There are permissible steps you may take that others may not even if you have the very same evidence. There are permissible steps that you cannot take that others can even if your beliefs receive the same type of evidential support. Because we have to assume almost nothing about the nature of evidential support to establish these results, we should reject evidentialism

False Beliefs and Misleading Evidence

False beliefs and misleading evidence have striking similarities. In many regards, they are both epistemically bad or undesirable. Yet, some epistemologists think that, while one’s evidence is normative (i.e., one’s available evidence affects the doxastic states one is epistemically permitted or required to have), one’s false beliefs cannot be evidence and cannot be normative. They have offered various motivations for treating false beliefs differently from true misleading beliefs, and holding that only the latter may be evidence. I argue that this is puzzling: If misleading evidence and false beliefs share so many important similarities, why treat them differently? I also argue that, given the striking similarities between false beliefs and misleading evidence, many arguments for the factivity of evidence overgeneralize. That is, if these arguments were conclusive, they would also entail that the evidence cannot be misleading. But this is an overgeneralization, since the evidence can be misleading

Dimensions of wisdom perception across twelve countries on five continents.

Wisdom is the hallmark of social judgment, but how people across cultures recognize wisdom remains unclear-distinct philosophical traditions suggest different views of wisdoms cardinal features. We explore perception of wise minds across 16 socio-economically and culturally diverse convenience samples from 12 countries. Participants assessed wisdom exemplars, non-exemplars, and themselves on 19 socio-cognitive characteristics, subsequently rating targets wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. Analyses reveal two positively related dimensions-Reflective Orientation and Socio-Emotional Awareness. These dimensions are consistent across the studied cultural regions and interact when informing wisdom ratings: wisest targets-as perceived by participants-score high on both dimensions, whereas the least wise are not reflective but moderately socio-emotional. Additionally, individuals view themselves as less reflective but more socio-emotionally aware than most wisdom exemplars. Our findings expand folk psychology and social judgment research beyond the Global North, showing how individuals perceive desirable cognitive and socio-emotional qualities, and contribute to an understanding of mind perception

Novel Marine Phenazines as Potential Cancer Chemopreventive and Anti-Inflammatory Agents

Two new (1 and 2) and one known phenazine derivative (lavanducyanin, 3) were isolated and identified from the fermentation broth of a marine-derived Streptomyces sp. (strain CNS284). In mammalian cell culture studies, compounds 1, 2 and 3 inhibited TNF-α-induced NFκB activity (IC50 values of 4.1, 24.2, and 16.3 μM, respectively) and LPS-induced nitric oxide production (IC50 values of >48.6, 15.1, and 8.0 μM, respectively). PGE2 production was blocked with greater efficacy (IC50 values of 7.5, 0.89, and 0.63 μM, respectively), possibly due to inhibition of cyclooxygenases in addition to the expression of COX-2. Treatment of cultured HL-60 cells led to dose-dependent accumulation in the subG1 compartment of the cell cycle, as a result of apoptosis. These data provide greater insight on the biological potential of phenazine derivatives, and some guidance on how various substituents may alter potential anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects

Phylogenetically and spatially close marine sponges harbour divergent bacterial communities

Recent studies have unravelled the diversity of sponge-associated bacteria that may play essential roles in sponge health and metabolism. Nevertheless, our understanding of this microbiota remains limited to a few host species found in restricted geographical localities, and the extent to which the sponge host determines the composition of its own microbiome remains a matter of debate. We address bacterial abundance and diversity of two temperate marine sponges belonging to the Irciniidae family - Sarcotragus spinosulus and Ircinia variabilis – in the Northeast Atlantic. Epifluorescence microscopy revealed that S. spinosulus hosted significantly more prokaryotic cells than I. variabilis and that prokaryotic abundance in both species was about 4 orders of magnitude higher than in seawater. Polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) profiles of S. spinosulus and I. variabilis differed markedly from each other – with higher number of ribotypes observed in S. spinosulus – and from those of seawater. Four PCR-DGGE bands, two specific to S. spinosulus, one specific to I. variabilis, and one present in both sponge species, affiliated with an uncultured sponge-specific phylogenetic cluster in the order Acidimicrobiales (Actinobacteria). Two PCR-DGGE bands present exclusively in S. spinosulus fingerprints affiliated with one sponge-specific phylogenetic cluster in the phylum Chloroflexi and with sponge-derived sequences in the order Chromatiales (Gammaproteobacteria), respectively. One Alphaproteobacteria band specific to S. spinosulus was placed in an uncultured sponge-specific phylogenetic cluster with a close relationship to the genus Rhodovulum. Our results confirm the hypothesized host-specific composition of bacterial communities between phylogenetically and spatially close sponge species in the Irciniidae family, with S. spinosulus displaying higher bacterial community diversity and distinctiveness than I. variabilis. These findings suggest a pivotal host-driven effect on the shape of the marine sponge microbiome, bearing implications to our current understanding of the distribution of microbial genetic resources in the marine realm.This work was financed by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT - http://www.fct.pt) through the research project PTDC/MAR/101431/2008. CCPH has a PhD fellowship granted by FCT (Grant No. SFRH/BD/60873/2009). JRX’s research is funded by a FCT postdoctoral fellowship (grant no. SFRH/BPD/62946/2009). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Asenjonamides A–C, antibacterial metabolites isolated from Streptomyces asenjonii strain KNN 42.f from an extreme-hyper arid Atacama Desert soil

Bio-guided fractionation of the culture broth extract of Streptomyces asenjonii strain KNN 42.f recovered from an extreme hyper-arid Atacama Desert soil in northern Chile led to the isolation of three new bioactive ?-diketones; asenjonamides A–C (1–3) in addition to the known N-(2-(1H-indol-3-yl)-2-oxoethyl)acetamide (4), a series of bioactive acylated 4-aminoheptosyl-?-N-glycosides; spicamycins A–E (5–9), and seven known diketopiperazines (10–16). All isolated compounds were characterized by HRESIMS and NMR analyses and tested for their antibacterial effect against a panel of bacteria