Potential Lost Productivity Resulting from the Global Burden of Myopia: Systematic Review, Meta-analysis, and Modeling

Purpose: We estimated the potential global economic productivity loss resulting from vision impairment (VI) and blindness as a result of uncorrected myopia and myopic macular degeneration (MMD) in 2015. Clinical Relevance: Understanding the economic burden of VI associated with myopia is critical to addressing myopia as an increasingly prevalent public health problem. Methods: We estimated the number of people with myopia and MMD corresponding to critical visual acuity thresholds. Spectacle correction coverage was analyzed against country-level variables from the year of data collection; variation in spectacle correction was described best by a model based on a human development index, with adjustments for urbanization and age. Spectacle correction and myopia data were combined to estimate the number of people with each level of VI resulting from uncorrected myopia. We then applied disability weights, labor force participation rates, employment rates, and gross domestic product per capita to estimate the potential productivity lost among individuals with each level and type of VI resulting from myopia in 2015 in United States dollars (US$). An estimate of care-associated productivity loss also was included. Results: People with myopia are less likely to have adequate optical correction if they are older and live in a rural area of a less developed country. The global potential productivity loss associated with the burden of VI in 2015 was estimated at US$244 billion (95% confidence interval [CI], US$49 billion–US$697 billion) from uncorrected myopia and US$6 billion (95$2 billion—US$17 billion) from MMD. Our estimates suggest that the Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Asia Global Burden of Disease regions bear the greatest potential burden as a proportion of their economic activity, whereas East Asia bears the greatest potential burden in absolute terms. Conclusions: Even under conservative assumptions, the potential productivity loss associated with VI and blindness resulting from uncorrected myopia is substantially greater than the cost of correcting myopia

Stellar Disk Truncations: Where do we stand ?

In the light of several recent developments we revisit the phenomenon of galactic stellar disk truncations. Even 25 years since the first paper on outer breaks in the radial light profiles of spiral galaxies, their origin is still unclear. The two most promising explanations are that these 'outer edges' either trace the maximum angular momentum during the galaxy formation epoch, or are associated with global star formation thresholds. Depending on their true physical nature, these outer edges may represent an improved size characteristic (e.g., as compared to D_25) and might contain fossil evidence imprinted by the galaxy formation and evolutionary history. We will address several observational aspects of disk truncations: their existence, not only in normal HSB galaxies, but also in LSB and even dwarf galaxies; their detailed shape, not sharp cut-offs as thought before, but in fact demarcating the start of a region with a steeper exponential distribution of starlight; their possible association with bars; as well as problems related to the line-of-sight integration for edge-on galaxies (the main targets for truncation searches so far). Taken together, these observations currently favour the star-formation threshold model, but more work is necessary to implement the truncations as adequate parameters characterising galactic disks.Comment: LaTeX, 10 pages, 6 figures, presented at the "Penetrating Bars through Masks of Cosmic Dust" conference in South Africa, proceedings published by Kluwer, and edited by Block, D.L., Freeman, K.C., Puerari, I., & Groess, R; v3 to match published versio

Fatal cerebral edema associated with serine deficiency in CSF

Two young girls without a notable medical history except for asthma presented with an acute toxic encephalopathy with very low serine concentrations both in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) comparable to patients with 3-phosphoglycerate dehydrogenase (3-PGDH) deficiency. Clinical symptoms and enzyme measurement (in one patient) excluded 3-PGDH deficiency. Deficiencies in other serine biosynthesis enzymes were highly unlikely on clinical grounds. On basis of the fasting state, ketone bodies and lactate in plasma, urine and CSF, we speculate that reduced serine levels were due to its use as gluconeogenic substrate, conversion to pyruvate by brain serine racemase or decreased L-serine production because of a lack of glucose. These are the first strikingly similar cases of patients with a clear secondary serine deficiency associated with a toxic encephalopathy

Artificial Neural Network Inference (ANNI): A Study on Gene-Gene Interaction for Biomarkers in Childhood Sarcomas

Objective: To model the potential interaction between previously identified biomarkers in children sarcomas using artificial neural network inference (ANNI). Method: To concisely demonstrate the biological interactions between correlated genes in an interaction network map, only 2 types of sarcomas in the children small round blue cell tumors (SRBCTs) dataset are discussed in this paper. A backpropagation neural network was used to model the potential interaction between genes. The prediction weights and signal directions were used to model the strengths of the interaction signals and the direction of the interaction link between genes. The ANN model was validated using Monte Carlo cross-validation to minimize the risk of over-fitting and to optimize generalization ability of the model. Results: Strong connection links on certain genes (TNNT1 and FNDC5 in rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS); FCGRT and OLFM1 in Ewing’s sarcoma (EWS)) suggested their potency as central hubs in the interconnection of genes with different functionalities. The results showed that the RMS patients in this dataset are likely to be congenital and at low risk of cardiomyopathy development. The EWS patients are likely to be complicated by EWS-FLI fusion and deficiency in various signaling pathways, including Wnt, Fas/Rho and intracellular oxygen. Conclusions: The ANN network inference approach and the examination of identified genes in the published literature within the context of the disease highlights the substantial influence of certain genes in sarcomas

Characterization of the Tomato ARF Gene Family Uncovers a Multi-Levels Post-Transcriptional Regulation Including Alternative Splicing

Background: The phytohormone auxin is involved in a wide range of developmental processes and auxin signaling is known to modulate the expression of target genes via two types of transcriptional regulators, namely, Aux/IAA and Auxin Response Factors (ARF). ARFs play a major role in transcriptional activation or repression through direct binding to the promoter of auxin-responsive genes. The present study aims at gaining better insight on distinctive structural and functional features among ARF proteins. Results: Building on the most updated tomato (Solanum lycopersicon) reference genome sequence, a comprehensive set of ARF genes was identified, extending the total number of family members to 22. Upon correction of structural annotation inconsistencies, renaming the tomato ARF family members provided a consensus nomenclature for all ARF genes across plant species. In silico search predicted the presence of putative target site for small interfering RNAs within twelve Sl-ARFs while sequence analysis of the 59-leader sequences revealed the presence of potential small uORF regulatory elements. Functional characterization carried out by transactivation assay partitioned tomato ARFs into repressors and activators of auxin-dependent gene transcription. Expression studies identified tomato ARFs potentially involved in the fruit set process. Genome-wide expression profiling using RNA-seq revealed that at least one third of the gene family members display alternative splicing mode of regulation during the flower to fruit transition. Moreover, the regulation of several tomato ARF genes by both ethylene and auxin, suggests their potential contribution to the convergence mechanism between the signaling pathways of these two hormones. Conclusion: All together, the data bring new insight on the complexity of the expression control of Sl-ARF genes at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels supporting the hypothesis that these transcriptional mediators might represent one of the main components that enable auxin to regulate a wide range of physiological processes in a highly specific and coordinated manner

Timeliness of national notifiable diseases surveillance system in Korea: a cross-sectional study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>With the increase of international travels, infectious disease control is gaining a greater importance across regional borders. Adequate surveillance system function is crucial to prevent a global spread of infectious disease at the earliest stage. There have been limited reports on the characteristics of infectious disease surveillance in Asia. The authors studied the timeliness of the Korean National Notifiable Disease Surveillance System with regard to major notifiable diseases from 2001 to 2006.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Six notifiable infectious diseases reported relatively frequently were included in this study. Five diseases were selected by the criteria of reported cases > 100 per year: typhoid fever, shigellosis, mumps, scrub typhus, and hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. In addition, dengue fever was also included to represent an emerging disease, despite its low number of cases. The diseases were compared for the proportion notified within the recommended time limits, median time lags, and for the cumulative distribution of time lags at each surveillance step between symptom onset and date of notification to the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The proportion of cases reported in time was lower for disease groups with a recommended time limit of 1 day compared with 7 days (60%–70% vs. > 80%). The median time from disease onset to notification to KCDC ranged between 6 and 20 days. The median time from onset to registration at the local level ranged between 2 and 15 days. Distribution of time lags showed that main delays arose in the time from onset to diagnosis. There were variations in timeliness by disease categories and surveillance steps.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Time from disease onset to diagnosis generally contributed most to the delay in reporting. It is needed to promote public education and to improve clinical guidelines. Rapid reporting by doctors should be encouraged, and unification of recommended reporting time limit can be helpful. Our study also demonstrates the utility of the overall assessment of time-lag distributions for disease-specific strategies to improve surveillance.</p

The Genome of Mycobacterium Africanum West African 2 Reveals a Lineage-Specific Locus and Genome Erosion Common to the M. tuberculosis Complex

Mycobacterium africanum, a close relative of M. tuberculosis, is studied for the following reasons: M. africanum is commonly isolated from West African patients with tuberculosis yet has not spread beyond this region, it is more common in HIV infected patients, and it is less likely to lead to tuberculosis after one is exposed to an infectious case. Understanding this organism's unique biology gets a boost from the decoding of its genome, reported in this issue. For example, genome analysis reveals that M. africanum contains a region shared with “ancient” lineages in the M. tuberculosis complex and other mycobacterial species, which was lost independently from both M. tuberculosis and M. bovis. This region encodes a protein involved in transmembrane transport. Furthermore, M. africanum has lost genes, including a known virulence gene and genes for vitamin synthesis, in addition to an intact copy of a gene that may increase its susceptibility to antibiotics that are insufficiently active against M. tuberculosis. Finally, the genome sequence and analysis reported here will aid in the development of new diagnostics and vaccines against tuberculosis, which need to take into account the differences between M. africanum and other species in order to be effective worldwide

Open Problems on Central Simple Algebras

We provide a survey of past research and a list of open problems regarding central simple algebras and the Brauer group over a field, intended both for experts and for beginners.Comment: v2 has some small revisions to the text. Some items are re-numbered, compared to v