Rebels Lead to the Doctrine of the Mean: Opinion Dynamic in a Heterogeneous DeGroot Model

We study an extension of the DeGroot model where part of the players may be rebels. The updating rule for rebels is quite different with that of normal players (which are referred to as conformists): at each step a rebel first takes the opposite value of the weighted average of her neighbors' opinions, i.e. 1 minus that average (the opinion space is assumed to be [0,1] as usual), and then updates her opinion by taking another weighted average between that value and her own opinion in the last round. We find that the effect of rebels is rather significant: as long as there is at least one rebel in every closed and strongly connected group, under very weak conditions, the opinion of each player in the whole society will eventually tend to 0.5.Comment: 7 pages, Proceedings of The 6th International Conference on Knowledge, Information and Creativity Support Systems, Beijing, 201

The Ocular Biometry of Adult Cataract Patients on Lifeline Express Hospital Eye-Train in Rural China

Aims. To describe and explore the distribution of ocular biometric parameters of adult cataract patients in rural China. Methods. Three Lifeline Express Hospital Eye-Train missions of Peking University People’s Hospital in China were chosen. 3828 adult cataract patients aged 29 to 88 years with axial length (AL) less than 27.0 mm were enrolled. The ocular biometry including visual acuity (VA), intraocular pressure, AL, corneal power (K1 and K2), and corneal endothelial counting (CEC) were collected and analysis. Corneal radius (CR) was calculated from the corneal power. Results. The participants in Zhoukou of these three missions had the worse preoperative VA (p<0.001), the lowest K1 (p<0.001), K2 (p<0.001), and K (p<0.001) and the highest K1-K2 (p<0.001), moreover AL/CR more closely to 3.0. The AL, K1-K2, and AL/CR were normally distributed. But the K1, K2, K, and CEC were not normal distributions. Except K1, all parameters were positively skewed and peaked. Conclusion. Our study provides normative ocular biometry in a large, representative rural Chinese population. The AL is normally distributed with a positive skew and big kurtosis. The corneal powers are not normal distribution. The corneal astigmatism might have a significant effect on the visual acuity

Selfish Bin Covering

In this paper, we address the selfish bin covering problem, which is greatly related both to the bin covering problem, and to the weighted majority game. What we mainly concern is how much the lack of coordination harms the social welfare. Besides the standard PoA and PoS, which are based on Nash equilibrium, we also take into account the strong Nash equilibrium, and several other new equilibria. For each equilibrium, the corresponding PoA and PoS are given, and the problems of computing an arbitrary equilibrium, as well as approximating the best one, are also considered.Comment: 16 page

Surgical treatment of spinal tenosynovial giant cell tumor: Experience from a single center and literature review

IntroductionSpinal tenosynovial giant cell tumor (TGCT) is a rare benign primary spinal tumor with aggressive behavior. The treatment strategy and prognosis of spinal TGCT remain unclear. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of surgical treatment of spinal TGCT.MethodsWe enrolled 18 patients with spinal TGCT who underwent surgical treatment in our hospital between January 2002 and January 2021. Additionally, we reviewed 72 cases of spinal TGCT with surgical treatment reported in the previous literature. Therefore, a total of 90 cases of spinal TGCT were evaluated for their clinical characteristics, surgical details, radiotherapy, and prognosis.ResultsIn terms of the extent of resection, 73 cases (81.1%) underwent gross total resection (GTR), and 17 cases (18.9%) underwent subtotal resection (STR). Regarding the technique of GTR, 12 cases (16.7%) underwent en bloc resection, while 60 cases (83.3%) underwent piecemeal resection. During a median follow-up duration of 36 months (range: 3–528 months), 17.8% (16/90) cases experienced local recurrence/progression. The local recurrence/progression rate in cases that underwent GTR was 8.2% (6/73), which was significantly lower than that in cases with STR (58.8%, 10/17) (p&lt;0.001). The local recurrence/progression rate of en bloc resection was 8.3% (1/12), and that of piecemeal resection was 8.3% (5/60). Twelve cases underwent perioperative adjuvant radiotherapy, and one (8.3%, 1/12) of them showed disease progression during follow-up. Six recurrent/progressive lesions were given radiotherapy and all of them remained stable in the subsequent follow-up. Eight recurrent/progressive lesions were only treated with re-operation without radiotherapy, and half of them (50.0%, 4/8) demonstrated repeated recurrence/progression in the subsequent follow-up.ConclusionSurgical treatment could be effective for spinal TGCT cases, and GTR is the preferred surgical strategy. Piecemeal resection may be appropriate for spinal TGCT cases with an acceptable local recurrence/progression rate. Perioperative adjuvant radiotherapy may reduce the risk of postoperative local recurrence/progression, and radiotherapy plays an important role in the treatment of recurrent/unresectable spinal TGCT lesions

Ocular manifestations and pathology of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma associated with human T-lymphotropic virus type 1

The human T-cell lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1), endemic in defined geographical areas around the world, is recognized as the etiologic agent of adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATL), or HTLV-1. ATL is a rare adult onset T-cell malignancy that is characterized by the presence of ATL flower cells with T-cell markers, HTLV-1 antibodies in the serum, and monoclonal integration of HTLV-1 provirus in affected cells. Ocular manifestations associated with HTLV-1 virus infection have been reported and include HTLV-1 uveitis and keratoconjunctivitis sicca, but reports of ocular involvement in ATL are exceedingly rare. This article describes the ocular manifestations and pathology of ATL. We also report for the first time a case of a 34-year-old male with systemic ATL and prominent atypical lymphoid cell infiltration in the choroid. To our knowledge, this is the first report defining prominent choroidal involvement as a distinct ocular manifestation of ATL. ATL may masquerade as a variety of other conditions, and molecular techniques involving microdissection and PCR have proven to be critical diagnostic tools. International collaboration will be needed to better understand the presentation and diagnosis of this rare malignancy

Autoimmune Retinopathy in Systemic Lupus Erythematosus: Histopathologic Features

The ocular pathology of autoimmune retinopathy is demonstrated in a 62-year-old female patient with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) who presented with typical clinical autoimmune retinopathy. Macroscopically, there were multiple depigmented lesions in the peripheral retina and choroid and scattered pigmentary bone-spickling at the equator and periphery. Microscopically, there were generalized loss of photoreceptors and thinning of the outer plexiform layer. Many peripheral retinal vessels were sclerotic and occluded, some surrounded by pigment granules and RPE cells. Cobblestone degeneration was prominent in the periphery. Macrophages were seen in the retina, particularly in areas of photoreceptor degeneration. Rare, scattered T- lymphocytes were present in the retina and choroid, while B-cells were notably absent. The optic nerve showed loss of axons and thickened septae. Serum autoantibodies against normal retinal nuclei were detected. These pathological changes represent both known SLE-associated ocular complications as well as possible features of autoimmune retinopathy secondary to SLE