1,842 research outputs found
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Improving Visual Field Examination of the Macula Using Structural Information
Purpose: To investigate a novel approach for structure-function modeling in glaucoma to improve visual field testing in the macula.
Methods: We acquired data from the macular region in 20 healthy eyes and 31 with central glaucomatous damage. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans were used to estimate the local macular ganglion cell density. Perimetry was performed with a fundus-tracking device using a 10-2 grid. OCT scans were matched to the retinal image from the fundus perimeter to accurately map the tested locations onto the structural damage. Binary responses from the subjects to all presented stimuli were used to calculate the structure-function model used to generate prior distributions for a ZEST (Zippy Estimation by Sequential Testing) Bayesian strategy. We used simulations based on structural and functional data acquired from an independent dataset of 20 glaucoma patients to compare the performance of this new strategy, structural macular ZEST (MacS-ZEST), with a standard ZEST.
Results: Compared to the standard ZEST, MacS-ZEST reduced the number of presentations by 13% in reliable simulated subjects and 14% with higher rates (≥20%) of false positive or false negative errors. Reduction in mean absolute error was not present for reliable subjects but was gradually more important with unreliable responses (≥10% at 30% error rate).
Conclusions: Binary responses can be modeled to incorporate detailed structural information from macular OCT into visual field testing, improving overall speed and accuracy in poor responders.
Translational Relevance: Structural information can improve speed and reliability for macular testing in glaucoma practice
Isolation of EpH4 mammary epithelial cell subpopulations which differ in their morphogenetic properties
Summary: EpH4 is a nontumorigenic cell line derived from spontaneously immortalized mouse mammary gland epithelial cells (Fialka et al., 1996). When grown in collagen gels, EpH4 cells give rise to different types of structures, e.g., solid cords or branching tubes. By removing and subsequently dissociating single three-dimensional colonies of defined morphology, we have isolated six clonal subpopulations of EpH4 cells which display distinct morphogenetic properties in collagen gel cultures. Thus, cells from the H1B clone form branching cords devoid of a central lumen, K3A3 cells from cords enclosing small multifocal lumina, and J3B1 cells form large cavitary structures containing a wide lumen. I3G2 cells form either cords or tubes, depending on the type of serum added to the culture medium. Finally, when grown in serum-free medium, Be1a cells form spherical cysts, whereas Be4a cells form long, extensively branched tubes. In additional assays of morphogenesis, i.e., cell sandwiching between two collagen gels or culture on a thick layer of Matrigel (a laminin-rich extracellular matrix), all clones form epithelial-cell-lined cavitary structures, except H1B cells which are unable to generate lumina under these conditions. The EpH4 sublines we have isolated provide an in vitro system for studying the mechanisms responsible for lumen formation and branching morphogenesis, as well as for identifying the factors which subvert these developmental processes during mammary carcinogenesi
The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: mock galaxy catalogues for the low-redshift sample
We present one thousand mock galaxy catalogues for the analysis of the Low
Redshift Sample (LOWZ, effective redshift z ~ 10.32) of the Baryon Oscillation
Spectroscopic Survey Data Releases 10 and 11. These mocks have been created
following the PTHalos method of Manera13 et al. (2013) revised to include new
developments. The main improvement is the introduction of a redshift dependence
in the Halo Occupation Distribution in order to account for the change of the
galaxy number density with redshift. These mock catalogues are used in the
analyses of the LOWZ galaxy clustering by the BOSS collaboration.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure
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Endothelial diaphragmed fenestrae: in vitro modulation by phorbol myristate acetate
Cultured microvascular endothelial cells isolated from fenestrated capillaries have been shown to express many properties of their in vivo differentiated phenotype, yet they contain very few diaphragmed fenestrae. We show here that treatment of capillary endothelial cells with the tumor promoter, 4 beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate, induces more than a fivefold increase in the frequency of fenestrae per micron 2 of cell surface, as determined from a quantitative evaluation on freeze-fracture replicas. In quick-frozen, deep-etched preparations, the endothelial fenestrae appeared to be bridged by a diaphragm composed of radial fibers interweaving in a central mesh, as previously observed in vivo. These results indicate that diaphragmed fenestrae are inducible structures, and provide an opportunity to study them in vitro
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