Malignant Keratitis Caused by a Highly-Resistant Strain of Fusarium Tonkinense from the Fusarium Solani Complex

Fusarium spp. are moulds ubiquitously distributed in nature and only occasionally pathogenic for humans. Species of the Fusarium solani complex are the predominant keratitis-inducing pathogens, because they are endowed with proper virulence factors. These fungi can adhere to the cornea creating a biofilm and, with the help of enzymes and cytotoxins, penetrate the cornea. Whereas an intact cornea is hardly able to be invaded by Fusarium spp. in spite of appropriate virulence factors, these opportunistic fungi may profit from predisposing conditions, for example mechanical injuries. This can lead to a progressive course of corneal infection and may finally affect the whole eye up to the need for enucleation. Here, we present and discuss the clinical, microbiological and histopathological aspects of a particular case due to Fusarium tonkinense of the Fusarium solani complex with severe consequences in a patient without any obvious predisposing factors. A broad portfolio of antifungal agents was applied, both topically and systemically as well as two penetrating keratoplasties were performed. The exact determination of the etiologic agent of the fungal infection proved likewise to be very challenging.

From hair colour to diagnosis

Hair pigmentation contributes extremely to the visual appearance and human-to-human communication, thus exerting enormous sexual and social impact. Follicular melanogenesis depends on genetic, biochemical and physical phenomena as well as proper epithelial-melanocytic interaction. Shades of grey, yellow, brown, red, and black produced by melanin define the exact determination of hair colour. Versatile clinical conditions depend on genetic melanogenetic changes, pigment transfer to bulb keratinocytes defects and impaired signal transduction pathways. Herein, an update of recent scientific advances on follicular melanogenesis and its pathological-driven compartmental changes reflecting specific disease phenotypes, are presented.

3d N=4 Bootstrap and Mirror Symmetry

We investigate the non-BPS realm of 3d {N} = 4N=4 superconformal field theory by uniting the non-perturbative methods of the conformal bootstrap and supersymmetric localization, and utilizing special features of 3d {N} = 4N=4 theories such as mirror symmetry and a protected sector described by topological quantum mechanics (TQM). Supersymmetric localization allows for the exact determination of the conformal and flavor central charges, and the latter can be fed into the mini-bootstrap of the TQM to solve for a subset of the OPE data. We examine the implications of the Z_2Z2 mirror action for the SCFT single- and mixed-branch crossing equations for the moment map operators, and apply numerical bootstrap to obtain universal constraints on OPE data for given flavor symmetry groups. A key ingredient in applying the bootstrap analysis is the determination of the mixed-branch superconformal blocks. Among other results, we show that the simplest known self-mirror theory with SU(2) \times SU(2)SU(2)×SU(2) flavor symmetry saturates our bootstrap bounds, which allows us to extract the non-BPS data and examine the self-mirror Z_2Z2 symmetry thereof.

TO THE CALCULATION OF LENGTH OF GEOPHYSICAL OBJECTS OF HYPERBOLIC OUTLINE

Hyperbolic curves are used in various theoretical and practical studies, including in the field of water management and environmental construction when calculating various geophysical objects with hyperbolic outlines (surfaces of coastal slopes, sliding lines of landslide massifs, directing dams, spillway surfaces of watersheds, water free fall trajectories, etc.). The exact determination of the length of the hyperbola arc is represented by a rather complex dependence based on “unbreakable” incomplete elliptic integrals, which makes it difficult to carry out analytical calculations and involves the use of tabular data with a time-consuming cross and non-linear interpolation of them, etc. Elementary dependencies are proposed to determine the length of the hyperbola arc, which give a very close approximation (up to 1%) to exact values. The obtained calculated analytical dependencies for determining the length of the hyperbola arc are recommended for practical use in theoretical and applied research in various fi elds of science and technology.

The Image of Růžena Maturová in the Iconography Collection of the Bedřich Smetana Museum

The article summarises the results attained so far through research and expert processing of the photographs held in the iconography collections of the Bedřich Smetana Museum. It provides information about Růžena Maturová (1869–1938) including previously unpublished details about the period of her life after the end of her career as an opera singer at the National Theatre in Prague (1910–1938), concerning Maturová’s performing in silent film (1920–1922), her work in healthcare services (1914–1920), and her sociocultural activities in support of retired soloists from the National Theatre in Prague (at the Na Slovanech Cinema, 1920–1938). The subject matter of the study is a photo album titled R. Maturová. In many cases, comparisons of the photographs from this album with other available sources have enabled the recognition of persons not previously identified in portraits, more exact determination of dating and provenience, and the identification of photography studios.

IT IS NECESSARY TO UNDERSTAND THE VALUE OF K DENSITY WHEN TESTING THE QUALITY OF NATURAL AGGREGATE LAYER IN ROAD COAT STRUCTURE IN THE SOUTH

Density is an important parameter reflects the quality of the foundation and base construction. Therefore, the exact determination of density parameters is extremely necessary in the work of checking and accepting the work items. The paper presents the results of the research to determine the density of the natural mix layer in the road coat structure with flexible and rational adjustment of the oversized grain content - during standard compaction as well as sampling for field test of density to overcome difficulties and obstacles when implementing the inspection of road structure.

Agglomerates of nanoparticles

Nanoparticles tend to agglomerate. The process of agglomeration is ruled by thermodynamics. Depending on the sign of the enthalpy of interaction, ensembles consist of (repelling) poorly agglomerated or (attracting) highly agglomerated particles. For these two cases different distribution functions for the agglomerates were found. The size distribution of the agglomerates is ruled by the maximum of the entropy of the ensemble of agglomerates, which is calculated using Gibbs formula of entropy. The exact determination of the size distribution of the agglomerates also gives the maximum size of the agglomerates. These considerations lead to an improved understanding of ensembles of agglomerated nanoparticles.