Differing Associations between Optic Nerve Head Strains and Visual Field Loss in Normal- and High-Tension Glaucoma Subjects

Purpose: To study the associations between optic nerve head (ONH) strains under intraocular pressure (IOP) elevation with retinal sensitivity in glaucoma subjects. Design: Clinic based cross-sectional study. Participants: 229 subjects with primary open angle glaucoma (subdivided into 115 high tension glaucoma (HTG) subjects and 114 normal tension glaucoma (NTG) subjects). Methods: For one eye of each subject, we imaged the ONH using spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (OCT) under the following conditions: (1) primary gaze and (2) primary gaze with acute IOP elevation (to approximately 33 mmHg) achieved through ophthalmodynamometry. A 3-dimensional (3D) strain-mapping algorithm was applied to quantify IOP-induced ONH tissue strain (i.e. deformation) in each ONH. Strains in the pre-lamina tissue (PLT) and the retina, the choroid, the sclera and the lamina cribrosa (LC) were associated (using linear regression) with measures of retinal sensitivity from the 24-2 Humphrey visual field test (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA, USA). This was done globally, then locally according to the regionalization scheme of Garway-Heath et al. Main Outcome Measures: Associations between ONH strains and values of retinal sensitivity from visual field testing. Results: For HTG subjects, we found that (1) there were significant negative linear associations between ONH strains and retinal sensitivity (p<0.001) (on average, a 1% increase in ONH strains corresponded to a decrease in retinal sensitivity of 1.1 dB), (2) high strain regions co-localized with anatomically-mapped regions of high visual field loss, (3) the strongest negative associations were observed in the superior region and in the PLT. In contrast, for NTG subjects, no significant associations between strains and retinal sensitivity were observed except in the supero-temporal region of the LC. Conclusion: We found significant negative associations between IOP-induced ONH strains and retinal sensitivity in a relatively large glaucoma cohort. Specifically, HTG subjects who experienced higher ONH strains were more likely to exhibit lower retinal sensitivities. Interestingly, this trend was in general less pronounced in NTG subjects, which could suggest a distinct pathophysiology between the two glaucoma subtypes.

A Novel and Inexpensive Technique for High-tension Tendon Clamping with Expandable Mesh Sleeving for in Vitro Foot Biomechanics Testing

In vitro biomechanical testing is common in the field of orthopedics when novel devices are investigated prior to human trials. It is typically necessary to apply loads through tendons to simulate normal activities, such as walking during a foot and ankle study. However, attachment of tendons to linear actuators has proven challenging because of the tendency of clamps to either slip off or rupture the tendon. Freeze clamping is generally accepted as the gold standard for very high load testing in excess of 3000 N, but is expensive, time-consuming, and requires significant ancillary equipment. Purely mechanical solutions such as metal jaw clamps, wire meshes, and others have been explored, but these techniques are either costly, have low load capacities, or have not proven to be reproducible. We have developed a novel tendon clamping technique that utilizes a slip-resistant polyester mesh sleeving that encases the tendon and is fixated at the bottom of the tendon/sleeve interaction with a giftbox suture. The loose end of the sleeving can then be tied in to the linear actuator or load cell apparatus using a timber hitch knot. The sleeving technique allows for loads of 2000-2500 N on the Achilles tendon, and is inexpensive, reproducible, and can be modified to apply loads to smaller tendons as well, though a length of tendon/sleeve overlap of at least 16 cm is required to reach maximum loads. This technique should assist researchers in integrating muscle forces into future biomechanical study designs.

Single-molecule imaging of von Willebrand factor reveals tension-dependent self-association

von Willebrand factor (VWF) is an ultralong concatemeric protein important in hemostasis and thrombosis. VWF molecules can associate with other VWF molecules, but little is known about the mechanism. Hydrodynamic drag exerts tensile force on surface-tethered VWF that extends it and is maximal at the tether point and declines linearly to 0 at the downstream free end. Using single-molecule fluorescence microscopy, we directly visualized the kinetics of binding of free VWF in flow to surface-tethered single VWF molecules. We showed that self-association requires elongation of tethered VWF and that association increases with tension in tethered VWF, reaches half maximum at a characteristic tension of ∼10 pN, and plateaus above ∼25 pN. Association is reversible and hence noncovalent; a sharp decrease in shear flow results in rapid dissociation of bound VWF. Tethered primary VWF molecules can recruit more than their own mass of secondary VWF molecules from the flow stream. Kinetics show that instead of accelerating, the rate of accumulation decreases with time, revealing an inherently self-limiting self-association mechanism. We propose that this may occur because multiple tether points between secondary and primary VWF result in lower tension on the secondary VWF, which shields more highly tensioned primary VWF from further association. Glycoprotein Ibα (GPIbα) binding and VWF self-association occur in the same region of high tension in tethered VWF concatemers; however, the half-maximal tension required for activation of GPIbα is higher, suggesting differences in molecular mechanisms. These results have important implications for the mechanism of platelet plug formation in hemostasis and thrombosis.

Analysis Utilizing AI Techniques for Optimum Performance At The Low Tension And The High Tension Line In BESS

It has been a requisite for humanity to live since the electricity invented around an early 1900s. According to the electrical energy sector's economic constraints, power must be employed as quickly as practical after it is generated. Because storing large amounts of electrical energy is prohibitively expensive. However, as energy storage material becomes more accessible, dispersed production becomes more viable, especially with the Smart Grid concept.In this paper, we use the MATLAB - SIMULINK platform to investigate a battery energy storage system (BESS). We used an effective algorithm, which is really a part of artificial intelligence (AI), to develop a controller for a converter system.The research focused on the low tension line (regional loads) and the high tension line (HV) after the grid connection, where the framework also compels the electrical desire and reactive loads.

Female Authority Figures in Dorothea Tanning’s Chasm: A Weekend

Little girls and young women are Dorothea Tanning’s recurrent archetypes, defining and structuring her conceptual archive concerning gender and the feminine. A celebrated painter and sculptor who shaped her artistic vision in the proximity of the historical avant-gardes, Tanning was also a writer who revealed the mystery and estrangement of family ties in Chasm: A weekend, a novel she started writing in 1943 and published six decades later, in 2004. This singular book offers a privileged dialogue between literature and art, as several episodes revisit and translate the high tension of some of her most representative paintings. From within a feminist framework, the article will discuss aspects of female authority and control in Tanning’s novel as dominant forms of female empowerment, present throughout her visual Surrealist oeuvre. I argue that examining these allegories reveals their role as connectors between the literary and the visual arts, between Dorothea Tanning’s fiction and her painting.

Uncovering motives and rivalry of China-Australia amid the COVID-19 pandemic in the Pacific region

The rivalry between China and Australia in the Pacific region shows high tension. This rivalry has increasingly intense in the form of providing assistance to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, where both countries have various motives of interest by providing the assistance. This article aims to describe the economic and political motives of China and Australia in order to provide assistance in handling COVID-19 to countries in the Pacific region. This article used a descriptive method by collecting several sources from books, journals, official documents, and scientific articles on the internet. It finds that China and Australia have economic and political-security motives from the assistance provided to countries in the Pacific region. The large natural resources in the Pacific region and its transformation into a world maritime trade route become the economic motives. The political motives for China are the principle of “One China” and a “Good Image/Perception” for China, while the political motive for Australia is strengthening Australia’s solidarity in the Pacific region. This article concludes that China’s presence in the Pacific region, which includes assistance in combatting COVID-19 and other concerns, puts China a threat to Australia, making the rivalry between the two countries is no longer inevitable.

Studi Fenomenologis-Historis Inklusifitas Dakwah Trah Adzmatkhan di Nusantara

This study uses a qualitative research type with a phenomenological-historical approach to explaining the Da'wah of the Adzmatkhan breed. The result is that the noble principles are still closely held by the next generation who have a lineage continuity with the Adzmatkhan breed. Many of those who are affiliated with NU – both structurally and culturally – still maintain this principle, even when they have to face the phenomenon of the primordial glorification of some members of the Prophet's dzuriyah which is quite disturbing. Several times they had to go head to head with high tension in order to straighten this out. However, this does not make the Adzmatkhan breed which is in the same line as NU ignore their teachings to love and respect the dhuriyah of the Prophet. In this context, they do not need formal legal recognition of the lineage, because the bigger thing to fight for is Islam in the style of ahlussunnah wal Jama'ah itself.

Expression of Slit2 and Robo Receptors in a Sprague-Dawley Rat Glaucoma Model

Background: This study investigated immunoreactive changes in Slit2 and Robo receptors in the retinal ganglion cell layer of a rodent model of acute glaucoma. Methods: Glaucoma model using Sprague-Dawley rats was made via weekly intracameral injections of hyaluronic acid. Intraocular pressure (IOP) was measured twice weekly for 4 weeks using a rebound tonometer in an experimental group of 10 rats and a control group of five rats for 4 weeks. The trimmed retinas were processed for anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), anti-Slit2 and anti-Robo1, anti-Robo2, anti-Robo3 and anti-Robo4 immunochemical analysis. Result: The IOPs in the experimental group were approximately four times higher than IOPs in the control group. The GFAP, Slit2 and Robo4 immunoreactivity in the experimental group was higher than the corresponding values in the control group. Our results indicate that Slit2 and Robo4 potentially contribute to the progression of high tension glaucoma, especially in inducing ischemic injury.