Relationship between structural and functional changes in glaucomatous eyes: a multifocal electroretinogram study

Background The nasal to temporal amplitudes ratio (N/T) of multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) scans measured within 5° of the macula can be used to detect glaucomatous change. The photopic negative response (PhNR) of mfERG elicited by a circular stimulus centered on the fovea was significantly reduced in eyes with glaucoma. The PhNR to B-wave ratio (PhNR/B) is the optimal measure of the PhNR. However, clinical superiority for evaluating glaucoma patients has not been determined between N/T and PhNR/B yet. Methods For morphological assessments, ganglion cell complex (GCC) in six regions and the average were measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT). For functional assessment, Humphrey visual fields (VF) with mean sensitivities (MT) and mfERG scans with parameters of N/T and the multifocal photopic negative response to B-wave ratio (mfPhNR/B) were measured. Sixty-nine eyes of 44 glaucoma patients were included and correlations between mfERG parameters and OCT or VF parameters were evaluated. Results The mean age of patients was 59.4 years. The mean deviation for all eyes obtained with the VF 30–2 and VF 10–2 was − 7.00 and − 6.31 dB, respectively. Significant correlations between GCC thickness or VF parameter and the N/T were found, especially in the inferior and inforotemporal retinal areas corresponding to superior and superonasal VF sectors (GCC vs N/T; coefficient = − 7.916 and − 7.857, and MT vs N/T; coefficient = − 4.302 and − 4.437, in the inferior and inforotemporal retinal areas, respectively, all p values < 0.05). However, similar associations were not obtained between mfPhNR/B and OCT or VF parameters. The mfPhNR/B only in the inferotemporal sector was significantly correlated with the average thickness of GCC (coefficient = 4.823, P = 0.012). Conclusions The N/T was correlated with GCC and VF in more numbers of measurement areas than the mfPhNR/B in the current study, however, a future study modifying the stimuli and amplitudes to obtain the spatial correspondence to OCT and VF measurement will be required to evaluate the value of mfERG.

Trust as a leading socio-psychological relationship in the experience of existential given

The understanding of the value of human life and responsibility for everything that happens or can happen to a person is analysed in the article; ways of overcoming alienation and loneliness and building trust in oneself, in the world and in others are identified. A theoretical overview, where the connectivity of existential givens is traced, is presented; in works of psychology, we however do not find scientific-psychological and statistical substantiation of these connections, which were outlined as long ago as at the time of existentialist philosophers. The results of empirical research are obtained by using the following methods – the study of personal trust or distrust in the world, in other people, in oneself by Alla Kupreychenko; Milton Rokeach Value Survey; Multidimensional diagnostic of "responsibility" RESPONSIBILITY-70; Dmitriy Leont'yev’s Meaningful Orientations Test; "Death Attitude" questionnaire by Paul T. P. Wong; Kseniya Chistopol'skaya’s adaptation of the "Fear of Personal Death" questionnaire, Yevgeniy Osin & Dmitriy Leont'yev’s differential questionnaire on the experience of loneliness. 80 people between the ages of 18 and 61 took part in the study. Of these, 54 % were females and 46 %, males. 51 % of the respondents have a family; 49 %, do not; 50 % of the respondents have a higher education. It is established that the level of understanding life, accepting responsibility, loneliness and its consequences are largely determined by the individual's trust in oneself, in others and in the world as a whole; the "optimal measure" of trust allows a person to accept existential given and cope with the feeling of meaninglessness of existence and the fear of death; what becomes the logical continuation of the search and finding meaning in life and the struggle with existential crisis is the attitude towards death, which includes analysis of the reasons for fear.

5-day flooding followed by 3-day drainage wet-dry alternation cycle is highly effective in reducing Cd and As content in rice

To comparatively and simultaneously investigate the reducing efficiency of the different wet-dry alternation cycles on the Cd and As absorption and transportation in rice organs, and synthesis of amino acids (AAs) in rice in two soils with different levels of Cd and As contamination, controlled pot experiments were conducted in this study. Results showed that wet-dry alternation treatments reduced Cd and As concentrations in grains by 18.8%-80% and by 77.4%-86.7% in W soil, respectively; and 76.1%-90.8% and 73.1%-80.6% in H soil, respectively. Cd and As concentrations in the soil solution were negatively and positively correlated with soil pH, respectively; but positively and negatively correlated with soil redox potential (Eh), respectively. The minimum “trade-off” values were observed in the 5 d Flooded followed by 3 d Drained treatment in both soils. The Drained treatment greatly improved AAs contents in rice organs in both soils. The changes of AAs were negatively explained more than 70% by the rachises As. Totally, the F5D3 treatment was identified as the optimal measure for simultaneously minimizing Cd and As accumulations in rice in studied soils, and water management regimes regulated the synthesis of AAs in rice organs by affecting the accumulation of As in rachises.

The selection of the relevant association rules using the ELECTRE method with multiple criteria

The extraction of association rules is a very attractive data mining task and the most widespread in the business world and in modern society, trying to obtain the interesting relationship and connection between collections of articles, products or items in high transactional databases. The immense quantity of association rules obtained expresses the main obstacle that a decision maker can handle. Consequently, in order to establish the most interesting association rules, several interestingness measures have been introduced. Currently, there is no optimal measure that can be chosen to judge the selected association rules. To avoid this problem we suggest to apply ELECTRE method one of the multi-criteria decision making, taking into consideration a formal study of measures of interest according to structural properties, and intending to find a good compromise and select the most interesting association rules without eliminating any measures. Experiments conducted on reference data sets show a significant improvement in the performance of the proposed strategy.

Relationship between structural and functional changes in glaucomatous eyes: A multifocal electroretinogram study

Background: The nasal to temporal amplitudes ratio (N/T) of multifocal electroretinography (mfERG) scans measured within 5° of the macula can be used to detect glaucomatous change. The photopic negative response (PhNR) of mfERG elicited by a circular stimulus centered on the fovea was significantly reduced in eyes with glaucoma. The PhNR to B-wave ratio (PhNR/B) is the optimal measure of the PhNR. However, clinical superiority for evaluating glaucoma patients has not been determined between N/T and PhNR/B yet. Methods: For morphological assessments, ganglion cell complex (GCC) in six regions and the average were measured by optical coherence tomography (OCT). For functional assessment, Humphrey visual fields (VF) with mean sensitivities (MT) and mfERG scans with parameters of N/T and the multifocal photopic negative response to B-wave ratio (mfPhNR/B) were measured. Sixty-nine eyes of forty-four glaucoma patients were included and correlations between mfERG parameters and OCT or VF parameters were evaluated. Results: The mean age of patients was 59.4 years. The mean deviation for all eyes obtained with the VF 30-2 and VF 10-2 was -7.00 and -6.31 dB, respectively. Significant correlations between GCC thickness or VF parameter and the N/T were found, especially in the inferior and inforotemporal retinal areas corresponding to superior and superonasal VF sectors (GCC vs N/T; coefficient = -7.916 and -7.857, and MT vs N/T ; coefficient = -4.302 and -4.437, in the inferior and inforotemporal retinal areas, respectively, all p values < 0.05). However, similar associations were not obtained between mfPhNR/B and OCT or VF parameters. The mfPhNR/B only in the inferotemporal sector was significantly correlated with the average thickness of GCC (coefficient = 4.823, P = 0.012). Conclusions: The N/T is better parameter than PhNR/B for the assessment of glaucomatous eyes in the current study’s measurement conditions. A future study modifying the stimuli and amplitudes to obtain the spatial correspondence to OCT and VF measurement will be required to evaluate the value of mfERG.

DNA Methylation Clocks and Their Predictive Capacity for Aging Phenotypes and Healthspan

The number of age predictors based on DNA methylation (DNAm) profile is rising due to their potential in predicting healthspan and application in age-related illnesses, such as neurodegenerative diseases. The cumulative assessment of DNAm levels at age-related CpGs (DNAm clock) may reflect biological aging. Such DNAm clocks have been developed using various training models and could mirror different aspects of disease/aging mechanisms. Hence, evaluating several DNAm clocks together may be the most effective strategy in capturing the complexity of the aging process. However, various confounders may influence the outcome of these age predictors, including genetic and environmental factors, as well as technical differences in the selected DNAm arrays. These factors should be taken into consideration when interpreting DNAm clock predictions. In the current review, we discuss 15 reported DNAm clocks with consideration for their utility in investigating neurodegenerative diseases and suggest research directions towards developing a more optimal measure for biological aging.