Real-world results of the Zeiss selective laser trabeculoplasty in adult South African primary open-angle glaucoma patients.

Background: Selective laser trabeculoplasty (SLT) is an effective long-term option for the treatment of open-angle glaucoma.

Objectives: To investigate the real-world efficacy and safety of SLT with the Zeiss VISULAS green laser in medically treated primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG).

Design: Retrospective, single-center study.

Bioinspired self-healing nickel coating.

We present a study of self-healing mechanisms including their kinetics and thermodynamics in nickel coatings. The bioinspired self-healing coating is designed to enhance the durability of structural metal components exposed to harsh conditions. Microcapsules, reminiscent of natural healing reservoirs, were synthesized polymerization in an oil-in-water emulsion to encapsulate linseed oil, a healing agent, within poly(urea-formaldehyde) (PUF) shells.

Development of a Rhizobium Seed Coating to Establish Lupine Species on Degraded Rangelands.

Restoring native plant species on degraded landscapes is challenging. Symbiotic partners in the plant rhizosphere can aid in nutrient acquisition, pathogen protection, stress tolerance, and many other processes. However, these microbes are often absent in altered landscapes and need to be re-integrated to improve restoration efforts.

Factors influencing migration of short-finned eels (Anguilla australis) over 3 years from a wetland system, Lake Condah, south-east Australia, downstream to the sea.

Anguillid eel populations are under threat globally. A particularly vulnerable life-cycle stage is the migration of mature adult eels downstream from freshwater habitats through estuaries into the sea to spawn. This study investigated the factors associated with downstream migration of the short-finned eel Anguilla australis (Richardson 1841) from a coastal wetland (Lake Condah) in south-east Australia, using acoustic telemetry.

Estimating the health impact of nicotine exposure by dissecting the effects of nicotine versus non-nicotine constituents of tobacco smoke: A multivariable Mendelian randomisation study.

The detrimental health effects of smoking are well-known, but the impact of regular nicotine use without exposure to the other constituents of tobacco is less clear. Given the increasing daily use of alternative nicotine delivery systems, such as e-cigarettes, it is increasingly important to understand and separate the effects of nicotine use from the impact of tobacco smoke exposure. Using a multivariable Mendelian randomisation framework, we explored the direct effects of nicotine compared with the non-nicotine constituents of tobacco smoke on health outcomes (lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD], forced expiratory volume in one second [FEV-1], forced vital capacity [FVC], coronary heart disease [CHD], and heart rate [HR]).

Design of Pectin-Based Hydrogel Microspheres for Targeted Pulmonary Delivery.

Pulmonary drug delivery via microspheres has gained growing interest as a noninvasive method for therapy. However, drug delivery through the lungs via inhalation faces great challenges due to the natural defense mechanisms of the respiratory tract, such as the removal or deactivation of drugs. This study aims to develop a natural polymer-based microsphere system with a diameter of around 3 μm for encapsulating pulmonary drugs and facilitating their delivery to the deep lungs.

Reductions in home-range size and social interactions among dehorned black rhinoceroses ().

Poaching for horns and tusks is driving declines of megaherbivores worldwide, including the critically endangered African black rhinoceros (). By proactively dehorning entire rhinoceros populations, conservationists aim to deter poaching and prevent species loss. However, such conservation interventions may have hidden and underestimated effects on animals' behavior and ecology.

Methadone Induction for a Patient With Precipitated Withdrawal in the Emergency Department: A Case Report.

In the era of illicit fentanyl, reports on difficulties with buprenorphine inductions for patients with opioid use disorder are emerging. Methadone is the only other approved medication treatment with efficacy similar to buprenorphine but without risks of precipitated withdrawal. Unfortunately, outpatient methadone inductions can take days to weeks to complete, due in part to regulations that limit administration to opioid treatment programs.

Female scent accelerates growth of juvenile male mice.

Exposing female house mice (Mus musculus) to male urinary scent accelerates their sexual development (Vandenbergh effect). Here, we tested whether exposing juvenile male mice to females' urine similarly influences male growth and size of their sexual organs. We exposed three-week old male house mice to female urine or water (control) for ca.

Implementation of indication-based antibiotic order sentences improves antibiotic use in emergency departments.

Introduction: Prior data have suggested that suboptimal antibiotic prescribing in the emergency department (ED) is common for uncomplicated lower respiratory tract infections (LRTI), urinary tract infections (UTI), and acute bacterial skin and skin structure infections (ABSSSI). The objective of this study was to measure the effect of indication-based antibiotic order sentences (AOS) on optimal antibiotic prescribing in the ED.

Methods: This was an IRB-approved quasi-experiment of adults prescribed antibiotics in EDs for uncomplicated LRTI, UTI, or ABSSSI from January to June 2019 (pre-implementation) and September to December 2021 (post-implementation).

Bayesian network analysis of panomic biological big data identifies the importance of triglyceride-rich LDL in atherosclerosis development.

Introduction: We sought to explore biomarkers of coronary atherosclerosis in an unbiased fashion.

Methods: We analyzed 665 patients (mean ± SD age, 56 ± 11 years; 47% male) from the GLOBAL clinical study (NCT01738828). Cases were defined by the presence of any discernable atherosclerotic plaque based on comprehensive cardiac computed tomography (CT).

Characterization of ambient polychlorinated biphenyl background conditions in surface waters of the Pajarito Plateau, New Mexico.

This study presents the development of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) background threshold values (BTVs) that statistically characterize ambient background conditions for surface waters in undeveloped and developed landscapes of the Pajarito Plateau in the Rio Grande Basin of New Mexico. Between 2009 and 2018, surface water data were collected at 45 locations under a variety of flow conditions and regimes. A total of 163 samples were collected, with roughly 1/3 of samples and locations being in undeveloped areas (n = 53 from 17 locations), and the remainder being in developed areas (n = 110 from 28 locations).

Experimental Validation and Evaluation of the Bending Properties of Additively Manufactured Metallic Cellular Scaffold Structures for Bone Tissue Engineering.

The availability of additive manufacturing enables the fabrication of cellular bone tissue engineering scaffolds with a wide range of structural and architectural possibilities. The purpose of bone tissue engineering scaffolds is to repair critical size bone defects due to extreme traumas, tumors, or infections. This research study presented the experimental validation and evaluation of the bending properties of optimized bone scaffolds with an elastic modulus that is equivalent to the young's modulus of the cortical bone.

Design and Validation of Additively Manufactured Metallic Cellular Scaffold Structures for Bone Tissue Engineering.

Bone-related defects that cannot heal without significant surgical intervention represent a significant challenge in the orthopedic field. The use of implants for these critical-sized bone defects is being explored to address the limitations of autograft and allograft options. Three-dimensional cellular structures, or bone scaffolds, provide mechanical support and promote bone tissue formation by acting as a template for bone growth.

First tracking of the oceanic spawning migrations of Australasian short-finned eels (Anguilla australis).

Anguillid eel populations have declined dramatically over the last 50 years in many regions of the world, and numerous species are now under threat. A critical life-history phase is migration from freshwater to distant oceans, culminating in a single life-time spawning event. For many anguillids, especially those in the southern hemisphere, mystery still shrouds their oceanic spawning migrations.

Outcomes of clinical decision support for outpatient management of infection.

Objective: To determine the impact of clinical decision support on guideline-concordant infection (CDI) treatment.

Design: Quasi-experimental study in >50 ambulatory clinics.

Setting: Primary, specialty, and urgent-care clinics.

A Dissociative Framework for Understanding Same-Different Conceptualization.

Cognitive, comparative, and developmental psychologists have long been interested in humans' and animals' ability to respond to abstract relations. Cross-species research has used relational matching-to-sample (RMTS) tasks in which participants try to find stimulus pairs that "match" because they express the same abstract relation (same or different). Researchers seek to understand the cognitive processes that underlie successful matching, and the cognitive constraints that create species differences in these tasks.

Exploring Explicit Learning Strategies: A Dissociative Framework for Research.

To explain learning, comparative researchers invoke an associative construct by which immediate reinforcement strengthens animal's adaptive responses. In contrast, cognitive researchers freely acknowledge humans' explicit-learning capability to test and confirm hypotheses even lacking direct reinforcement. We describe a new dissociative framework that may stretch animals' learning toward the explicit pole of cognition.

Conceptual anchoring dissociates implicit and explicit category learning.

Categorization researchers have long debated the possibility of multiple category-learning systems. The need persists for paradigms that dissociate explicit-declarative category-learning processes (featuring verbalizable category rules) from implicit-procedural processes (featuring stimulus-response associations lying beneath declarative cognition). The authors contribute a new paradigm, using perfectly matched exclusive-or (XOR) category tasks differing only in the availability or absence of easily verbalizable conceptual content.

Witnessed Cardiac Arrest in a Hypothermic Avalanche Victim Completely Buried for 2 Hours.

A 34-y-old skier triggered a wind slab avalanche and was completely buried for over 2 h. After extrication by rescuers, the victim was breathing and conscious. Despite directions from the rescuers against standing up, the victim struggled to free himself and ultimately stood upright before collapsing in cardiac arrest.

Launch! Self-agency as a discriminative cue for humans (Homo sapiens) and monkeys (Macaca Mulatta).

Self-agency is a crucial aspect of self-awareness. It is underresearched given the phenomenon's subjectivity and difficulty of study. It is particularly underresearched comparatively, given that animals cannot receive agency instructions or make agency declarations.

The Cognitive Architecture of Uncertainty.

The authors consider theory in the animal-metacognition literature. Theoretical interpretation was long dominated by associative descriptions, as illustrated in the 2009 special issue. We suggest that this approach risks a self-limiting understanding of animal mind, and an imprecise understanding of the cognitive requirements inherent in metacognition tasks.