Acceptability of Home Monitoring for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration Reactivation: A Qualitative Study.

This study formed part of a diagnostic test accuracy study to quantify the ability of three index home monitoring (HM) tests (one paper-based and two digital tests) to identify reactivation in Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). The aim of the study was to investigate views about acceptability and explore adherence to weekly HM. Semi-structured interviews were held with 98 patients, family members, and healthcare professionals.

Home-monitoring for neovascular age-related macular degeneration in older adults within the UK: the MONARCH diagnostic accuracy study.

Background: Most neovascular age-related macular degeneration treatments involve long-term follow-up of disease activity. Home monitoring would reduce the burden on patients and those they depend on for transport, and release clinic appointments for other patients. The study aimed to evaluate three home-monitoring tests for patients to use to detect active neovascular age-related macular degeneration compared with diagnosing active neovascular age-related macular degeneration by hospital follow-up.

Home-Monitoring Vision Tests to Detect Active Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration.

Importance: Most neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) treatments involve long-term follow-up of disease activity. Home-monitoring would reduce the burden on patients and their caregivers and release clinic capacity.

Objective: To evaluate 3 vision home-monitoring tests for patients to use to detect active nAMD compared with diagnosing active nAMD at hospital follow-up during the after-treatment monitoring phase.

Descriptive study of the challenges when implementing an app for patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration to monitor their vision at home.

Objectives: Remote monitoring of health has the potential to reduce the burden to patients of face-to-face appointments and make healthcare more efficient. Apps are available for patients to self-monitor vision at home, for example, to detect reactivation of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Describing the challenges when implementing apps for self-monitoring of vision at home was an objective of the MONARCH study to evaluate two vision-monitoring apps on an iPod Touch (Multibit and MyVisionTrack).

Structural dissection of two redox proteins from the shipworm symbiont Teredinibacter turnerae.

The discovery of lytic polysaccharide monooxygenases (LPMOs), a family of copper-dependent enzymes that play a major role in polysaccharide degradation, has revealed the importance of oxidoreductases in the biological utilization of biomass. In fungi, a range of redox proteins have been implicated as working in harness with LPMOs to bring about polysaccharide oxidation. In bacteria, less is known about the interplay between redox proteins and LPMOs, or how the interaction between the two contributes to polysaccharide degradation.

Inequalities in Uptake and Use of Digital Applications for Home-Monitoring of Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration in an Elderly Visually Impaired Population: The MONARCH Study.

Purpose: To describe inequalities in the Monitoring for Neovascular Age-related Macular Degeneration Reactivation at Home (MONARCH) diagnostic test accuracy study for: recruitment; participants' ability to self-test; and adherence to testing using digital applications during follow-up.

Methods: Home-monitoring vision tests included two tests implemented as software applications (apps: MyVisionTrack and MultiBit) on an iPod Touch device. Patients were provided with all hardware required to participate (iPod and MIFI device) and trained to use the apps.

Suppressing the rhamnogalacturonan lyase gene FaRGLyase1 preserves RGI pectin degradation and enhances strawberry fruit firmness.

Plant rhamnogalacturonan lyases (RGLyases) cleave the backbone of rhamnogalacturonan I (RGI), the "hairy" pectin and polymer of the disaccharide rhamnose (Rha)-galacturonic acid (GalA) with arabinan, galactan or arabinogalactan side chains. It has been suggested that RGLyases could participate in remodeling cell walls during fruit softening, but clear evidence has not been reported. To investigate the role of RGLyases in strawberry softening, a genome-wide analysis of RGLyase genes in the genus Fragaria was performed.

Restraining Quiescence Release-Related Ageing in Plant Cells: A Case Study in Carrot.

The blackening of cut carrots causes substantial economic losses to the food industry. Blackening was not observed in carrots that had been stored underground for less than a year, but the susceptibility to blackening increased with the age of the carrots that were stored underground for longer periods. Samples of black, border, and orange tissues from processed carrot batons and slices, prepared under industry standard conditions, were analyzed to identify the molecular and metabolic mechanisms underpinning processing-induced blackening.

Home vision monitoring in patients with maculopathy: current and future options for digital technologies.

Patients with macular pathology, including that caused by age-related macular degeneration and diabetic macular oedema, must attend frequent in-clinic monitoring appointments to detect onset of disease activity requiring treatment and to monitor progression of existing disease. In-person clinical monitoring places a significant burden on patients, caregivers and healthcare systems and is limited in that it only provides clinicians with a snapshot of the patient's disease status. The advent of remote monitoring technologies offers the potential for patients to test their own retinal health at home in collaboration with clinicians, reducing the need for in-clinic appointments.

Patient Acceptability of Home Monitoring for Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration Reactivation: A Qualitative Study.

Neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) is a chronic, progressive condition and the commonest cause of visual disability in older adults. This study formed part of a diagnostic test accuracy study to quantify the ability of three index home monitoring (HM) tests (one paper-based and two digital tests) to identify reactivation in nAMD. The aim of this qualitative research was to investigate patients' or participants' views about acceptability and explore adherence to weekly HM.

Measurement of Saccade Parameters in Relation to Adaptation to Homonymous Hemianopia.

Purpose: To report saccade parameters in participants during adaptation to post-stroke homonymous hemianopia.

Methods: In a prospective observational case cohort study, adult stroke survivors with new onset homonymous hemianopia were recruited. Using quantitative measurement, saccade parameters were measured and compared between the hemianopic and non-hemianopic sides.

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Ophthalmic Care: A Qualitative Study of Patients with Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration (nAMD).

Concerns have been expressed about the relationship between reduced levels of health care utilisation and the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to elicit and explore the views of patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) regarding the COVID-19 pandemic and their ophthalmic care. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with thirty-five patients with nAMD taking part in a larger diagnostic accuracy study of home-monitoring tests.

Altered properties and structures of root exudate polysaccharides in a root hairless mutant of barley.

Root exudates and rhizosheaths of attached soil are important features of growing roots. To elucidate factors involved in rhizosheath formation, wild-type (WT) barley (Hordeum vulgare L. cv.

Eye tracking: empirical foundations for a minimal reporting guideline.

In this paper, we present a review of how the various aspects of any study using an eye tracker (such as the instrument, methodology, environment, participant, etc.) affect the quality of the recorded eye-tracking data and the obtained eye-movement and gaze measures. We take this review to represent the empirical foundation for reporting guidelines of any study involving an eye tracker.

Confirmation of age-related alterations in inhibitory control using a modified minimally delayed oculomotor response (MDOR) task.

Considerable effort has been made to measure and understand the effects of ageing on inhibitory control using a range of behavioural tasks. In the minimally delayed oculomotor response (MDOR) task, participants are presented with a simple visual target step with variable target display duration (TDD), and instructed to saccade to the target not when it appears (a prosaccade response), but when it disappears (i.e.

Elucidating the role of polygalacturonase genes in strawberry fruit softening.

To disentangle the role of polygalacturonase (PG) genes in strawberry softening, the two PG genes most expressed in ripe receptacles, FaPG1 and FaPG2, were down-regulated. Transgenic ripe fruits were firmer than those of the wild type when PG genes were silenced individually. Simultaneous silencing of both PG genes by transgene stacking did not result in an additional increase in firmness.

Monoclonal Antibodies, Carbohydrate-Binding Modules, and Detection of Polysaccharides in Cell Walls from Plants and Marine Algae.

Plant and algal cell walls are diverse composites of complex polysaccharides. Molecular probes such as monoclonal antibodies (MABs) and carbohydrate-binding modules (CBMs) are important tools to detect and dissect cell wall structures in these materials. We provide an account of methods that can be used to detect cell wall polysaccharide structures (epitopes) in plant and marine algal materials and also describe treatments that can provide information on the masking of polysaccharides that may prevent detection.

Exploring the Use of Fruit Callus Culture as a Model System to Study Color Development and Cell Wall Remodeling during Strawberry Fruit Ripening.

Cell cultures derived from strawberry fruit at different developmental stages have been obtained to evaluate their potential use to study different aspects of strawberry ripening. Callus from leaf and cortical tissue of unripe-green, white, and mature-red strawberry fruits were induced in a medium supplemented with 11.3 µM 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) under darkness.

Spatial Linear Mixed Effects Modelling for OCT Images: SLME Model.

Much recent research focuses on how to make disease detection more accurate as well as "slimmer", i.e., allowing analysis with smaller datasets.

Cereal root exudates contain highly structurally complex polysaccharides with soil-binding properties.

Rhizosheaths function in plant-soil interactions, and are proposed to form due to a mix of soil particle entanglement in root hairs and the action of adhesive root exudates. The soil-binding factors released into rhizospheres to form rhizosheaths have not been characterised. Analysis of the high-molecular-weight (HMW) root exudates of both wheat and maize plants indicate the presence of complex, highly branched polysaccharide components with a wide range of galactosyl, glucosyl and mannosyl linkages that do not directly reflect cereal root cell wall polysaccharide structures.

Monitoring for neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD) reactivation at home: the MONARCH study.

Aims: This study aims to quantify the diagnostic test-accuracy of three visual function self-monitoring tests for detection of active disease in patients with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) when compared with usual care. An integrated qualitative study will investigate the acceptability of these home-based testing strategies.

Methods: All consenting participants are provided with an equipment pack containing an iPod touch with two vision test applications installed and a paper journal of reading tests.

Pectic galactan affects cell wall architecture during secondary cell wall deposition.

β-(1,4)-galactan determines the interactions between different matrix polysaccharides and cellulose during the cessation of cell elongation. Despite recent advances regarding the role of pectic β-(1,4)-galactan neutral side chains in primary cell wall remodelling during growth and cell elongation, little is known about the specific function of this polymer in other developmental processes. We have used transgenic Arabidopsis plants overproducing chickpea βI-Gal β-galactosidase under the 35S CaMV promoter (35S::βI-Gal) with reduced galactan levels in the basal non-elongating floral stem internodes to gain insight into the role of β-(1,4)-galactan in cell wall architecture during the cessation of elongation and the beginning of secondary growth.

ARABIDOPSIS DEHISCENCE ZONE POLYGALACTURONASE 1 (ADPG1) releases latent defense signals in stems with reduced lignin content.

There is considerable interest in engineering plant cell wall components, particularly lignin, to improve forage quality and biomass properties for processing to fuels and bioproducts. However, modifying lignin content and/or composition in transgenic plants through down-regulation of lignin biosynthetic enzymes can induce expression of defense response genes in the absence of biotic or abiotic stress. lines with altered lignin through down-regulation of hydroxycinnamoyl CoA:shikimate/quinate hydroxycinnamoyl transferase (HCT) or loss of function of cinnamoyl CoA reductase 1 (CCR1) express a suite of pathogenesis-related (PR) protein genes.

Age-related alterations in inhibitory control investigated using the minimally delayed oculomotor response task.

Healthy, older adults are widely reported to experience cognitive decline, including impairments in inhibitory control. However, this general proposition has recently come under scrutiny because ageing effects are highly variable between individuals, are task dependent, and are sometimes not distinguished from general age-related slowing. We recently developed the minimally delayed oculomotor response (MDOR) task in which participants are presented with a simple visual target step, and instructed to saccade not to the target when it appears (a prosaccade response), but when it disappears (i.