פרסומים

The gold-standard treatment for childhood amblyopia remains patching or penalizing the fellow eye, resulting in an average of about a one line (0.1 logMAR) improvement in visual acuity following ≈120 h of patching in children 3–8 years old. However, compliance with patching and other treatment options is often poor. In contrast, fast-paced action video games can be highly engaging, and have been shown to yield broad-based improvements in vision and attention in adult amblyopia. Here, we pilot-tested a custom-made action video game to treat children with amblyopia. Twenty-one (n = 21) children (mean age 9.95 ± 3.14 [se]) with unilateral amblyopia (n = 12 anisometropic and n = 9 strabismic) completed 20 h of game play either monocularly, with the fellow eye patched (n = 11), or dichoptically, with reduced contrast to the fellow eye (n = 10). Participants were assessed for visual acuity (VA), stereo acuity and reading speed at baseline, and following 10 and 20 h of play. Additional exploratory analyses examined improvements after 6–10 weeks of completion of training (follow-up). Following 20 h of training, VA improved, on average, by 0.14 logMAR (≈38%) for the dichoptic group and by 0.06 logMAR (≈15%) for the monocular group. Similarly, stereoacuity improved by 0.07 log arcsec (≈17%) following dichoptic training, and by 0.06 log arcsec (≈15%) following monocular training. Across both treatment groups, 7 of the 12 individuals with anisometropic amblyopia showed improvement in stereoacuity, whereas only 1 of the 9 strabismic individuals improved. Most improvements were largely retained at follow-up. Our feasibility study therefore suggests that the action video game approach may be used as an effective adjunct treatment for amblyopia in children, achieving results similar to those of the gold-standard treatment in shorter duration.

Seminal roots constitute the initial wheat root system and provide the main route for water absorption during early stages of development. Seminal root number (SRN) varies among species. However, the mechanisms through which SRN is controlled and in turn contribute to environmental adaptation are poorly understood. Here, we show that SRN increased upon wheat domestication from 3 to 5 due to the activation of 2 root primordia that are suppressed in wild wheat, a trait controlled by loci expressed in the germinating embryo. Suppression of root primordia did not limit water uptake, indicating that 3 seminal roots is adequate to maintain growth during seedling development. The persistence of roots at their primordial state promoted seedling recovery from water stress through reactivation of suppressed primordia upon rehydration. Our findings suggest that under well-watered conditions, SRN is not a limiting factor, and excessive number of roots may be costly and maladaptive. Following water stress, lack of substantial root system suppresses growth and rapid recovery of the root system is essential for seedling recovery. This study underscores SRN as key adaptive trait that was reshaped upon domestication. The maintenance of roots at their primordial state during seedling development may be regarded as seedling protective mechanism against water stress.

Seminal roots constitute the initial wheat root system and provide the main route for water absorption during early stages of development. Seminal root number (SRN) varies among species. However, the mechanisms through which SRN is controlled and in turn contribute to environmental adaptation are poorly understood. Here, we show that SRN increased upon wheat domestication from 3 to 5 due to the activation of 2 root primordia that are suppressed in wild wheat, a trait controlled by loci expressed in the germinating embryo. Suppression of root primordia did not limit water uptake, indicating that 3 seminal roots is adequate to maintain growth during seedling development. The persistence of roots at their primordial state promoted seedling recovery from water stress through reactivation of suppressed primordia upon rehydration. Our findings suggest that under well-watered conditions, SRN is not a limiting factor, and excessive number of roots may be costly and maladaptive. Following water stress, lack of substantial root system suppresses growth and rapid recovery of the root system is essential for seedling recovery. This study underscores SRN as key adaptive trait that was reshaped upon domestication. The maintenance of roots at their primordial state during seedling development may be regarded as seedling protective mechanism against water stress.

A pulsed high energy and narrow bandwidth tunable Tm:YLF laser at the milli-Joule level is demonstrated. The spectral bandwidth was narrowed down to 0.15 nm FWHM, while 33 nm of tunability range between 1873 nm and 1906 nm was achieved using a pair of YAG Etalons. The laser was actively Q-switched using an acousto-optic modulator and mJ level pulse energy was measured along the whole tuning range at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. Up to 1.97 mJ of energy per pulse was achieved at a pulse duration of 37 ns at a wavelength of 1879 nm, corresponding to a peak-power of 53.2 kW and at a slope efficiency of 36 &\#x00025;. The combination of both high energy pulsed lasing and spectral tunability, while maintaining narrow bandwidth across the whole tunability range, enhances the laser abilities, which could enable new applications in the sensing, medical and material processing fields.

Treating M. abscessus infection is challenging due to the potent β-lactamase Bla Mab (Beta-lactamase of M. abscessus ) . Avibactam is a non-β-lactam, β-lactamase inhibitor shown to inhibit Bla Mab . We tested whether avibactem can render piperacillin effective against M. Abscessus. In-vitro, avibactam enhanced the activity of piperacillin by 16-32 fold, with no significant effect on meropenem. In an in-vivo Galleria mellonella model, meropenem and piperacillin/avibactam significantly decreased infection burden compared to untreated controls. Neither piperacillin nor avibactam alone had a significant effect.

A sol, aqueous solution-based ink is presented for fabrication of 3D transparent silica glass objects with complex geometries, by a simple 3D printing process conducted at room temperature. The ink combines a hybrid ceramic precursor that can undergo both the photopolymerization reaction and a sol-gel process, both in the solution form, without any particles. The printing is conducted by localized photopolymerization with the use of a low-cost 3D printer. Following printing, upon aging and densifying, the resulting objects convert from a gel to a xerogel and then to a fused silica. The printed objects, which are composed of fused silica, are transparent and have tunable density and refractive indices.

This paper characterizes the preferences over bounded infinite utility streams that satisfy the time-value of money principle and an additivity property, and preferences that in addition are impatient. Based on this characterization, the paper introduces a concept of optimization that is robust to a small imprecision in the specification of the preference, and proves that the set of feasible streams of payoffs of a finite Markov decision process admits such a robust optimization.

Summary Sensitization is a simple form of behavioral plasticity by which an initial stimulus, often signaling danger, leads to increased responsiveness to subsequent stimuli. Cross-modal sensitization is an important feature of arousal in many organisms, yet its molecular and neural mechanisms are incompletely understood. Here we show that in C. elegans, aversive mechanical stimuli lead to both enhanced locomotor activity and sensitization of aversive chemosensory pathways. Both locomotor arousal and cross-modal sensitization depend on the release of FLP-20 neuropeptides from primary mechanosensory neurons and on their receptor FRPR-3. Surprisingly, the critical site of action of FRPR-3 for both sensory and locomotor arousal is RID, a single neuroendocrine cell specialized for the release of neuropeptides that responds to mechanical stimuli in a FLP-20-dependent manner. Thus, FLP-20 peptides function as an afferent arousal signal that conveys mechanosensory information to central neurons that modulate arousal and other behavioral states.

Aflatoxins are poisonous byproducts of the soilborne fungus Aspergillus, involved in the decomposition of plant materials. Aflatoxins can be found in various food products, such as maize, sorghum, millet, rice and wheat. AFB1 is the most toxic of these, classified as a carcinogen and mutagen for both humans and animals. AFB1 has been detected in human cord blood and placenta; however, its toxic effect on sperm is less known. The current study examines sperm responses associated with AFB1 exposure. These included acrosome integrity and function, mitochondrial polarity, DNA fragmentation, fertilization competence and early embryonic development. Spermatozoa were obtained from bull ejaculate and epididymis and capacitated in vitro for 4h with 0, 0.1, 1, 10 and 100μM AFB1. Following capacitation, acrosome reaction (AR) was induced by Ca2+ ionophore. The integrity and functionality of sperm were examined simultaneously by florescent staining. A Halosperm DNA fragmentation kit was used to evaluate DNA integrity. An in-vitro culture system was used to evaluate fertilization competence and blastocyst formation rate, using bovine oocytes. Findings indicate dose-responsive variation among compartments to AFB1 exposure. Sperm viability, expressed by integrity of the plasma membrane, was lower in sperm isolated from ejaculate or epididymis after culturing with AFB1. Exposure to AFB1 reduced the proportion of sperm from the epididymis tail undergoing acrosome reaction induced by Ca2+ ionophore. AFB1 impaired mitochondrial membrane potential (ΔYm) in sperm isolated from ejaculate and the epididymis tail. Exposing ejaculated sperm to AFB1 increased the proportion of sperm with fragmented DNA and reduced the proportion of embryos that cleaved to the 2- to 4-cell stage, 42h postfertilization, however, the proportion of embryos that developed to blastocysts, 7days postfertilization, did not differ among groups. The findings explore the harmful effects of AFB1 on sperm viability, ΔΨm and DNA integrity associated with fertility competence. We postulate that AFB1-induced fragmentation in paternal DNA might have a carryover effect on the quality of developing embryos. Further evaluation for the quality of blastocysts derived from sperm exposed to AFB1 is warranted.

Effect of age and ladostigil treatment (1 mg/kg/day), given for 6 months to 16 month old rats, was investigated on microglial morphology in brain regions associated with control of spatial learning. This was assessed in the Morris water maze (MWM). Microglial morphology was assessed with diaminobenzidine and fluorescent staining with Iba1 and CD11b in these brain regions. Aging did not change the number of microglia in the parietal cortex (PC) or hippocampal CA1 region (CA1-HC), but decreased microglial process tips in the CA1-HC, increased the area fraction stained by CD11b and number of bulbs on processes in PC and CA1-HC and thickness of microglial processes in corpus callosum (CC) and fornix (Fx). Performance in MWM (distance swam to escape platform) was negatively correlated with number of bulbs in PC and thickness of process in CC, and positively correlated with number of process tips in CA1-HC. Aging increased expression of MHC class II genes and others associated with motility and membrane adhesion in the PC and hippocampus, but Adora2a (Adenosine A2a receptor), only in hippocampus. Age-related increase in the number of bulbs and expression of inflammatory genes was prevented by ladostigil in PC. In the CA1-HC, ladostigil increased the number of process tips and prevented the increase in expression of Adora2a and genes regulating ion channels. Ladostigil also decreased thickening of the processes in CC and Fx. The data show brain region-specific relations induced by age in spatial learning, microglial morphology and associated genes and their response to ladostigil treatment. Graphical Abstract.