Assessment of Choriocapillaris Flow Prior to Nascent Geographic Atrophy Development Using Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography.

Purpose: To assess the relationship between choriocapillaris (CC) loss and the development of nascent geographic atrophy (nGA) using optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) imaging. Methods: In total, 105 from 62 participants with bilateral large drusen, without late age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or nGA at baseline, were included in this prospective, longitudinal, observational study. Participants underwent swept-source OCTA imaging at 6-month intervals. CC flow deficit percentage (FD%) and drusen volume measurements were determined for the visit prior to nGA development or the second-to-last visit if nGA did not develop. Global and local analyses, the latter based on analyses within superpixels (120 × 120-µm regions), were performed to examine the association between CC FD% and future nGA development. Results: A total of 15 (14%) eyes from 12 (19%) participants developed nGA. There was no significant difference in global CC FD% at the visit prior to nGA development between eyes that developed nGA and those that did not (P = 0.399). In contrast, CC FD% was significantly higher in superpixels that subsequently developed nGA compared to those that did not (P < 0.001), and a model utilizing CC FD% was significantly better at predicting foci of future nGA development at the superpixel level than a model using drusen volume alone (P ≤ 0.040). Conclusions: This study showed that significant impairments in CC blood flow could be detected locally prior to the development of nGA. These findings add to our understanding of the pathophysiologic changes that occur with atrophy development in AMD.

Assessment of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease Symptoms and Gut-Liver Axis Status in Zebrafish after Exposure to Polystyrene Microplastics and Oxytetracycline, Alone and in Combination.

BACKGROUND: Environmental pollution may give rise to the incidence and progression of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), the most common cause for chronic severe liver lesions. Although knowledge of NAFLD pathogenesis is particularly important for the development of effective prevention, the relationship between NAFLD occurrence and exposure to emerging pollutants, such as microplastics (MPs) and antibiotic residues, awaits assessment. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to evaluate the toxicity of MPs and antibiotic residues related to NAFLD occurrence using the zebrafish model species. METHODS: Taking common polystyrene MPs and oxytetracycline (OTC) as representatives, typical NAFLD symptoms, including lipid accumulation, liver inflammation, and hepatic oxidative stress, were screened after 28-d exposure to environmentally realistic concentrations of MPs (0.69mg/L) and antibiotic residue (3.00µg/L). The impacts of MPs and OTC on gut health, the gut-liver axis, and hepatic lipid metabolism were also investigated to reveal potential affecting mechanisms underpinning the NAFLD symptoms observed. RESULTS: Compared with the control fish, zebrafish exposed to MPs and OTC exhibited significantly higher levels of lipid accumulation, triglycerides, and cholesterol contents, as well as inflammation, in conjunction with oxidative stress in their livers. In addition, a markedly smaller proportion of Proteobacteria and higher ratios of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes were detected by microbiome analysis of gut contents in treated samples. After the exposures, the zebrafish also experienced intestinal oxidative injury and yielded significantly fewer numbers of goblet cells. Markedly higher levels of the intestinal bacteria-sourced endotoxin lipopolysaccharide (LPS) were also detected in serum. Animals treated with MPs and OTC exhibited higher expression levels of LPS binding receptor (LBP) and downstream inflammation-related genes while also exhibiting lower activity and gene expression of lipase. Furthermore, MP-OTC coexposure generally exerted more severe effects compared with single MP or OTC exposure. DISCUSSION: Our results suggested that exposure to MPs and OTC may disrupt the gut-liver axis and be associated with NAFLD occurrence. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP11600.

Psychometric Evaluation of Glaucoma Quality of Life Item Banks (GlauCAT) and Initial Assessment Using Computerized Adaptive Testing.

Purpose: To evaluate the psychometric properties of glaucoma-specific quality of life (QoL) item banks (GlauCAT) and assess their performance using computerized adaptive testing (CAT) simulations. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 293 participants with glaucoma (mean age ± SD, 70.7 ± 13.2 years; 45% female) answered 342 items in 12 QoL item banks (IBs): Activity Limitation (AL); Driving (DV); Convenience (CV); Economic (EC); Emotional (EM); General Symptoms (GS); Health Concerns (HC); Lighting (LT); Mobility (MB); Ocular Surface Symptoms (OS); Social (SC); and Visual Symptoms (VS). These IBs were assessed using Rasch analysis, and CAT simulations with 1000 simulated respondents were utilized to determine the average number of items to be administered to achieve moderate and high precision levels. Results: The AL, DV, EM, HC, LT, MB, EC, OS, SC, and VS IBs required relatively minor amendments to achieve satisfactory psychometric fit. To resolve multidimensionality, we split CV into Treatment Convenience (TCV) and General Convenience (GCV). Due to poor measurement precision, the GS IB was not pursued further. This resulted in 12 total IBs. In CAT simulations, an average of 3.7 and 7.3 items per IB were required to attain measurement at moderate and high precision, respectively. Conclusions: Following rigorous psychometric assessment, we developed 12 valid glaucoma-specific QoL domains that can obtain highly precise person measure estimates using a small number of items. Translational Relevance: GlauCAT will enable researchers and clinicians to quickly and comprehensively assess the impact of glaucoma and its associated interventions across a range of QoL domains.

Dermal exposure assessment to trinexapac-ethyl: a case study of workers in golf course in Hawaii, USA.

Trinexapac-ethyl (TE) was more widely used in golf course worldwide. As a plant growth regulator, it inhibited grass development and delayed grass cutting date. Direct contact with TE by workers that handle and apply these agents can lead to harmful effects depending on the exposure dosage and duration. Many studies have focused on the growth regulation of TE in plants, while its health risks to human beings were rarely reported. Here, we investigated the risk assessment of workers directly dermal exposed to TE by using some absorbent paper patches. The exposure intensity (EI) and potential dermal exposure (PDE) of worker body sections were obtained, and different exposure patterns were compared. The EI of each body section among mixing/loading, hand-held power sprayer, and manual sprayer workers was ranging from 7.22 to 73.0 pg cm-2. The maximum EI of TE was found on hands of manual sprayers, while the minimum EI of TE was recorded on upper arms of mixing and loading workers. The maximum contribution sections was 29% for the chest and back from mixing/loading workers, 40% for the chest and back from hand-held power sprayers, and 32% for the thigh from manual sprayers. The unit weight potential dermal exposure (UWPDE) of hand-held power sprayers was 60% lower than that of manual sprayers, indicating that hand-held power sprayers were safer than those of manual sprayers. These findings revealed that trinexapac-ethyl posed relatively higher exposure risks to manual sprayer workers than other operator workers in golf course, mainly responsible for body sections of the chest and back and thigh.

Regional innovation distribution and its dynamic evolution: Policy impact and spillover effect-Based on the perspective of innovation motivation.

This study aims to explore the direct effect and spillover effect of innovation policy in the distribution and dynamic evolution of the regional innovation from the perspective of innovation motivation using the spatial econometric model. Substantive innovation and strategic innovation in one region could affect innovation in another region. In addition, the direct effect and spatial spillover effect of innovation policy could significantly affect innovation; however, they exert a higher impact on substantive innovation. Considering different policy tools, we found that government subsidies exert a significant positive impact on substantive innovation and strategic innovation, whereas financial institution loans exert a significant negative impact on substantive innovation and strategic innovation. And for the impact range, the government subsidies are higher than that of financial institution loans. Furthermore, this study reveals the leading environmental factors affecting regional innovation and provide a policy basis to promote the construction of an innovation-oriented country.

Innovative sludge pretreatment technology for impurity separation using micromesh.

In order to reduce the impacts on sludge treatment facilities caused by impurities such as fibers, hairs, plastic debris, and coarse sand, an innovative primary sludge pretreatment technology, sludge impurity separator (SIS), was proposed in this study. Non-woven micromesh with pore size of 0.40 mm was used to remove the impurities from primary sludge. Results of lab-scale tests showed that impurity concentration, aeration intensity, and channel gap were the key operation parameters, of which the optimized values were below 25 g/L, 0.8 m3/(m2 min), and 2.5 cm, respectively. In the full-scale SIS with treatment capacity of 300 m3/day, over 88% of impurities could be removed from influent and the cleaning cycle of micromesh was more than 16 days. Economic analysis revealed that the average energy consumption was 1.06 kWh/m3 treated sludge and operation cost was 0.6 yuan/m3 treated sludge.

Cost-effective Chlorella biomass production from dilute wastewater using a novel photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC).

While microalgae have been suggested as a promising substitute to conventional fossil fuels, their cost effective cultivation and harvesting constitutes a major challenge. In the work described here, a novel photosynthetic microbial fuel cell (PMFC) in which a stainless steel mesh with biofilm formed on it serves as both the cathode and filtration material has been developed. Results of this study reveal that, in addition to inducing oxygen reduction reactions under illumination, the biocathode is effective in preventing the washout of algae during continuous operation, resulting in retained biomass concentrations reaching 3.5-6.5 g L-1. The maximum output current density reached ∼200 mA m-2 under irradiation, which is comparable with recent PMFC studies. Microbial diversity analyses targeting 16S and 18S rRNA genes indicated that the eukaryotic species belonging to the genus Chlorella was able to sustain its community dominance (>96%) over other competing species over the course of the studies. In the absence of catalysts such as Pt, a consortium of photosynthetic organisms including plant growth-promoting bacteria such as Azospirillum and Rhizobium were overrepresented in the biofilm, with these organisms most likely contributing to cathodic electron transfer. Energy flow analysis suggested that the PMFC system held the potential to achieve theoretical energy balance in simultaneous algae production and wastewater treatment.