Notes

May the final results of Biodiversity-Ecosystem Efficiency Scientific studies Become Translated in order to Bioenergy Production?
ntify children with hypertension, providing new insights into potential mechanisms of pediatric hypertension.
The untargeted metabolomics approach effectively identified the differential serum metabolite profile in children with and without hypertension. Notably, two metabolites including ethanolamine and 2-methyl-3-hydroxy-5-formylpyridine-4-carboxylate exhibited a good discriminative ability to identify children with hypertension, providing new insights into potential mechanisms of pediatric hypertension.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is a progressive loss of the kidney function which leads to a decreased kidneys' ability to process waste in the blood and it affects the other important functions of the kidney. The disease has different stages that can alter the health status of individuals. During the early stages, patients may present with a normal or slight decrease in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and albuminuria. Later, it progresses and leads to end-stage renal disease (ESRD) or kidney failure. Hypertension is considered as the major contributing risk factor of CKD.

This study was aimed to assess the prevalence and associated factors of chronic kidney disease among adult hypertensive patients in referral hospitals of the Northwest Ethiopia.

An institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 581 adult hypertensive patients in a chronic follow-up clinic in referral hospitals, Northwest Ethiopia, from July to August 2020. Systematic random sampling was used to select the study participantthan 10 years, and diastolic blood pressure greater than 90 mmHg are factors associated with the occurrence of chronic kidney disease among hypertensive patients.
In this study, the prevalence of CKD among hypertensive patients found was 17.6%. Regarding associated factors, dyslipidemia, proteinuria, comorbid disease, serum creatinine greater than 0.9 mg/dl, duration of hypertension greater than 10 years, and diastolic blood pressure greater than 90 mmHg are factors associated with the occurrence of chronic kidney disease among hypertensive patients.
To review the current literature on retinal displacement and provide a discussion of potential risk factors, postoperative outcomes, and future directions.

Two databases, MEDLINE and EMBASE, were mined using a directed search strategy to identify all articles on retinal displacement.

We identified 1522 articles. A total of
 = 14 articles were retained. We provide an overview on the potential influence of surgical type (
 = 4), tamponade agents (
 = 5), postoperative posture (
 = 6), and preoperative retinal status (
 = 5) on incidence of retinal displacement and visual outcomes (
 = 8).
. Pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with gas tamponade is associated with displacement rates of up to 72%, typically in a downward direction. Meanwhile, pneumatic retinopexy and PPV with silicone oil may offer similar surgical success with a significantly lower risk of displacement. The impact of heavy liquids such as perfluorocarbon liquid, postoperative positioning and preoperative extent of detachment on displacement remains inconclusive. Patients with displacement had a significantly lower visual acuity and higher rates of distortion than those without displacement. However, not all patients with displacement experienced visual symptoms.

Retinal displacement is a new concept in our understanding of retinal detachment. Additional studies are needed to better define its impact on postsurgical outcomes.
Retinal displacement is a new concept in our understanding of retinal detachment. Additional studies are needed to better define its impact on postsurgical outcomes.
Dry eye disease (DED) is a multifactorial and one of the most common problems treated in an ophthalmic outpatient clinic. Due to the variability in presentation, diagnosis of DED consists of a combination of subjective and objective clinical tests. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of a handheld smartphone-based infrared thermal (IRT) camera for screening symptomatic evaporative DED.

This observational sex-matched control study assessed IRT images of 184 right eyes (46 normal and 138 DED) of 184 participants. Evaporative DED was assessed using noninvasive tear breakup time, fluorescein staining, and the Chinese version of the ocular surface disease index (C-OSDI) questionnaire and categorized into their respective dry eye symptomology group (none, mild, moderate, or severe). The ocular surface temperature (OST) at 8 anatomical regions of interest (ROI) (nasal conjunctiva, nasal limbus, nasal cornea, central cornea, inferior cornea, temporal limbus, temporal cornea, and temporal conenience experienced during conventional tests.
Rather than a diagnostic tool, handheld smartphone-based IRT images can be considered as a rapid, noninvasive, and hygienic screening tool in discriminating DED and non-DED and potentially alleviating inconvenience experienced during conventional tests.
To assess one year results and stability of the implantation of a scleral anchored intraocular lens (IOL).

Interventional prospective case series.

Sixty eyes of 60 patients affected by either aphakia or IOL dislocation were included in this study. Patients underwent vitrectomy, scleral fixation of the IOL, and, if present, dislocated IOL removal. Patients were evaluated preoperatively and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months after surgery by best-corrected distance visual acuity (BCVA) assessment, intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement, corneal specular microscopy, and optical coherence tomography (OCT) of both the macula and anterior segment.

At twelve months, mean BCVA significantly improved (
< 0.0001), and none of the patients experienced a decrease of visual acuity. A 10% decrease of endothelial cell count occurred after surgery. Cystoid macular edema occurred in three patients (5%). A transient increase of intraocular pressure was noted in 7 cases (12%). At one month, horizontal and vertical IOL tilt was 1.04 ± 0.87 and 0.74 ± 0.71 degrees, respectively, and did not significantly change in the follow-up (
> 0.05). None of the patients had decentration or dislocation of scleral-fixated IOL during the follow-up.

Implantations of scleral plug fixated IOL provide good visual results, low complication rate, and excellent stability of the lens until one-year follow-up.
Implantations of scleral plug fixated IOL provide good visual results, low complication rate, and excellent stability of the lens until one-year follow-up.This paper describes the development and initial psychometric testing of the baseline Spirituality Survey (SS-1) from the Study on Stress, Spirituality, and Health (SSSH) which contained a mixture of items selected from validated existing scales and new items generated to measure important constructs not captured by existing instruments. The purpose was to establish the validity of new and existing measures in our racially/ethnically diverse sample. Psychometric properties of the SS-1 were evaluated using standard psychometric analyses in 4,634 SSSH participants. Predictive validity of SS-1 scales was assessed in relation to the physical and mental health component scores from the Short-Form 12 Health Survey (SF-12). Scales exhibited adequate to strong psychometric properties and demonstrated construct and predictive validity. Overall, the correlational findings provide solid evidence that the SS-1 scales are associated with a wide range of relevant R/S attitudes, mental health, and to a lesser degree physical health.
It is unknown whether placement of a chest port (port) and a gastrostomy tube (G-tube) in a single session increases the risk of the early device infections in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) undergoing chemoradiation.

To compare the incidence of early (≤30days) port and G-tube infections placed in a single session compared to two separate sessions in patients with HNC.

Between January 2012 and December 2019, 169 patients with HNC undergoing chemoradiation had a port and a G-tube placed in a single session (single-session group), while 25 had both devices placed in two separate sessions (two-session group) within 30days of each other. The incidence of early device infections was compared between groups. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine if the number of sessions was a variable affecting device infections.

A total of 6 (3%) early port infections and 13 (6.7%) early G-tube infections were identified. The two groups did not significantly differ in the incidence of early port infections (3.0%, 5/169 and 4.0%, 1/25,
= 0.59) nor early G-tube infections (7.1%, 12/169 and 4.0%, 1/25,
= 1.0). The number of sessions for device placement was not a variable affecting overall device infections in logistic regression analyses (odds ratio 1.24, 95% confidence interval 0.20-7.82,
= 0.82) after controlling for potential confounding variables.

The risk of early device infections in single-session placement appeared to be the same as two-session placement in patients with HNC undergoing chemoradiation.
The risk of early device infections in single-session placement appeared to be the same as two-session placement in patients with HNC undergoing chemoradiation.Predictive processing approaches to brain function are increasingly delivering promise for illuminating the computational underpinnings of a wide range of phenomenological states. It remains unclear, however, whether predictive processing is equipped to accommodate a theory of consciousness itself. Furthermore, objectors have argued that without specification of the core computational mechanisms of consciousness, predictive processing is unable to inform the attribution of consciousness to other non-human (biological and artificial) systems. In this paper, I argue that an account of consciousness in the predictive brain is within reach via recent accounts of phenomenal self-modelling in the active inference framework. The central claim here is that phenomenal consciousness is underpinned by 'subjective valuation'-a deep inference about the precision or 'predictability' of the self-evidencing ('fitness-promoting') outcomes of action. Based on this account, I argue that this approach can critically inform the distribution of experience in other systems, paying particular attention to the complex sensory attenuation mechanisms associated with deep self-models. I then consider an objection to the account several recent papers argue that theories of consciousness that invoke self-consciousness as constitutive or necessary for consciousness are undermined by states (or traits) of 'selflessness'; in particular the 'totally selfless' states of ego-dissolution occasioned by psychedelic drugs. GDC-0199 Drawing on existing work that accounts for psychedelic-induced ego-dissolution in the active inference framework, I argue that these states do not threaten to undermine an active inference theory of consciousness. Instead, these accounts corroborate the view that subjective valuation is the constitutive facet of experience, and they highlight the potential of psychedelic research to inform consciousness science, computational psychiatry and computational phenomenology.
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