Transillumination of iris and subnormal visual acuity--ocular albinism?

PubMed Central

Sjödell, L.; Sjöström, A.; Abrahamsson, M.

1996-01-01

BACKGROUND: A common clinical sign in children with subnormal visual acuity or slow visual development was iris transillumination. This was used as the inclusion criterion in a study of children shown to have a subnormal visual acuity in a general health examination at age 4 years. METHODS: Refraction values, stereopsis, fundus photography, macular and nerve head appearance, and visual evoked response (VER) recordings were studied in 18 children. The clinical results were compared with 64 controls referred to the eye clinic because of subnormal vision from the general health examination or from school health care. RESULTS: Eight children had VERs showing asymmetry typical for albinism. Another four had only small asymmetries on the VER, indicating a lower degree of decussation abnormality. No simple correlation of visual acuity, degree of iris transillumination, stereopsis, or macular pathology and VER asymmetries were found. However, marked iris transillumination in all four quadrants, absence of a foveal reflex, and low visual acuity were weakly correlated. CONCLUSIONS: In a rather homogeneous group of children with iris transillumination and subnormal visual acuity eight of 18 had typical albino VERs. The findings of small atypical VER asymmetries in four children and no asymmetry in six children suggest that albinism may be considered as a description of a heterogeneous group of conditions including maximal decussation rate (100%) in the chiasma to a condition with almost normal (> or = 50%) decussation rate. Images PMID:8795373

Measurement of the temperature increase in the porcine cadaver iris during direct illumination by femtosecond laser pulses

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Hui; Kurtz, Ronald M.; Juhasz, Tibor

2010-02-01

Multiple femtosecond lasers have now been cleared for use for ophthalmic surgery, including for creation of corneal flaps in LASIK surgery. Preliminary measurements indicated that during typical surgical use, 50-60% of laser energy may pass beyond the cornea with potential effects on the iris. To further evaluate iris laser exposure during femtosecond corneal surgery, we measured the temperature increase in porcine cadaver iris in situ during direct illumination by the iFS Advanced Femtoosecond Laser (AMO Inc. Santa Ana, CA) with an infrared thermal imaging camera. To replicate the illumination geometry of the eye during the surgery, an excised porcine cadaver iris was placed 1.5 mm from the flat glass contact lens. The temperature field was observed in twenty cadaver iris at laser pulse energy levels ranging from 1 to 2 μJ (corresponding approximately to surgical energies of 2 to 4 μJ per pulse). Temperature increases up to 2.3 °C (corresponding to 2 μJ per pulse and 24 second procedure time) were observed in the cadaver iris with little variation in temperature profiles between specimens for the same laser energy illumination. For laser pulse energy and procedure time characteristic to the iFS Advanced Femtoosecond Laser the temperature increase was measured to be 1.2 °C. Our studies suggest that the magnitude of iris heating that occurs during such femtosecond laser corneal surgery is small and does not present a safety hazard to the iris.

Stem cells and their role in renal ischaemia reperfusion injury.

PubMed

Bagul, Atul; Frost, Jodie H; Drage, Martin

2013-01-01

Ischaemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) remains one of the leading causes of acute kidney injury (AKI). IRI is an underlying multifactorial pathophysiological process which affects the outcome in both native and transplanted patients. The high morbidity and mortality associated with IRI/AKI and disappointing results from current available clinical therapeutic approaches prompt further research. Stem cells (SC) are undifferentiated cells that can undergo both renewal and differentiation into one or more cell types which can possibly ameliorate IRI. To carry out a detailed literature analysis and construct a comprehensive literature review addressing the role of SC in AKI secondary to IRI. Evidence favouring the role of SC in renal IRI and evidence showing no benefits of SC in renal IRI are the two main aspects to be studied. The search strategy was based on an extensive search addressing MESH terms and free text terms. The majority of studies in the field of renal IRI and stem cell therapy show substantial benefits. Studies were mostly conducted in small animal models, thus underscoring the need for further pre-clinical studies in larger animal models, and results should be taken with caution. SC therapy may be promising though controversy exists in the exact mechanism. Thorough scientific exploration is required to assess mechanism, safety profile, reproducibility and methods to monitor administered SC. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Contribution of Different Anatomical and Physiologic Factors to Iris Contour and Anterior Chamber Angle Changes During Pupil Dilation: Theoretical Analysis

PubMed Central

Jouzdani, Sara; Amini, Rouzbeh; Barocas, Victor H.

2013-01-01

Purpose. To investigate the contribution of three anatomical and physiologic factors (dilator thickness, dynamic pupillary block, and iris compressibility) to changes in iris configuration and anterior chamber angle during pupil dilation. Methods. A mathematical model of the anterior segment based on the average values of ocular dimensions was developed to simulate pupil dilation. To change the pupil diameter from 3.0 to 5.4 mm in 10 seconds, active dilator contraction was applied by imposing stress in the dilator region. Three sets of parameters were varied in the simulations: (1) a thin (4 μm, 1% of full thickness) versus a thick dilator (covering the full thickness iris) to quantify the effects of dilator anatomy, (2) in the presence (+PB) versus absence of pupillary block (−PB) to quantify the effect of dynamic motion of aqueous humor from the posterior to the anterior chamber, and (3) a compressible versus an incompressible iris to quantify the effects of iris volume change. Changes in the apparent iris–lens contact and angle open distance (AOD500) were calculated for each case. Results. The thin case predicted a significant increase (average 700%) in iris curvature compared with the thick case (average 70%), showing that the anatomy of dilator plays an important role in iris deformation during dilation. In the presence of pupillary block (+PB), AOD500 decreased 25% and 36% for the compressible and incompressible iris, respectively. Conclusions. Iris bowing during dilation was driven primarily by posterior location of the dilator muscle and by dynamic pupillary block, but the effect of pupillary block was not as large as that of the dilator anatomy according to the quantified values of AOD500. Incompressibility of the iris, in contrast, had a relatively small effect on iris curvature but a large effect on AOD500; thus, we conclude that all three effects are important. PMID:23482467

Intracellular cytoskeleton and junction proteins of endothelial cells in the porcine iris microvasculature.

PubMed

Yang, Hongfang; Yu, Paula K; Cringle, Stephen J; Sun, Xinghuai; Yu, Dao-Yi

2015-11-01

Recently we reported studies of the iris microvasculature and its endothelial cells using intra-luminal micro-perfusion, fixation, and silver staining, suggesting that the iris vascular endothelium may be crucial for maintaining homeostasis in the ocular anterior segment. Here we present information regarding the intracellular structure and cell junctions of the iris endothelium. Thirty-seven porcine eyes were used for this study. The temporal long posterior ciliary artery was cannulated to assess the iris microvascular network and its endothelium using intra-luminal micro-perfusion, fixation, and staining with phalloidin for intracellular cytoskeleton f-actin, and with antibodies against claudin-5 and VE-cadherin for junction proteins. Nuclei were counterstained with Hoechst. The iris was flat-mounted for confocal imaging. The iris microvasculature was studied for its distribution, branch orders and endothelial morphometrics with endothelial cell length measured for each vessel order. Our results showed that morphometrics of the iris microvasculature was comparable with our previous silver staining. Abundant stress fibres and peripheral border staining were seen within the endothelial cells in larger arteries. An obvious decrease in cytoplasmic stress fibres was evident further downstream in the smaller arterioles, and they tended to be absent from capillaries and veins. Endothelial intercellular junctions throughout the iris vasculature were VE-cadherin and claudin-5 immuno-positive, indicating the presence of both adherent junctions and tight junctions between vascular endothelial cells throughout the iris microvasculature. Unevenness of claudin-5 staining was noted along the endothelial cell borders in almost every order of vessels, especially in veins and small arterioles. Our results suggest that significant heterogeneity of intracellular structure and junction proteins is present in different orders of the iris vasculature in addition to vascular diameter and shape of the endothelia. Detailed information of the topography and intracellular structure and junction proteins of the endothelium of the iris microvasculature combined with unique structural features of the iris may help us to further understand the physiological and pathogenic roles of the iris vasculature in relevant ocular diseases. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Acute corneal hydrops mimicking full thickness perforation.

PubMed

Ch'ng, S W; Pillai, M B; Aazeem, S; Tu, K L

2012-05-11

A 26-year-old Caucasian female with keratoconus presented with an acutely painful and red left eye. Visual acuity on presentation was 3/60. Slit lamp examination revealed localised Descemet's membrane break with iris partially plugging it. There was a bulging stromal cyst which would intermittently flatten and reform. The appearance when the cyst was flattened mimicked a full thickness corneal perforation. However, no obvious overlying epithelial defect was detected and an intermittent leakage through micro-perforations in the corneal epithelium was the probable cause of the variable appearance. The anterior chamber reformed and iris plug freed following an insertion of a bandage contact lens and taped eyelid. On follow-up, the Descement's membrane had healed with visual acuity improving to 6/18. Our case illustrates the importance of identifying corneal hydrops mimicking a full thickness perforation as conservative management has a greater chance of recovery.

Initial Results of a Large-scale Statistical Survey of Small-scale UV Bursts with IRIS and SDO

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Madsen, C. A.; DeLuca, E.

2016-12-01

UV bursts are small-scale ( 1 arcsec or less) brightenings observed in the NUV/FUV passbands of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). These peculiar phenomena are found exclusively in active regions and exhibit dramatic and defining spectroscopic characteristics. In particular, they present intense broadening and splitting, often in excess of 70 km s-1, in all bright emission lines observable by IRIS. Furthermore, these broadened lines also display strong absorption from cool metallic ions such as Fe II and Ni II which typically populate the chromosphere. These features suggest that bursts are bidirectional plasma flows at transition region temperatures embedded much farther down in the cool chromosphere. To better characterize these phenomena, we have launched a statistical survey encompassing the entire IRIS data catalogue to date and its accompanying data from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) and Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). We sample a wide variety of IRIS observations of Si IV lines, ranging from large 400-step rasters for large detection rates to short-cadence sit-and-stare observations to provide in-depth time evolution data of individual bursts. Detection is streamlined by a semi-automated method that isolates characteristic burst spectra based on single-Gaussian fit parameters, greatly reducing search times in the vast IRIS catalogue. Our initial results demonstrate that UV bursts tend to appear when active regions are young and actively emerging, preferring to populate poorly developed inversion lines composed of numerous small mixed-polarity regions. Burst occurrence rates peak at 30-70 per hour in young active regions, decreasing as those regions age. We also find dramatic variations in spectral morphology in spatial scans of bursts with many split into distinct, opposing, resolved regions of blueshifts and redshifts. Finally, we find little evidence for coronal counterparts in AIA 171 Å, but we do find that a significant ratio of bursts coincide with localized bright features in AIA 1700 Å, lending support to the link between bursts and Ellerman bombs. With further involvement in the survey, we hope to constrain the burst/Ellerman bomb coincidence, the time evolution of burst spectral morphologies, and the distribution of their peak kinetic energies.

Increasing the information acquisition volume in iris recognition systems.

PubMed

Barwick, D Shane

2008-09-10

A significant hurdle for the widespread adoption of iris recognition in security applications is that the typically small imaging volume for eye placement results in systems that are not user friendly. Separable cubic phase plates at the lens pupil have been shown to ameliorate this disadvantage by increasing the depth of field. However, these phase masks have limitations on how efficiently they can capture the information-bearing spatial frequencies in iris images. The performance gains in information acquisition that can be achieved by more general, nonseparable phase masks is demonstrated. A detailed design method is presented, and simulations using representative designs allow for performance comparisons.

MULTI-WAVELENGTH STUDY OF TRANSITION REGION PENUMBRAL SUBARCSECOND BRIGHT DOTS USING IRIS AND NST

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Deng, Na; Liu, Chang; Xu, Yan

Using high-resolution transition region (TR) observations taken by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph ( IRIS ) mission, Tian et al. revealed numerous short-lived subarcsecond bright dots (BDs) above sunspots (mostly located in the penumbrae), which indicate yet unexplained small-scale energy releases. Moreover, whether or not these subarcsecond TR brightenings have any signature in the lower atmosphere and how they are formed are still not fully resolved. This paper presents a multi-wavelength study of the TR penumbral BDs using a coordinated observation of a near disk center sunspot with IRIS and the 1.6 m New Solar Telescope (NST) at the Bigmore » Bear Solar Observatory. NST provides high-resolution chromospheric and photospheric observations with narrowband H α imaging spectroscopy and broadband TiO images, respectively, complementary to IRIS TR observations. A total of 2692 TR penumbral BDs are identified from a 37 minute time series of IRIS 1400 Å slit-jaw images. Their locations tend to be associated more with downflowing and darker fibrils in the chromosphere, and weakly associated with bright penumbral features in the photosphere. However, temporal evolution analyses of the BDs show that there is no consistent and convincing brightening response in the chromosphere. These results are compatible with a formation mechanism of the TR penumbral BDs by falling plasma from coronal heights along more vertical and dense magnetic loops. The BDs may also be produced by small-scale impulsive magnetic reconnection taking place sufficiently high in the atmosphere that has no energy release in the chromosphere.« less

Capsule-Fixated Intraocular Lens Implantation in Small Pupil Cases.

PubMed

Schojai, Merita; Schultz, Tim; Burkhard Dick, H

2017-08-01

To describe a new technique for implantation of capsule-fixated intraocular lenses (IOLs) (FEMTIS; Oculentis, Berlin, Germany) in patients with small pupils. In 4 eyes with small pupils, an anterior capsule-fixated IOL was implanted into the capsular bag after femtosecond laser treatment. The two large and two small flaps of the IOL were elevated to the front of the iris and the anterior capsule. Finally, the iris was flipped over the flaps to ensure a fixation of the capsule inside of the capsulotomy. In all cases, the implantation of anterior capsule-fixated IOLs was possible. No complications occurred during surgery or within the first months after surgery. With the described technique, capsulefixated IOLs can be implanted in eyes with small pupil easily and safely. This type of IOL has great potential to improve the refractive outcome by better prediction of the postoperative IOL position and eliminating IOL rotation after cataract surgery. [J Refract Surg. 2017;33(8):568-570.]. Copyright 2017, SLACK Incorporated.

Simultaneous correction of post-traumatic aphakia and aniridia with the use of artificial iris and IOL implantation.

PubMed

Forlini, Cesare; Forlini, Matteo; Rejdak, Robert; Prokopiuk, Agata; Levkina, Oxana; Bratu, Adriana; Rossini, Paolo; Cagampang, Perfecto R; Cavallini, Gian Maria

2013-03-01

Combined post-traumatic aniridia and aphakia demand extensive and complex reconstructive surgery. We present our approach for simultaneous correction of this surgical situation with the use of the ArtificialIris (Dr. Schmidt Intraocularlinsen GmbH, Germany) with a foldable acrylic IOL Lentis L-313 (Oculentis, GmbH, Germany) sutured to its surface. The novelty (our first operation was on June 2010) of this surgical technique is based on the combined use of foldable (with closed haptics) IOL and Artificialiris to correct post-traumatic aniridia and aphakia. Four consecutive cases of combined post-traumatic lesions of iris and lens, corrected with complex device ArtificialIris and foldable IOL. In two cases, the compound implant was sutured to the sclera in sulcus during the penetrating keratoplasty; in another case, it was positioned through a corneal incision of about 5.0 mm with transscleral fixation, and in one patient with preserved capsular support and possibility of IOL in-the-bag implantation the ArtificialIris was placed in sulcus sutureless through a clear corneal tunnel. Maximal follow-up was 6 months. The complex device was placed firmly fixed within the sulcus, including in the eye implanted without sutures, and showed a stable and centered position without any tilt or torque. Management of post-traumatic aniridia combined with aphakia by haptic fixation of a foldable acrylic IOL on a foldable iris prosthesis appears to be a promising approach which gives the surgeon the possibility to correct a complex lesion with one procedure, which is less traumatic and faster. Existence of foldable materials, both iris and IOL, permits relatively small corneal incisions (4.0-5.0 mm). Moreover, the custom-tailored iris prosthesis gives a perfect aesthetic result.

Waardenburg syndrome: iris and choroidal hypopigmentation: findings on anterior and posterior segment imaging.

PubMed

Shields, Carol L; Nickerson, Stephanie J; Al-Dahmash, Saad; Shields, Jerry A

2013-09-01

Waardenburg syndrome typically manifests with congenital iris pigmentary abnormalities, but careful inspection can reveal additional posterior uveal pigmentary abnormalities. To demonstrate iris and choroidal hypopigmentation in patients with Waardenburg syndrome. Retrospective review of 7 patients referred for evaluation of presumed ocular melanocytosis. To describe the clinical and imaging features of the anterior and posterior uvea. In all patients, the diagnosis of Waardenburg syndrome was established. The nonocular features included white forelock in 4 of 7 (57%), tubular nose in 5 of 6 (83%), and small nasal alae in 5 of 6 (83%) patients. In 2 patients, a hearing deficit was documented on audiology testing. Family history of Waardenburg syndrome was elicited in 5 of 7 (71%) patients. Ocular features (7 patients) included telecanthus in 5 (71%), synophrys in 2 (29%), iris hypopigmentation in 5 (71%), and choroidal hypopigmentation in 5 (71%) patients. No patient had muscle contractures or Hirschsprung disease. Visual acuity was 20/20 to 20/50 in all patients. Iris hypopigmentation in 8 eyes was sector in 6 (75%) and diffuse (complete) in 2 (25%). Choroidal hypopigmentation in 9 eyes (100%) showed a sector pattern in 6 (67%) and a diffuse pattern in 3 (33%). Anterior segment optical coherence tomography revealed the hypopigmented iris to be thinner and with shallower crypts than the normal iris. Posterior segment optical coherence tomography showed a normal retina in all patients, but the subfoveal choroid in the hypopigmented region was slightly thinner (mean, 197 μm) compared with the opposite normal choroid (243 μm). Fundus autofluorescence demonstrated mild hyperautofluorescence (scleral unmasking) in hypopigmented choroid and no lipofuscin abnormality. Waardenburg syndrome manifests hypopigmentation of the iris and choroid with imaging features showing a slight reduction in the thickness of the affected tissue.

Effective Solar Indices for Ionospheric Modeling: A Review and a Proposal for a Real-Time Regional IRI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pignalberi, A.; Pezzopane, M.; Rizzi, R.; Galkin, I.

2018-01-01

The first part of this paper reviews methods using effective solar indices to update a background ionospheric model focusing on those employing the Kriging method to perform the spatial interpolation. Then, it proposes a method to update the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model through the assimilation of data collected by a European ionosonde network. The method, called International Reference Ionosphere UPdate (IRI UP), that can potentially operate in real time, is mathematically described and validated for the period 9-25 March 2015 (a time window including the well-known St. Patrick storm occurred on 17 March), using IRI and IRI Real Time Assimilative Model (IRTAM) models as the reference. It relies on foF2 and M(3000)F2 ionospheric characteristics, recorded routinely by a network of 12 European ionosonde stations, which are used to calculate for each station effective values of IRI indices IG_{12} and R_{12} (identified as IG_{{12{eff}}} and R_{{12{eff}}}); then, starting from this discrete dataset of values, two-dimensional (2D) maps of IG_{{12{eff}}} and R_{{12{eff}}} are generated through the universal Kriging method. Five variogram models are proposed and tested statistically to select the best performer for each effective index. Then, computed maps of IG_{{12{eff}}} and R_{{12{eff}}} are used in the IRI model to synthesize updated values of foF2 and hmF2. To evaluate the ability of the proposed method to reproduce rapid local changes that are common under disturbed conditions, quality metrics are calculated for two test stations whose measurements were not assimilated in IRI UP, Fairford (51.7°N, 1.5°W) and San Vito (40.6°N, 17.8°E), for IRI, IRI UP, and IRTAM models. The proposed method turns out to be very effective under highly disturbed conditions, with significant improvements of the foF2 representation and noticeable improvements of the hmF2 one. Important improvements have been verified also for quiet and moderately disturbed conditions. A visual analysis of foF2 and hmF2 maps highlights the ability of the IRI UP method to catch small-scale changes occurring under disturbed conditions which are not seen by IRI.

Nonintrusive iris image acquisition system based on a pan-tilt-zoom camera and light stripe projection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yoon, Soweon; Jung, Ho Gi; Park, Kang Ryoung; Kim, Jaihie

2009-03-01

Although iris recognition is one of the most accurate biometric technologies, it has not yet been widely used in practical applications. This is mainly due to user inconvenience during the image acquisition phase. Specifically, users try to adjust their eye position within small capture volume at a close distance from the system. To overcome these problems, we propose a novel iris image acquisition system that provides users with unconstrained environments: a large operating range, enabling movement from standing posture, and capturing good-quality iris images in an acceptable time. The proposed system has the following three contributions compared with previous works: (1) the capture volume is significantly increased by using a pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) camera guided by a light stripe projection, (2) the iris location in the large capture volume is found fast due to 1-D vertical face searching from the user's horizontal position obtained by the light stripe projection, and (3) zooming and focusing on the user's irises at a distance are accurate and fast using the estimated 3-D position of a face by the light stripe projection and the PTZ camera. Experimental results show that the proposed system can capture good-quality iris images in 2.479 s on average at a distance of 1.5 to 3 m, while allowing a limited amount of movement by the user.

Empirical assessment of indices of prey importance in the diets of predacious fish

USGS Publications Warehouse

Liao, H.; Pierce, C.L.; Larscheid, J.G.

2001-01-01

Determining the importance of prey taxa in the diets of predacious species is a frequent objective in fisheries research. Various indices of prey importance are in common use, and all give different results because of their emphasis on different aspects of fish diets. We explored these differences by empirically comparing four well-known indices-percent weight (%W), percent occurrence (%O), percent number (%N), and percent index of relative importance (%IRI)-as well as a modified %IRI (%MIRI), as applied to an extensive data set on the diets of six fish species in Spirit Lake, Iowa. Correlations among all indices were positive but were weaker among component indices (%W, %O, and %N) than between the two compound indices (%IRI and %MIRI); correlations among component indices were also weaker than correlations of compound with component indices. Correlation strength of %MIRI with the three component indices varied greatly (%N %O %W), whereas the correlation strength of %IRI with component indices was similar. Importance values based on %W, %MIRI, and %N depend more on prey size than those based on %IRI and %O. The %W and %MIRI emphasized the importance of large prey taxa, whereas %N emphasized small prey in diets; %IRI and %O were similarly unbiased with respect to prey size. The %O yielded substantially higher importance values than all other indices. Thus, for use as a general index of dietary importance, we believe %IRI provides the optimal balancing of frequency of occurrence, numerical abundance, and abundance by weight of taxa in fish diets.

Storage Ring Technology for Free Electron Lasers.

DTIC Science & Technology

1984-04-01

aperture of the iris is controlled from outsideplac d in a vacuutm chamber. The pressure inside this the vacuum chamber. The rotational motion needed... motions (two translations and The mechanical assembly of these various parts is one rotational for the iris aperture) are severe in this shown in Fig. 3...expression -4- for the small signal gain spectrum, including the phase shift of the slowly varying wave z V y(9) It is clear from (8) and (9) that care must

Efficient one-cycle affinity selection of binding proteins or peptides specific for a small-molecule using a T7 phage display pool.

PubMed

Takakusagi, Yoichi; Kuramochi, Kouji; Takagi, Manami; Kusayanagi, Tomoe; Manita, Daisuke; Ozawa, Hiroko; Iwakiri, Kanako; Takakusagi, Kaori; Miyano, Yuka; Nakazaki, Atsuo; Kobayashi, Susumu; Sugawara, Fumio; Sakaguchi, Kengo

2008-11-15

Here, we report an efficient one-cycle affinity selection using a natural-protein or random-peptide T7 phage pool for identification of binding proteins or peptides specific for small-molecules. The screening procedure involved a cuvette type 27-MHz quartz-crystal microbalance (QCM) apparatus with introduction of self-assembled monolayer (SAM) for a specific small-molecule immobilization on the gold electrode surface of a sensor chip. Using this apparatus, we attempted an affinity selection of proteins or peptides against synthetic ligand for FK506-binding protein (SLF) or irinotecan (Iri, CPT-11). An affinity selection using SLF-SAM and a natural-protein T7 phage pool successfully detected FK506-binding protein 12 (FKBP12)-displaying T7 phage after an interaction time of only 10 min. Extensive exploration of time-consuming wash and/or elution conditions together with several rounds of selection was not required. Furthermore, in the selection using a 15-mer random-peptide T7 phage pool and subsequent analysis utilizing receptor ligand contact (RELIC) software, a subset of SLF-selected peptides clearly pinpointed several amino-acid residues within the binding site of FKBP12. Likewise, a subset of Iri-selected peptides pinpointed part of the positive amino-acid region of residues from the Iri-binding site of the well-known direct targets, acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and carboxylesterase (CE). Our findings demonstrate the effectiveness of this method and general applicability for a wide range of small-molecules.

Leveraging community support for Education and Outreach: The IRIS E&O Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taber, J.; Hubenthal, M.; Wysession, M. E.

2009-12-01

The IRIS E&O Program was initiated 10 years ago, some 15 years after the creation of the IRIS Consortium, as IRIS members increasingly recognized the fundamental need to communicate the results of scientific research more effectively and to attract more students to study Earth science. Since then, IRIS E&O has received core funding through successive 5-year cooperative agreements with NSF, based on proposals submitted by IRIS. While a small fraction of the overall Consortium budget, this consistent funding has allowed the development of strong, long-term elements within the E&O Program, including summer internships, IRIS/USGS museum displays, seismographs in schools, IRIS/SSA Distinguished Lecture series, and professional development for middle school and high school teachers. Reliable funding has allowed us to develop expertise in these areas due to the longevity of the programs and the continuous improvement resulting from ongoing evaluations. Support from Consortium members, including volunteering time and expertise, has been critical for the program, as the Consortium has to continually balance the value of E&O products versus equipment and data services for seismology research. The E&O program also provides service to the Consortium, such as PIs being able to count on and leverage IRIS resources when defining the broader impacts of their own research. The reliable base has made it possible to build on the core elements with focused and innovative proposals, allowing, for example, the expansion of our internship program into a full REU site. Developing collaborative proposals with other groups has been a key strategy where IRIS E&O's long-term viability can be combined with expertise from other organizations to develop new products and services. IRIS can offer to continue to reliably deliver and maintain products after the end of a 2-3 year funding cycle, which can greatly increase the reach of the project. Consortium backing has also allowed us to establish an educational fund in honor of the late John Lahr. This fund, which is comprised of individual donations, is being used to provide seismographs to schools along with professional development and ongoing support from the E&O program. We are also developing a plan for attracting larger private and/or foundation funds for new E&O activities, leveraging the reputation of a long-term program.

Iris reconstruction using artificial iris prosthesis for management of aniridia.

PubMed

Mostafa, Yehia S; Osman, Amr A; Hassanein, Dina H; Zeid, Ashraf M; Sherif, Ahmed M

2018-01-01

To discuss the limitations and benefits of the BrightOcular prosthetic artificial iris device in management of aniridia associated with aphakia or cataract. This is a retrospective study including 5 eyes of 4 patients who underwent implantation of the BrightOcular iris prosthesis (Stellar Devices) for total or partial aniridia. The cases included 2 eyes of 1 patient with congenital aniridia associated with congenital cataract and 3 eyes with traumatic aniridia: 1 with subluxated cataractous lens and 2 with aphakia. In all cases, the iris prosthesis was implanted after a 3-piece acrylic intraocular lens was implanted. We evaluated the clinical course with a minimum follow-up period of 6 months, the intraoperative and postoperative complications, and the cosmetic satisfaction of patients. All patients had improved uncorrected distance visual acuity and best-corrected distance visual acuity. All patients had a transient corneal edema that resolved within the first postoperative week. Only the patient with congenital aniridia had a permanent increase in intraocular pressure and developed a band keratopathy throughout a 2-year follow-up period. The prosthesis was well-centered in all eyes except for one case that required scleral suture fixation after 3 months. All patients had a satisfactory cosmetic appearance. BrightOcular iris prosthesis is a safe and useful tool to correct aniridia associated with pseudophakia or aphakia. Being foldable, it is easy to be implanted through a small incision and placed in the ciliary sulcus without sutures when properly sized. Cosmetic results are satisfactory. Sizing methods should be improved.

Microincision, aspiration cutter-assisted multifocal iris biopsy for melanoma.

PubMed

Finger, Paul T; Milman, Tatyana

2017-01-19

To describe a minimally invasive method to create multifocal full-thickness surgical iridectomy biopsies. Seven patients suspected to have diffuse iris melanoma underwent multifocal surgical iridectomy biopsy through a single 1.0-mm clear corneal incision. A 25-G inked trocar was used to create one visible corneal portal, through which the anterior chamber was filled with sodium hyaluronate 1%. Then, a 25-G aspiration cutter probe was introduced through the corneal incision such that the aspiration portal was occluded by the iris biopsy sites. Then aspiration (600 mm Hg) cutting (300 cuts per minute) was used to create full- and partial-thickness surgical iridectomy biopsies at multiple locations. After each biopsy the probe was removed, and its contents aspirated into a separate 3-mL syringe (marked by clock hour location). The sodium hyaluronate 1% was removed and wound checked for leakage. Diagnostic specimens were obtained in all cases. Five were found to be diffuse iris melanomas and 2 were indeterminate iris melanocytic proliferations. No patients developed a secondary increase in intraocular pressure, hyphema, infection, cataract, or vision loss. No cases of intraocular tumor dissemination were observed. No patient complained of glare or monocular diplopia. Three of 7 corneal wounds were self-sealing. Multifocal surgical iridectomy biopsy can be minimally invasive and effective allowing for partial- and full-thickness iris biopsy. Use of a 25-G aspiration cutting probe allowed for small incision surgery, rapid rehabilitation, and no significant complications.

Iris colour in relation to myopia among Chinese school-aged children.

PubMed

Pan, Chen-Wei; Qiu, Qin-Xiao; Qian, Deng-Juan; Hu, Dan-Ning; Li, Jun; Saw, Seang-Mei; Zhong, Hua

2018-01-01

Understanding the association of iris colour and myopia may provide further insights into the role of the wavelength of lights in the pathophysiology of myopia. We aim to assess the association of iris colour and myopia in a school-based sample of Chinese students. Two thousand three hundred and forty-six Year 7 students from 10 middle schools (93.5% response rate) aged 13-14 years in Mojiang, a small county located in Southwestern China, participated in the study. We obtained standardised slit lamp photographs and developed a grading system assessing iris colour (higher grade denoting a darker iris). Refractive error was measured after cycloplegia using an autorefractor by optometrists or trained technicians. An IOLMaster (www.zeiss.com) was used to measure ocular biometric parameters including axial length (AL). Of all the study participants, 693 (29.5%) were affected by myopia with the prevalence estimates being higher in girls (36.8%; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 34.0, 39.6) than in boys (22.8%; 95% CI: 20.4, 25.1) (p < 0.001). After adjusting for gender, height, parental history of myopia, time spent on computer, time spent watching TV, time spent outdoors, and time spent reading and writing, participants with a darker iris colour tended to have a higher prevalence of myopia, a more myopic refraction and a longer AL. Dose-response relationships were observed in all regression models (p for trend <0.05). Darker iris colour was associated with more myopic refractive errors and longer ALs among Chinese school-aged children and this association was independent of other known myopia-related risk factors. © 2017 The Authors Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2017 The College of Optometrists.

Quantitative assessment of skin, hair, and iris variation in a diverse sample of individuals and associated genetic variation.

PubMed

Norton, Heather L; Edwards, Melissa; Krithika, S; Johnson, Monique; Werren, Elizabeth A; Parra, Esteban J

2016-08-01

The main goals of this study are to 1) quantitatively measure skin, hair, and iris pigmentation in a diverse sample of individuals, 2) describe variation within and between these samples, and 3) demonstrate how quantitative measures can facilitate genotype-phenotype association tests. We quantitatively characterize skin, hair, and iris pigmentation using the Melanin (M) Index (skin) and CIELab values (hair) in 1,450 individuals who self-identify as African American, East Asian, European, Hispanic, or South Asian. We also quantify iris pigmentation in a subset of these individuals using CIELab values from high-resolution iris photographs. We compare mean skin M index and hair and iris CIELab values among populations using ANOVA and MANOVA respectively and test for genotype-phenotype associations in the European sample. All five populations are significantly different for skin (P <2 × 10(-16) ) and hair color (P <2 × 10(-16) ). Our quantitative analysis of iris and hair pigmentation reinforces the continuous, rather than discrete, nature of these traits. We confirm the association of three loci (rs16891982, rs12203592, and rs12913832) with skin pigmentation and four loci (rs12913832, rs12203592, rs12896399, and rs16891982) with hair pigmentation. Interestingly, the derived rs12203592 T allele located within the IRF4 gene is associated with lighter skin but darker hair color. The quantitative methods used here provide a fine-scale assessment of pigmentation phenotype and facilitate genotype-phenotype associations, even with relatively small sample sizes. This represents an important expansion of current investigations into pigmentation phenotype and associated genetic variation by including non-European and admixed populations. Am J Phys Anthropol 160:570-581, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Rugged Iris Mechanism

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ferragut, Nelson J.

2005-01-01

A rugged iris mechanism has been designed to satisfy several special requirements, including a wide aperture in the "open" position, full obscuration in the "closed" position, ability to function in a cryogenic or other harsh environment, and minimization of friction through minimization of the number of components. An important element of the low-friction aspect of the design is maximization of the flatness of, and provision of small gaps between, adjacent iris blades. The tolerances of the design can be very loose, accommodating thermal expansions and contractions associated with large temperature excursions. The design is generic in that it is adaptable to a wide range of aperture sizes and can be implemented in a variety of materials to suit the thermal, optical, and mechanical requirements of various applications. The mechanism (see figure) includes an inner flat ring, an outer flat ring, and an even number of iris blades. The iris blades shown in front in the figure are denoted as "upper," and the iris blades shown partly hidden behind the front ones are denoted as "lower." Each iris blade is attached to the inner ring by a pivot assembly and to the outer ring by a roller/slider assembly. The upper and lower rings are co-centered and are kept in sliding contact. The iris is opened or closed by turning the outer ring around the center while holding the inner ring stationary. The mechanism is enclosed in a housing (not shown in the figure) that comprises an upper and a lower housing shell. The housing provides part of the sliding support for the outer ring and keeps the two rings aligned as described above. The aforementioned pivot assemblies at the inner ring also serve as spacers for the housing. The lower housing shell contains part of the lower sliding surface and features for mounting the overall mechanism and housing assembly. The upper housing shell contains part of the upper sliding surface.

[Air bags and eye injuries: chemical burns and major traumatic ocular lesions--a case study].

PubMed

Bendeddouche, K; Assaf, E; Emadisson, H; Forestier, F; Salvanet-Bouccara, A

2003-10-01

The authors report a case of bilateral eye lesions with extended visual sequelae after the inflation of a driver's airbag during a head-on collision. The superficial facial lesions were accompanied by bilateral eye lesions, reaching both the anterior and posterior segments. Bilateral periorbital palpebral hematomas; voluminous bipalpebral edema combined with severe -conjunctival edema, corneal erosions, and edema; bilateral hyphema; pupillary changes with multiple iris sphincter breaks and weak pupillary light reflex only on the right eye; retrocession of the iridocorneal angle; and on fundus examination both retinas had posterior and peripheral hemorrhages and Berlin retinal edema. Five years after the trauma and 4 years after posttraumatic surgery for cataract that had progressively appeared on the left eye, the visual acuity is 25/20 in both eyes notwithstanding a small paracentral scotoma related to a break in the Bruch membrane. A review of the literature shows several types of ophthalmological lesions related to the airbag mechanism, which after combustion of an alkaline powder inflates at a very high speed, resulting in a risk of corneal-conjunctive-palpebral alkaline burns added to an eye contusion, which may be responsible for severe lesions. The American studies distinguish three factors affecting the seriousness of these airbag accidents: (a) wearing glasses, (b) position and size of the driver, and (c) inflation force of the airbag. Wearing a seatbelt is mandatory to minimize the violence of the oculofacial impact. After facial trauma from an airbag, an ophthalmological examination is necessary to assess of the chemical burns of the tissues exposed to the alkaline powder and possible major ocular lesions.

Doctor, where is my iris?

PubMed

Sophocleous, Sophocles

2016-05-05

Phacoemulsification cataract surgery with small clear corneal incision (CCI) is the standard of care for cataract treatment. Self-sealing, clear corneal wounds have been found to be stable and able to withstand high pressures. Nevertheless, there are a few cases published describing patients with previous cataract surgery and manually performed CCI who sustained blunt trauma with associated wound dehiscence, iris disinsertion and expulsion through the wound. The case described here demonstrates an eye that had traumatic aniridia post-blunt trauma, while the intraocular lens and the rest of the ocular structures remained intact. 2016 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Scheimpflug with computational imaging to extend the depth of field of iris recognition systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinharoy, Indranil

Despite the enormous success of iris recognition in close-range and well-regulated spaces for biometric authentication, it has hitherto failed to gain wide-scale adoption in less controlled, public environments. The problem arises from a limitation in imaging called the depth of field (DOF): the limited range of distances beyond which subjects appear blurry in the image. The loss of spatial details in the iris image outside the small DOF limits the iris image capture to a small volume-the capture volume. Existing techniques to extend the capture volume are usually expensive, computationally intensive, or afflicted by noise. Is there a way to combine the classical Scheimpflug principle with the modern computational imaging techniques to extend the capture volume? The solution we found is, surprisingly, simple; yet, it provides several key advantages over existing approaches. Our method, called Angular Focus Stacking (AFS), consists of capturing a set of images while rotating the lens, followed by registration, and blending of the in-focus regions from the images in the stack. The theoretical underpinnings of AFS arose from a pair of new and general imaging models we developed for Scheimpflug imaging that directly incorporates the pupil parameters. The model revealed that we could register the images in the stack analytically if we pivot the lens at the center of its entrance pupil, rendering the registration process exact. Additionally, we found that a specific lens design further reduces the complexity of image registration making AFS suitable for real-time performance. We have demonstrated up to an order of magnitude improvement in the axial capture volume over conventional image capture without sacrificing optical resolution and signal-to-noise ratio. The total time required for capturing the set of images for AFS is less than the time needed for a single-exposure, conventional image for the same DOF and brightness level. The net reduction in capture time can significantly relax the constraints on subject movement during iris acquisition, making it less restrictive.

Fine flow structures in the transition region small-scale loops

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yan, L.; Peter, H.; He, J.; Wei, Y.

2016-12-01

The observation and model have suggested that the transition region EUV emission from the quiet sun region is contributed by very small scale loops which have not been resolved. Recently, the observation from IRIS has revealed that this kind of small scale loops. Based on the high resolution spectral and imaging observation from IRIS, much more detail work needs to be done to reveal the fine flow features in this kind of loop to help us understand the loop heating. Here, we present a detail statistical study of the spatial and temporal evolution of Si IV line profiles of small scale loops and report the spectral features: there is a transition from blue (red) wing enhancement dominant to red (blue) wing enhancement dominant along the cross-section of the loop, which is independent of time. This feature appears as the loop appear and disappear as the loop un-visible. This is probably the signature of helical flow along the loop. The result suggests that the brightening of this kind of loop is probably due to the current dissipation heating in the twisted magnetic field flux tube.

Small Molecule Ice Recrystallization Inhibitors Enable Freezing of Human Red Blood Cells with Reduced Glycerol Concentrations

PubMed Central

Capicciotti, Chantelle J.; Kurach, Jayme D. R.; Turner, Tracey R.; Mancini, Ross S.; Acker, Jason P.; Ben, Robert N.

2015-01-01

In North America, red blood cells (RBCs) are cryopreserved in a clinical setting using high glycerol concentrations (40% w/v) with slow cooling rates (~1°C/min) prior to storage at −80°C, while European protocols use reduced glycerol concentrations with rapid freezing rates. After thawing and prior to transfusion, glycerol must be removed to avoid intravascular hemolysis. This is a time consuming process requiring specialized equipment. Small molecule ice recrystallization inhibitors (IRIs) such as β-PMP-Glc and β-pBrPh-Glc have the ability to prevent ice recrystallization, a process that contributes to cellular injury and decreased cell viability after cryopreservation. Herein, we report that addition of 110 mM β-PMP-Glc or 30 mM β-pBrPh-Glc to a 15% glycerol solution increases post-thaw RBC integrity by 30-50% using slow cooling rates and emphasize the potential of small molecule IRIs for the preservation of cells. PMID:25851700

Small molecule ice recrystallization inhibitors enable freezing of human red blood cells with reduced glycerol concentrations.

PubMed

Capicciotti, Chantelle J; Kurach, Jayme D R; Turner, Tracey R; Mancini, Ross S; Acker, Jason P; Ben, Robert N

2015-04-08

In North America, red blood cells (RBCs) are cryopreserved in a clinical setting using high glycerol concentrations (40% w/v) with slow cooling rates (~1°C/min) prior to storage at -80°C, while European protocols use reduced glycerol concentrations with rapid freezing rates. After thawing and prior to transfusion, glycerol must be removed to avoid intravascular hemolysis. This is a time consuming process requiring specialized equipment. Small molecule ice recrystallization inhibitors (IRIs) such as β-PMP-Glc and β-pBrPh-Glc have the ability to prevent ice recrystallization, a process that contributes to cellular injury and decreased cell viability after cryopreservation. Herein, we report that addition of 110 mM β-PMP-Glc or 30 mM β-pBrPh-Glc to a 15% glycerol solution increases post-thaw RBC integrity by 30-50% using slow cooling rates and emphasize the potential of small molecule IRIs for the preservation of cells.

Vitiligo iridis and glaucoma: a rare sequelae of small pox.

PubMed

Kavitha, S; Patel, S R; Mohini, P; Venkatesh, R; Sengupta, S

2015-10-01

Vitiligo iridis refers to focal areas of iris atrophy as sequelae of small pox infection. We report a series of patients with unilateral vitiligo iridis, some of whom presented with secondary open-angle glaucoma. Three patients with vitiligo iridis underwent a comprehensive ophthalmic examination including intraocular pressure (IOP) measurement, slit lamp biomicroscopy, gonioscopy, and fundus evaluation. Patients' facial features were also documented and photographed. All patients were in their sixth decade. Two out the three had elevated IOP (52 mm Hg and 36 mm Hg) in the same eye as vitiligo iridis, at initial presentation. Gonioscopy showed patchy iris hyperpigmentation and fundus evaluation showed glaucomatous optic disc changes in the involved eye. One patient responded favourably to topical antiglaucoma medications, whereas the other was taken up for combined phacoemulsification-trabeculectomy with good results. The third patient had normal IOP in the involved eye. All three patients gave a history of small pox in childhood and had pitted facial scars typical of previous small pox infection. Vitiligo iridis may be associated with the secondary glaucoma as a long-term sequelae of small pox. It may be prudent to periodically follow-up such patients for development of raised IOP in the future.

A rocket radiobeacon experiment on the electron concentration profile measurements in the bottomside of the ionosphere

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sinelnikov, V. M.; Lvova, G. P.; Guliaeva, T. L.; Pakhomov, S. V.; Glotov, A. P.

The possibility of measuring the electron density profile in the height interval 70-110 km with a two-frequency coherent transmitter set mounted on a 'small' geophysical rocket of type M-100 is investigated. Results are presented of measurements using the phase Doppler method carried out at middle latitudes in May 1979 and February 1980. Good consistency of the profiles measured for the D and E regions of the ionosphere with those of IRI is not always obtained, even when the correct helio and geophysic conditions of the experiments are given for calculations with IRI.

Broadband infrared imaging spectroscopy for standoff detection of trace explosives

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kendziora, Christopher A.; Furstenberg, Robert; Papantonakis, Michael; Nguyen, Viet; McGill, R. Andrew

2016-05-01

This manuscript describes advancements toward a mobile platform for standoff detection of trace explosives on relevant substrates using broadband infrared spectroscopic imaging. In conjunction with this, we are developing a technology for detection based on photo-thermal infrared (IR) imaging spectroscopy (PT-IRIS). PT-IRIS leverages one or more IR quantum cascade lasers (QCL), tuned to strong absorption bands in the analytes and directed to illuminate an area on a surface of interest. An IR focal plane array is used to image the surface thermal emission upon laser illumination. The PT-IRIS signal is processed as a hyperspectral image cube comprised of spatial, spectral and temporal dimensions as vectors within a detection algorithm. Here we describe methods to increase both sensitivity to trace explosives and selectivity between different analyte types by exploiting a broader spectral range than in previous configurations. Previously we demonstrated PT-IRIS at several meters of standoff distance indoors and in field tests, while operating the lasers below the infrared eye-safe intensity limit (100 mW/cm2). Sensitivity to explosive traces as small as a single 10 μm diameter particle (~1 ng) has been demonstrated.

Joint NuSTAR and IRIS observation of a microflaring active region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hannah, I. G.; Kleint, L.; Krucker, S.; Glesener, L.; Grefenstette, B.

2017-12-01

We present observations of a weakly microflaring active region observed in X-rays with NuSTAR, UV with IRIS and EUV with SDO/AIA. NuSTAR was pointed at this unnamed active region near the East limb between 23:27UT and 23:37UT 26-July-2016, finding mostly quiescent emission except for a small microflare about 23:35UT. The NuSTAR spectrum for the pre-microflare time (23:27UT to 23:34UT) is well fitted by a single thermal component of about 3MK and combined with SDO/AIA we can determine the differential emission measure (DEM), finding it, as expected, drops very sharply to higher temperatures. During the subsequent microflare, the increase in NuSTAR counts matches a little brightening loop observed with IRIS SJI 1400Å and SDO/AIA. Fortuitously the IRIS slit crosses this microflaring loop and we find an increased emission in Si IV 1394Å, Si IV 1403Å and O IV 1402Å but only average line widths and velocities. The NuSTAR microflare spectrum shows heating to higher temperatures and also allows us to investigate the energetics of this event.

Ice and anti-nucleating activities of an ice-binding protein from the annual grass, Brachypodium distachyon.

PubMed

Bredow, Melissa; Tomalty, Heather E; Smith, Lindsay; Walker, Virginia K

2018-05-01

Plants exposed to sub-zero temperatures face unique challenges that threaten their survival. The growth of ice crystals in the extracellular space can cause cellular dehydration, plasma membrane rupture and eventual cell death. Additionally, some pathogenic bacteria cause tissue damage by initiating ice crystal growth at high sub-zero temperatures through the use of ice-nucleating proteins (INPs), presumably to access nutrients from lysed cells. An annual species of brome grass, Brachypodium distachyon (Bd), produces an ice-binding protein (IBP) that shapes ice with a modest depression of the freezing point (~0.1 °C at 1 mg/mL), but high ice-recrystallization inhibition (IRI) activity, allowing ice crystals to remain small at near melting temperatures. This IBP, known as BdIRI, is unlike other characterized IBPs with a single ice-binding face, as mutational analysis indicates that BdIRI adsorbs to ice on two faces. BdIRI also dramatically attenuates the nucleation of ice by bacterial INPs (up to -2.26 °C). This 'anti-nucleating' activity is significantly higher than previously documented for any IBP. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

On the upper ocean turbulent dissipation rate due to microscale breakers and small whitecaps

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Banner, Michael L.; Morison, Russel P.

2018-06-01

In ocean wave modelling, accurately computing the evolution of the wind-wave spectrum depends on the source terms and the spectral bandwidth used. The wave dissipation rate source term which spectrally quantifies wave breaking and other dissipative processes remains poorly understood, including the spectral bandwidth needed to capture the essential model physics. The observational study of Sutherland and Melville (2015a) investigated the relative dissipation rate contributions of breaking waves, from large-scale whitecaps to microbreakers. They concluded that a large fraction of wave energy was dissipated by microbreakers. However, in strong contrast with their findings, our analysis of their data and other recent data sets shows that for young seas, microbreakers and small whitecaps contribute only a small fraction of the total breaking wave dissipation rate. For older seas, we find microbreakers and small whitecaps contribute a large fraction of the breaking wave dissipation rate, but this is only a small fraction of the total dissipation rate, which is now dominated by non-breaking contributions. Hence, for all the wave age conditions observed, microbreakers make an insignificant contribution to the total wave dissipation rate in the wave boundary layer. We tested the sensitivity of the results to the SM15a whitecap analysis methodology by transforming the SM15a breaking data using our breaking crest processing methodology. This resulted in the small-scale breaking waves making an even smaller contribution to the total wave dissipation rate, and so the result is independent of the breaker processing methodology. Comparison with other near-surface total TKE dissipation rate observations also support this conclusion. These contributions to the spectral dissipation rate in ocean wave models are small and need not be explicitly resolved.

Cavity ring down spectroscopy for the isotope composition measurement of water from fluid inclusion in stalagmites using heating and crushing techniques

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakamoto, M.; Uemura, R.; Gibo, M.; Mishima, S.; Asami, R.

2013-12-01

Oxygen isotope record in stalagmites is useful to reconstruct past environmental changes. However, the interpretation of calcite isotope record is not straightforward because it is affected by various factors such as amount of precipitation and temperature. Water isotope composition of fluid inclusions, and oxygen isotope difference between water and host calcite, from stalagmite are potentially important proxies to estimate the paleo-temperature. Recently, infrared spectroscopy (IRIS) has been widely used for stable isotope ratio measurement of water. Unlike traditional isotope mass spectrometer (IRMS), the IRIS does not require pre-treatment processes (e.g., high-temperature furnace or equilibration device). A limitation of IRIS is that commercially available IRIS systems need large sample volume (1 - 2 micro litres) for liquid water measurement. In this study, we first developed a device suitable for measurement of smaller volume of water, and tested two extraction methods (thermal extraction and mechanical crushing). Oxygen and hydrogen isotope ratios of water were measured using cavity ring down spectroscopy (IRIS: WS-CRDS Picarro L2120-i, L2130-i). Stalagmite samples, which appear to be still growing, were collected in several caves in Okinawa, Japan. Reproducibility of a reference water (0.1 micro litres) was within 0.2 permil for δ18O and 1 permil for δD. The results showed that the IRIS is useful for small amount discrete sample. Although the δ18O value of inclusion water generally showed values resembling those of cave dripwaters, the δD value showed large depletion against that of dripwaters. The δD deviation was reduced at lower temperature extraction, suggesting that the erroneous δD values would be caused by spectral interference from organic contaminants produced by thermal decomposition.

Nimbus 4 IRIS spectra in the 750-1250 wavelengths/cm atmospheric window region

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kunde, V. G.; Conrath, B. J.; Hanel, R. A.; Prabhakara, C.

1974-01-01

Present operational schemes for infrared remote sounding measurements of surface temperature use the 899 wavelengths/cm atmospheric window region. Spectra from the Nimbus 4 IRIS in the 750 to 1250 wavelengths/cm region are analyzed. Comparison of the actual surface temperature and the observed brightness temperature at 10 wavelengths/cm resolution shows that the clearest windows were at 936 and 960 wavelengths/cm. Although there is a small amount of CO2 absorption in these regions, this is compensated for by a decrease in water vapor continuum absorption. Atmospheric absorption was 0.5 K less than experienced by the 899 wavelengths/cm window.

Information content of IRIS spectra. [from Nimbus 4 satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Price, J. C.

1974-01-01

Spectra from the satellite instrument IRIS (infra red interferometer spectrometer) were examined to find the number of independent variables needed to describe these broadband high spectral resolution data. The radiated power in the atmospheric window from 771 to 981/cm was the first parameter chosen for fitting observed spectra. At succeeding levels of analysis the residual variability (observed spectrum - best fit spectrum) in an ensemble of observations was partioned into spectral eigenvectors. The eigenvector describing the largest fraction of this variability was examined for a strong spectral signature; the power in the corresponding spectral band was then used as the next fitting parameter. The measured power in nine spectral intervals, when inserted in the spectral fitting functions, was adequate to describe most spectra to within the noise level of IRIS. Considerations of relative signal strength and scales of atmospheric variability suggest a combination sounder (multichannel-broad field of view) scanner (window channel-small field of view) as an efficient observing instrument.

Information content in Iris spectra. [Infrared Interferometer Spectrometer of Nimbus 4 satellite

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Price, J. C.

1975-01-01

Spectra from the satellite instrument Iris (infrared interferometer spectrometer) were examined to find the number of independent variables needed to describe the broad-band high-resolution spectral data. The radiated power in the atmospheric window from 771 to 981 per cm was the first parameter chosen for fitting observed spectra. At succeeding levels of analysis, the residual variability (observed spectrum minus best-fit spectrum) in an ensemble of observations was partitioned into spectral eigenvectors. The eigenvector describing the largest fraction of this variability was examined for a strong spectral signature; the power in the corresponding spectral band was then used as the next fitting parameter. The measured power in nine spectral intervals, when it was inserted in the spectral-fitting functions, was adequate to describe most spectra to within the noise level of Iris. Considerations of relative signal strength and scales of atmospheric variability suggest a combination sounder (multichannel, broad field of view) scanner (window channel, small field of view) as an efficient observing instrument.

QSAR Accelerated Discovery of Potent Ice Recrystallization Inhibitors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Briard, Jennie G.; Fernandez, Michael; de Luna, Phil; Woo, Tom. K.; Ben, Robert N.

2016-05-01

Ice recrystallization is the main contributor to cell damage and death during the cryopreservation of cells and tissues. Over the past five years, many small carbohydrate-based molecules were identified as ice recrystallization inhibitors and several were shown to reduce cryoinjury during the cryopreservation of red blood cells (RBCs) and hematopoietic stems cells (HSCs). Unfortunately, clear structure-activity relationships have not been identified impeding the rational design of future compounds possessing ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI) activity. A set of 124 previously synthesized compounds with known IRI activities were used to calibrate 3D-QSAR classification models using GRid INdependent Descriptors (GRIND) derived from DFT level quantum mechanical calculations. Partial least squares (PLS) model was calibrated with 70% of the data set which successfully identified 80% of the IRI active compounds with a precision of 0.8. This model exhibited good performance in screening the remaining 30% of the data set with 70% of active additives successfully recovered with a precision of ~0.7 and specificity of 0.8. The model was further applied to screen a new library of aryl-alditol molecules which were then experimentally synthesized and tested with a success rate of 82%. Presented is the first computer-aided high-throughput experimental screening for novel IRI active compounds.

QSAR Accelerated Discovery of Potent Ice Recrystallization Inhibitors

PubMed Central

Briard, Jennie G.; Fernandez, Michael; De Luna, Phil; Woo, Tom. K.; Ben, Robert N.

2016-01-01

Ice recrystallization is the main contributor to cell damage and death during the cryopreservation of cells and tissues. Over the past five years, many small carbohydrate-based molecules were identified as ice recrystallization inhibitors and several were shown to reduce cryoinjury during the cryopreservation of red blood cells (RBCs) and hematopoietic stems cells (HSCs). Unfortunately, clear structure-activity relationships have not been identified impeding the rational design of future compounds possessing ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI) activity. A set of 124 previously synthesized compounds with known IRI activities were used to calibrate 3D-QSAR classification models using GRid INdependent Descriptors (GRIND) derived from DFT level quantum mechanical calculations. Partial least squares (PLS) model was calibrated with 70% of the data set which successfully identified 80% of the IRI active compounds with a precision of 0.8. This model exhibited good performance in screening the remaining 30% of the data set with 70% of active additives successfully recovered with a precision of ~0.7 and specificity of 0.8. The model was further applied to screen a new library of aryl-alditol molecules which were then experimentally synthesized and tested with a success rate of 82%. Presented is the first computer-aided high-throughput experimental screening for novel IRI active compounds. PMID:27216585

QSAR Accelerated Discovery of Potent Ice Recrystallization Inhibitors.

PubMed

Briard, Jennie G; Fernandez, Michael; De Luna, Phil; Woo, Tom K; Ben, Robert N

2016-05-24

Ice recrystallization is the main contributor to cell damage and death during the cryopreservation of cells and tissues. Over the past five years, many small carbohydrate-based molecules were identified as ice recrystallization inhibitors and several were shown to reduce cryoinjury during the cryopreservation of red blood cells (RBCs) and hematopoietic stems cells (HSCs). Unfortunately, clear structure-activity relationships have not been identified impeding the rational design of future compounds possessing ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI) activity. A set of 124 previously synthesized compounds with known IRI activities were used to calibrate 3D-QSAR classification models using GRid INdependent Descriptors (GRIND) derived from DFT level quantum mechanical calculations. Partial least squares (PLS) model was calibrated with 70% of the data set which successfully identified 80% of the IRI active compounds with a precision of 0.8. This model exhibited good performance in screening the remaining 30% of the data set with 70% of active additives successfully recovered with a precision of ~0.7 and specificity of 0.8. The model was further applied to screen a new library of aryl-alditol molecules which were then experimentally synthesized and tested with a success rate of 82%. Presented is the first computer-aided high-throughput experimental screening for novel IRI active compounds.

Hydrogen-rich saline protects against small-scale liver ischemia-reperfusion injury by inhibiting endoplasmic reticulum stress.

PubMed

Li, Hui; Bai, Ge; Ge, Yansong; Zhang, Qianzhen; Kong, Xiangdong; Meng, Weijing; Wang, Hongbin

2018-02-01

Our research investigated the role of Hydrogen-rich saline (HRS) on the Endoplasmic reticulum stress (ERS) pathway and the effect of HRS on tissue injury in small Bama pig model of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion combined with partial hepatectomy. Eighteen healthy Bama miniature pigs were randomly divided equally into three groups: Sham, IRI, and HRS. Laparoscopic technique was employed to establish the model of hepatic ischemia-reperfusion combined with partial hepatectomy. HRS (10mL/kg) was injected into the portal vein 10min before perfusion. Histological examinations of the liver tissues were performed after HE staining. Additionally, transmission electron microscopy was performed to detect liver cell microstructure. Real-time PCR, Western blotting, and immunohistochemical staining were performed to analyze various ERS molecules including GRP78, p-eIF2α, XBP-1s, Full-length ATF6α, p-JNK, ATF4, and CHOP. We observed that HRS visibly improved ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) by reducing various parameters of ERS stress as evidenced by down-regulation of the mRNA as well as protein levels of GRP78, p-eIF2α, XBP-1s, p-JNK, and CHOP, and reducing the cleavage of Full-length ATF6α. Our study demonstrates that HRS protects the liver from IRI by inhibiting ERS. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Quasi-periodic Oscillation of a Coronal Bright Point

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samanta, Tanmoy; Banerjee, Dipankar; Tian, Hui

2015-06-01

Coronal bright points (BPs) are small-scale luminous features seen in the solar corona. Quasi-periodic brightenings are frequently observed in the BPs and are generally linked with underlying magnetic flux changes. We study the dynamics of a BP seen in the coronal hole using the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly images, the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager magnetogram on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and spectroscopic data from the newly launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The detailed analysis shows that the BP evolves throughout our observing period along with changes in underlying photospheric magnetic flux and shows periodic brightenings in different EUV and far-UV images. With the highest possible spectral and spatial resolution of IRIS, we attempted to identify the sources of these oscillations. IRIS sit-and-stare observation provided a unique opportunity to study the time evolution of one footpoint of the BP as the slit position crossed it. We noticed enhanced line profile asymmetry, enhanced line width, intensity enhancements, and large deviation from the average Doppler shift in the line profiles at specific instances, which indicate the presence of sudden flows along the line-of-sight direction. We propose that transition region explosive events originating from small-scale reconnections and the reconnection outflows are affecting the line profiles. The correlation between all these parameters is consistent with the repetitive reconnection scenario and could explain the quasi-periodic nature of the brightening.

Source of Quasi-Periodic Brightenings of Solar Coronal Bright Points: Waves or Repeated Reconnections

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samanta, Tanmoy; Tian, Hui; Banerjee, Dipankar

2016-07-01

Coronal bright points (BPs) are small-scale luminous features seen in the solar corona. Quasi-periodic brightenings are frequently observed in the BPs and are generally linked with underlying magnetic flux changes. We study the dynamics of a BP seen in the coronal hole using the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly images, the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager magnetogram on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory, and spectroscopic data from the newly launched Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). The detailed analysis shows that the BP evolves throughout our observing period along with changes in underlying photospheric magnetic flux and shows periodic brightenings in different EUV and far-UV images. With the highest possible spectral and spatial resolution of IRIS, we attempted to identify the sources of these oscillations. IRIS sit-and-stare observation provided a unique opportunity to study the time evolution of one footpoint of the BP as the slit position crossed it. We noticed enhanced line profile asymmetry, enhanced line width, intensity enhancements, and large deviation from the average Doppler shift in the line profiles at specific instances, which indicate the presence of sudden flows along the line-of-sight direction. We propose that transition region explosive events originating from small-scale reconnections and the reconnection outflows are affecting the line profiles. The correlation between all these parameters is consistent with the repetitive reconnection scenario and could explain the quasi-periodic nature of the brightening.

FAQs about IRIs.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Paris, Scott G.; Carpenter, Robert D.

2003-01-01

Provides information about informal reading inventories (IRI), an early reading assessment. Explains what IRIs are; who should administer an IRI; when and how to administer an IRI; the reliability of data from IRIs; and the limitations of IRIs. (PM)

Real Time Data for Seismology at the IRIS Data Management Center, AN Nsf-Sponsored Facility

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benson, R. B.; Ahern, T. K.; Trabant, C.; Weertman, B. R.; Casey, R.; Stromme, S.; Karstens, R.

2012-12-01

When IRIS was incorporated in 1984, it committed to provide long-term support for the science of seismology. It first upgraded analog networks by installing observatory grade digital seismic recording equipment (by constructing the Global Seismic Network to upgrade the World Wide Standardized Seismographic Network) that became the backbone of the International Federation of Digital Seismic Networks (FDSN), and in 1990 constructed a state-of-the-art data center that would allow free and open access to data to everyone. For the first decade, IRIS leveraged a complicated system of telemetry which laid the foundation for delivering (relatively) high rate and continuous seismic time series data to the IRIS Data Management Center, which was designed to accept data that arrived with highly variable latencies and on many media formats. This meant that science had to often wait until data became complete, which at the time was primarily related to studying earthquakes or similar events. During the 1990's, numerous incremental but small improvements were made to get data into the hands of users with less latency, leveraging dialup, satellite telemetry, and a variety of Internet protocols. But beginning in 2000, the IRIS Data Management Center began the process of accumulating data comprehensively in real time. It was first justified because it eliminated the time-consuming transcription and manual data handling on various media formats, like magnetic tapes, CD's and DVD's. However, the switch to real-time telemetry proved to be a major improvement technologically because it not only simplified data transfer, it opened access to a large volume of previously inaccessible data (local resource limitations), and many networks began willingly providing their geophysical data to the broad research community. It also enabled researchers the ability to process data in different and streamlined ways, by incorporating data directly into workflows and processing packages. Any network on the Internet, small or large, can now share data, and today, the IRIS DMC receives nearly all of its seismic data from regional and international networks in real time. We will show that this evolution to managing real time data has provided the framework for accomplishing many important benefits that illustrate that open, real time data should be the goal of every observatory operation and can provide: - Faster (therefore cost and data saving) quality control, - Data products that highlight source properties and provide teachable moments - Data delivery to regional or national networks around the globe for immediate access for monitoring. -Use in teaching the public, providing streaming data to museums, schools, etc.

Small incision iris tumour biopsy using a cavernous sampling forceps.

PubMed

Chronopoulos, Argyrios; Kilic, Ergin; Joussen, Antonia M; Lipski, Andreas

2014-11-01

The aim of this retrospective report is to describe our experience with the Essen-23G biopsy forceps (Akgül forceps) for biopsies of pigmented iris tumours. In this retrospective study of cases between October 2012 and September 2013, patients with iris tumours and clinical signs for malignancy underwent biopsy to secure the diagnosis. The Essen-23G-forceps was used to grasp and extract tissue through a clear corneal incision. Eventual entry and bimanual manipulation with a 23G mini-scissors was achieved through a second incision. Tissue samples were fixed in a sterile tube for further histopathological and immunohistochemical evaluation. Seven eyes of seven patients underwent biopsy using the forceps. The average thickness of the iris tumours was 1.07±0.79 mm. A second corneal incision for scissoring in a bimanual technique was necessary in 5 cases (71%). In 6 cases (85%), a precise histological and immunohistochemical diagnosis was achieved. Complications were limited to minute bleeding at the biopsy site and one case of relative pupil enlargement (anisocoria) without further refractive issues. Iris tumour biopsies can be successfully approached using a cavernous 23G intraocular forceps with a low risk for procedure-related complications. The conical interior design allows for removal of whole tissue pieces with minimal manipulative artefacts. An optional bimanual access through a second corneal incision and use of a 23G scissors provides better efficacy. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Iris Image Classification Based on Hierarchical Visual Codebook.

PubMed

Zhenan Sun; Hui Zhang; Tieniu Tan; Jianyu Wang

2014-06-01

Iris recognition as a reliable method for personal identification has been well-studied with the objective to assign the class label of each iris image to a unique subject. In contrast, iris image classification aims to classify an iris image to an application specific category, e.g., iris liveness detection (classification of genuine and fake iris images), race classification (e.g., classification of iris images of Asian and non-Asian subjects), coarse-to-fine iris identification (classification of all iris images in the central database into multiple categories). This paper proposes a general framework for iris image classification based on texture analysis. A novel texture pattern representation method called Hierarchical Visual Codebook (HVC) is proposed to encode the texture primitives of iris images. The proposed HVC method is an integration of two existing Bag-of-Words models, namely Vocabulary Tree (VT), and Locality-constrained Linear Coding (LLC). The HVC adopts a coarse-to-fine visual coding strategy and takes advantages of both VT and LLC for accurate and sparse representation of iris texture. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the proposed iris image classification method achieves state-of-the-art performance for iris liveness detection, race classification, and coarse-to-fine iris identification. A comprehensive fake iris image database simulating four types of iris spoof attacks is developed as the benchmark for research of iris liveness detection.

Jupiter's Polar Haze

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carlson, B. E.

1997-07-01

The nature and distribution of stratospheric aerosols in the polar regions of Jupiter are investigated using a combination of ground-based, Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and Voyager IRIS measurements. Of particular interest are the connections between the enhanced UV absorption in the polar regions and the bright polar hoods evident in methane band images and the connections between the aerosol, the infrared "hot spot", and the auroras. Spatial maps of the hydrocarbon emissions constructed from the Voyager IRIS measurements reveal enhanced acetylene emission coincident with the region of enhanced methane emission but morphologically distinct from the region of enhanced ethane emission. This finding confirms the existence of altitude- dependent hydrocarbon chemistry. Ground-based and HST data reveal the presence of longitudinal structure in the latitudinal distribution of the aerosols (i.e., break-down in zonal symmetry) apparently associated with circulation anomalies induced by the polar hot spot. In addition, the HST data reveal a change in the aerosol properties (e.g., phase function) in the vicinity of the hot spot while ruling out changes in their height and/or optical depth distribution. The HST data also reveal differential UV absorption coincident with the aurora strengthening the connection between aerosol formation/hydrocarbon chemistry and the aurora. The spectral dependence of this absorption suggests enhancements of the higher order hydrocarbons (e.g., benzene). The mismatch in spatial resolution between infrared (Voyager IRIS/ground-based IRTF) and HST measurements coupled with the change in morphology of the hot spot as revealed by the structure of the methane/acetylene emission versus that of the ethane emission suggests the existence of more complex spatial structure and additional thermal emission anomalies associated with auroral processes unresolved by current infrared measurements

Iris Matching Based on Personalized Weight Map.

PubMed

Dong, Wenbo; Sun, Zhenan; Tan, Tieniu

2011-09-01

Iris recognition typically involves three steps, namely, iris image preprocessing, feature extraction, and feature matching. The first two steps of iris recognition have been well studied, but the last step is less addressed. Each human iris has its unique visual pattern and local image features also vary from region to region, which leads to significant differences in robustness and distinctiveness among the feature codes derived from different iris regions. However, most state-of-the-art iris recognition methods use a uniform matching strategy, where features extracted from different regions of the same person or the same region for different individuals are considered to be equally important. This paper proposes a personalized iris matching strategy using a class-specific weight map learned from the training images of the same iris class. The weight map can be updated online during the iris recognition procedure when the successfully recognized iris images are regarded as the new training data. The weight map reflects the robustness of an encoding algorithm on different iris regions by assigning an appropriate weight to each feature code for iris matching. Such a weight map trained by sufficient iris templates is convergent and robust against various noise. Extensive and comprehensive experiments demonstrate that the proposed personalized iris matching strategy achieves much better iris recognition performance than uniform strategies, especially for poor quality iris images.

Lenticular meridional astigmatism secondary to iris mesectodermal leiomyoma.

PubMed

Chalam, K V; Cutler Peck, Carolee M; Grover, Sandeep; Radhakrishnan, Ravi

2012-01-01

A 61-year-old African American man presented with decreased vision of 2 months duration. Examination revealed a significant lenticular astigmatism and sectoral cataract as a result of an amelanotic iris lesion. Slitlamp optical coherence tomography (OCT) revealed angle crowding. An excisional biopsy was performed along with phacoemulsification in the right eye, with intraocular lens implantation for meridional lenticular astigmatism. Histopathology and histoimmunochemistry confirmed a diagnosis of uveal mesectodermal leiomyoma. Lenticular astigmatism may be a subtle sign of an anterior segment tumor. Anterior segment slitlamp OCT is an effective tool in diagnosing as well as monitoring small interval changes in these types of tumors. Copyright © 2012 ASCRS and ESCRS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Use of iris recognition camera technology for the quantification of corneal opacification in mucopolysaccharidoses.

PubMed

Aslam, Tariq Mehmood; Shakir, Savana; Wong, James; Au, Leon; Ashworth, Jane

2012-12-01

Mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS) can cause corneal opacification that is currently difficult to objectively quantify. With newer treatments for MPS comes an increased need for a more objective, valid and reliable index of disease severity for clinical and research use. Clinical evaluation by slit lamp is very subjective and techniques based on colour photography are difficult to standardise. In this article the authors present evidence for the utility of dedicated image analysis algorithms applied to images obtained by a highly sophisticated iris recognition camera that is small, manoeuvrable and adapted to achieve rapid, reliable and standardised objective imaging in a wide variety of patients while minimising artefactual interference in image quality.

Mechanisms mediating substance P-induced contraction in the rat iris in vitro.

PubMed

Grumann-Júnior, A; Dias, M A; Alves, R V; Boteon, J E; Calixto, J B

2000-06-01

To determine some of the mechanisms by which substance P (SP) induces contraction in the isolated rat iris. Rings of rat iris were mounted in a 5-ml organ chamber containing Krebs solution at 37 degrees C under basal tension of 75 mg, and isometric tension was recorded. Substance P produced graded contraction in the rat iris, being approximately 40-fold more potent than carbachol. Peptidase inhibitors (captopril, phosphoramidon, thiorphan) did not affect the SP response. The SP contraction was dependent on external Ca2+ by a mechanism resistant to both nifedipine and omega-conotoxin GVIA. Atropine and tetrodotoxin significantly shifted the SP response to the right (three- and fivefold, respectively). Neither phorbol nor genistein altered the SP-induced contraction, whereas staurosporine caused a weak inhibition. Indomethacin, pyrilamine, guanethidine, 8-37 calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) fragment, and NG-nitro-L-arginine methyl ester had no effect on SP response. All the natural tachykinin agonists caused concentration-dependent contraction in rat iris with similar maximal responses. The NK3 selective agonist senktide caused graded contraction, being approximately 150-fold more active than the NK2 selective agonist [beta-ala] NKA. The NK1 selective agonist SP methyl ester induced a small contraction. The NK3 and NK2 antagonists SR 142801 and SR 48968 shifted the SP response to the right. Schilds plots gave pA2 (negative logarithm of the molar concentration of antagonist causing a twofold rightward displacement of the concentration response curves) values of 9.37 and 7.97 and slopes of 0.70 and 1.02, respectively. Substance P produces a potent contraction in the isolated rat iris that seems to depend on the neural release of acetylcholine by tetrodotoxin-sensitive mechanisms. Its response relies largely on external Ca2+, through mechanisms independent of activation of L- or N-type Ca2+ channels, and is probably mediated via activation of NK3 and NK2 receptors.

Promoting seismology education and research via the IRIS Education and Public Outreach Program

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taber, J. J.; Bravo, T. K.; Dorr, P. M.; Hubenthal, M.; Johnson, J. A.; McQuillan, P.; Sumy, D. F.; Welti, R.

2015-12-01

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology's Education and Public Outreach (EPO) program is committed to advancing awareness and understanding of seismology and geophysics, while inspiring careers in the Earth sciences. To achieve this mission, IRIS EPO combines content and research expertise of consortium membership with educational and outreach expertise of IRIS staff to create a portfolio of programs, products, and services that target a range of audiences, including grades 6-12 students and teachers, undergraduate and graduate students, faculty, and the general public. IRIS also partners with UNAVCO and other organizations in support of EarthScope where the facilities are well-suited for sustained engagement of multiple audiences. Examples of research-related EPO products and services include the following resources. Tools developed in collaboration with IRIS Data Services provide public and educational access to data, and to a suite of data products. Teachers can stream seismic data from educational or research sensors into their classroom, and the Active Earth Monitor display, designed for visitor centers, universities and small museums, provides views of recent data along with animations that explain seismology concepts, and stories about recent research. Teachable Moment slide sets, created in collaboration with the University of Portland within 24 hours of major earthquakes, provide interpreted USGS tectonic maps and summaries, animations, visualizations, and other event-specific information so educators can explore newsworthy earthquakes with their students. Intro undergraduate classroom activities have been designed to introduce students to some grand challenges in seismological research, while our Research Experiences for Undergraduates program pairs students with seismology researchers throughout the Consortium and provides the opportunity for the students to present their research at a national meeting. EPO activities are evaluated via a combination of internal and external assessments, with an emphasis on formative evaluation and regular review by an advisory committee of community members. Results from our assessments inform the program's decision-making process, which has allowed IRIS to significantly enhance its EPO activities over time.

Antigen-Specific Interferon-Gamma Responses and Innate Cytokine Balance in TB-IRIS

PubMed Central

Goovaerts, Odin; Jennes, Wim; Massinga-Loembé, Marguerite; Ceulemans, Ann; Worodria, William; Mayanja-Kizza, Harriet; Colebunders, Robert; Kestens, Luc

2014-01-01

Background Tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) remains a poorly understood complication in HIV-TB patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). TB-IRIS could be associated with an exaggerated immune response to TB-antigens. We compared the recovery of IFNγ responses to recall and TB-antigens and explored in vitro innate cytokine production in TB-IRIS patients. Methods In a prospective cohort study of HIV-TB co-infected patients treated for TB before ART initiation, we compared 18 patients who developed TB-IRIS with 18 non-IRIS controls matched for age, sex and CD4 count. We analyzed IFNγ ELISpot responses to CMV, influenza, TB and LPS before ART and during TB-IRIS. CMV and LPS stimulated ELISpot supernatants were subsequently evaluated for production of IL-12p70, IL-6, TNFα and IL-10 by Luminex. Results Before ART, all responses were similar between TB-IRIS patients and non-IRIS controls. During TB-IRIS, IFNγ responses to TB and influenza antigens were comparable between TB-IRIS patients and non-IRIS controls, but responses to CMV and LPS remained significantly lower in TB-IRIS patients. Production of innate cytokines was similar between TB-IRIS patients and non-IRIS controls. However, upon LPS stimulation, IL-6/IL-10 and TNFα/IL-10 ratios were increased in TB-IRIS patients compared to non-IRIS controls. Conclusion TB-IRIS patients did not display excessive IFNγ responses to TB-antigens. In contrast, the reconstitution of CMV and LPS responses was delayed in the TB-IRIS group. For LPS, this was linked with a pro-inflammatory shift in the innate cytokine balance. These data are in support of a prominent role of the innate immune system in TB-IRIS. PMID:25415590

On the output factor measurements of the CyberKnife iris collimator small fields: Experimental determination of the k{sub Q{sub c{sub l{sub i{sub n,Q{sub m{sub s{sub r}{sup f{sub c}{sub l}{sub i}{sub n},f{sub m}{sub s}{sub r}}}}}}}}} correction factors for microchamber and diode detectors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pantelis, E.; Moutsatsos, A.; Zourari, K.

Purpose: To measure the output factors (OFs) of the small fields formed by the variable aperture collimator system (iris) of a CyberKnife (CK) robotic radiosurgery system, and determine the k{sub Q{sub c{sub l{sub i{sub n,Q{sub m{sub s{sub r}{sup f{sub c}{sub l}{sub i}{sub n},f{sub m}{sub s}{sub r}}}}}}}}} correction factors for a microchamber and four diode detectors. Methods: OF measurements were performed using a PTW PinPoint 31014 microchamber, four diode detectors (PTW-60017, -60012, -60008, and the SunNuclear EDGE detector), TLD-100 microcubes, alanine dosimeters, EBT films, and polymer gels for the 5 mm, 7.5 mm, 10 mm, 12.5 mm, and 15 mm irismore » collimators at 650 mm, 800 mm, and 1000 mm source to detector distance (SDD). The alanine OF measurements were corrected for volume averaging effects using the 3D dose distributions registered in polymer gel dosimeters. k{sub Q{sub c{sub l{sub i{sub n,Q{sub m{sub s{sub r}{sup f{sub c}{sub l}{sub i}{sub n},f{sub m}{sub s}{sub r}}}}}}}}} correction factors for the PinPoint microchamber and the diode dosimeters were calculated through comparison against corresponding polymer gel, EBT, alanine, and TLD results. Results: Experimental OF results are presented for the array of dosimetric systems used. The PinPoint microchamber was found to underestimate small field OFs, and a k{sub Q{sub c{sub l{sub i{sub n,Q{sub m{sub s{sub r}{sup f{sub c}{sub l}{sub i}{sub n},f{sub m}{sub s}{sub r}}}}}}}}} correction factor ranging from 1.127 {+-} 0.022 (for the 5 mm iris collimator) to 1.004 {+-} 0.010 (for the 15 mm iris collimator) was determined at the reference SDD of 800 mm. The PinPoint k{sub Q{sub c{sub l{sub i{sub n,Q{sub m{sub s{sub r}{sup f{sub c}{sub l}{sub i}{sub n},f{sub m}{sub s}{sub r}}}}}}}}} correction factor was also found to increase with decreasing SDD; k{sub Q{sub c{sub l{sub i{sub n,Q{sub m{sub s{sub r}{sup f{sub c}{sub l}{sub i}{sub n},f{sub m}{sub s}{sub r}}}}}}}}} values equal to 1.220 {+-} 0.028 and 1.077 {+-} 0.016 were obtained for the 5 mm iris collimator at 650 mm and 1000 mm SDD, respectively. On the contrary, diode detectors were found to overestimate small field OFs and a correction factor equal to 0.973 {+-} 0.006, 0.954 {+-} 0.006, 0.937 {+-} 0.007, and 0.964 {+-} 0.006 was measured for the PTW-60017, -60012, -60008 and the EDGE diode detectors, respectively, for the 5 mm iris collimator at 800 mm SDD. The corresponding correction factors for the 15 mm iris collimator were found equal to 0.997 {+-} 0.010, 0.994 {+-} 0.009, 0.988 {+-} 0.010, and 0.986 {+-} 0.010, respectively. No correlation of the diode k{sub Q{sub c{sub l{sub i{sub n,Q{sub m{sub s{sub r}{sup f{sub c}{sub l}{sub i}{sub n},f{sub m}{sub s}{sub r}}}}}}}}} correction factors with SDD was observed. Conclusions: This work demonstrates an experimental procedure for the determination of the k{sub Q{sub c{sub l{sub i{sub n,Q{sub m{sub s{sub r}{sup f{sub c}{sub l}{sub i}{sub n},f{sub m}{sub s}{sub r}}}}}}}}} correction factors required to obtain small field OF results of increased accuracy.« less

Iris reconstruction combined with iris-claw intraocular lens implantation for the management of iris-lens injured patients.

PubMed

Hu, Shufang; Wang, Mingling; Xiao, Tianlin; Zhao, Zhenquan

2016-03-01

To study the efficiency and safety of iris reconstruction combined with iris-claw intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in the patients with iris-lens injuries. Retrospective, noncomparable consecutive case series study. Eleven patients (11 eyes) following iris-lens injuries underwent iris reconstructions combined with iris-claw IOL implantations. Clinical data, such as cause and time of injury, visual acuity (VA), iris and lens injuries, surgical intervention, follow-up period, corneal endothelial cell count, and optical coherence tomography, were collected. Uncorrected VA (UCVA) in all injured eyes before combined surgery was equal to or <20/1000. Within a 1.1-4.2-year follow-up period, a significant increase, equal to or better than 20/66, in UCVA was observed in six (55%) cases, and in best-corrected VA (BCVA) was observed in nine (82%) cases. Postoperative BCVA was 20/40 or better in seven cases (64%). After combined surgery, the iris returned to its natural round shape or smaller pupil, and the iris-claw IOLs in the 11 eyes were well-positioned on the anterior surface of reconstructed iris. No complications occurred in those patients. Iris reconstruction combined with iris-claw IOL implantation is a safe and efficient procedure for an eye with iris-lens injury in the absence of capsular support.

AZD2171 in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Stage IV Melanoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2015-06-01

Acral Lentiginous Malignant Melanoma; Ciliary Body and Choroid Melanoma, Medium/Large Size; Ciliary Body and Choroid Melanoma, Small Size; Extraocular Extension Melanoma; Intraocular Melanoma; Iris Melanoma; Lentigo Maligna Malignant Melanoma; Recurrent Melanoma; Stage, Intraocular Melanoma; Stage IV Melanoma; Superficial Spreading Malignant Melanoma

Adjuvant Sunitinib or Valproic Acid in High-Risk Patients With Uveal Melanoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2017-10-25

Ciliary Body and Choroid Melanoma, Medium/Large Size; Ciliary Body and Choroid Melanoma, Small Size; Iris Melanoma; Stage I Intraocular Melanoma; Stage IIA Intraocular Melanoma; Stage IIB Intraocular Melanoma; Stage IIIA Intraocular Melanoma; Stage IIIB Intraocular Melanoma; Stage IIIC Intraocular Melanoma

Biocompatibility of poloxamer hydrogel as an injectable intraocular lens: a pilot study.

PubMed

Kwon, Ji Won; Han, Young Keun; Lee, Woo Jin; Cho, Chong Su; Paik, Seung Joon; Cho, Dong Il; Lee, Jin Hak; Wee, Won Ryang

2005-03-01

To induce irreversible gelation of poloxamer, a thermosensitive polymer hydrogel, by using a photoinitiator and ultraviolet (UV) irradiation and to verify the biocompatibility and use of poloxamer as an injectable intraocular lens (IOL) material. Department of Ophthalmology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul Artificial Eye Center, Clinical Research Institute, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea. In 10 rabbits, endocapsular phacoemulsification was performed and a poloxamer-photoinitiator mixture was injected into the capsular bag through a small capsulorhexis site. In 1 eye, the capsulorhexis site was closed with a small plug and the entire eye was irradiated with UV light for 5 minutes. Postoperatively, poloxamer transparency and effect on the conjunctiva, cornea, iris, vitreous, and retina were observed. A mixture comprising 25% poloxamer and 0.01% photoinitiator produced a poloxamer that remained transparent in the lens capsule for up to 6 months. No inflammatory response or toxicity was observed in the conjunctiva, cornea, iris, vitreous, or retina. Poloxamer is a potentially suitable material for an injectable IOL. Further study is needed.

Homework particularities for small school children.

PubMed

Beiusanu, Corina; Vlaicu, Brigitha

2013-01-01

The present study was centered on the particularities of the duration of preparing homework, taking breaks during homework preparation, and the way the breaks should take place for small school children. The study has been done on a sample of 235 small school children from Oradea, 114 boys and 121 girls, between the ages 7 and 10 years old, using an anonymous questioner, with 41 items, which investigates the lifestyle of the small school children. The duration of homework preparation it is significantly more reduced for the school children in 1st grade in comparison with the ones in 3 grade (p < 0.001); for school children in 2nd grade compared to the ones in 3rd (p < 0.001) and for school children in 3rd grade compared to the ones in 4th grade. A percentage of 93% of children prepare their homework after lunch. Half of the children from grades I-IV prepare their homework with no break. A very small number of children spend their homework break time in a healthy manner, while the rest prefer to play computer games (46.95%) or to watch television (46.08%). More than half of the schoolchildren need 1-2 hours at home to prepare their homework. Most of the school children prepare their homework after lunch, in an optimal interval of time. Half of the questioned children prepare their homework with no break. Those who are taking breaks prefer activities which get the children even more tired, therefore being non-hygienic methods of spending homework breaks.

Three-Dimensional Morphometric Analysis of the Iris by Swept-Source Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography in a Caucasian Population.

PubMed

Invernizzi, Alessandro; Giardini, Piero; Cigada, Mario; Viola, Francesco; Staurenghi, Giovanni

2015-07-01

We analyzed by swept-source anterior segment optical coherence tomography (SS-ASOCT) the three-dimensional iris morphology in a Caucasian population, and correlated the findings with iris color, iris sectors, subject age, and sex. One eye each from consecutive healthy emmetropic (refractive spherical equivalent ± 3 diopters) volunteers were selected for the study. The enrolled eye underwent standardized anterior segment photography to assess iris color. Iris images were assessed by SS-ASOCT for volume, thickness, width, and pupil size. Sectoral variations of morphometric data among the superior, nasal, inferior, and temporal sectors were recorded. A total of 135 eyes from 57 males and 78 females, age 49 ± 17 years, fulfilled the inclusion criteria. All iris morphometric parameters varied significantly among the different sectors (all P < 0.0001). Iris total volume and thickness were significantly correlated with increasingly darker pigmentation (P < 0.0001, P = 0.0384, respectively). Neither width nor pupil diameter was influenced by iris color. Age did not affect iris volume or thickness; iris width increased and pupil diameter decreased with age (rs = 0.52, rs = -0.58, respectively). There was no effect of sex on iris volume, thickness, or pupil diameter; iris width was significantly greater in males (P = 0.007). Morphology of the iris varied by iris sector, and iris color was associated with differences in iris volume and thickness. Morphological parameter variations associated with iris color, sector, age, and sex can be used to identify pathological changes in suspect eyes. To be effective in clinical settings, construction of iris morphological databases for different ethnic and racial populations is essential.

IRIS Observations of Magnetic Interactions in the Solar Atmosphere between Preexisting and Emerging Magnetic Fields. I. Overall Evolution

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guglielmino, Salvo L.; Zuccarello, Francesca; Young, Peter R.; Murabito, Mariarita; Romano, Paolo

2018-04-01

We report multiwavelength ultraviolet observations taken with the IRIS satellite, concerning the emergence phase in the upper chromosphere and transition region of an emerging flux region (EFR) embedded in the preexisting field of active region NOAA 12529 in the Sun. IRIS data are complemented by full-disk observations of the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite, relevant to the photosphere and the corona. The photospheric configuration of the EFR is also analyzed by measurements taken with the spectropolarimeter on board the Hinode satellite, when the EFR was fully developed. Recurrent intense brightenings that resemble UV bursts, with counterparts in all coronal passbands, are identified at the edges of the EFR. Jet activity is also observed at chromospheric and coronal levels, near the observed brightenings. The analysis of the IRIS line profiles reveals the heating of dense plasma in the low solar atmosphere and the driving of bidirectional high-velocity flows with speed up to 100 km s‑1 at the same locations. Compared with previous observations and numerical models, these signatures suggest evidence of several long-lasting, small-scale magnetic reconnection episodes between the emerging bipole and the ambient field. This process leads to the cancellation of a preexisting photospheric flux concentration and appears to occur higher in the atmosphere than usually found in UV bursts, explaining the observed coronal counterparts.

Iris reconstruction combined with iris-claw intraocular lens implantation for the management of iris-lens injured patients

PubMed Central

Hu, Shufang; Wang, Mingling; Xiao, Tianlin; Zhao, Zhenquan

2016-01-01

Aim: To study the efficiency and safety of iris reconstruction combined with iris-claw intraocular lens (IOL) implantation in the patients with iris-lens injuries. Settings and Design: Retrospective, noncomparable consecutive case series study. Materials and Methods: Eleven patients (11 eyes) following iris-lens injuries underwent iris reconstructions combined with iris-claw IOL implantations. Clinical data, such as cause and time of injury, visual acuity (VA), iris and lens injuries, surgical intervention, follow-up period, corneal endothelial cell count, and optical coherence tomography, were collected. Results: Uncorrected VA (UCVA) in all injured eyes before combined surgery was equal to or <20/1000. Within a 1.1–4.2-year follow-up period, a significant increase, equal to or better than 20/66, in UCVA was observed in six (55%) cases, and in best-corrected VA (BCVA) was observed in nine (82%) cases. Postoperative BCVA was 20/40 or better in seven cases (64%). After combined surgery, the iris returned to its natural round shape or smaller pupil, and the iris-claw IOLs in the 11 eyes were well-positioned on the anterior surface of reconstructed iris. No complications occurred in those patients. Conclusions: Iris reconstruction combined with iris-claw IOL implantation is a safe and efficient procedure for an eye with iris-lens injury in the absence of capsular support. PMID:27146932

IRIS Burst Spectra Co-spatial to a Quiet-Sun Ellerman-like Brightening

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nelson, C. J.; Freij, N.; Reid, A.; Oliver, R.; Mathioudakis, M.; Erdélyi, R.

2017-08-01

Ellerman bombs (EBs) have been widely studied over the past two decades; however, only recently have the counterparts of these events been observed in the quiet-Sun. The aim of this article is to further understand small-scale quiet-Sun Ellerman-like brightenings (QSEBs) through research into their spectral signatures, including investigating whether the hot signatures associated with some EBs are also visible co-spatial to any QSEBs. We combine Hα and Ca II 8542 Å line scans at the solar limb with spectral and imaging data sampled by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). Twenty-one QSEBs were identified with average lifetimes, lengths, and widths measured to be around 120 s, 0.″63, and 0.″35, respectively. Three of these QSEBs displayed clear repetitive flaring through their lifetimes, comparable to the behavior of EBs in active regions. Two QSEBs in this sample occurred co-spatial to increased emission in SDO/AIA 1600 Å and IRIS slit-jaw imager 1400 Å data; however, these intensity increases were smaller than those reported co-spatially with EBs. One QSEB was also sampled by the IRIS slit during its lifetime, displaying increases in intensity in the Si IV 1393 Å and Si IV 1403 Å cores, as well as the C II and Mg II line wings, analogous to IRIS bursts (IBs). Using RADYN simulations, we are unable to reproduce the observed QSEB Hα and Ca II 8542 Å line profiles, leaving the question of the temperature stratification of QSEBs open. Our results imply that some QSEBs could be heated to transition region temperatures, suggesting that IB profiles should be observed throughout the quiet-Sun.

The formation of IRIS diagnostics. III. Near-ultraviolet spectra and images

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pereira, T. M. D.; Leenaarts, J.; De Pontieu, B.

The Mg II h and k lines are the prime chromospheric diagnostics of NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). In the previous papers of this series, we used a realistic three-dimensional radiative magnetohydrodynamics model to calculate the h and k lines in detail and investigated how their spectral features relate to the underlying atmosphere. In this work, we employ the same approach to investigate how the h and k diagnostics fare when taking into account the finite resolution of IRIS and different noise levels. In addition, we investigate the diagnostic potential of several other photospheric lines and near-continuum regions presentmore » in the near-ultraviolet (NUV) window of IRIS and study the formation of the NUV slit-jaw images. We find that the instrumental resolution of IRIS has a small effect on the quality of the h and k diagnostics; the relations between the spectral features and atmospheric properties are mostly unchanged. The peak separation is the most affected diagnostic, but mainly due to limitations of the simulation. The effects of noise start to be noticeable at a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 20, but we show that with noise filtering one can obtain reliable diagnostics at least down to a S/N of 5. The many photospheric lines present in the NUV window provide velocity information for at least eight distinct photospheric heights. Using line-free regions in the h and k far wings, we derive good estimates of photospheric temperature for at least three heights. Both of these diagnostics, in particular the latter, can be obtained even at S/Ns as low as 5.« less

IRIS Burst Spectra Co-spatial to a Quiet-Sun Ellerman-like Brightening

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nelson, C. J.; Erdélyi, R.; Freij, N.

Ellerman bombs (EBs) have been widely studied over the past two decades; however, only recently have the counterparts of these events been observed in the quiet-Sun. The aim of this article is to further understand small-scale quiet-Sun Ellerman-like brightenings (QSEBs) through research into their spectral signatures, including investigating whether the hot signatures associated with some EBs are also visible co-spatial to any QSEBs. We combine H α and Ca ii 8542 Å line scans at the solar limb with spectral and imaging data sampled by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph ( IRIS ). Twenty-one QSEBs were identified with average lifetimes,more » lengths, and widths measured to be around 120 s, 0.″63, and 0.″35, respectively. Three of these QSEBs displayed clear repetitive flaring through their lifetimes, comparable to the behavior of EBs in active regions. Two QSEBs in this sample occurred co-spatial to increased emission in SDO /AIA 1600 Å and IRIS slit-jaw imager 1400 Å data; however, these intensity increases were smaller than those reported co-spatially with EBs. One QSEB was also sampled by the IRIS slit during its lifetime, displaying increases in intensity in the Si iv 1393 Å and Si iv 1403 Å cores, as well as the C ii and Mg ii line wings, analogous to IRIS bursts (IBs). Using RADYN simulations, we are unable to reproduce the observed QSEB H α and Ca ii 8542 Å line profiles, leaving the question of the temperature stratification of QSEBs open. Our results imply that some QSEBs could be heated to transition region temperatures, suggesting that IB profiles should be observed throughout the quiet-Sun.« less

Integrated electrochromic aperture diaphragm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Deutschmann, T.; Oesterschulze, E.

2014-05-01

In the last years, the triumphal march of handheld electronics with integrated cameras has opened amazing fields for small high performing optical systems. For this purpose miniaturized iris apertures are of practical importance because they are essential to control both the dynamic range of the imaging system and the depth of focus. Therefore, we invented a micro optical iris based on an electrochromic (EC) material. This material changes its absorption in response to an applied voltage. A coaxial arrangement of annular rings of the EC material is used to establish an iris aperture without need of any mechanical moving parts. The advantages of this device do not only arise from the space-saving design with a thickness of the device layer of 50μm. But it also benefits from low power consumption. In fact, its transmission state is stable in an open circuit, phrased memory effect. Only changes of the absorption require a voltage of up to 2 V. In contrast to mechanical iris apertures the absorption may be controlled on an analog scale offering the opportunity for apodization. These properties make our device the ideal candidate for battery powered and space-saving systems. We present optical measurements concerning control of the transmitted intensity and depth of focus, and studies dealing with switching times, light scattering, and stability. While the EC polymer used in this study still has limitations concerning color and contrast, the presented device features all functions of an iris aperture. In contrast to conventional devices it offers some special features. Owing to the variable chemistry of the EC material, its spectral response may be adjusted to certain applications like color filtering in different spectral regimes (UV, optical range, infrared). Furthermore, all segments may be switched individually to establish functions like spatial Fourier filtering or lateral tunable intensity filters.

Enhanced way of securing automated teller machine to track the misusers using secure monitor tracking analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sadhasivam, Jayakumar; Alamelu, M.; Radhika, R.; Ramya, S.; Dharani, K.; Jayavel, Senthil

2017-11-01

Now a days the people's attraction towards Automated Teller Machine(ATM) has been increasing even in rural areas. As of now the security provided by all the bank is ATM pin number. Hackers know the way to easily identify the pin number and withdraw money if they haven stolen the ATM card. Also, the Automated Teller Machine is broken and the money is stolen. To overcome these disadvantages, we propose an approach “Automated Secure Tracking System” to secure and tracking the changes in ATM. In this approach, while creating the bank account, the bank should scan the iris known (a part or movement of our eye) and fingerprint of the customer. The scanning can be done with the position of the eye movements and fingerprints identified with the shortest measurements. When the card is swiped then ATM should request the pin, scan the iris and recognize the fingerprint and then allow the customer to withdraw money. If somebody tries to break the ATM an alert message is given to the nearby police station and the ATM shutter is automatically closed. This helps in avoiding the hackers who withdraw money by stealing the ATM card and also helps the government in identifying the criminals easily.

Iris Crypts Influence Dynamic Changes of Iris Volume.

PubMed

Chua, Jacqueline; Thakku, Sri Gowtham; Tun, Tin A; Nongpiur, Monisha E; Tan, Marcus Chiang Lee; Girard, Michael J A; Wong, Tien Yin; Quah, Joanne Hui Min; Aung, Tin; Cheng, Ching-Yu

2016-10-01

To determine the association of iris surface features with iris volume change after physiologic pupil dilation in adults. Cross-sectional observational study. Chinese adults aged ≥ 50 years without ocular diseases. Digital iris photographs were taken from eyes of each participant and graded for crypts (by number and size) and furrows (by number and circumferential extent) following a standardized grading scheme. Iris color was measured objectively, using the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) L* color parameter (higher value denoting lighter iris). The anterior segment was imaged by swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) (Casia; Tomey, Nagoya, Japan) under bright light and dark room conditions. Iris volumes in light and dark conditions were measured with custom semiautomated software, and the change in iris volume was quantified. Associations of the change in iris volume after pupil dilation with underlying iris surface features in right eyes were assessed using linear regression analysis. Iris volume change after physiologic pupil dilation from light to dark condition. A total of 65 Chinese participants (mean age, 59.8±5.7 years) had gradable data for iris surface features. In light condition, higher iris crypt grade was associated independently with smaller iris volume (β [change in iris volume in millimeters per crypt grade increment] = -1.43, 95% confidence interval [CI], -2.26 to -0.59; P = 0.001) and greater reduction of iris volume on pupil dilation (β [change in iris volume in millimeters per crypt grade increment] = 0.23, 95% CI, 0.06-0.40; P = 0.010), adjusting for age, gender, presence of corneal arcus, and change in pupil size. Iris furrows and iris color were not associated with iris volume in light condition or change in iris volume (all P > 0.05). Although few Chinese persons have multiple crypts on their irides, irides with more crypts were significantly thinner and lost more volume on pupil dilation. In view that the latter feature is known to be protective for acute angle-closure attack, it is likely that the macroscopic and microscopic composition of the iris is a contributing feature to angle-closure disease. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

DYNAMICS OF ON-DISK PLUMES AS OBSERVED WITH THE INTERFACE REGION IMAGING SPECTROGRAPH, THE ATMOSPHERIC IMAGING ASSEMBLY, AND THE HELIOSEISMIC AND MAGNETIC IMAGER

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Pant, Vaibhav; Mazumder, Rakesh; Banerjee, Dipankar

2015-07-01

We examine the role of small-scale transients in the formation and evolution of solar coronal plumes. We study the dynamics of plume footpoints seen in the vicinity of a coronal hole using the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) images, the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager magnetogram on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory and spectroscopic data from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). Quasi-periodic brightenings are observed in the base of the plumes and are associated with magnetic flux changes. With the high spectral and spatial resolution of IRIS, we identify the sources of these oscillations and try to understand what role themore » transients at the footpoints can play in sustaining the coronal plumes. IRIS “sit-and-stare” observations provide a unique opportunity to study the evolution of footpoints of the plumes. We notice enhanced line width and intensity, and large deviation from the average Doppler shift in the line profiles at specific instances, which indicate the presence of flows at the footpoints of plumes. We propose that outflows (jet-like features) as a result of small-scale reconnections affect the line profiles. These jet-like features may also be responsible for the generation of propagating disturbances (PDs) within the plumes, which are observed to be propagating to larger distances as recorded from multiple AIA channels. These PDs can be explained in terms of slow magnetoacoustic waves.« less

Infrared photothermal imaging of trace explosives on relevant substrates

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kendziora, Christopher A.; Furstenberg, Robert; Papantonakis, Michael; Nguyen, Viet; Borchert, James; Byers, Jeff; McGill, R. Andrew

2013-06-01

We are developing a technique for the stand-off detection of trace explosives on relevant substrate surfaces using photo-thermal infrared (IR) imaging spectroscopy (PT-IRIS). This approach leverages one or more compact IR quantum cascade lasers, tuned to strong absorption bands in the analytes and directed to illuminate an area on a surface of interest. An IR focal plane array is used to image the surface and detect small increases in thermal emission upon laser illumination. The PT-IRIS signal is processed as a hyperspectral image cube comprised of spatial, spectral and temporal dimensions as vectors within a detection algorithm. The ability to detect trace analytes on relevant substrates is critical for stand-off applications, but is complicated by the optical and thermal analyte/substrate interactions. This manuscript describes recent PT-IRIS experimental results and analysis for traces of RDX, TNT, ammonium nitrate (AN) and sucrose on relevant substrates (steel, polyethylene, glass and painted steel panels). We demonstrate that these analytes can be detected on these substrates at relevant surface mass loadings (10 μg/cm2 to 100 μg/cm2) even at the single pixel level.

Hurricane Iris Hits Belize

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

2002-01-01

Hurricane Iris hit the small Central American country of Belize around midnight on October 8, 2001. At the time, Iris was the strongest Atlantic hurricane of the season, with sustained winds up to 225 kilometers per hour (140 mph). The hurricane caused severe damage-destroying homes, flooding streets, and leveling trees-in coastal towns south of Belize City. In addition, a boat of American recreational scuba divers docked along the coast was capsized by the storm, leaving 20 of the 28 passengers missing. Within hours the winds had subsided to only 56 kph (35 mph), a modest tropical depression, but Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras were still expecting heavy rains. The above image is a combination of visible and thermal infrared data (for clouds) acquired by a NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-8) on October 8, 2001, at 2:45 p.m., and the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) (for the color of the ground). The three-dimensional view is from the south-southeast (north is towards the upper left). Belize is off the image to the left. Image courtesy Marit Jentoft-Nilsen, NASA GSFC Visualization Analysis Lab

ELLERMAN BOMBS AT HIGH RESOLUTION. III. SIMULTANEOUS OBSERVATIONS WITH IRIS AND SST

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Vissers, G. J. M.; Voort, L. H. M. Rouppe van der; Rutten, R. J.

Ellerman bombs (EBs) are transient brightenings of the extended wings of the solar Balmer lines in emerging active regions. We describe their properties in the ultraviolet lines sampled by the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), using simultaneous imaging spectroscopy in Hα with the Swedish 1-m Solar Telescope (SST) and ultraviolet images from the Solar Dynamics Observatory for Ellerman bomb detection and identification. We select multiple co-observed EBs for detailed analysis. The IRIS spectra strengthen the view that EBs mark reconnection between bipolar kilogauss fluxtubes with the reconnection and the resulting bi-directional jet located within the solar photosphere and shielded bymore » overlying chromospheric fibrils in the cores of strong lines. The spectra suggest that the reconnecting photospheric gas underneath is heated sufficiently to momentarily reach stages of ionization normally assigned to the transition region and the corona. We also analyze similar outburst phenomena that we classify as small flaring arch filaments and ascribe to reconnection at a higher location. They have different morphologies and produce hot arches in million-Kelvin diagnostics.« less

Fuzzy difference-of-Gaussian-based iris recognition method for noisy iris images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kang, Byung Jun; Park, Kang Ryoung; Yoo, Jang-Hee; Moon, Kiyoung

2010-06-01

Iris recognition is used for information security with a high confidence level because it shows outstanding recognition accuracy by using human iris patterns with high degrees of freedom. However, iris recognition accuracy can be reduced by noisy iris images with optical and motion blurring. We propose a new iris recognition method based on the fuzzy difference-of-Gaussian (DOG) for noisy iris images. This study is novel in three ways compared to previous works: (1) The proposed method extracts iris feature values using the DOG method, which is robust to local variations of illumination and shows fine texture information, including various frequency components. (2) When determining iris binary codes, image noises that cause the quantization error of the feature values are reduced with the fuzzy membership function. (3) The optimal parameters of the DOG filter and the fuzzy membership function are determined in terms of iris recognition accuracy. Experimental results showed that the performance of the proposed method was better than that of previous methods for noisy iris images.

Enhanced iris recognition method based on multi-unit iris images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shin, Kwang Yong; Kim, Yeong Gon; Park, Kang Ryoung

2013-04-01

For the purpose of biometric person identification, iris recognition uses the unique characteristics of the patterns of the iris; that is, the eye region between the pupil and the sclera. When obtaining an iris image, the iris's image is frequently rotated because of the user's head roll toward the left or right shoulder. As the rotation of the iris image leads to circular shifting of the iris features, the accuracy of iris recognition is degraded. To solve this problem, conventional iris recognition methods use shifting of the iris feature codes to perform the matching. However, this increases the computational complexity and level of false acceptance error. To solve these problems, we propose a novel iris recognition method based on multi-unit iris images. Our method is novel in the following five ways compared with previous methods. First, to detect both eyes, we use Adaboost and a rapid eye detector (RED) based on the iris shape feature and integral imaging. Both eyes are detected using RED in the approximate candidate region that consists of the binocular region, which is determined by the Adaboost detector. Second, we classify the detected eyes into the left and right eyes, because the iris patterns in the left and right eyes in the same person are different, and they are therefore considered as different classes. We can improve the accuracy of iris recognition using this pre-classification of the left and right eyes. Third, by measuring the angle of head roll using the two center positions of the left and right pupils, detected by two circular edge detectors, we obtain the information of the iris rotation angle. Fourth, in order to reduce the error and processing time of iris recognition, adaptive bit-shifting based on the measured iris rotation angle is used in feature matching. Fifth, the recognition accuracy is enhanced by the score fusion of the left and right irises. Experimental results on the iris open database of low-resolution images showed that the averaged equal error rate of iris recognition using the proposed method was 4.3006%, which is lower than that of other methods.

Results in Combined Cataract Surgery With Prosthetic Iris Implantation in Patients With Previous Iridocyclectomy for Iris Melanoma.

PubMed

Snyder, Michael E; Osher, Robert H; Wladecki, Trisha M; Perez, Mauricio A; Augsburger, James J; Corrêa, Zélia

2017-03-01

To present visual and functional results following implantation of iris prosthesis combined with cataract surgery in eyes with previous iridocyclectomy for iris melanoma or presumed iris melanoma. Retrospective noncomparative case series. Sixteen patients (16 eyes) with iris defects after iridocyclectomy for iris melanoma in 15 cases and iris adenoma in 1 case underwent prosthetic iris device implantation surgery. Prosthetic iris implantation was combined with phacoemulsification and intraocular lens (IOL) implantation. The visual acuity, subjective glare and photophobia reduction, anatomic outcome, and complications were reviewed. Best-corrected visual acuity was improved in 13 eyes (81.25%), remained stable in 2 eyes (12.25%), and decreased in 1 eye (6.25%). Photophobia and glare improved in every case except for 1 (93.75%). Notably, after surgery 12 patients (75.00%) reported no photophobia and 10 patients (62.50%) reported no glare. The median postoperative follow-up was 29.5 months, with a minimum of 5 months and a maximum of 189 months. All iris devices were in the correct position, and all eyes achieved the desired anatomic result. The IOL optic edges were covered in all areas by either residual iris or opaque portions of a prosthetic iris device. In patients who have undergone previous iridocyclectomy for presumed iris melanoma, combined cataract surgery and iris prosthesis placement, with or without iris reconstruction, can lead to visual improvement as well as reduction of both glare and photophobia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Description of the small plastics fragments in marine sediments along the Alang-Sosiya ship-breaking yard, India

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Srinivasa Reddy, M.; Basha, Shaik; Adimurthy, S.; Ramachandraiah, G.

2006-07-01

This study aimed to assess the accumulation of small plastic debris in the intertidal sediments of the world's largest ship-breaking yard at Alang-Sosiya, India. Small plastics fragments were collected by flotation and separated according to their basic polymer type under a microscope, and subsequently identified by FT-IR spectroscopy as polyurethane, nylon, polystyrene, polyester and glass wool. The morphology of these materials was also studied using a scanning electron microscope. Overall, there were on average 81 mg of small plastics fragments per kg of sediment. The described plastic fragments are believed to have resulted directly from the ship-breaking activities at the site.

Trade off between variable and fixed size normalization in orthogonal polynomials based iris recognition system.

PubMed

Krishnamoorthi, R; Anna Poorani, G

2016-01-01

Iris normalization is an important stage in any iris biometric, as it has a propensity to trim down the consequences of iris distortion. To indemnify the variation in size of the iris owing to the action of stretching or enlarging the pupil in iris acquisition process and camera to eyeball distance, two normalization schemes has been proposed in this work. In the first method, the iris region of interest is normalized by converting the iris into the variable size rectangular model in order to avoid the under samples near the limbus border. In the second method, the iris region of interest is normalized by converting the iris region into a fixed size rectangular model in order to avoid the dimensional discrepancies between the eye images. The performance of the proposed normalization methods is evaluated with orthogonal polynomials based iris recognition in terms of FAR, FRR, GAR, CRR and EER.

Toward More Accurate Iris Recognition Using Cross-Spectral Matching.

PubMed

Nalla, Pattabhi Ramaiah; Kumar, Ajay

2017-01-01

Iris recognition systems are increasingly deployed for large-scale applications such as national ID programs, which continue to acquire millions of iris images to establish identity among billions. However, with the availability of variety of iris sensors that are deployed for the iris imaging under different illumination/environment, significant performance degradation is expected while matching such iris images acquired under two different domains (either sensor-specific or wavelength-specific). This paper develops a domain adaptation framework to address this problem and introduces a new algorithm using Markov random fields model to significantly improve cross-domain iris recognition. The proposed domain adaptation framework based on the naive Bayes nearest neighbor classification uses a real-valued feature representation, which is capable of learning domain knowledge. Our approach to estimate corresponding visible iris patterns from the synthesis of iris patches in the near infrared iris images achieves outperforming results for the cross-spectral iris recognition. In this paper, a new class of bi-spectral iris recognition system that can simultaneously acquire visible and near infra-red images with pixel-to-pixel correspondences is proposed and evaluated. This paper presents experimental results from three publicly available databases; PolyU cross-spectral iris image database, IIITD CLI and UND database, and achieve outperforming results for the cross-sensor and cross-spectral iris matching.

Facially Amphipathic Glycopolymers Inhibit Ice Recrystallization.

PubMed

Graham, Ben; Fayter, Alice E R; Houston, Judith E; Evans, Rachel C; Gibson, Matthew I

2018-05-02

Antifreeze glycoproteins (AFGPs) from polar fish are the most potent ice recrystallization (growth) inhibitors known, and synthetic mimics are required for low-temperature applications such as cell cryopreservation. Here we introduce facially amphipathic glycopolymers that mimic the three-dimensional structure of AFGPs. Glycopolymers featuring segregated hydrophilic and hydrophobic faces were prepared by ring-opening metathesis polymerization, and their rigid conformation was confirmed by small-angle neutron scattering. Ice recrystallization inhibition (IRI) activity was reduced when a hydrophilic oxo-ether was installed on the glycan-opposing face, but significant activity was restored by incorporating a hydrophobic dimethylfulvene residue. This biomimetic strategy demonstrates that segregated domains of distinct hydrophilicity/hydrophobicity are a crucial motif to introduce IRI activity, which increases our understanding of the complex ice crystal inhibition processes.

An effective approach for iris recognition using phase-based image matching.

PubMed

Miyazawa, Kazuyuki; Ito, Koichi; Aoki, Takafumi; Kobayashi, Koji; Nakajima, Hiroshi

2008-10-01

This paper presents an efficient algorithm for iris recognition using phase-based image matching--an image matching technique using phase components in 2D Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFTs) of given images. Experimental evaluation using CASIA iris image databases (versions 1.0 and 2.0) and Iris Challenge Evaluation (ICE) 2005 database clearly demonstrates that the use of phase components of iris images makes possible to achieve highly accurate iris recognition with a simple matching algorithm. This paper also discusses major implementation issues of our algorithm. In order to reduce the size of iris data and to prevent the visibility of iris images, we introduce the idea of 2D Fourier Phase Code (FPC) for representing iris information. The 2D FPC is particularly useful for implementing compact iris recognition devices using state-of-the-art Digital Signal Processing (DSP) technology.

Iris Location Algorithm Based on the CANNY Operator and Gradient Hough Transform

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhong, L. H.; Meng, K.; Wang, Y.; Dai, Z. Q.; Li, S.

2017-12-01

In the iris recognition system, the accuracy of the localization of the inner and outer edges of the iris directly affects the performance of the recognition system, so iris localization has important research meaning. Our iris data contain eyelid, eyelashes, light spot and other noise, even the gray transformation of the images is not obvious, so the general methods of iris location are unable to realize the iris location. The method of the iris location based on Canny operator and gradient Hough transform is proposed. Firstly, the images are pre-processed; then, calculating the gradient information of images, the inner and outer edges of iris are coarse positioned using Canny operator; finally, according to the gradient Hough transform to realize precise localization of the inner and outer edge of iris. The experimental results show that our algorithm can achieve the localization of the inner and outer edges of the iris well, and the algorithm has strong anti-interference ability, can greatly reduce the location time and has higher accuracy and stability.

Exploring the feasibility of iris recognition for visible spectrum iris images obtained using smartphone camera

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trokielewicz, Mateusz; Bartuzi, Ewelina; Michowska, Katarzyna; Andrzejewska, Antonina; Selegrat, Monika

2015-09-01

In the age of modern, hyperconnected society that increasingly relies on mobile devices and solutions, implementing a reliable and accurate biometric system employing iris recognition presents new challenges. Typical biometric systems employing iris analysis require expensive and complicated hardware. We therefore explore an alternative way using visible spectrum iris imaging. This paper aims at answering several questions related to applying iris biometrics for images obtained in the visible spectrum using smartphone camera. Can irides be successfully and effortlessly imaged using a smartphone's built-in camera? Can existing iris recognition methods perform well when presented with such images? The main advantage of using near-infrared (NIR) illumination in dedicated iris recognition cameras is good performance almost independent of the iris color and pigmentation. Are the images obtained from smartphone's camera of sufficient quality even for the dark irides? We present experiments incorporating simple image preprocessing to find the best visibility of iris texture, followed by a performance study to assess whether iris recognition methods originally aimed at NIR iris images perform well with visible light images. To our best knowledge this is the first comprehensive analysis of iris recognition performance using a database of high-quality images collected in visible light using the smartphones flashlight together with the application of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) iris recognition methods.

The Immune Pathogenesis of Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome Associated with Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy in AIDS

PubMed Central

Zhou, Huaying; He, Yan; Chen, Zi; He, Bo; He, Mei

2014-01-01

Abstract The present study investigated the immunological pathogenesis of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) in acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) patients undergoing highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). A total of 238 patients with AIDS who received initial HAART were included in this prospective cohort study. Blood samples were collected immediately, at baseline, at week 12, and at week 24 after initial HAART and at the onset of IRIS. Lymphocyte subsets, Th1 and Th2 cytokines, and interleukin (IL)-7 levels were measured by flow cytometry or ELISA. Among the 238 patients with AIDS who received HAART, 47 patients developed IRIS. The percentages of CD4+ and CD8+ naive, memory, and activated cells exhibited no significant differences between AIDS patients with and without IRIS 24 weeks after initial HAART. The percentage of CD4+CD25+Foxp3+ regulatory T cells was lower in IRIS patients than in non-IRIS patients before HAART, 12 weeks after HAART, 24 weeks after HAART, and at the onset of IRIS. IL-2 and interferon (IFN)-γ levels were significantly higher at week 4 and at the onset of IRIS in IRIS patients than in non-IRIS patients. In contrast, IL-4 and IL-10 levels were significantly lower at week 4 and at the onset of IRIS in IRIS patients than in non-IRIS patients. Plasma IL-7 decreased gradually with the progression of HAART. The level of IL-7 was higher in IRIS patients than in non-IRIS patients at all follow-up time points. An imbalance of Th1/Th2 cytokines, a consistently low CD+CD25+Fox3+ percentage, and a high IL-7 level may be crucial in the pathogenesis of IRIS in AIDS patients who had received HAART. PMID:25131160

On techniques for angle compensation in nonideal iris recognition.

PubMed

Schuckers, Stephanie A C; Schmid, Natalia A; Abhyankar, Aditya; Dorairaj, Vivekanand; Boyce, Christopher K; Hornak, Lawrence A

2007-10-01

The popularity of the iris biometric has grown considerably over the past two to three years. Most research has been focused on the development of new iris processing and recognition algorithms for frontal view iris images. However, a few challenging directions in iris research have been identified, including processing of a nonideal iris and iris at a distance. In this paper, we describe two nonideal iris recognition systems and analyze their performance. The word "nonideal" is used in the sense of compensating for off-angle occluded iris images. The system is designed to process nonideal iris images in two steps: 1) compensation for off-angle gaze direction and 2) processing and encoding of the rotated iris image. Two approaches are presented to account for angular variations in the iris images. In the first approach, we use Daugman's integrodifferential operator as an objective function to estimate the gaze direction. After the angle is estimated, the off-angle iris image undergoes geometric transformations involving the estimated angle and is further processed as if it were a frontal view image. The encoding technique developed for a frontal image is based on the application of the global independent component analysis. The second approach uses an angular deformation calibration model. The angular deformations are modeled, and calibration parameters are calculated. The proposed method consists of a closed-form solution, followed by an iterative optimization procedure. The images are projected on the plane closest to the base calibrated plane. Biorthogonal wavelets are used for encoding to perform iris recognition. We use a special dataset of the off-angle iris images to quantify the performance of the designed systems. A series of receiver operating characteristics demonstrate various effects on the performance of the nonideal-iris-based recognition system.

An automatic iris occlusion estimation method based on high-dimensional density estimation.

PubMed

Li, Yung-Hui; Savvides, Marios

2013-04-01

Iris masks play an important role in iris recognition. They indicate which part of the iris texture map is useful and which part is occluded or contaminated by noisy image artifacts such as eyelashes, eyelids, eyeglasses frames, and specular reflections. The accuracy of the iris mask is extremely important. The performance of the iris recognition system will decrease dramatically when the iris mask is inaccurate, even when the best recognition algorithm is used. Traditionally, people used the rule-based algorithms to estimate iris masks from iris images. However, the accuracy of the iris masks generated this way is questionable. In this work, we propose to use Figueiredo and Jain's Gaussian Mixture Models (FJ-GMMs) to model the underlying probabilistic distributions of both valid and invalid regions on iris images. We also explored possible features and found that Gabor Filter Bank (GFB) provides the most discriminative information for our goal. Finally, we applied Simulated Annealing (SA) technique to optimize the parameters of GFB in order to achieve the best recognition rate. Experimental results show that the masks generated by the proposed algorithm increase the iris recognition rate on both ICE2 and UBIRIS dataset, verifying the effectiveness and importance of our proposed method for iris occlusion estimation.

The fast iris image clarity evaluation based on Tenengrad and ROI selection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gao, Shuqin; Han, Min; Cheng, Xu

2018-04-01

In iris recognition system, the clarity of iris image is an important factor that influences recognition effect. In the process of recognition, the blurred image may possibly be rejected by the automatic iris recognition system, which will lead to the failure of identification. Therefore it is necessary to evaluate the iris image definition before recognition. Considered the existing evaluation methods on iris image definition, we proposed a fast algorithm to evaluate the definition of iris image in this paper. In our algorithm, firstly ROI (Region of Interest) is extracted based on the reference point which is determined by using the feature of the light spots within the pupil, then Tenengrad operator is used to evaluate the iris image's definition. Experiment results show that, the iris image definition algorithm proposed in this paper could accurately distinguish the iris images of different clarity, and the algorithm has the merit of low computational complexity and more effectiveness.

A gallery approach for off-angle iris recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karakaya, Mahmut; Yoldash, Rashiduddin; Boehnen, Christopher

2015-05-01

It has been proven that hamming distance score between frontal and off-angle iris images of same eye differs in iris recognition system. The distinction of hamming distance score is caused by many factors such as image acquisition angle, occlusion, pupil dilation, and limbus effect. In this paper, we first study the effect of the angle variations between iris plane and the image acquisition systems. We present how hamming distance changes for different off-angle iris images even if they are coming from the same iris. We observe that increment in acquisition angle of compared iris images causes the increment in hamming distance. Second, we propose a new technique in off-angle iris recognition system that includes creating a gallery of different off-angle iris images (such as, 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 degrees) and comparing each probe image with these gallery images. We will show the accuracy of the gallery approach for off-angle iris recognition.

Gravity waves and the LHC: towards high-scale inflation with low-energy SUSY

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Temple; Kachru, Shamit; Westphal, Alexander

2010-06-01

It has been argued that rather generic features of string-inspired inflationary theories with low-energy supersymmetry (SUSY) make it difficult to achieve inflation with a Hubble scale H > m 3/2, where m 3/2 is the gravitino mass in the SUSY-breaking vacuum state. We present a class of string-inspired supergravity realizations of chaotic inflation where a simple, dynamical mechanism yields hierarchically small scales of post-inflationary supersymmetry breaking. Within these toy models we can easily achieve small ratios between m 3/2 and the Hubble scale of inflation. This is possible because the expectation value of the superpotential < W> relaxes from large to small values during the course of inflation. However, our toy models do not provide a reasonable fit to cosmological data if one sets the SUSY-breaking scale to m 3/2 ≤ TeV. Our work is a small step towards relieving the apparent tension between high-scale inflation and low-scale supersymmetry breaking in string compactifications.

Iris segmentation using an edge detector based on fuzzy sets theory and cellular learning automata.

PubMed

Ghanizadeh, Afshin; Abarghouei, Amir Atapour; Sinaie, Saman; Saad, Puteh; Shamsuddin, Siti Mariyam

2011-07-01

Iris-based biometric systems identify individuals based on the characteristics of their iris, since they are proven to remain unique for a long time. An iris recognition system includes four phases, the most important of which is preprocessing in which the iris segmentation is performed. The accuracy of an iris biometric system critically depends on the segmentation system. In this paper, an iris segmentation system using edge detection techniques and Hough transforms is presented. The newly proposed edge detection system enhances the performance of the segmentation in a way that it performs much more efficiently than the other conventional iris segmentation methods.

An Iris Segmentation Algorithm based on Edge Orientation for Off-angle Iris Recognition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karakaya, Mahmut; Barstow, Del R; Santos-Villalobos, Hector J

Iris recognition is known as one of the most accurate and reliable biometrics. However, the accuracy of iris recognition systems depends on the quality of data capture and is negatively affected by several factors such as angle, occlusion, and dilation. In this paper, we present a segmentation algorithm for off-angle iris images that uses edge detection, edge elimination, edge classification, and ellipse fitting techniques. In our approach, we first detect all candidate edges in the iris image by using the canny edge detector; this collection contains edges from the iris and pupil boundaries as well as eyelash, eyelids, iris texturemore » etc. Edge orientation is used to eliminate the edges that cannot be part of the iris or pupil. Then, we classify the remaining edge points into two sets as pupil edges and iris edges. Finally, we randomly generate subsets of iris and pupil edge points, fit ellipses for each subset, select ellipses with similar parameters, and average to form the resultant ellipses. Based on the results from real experiments, the proposed method shows effectiveness in segmentation for off-angle iris images.« less

Epidemiology of ocular disorders presumed to be inherited in three small Italian dog breeds in Italy.

PubMed

Guandalini, Adolfo; Di Girolamo, Nicola; Corvi, Roberta; Santillo, Daniele; Andreani, Valentina; Pinzo, Barbara

2017-12-28

To describe the prevalence and the types of eye disorders that are known or presumed to be inherited (KP-HED) in three small Italian dog breeds. Three small Italian dog breeds: Maltese, Bolognese, and Italian Greyhound. All dogs of the breeds selected for this prospective observational study that underwent a complete ophthalmic examination between 1994 and 2015 were included. General and proportional KP-HED prevalence with 95% confidence intervals were reported. Three hundred and six of 462 dogs were affected by at least one KP-HED (66.2%; 95% CI: 61.8%-70.4%). In the entire population, the five most common KP-HED were cataract (n = 122; rate on the total number of KP-HED: 31.4%), entropion (n = 56; 14.4%), keratoconjunctivitis sicca (n = 33; 8.5%), retinal dysplasia (n = 24; 6.2%), and persistent pupillary membrane (iris to iris) (n = 21; 5.4%). The most common KP-HED in each breed were cataracts in the Maltese (35.1%) and in the Bolognese (24.2%), and presentation of vitreous in the anterior chamber in the Italian Greyhound (46.7%). Clinicians should be aware of KP-HED that commonly affect three small Italian dog breeds. Breed standards should be reconsidered, and breeding programs should be directed at limiting such disorders. © 2017 American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists.

PLATEAU IRIS SYNDROME--CASE SERIES.

PubMed

Feraru, Crenguta Ioana; Pantalon, Anca Delia; Chiselita, Dorin; Branisteanu, Daniel

2015-01-01

Plateau iris is characterized by closing the anterior chamber angle due to a large ciliary body or due to its anterior insertion that alters the position of iris periphery in respect to the trabecular meshwork. There are two aspects that need to be differentiated: plateau iris configuration and plateau iris syndrome. The first describes a situation when the iris root is flat and the anterior chamber is not shallow, the latter refers to a post laser iridotomy condition in which a patent iridotomy has removed the relative pupillary block, but goniscopically confirmed angle closure recurs without central shallowing of the anterior chamber. Isolated plateau iris syndrome is rare compared to plateau iris configuration. We hereby present two case reports of plateau iris syndrome in young patients who came to an ophthalmologic consult by chance.

Iris texture traits show associations with iris color and genomic ancestry.

PubMed

Quillen, Ellen E; Guiltinan, Jenna S; Beleza, Sandra; Rocha, Jorge; Pereira, Rinaldo W; Shriver, Mark D

2011-01-01

This study seeks to identify associations among genomic biogeographic ancestry (BGA), quantitative iris color, and iris texture traits contributing to population-level variation in these phenotypes. DNA and iris photographs were collected from 300 individuals across three variably admixed populations (Portugal, Brazil, and Cape Verde). Two raters scored the photos for pigmentation spots, Fuchs' crypts, contraction furrows, and Wolflinn nodes. Iris color was quantified from RGB values. Maximum likelihood estimates of individual BGA were calculated from 176 ancestry informative markers. Pigmentation spots, Fuchs' crypts, contraction furrows, and iris color show significant positive correlation with increasing European BGA. Only contraction furrows are correlated with iris color. The relationship between BGA and iris texture illustrates a genetic contribution to this population-level variation. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Comparison and evaluation of datasets for off-angle iris recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kurtuncu, Osman M.; Cerme, Gamze N.; Karakaya, Mahmut

2016-05-01

In this paper, we investigated the publicly available iris recognition datasets and their data capture procedures in order to determine if they are suitable for the stand-off iris recognition research. Majority of the iris recognition datasets include only frontal iris images. Even if a few datasets include off-angle iris images, the frontal and off-angle iris images are not captured at the same time. The comparison of the frontal and off-angle iris images shows not only differences in the gaze angle but also change in pupil dilation and accommodation as well. In order to isolate the effect of the gaze angle from other challenging issues including dilation and accommodation, the frontal and off-angle iris images are supposed to be captured at the same time by using two different cameras. Therefore, we developed an iris image acquisition platform by using two cameras in this work where one camera captures frontal iris image and the other one captures iris images from off-angle. Based on the comparison of Hamming distance between frontal and off-angle iris images captured with the two-camera- setup and one-camera-setup, we observed that Hamming distance in two-camera-setup is less than one-camera-setup ranging from 0.05 to 0.001. These results show that in order to have accurate results in the off-angle iris recognition research, two-camera-setup is necessary in order to distinguish the challenging issues from each other.

The best bits in an iris code.

PubMed

Hollingsworth, Karen P; Bowyer, Kevin W; Flynn, Patrick J

2009-06-01

Iris biometric systems apply filters to iris images to extract information about iris texture. Daugman's approach maps the filter output to a binary iris code. The fractional Hamming distance between two iris codes is computed and decisions about the identity of a person are based on the computed distance. The fractional Hamming distance weights all bits in an iris code equally. However, not all the bits in an iris code are equally useful. Our research is the first to present experiments documenting that some bits are more consistent than others. Different regions of the iris are compared to evaluate their relative consistency, and contrary to some previous research, we find that the middle bands of the iris are more consistent than the inner bands. The inconsistent-bit phenomenon is evident across genders and different filter types. Possible causes of inconsistencies, such as segmentation, alignment issues, and different filters are investigated. The inconsistencies are largely due to the coarse quantization of the phase response. Masking iris code bits corresponding to complex filter responses near the axes of the complex plane improves the separation between the match and nonmatch Hamming distance distributions.

Toward accurate and fast iris segmentation for iris biometrics.

PubMed

He, Zhaofeng; Tan, Tieniu; Sun, Zhenan; Qiu, Xianchao

2009-09-01

Iris segmentation is an essential module in iris recognition because it defines the effective image region used for subsequent processing such as feature extraction. Traditional iris segmentation methods often involve an exhaustive search of a large parameter space, which is time consuming and sensitive to noise. To address these problems, this paper presents a novel algorithm for accurate and fast iris segmentation. After efficient reflection removal, an Adaboost-cascade iris detector is first built to extract a rough position of the iris center. Edge points of iris boundaries are then detected, and an elastic model named pulling and pushing is established. Under this model, the center and radius of the circular iris boundaries are iteratively refined in a way driven by the restoring forces of Hooke's law. Furthermore, a smoothing spline-based edge fitting scheme is presented to deal with noncircular iris boundaries. After that, eyelids are localized via edge detection followed by curve fitting. The novelty here is the adoption of a rank filter for noise elimination and a histogram filter for tackling the shape irregularity of eyelids. Finally, eyelashes and shadows are detected via a learned prediction model. This model provides an adaptive threshold for eyelash and shadow detection by analyzing the intensity distributions of different iris regions. Experimental results on three challenging iris image databases demonstrate that the proposed algorithm outperforms state-of-the-art methods in both accuracy and speed.

Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome associated with toxoplasmic encephalitis in HIV-infected patients.

PubMed

van Bilsen, Ward P H; van den Berg, Charlotte H S B; Rijnders, Bart J A; Brinkman, Kees; Mulder, Jan W; Gelinck, Luc B S; Hoepelman, Andy I M; Wit, Ferdinand W N M; van de Beek, Diederik; Prins, Jan M

2017-06-19

To investigate the incidence and risk factors of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) associated with toxoplasmic encephalitis (TE) in patients starting combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). A historical multicenter cohort study. We included all HIV-infected patients diagnosed with toxoplasmic encephalitis in six Dutch hospitals between 1996 and 2016. Diagnosis of TE-IRIS was made using predefined IRIS criteria. We distinguished paradoxical TE-IRIS (worsening of underlying treated infection) from unmasking TE-IRIS (unmasking of subclinical infection after start of cART). We compared CD4 cell count, plasma viral load and timing of cART initiation between patients with and without paradoxical TE-IRIS. A total of 211 toxoplasmic encephalitis cases were included. Among 143 cases at risk for paradoxical TE-IRIS, we identified five cases of paradoxical TE-IRIS (3.5%). In six other cases, we could not differentiate paradoxical TE-IRIS from recurrence of disease due to inadequate secondary Toxoplasma prophylaxis. There was no difference in time between start of toxoplasmic encephalitis treatment and cART initiation for patients who did or did not develop paradoxical TE-IRIS (P = 0.50). Within the group of 2228 patients who started cART while having a CD4 cell count below 200 × 10 cells/l and receiving adequate primary prophylaxis, we identified eight cases of unmasking TE-IRIS (0.36%). Unmasking TE-IRIS could not be differentiated from a newly occurring toxoplasmic encephalitis in six other patients, as they were not receiving adequate primary prophylaxis against Toxoplasma. Unmasking TE-IRIS was rare in this cohort, whereas paradoxical TE-IRIS did occur more often. We found no relationship between the timing of cART initiation and the occurrence of paradoxical TE-IRIS.

The International Reference Ionosphere - Climatological Standard for the Ionosphere

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bilitza, Dieter

2006-01-01

The International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) a joint project of URSI and COSPAR is the defacto standard for a climatological specification of ionospheric parameters. IRI is based on a wide range of ground and space data and has been steadily improved since its inception in 1969 with the ever-increasing volume of ionospheric data and with better mathematical descriptions of the observed global and temporal variation patterns. The IRI model has been validated with a large amount of data including data from the most recent ionospheric satellites (KOMPSAT, ROCSAT and TIMED) and data from global network of ionosondes. Several IRI teams are working on specific aspects of the IRI modeling effort including an improved representation of the topside ionosphere with a seamless transition to the plasmasphere, a new effort to represent the global variation of F2 peak parameters using the Neural Network (NN) technique, and the inclusion of several additional parameters in IRI, e.g., spread-F probability and ionospheric variability. Annual IRI workshops are the forum for discussions of these efforts and for all science activities related to IRI as well as applications of the IRI model in engineering and education. In this paper I will present a status report about the IRI effort with special emphasis on the presentations and results from the most recent IRI Workshops (Paris, 2004; Tortosa, 2005) and on the most important ongoing IRI activities. I will discuss the latest version of the IRI model, IRI-2006, highlighting the most recent changes and additions. Finally, the talk will review some of the applications of the IRI model with special emphasis on the use for radiowave propagation studies and communication purposes.

Association of iris surface features with iris parameters assessed by swept-source optical coherence tomography in Asian eyes.

PubMed

Tun, Tin A; Chua, Jacqueline; Shi, Yuan; Sidhartha, Elizabeth; Thakku, Sri Gowtham; Shei, William; Tan, Marcus Chiang Lee; Quah, Joanne Hui Min; Aung, Tin; Cheng, Ching-Yu

2016-12-01

To characterise the association of iris surface features (crypts, furrows and colour) with iris volume and curvature assessed by swept-source optical coherence tomography (SSOCT) in Asian eyes. Iris crypts (by number and size) and furrows (by number and circumferential extent) were graded from iris photographs. Iris colour was measured by a customised algorithm written on MATLAB (MathWorks, Natick, Massachusetts, USA). The iris was imaged by SSOCT (SS-1000, CASIA, Tomey, Nagoya, Japan). The associations of surface features with iris parameters were analysed using a generalised estimating equation. A total of 1704 subjects (3297 eyes) were included in the analysis. The majority was Chinese (86.4%), and 63.2% were females, and their mean age (±SD) was 61.4±6.6 years. After adjusting for age, sex, ethnicity, pupil size and corneal arcus, higher iris crypt grade was independently associated with smaller iris volume (β=-0.54, p<0.001), whereas darker irides and higher iris furrow grade were associated with larger iris volume (β=-0.041, p<0.001) and (β=0.233, p<0.001), respectively. Lighter coloured irides with more crypts and/or more furrows were also associated with less convexity (crypts: β=-0.003, p=0.03; furrows: β=-0.004, p=0.007; and colour: β=-0.001, p=0.005). Iris surface features were highly correlated with iris volume and curvature. Irides with more crypts have a smaller volume; and darker irides with more furrows have a larger volume. Lighter irides with more crypts and/or furrows have less convexity. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

ISO Technical Specification for the Ionosphere -IRI Recent Activities

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bilitza, Dieter; Reinisch, Bodo; Tamara, Gulyaeva

ISO Technical Specification TS 16457 recommends the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) for the specification of ionospheric densities and temperatures. We review the latest develop-ments towards improving the IRI model and the newest version of the model IRI-2010. IRI-2010 includes several important improvements and additions. This presentation introduces these changes and discusses their benefits. The changes affect primarily the density profiles in the bottomside ionosphere and the density and height of the F2 peak, the point of highest density in the ionosphere. An important new addition to the model is the inclusion of auroral boundaries and their movement with magnetic activity. We will also discuss the status of other ongoing IRI activities and some of the recent applications of the IRI model. The homepage for the IRI project is at http://IRI.gsfc.nasa.gov/.

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Characteristics of Iris Melanocytic Tumors

PubMed Central

Skalet, Alison H.; Li, Yan; Lu, Chen D.; Jia, Yali; Lee, ByungKun; Husvogt, Lennart; Maier, Andreas; Fujimoto, James G.; Thomas, Charles R.; Huang, David

2016-01-01

Objective To evaluate tumor vasculature with optical coherence tomography (OCT) angiography (OCTA) in malignant iris melanomas and benign iris lesions. Design Cross-sectional observational clinical study. Participants Patients with iris lesions and healthy volunteers. Methods Eyes were imaged using OCTA systems operating at 1050 and 840 nm wavelengths. Three-dimensional OCTA scans were acquired. Iris melanomas patients treated with radiation therapy were imaged again after I-125 plaque brachytherapy at 6 and 18 months. Main Outcome Measures OCT and OCTA images, qualitative evaluation of iris and tumor vasculature and quantitative vessel density. Results One eye each of eight normal volunteers and nine patients with iris melanomas or benign iris lesions including freckles, nevi, and an iris pigment epithelial (IPE) cyst were imaged. The normal iris has radially-oriented vessels within the stroma on OCTA. Penetration of flow signal in normal iris depended on iris color, with best penetration seen in light to moderately pigmented irides. Iris melanomas demonstrated tortuous and disorganized intratumoral vasculature. In two eyes with nevi there was no increased vascularity; in another, fine vascular loops were noted near an area of ectropion uveae. Iris freckles and the IPE cyst did not have intrinsic vascularity. The vessel density was significantly higher within iris melanomas (34.5%±9.8%, p<0.05) than in benign iris nevi (8.0%±1.4%) or normal irides (8.0%±1.2%). Tumor regression after radiation therapy for melanomas was associated with decreased vessel density. OCTA at 1050 nm provided better visualization of tumor vasculature and penetration through thicker tumors than at 840 nm. But in very thick tumors and highly pigmented lesions even 1050 nm OCTA could not visualize their full thickness. Interpretable OCTA images were obtained in 82% participants in whom imaging was attempted. Conclusions This is the first demonstration of OCTA in iris tumors. OCTA may provide a dye-free, no-injection, cost-effective method for monitoring a variety of tumors including iris melanocytic lesions for growth and vascularity. This could be helpful in evaluating tumors for malignant transformation and response to treatment. Penetration of the OCT beam remains a limitation for highly pigmented tumors, as does the inability to image the entire iris in a single field. PMID:27856029

Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography Characteristics of Iris Melanocytic Tumors.

PubMed

Skalet, Alison H; Li, Yan; Lu, Chen D; Jia, Yali; Lee, ByungKun; Husvogt, Lennart; Maier, Andreas; Fujimoto, James G; Thomas, Charles R; Huang, David

2017-02-01

To evaluate tumor vasculature with optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) in malignant iris melanomas and benign iris lesions. Cross-sectional observational clinical study. Patients with iris lesions and healthy volunteers. Eyes were imaged using OCTA systems operating at 1050- and 840-nm wavelengths. Three-dimensional OCTA scans were acquired. Iris melanoma patients treated with radiation therapy were imaged again after I-125 plaque brachytherapy at 6 and 18 months. OCT and OCTA images, qualitative evaluation of iris and tumor vasculature, and quantitative vessel density. One eye each of 8 normal volunteers and 9 patients with iris melanomas or benign iris lesions, including freckles, nevi, and an iris pigment epithelial (IPE) cyst, were imaged. The normal iris has radially oriented vessels within the stroma on OCTA. Penetration of flow signal in normal iris depended on iris color, with best penetration seen in light to moderately pigmented irides. Iris melanomas demonstrated tortuous and disorganized intratumoral vasculature. In 2 eyes with nevi there was no increased vascularity; in another, fine vascular loops were noted near an area of ectropion uveae. Iris freckles and the IPE cyst did not have intrinsic vascularity. The vessel density was significantly higher within iris melanomas (34.5%±9.8%, P < 0.05) than in benign iris nevi (8.0%±1.4%) or normal irides (8.0%±1.2%). Tumor regression after radiation therapy for melanomas was associated with decreased vessel density. OCTA at 1050 nm provided better visualization of tumor vasculature and penetration through thicker tumors than at 840 nm. But in very thick tumors and highly pigmented lesions even 1050-nm OCTA could not visualize their full thickness. Interpretable OCTA images were obtained in 82% of participants in whom imaging was attempted. This is the first demonstration of OCTA in iris tumors. OCTA may provide a dye-free, no-injection, cost-effective method for monitoring a variety of tumors, including iris melanocytic lesions, for growth and vascularity. This could be helpful in evaluating tumors for malignant transformation and response to treatment. Penetration of the OCT beam remains a limitation for highly pigmented tumors, as does the inability to image the entire iris in a single field. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Improved Iris Recognition through Fusion of Hamming Distance and Fragile Bit Distance.

PubMed

Hollingsworth, Karen P; Bowyer, Kevin W; Flynn, Patrick J

2011-12-01

The most common iris biometric algorithm represents the texture of an iris using a binary iris code. Not all bits in an iris code are equally consistent. A bit is deemed fragile if its value changes across iris codes created from different images of the same iris. Previous research has shown that iris recognition performance can be improved by masking these fragile bits. Rather than ignoring fragile bits completely, we consider what beneficial information can be obtained from the fragile bits. We find that the locations of fragile bits tend to be consistent across different iris codes of the same eye. We present a metric, called the fragile bit distance, which quantitatively measures the coincidence of the fragile bit patterns in two iris codes. We find that score fusion of fragile bit distance and Hamming distance works better for recognition than Hamming distance alone. To our knowledge, this is the first and only work to use the coincidence of fragile bit locations to improve the accuracy of matches.

Relationships of earthquakes (and earthquake-associated mass movements) and polar motion as determined by Kalman filtered, Very-Long-Baseline-Interferometry

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Preisig, Joseph Richard Mark

1988-01-01

A Kalman filter was designed to yield optimal estimates of geophysical parameters from Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) group delay data. The geophysical parameters are the polar motion components, adjustments to nutation in obliquity and longitude, and a change in the length of day parameter. The VLBI clock (and clock rate) parameters and atmospheric zenith delay parameters are estimated simultaneously. Filter background is explained. The IRIS (International Radio Interferometric Surveying) VLBI data are Kalman filtered. The resulting polar motion estimates are examined. There are polar motion signatures at the times of three large earthquakes occurring in 1984 to 1986: Mexico, 19 September, 1985 (Magnitude M sub s = 8.1); Chile, 3 March, 1985 (M sub s = 7.8); and Taiwan, 14 November, 1986 (M sub s = 7.8). Breaks in polar motion occurring about 20 days after the earthquakes appear to correlate well with the onset of increased regional seismic activity and a return to more normal seismicity (respectively). While the contribution of these three earthquakes to polar motion excitations is small, the cumulative excitation due to earthquakes, or seismic phenomena over a Chandler wobble damping period may be significant. Mechanisms for polar motion excitation due to solid earth phenomena are examined. Excitation functions are computed, but the data spans are too short to draw conclusions based on these data.

A young Botswana patient with congenital iris ectropion uvea.

PubMed

Shifa, Jemal Zeberga; Nkomazana, Othokawa; Bekele, Negussie Alula; Kassa, Mamo Woldu

2016-01-01

Congenital iris ectropion is a rare condition; non-progressive anomaly characterised by the presence of iris pigment epithelium on the anterior surface of the iris stroma and is frequently associated with anterior iris insertion, dysgenesis of the drainage angle and glaucoma. This paper describes unusual case of bilateral case of congenital iris ectropion in adult patient with pupillary abnormality, normal anterior chamber angle structure and with no evidence of glaucoma.

Relationship of the Van Herick Grading System with Peripheral Iris Configuration and Level of Iris Insertion.

PubMed

Khan, Faisal Aziz; Niazi, Shafaq Pervez Khan; Khan, Assad Zaman

2017-09-01

To determine the relationship of the van Herick angle grading system with the level of iris insertion and peripheral iris configuration. Observational study. Eye department, Combined Military Hospital, Malir Cantt., Karachi, from May to October 2015. Sixty-five eyes of 65 patients were recruited. Anterior chamber depth at the temporal limbus was measured as a fraction of corneal section thickness using van Herick technique and graded on the standard 4-point scale of the van Herick grading system. Gonioscopy of the temporal quadrant was performed with a Posner 4 mirror goniolens and both the true level of iris insertion and peripheral iris configuration were recorded on a 4-point scale so as to equate with the van Herick 4-point grading system. Spearman's rho test was applied to determine the relationship of the van Herick grading system with level of iris root insertion and peripheral iris configuration. Amoderate positive correlation between van Herick grade and peripheral iris configuration was found which was statistically significant (rs=0.42, p < 0.001). Astatistically significant and moderate positive correlation was also detected between van Herick grade and the level of iris insertion (rs=0.45, p < 0.001). The van Herick grade has a moderately positive relationship with the peripheral iris configuration and true level of iris insertion.

Noisy Ocular Recognition Based on Three Convolutional Neural Networks.

PubMed

Lee, Min Beom; Hong, Hyung Gil; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-12-17

In recent years, the iris recognition system has been gaining increasing acceptance for applications such as access control and smartphone security. When the images of the iris are obtained under unconstrained conditions, an issue of undermined quality is caused by optical and motion blur, off-angle view (the user's eyes looking somewhere else, not into the front of the camera), specular reflection (SR) and other factors. Such noisy iris images increase intra-individual variations and, as a result, reduce the accuracy of iris recognition. A typical iris recognition system requires a near-infrared (NIR) illuminator along with an NIR camera, which are larger and more expensive than fingerprint recognition equipment. Hence, many studies have proposed methods of using iris images captured by a visible light camera without the need for an additional illuminator. In this research, we propose a new recognition method for noisy iris and ocular images by using one iris and two periocular regions, based on three convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Experiments were conducted by using the noisy iris challenge evaluation-part II (NICE.II) training dataset (selected from the university of Beira iris (UBIRIS).v2 database), mobile iris challenge evaluation (MICHE) database, and institute of automation of Chinese academy of sciences (CASIA)-Iris-Distance database. As a result, the method proposed by this study outperformed previous methods.

Monocyte Phenotype and IFN-γ-Inducible Cytokine Responses Are Associated with Cryptococcal Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome

PubMed Central

Meya, David B.; Okurut, Samuel; Zziwa, Godfrey; Cose, Stephen; Bohjanen, Paul R.; Mayanja-Kizza, Harriet; Joloba, Moses; Boulware, David R.; Yukari Manabe, Carol; Wahl, Sharon; Janoff, Edward N.

2017-01-01

A third of adults with AIDS and cryptococcal meningitis (CM) develop immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) after initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART), which is thought to result from exaggerated inflammatory antigen-specific T cell responses. The contribution of monocytes to the immunopathogenesis of cryptococcal IRIS remains unclear. We compared monocyte subset frequencies and immune responses in HIV-infected Ugandans at time of CM diagnosis (IRIS-Baseline) for those who later developed CM-IRIS, controls who did not develop CM-IRIS (Control-Baseline) at CM-IRIS (IRIS-Event), and for controls at a time point matched for ART duration (Control-Event) to understand the association of monocyte distribution and immune responses with cryptococcal IRIS. At baseline, stimulation with IFN-γ ex vivo induced a higher frequency of TNF-α- and IL-6-producing monocytes among those who later developed IRIS. Among participants who developed IRIS, ex vivo IFN-γ stimulation induced higher frequencies of activated monocytes, IL-6+, TNF-α+ classical, and IL-6+ intermediate monocytes compared with controls. In conclusion, we have demonstrated that monocyte subset phenotype and cytokine responses prior to ART are associated with and may be predictive of CM-IRIS. Larger studies to further delineate innate immunological responses and the efficacy of immunomodulatory therapies during cryptococcal IRIS are warranted. PMID:29371546

Design simulations for a small emittance 2.7-cell photo-cathode rf-gun in jector

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yongzhang, Huang

1997-05-01

In order to produce the electron bunch with small emittance which is the key issue in the so-called SASE studies, the design studies on a two-and-half cell photocathode rf-gun has been conducted. The rf gun injector is optimized by using the code of Par mela. As a main result, the optimum is found to be a 2.7-cell cavity. The geometry and the coupling scheme of the requested cavity is studied in more detail with the codes of Mafia and Superfish. The beam iris of each cells is enlarged in order to wide n the mode separations. For the purpose of cancelling the influence of the coupling iris upon the field symmetry, the so-called symmetrical double-side input coupler is studied. The coupler will be assembled to the second cell and the critical matchin g has been achieved in the Mafia-T3 simulation. With this cavity, the final normalized rms emittance reaches the value of 0.81πmm-mrad at a charge of 1nC in the Parmela simulation.

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY DOCUMENTS FOR 2-HEXANONE

EPA Science Inventory

EPA will conduct an assessment of the noncancer health effects of 2-hexanone. The IRIS program will prepare an IRIS assessment for 2-hexanone. The IRIS assessment for 2-hexanone will consist of a Toxicological Review and an IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical ...

Presentation Attack Detection for Iris Recognition System Using NIR Camera Sensor

PubMed Central

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Baek, Na Rae; Pham, Tuyen Danh; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-01-01

Among biometric recognition systems such as fingerprint, finger-vein, or face, the iris recognition system has proven to be effective for achieving a high recognition accuracy and security level. However, several recent studies have indicated that an iris recognition system can be fooled by using presentation attack images that are recaptured using high-quality printed images or by contact lenses with printed iris patterns. As a result, this potential threat can reduce the security level of an iris recognition system. In this study, we propose a new presentation attack detection (PAD) method for an iris recognition system (iPAD) using a near infrared light (NIR) camera image. To detect presentation attack images, we first localized the iris region of the input iris image using circular edge detection (CED). Based on the result of iris localization, we extracted the image features using deep learning-based and handcrafted-based methods. The input iris images were then classified into real and presentation attack categories using support vector machines (SVM). Through extensive experiments with two public datasets, we show that our proposed method effectively solves the iris recognition presentation attack detection problem and produces detection accuracy superior to previous studies. PMID:29695113

Novel Approaches to Improve Iris Recognition System Performance Based on Local Quality Evaluation and Feature Fusion

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

For building a new iris template, this paper proposes a strategy to fuse different portions of iris based on machine learning method to evaluate local quality of iris. There are three novelties compared to previous work. Firstly, the normalized segmented iris is divided into multitracks and then each track is estimated individually to analyze the recognition accuracy rate (RAR). Secondly, six local quality evaluation parameters are adopted to analyze texture information of each track. Besides, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is employed to get the weights of these evaluation parameters and corresponding weighted coefficients of different tracks. Finally, all tracks' information is fused according to the weights of different tracks. The experimental results based on subsets of three public and one private iris image databases demonstrate three contributions of this paper. (1) Our experimental results prove that partial iris image cannot completely replace the entire iris image for iris recognition system in several ways. (2) The proposed quality evaluation algorithm is a self-adaptive algorithm, and it can automatically optimize the parameters according to iris image samples' own characteristics. (3) Our feature information fusion strategy can effectively improve the performance of iris recognition system. PMID:24693243

Improving iris recognition performance using segmentation, quality enhancement, match score fusion, and indexing.

PubMed

Vatsa, Mayank; Singh, Richa; Noore, Afzel

2008-08-01

This paper proposes algorithms for iris segmentation, quality enhancement, match score fusion, and indexing to improve both the accuracy and the speed of iris recognition. A curve evolution approach is proposed to effectively segment a nonideal iris image using the modified Mumford-Shah functional. Different enhancement algorithms are concurrently applied on the segmented iris image to produce multiple enhanced versions of the iris image. A support-vector-machine-based learning algorithm selects locally enhanced regions from each globally enhanced image and combines these good-quality regions to create a single high-quality iris image. Two distinct features are extracted from the high-quality iris image. The global textural feature is extracted using the 1-D log polar Gabor transform, and the local topological feature is extracted using Euler numbers. An intelligent fusion algorithm combines the textural and topological matching scores to further improve the iris recognition performance and reduce the false rejection rate, whereas an indexing algorithm enables fast and accurate iris identification. The verification and identification performance of the proposed algorithms is validated and compared with other algorithms using the CASIA Version 3, ICE 2005, and UBIRIS iris databases.

Novel approaches to improve iris recognition system performance based on local quality evaluation and feature fusion.

PubMed

Chen, Ying; Liu, Yuanning; Zhu, Xiaodong; Chen, Huiling; He, Fei; Pang, Yutong

2014-01-01

For building a new iris template, this paper proposes a strategy to fuse different portions of iris based on machine learning method to evaluate local quality of iris. There are three novelties compared to previous work. Firstly, the normalized segmented iris is divided into multitracks and then each track is estimated individually to analyze the recognition accuracy rate (RAR). Secondly, six local quality evaluation parameters are adopted to analyze texture information of each track. Besides, particle swarm optimization (PSO) is employed to get the weights of these evaluation parameters and corresponding weighted coefficients of different tracks. Finally, all tracks' information is fused according to the weights of different tracks. The experimental results based on subsets of three public and one private iris image databases demonstrate three contributions of this paper. (1) Our experimental results prove that partial iris image cannot completely replace the entire iris image for iris recognition system in several ways. (2) The proposed quality evaluation algorithm is a self-adaptive algorithm, and it can automatically optimize the parameters according to iris image samples' own characteristics. (3) Our feature information fusion strategy can effectively improve the performance of iris recognition system.

Presentation Attack Detection for Iris Recognition System Using NIR Camera Sensor.

PubMed

Nguyen, Dat Tien; Baek, Na Rae; Pham, Tuyen Danh; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-04-24

Among biometric recognition systems such as fingerprint, finger-vein, or face, the iris recognition system has proven to be effective for achieving a high recognition accuracy and security level. However, several recent studies have indicated that an iris recognition system can be fooled by using presentation attack images that are recaptured using high-quality printed images or by contact lenses with printed iris patterns. As a result, this potential threat can reduce the security level of an iris recognition system. In this study, we propose a new presentation attack detection (PAD) method for an iris recognition system (iPAD) using a near infrared light (NIR) camera image. To detect presentation attack images, we first localized the iris region of the input iris image using circular edge detection (CED). Based on the result of iris localization, we extracted the image features using deep learning-based and handcrafted-based methods. The input iris images were then classified into real and presentation attack categories using support vector machines (SVM). Through extensive experiments with two public datasets, we show that our proposed method effectively solves the iris recognition presentation attack detection problem and produces detection accuracy superior to previous studies.

IRIS COLOUR CLASSIFICATION SCALES – THEN AND NOW

PubMed Central

Grigore, Mariana; Avram, Alina

2015-01-01

Eye colour is one of the most obvious phenotypic traits of an individual. Since the first documented classification scale developed in 1843, there have been numerous attempts to classify the iris colour. In the past centuries, iris colour classification scales has had various colour categories and mostly relied on comparison of an individual’s eye with painted glass eyes. Once photography techniques were refined, standard iris photographs replaced painted eyes, but this did not solve the problem of painted/ printed colour variability in time. Early clinical scales were easy to use, but lacked objectivity and were not standardised or statistically tested for reproducibility. The era of automated iris colour classification systems came with the technological development. Spectrophotometry, digital analysis of high-resolution iris images, hyper spectral analysis of the human real iris and the dedicated iris colour analysis software, all accomplished an objective, accurate iris colour classification, but are quite expensive and limited in use to research environment. Iris colour classification systems evolved continuously due to their use in a wide range of studies, especially in the fields of anthropology, epidemiology and genetics. Despite the wide range of the existing scales, up until present there has been no generally accepted iris colour classification scale. PMID:27373112

IRIS COLOUR CLASSIFICATION SCALES--THEN AND NOW.

PubMed

Grigore, Mariana; Avram, Alina

2015-01-01

Eye colour is one of the most obvious phenotypic traits of an individual. Since the first documented classification scale developed in 1843, there have been numerous attempts to classify the iris colour. In the past centuries, iris colour classification scales has had various colour categories and mostly relied on comparison of an individual's eye with painted glass eyes. Once photography techniques were refined, standard iris photographs replaced painted eyes, but this did not solve the problem of painted/ printed colour variability in time. Early clinical scales were easy to use, but lacked objectivity and were not standardised or statistically tested for reproducibility. The era of automated iris colour classification systems came with the technological development. Spectrophotometry, digital analysis of high-resolution iris images, hyper spectral analysis of the human real iris and the dedicated iris colour analysis software, all accomplished an objective, accurate iris colour classification, but are quite expensive and limited in use to research environment. Iris colour classification systems evolved continuously due to their use in a wide range of studies, especially in the fields of anthropology, epidemiology and genetics. Despite the wide range of the existing scales, up until present there has been no generally accepted iris colour classification scale.

Iris Recognition Using Feature Extraction of Box Counting Fractal Dimension

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khotimah, C.; Juniati, D.

2018-01-01

Biometrics is a science that is now growing rapidly. Iris recognition is a biometric modality which captures a photo of the eye pattern. The markings of the iris are distinctive that it has been proposed to use as a means of identification, instead of fingerprints. Iris recognition was chosen for identification in this research because every human has a special feature that each individual is different and the iris is protected by the cornea so that it will have a fixed shape. This iris recognition consists of three step: pre-processing of data, feature extraction, and feature matching. Hough transformation is used in the process of pre-processing to locate the iris area and Daugman’s rubber sheet model to normalize the iris data set into rectangular blocks. To find the characteristics of the iris, it was used box counting method to get the fractal dimension value of the iris. Tests carried out by used k-fold cross method with k = 5. In each test used 10 different grade K of K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN). The result of iris recognition was obtained with the best accuracy was 92,63 % for K = 3 value on K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) method.

Accurate Iris Recognition at a Distance Using Stabilized Iris Encoding and Zernike Moments Phase Features.

PubMed

Tan, Chun-Wei; Kumar, Ajay

2014-07-10

Accurate iris recognition from the distantly acquired face or eye images requires development of effective strategies which can account for significant variations in the segmented iris image quality. Such variations can be highly correlated with the consistency of encoded iris features and the knowledge that such fragile bits can be exploited to improve matching accuracy. A non-linear approach to simultaneously account for both local consistency of iris bit and also the overall quality of the weight map is proposed. Our approach therefore more effectively penalizes the fragile bits while simultaneously rewarding more consistent bits. In order to achieve more stable characterization of local iris features, a Zernike moment-based phase encoding of iris features is proposed. Such Zernike moments-based phase features are computed from the partially overlapping regions to more effectively accommodate local pixel region variations in the normalized iris images. A joint strategy is adopted to simultaneously extract and combine both the global and localized iris features. The superiority of the proposed iris matching strategy is ascertained by providing comparison with several state-of-the-art iris matching algorithms on three publicly available databases: UBIRIS.v2, FRGC, CASIA.v4-distance. Our experimental results suggest that proposed strategy can achieve significant improvement in iris matching accuracy over those competing approaches in the literature, i.e., average improvement of 54.3%, 32.7% and 42.6% in equal error rates, respectively for UBIRIS.v2, FRGC, CASIA.v4-distance.

A novel iris patterns matching algorithm of weighted polar frequency correlation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Weijie; Jiang, Linhua

2014-11-01

Iris recognition is recognized as one of the most accurate techniques for biometric authentication. In this paper, we present a novel correlation method - Weighted Polar Frequency Correlation(WPFC) - to match and evaluate two iris images, actually it can also be used for evaluating the similarity of any two images. The WPFC method is a novel matching and evaluating method for iris image matching, which is complete different from the conventional methods. For instance, the classical John Daugman's method of iris recognition uses 2D Gabor wavelets to extract features of iris image into a compact bit stream, and then matching two bit streams with hamming distance. Our new method is based on the correlation in the polar coordinate system in frequency domain with regulated weights. The new method is motivated by the observation that the pattern of iris that contains far more information for recognition is fine structure at high frequency other than the gross shapes of iris images. Therefore, we transform iris images into frequency domain and set different weights to frequencies. Then calculate the correlation of two iris images in frequency domain. We evaluate the iris images by summing the discrete correlation values with regulated weights, comparing the value with preset threshold to tell whether these two iris images are captured from the same person or not. Experiments are carried out on both CASIA database and self-obtained images. The results show that our method is functional and reliable. Our method provides a new prospect for iris recognition system.

Immunopathology of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in Whipple's disease.

PubMed

Moos, Verena; Feurle, Gerhard E; Schinnerling, Katina; Geelhaar, Anika; Friebel, Julian; Allers, Kristina; Moter, Annette; Kikhney, Judith; Loddenkemper, Christoph; Kühl, Anja A; Erben, Ulrike; Fenollar, Florence; Raoult, Didier; Schneider, Thomas

2013-03-01

During antimicrobial treatment of classic Whipple's disease (CWD), the chronic systemic infection with Tropheryma whipplei, immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), is a serious complication. The aim of our study was to characterize the immunological processes underlying IRIS in CWD. Following the definition of IRIS, we describe histological features of IRIS and immunological parameters of 24 CWD IRIS patients, 189 CWD patients without IRIS, and 89 healthy individuals. T cell reconstitution, Th1 reactivity, and the phenotype of T cells were described in the peripheral blood, and infiltration of CD4(+) T cells and regulatory T cells in the duodenal mucosa was determined. During IRIS, tissues were heavily infiltrated by CD3(+), predominantly CD45RO(+)CD4(+) T cells. In the periphery, initial reduction of CD4(+) cell counts and their reconstitution on treatment was more pronounced in CWD patients with IRIS than in those without IRIS. The ratio of activated and regulatory CD4(+) T cells, nonspecific Th1 reactivity, and the proportion of naive among CD4(+) T cells was high, whereas serum IL-10 was low during IRIS. T. whipplei-specific Th1 reactivity remained suppressed before and after emergence of IRIS. The findings that IRIS in CWD mainly are mediated by nonspecific activation of CD4(+) T cells and that it is not sufficiently counterbalanced by regulatory T cells indicate that flare-up of pathogen-specific immunoreactivity is not instrumental in the pathogenesis of IRIS in CWD.

Incidence and Predictors of Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome in a Rural Area of Mozambique

PubMed Central

Letang, Emilio; Miró, José M.; Nhampossa, Tacilta; Ayala, Edgar; Gascon, Joaquim; Menéndez, Clara; Alonso, Pedro L.; Naniche, Denise

2011-01-01

Background There is limited data on the epidemiology of Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (IRIS) in rural sub-Saharan Africa. A prospective observational cohort study was conducted to assess the incidence, clinical characteristics, outcome and predictors of IRIS in rural Mozambique. Methods One hundred and thirty-six consecutive antiretroviral treatment (ART)-naïve HIV-1-infected patients initiating ART at the Manhiça district hospital were prospectively followed for development of IRIS over 16 months. Survival analysis by Cox regression was performed to identify pre-ART predictors of IRIS development. Results Thirty-six patients developed IRIS [26.5%, incidence rate 3.1 cases/100 persons-month of ART (95% CI 2.2–4.3)]. Median time to IRIS onset was 62 days from ART initiation (IQR 35.5–93.5). Twenty-five cases (69.4%) were “unmasking”, 10 (27.8%) were “paradoxical”, and 1 (2.8%) developed a paradoxical worsening followed by the unmasking of another condition. Systemic OI (OI-IRIS) accounted for 47% (17/36) of IRIS cases, predominantly of KS (8 cases) and TB (6 cases) IRIS. Mucocutaneous IRIS manifestations (MC-IRIS) accounted for 53% (19/36) of IRIS events, mostly tinea (9 cases) and herpes simplex infection (3 cases). Multivariate analysis identified two independent predictors of IRIS development: pre-ART CD4 count <50 cells/µl (HR 2.3, 95% CI 1.19–4.44, p = 0.01) and body mass index (BMI) <18.5 (HR 2.15, 95% CI 1.07–4.3, p = 0.03). The pre-cART proportion of activated T-cells, as well as the immunologic and virologic response to ART were not associated with IRIS development. All patients continued on ART, 7 (19.4%) required hospitalization and there were 3 deaths (8.3%) attributable to IRIS. Conclusions IRIS is common in patients initiating ART in rural Mozambique. Pre-ART CD4 counts and BMI can easily be assessed at ART initiation in rural sub-Saharan Africa to identify patients at high risk of IRIS, for whom close supervision is warranted. PMID:21386993

Effect of iris registration on outcomes of FEMTOLASIK for myopia and myopic astigmatism.

PubMed

Ghoreishi, Mohammad; Beni, Zahra Naderi; Beni, Afsaneh Naderi; Kianersi, Farzan

2017-09-05

To compare the visual and refractive outcomes after FEMTOLASIK with and without iris registration. In this randomized, prospective, comparative, contralateral eye study, 118 eyes of 59 patients with myopia and myopic astigmatism underwent LASIK using the Femto LDV femtosecond laser (160 µm) and the MEL80 with or without iris registration. For each patient, iris registration FEMTOLASIK was performed on one eye and non-iris registration FEMTOLASIK was performed on the other eye, assigned at random. Patients were evaluated before and 12 months. Uncorrected visual acuity, best-corrected visual acuity, manifest refraction, contrast sensitivity, and higher-order aberrations (HOAs) were evaluated. At 12 months, the mean UDVA was 0.002 ± 0.07 logMAR (20/19) in iris registration eyes and 0.00 ± 0.06 logMAR (20/24) in non-iris registration eyes (P = 0.9). 61% of iris registration eyes and 71.2% of non-iris registration eyes achieved a UDVA of 20/20 or better (P = 0.31); 98.3% of eyes with the iris registration FEMTOLASIK and 94.9% with the non-iris registration FEMTOLASIK were within ±0.50 D from emmetropia (P = 0.71). No statistically significant difference was found in postoperative contrast sensitivity between groups at 3, 6, 12, or 18 cycles/degree (P > 0.05). There was significant increase in total HOA root mean square in two groups. The mean error magnitude of surgically induced astigmatism 12 months postoperatively was -0.33 in iris registration eyes and -0.24 in the non-iris registration eyes (P = 0.36). FEMTOLASIK with and without iris registration provides similar results in myopic and myopic astigmatism patients.

Steatotic livers are susceptible to normothermic ischemia-reperfusion injury from mitochondrial Complex-I dysfunction

PubMed Central

Chu, Michael JJ; Premkumar, Rakesh; Hickey, Anthony JR; Jiang, Yannan; Delahunt, Brett; Phillips, Anthony RJ; Bartlett, Adam SJR

2016-01-01

AIM: To assess the effects of ischemic preconditioning (IPC, 10-min ischemia/10-min reperfusion) on steatotic liver mitochondrial function after normothermic ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). METHODS: Sixty male Sprague-Dawley rats were fed 8-wk with either control chow or high-fat/high-sucrose diet inducing > 60% mixed steatosis. Three groups (n = 10/group) for each dietary state were tested: (1) the IRI group underwent 60 min partial hepatic ischemia and 4 h reperfusion; (2) the IPC group underwent IPC prior to same standard IRI; and (3) sham underwent the same surgery without IRI or IPC. Hepatic mitochondrial function was analyzed by oxygraphs. Mitochondrial Complex-I, Complex-II enzyme activity, serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and histological injury were measured. RESULTS: Steatotic-IRI livers had a greater increase in ALT (2476 ± 166 vs 1457 ± 103 IU/L, P < 0.01) and histological injury following IRI compared to the lean liver group. Steatotic-IRI demonstrated lower Complex-I activity at baseline [78.4 ± 2.5 vs 116.4 ± 6.0 nmol/(min.mg protein), P < 0.001] and following IRI [28.0 ± 6.2 vs 104.3 ± 12.6 nmol/(min.mg protein), P < 0.001]. Steatotic-IRI also demonstrated impaired Complex-I function post-IRI compared to the lean liver IRI group. Complex-II activity was unaffected by hepatic steatosis or IRI. Lean liver mitochondrial function was unchanged following IRI. IPC normalized ALT and histological injury in steatotic livers but had no effect on overall steatotic liver mitochondrial function or individual mitochondrial complex enzyme activities. CONCLUSION: Warm IRI impairs steatotic liver Complex-I activity and function. The protective effects of IPC in steatotic livers may not be mediated through mitochondria. PMID:27217699

IRIS Toxicological Review and Summary Documents for N ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA's assessment of the noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of n-hexane was last prepared and added to the IRIS data base in 1990. The IRIS program is updating the IRIS assessment for n-hexane; this update will incorporate health effects information published since the last assessment was prepared as well as new risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for n-hexane will consist of a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physicochemical and toxicokinetic properties of the chemical and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference values for noncancer effects of n-hexane (RfD and RfC) and a cancer assessment, where supported by available data. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary will be subject to internal peer consultation, Agency review, and external scientific peer review. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for n-hexane. The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for n-Hexane that will be entered into the IRIS database. IRIS is an EPA data base containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment

A Statistical Analysis of IrisCode and Its Security Implications.

PubMed

Kong, Adams Wai-Kin

2015-03-01

IrisCode has been used to gather iris data for 430 million people. Because of the huge impact of IrisCode, it is vital that it is completely understood. This paper first studies the relationship between bit probabilities and a mean of iris images (The mean of iris images is defined as the average of independent iris images.) and then uses the Chi-square statistic, the correlation coefficient and a resampling algorithm to detect statistical dependence between bits. The results show that the statistical dependence forms a graph with a sparse and structural adjacency matrix. A comparison of this graph with a graph whose edges are defined by the inner product of the Gabor filters that produce IrisCodes shows that partial statistical dependence is induced by the filters and propagates through the graph. Using this statistical information, the security risk associated with two patented template protection schemes that have been deployed in commercial systems for producing application-specific IrisCodes is analyzed. To retain high identification speed, they use the same key to lock all IrisCodes in a database. The belief has been that if the key is not compromised, the IrisCodes are secure. This study shows that even without the key, application-specific IrisCodes can be unlocked and that the key can be obtained through the statistical dependence detected.

Noisy Ocular Recognition Based on Three Convolutional Neural Networks

PubMed Central

Lee, Min Beom; Hong, Hyung Gil; Park, Kang Ryoung

2017-01-01

In recent years, the iris recognition system has been gaining increasing acceptance for applications such as access control and smartphone security. When the images of the iris are obtained under unconstrained conditions, an issue of undermined quality is caused by optical and motion blur, off-angle view (the user’s eyes looking somewhere else, not into the front of the camera), specular reflection (SR) and other factors. Such noisy iris images increase intra-individual variations and, as a result, reduce the accuracy of iris recognition. A typical iris recognition system requires a near-infrared (NIR) illuminator along with an NIR camera, which are larger and more expensive than fingerprint recognition equipment. Hence, many studies have proposed methods of using iris images captured by a visible light camera without the need for an additional illuminator. In this research, we propose a new recognition method for noisy iris and ocular images by using one iris and two periocular regions, based on three convolutional neural networks (CNNs). Experiments were conducted by using the noisy iris challenge evaluation-part II (NICE.II) training dataset (selected from the university of Beira iris (UBIRIS).v2 database), mobile iris challenge evaluation (MICHE) database, and institute of automation of Chinese academy of sciences (CASIA)-Iris-Distance database. As a result, the method proposed by this study outperformed previous methods. PMID:29258217

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY DOCUMENTS FOR 1,1,1-TRICHLOROETHANE (PEER REVIEW PLAN)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA's assessment of the carcinogenic potential of 1,1,1-trichloroethane was entered into the IRIS database in 1988, and the assessment of noncancer effects following oral exposure was withdrawn from IRIS in 1991. The IRIS program prepared an update of the IRIS assessment for 1,1,...

Iris double recognition based on modified evolutionary neural network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Liu, Shuai; Liu, Yuan-Ning; Zhu, Xiao-Dong; Huo, Guang; Liu, Wen-Tao; Feng, Jia-Kai

2017-11-01

Aiming at multicategory iris recognition under illumination and noise interference, this paper proposes a method of iris double recognition based on a modified evolutionary neural network. An equalization histogram and Laplace of Gaussian operator are used to process the iris to suppress illumination and noise interference and Haar wavelet to convert the iris feature to binary feature encoding. Calculate the Hamming distance for the test iris and template iris , and compare with classification threshold, determine the type of iris. If the iris cannot be identified as a different type, there needs to be a secondary recognition. The connection weights in back-propagation (BP) neural network use modified evolutionary neural network to adaptively train. The modified neural network is composed of particle swarm optimization with mutation operator and BP neural network. According to different iris libraries in different circumstances of experimental results, under illumination and noise interference, the correct recognition rate of this algorithm is higher, the ROC curve is closer to the coordinate axis, the training and recognition time is shorter, and the stability and the robustness are better.

Ordinal measures for iris recognition.

PubMed

Sun, Zhenan; Tan, Tieniu

2009-12-01

Images of a human iris contain rich texture information useful for identity authentication. A key and still open issue in iris recognition is how best to represent such textural information using a compact set of features (iris features). In this paper, we propose using ordinal measures for iris feature representation with the objective of characterizing qualitative relationships between iris regions rather than precise measurements of iris image structures. Such a representation may lose some image-specific information, but it achieves a good trade-off between distinctiveness and robustness. We show that ordinal measures are intrinsic features of iris patterns and largely invariant to illumination changes. Moreover, compactness and low computational complexity of ordinal measures enable highly efficient iris recognition. Ordinal measures are a general concept useful for image analysis and many variants can be derived for ordinal feature extraction. In this paper, we develop multilobe differential filters to compute ordinal measures with flexible intralobe and interlobe parameters such as location, scale, orientation, and distance. Experimental results on three public iris image databases demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed ordinal feature models.

Multiple local feature representations and their fusion based on an SVR model for iris recognition using optimized Gabor filters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Fei; Liu, Yuanning; Zhu, Xiaodong; Huang, Chun; Han, Ye; Dong, Hongxing

2014-12-01

Gabor descriptors have been widely used in iris texture representations. However, fixed basic Gabor functions cannot match the changing nature of diverse iris datasets. Furthermore, a single form of iris feature cannot overcome difficulties in iris recognition, such as illumination variations, environmental conditions, and device variations. This paper provides multiple local feature representations and their fusion scheme based on a support vector regression (SVR) model for iris recognition using optimized Gabor filters. In our iris system, a particle swarm optimization (PSO)- and a Boolean particle swarm optimization (BPSO)-based algorithm is proposed to provide suitable Gabor filters for each involved test dataset without predefinition or manual modulation. Several comparative experiments on JLUBR-IRIS, CASIA-I, and CASIA-V4-Interval iris datasets are conducted, and the results show that our work can generate improved local Gabor features by using optimized Gabor filters for each dataset. In addition, our SVR fusion strategy may make full use of their discriminative ability to improve accuracy and reliability. Other comparative experiments show that our approach may outperform other popular iris systems.

Effects of Iris Surface Curvature on Iris Recognition

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Thompson, Joseph T; Flynn, Patrick J; Bowyer, Kevin W

To focus on objects at various distances, the lens of the eye must change shape to adjust its refractive power. This change in lens shape causes a change in the shape of the iris surface which can be measured by examining the curvature of the iris. This work isolates the variable of iris curvature in the recognition process and shows that differences in iris curvature degrade matching ability. To our knowledge, no other work has examined the effects of varying iris curvature on matching ability. To examine this degradation, we conduct a matching experiment across pairs of images with varyingmore » degrees of iris curvature differences. The results show a statistically signi cant degradation in matching ability. Finally, the real world impact of these ndings is discussed« less

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Interagency ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In January 2017, EPA finalized the IRIS assessment of Benzo[a]pyrene. The Toxicological Review was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science discussion materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for BaP that will be entered into the IRIS database.

IrisDenseNet: Robust Iris Segmentation Using Densely Connected Fully Convolutional Networks in the Images by Visible Light and Near-Infrared Light Camera Sensors

PubMed Central

Arsalan, Muhammad; Naqvi, Rizwan Ali; Kim, Dong Seop; Nguyen, Phong Ha; Owais, Muhammad; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-01-01

The recent advancements in computer vision have opened new horizons for deploying biometric recognition algorithms in mobile and handheld devices. Similarly, iris recognition is now much needed in unconstraint scenarios with accuracy. These environments make the acquired iris image exhibit occlusion, low resolution, blur, unusual glint, ghost effect, and off-angles. The prevailing segmentation algorithms cannot cope with these constraints. In addition, owing to the unavailability of near-infrared (NIR) light, iris recognition in visible light environment makes the iris segmentation challenging with the noise of visible light. Deep learning with convolutional neural networks (CNN) has brought a considerable breakthrough in various applications. To address the iris segmentation issues in challenging situations by visible light and near-infrared light camera sensors, this paper proposes a densely connected fully convolutional network (IrisDenseNet), which can determine the true iris boundary even with inferior-quality images by using better information gradient flow between the dense blocks. In the experiments conducted, five datasets of visible light and NIR environments were used. For visible light environment, noisy iris challenge evaluation part-II (NICE-II selected from UBIRIS.v2 database) and mobile iris challenge evaluation (MICHE-I) datasets were used. For NIR environment, the institute of automation, Chinese academy of sciences (CASIA) v4.0 interval, CASIA v4.0 distance, and IIT Delhi v1.0 iris datasets were used. Experimental results showed the optimal segmentation of the proposed IrisDenseNet and its excellent performance over existing algorithms for all five datasets. PMID:29748495

IrisDenseNet: Robust Iris Segmentation Using Densely Connected Fully Convolutional Networks in the Images by Visible Light and Near-Infrared Light Camera Sensors.

PubMed

Arsalan, Muhammad; Naqvi, Rizwan Ali; Kim, Dong Seop; Nguyen, Phong Ha; Owais, Muhammad; Park, Kang Ryoung

2018-05-10

The recent advancements in computer vision have opened new horizons for deploying biometric recognition algorithms in mobile and handheld devices. Similarly, iris recognition is now much needed in unconstraint scenarios with accuracy. These environments make the acquired iris image exhibit occlusion, low resolution, blur, unusual glint, ghost effect, and off-angles. The prevailing segmentation algorithms cannot cope with these constraints. In addition, owing to the unavailability of near-infrared (NIR) light, iris recognition in visible light environment makes the iris segmentation challenging with the noise of visible light. Deep learning with convolutional neural networks (CNN) has brought a considerable breakthrough in various applications. To address the iris segmentation issues in challenging situations by visible light and near-infrared light camera sensors, this paper proposes a densely connected fully convolutional network (IrisDenseNet), which can determine the true iris boundary even with inferior-quality images by using better information gradient flow between the dense blocks. In the experiments conducted, five datasets of visible light and NIR environments were used. For visible light environment, noisy iris challenge evaluation part-II (NICE-II selected from UBIRIS.v2 database) and mobile iris challenge evaluation (MICHE-I) datasets were used. For NIR environment, the institute of automation, Chinese academy of sciences (CASIA) v4.0 interval, CASIA v4.0 distance, and IIT Delhi v1.0 iris datasets were used. Experimental results showed the optimal segmentation of the proposed IrisDenseNet and its excellent performance over existing algorithms for all five datasets.

The International Reference Ionosphere Today and in the Future

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bilitza, Dieter; McKinnell, Lee-Ane; Reinisch, Bodo; Fuller-Rowell,Tim

2010-01-01

The international reference ionosphere (IRI) is the internationally recognized and recommended standard for the specification of plasma parameters in Earth's ionosphere. It describes monthly averages of electron density, electron temperature, ion temperature, ion composition, and several additional parameters in the altitude range from 60 to 1,500 km. A joint working group of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) is in charge of developing and improving the IRI model. As requested by COSPAR and URSI, IRI is an empirical model being based on most of the available and reliable data sources for the ionospheric plasma. The paper describes the latest version of the model and reviews efforts towards future improvements, including the development of new global models for the F2 peak density and height, and a new approach to describe the electron density in the topside and plasmasphere. Our emphasis will be on the electron density because it is the IRI parameter most relevant to geodetic techniques and studies. Annual IRI meetings are the main venue for the discussion of IRI activities, future improvements, and additions to the model. A new special IRI task force activity is focusing on the development of a real-time IRI (RT-IRI) by combining data assimilation techniques with the IRI model. A first RT-IRI task force meeting was held in 2009 in Colorado Springs. We will review the outcome of this meeting and the plans for the future. The IRI homepage is at http://www.IRI.gsfc.nasa.gov

IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5 ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is developing an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and has released the draft assessment for public comment. When final, the assessment will appear on the IRIS database. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for RDX. The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for RDX that will be entered into the IRIS database.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Public ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is developing an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of benzo[a]pyrene and has released the draft assessment for public comment and external peer review. When final, the assessment will appear on the IRIS database. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for BaP that will be entered into the IRIS database.

A novel iris localization algorithm using correlation filtering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pohit, Mausumi; Sharma, Jitu

2015-06-01

Fast and efficient segmentation of iris from the eye images is a primary requirement for robust database independent iris recognition. In this paper we have presented a new algorithm for computing the inner and outer boundaries of the iris and locating the pupil centre. Pupil-iris boundary computation is based on correlation filtering approach, whereas iris-sclera boundary is determined through one dimensional intensity mapping. The proposed approach is computationally less extensive when compared with the existing algorithms like Hough transform.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Tert-Butyl Alcohol (Tert-Butanol) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On April 29, 2016, the Toxicological Review of tert-Butyl Alcohol (tert-Butanol) (Public Comment Draft) was released for public comment. The draft Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and the Executive Office of the President during Step 3 (Interagency Science Consultation) before public release. As part of the IRIS process, all written interagency comments on IRIS assessments will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments with EPA's response and the interagency science consultation drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of tert-Butanol and charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking a new health assessment for t-butyl alcohol (tert-butanol) for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The outcome of this project will be a Toxicological Review and IRIS and IRIS Summary of TBA that will be entered on the IRIS database. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information to evaluate potential public health risks associated with environmental contaminants. The IRIS database is relied on for the development of risk assessments, site-specific environmental decisions, and rule making.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (Etbe) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In September 2016, EPA released the draft IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE) for public comment and discussion. The draft assessment was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an new health assessment for ethyl tertiary butyl ether (ETBE) for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The outcome of this project will be a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary of ETBE that will be entered on the IRIS database. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment process, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used nationally and internationally in combination with specific situational exposure assessment infor

IRIS Toxicological Review of Biphenyl (Interagency Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 30, 2011, the draft Toxicological Review of Biphenyl and the charge to external peer reviewers were released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process (May 2009), introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Biphenyl and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking a new health assessment for biphenyl for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The outcome of this project will be a Toxicological Review and IRIS and IRIS Summary of biohenyl that will be entered on the IRIS database. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information to evaluate potential public health risks associated with exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risks associated with environmental contaminants. The IRIS database is relied on for the development of risk ass

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA's assessment of the noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) was added to the IRIS database in 1990. The IRIS program is updating the IRIS assessment for TCP. This update will incorporate health effects information published since the last assessment was prepared as well as new risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for TCP will consist of a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physicochemical and toxicokinetic properties of the chemical and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference values for noncancer effects of TCP (RfD and RfC) and a cancer assessment. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary will be subject to internal peer consultation, Agency review, and external scientific peer review. The final products will constitute the Agency's opinion on the toxicity of TCP. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for 1,2,3-trichloropropane. IRIS is an EPA database containing the Agency's consensus scientific positions on potential adverse human effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment process, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in

Matrix metalloproteinases and tissue damage in HIV-tuberculosis immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome

PubMed Central

Tadokera, Rebecca; Meintjes, Graeme A; Wilkinson, Katalin A; Skolimowska, Keira H; Walker, Naomi; Friedland, Jon S; Maartens, Gary; Elkington, Paul T G; Wilkinson, Robert J

2014-01-01

The HIV-TB-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) can complicate combined treatments for HIV-1 and TB. Little is known about tissue damage in TB-IRIS. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) degrade components of the extracellular matrix and consequently may play a role in such immunopathology. Here we investigated the involvement of MMPs in TB-IRIS. We determined MMP transcript abundance and secreted protein in Mycobacterium tuberculosis stimulated PBMCs from 22 TB-IRIS patients and 22 non-IRIS controls. We also measured MMP protein levels in corresponding serum and the effect of prednisone — which reduces the duration of symptoms in IRIS patients — or placebo treatment on MMP transcript and circulating MMP protein levels. PBMCs from TB-IRIS had increased MMP-1,-3,-7, and-10 transcript levels when compared with those of controls at either 6 or 24 h. Similarly, MMP-1,-3,-7, and-10 protein secretion in stimulated cultures was higher in TB-IRIS than in controls. Serum MMP-7 concentration was elevated in TB-IRIS and 2 weeks of corticosteroid therapy decreased this level, although not significantly. TB-IRIS is associated with a distinct pattern of MMP gene and protein activation. Modulation of dysregulated MMP activity may represent a novel therapeutic approach to alleviate TB-IRIS in HIV-TB patients undergoing treatment. PMID:24136296

PROPERTIES OF CHROMOSPHERIC EVAPORATION AND PLASMA DYNAMICS OF A SOLAR FLARE FROM IRIS OBSERVATIONS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Sadykov, Viacheslav M.; Dominguez, Santiago Vargas; Kosovichev, Alexander G.

The dynamics of hot chromospheric plasma of solar flares is a key to understanding the mechanisms of flare energy release and particle acceleration. A moderate M1.0 class flare of 2014 June 12, (SOL2014-06-12T21:12) was simultaneously observed by NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and other spacecraft, and also by the New Solar Telescope at the BBSO. This paper presents the first part of our investigation focused on analysis of the IRIS data. Our analysis of the IRIS data in different spectral lines reveals a strong redshifted jet-like flow with a speed of ∼100 km s{sup −1} of the chromospheric material beforemore » the flare. Strong nonthermal emission of the C ii k 1334.5 Å line, formed in the chromosphere–corona transition region, is observed at the beginning of the impulsive phase in several small (with a size of ∼1″) points. It is also found that the C ii k line is redshifted across the flaring region before, during, and after the impulsive phase. A peak of integrated emission of the hot (1.1 · 10{sup 7} K) plasma in the Fe xxi 1354.1 Å line is detected approximately five minutes after the integrated emission peak of the lower temperature C ii k. A strong blueshift of the Fe xxi line across the flaring region corresponds to evaporation flows of the hot chromospheric plasma with a speed of 50 km s{sup −1}. Additional analysis of the RHESSI data supports the idea that the upper chromospheric dynamics observed by IRIS has features of “gentle” evaporation driven by heating of the solar chromosphere by accelerated electrons and by a heat flux from the flare energy release site.« less

[Moxiflaxin and iris transillumination].

PubMed

Broens, A; Collignon, N

2016-07-01

Bilateral Acute Iris Transillumination (BAIT) is a new clinical entity characterized by acute onset of pigment dispersion in the anterior chamber and angle, depigmentation of the iris stroma and permanent iris transillumination, masquerading as uveitis. An association with oral moxifloxacin is reported in some articles. We describe one case of bilateral acute iris transillumination, following the use of systemic moxifloxacin.

Design method of ARM based embedded iris recognition system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Yuanbo; He, Yuqing; Hou, Yushi; Liu, Ting

2008-03-01

With the advantages of non-invasiveness, uniqueness, stability and low false recognition rate, iris recognition has been successfully applied in many fields. Up to now, most of the iris recognition systems are based on PC. However, a PC is not portable and it needs more power. In this paper, we proposed an embedded iris recognition system based on ARM. Considering the requirements of iris image acquisition and recognition algorithm, we analyzed the design method of the iris image acquisition module, designed the ARM processing module and its peripherals, studied the Linux platform and the recognition algorithm based on this platform, finally actualized the design method of ARM-based iris imaging and recognition system. Experimental results show that the ARM platform we used is fast enough to run the iris recognition algorithm, and the data stream can flow smoothly between the camera and the ARM chip based on the embedded Linux system. It's an effective method of using ARM to actualize portable embedded iris recognition system.

Human iris three-dimensional imaging at micron resolution by a micro-plenoptic camera

PubMed Central

Chen, Hao; Woodward, Maria A.; Burke, David T.; Jeganathan, V. Swetha E.; Demirci, Hakan; Sick, Volker

2017-01-01

A micro-plenoptic system was designed to capture the three-dimensional (3D) topography of the anterior iris surface by simple single-shot imaging. Within a depth-of-field of 2.4 mm, depth resolution of 10 µm can be achieved with accuracy (systematic errors) and precision (random errors) below 20%. We demonstrated the application of our micro-plenoptic imaging system on two healthy irides, an iris with naevi, and an iris with melanoma. The ridges and folds, with height differences of 10~80 µm, on the healthy irides can be effectively captured. The front surface on the iris naevi was flat, and the iris melanoma was 50 ± 10 µm higher than the surrounding iris. The micro-plenoptic imaging system has great potential to be utilized for iris disease diagnosis and continuing, simple monitoring. PMID:29082081

Human iris three-dimensional imaging at micron resolution by a micro-plenoptic camera.

PubMed

Chen, Hao; Woodward, Maria A; Burke, David T; Jeganathan, V Swetha E; Demirci, Hakan; Sick, Volker

2017-10-01

A micro-plenoptic system was designed to capture the three-dimensional (3D) topography of the anterior iris surface by simple single-shot imaging. Within a depth-of-field of 2.4 mm, depth resolution of 10 µm can be achieved with accuracy (systematic errors) and precision (random errors) below 20%. We demonstrated the application of our micro-plenoptic imaging system on two healthy irides, an iris with naevi, and an iris with melanoma. The ridges and folds, with height differences of 10~80 µm, on the healthy irides can be effectively captured. The front surface on the iris naevi was flat, and the iris melanoma was 50 ± 10 µm higher than the surrounding iris. The micro-plenoptic imaging system has great potential to be utilized for iris disease diagnosis and continuing, simple monitoring.

Toward noncooperative iris recognition: a classification approach using multiple signatures.

PubMed

Proença, Hugo; Alexandre, Luís A

2007-04-01

This paper focuses on noncooperative iris recognition, i.e., the capture of iris images at large distances, under less controlled lighting conditions, and without active participation of the subjects. This increases the probability of capturing very heterogeneous images (regarding focus, contrast, or brightness) and with several noise factors (iris obstructions and reflections). Current iris recognition systems are unable to deal with noisy data and substantially increase their error rates, especially the false rejections, in these conditions. We propose an iris classification method that divides the segmented and normalized iris image into six regions, makes an independent feature extraction and comparison for each region, and combines each of the dissimilarity values through a classification rule. Experiments show a substantial decrease, higher than 40 percent, of the false rejection rates in the recognition of noisy iris images.

Validation of a published case definition for tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome.

PubMed

Haddow, Lewis J; Moosa, Mahomed-Yunus S; Easterbrook, Philippa J

2010-01-02

To evaluate the International Network for the Study of HIV-associated IRIS (INSHI) case definitions for tuberculosis (TB)-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) in a South African cohort. Prospective cohort of 498 adult HIV-infected patients initiating antiretroviral therapy. Patients were followed up for 24 weeks and all clinical events were recorded. Events with TB-IRIS as possible cause were assessed by consensus expert opinion and INSHI case definition. Positive, negative, and chance-corrected agreement (kappa) were calculated, and reasons for disagreement were assessed. One hundred and two (20%) patients were receiving TB therapy at antiretroviral therapy initiation. Three hundred and thirty-three events were evaluated (74 potential paradoxical IRIS, 259 potential unmasking IRIS). Based on expert opinion, there were 18 cases of paradoxical IRIS associated with TB and/or other opportunistic disease. The INSHI criteria for TB-IRIS agreed in 13 paradoxical cases, giving positive agreement of 72.2%, negative agreement in 52/56 non-TB-IRIS events (92.9%), and kappa of 0.66. There were 19 unmasking TB-IRIS cases based on expert opinion, of which 12 were considered IRIS using the INSHI definition (positive agreement 63.2%). There was agreement in all 240 non-TB-IRIS events (negative agreement 100%) and kappa was 0.76. There was good agreement between the INSHI case definition for both paradoxical and unmasking TB-IRIS and consensus expert opinion. These results support the use of this definition in clinical and research practice, with minor caveats in its application.

Engineering a Light-Attenuating Artificial Iris

PubMed Central

Shareef, Farah J.; Sun, Shan; Kotecha, Mrignayani; Kassem, Iris; Azar, Dimitri; Cho, Michael

2016-01-01

Purpose Discomfort from light exposure leads to photophobia, glare, and poor vision in patients with congenital or trauma-induced iris damage. Commercial artificial iris lenses are static in nature to provide aesthetics without restoring the natural iris's dynamic response to light. A new photo-responsive artificial iris was therefore developed using a photochromic material with self-adaptive light transmission properties and encased in a transparent biocompatible polymer matrix. Methods The implantable artificial iris was designed and engineered using Photopia, a class of photo-responsive materials (termed naphthopyrans) embedded in polyethylene. Photopia was reshaped into annular disks that were spin-coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to form our artificial iris lens of controlled thickness. Results Activated by UV and blue light in approximately 5 seconds with complete reversal in less than 1 minute, the artificial iris demonstrates graded attenuation of up to 40% of visible and 60% of UV light. There optical characteristics are suitable to reversibly regulate the incident light intensity. In vitro cell culture experiments showed up to 60% cell death within 10 days of exposure to Photopia, but no significant cell death observed when cultured with the artificial iris with protective encapsulation. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy confirmed these results as there was no apparent leakage of potentially toxic photochromic material from the ophthalmic device. Conclusions Our artificial iris lens mimics the functionality of the natural iris by attenuating light intensity entering the eye with its rapid reversible change in opacity and thus potentially providing an improved treatment option for patients with iris damage. PMID:27116547

Engineering a Light-Attenuating Artificial Iris.

PubMed

Shareef, Farah J; Sun, Shan; Kotecha, Mrignayani; Kassem, Iris; Azar, Dimitri; Cho, Michael

2016-04-01

Discomfort from light exposure leads to photophobia, glare, and poor vision in patients with congenital or trauma-induced iris damage. Commercial artificial iris lenses are static in nature to provide aesthetics without restoring the natural iris's dynamic response to light. A new photo-responsive artificial iris was therefore developed using a photochromic material with self-adaptive light transmission properties and encased in a transparent biocompatible polymer matrix. The implantable artificial iris was designed and engineered using Photopia, a class of photo-responsive materials (termed naphthopyrans) embedded in polyethylene. Photopia was reshaped into annular disks that were spin-coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) to form our artificial iris lens of controlled thickness. Activated by UV and blue light in approximately 5 seconds with complete reversal in less than 1 minute, the artificial iris demonstrates graded attenuation of up to 40% of visible and 60% of UV light. There optical characteristics are suitable to reversibly regulate the incident light intensity. In vitro cell culture experiments showed up to 60% cell death within 10 days of exposure to Photopia, but no significant cell death observed when cultured with the artificial iris with protective encapsulation. Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy confirmed these results as there was no apparent leakage of potentially toxic photochromic material from the ophthalmic device. Our artificial iris lens mimics the functionality of the natural iris by attenuating light intensity entering the eye with its rapid reversible change in opacity and thus potentially providing an improved treatment option for patients with iris damage.

Iris ultrastructure in patients with synechiae as revealed by in vivo laser scanning confocal microscopy : In vivo iris ultrastructure in patients with Synechiae by Laser Scanning Confocal Microscopy.

PubMed

Li, Ming; Cheng, Hongbo; Guo, Ping; Zhang, Chun; Tang, Song; Wang, Shusheng

2016-04-26

Iris plays important roles in ocular physiology and disease pathogenesis. Currently it is technically challenging to noninvasively examine the human iris ultrastructure in vivo. The purpose of the current study is to reveal human iris ultrastructure in patients with synechiae by using noninvasive in vivo laser scanning confocal microscopy (LSCM). The ultrastructure of iris in thirty one patients, each with synechiae but transparent cornea, was examined by in vivo LSCM. Five characteristic iris ultrastructures was revealed in patients with synechiae by in vivo LSCM, which include: 1. tree trunk-like structure; 2. tree branch/bush-like structure; 3. Fruit-like structure; 4. Epithelioid-like structure; 5. deep structure. Pigment granules can be observed as a loose structure on the top of the arborization structure. In iris-associated diseases with Tyndall's Phenomenon and keratic precipitates, the pigment particles are more likely to fall off from the arborization structure. The ultrastructure of iris in patients with synechiae has been visualized using in vivo LSCM. Five iris ultrastructures can be clearly observed, with some of the structures maybe disease-associated. The fall-off of the pigment particles may cause the Tyndall's Phenomenon positive. In vivo LSCM provides a non-invasive approach to observe the human iris ultrastructure under certain eye disease conditions, which sets up a foundation to visualize certain iris-associated diseases in the future.

Simulation of Blast Loading on an Ultrastructurally-based Computational Model of the Ocular Lens

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-10-01

mechanisms of traumatic cataract forma - tion that may require cataract surgery (implantation of an intraocular lens (IOL)) are not well understood in...cornea and cutting through the iris and zonules. This was done by making a small incision with a diamond-head blade at the edge of the cornea and using

Video-based noncooperative iris image segmentation.

PubMed

Du, Yingzi; Arslanturk, Emrah; Zhou, Zhi; Belcher, Craig

2011-02-01

In this paper, we propose a video-based noncooperative iris image segmentation scheme that incorporates a quality filter to quickly eliminate images without an eye, employs a coarse-to-fine segmentation scheme to improve the overall efficiency, uses a direct least squares fitting of ellipses method to model the deformed pupil and limbic boundaries, and develops a window gradient-based method to remove noise in the iris region. A remote iris acquisition system is set up to collect noncooperative iris video images. An objective method is used to quantitatively evaluate the accuracy of the segmentation results. The experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of this method. The proposed method would make noncooperative iris recognition or iris surveillance possible.

Iris Recognition: The Consequences of Image Compression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ives, Robert W.; Bishop, Daniel A.; Du, Yingzi; Belcher, Craig

2010-12-01

Iris recognition for human identification is one of the most accurate biometrics, and its employment is expanding globally. The use of portable iris systems, particularly in law enforcement applications, is growing. In many of these applications, the portable device may be required to transmit an iris image or template over a narrow-bandwidth communication channel. Typically, a full resolution image (e.g., VGA) is desired to ensure sufficient pixels across the iris to be confident of accurate recognition results. To minimize the time to transmit a large amount of data over a narrow-bandwidth communication channel, image compression can be used to reduce the file size of the iris image. In other applications, such as the Registered Traveler program, an entire iris image is stored on a smart card, but only 4 kB is allowed for the iris image. For this type of application, image compression is also the solution. This paper investigates the effects of image compression on recognition system performance using a commercial version of the Daugman iris2pi algorithm along with JPEG-2000 compression, and links these to image quality. Using the ICE 2005 iris database, we find that even in the face of significant compression, recognition performance is minimally affected.

An iris recognition algorithm based on DCT and GLCM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Feng, G.; Wu, Ye-qing

2008-04-01

With the enlargement of mankind's activity range, the significance for person's status identity is becoming more and more important. So many different techniques for person's status identity were proposed for this practical usage. Conventional person's status identity methods like password and identification card are not always reliable. A wide variety of biometrics has been developed for this challenge. Among those biologic characteristics, iris pattern gains increasing attention for its stability, reliability, uniqueness, noninvasiveness and difficult to counterfeit. The distinct merits of the iris lead to its high reliability for personal identification. So the iris identification technique had become hot research point in the past several years. This paper presents an efficient algorithm for iris recognition using gray-level co-occurrence matrix(GLCM) and Discrete Cosine transform(DCT). To obtain more representative iris features, features from space and DCT transformation domain are extracted. Both GLCM and DCT are applied on the iris image to form the feature sequence in this paper. The combination of GLCM and DCT makes the iris feature more distinct. Upon GLCM and DCT the eigenvector of iris extracted, which reflects features of spatial transformation and frequency transformation. Experimental results show that the algorithm is effective and feasible with iris recognition.

A novel in vivo model of puncture-induced iris neovascularization.

PubMed

Beaujean, Ophélie; Locri, Filippo; Aronsson, Monica; Kvanta, Anders; André, Helder

2017-01-01

To assess iris neovascularization by uveal puncture of the mouse eye and determine the role of angiogenic factors during iris neovascularization. Uveal punctures were performed on BalbC mouse eyes to induce iris angiogenesis. VEGF-blockage was used as an anti-angiogenic treatment, while normoxia- and hypoxia-conditioned media from retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells was used as an angiogenic-inducer in this model. Iris vasculature was determined in vivo by noninvasive methods. Iris blood vessels were stained for platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 and vascular sprouts were counted as markers of angiogenesis. Expression of angiogenic and inflammatory factors in the puncture-induced model were determined by qPCR and western blot. Punctures led to increased neovascularization and sprouting of the iris. qPCR and protein analysis showed an increase of angiogenic factors, particularly in the plasminogen-activating receptor and inflammatory systems. VEGF-blockage partly reduced iris neovascularization, and treatment with hypoxia-conditioned RPE medium led to a statistically significant increase in iris neovascularization. This study presents the first evidence of a puncture-induced iris angiogenesis model in the mouse. In a broader context, this novel in vivo model of neovascularization has the potential for noninvasive evaluation of angiogenesis modulating substances.

Iris recognition in the presence of ocular disease

PubMed Central

Aslam, Tariq Mehmood; Tan, Shi Zhuan; Dhillon, Baljean

2009-01-01

Iris recognition systems are among the most accurate of all biometric technologies with immense potential for use in worldwide security applications. This study examined the effect of eye pathology on iris recognition and in particular whether eye disease could cause iris recognition systems to fail. The experiment involved a prospective cohort of 54 patients with anterior segment eye disease who were seen at the acute referral unit of the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh. Iris camera images were obtained from patients before treatment was commenced and again at follow-up appointments after treatment had been given. The principal outcome measure was that of mathematical difference in the iris recognition templates obtained from patients' eyes before and after treatment of the eye disease. Results showed that the performance of iris recognition was remarkably resilient to most ophthalmic disease states, including corneal oedema, iridotomies (laser puncture of iris) and conjunctivitis. Problems were, however, encountered in some patients with acute inflammation of the iris (iritis/anterior uveitis). The effects of a subject developing anterior uveitis may cause current recognition systems to fail. Those developing and deploying iris recognition should be aware of the potential problems that this could cause to this key biometric technology. PMID:19324690

Iris recognition in the presence of ocular disease.

PubMed

Aslam, Tariq Mehmood; Tan, Shi Zhuan; Dhillon, Baljean

2009-05-06

Iris recognition systems are among the most accurate of all biometric technologies with immense potential for use in worldwide security applications. This study examined the effect of eye pathology on iris recognition and in particular whether eye disease could cause iris recognition systems to fail. The experiment involved a prospective cohort of 54 patients with anterior segment eye disease who were seen at the acute referral unit of the Princess Alexandra Eye Pavilion in Edinburgh. Iris camera images were obtained from patients before treatment was commenced and again at follow-up appointments after treatment had been given. The principal outcome measure was that of mathematical difference in the iris recognition templates obtained from patients' eyes before and after treatment of the eye disease. Results showed that the performance of iris recognition was remarkably resilient to most ophthalmic disease states, including corneal oedema, iridotomies (laser puncture of iris) and conjunctivitis. Problems were, however, encountered in some patients with acute inflammation of the iris (iritis/anterior uveitis). The effects of a subject developing anterior uveitis may cause current recognition systems to fail. Those developing and deploying iris recognition should be aware of the potential problems that this could cause to this key biometric technology.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

De Pontieu, B.; Martinez-Sykora, J.; McIntosh, S.

Spectral observations of the solar transition region (TR) and corona show broadening of spectral lines beyond what is expected from thermal and instrumental broadening. The remaining non-thermal broadening is significant (5–30 km s{sup −1}) and correlated with intensity. Here we study spectra of the TR Si iv 1403 Å line obtained at high resolution with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). We find that the large improvement in spatial resolution (0.″33) of IRIS compared to previous spectrographs (2″) does not resolve the non-thermal line broadening which, in most regions, remains at pre-IRIS levels of about 20 km s{sup −1}. Thismore » invariance to spatial resolution indicates that the processes behind the broadening occur along the line-of-sight (LOS) and/or on spatial scales (perpendicular to the LOS) smaller than 250 km. Both effects appear to play a role. Comparison with IRIS chromospheric observations shows that, in regions where the LOS is more parallel to the field, magneto-acoustic shocks driven from below impact the TR and can lead to significant non-thermal line broadening. This scenario is supported by MHD simulations. While these do not show enough non-thermal line broadening, they do reproduce the long-known puzzling correlation between non-thermal line broadening and intensity. This correlation is caused by the shocks, but only if non-equilibrium ionization is taken into account. In regions where the LOS is more perpendicular to the field, the prevalence of small-scale twist is likely to play a significant role in explaining the invariance and correlation with intensity. (letters)« less

Manakins can produce iridescent and bright feather colours without melanosomes.

PubMed

Igic, Branislav; D'Alba, Liliana; Shawkey, Matthew D

2016-06-15

Males of many species often use colourful and conspicuous ornaments to attract females. Among these, male manakins (family: Pipridae) provide classic examples of sexual selection favouring the evolution of bright and colourful plumage coloration. The highly iridescent feather colours of birds are most commonly produced by the periodic arrangement of melanin-containing organelles (melanosomes) within barbules. Melanin increases the saturation of iridescent colours seen from optimal viewing angles by absorbing back-scattered light; however, this may reduce the wide-angle brightness of these signals, contributing to a dark background appearance. We examined the nanostructure of four manakin species (Lepidothrix isidorei, L. iris, L. nattereri and L. coeruleocapilla) to identify how they produce their bright plumage colours. Feather barbs of all four species were characterized by dense and fibrous internal spongy matrices that likely increase scattering of light within the barb. The iridescent, yet pale or whitish colours of L. iris and L. nattereri feathers were produced not by periodically arranged melanosomes within barbules, but by periodic matrices of air and β-keratin within barbs. Lepidothrix iris crown feathers were able to produce a dazzling display of colours with small shifts in viewing geometry, likely because of a periodic nanostructure, a flattened barb morphology and disorder at a microstructural level. We hypothesize that iridescent plumage ornaments of male L. iris and L. nattereri are under selection to increase brightness or luminance across wide viewing angles, which may potentially increase their detectability by females during dynamic and fast-paced courtship displays in dim light environments. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Tuberculosis immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in A5221 STRIDE: timing, severity, and implications for HIV-TB programs.

PubMed

Luetkemeyer, Anne F; Kendall, Michelle A; Nyirenda, Mulinda; Wu, Xingye; Ive, Prudence; Benson, Constance A; Andersen, Janet W; Swindells, Susan; Sanne, Ian M; Havlir, Diane V; Kumwenda, Johnstone

2014-04-01

Earlier initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in HIV-tuberculosis (TB) is associated with increased immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS). The severity, frequency, and complications of TB IRIS were evaluated in A5221, a randomized trial of earlier ART (within 2 weeks after TB treatment initiation) vs. later ART (8-12 weeks after TB treatment) in HIV-infected patients starting TB treatment. In 806 participants, TB IRIS was defined using published clinical criteria. Cases were classified as severe (hospitalization/death), moderate (corticosteroid use/invasive procedure), or mild (no hospitalization/procedures/steroids). Fisher exact, Wilcoxon, and log-rank tests were used for comparisons. TB IRIS occurred in 61 (7.6%) patients: 10.4% in earlier vs. 4.7% in later ART, 11.5% with CD4 <50 vs. 5.4% with CD4 ≥50 cells per cubic millimeter. The CD4/ART arm interaction was significant, P = 0.014, with 44.3% of TB IRIS occurring with CD4 <50 and earlier ART. TB IRIS occurred sooner with earlier vs. later ART initiation, at a median of 29 vs. 82 days after TB treatment initiation (P < 0.001). IRIS manifestations included lymphadenopathy (59.0%), constitutional symptoms (54.1%), and radiographic changes (41.0%); central nervous system TB IRIS was uncommon (6.6%). TB IRIS was mild in 27.9%, moderate in 41.0%, and severe in 31.1%. No TB IRIS-associated deaths occurred. IRIS management required ≥1 invasive procedures in 34.4%, hospitalization in 31.1%, and corticosteroids in 54.1%. TB IRIS was more frequent with earlier ART initiation and CD4 <50 cells per cubic millimeter. As ART is implemented earlier in HIV-TB coinfection, programs will require the diagnostic capabilities, clinical resources, and training necessary to manage TB IRIS.

Quantitative study of the microvasculature and its endothelial cells in the porcine iris.

PubMed

Yang, Hongfang; Yu, Paula K; Cringle, Stephen J; Sun, Xinghuai; Yu, Dao-Yi

2015-03-01

The roles of the iris microvasculature have been increasingly recognised in the pathogenesis of glaucoma and cataract; however limited information exists regarding the iris microvasculature and its endothelium. This study quantitatively assessed the iris microvascular network and its endothelium using intra-luminal micro-perfusion, fixation, and staining of the porcine iris. The temporal long posterior ciliary artery of 11 isolated porcine eyes was cannulated, perfusion-fixed and labelled using silver nitrate. The iris microvasculature was studied for its distribution, orders and endothelial morphometrics. The density of three layers of microvasculature was measured. Endothelial cell length and width were measured for each vessel order. The iris has an unusual vascular distribution which consisted of abundant large vessels in the middle of the iris stroma, branching over a relatively short distance to the microvasculature located in the superficial and deep stroma as well as the pupil edge. The average vascular density of the middle, superficial, and deep layers were 38.9 ± 1.93%, 10.9 ± 1.61% and 8.0 ± 0.79% respectively. Multiple orders of iris vessels (capillary, 6 orders of arteries, and 4 orders of veins) with relatively large capillary and input arteries (319.5 ± 25.6 μm) were found. Significant heterogeneity of vascular diameter and shape of the endothelia was revealed in different orders of the iris vasculature. Detailed information of topography and endothelium of the iris microvasculature combined with unique structural features of the iris may help us to further understand the physiological and pathogenic roles of the iris in relevant ocular diseases. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Lower Pre-Treatment T Cell Activation in Early- and Late-Onset Tuberculosis-Associated Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome

PubMed Central

Goovaerts, Odin; Jennes, Wim; Massinga-Loembé, Marguerite; Ondoa, Pascale; Ceulemans, Ann; Vereecken, Chris; Worodria, William; Mayanja-Kizza, Harriet; Colebunders, Robert; Kestens, Luc

2015-01-01

Background Tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) is an inflammatory complication in HIV-TB co-infected patients receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). The role of disturbed T cell reconstitution in TB-IRIS is not well understood. We investigated T cell activation and maturation profiles in patients who developed TB-IRIS at different intervals during ART. Methods Twenty-two HIV-TB patients who developed early-onset TB-IRIS and 10 who developed late-onset TB-IRIS were matched for age, sex and CD4 count to equal numbers of HIV-TB patients who did not develop TB-IRIS. Flow cytometry analysis was performed on fresh blood, drawn before and after ART initiation and during TB-IRIS events. T cell activation and maturation was measured on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells using CD45RO, CD38, HLA-DR, CCR7 and CD27 antibodies. Results CD8+ T cell activation before ART was decreased in both early-onset (77% vs. 82%, p = 0.014) and late-onset (71% vs. 83%, p = 0.012) TB-IRIS patients compared to non-IRIS controls. After ART initiation, the observed differences in T cell activation disappeared. During late-onset, but not early-onset TB-IRIS, we observed a skewing from memory to terminal effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cell populations (p≤0.028). Conclusion Our data provide evidence of reduced CD8+ T cell activation before ART as a common predisposing factor of early- and late-onset TB-IRIS. The occurrence of TB-IRIS itself was not marked by an over-activated CD8+ T cell compartment. Late- but not early-onset TB-IRIS was characterized by a more terminally differentiated T cell phenotype. PMID:26208109

Iris recognition and what is next? Iris diagnosis: a new challenging topic for machine vision from image acquisition to image interpretation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perner, Petra

2017-03-01

Molecular image-based techniques are widely used in medicine to detect specific diseases. Look diagnosis is an important issue but also the analysis of the eye plays an important role in order to detect specific diseases. These topics are important topics in medicine and the standardization of these topics by an automatic system can be a new challenging field for machine vision. Compared to iris recognition has the iris diagnosis much more higher demands for the image acquisition and interpretation of the iris. One understands by iris diagnosis (Iridology) the investigation and analysis of the colored part of the eye, the iris, to discover factors, which play an important role for the prevention and treatment of illnesses, but also for the preservation of an optimum health. An automatic system would pave the way for a much wider use of the iris diagnosis for the diagnosis of illnesses and for the purpose of individual health protection. With this paper, we describe our work towards an automatic iris diagnosis system. We describe the image acquisition and the problems with it. Different ways are explained for image acquisition and image preprocessing. We describe the image analysis method for the detection of the iris. The meta-model for image interpretation is given. Based on this model we show the many tasks for image analysis that range from different image-object feature analysis, spatial image analysis to color image analysis. Our first results for the recognition of the iris are given. We describe how detecting the pupil and not wanted lamp spots. We explain how to recognize orange blue spots in the iris and match them against the topological map of the iris. Finally, we give an outlook for further work.

The iris – a window into the genetics of common and rare eye diseases

PubMed Central

Morrison, Patrick J

2010-01-01

Visual examination, without instruments, of the eye allows inspection of the iris, sclera, cornea and, through the iris, some abnormalities of the lens and retina. Several hereditary disorders can easily be recognised by characteristic iris changes. This review discusses changes in the iris, visible lens anomalies, and changes in the cornea surrounding the iris. A genetic diagnosis can help with management of diseases. Some conditions are single gene disorders, some are chromosomal rearrangements, and some are abnormalities of fetal development. PMID:20844723

Glycogen synthase kinase 3β promotes liver innate immune activation by restraining AMP-activated protein kinase activation.

PubMed

Zhou, Haoming; Wang, Han; Ni, Ming; Yue, Shi; Xia, Yongxiang; Busuttil, Ronald W; Kupiec-Weglinski, Jerzy W; Lu, Ling; Wang, Xuehao; Zhai, Yuan

2018-07-01

Glycogen synthase kinase 3β (Gsk3β [Gsk3b]) is a ubiquitously expressed kinase with distinctive functions in different types of cells. Although its roles in regulating innate immune activation and ischaemia and reperfusion injuries (IRIs) have been well documented, the underlying mechanisms remain ambiguous, in part because of the lack of cell-specific tools in vivo. We created a myeloid-specific Gsk3b knockout (KO) strain to study the function of Gsk3β in macrophages in a murine liver partial warm ischaemia model. Compared with controls, myeloid Gsk3b KO mice were protected from IRI, with diminished proinflammatory but enhanced anti-inflammatory immune responses in livers. In bone marrow-derived macrophages, Gsk3β deficiency resulted in an early reduction of Tnf gene transcription but sustained increase of Il10 gene transcription on Toll-like receptor 4 stimulation in vitro. These effects were associated with enhanced AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) activation, which led to an accelerated and higher level of induction of the novel innate immune negative regulator small heterodimer partner (SHP [Nr0b2]). The regulatory function of Gsk3β on AMPK activation and SHP induction was confirmed in wild-type bone marrow-derived macrophages with a Gsk3 inhibitor. Furthermore, we found that this immune regulatory mechanism was independent of Gsk3β Ser9 phosphorylation and the phosphoinositide 3-kinase-Akt signalling pathway. In vivo, myeloid Gsk3β deficiency facilitated SHP upregulation by ischaemia-reperfusion in liver macrophages. Treatment of Gsk3b KO mice with either AMPK inhibitor or SHP small interfering RNA before the onset of liver ischaemia restored liver proinflammatory immune activation and IRI in these otherwise protected hosts. Additionally, pharmacological activation of AMPK protected wild-type mice from liver IRI, with reduced proinflammatory immune activation. Inhibition of the AMPK-SHP pathway by liver ischaemia was demonstrated in tumour resection patients. Gsk3β promotes innate proinflammatory immune activation by restraining AMPK activation. Glycogen synthase kinase 3β promotes macrophage inflammatory activation by inhibiting the immune regulatory signalling of AMP-activated protein kinase and the induction of small heterodimer partner. Therefore, therapeutic targeting of glycogen synthase kinase 3β enhances innate immune regulation and protects liver from ischaemia and reperfusion injury. Copyright © 2018 European Association for the Study of the Liver. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Iris Freckles a Potential Biomarker for Chronic Sun Damage.

PubMed

Schwab, Christoph; Mayer, Christoph; Zalaudek, Iris; Riedl, Regina; Richtig, Markus; Wackernagel, Werner; Hofmann-Wellenhof, Rainer; Richtig, Georg; Langmann, Gerald; Tarmann, Lisa; Wedrich, Andreas; Richtig, Erika

2017-05-01

To investigate the role of sunlight exposure in iris freckles formation. We prospectively examined volunteers attending a skin cancer screening program conducted by ophthalmologists and dermatologists. Frequency and topographical variability of iris freckles were noted and associated with behavioral and dermatologic characteristics indicating high sun exposure. Six hundred thirty-two participants (n = 360; 57% female) were examined. Mean age of all participants was 38.4 ± 18.4 years (range, 4-84 years). Of all individuals, 76.1% (n = 481) exhibited at least one iris freckle. Most freckles were observed in the inferior temporal quadrant. The presence of iris freckles was associated with higher age (participants with iris freckles: 41.8 ± 16.8 years versus participants without iris freckles: 27.6 ± 19.2 years), a high number of sunburns during lifetime (>10: 31% vs. 19%), sunlight-damaged skin (26% vs. 11%), presence of actinic lentigines (72% vs. 45%), and a high total nevus body count (>10; 78% vs. 67%). The association of iris freckles, behavioral factors, and dermatologic findings, as well as the topographical distribution, indicate that sunlight exposure may trigger the formation of iris freckles. The evaluation of iris freckles offers an easily accessible potential biomarker, which might be helpful in indicating sun damage on the skin associated with cutaneous malignancies. Furthermore, the evaluation of iris freckles could also be helpful in understanding the role of sunlight in several ophthalmologic diseases.

Morphological Alterations Within the Peripheral Fixation of the Iris Dilator Muscle in Eyes With Pigmentary Glaucoma

PubMed Central

Flügel-Koch, Cassandra M.; Tektas, Ozan Y.; Kaufman, Paul L.; Paulsen, Friedrich P.; Lütjen-Drecoll, Elke

2014-01-01

Purpose. To analyze the peripheral fixation of the iris dilator muscle in normal eyes and in eyes with pigmentary glaucoma (PG). Methods. Using 63 control eyes (age 18 months–99 years), the peripheral iris dilator was investigated by light microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and electron microscopy. Development was studied using 18 differently aged fetal eyes stained immunohistochemically against α-smooth muscle (SM) actin. The peripheral iris dilator muscle in PG was analyzed using semithin and ultrathin sections of six glutaraldehyde-fixed eyes from three donors aged 38, 62, and 74 years. Results. In normal eyes, the peripheral end of the iris dilator muscle is arranged in a sphincter-like manner. Arcade-shaped tendinous connections associated with myofibroblasts (iridial strands) anchor the iris dilator within the elastic–fibromuscular ciliary meshwork that also serves as fixation area for the elastic tendons of the inner ciliary muscle portions. The iridial strands are innervated and can adapt their length during accommodation. The PG eyes show incomplete circular bundles and iridial strands that are mainly anchored to the iris stroma and the flexible uveal parts of the trabecular meshwork. Conclusions. The normal anchorage of the peripheral iris dilator and its presumably neuronally regulated length adaptation stabilize the peripheral iris during accommodation. Insufficient fixation in PG could promote posterior bowing of the iris with rubbing against the zonular fibers and pigment liberation from the iris pigmented epithelium. PMID:24938519

The voices of Iris: Cinematic representations of the aged woman and Alzheimer's disease in Iris (2001).

PubMed

Graham, Megan E

2016-09-01

Audiences must be critical of film representations of the aged woman living with Alzheimer's disease and of dangerous reinscriptions of stereotypical equations about ageing as deterioration. This paper analyses the representation and decline of the aged woman through the different voices of Iris Murdoch in Richard Eyre's film Iris (2001). Key vocal scenes are considered: On-screen encounters between young and aged Iris, vocal representations of dementia symptoms and silencing Iris as her disease progresses. Further, Iris' recurrent unaccompanied song, "The Lark in the Clear Air," compels audiences to "see" Iris with their ears more than with their eyes, exemplifying the representational power of sound in film. This paper is an appeal for increased debate about sonic representations of aged women, ageing and Alzheimer's disease and dementia in film. The significance of audiences' critical awareness and understanding about the social implications of these representations is discussed. © The Author(s) 2014.

Iris Segmentation and Normalization Algorithm Based on Zigzag Collarette

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rizky Faundra, M.; Ratna Sulistyaningrum, Dwi

2017-01-01

In this paper, we proposed iris segmentation and normalization algorithm based on the zigzag collarette. First of all, iris images are processed by using Canny Edge Detection to detect pupil edge, then finding the center and the radius of the pupil with the Hough Transform Circle. Next, isolate important part in iris based zigzag collarette area. Finally, Daugman Rubber Sheet Model applied to get the fixed dimensions or normalization iris by transforming cartesian into polar format and thresholding technique to remove eyelid and eyelash. This experiment will be conducted with a grayscale eye image data taken from a database of iris-Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Automation (CASIA). Data iris taken is the data reliable and widely used to study the iris biometrics. The result show that specific threshold level is 0.3 have better accuracy than other, so the present algorithm can be used to segmentation and normalization zigzag collarette with accuracy is 98.88%

Iris metastasis of gastric adenocarcinoma.

PubMed

Celebi, Ali Riza Cenk; Kilavuzoglu, Ayse Ebru; Altiparmak, U Emrah; Cosar, C Banu; Ozkiris, Abdullah

2016-03-08

Iris metastasis in patients with gastric cancer is extremely rare. Herein, it is aimed to report on a patient with gastric adenocarcinoma and iris metastasis. A 65-year-old patient with the history of gastric cancer was admitted for eye pain and eye redness on his left eye. There was ciliary injection, severe +4 cells with hypopyon in the anterior chamber and a solitary, friable, yellow-white, fleshy-creamy vascularized 2 mm × 4 mm mass on the upper nasal part of the iris within the left eye. The presented patient's mass lesion in the iris fulfilled the criteria of the metastatic iris lesion's appearance. The ocular metastasis occurred during chemotherapy. Iris metastasis can masquerade as iridocyclitis with pseudohypopyon or glaucoma. In patients with a history of gastric cancer that present with an iris mass, uveitis, and high intraocular pressure, ocular metastasis of gastric cancer should be a consideration.

HyspIRI High-Temperature Saturation Study

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Realmuto, V.; Hook, S.; Foote, M.; Csiszar, I.; Dennison, P.; Giglio, L.; Ramsey, M.; Vaughan, R.G.; Wooster, M.; Wright, R.

2011-01-01

As part of the precursor activities for the HyspIRI mission, a small team was assembled to determine the optimum saturation level for the mid-infrared (4-?m) channel, which is dedicated to the measurement of hot targets. Examples of hot targets include wildland fires and active lava flows. This determination took into account both the temperature expected for the natural phenomena and the expected performance of the mid-infrared channel as well as its overlap with the other channels in the thermal infrared (7.5-12 ?m) designed to measure the temperature of lower temperature targets. Based on this work, the hot target saturation group recommends a saturation temperature of 1200 K for the mid-infrared channel. The saturation temperature of 1200 K represents a good compromise between the prevention of saturation and sensitivity to ambient temperature.

First-Year Students' Priorities and Choices in STEM Studies--IRIS Findings from Germany and Austria

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elster, D.

2014-01-01

IRIS (Interests and Recruitment in Science; http://iris.fp-7.org/about-iris/) is a European 7th framework project focusing on the challenge that only few young people in general, and women in particular, choose an education and career in science and technology. Project IRIS aims to contribute to the improvement of recruitment, retention and gender…

Comparison of GPS derived TEC with the TEC predicted by IRI 2012 model in the southern Equatorial Ionization Anomaly crest within the Eastern Africa region

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sulungu, Emmanuel D.; Uiso, Christian B. S.; Sibanda, Patrick

2018-04-01

We have compared the TEC obtained from the IRI-2012 model with the GPS derived TEC data recorded within southern crest of the EIA in the Eastern Africa region using the monthly means of the 5 international quiet days for equinoxes and solstices months for the period of 2012 - 2013. GPS-derived TEC data have been obtained from the Africa array and IGS network of ground based dual-frequency GPS receivers from four stations (Kigali (1.95°S, 30.09°E; Geom. Lat. 11.63°S), Malindi (2.99°S, 40.19°E; Geom. Lat. 12.42°S), Mbarara (0.60°S, 30.74°E; Geom. Lat. 10.22°S) and Nairobi (1.22°S, 36.89°E; Geom. Lat. 10.69°S)) located within the EIA crest in this region. All the three options for topside Ne of IRI-2012 model and ABT-2009 for bottomside thickness have been used to compute the IRI TEC. Also URSI coefficients were considered in this study. These results are compared with the TEC estimated from GPS measurements. Correlation Coefficients between the two sets of data, the Root-Mean Square Errors (RMSE) of the IRI-TEC from the GPS-TEC, and the percentage RMSE of the IRI-TEC from the GPS-TEC have been computed. Our general results show that IRI-2012 model with all three options overestimates the GPS-TEC for all seasons and at all stations, and IRI-2001 overestimates GPS-TEC more compared with other options. IRI-Neq and IRI-01-corr are closely matching in most of the time. The observation also shows that, GPS TEC are underestimated by TEC from IRI model during noon hours, especially during equinoctial months. Further, GPS-TEC values and IRI-TEC values using all the three topside Ne options show very good correlation (above 0.8). On the other hand, the TEC using IRI-Neq and IRI-01- corr had smaller deviations from the GPS-TEC compared to the IRI-2001.

PLATEAU IRIS--DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT.

PubMed

Stefan, Cornel; Iliescu, Daniela Adriana; Batras, Mehdi; Timaru, Cristina Mihaela; De Simone, Algerino

2015-01-01

The objective of our study was to review the current knowledge on the diagnosis and treatment options of plateau iris configuration and syndrome. Relevant publications on plateau iris that were published until 2014. Plateau iris syndrome is a form of primary angle closure glaucoma caused by a large or anteriorly positioned ciliary body that leads to mechanical obstruction of trabecular meshwork. This condition is most often found in younger patients. Plateau iris has been considered an abnormal anatomic variant of the iris that can be diagnosed on ultrasound biomicroscopy or optical coherence tomography of anterior segment. Patients with plateau iris syndrome can be recognized by the lack of response in angle opening after iridotomy. The treatment of choice in these cases is argon laser peripheral iridoplasty.

Multicenter evaluation of a synthetic single-crystal diamond detector for CyberKnife small field size output factors.

PubMed

Russo, Serenella; Masi, Laura; Francescon, Paolo; Frassanito, Maria Cristina; Fumagalli, Maria Luisa; Marinelli, Marco; Falco, Maria Daniela; Martinotti, Anna Stefania; Pimpinella, Maria; Reggiori, Giacomo; Verona Rinati, Gianluca; Vigorito, Sabrina; Mancosu, Pietro

2016-04-01

The aim of the present work was to evaluate small field size output factors (OFs) using the latest diamond detector commercially available, PTW-60019 microDiamond, over different CyberKnife systems. OFs were measured also by silicon detectors routinely used by each center, considered as reference. Five Italian CyberKnife centers performed OFs measurements for field sizes ranging from 5 to 60mm, defined by fixed circular collimators (5 centers) and by Iris(™) variable aperture collimator (4 centers). Setup conditions were: 80cm source to detector distance, and 1.5cm depth in water. To speed up measurements two diamond detectors were used and their equivalence was evaluated. MonteCarlo (MC) correction factors for silicon detectors were used for comparing the OF measurements. Considering OFs values averaged over all centers, diamond data resulted lower than uncorrected silicon diode ones. The agreement between diamond and MC corrected silicon values was within 0.6% for all fixed circular collimators. Relative differences between microDiamond and MC corrected silicon diodes data for Iris(™) collimator were lower than 1.0% for all apertures in the totality of centers. The two microDiamond detectors showed similar characteristics, in agreement with the technical specifications. Excellent agreement between microDiamond and MC corrected silicon diode detectors OFs was obtained for both collimation systems fixed cones and Iris(™), demonstrating the microDiamond could be a suitable detector for CyberKnife commissioning and routine checks. These results obtained in five centers suggest that for CyberKnife systems microDiamond can be used without corrections even at the smallest field size. Copyright © 2016 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Technical issues for the eye image database creation at distance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Oropesa Morales, Lester Arturo; Maldonado Cano, Luis Alejandro; Soto Aldaco, Andrea; García Vázquez, Mireya Saraí; Zamudio Fuentes, Luis Miguel; Rodríguez Vázquez, Manuel Antonio; Pérez Rosas, Osvaldo Gerardo; Rodríguez Espejo, Luis; Montoya Obeso, Abraham; Ramírez Acosta, Alejandro Álvaro

2016-09-01

Biometrics refers to identify people through their physical characteristics or behavior such as fingerprints, face, DNA, hand geometries, retina and iris patterns. Typically, the iris pattern is to acquire in short distance to recognize a person, however, in the past few years is a challenge identify a person by its iris pattern at certain distance in non-cooperative environments. This challenge comprises: 1) high quality iris image, 2) light variation, 3) blur reduction, 4) specular reflections reduction, 5) the distance from the acquisition system to the user, and 6) standardize the iris size and the density pixel of iris texture. The solution of the challenge will add robustness and enhance the iris recognition rates. For this reason, we describe the technical issues that must be considered during iris acquisition. Some of these considerations are the camera sensor, lens, the math analysis of depth of field (DOF) and field of view (FOV) for iris recognition. Finally, based on this issues we present experiment that show the result of captures obtained with our camera at distance and captures obtained with cameras in very short distance.

[Implantation of an Artificial Iris in 11 Patients].

PubMed

Kniestedt, C; Eberhard, R; Fleischhauer, J

2016-04-01

Background. Iris defects are mostly acquired after injury, or may be iatrogenic after surgical excision of iris tumours or the result of collateral trauma after anterior segment surgery. They cause severe visual disability, e.g. glare, loss of contrast sensitivity, and loss of best corrected visual acuity. The foldable Koch iris prosthesis has a customised iris design and may be used to reconstruct the anterior segment in patients with partial or complete aniridia. History and Signs. We present the surgical management and clinical course of 6 patients with traumatic iris defects, together with 3 patients with partial aniridia after cataract surgery. Cataract surgery and implantation of an artificial iris were performed in 2 female patients (3 eyes) with congenital aniridia syndrome. Therapy and Outcome. No patient exhibited complications in the postoperative course, with the exception of various intraocular pressure peaks due to secondary glaucoma, that were all corrected by medication to lower topical pressure. Conclusions. In patients with major iris defects, the artificial iris allows functionally and aesthetically satisfactory reconstruction of the anterior segment. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

Feature Vector Construction Method for IRIS Recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Odinokikh, G.; Fartukov, A.; Korobkin, M.; Yoo, J.

2017-05-01

One of the basic stages of iris recognition pipeline is iris feature vector construction procedure. The procedure represents the extraction of iris texture information relevant to its subsequent comparison. Thorough investigation of feature vectors obtained from iris showed that not all the vector elements are equally relevant. There are two characteristics which determine the vector element utility: fragility and discriminability. Conventional iris feature extraction methods consider the concept of fragility as the feature vector instability without respect to the nature of such instability appearance. This work separates sources of the instability into natural and encodinginduced which helps deeply investigate each source of instability independently. According to the separation concept, a novel approach of iris feature vector construction is proposed. The approach consists of two steps: iris feature extraction using Gabor filtering with optimal parameters and quantization with separated preliminary optimized fragility thresholds. The proposed method has been tested on two different datasets of iris images captured under changing environmental conditions. The testing results show that the proposed method surpasses all the methods considered as a prior art by recognition accuracy on both datasets.

Multi-Patches IRIS Based Person Authentication System Using Particle Swarm Optimization and Fuzzy C-Means Clustering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shekar, B. H.; Bhat, S. S.

2017-05-01

Locating the boundary parameters of pupil and iris and segmenting the noise free iris portion are the most challenging phases of an automated iris recognition system. In this paper, we have presented person authentication frame work which uses particle swarm optimization (PSO) to locate iris region and circular hough transform (CHT) to device the boundary parameters. To undermine the effect of the noise presented in the segmented iris region we have divided the candidate region into N patches and used Fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) to classify the patches into best iris region and not so best iris region (noisy region) based on the probability density function of each patch. Weighted mean Hammimng distance is adopted to find the dissimilarity score between the two candidate irises. We have used Log-Gabor, Riesz and Taylor's series expansion (TSE) filters and combinations of these three for iris feature extraction. To justify the feasibility of the proposed method, we experimented on the three publicly available data sets IITD, MMU v-2 and CASIA v-4 distance.

IRiS: construction of ARG networks at genomic scales.

PubMed

Javed, Asif; Pybus, Marc; Melé, Marta; Utro, Filippo; Bertranpetit, Jaume; Calafell, Francesc; Parida, Laxmi

2011-09-01

Given a set of extant haplotypes IRiS first detects high confidence recombination events in their shared genealogy. Next using the local sequence topology defined by each detected event, it integrates these recombinations into an ancestral recombination graph. While the current system has been calibrated for human population data, it is easily extendible to other species as well. IRiS (Identification of Recombinations in Sequences) binary files are available for non-commercial use in both Linux and Microsoft Windows, 32 and 64 bit environments from https://researcher.ibm.com/researcher/view_project.php?id = 2303 parida@us.ibm.com.

A new approach for cancelable iris recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Kai; Sui, Yan; Zhou, Zhi; Du, Yingzi; Zou, Xukai

2010-04-01

The iris is a stable and reliable biometric for positive human identification. However, the traditional iris recognition scheme raises several privacy concerns. One's iris pattern is permanently bound with him and cannot be changed. Hence, once it is stolen, this biometric is lost forever as well as all the applications where this biometric is used. Thus, new methods are desirable to secure the original pattern and ensure its revocability and alternatives when compromised. In this paper, we propose a novel scheme which incorporates iris features, non-invertible transformation and data encryption to achieve "cancelability" and at the same time increases iris recognition accuracy.

Iris indexing based on local intensity order pattern

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Emerich, Simina; Malutan, Raul; Crisan, Septimiu; Lefkovits, Laszlo

2017-03-01

In recent years, iris biometric systems have increased in popularity and have been proven that are capable of handling large-scale databases. The main advantage of these systems is accuracy and reliability. A proper iris patterns classification is expected to reduce the matching time in huge databases. This paper presents an iris indexing technique based on Local Intensity Order Pattern. The performance of the present approach is evaluated on UPOL database and is compared with other recent systems designed for iris indexing. The results illustrate the potential of the proposed method for large scale iris identification.

Iris recognition based on key image feature extraction.

PubMed

Ren, X; Tian, Q; Zhang, J; Wu, S; Zeng, Y

2008-01-01

In iris recognition, feature extraction can be influenced by factors such as illumination and contrast, and thus the features extracted may be unreliable, which can cause a high rate of false results in iris pattern recognition. In order to obtain stable features, an algorithm was proposed in this paper to extract key features of a pattern from multiple images. The proposed algorithm built an iris feature template by extracting key features and performed iris identity enrolment. Simulation results showed that the selected key features have high recognition accuracy on the CASIA Iris Set, where both contrast and illumination variance exist.

Limbus Impact on Off-angle Iris Degradation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karakaya, Mahmut; Barstow, Del R; Santos-Villalobos, Hector J

The accuracy of iris recognition depends on the quality of data capture and is negatively affected by several factors such as angle, occlusion, and dilation. Off-angle iris recognition is a new research focus in biometrics that tries to address several issues including corneal refraction, complex 3D iris texture, and blur. In this paper, we present an additional significant challenge that degrades the performance of the off-angle iris recognition systems, called the limbus effect . The limbus is the region at the border of the cornea where the cornea joins the sclera. The limbus is a semitransparent tissue that occludes amore » side portion of the iris plane. The amount of occluded iris texture on the side nearest the camera increases as the image acquisition angle increases. Without considering the role of the limbus effect, it is difficult to design an accurate off-angle iris recognition system. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that investigates the limbus effect in detail from a biometrics perspective. Based on results from real images and simulated experiments with real iris texture, the limbus effect increases the hamming distance score between frontal and off-angle iris images ranging from 0.05 to 0.2 depending upon the limbus height.« less

The Priority of Road Rehabilitation in Karanganyar Regency Using IRI Estimation from Roadroid

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Achmadi, F.; Suprapto, M.; Setyawan, A.

2017-02-01

The IRI (International Roughness Index) is a road roughness index commonly obtained from measured longitudinal road profiles. This is one of the functional performance a surface of road pavement. Therefore, needs to be done evaluation and monitoring periodically to getting priority of road rehabilitation right on target. The IRI standard has commonly been used worldwide for evaluating road system. The Roadroid is an application to measure road quality with a website to view road quality. It is designed for Android smartphones, so we can easily measure and monitor the road and also use the camera for GPS-tagged photo. By using the built-in vibration sensor in smartphones, it is possible to collect IRI value which can be an indicator road conditions. This study attempts to explain the priority of road rehabilitation in Karanganyar Regency. The location of the study focused on a collector street (primary, secondary and locally road). The result of IRI estimation will be combined with other aspects that influences; land use, policy, the connectivity of road and traffic average daily. Based on IRI estimation using Roadroid, the road conditions in Karanganyar Regency can be described 59,60% were good (IRI<4,5) 21,30% fair (4,512).

Simultaneous observations of Ellerman bombs by NST and IRIS

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Y. H.; Yurchyshyn, V.; Cho, I. H.; Lee, J.; Park, Y. D.; Yang, H.; Ahn, K.; Goode, P.

2015-12-01

In this study, we present the simultaneous observations of Ellerman bombs made by New Solar Telescope (NST) of Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO) and Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) in space. The data obtained during joint NST-IRIS observations on 30 and 31 in July 2014. We observed two representative events on both days. The first one was a relatively weak Ellerman bomb occurred around 19:20 UT on 30 July 2014. IRIS observed this event by sit-and-stare mode thus we analyzed high cadence spectral data and slit-jaw data simultaneously. We found that this event was a hot explosion that occurred by magnetic reconnection in the lower atmosphere of the Sun. The second event was quite strong Ellerman bomb (20:20 UT on 31 July 2014) that is well observed by NST FISS (Fast Imaging Solar Spectrograph), while there was no IRIS spectral data. We had IRIS slit-jaw data only. The Ellerman bomb was clearly coincident with the IRIS brightening at the same location. Since the Ellerman bombs are usually believed to occur in the photosphere with no coronal emission, it should be explained its higher atmospheric emission in IRIS data. We will present the result of simultaneous observations by IRIS and NST instruments and discuss physical connection between Ellerman bombs and IRIS brightenings.

A novel in vivo model of puncture-induced iris neovascularization

PubMed Central

Aronsson, Monica; Kvanta, Anders

2017-01-01

Purpose To assess iris neovascularization by uveal puncture of the mouse eye and determine the role of angiogenic factors during iris neovascularization. Methods Uveal punctures were performed on BalbC mouse eyes to induce iris angiogenesis. VEGF-blockage was used as an anti-angiogenic treatment, while normoxia- and hypoxia-conditioned media from retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells was used as an angiogenic-inducer in this model. Iris vasculature was determined in vivo by noninvasive methods. Iris blood vessels were stained for platelet endothelial cell adhesion molecule-1 and vascular sprouts were counted as markers of angiogenesis. Expression of angiogenic and inflammatory factors in the puncture-induced model were determined by qPCR and western blot. Results Punctures led to increased neovascularization and sprouting of the iris. qPCR and protein analysis showed an increase of angiogenic factors, particularly in the plasminogen-activating receptor and inflammatory systems. VEGF-blockage partly reduced iris neovascularization, and treatment with hypoxia-conditioned RPE medium led to a statistically significant increase in iris neovascularization. Conclusions This study presents the first evidence of a puncture-induced iris angiogenesis model in the mouse. In a broader context, this novel in vivo model of neovascularization has the potential for noninvasive evaluation of angiogenesis modulating substances. PMID:28658313

Iris recognition as a biometric method after cataract surgery

PubMed Central

Roizenblatt, Roberto; Schor, Paulo; Dante, Fabio; Roizenblatt, Jaime; Belfort, Rubens

2004-01-01

Background Biometric methods are security technologies, which use human characteristics for personal identification. Iris recognition systems use iris textures as unique identifiers. This paper presents an analysis of the verification of iris identities after intra-ocular procedures, when individuals were enrolled before the surgery. Methods Fifty-five eyes from fifty-five patients had their irises enrolled before a cataract surgery was performed. They had their irises verified three times before and three times after the procedure, and the Hamming (mathematical) distance of each identification trial was determined, in a controlled ideal biometric environment. The mathematical difference between the iris code before and after the surgery was also compared to a subjective evaluation of the iris anatomy alteration by an experienced surgeon. Results A correlation between visible subjective iris texture alteration and mathematical difference was verified. We found only six cases in which the eye was no more recognizable, but these eyes were later reenrolled. The main anatomical changes that were found in the new impostor eyes are described. Conclusions Cataract surgeries change iris textures in such a way that iris recognition systems, which perform mathematical comparisons of textural biometric features, are able to detect these changes and sometimes even discard a pre-enrolled iris considering it an impostor. In our study, re-enrollment proved to be a feasible procedure. PMID:14748929

Iris recognition as a biometric method after cataract surgery.

PubMed

Roizenblatt, Roberto; Schor, Paulo; Dante, Fabio; Roizenblatt, Jaime; Belfort, Rubens

2004-01-28

Biometric methods are security technologies, which use human characteristics for personal identification. Iris recognition systems use iris textures as unique identifiers. This paper presents an analysis of the verification of iris identities after intra-ocular procedures, when individuals were enrolled before the surgery. Fifty-five eyes from fifty-five patients had their irises enrolled before a cataract surgery was performed. They had their irises verified three times before and three times after the procedure, and the Hamming (mathematical) distance of each identification trial was determined, in a controlled ideal biometric environment. The mathematical difference between the iris code before and after the surgery was also compared to a subjective evaluation of the iris anatomy alteration by an experienced surgeon. A correlation between visible subjective iris texture alteration and mathematical difference was verified. We found only six cases in which the eye was no more recognizable, but these eyes were later reenrolled. The main anatomical changes that were found in the new impostor eyes are described. Cataract surgeries change iris textures in such a way that iris recognition systems, which perform mathematical comparisons of textural biometric features, are able to detect these changes and sometimes even discard a pre-enrolled iris considering it an impostor. In our study, re-enrollment proved to be a feasible procedure.

Role of LTA4H Polymorphism in Tuberculosis-Associated Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome Occurrence and Clinical Severity in Patients Infected with HIV.

PubMed

Narendran, Gopalan; Kavitha, Dhanasekaran; Karunaianantham, Ramesh; Gil-Santana, Leonardo; Almeida-Junior, Jilson L; Reddy, Sirasanambatti Devarajulu; Kumar, Marimuthu Makesh; Hemalatha, Haribabu; Jayanthi, Nagesh Nalini; Ravichandran, Narayanan; Krishnaraja, Raja; Prabhakar, Angamuthu; Manoharan, Tamizhselvan; Nithyananthan, Lokeswaran; Arjunan, Gunasundari; Natrajan, Mohan; Swaminathan, Soumya; Andrade, Bruno B

2016-01-01

Paradoxical tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) is an inflammatory phenomenon complicating HIV management in coincidental tuberculosis (TB) infection, upon immune reconstitution driven by antiretroviral therapy (ART). Leukotriene A4 hydroxylase (LTA4H), an enzyme which converts LTA4 to LTB4, regulates the balance between the anti-inflammatory lipoxins and pro-inflammatory LTB4, with direct implications in TB-driven inflammation. In humans, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the LTA4H promoter which regulates its transcriptional activity (rs17525495) has been identified and described to impact clinical severity of TB presentation and response to corticosteroid therapy. Notably, the role of LTA4H on TB-IRIS has not been previously evaluated. Here, we performed an exploratory investigation testing the association of LTA4H polymorphism with respect to frequency of TB-IRIS occurrence and severity of TB-IRIS presentation in HIV-TB co-infected individuals. Genotypic evaluation of the LTA4H enzyme from available samples was retrospectively correlated with clinical data captured in case sheets including IRIS details. The cohort included patients recruited from a prospective cohort study nested within a randomized clinical trial (NCT0933790) of ART-naïve HIV+ patients with newly diagnosed rifampicin sensitive pulmonary TB in South India. Frequency of the wild type genotype (CC), as well as of the mutant genotypes (CT or TT) in the IRIS and non-IRIS patients was estimated. Comparative analyses were performed between wild genotype (CC) and the mutant genotypes (CT or TT) and tested for association between the LTA4H polymorphisms and IRIS incidence and clinical severity. A total of 142 eligible ART-naïve patients were included in the analyses. Eighty-six individuals exhibited the wild genotype (CC) while 56 had mutant genotypes (43-CT and only 13-TT). Variant allele frequency was 0.23 and 0.26 in non-IRIS group and in IRIS group, respectively. Upon ART initiation, 51 patients developed IRIS while 91 did not. IRIS incidence was 34% and 37% in the wild (CC) and mutant type (CT/TT), respectively (p = 0.858) with a higher frequency of severe IRIS presentation in the mutant genotype group compared to the wild type genotype (p = 0.0006). A logistic regression model confirmed the association between the presence of CT/TT genotypes and occurrence of severe IRIS. Corticosteroid therapy successfully resolved IRIS in all cases irrespective of the LTA4H genotype. A higher incidence of severe IRIS among patients with mutant LTA4H genotypes (CT and TT) was observed compared to the wild type, despite similar IRIS incidence and immune restoration in both groups. Steroids were effective in alleviating IRIS in all the genotypes.

The role of BRCA1-IRIS in the development and progression of triple negative breast cancers in Egypt: possible link to disease early lesion.

PubMed

Bogan, Danielle; Meile, Lucio; El Bastawisy, Ahmed; Yousef, Hend F; Zekri, Abdel-Rahman N; Bahnassy, Abeer A; ElShamy, Wael M

2017-05-12

Breast cancer is the most globally diagnosed female cancer, with the triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) being the most aggressive subtype of the disease. In this study we aimed at comparing the effect of BRCA1-IRIS overexpression on the clinico-pathological characteristics in breast cancer patients with TNBC or non-TNBC in the largest comprehensive cancer center in Egypt. To reach this goal, we conducted an observational study at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), Cairo University (Cairo, Egypt). The data on all diagnosed breast cancer patients, between 2009 and 2012, were reviewed. BRCA1-IRIS expression measured using real time RT/PCR in these patients' tumor samples was correlated to tumor characteristics, such as to clinico-pathological features, therapeutic responses, and survival outcomes. 96 patients were enrolled and of these 45% were TNBC, and 55% were of other subtypes (hereafter, non-TNBC). All patients presented with invasive ductal carcinomas. No significant difference was observed for risk factors, such as age and menopausal status between the TNBC and the non-TNBC groups except after BRCA1-IRIS expression was factored in. The majority of the tumors in both groups were ≤5 cm at surgery (p = 0.013). However, in the TNBC group, ≤5 cm tumors were BRCA1-IRIS-overexpressing, whereas in the non-TNBC group they were BRCA1-IRIS-negative (p = 0.00007). Most of the TNBC patients diagnosed with grade 1 or 2 were BRCA1-IRIS-overexpressing, whereas non-TNBCs were IRIS-negative (p = 0.00035). No statistical significance was measured in patients diagnosed with grade 3 tumors. Statistically significant difference between TNBCs and non-TNBCs and tumor stage with regard to BRCA1-IRIS-overexpression was observed. Presence of axillary lymph node metastases was positively associated with BRCA1-IRIS overexpression in TNBC group, and with BRCA1-IRIS-negative status in the non-TNBC group (p = 0.00009). Relapse after chemotherapy (p < 0.00001), and local recurrence/distant metastasis after surgery (p = 0.0028) were more pronounced in TNBC patients with BRCA1-IRIS-overexpressing tumors compared to non-TNBC patients. Finally, decreased disease-free survival in TNBC/BRCA1-IRIS-overexpressing patients compared to TNBC/BRCA1-IRIS-negative patients, and decreased overall survival in TNBC as well as non-TNBC patients was driven by BRCA1-IRIS overexpression. TNBC/BRCA1-IRIS-overexpressing tumors are more aggressive than TNBC/BRCA1-IRIS-negative or non-TNBC/BRCA1-IRIS-overexpressing or both negative tumors. Further studies are warranted to define whether BRCA1-IRIS drives the early TNBC lesions growth and dissemination and whether it could be used as a diagnostic biomarker and/or therapeutic target for these lesions at an early stage setting.

Highly sensitive and multiplexed platforms for allergy diagnostics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Monroe, Margo R.

Allergy is a disorder of the immune system caused by an immune response to otherwise harmless environmental allergens. Currently 20% of the US population is allergic and 90% of pediatric patients and 60% of adult patients with asthma have allergies. These percentages have increased by 18.5% in the past decade, with predicted similar trends for the future. Here we design sensitive, multiplexed platforms to detect allergen-specific IgE using the Interferometric Reflectance Imaging Sensor (IRIS) for various clinical settings. A microarray platform for allergy diagnosis allows for testing of specific IgE sensitivity to a multitude of allergens, while requiring only small volumes of patient blood sample. However, conventional fluorescent microarray technology is limited by i) the variation of probe immobilization, which hinders the ability to make quantitative, assertive, and statistically relevant conclusions necessary in immunodiagnostics and ii) the use of fluorophore labels, which is not suitable for some clinical applications due to the tendency of fluorophores to stick to blood particulates and require daily calibration methods. This calibrated fluorescence enhancement (CaFE) method integrates the low magnification modality of IRIS with enhanced fluorescence sensing in order to directly correlate immobilized probe (major allergens) density to allergen-specific IgE in patient serum. However, this platform only operates in processed serum samples, which is not ideal for point of care testing. Thus, a high magnification modality of IRIS was adapted as an alternative allergy diagnostic platform to automatically discriminate and size single nanoparticles bound to specific IgE in unprocessed, characterized human blood and serum samples. These features make IRIS an ideal candidate for clinical and diagnostic applications, such a POC testing. The high magnification (nanoparticle counting) modality in conjunction with low magnification of IRIS in a combined instrument offers four significant advantages compared to existing sensing technologies: IRIS i) corrects for any variation in probe immobilization, ii) detects proteins from attomolar to nanomolar concentrations in unprocessed biological samples, iii) unambiguously discriminates nanoparticles tags on a robust and physically large sensor area, iv) detects protein targets with conjugated nanoparticle tags (~40nm diameter), which minimally affect assay kinetics compared to conventional microparticle tagging methods, and v) utilizes components that make the instrument inexpensive, robust, and portable. This platform was successfully validated on patient serum and whole blood samples with documented allergy profiles (ImmunoCAPRTM, ThermoFisher Scientific).

Morphological alterations within the peripheral fixation of the iris dilator muscle in eyes with pigmentary glaucoma.

PubMed

Flügel-Koch, Cassandra M; Tektas, Ozan Y; Kaufman, Paul L; Paulsen, Friedrich P; Lütjen-Drecoll, Elke

2014-06-17

To analyze the peripheral fixation of the iris dilator muscle in normal eyes and in eyes with pigmentary glaucoma (PG). Using 63 control eyes (age 18 months-99 years), the peripheral iris dilator was investigated by light microscopy, immunohistochemistry, and electron microscopy. Development was studied using 18 differently aged fetal eyes stained immunohistochemically against α-smooth muscle (SM) actin. The peripheral iris dilator muscle in PG was analyzed using semithin and ultrathin sections of six glutaraldehyde-fixed eyes from three donors aged 38, 62, and 74 years. In normal eyes, the peripheral end of the iris dilator muscle is arranged in a sphincter-like manner. Arcade-shaped tendinous connections associated with myofibroblasts (iridial strands) anchor the iris dilator within the elastic-fibromuscular ciliary meshwork that also serves as fixation area for the elastic tendons of the inner ciliary muscle portions. The iridial strands are innervated and can adapt their length during accommodation. The PG eyes show incomplete circular bundles and iridial strands that are mainly anchored to the iris stroma and the flexible uveal parts of the trabecular meshwork. The normal anchorage of the peripheral iris dilator and its presumably neuronally regulated length adaptation stabilize the peripheral iris during accommodation. Insufficient fixation in PG could promote posterior bowing of the iris with rubbing against the zonular fibers and pigment liberation from the iris pigmented epithelium. Copyright 2014 The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc.

Coloboma of the iris

MedlinePlus

... enable JavaScript. Coloboma of the iris is a hole or defect of the iris of the eye. Most colobomas are present since birth (congenital). Considerations Coloboma of the iris can look like a second pupil or a black notch at the edge of the pupil. This ...

PLATEAU IRIS – DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT

PubMed Central

Stefan, Cornel; Iliescu, Daniela Adriana; Batras, Mehdi; Timaru, Cristina Mihaela; De Simone, Algerino

2015-01-01

Objectives: The objective of our study was to review the current knowledge on the diagnosis and treatment options of plateau iris configuration and syndrome. Systematic review methodology: Relevant publications on plateau iris that were published until 2014. Conclusions: Plateau iris syndrome is a form of primary angle closure glaucoma caused by a large or anteriorly positioned ciliary body that leads to mechanical obstruction of trabecular meshwork. This condition is most often found in younger patients. Plateau iris has been considered an abnormal anatomic variant of the iris that can be diagnosed on ultrasound biomicroscopy or optical coherence tomography of anterior segment. Patients with plateau iris syndrome can be recognized by the lack of response in angle opening after iridotomy. The treatment of choice in these cases is argon laser peripheral iridoplasty PMID:27373109

Transient expansion of activated CD8+ T cells characterizes tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome in patients with HIV: a case control study

PubMed Central

2013-01-01

Background CD4+ T cell activation indicators have been reported to be a common phenomenon underlying diverse manifestations of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS). However, we have found that a high frequency of circulating CD8+ T cells is a specific risk factor for mycobacterial IRIS. Therefore, we investigated whether CD8+ T cells from patients who develop TB IRIS were specifically activated. Methods We obtained PBMCs from HIV+ patients prior to and 4, 8, 12, 24, 52 and 104 weeks after initiating antiretroviral therapy. CD38 and HLADR expression on naive, central memory and effector memory CD8+ and CD4+ T cells were determined by flow cytometry. Absolute counts and frequencies of CD8+ T cell subsets were compared between patients who developed TB IRIS, who developed other IRIS forms and who remained IRIS-free. Results TB IRIS patients showed significantly higher counts of naive CD8+ T cells than the other groups at most time points, with a contraction of the effector memory subpopulation occurring later in the follow-up period. Activated (CD38+ HLADR+) CD8+ T cells from all groups decreased with treatment but transiently peaked in TB IRIS patients. This increase was due to an increase in activated naive CD8+ T cell counts during IRIS. Additionally, the CD8+ T cell subpopulations of TB IRIS patients expressed HLADR without CD38 more frequently and expressed CD38 without HLADR less frequently than cells from other groups. Conclusions CD8+ T cell activation is specifically relevant to TB IRIS. Different IRIS forms may involve different alterations in T cell subsets, suggesting different underlying inflammatory processes. PMID:23688318

Comparison of anterior segment optical coherence tomography angiography and fluorescein angiography for iris vasculature analysis.

PubMed

Zett, Claudio; Stina, Deborah M Rosa; Kato, Renata Tiemi; Novais, Eduardo Amorim; Allemann, Norma

2018-04-01

The aim of this study is to perform imaging of irises of different colors using spectral domain anterior segment optical coherence tomography angiography (AS-OCTA) and iris fluorescein angiography (IFA) and compare their effectiveness in examining iris vasculature. This is a cross-sectional observational clinical study. Patients with no vascular iris alterations and different pigmentation levels were recruited. Participants were imaged using OCTA adapted with an anterior segment lens and IFA with a confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscope (cSLO) adapted with an anterior segment lens. AS-OCTA and IFA images were then compared. Two blinded readers classified iris pigmentation and compared the percentage of visible vessels between OCTA and IFA images. Twenty eyes of 10 patients with different degrees of iris pigmentation were imaged using AS-OCTA and IFA. Significantly more visible iris vessels were observed using OCTA than using FA (W = 5.22; p < 0.001). Iris pigmentation was negatively correlated to the percentage of visible vessels in both imaging methods (OCTA, rho = - 0.73, p < 0.001; IFA, rho = - 0.77, p < 0.001). Unlike FA, AS-OCTA could not detect leakage of dye, delay, or impregnation. Nystagmus and inadequate fixation along with motion artifacts resulted in lower quality images in AS-OCTA than in IFA. AS-OCTA is a new imaging modality which allows analysis of iris vasculature. In both AS-OCTA and IFA, iris pigmentation caused vasculature imaging blockage, but AS-OCTA provided more detailed iris vasculature images than IFA. Additional studies including different iris pathologies are needed to determine the most optimal scanning parameters in OCTA of the anterior segment.

A Statistical Test of the Relationship between Galactic HI Structure and Small-scale Structure in the Cosmic Microwave Background

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Verschuur, Gerrit L.

2014-06-01

The archive of IRIS, PLANCK and WMAP data available at the IRSA website of IPAC allows the apparent associations between galactic neutral hydrogen (HI) features and small-scale structure in WMAP and PLANCK data to be closely examined. In addition, HI new observations made with the Green Bank Telescope are used to perform a statistical test of putative associations. It is concluded that attention should be paid to the possibility that some of the small-scale structure found in WMAP and PLANCK data harbors the signature of a previously unrecognized source of high-frequency continuum emission in the Galaxy.

[Comparative clinical study of wavefront-guided laser in situ keratomileusis with versus without iris recognition for myopia or myopic astigmatism].

PubMed

Wang, Wei-qun; Zhang, Jin-song; Zhao, Xiao-jin

2011-10-01

To explore the postoperative visual acuity results of wavefront-guided LASIK with iris recognition for myopia or myopic astigmatism and the changes of higher-order aberrations and contrast sensitivity function (CSF). Series of prospective case studies, 158 eyes (85 cases) of myopia or myopic astigmatism were divided into two groups: one group underwent wavefront-guided LASIK with iris recognition (iris recognition group); another group underwent wavefront-guided LASIK treatment without iris recognition through the limbus maring point (non-iris recognition group). To comparative analyze the postoperative visual acuity, residual refraction, the RMS of higher-order aberrations and CSF of two groups. There was no statistical significance difference between two groups of the average uncorrected visual acuity (t = 0.039, 0.058, 0.898; P = 0.844, 0.810, 0.343), best corrected visual acuity (t = 0.320, 0.440, 1.515; P = 0.572, 0.507, 0.218), and residual refraction [spherical equivalent (t = 0.027, 0.215, 0.238; P = 0.869, 0.643, 0.626), spherical (t = 0.145, 0.117, 0.038; P = 0.704, 0.732, 0.845) and cylinder (t = 1.676, 1.936, 0.334; P = 0.195, 0.164, 0.563)] at postoperative 10 days, 1 month and 3 month. The security index of iris recognition group at postoperative 3 month was 1.06 and non-iris recognition group was 1.03; the efficacy index of iris recognition group is 1.01 and non-iris recognition group was 1.00. Postoperative 3 month iris recognition group 93.83% eyes and non-iris recognition group of 90.91% eyes spherical equivalent within ± 0.50 D (χ(2) = 0.479, P = 0.489), iris recognition group of 98.77% eyes and non-iris recognition group of 97.40% eyes spherical equivalent within ± 1.00 D (Fisher test, P = 0.613). There was no significance difference between the two groups of security, efficacy and predictability. Non-iris recognition group postoperative 1 month and postoperative 3 months 3-order order aberrations root mean square value (RMS) higher than the iris recognition group increased (t = 3.414, -2.870; P = 0.027, 0.045), in particular of coma; the general higher-order aberrations (t = 0.386, 1.132; P = 0.719, 0.321), 4-order aberrations (t = 0.808, 2.720; P = 0.464, 0.063), and 5-order aberrations (t = 0.148, -1.717; P = 0.890, 0.161) show no statistically significant difference. Three months after surgery, two groups have recovered at all spatial frequencies of CSF, iris recognition group at 3.0 c/d (t = 3.209, P = 0.002) and 6.0 c/d (t = 2.997, P = 0.004) spatial frequencies of CSF under mesopic condition was better than non-iris recognition group, glare contrast sensitivity function (GCSF) for 3.0 c/d (t = 3.423, P = 0.001) and 6.0 c/d (t = 6.986, P = 0.000) spatial frequencies under mesopic condition and 1.5 c/d (t = 9.839, P = 0.000) and 3.0 c/d (t = 7.367, P = 0.000) spatial frequencies under photopic condition in iris recognition group were better than non-iris recognition group, there were no significant difference between two groups at the other spatial frequencies. Wavefront-guided LASIK with or without iris recognition both acquired better postoperative visual acuity, but in comparison with without iris recognition, wavefront-guided LASIK with iris recognition is efficient to reduce coma and enhance contrast sensitivity of postoperative.

Improved iris localization by using wide and narrow field of view cameras for iris recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, Yeong Gon; Shin, Kwang Yong; Park, Kang Ryoung

2013-10-01

Biometrics is a method of identifying individuals by their physiological or behavioral characteristics. Among other biometric identifiers, iris recognition has been widely used for various applications that require a high level of security. When a conventional iris recognition camera is used, the size and position of the iris region in a captured image vary according to the X, Y positions of a user's eye and the Z distance between a user and the camera. Therefore, the searching area of the iris detection algorithm is increased, which can inevitably decrease both the detection speed and accuracy. To solve these problems, we propose a new method of iris localization that uses wide field of view (WFOV) and narrow field of view (NFOV) cameras. Our study is new as compared to previous studies in the following four ways. First, the device used in our research acquires three images, one each of the face and both irises, using one WFOV and two NFOV cameras simultaneously. The relation between the WFOV and NFOV cameras is determined by simple geometric transformation without complex calibration. Second, the Z distance (between a user's eye and the iris camera) is estimated based on the iris size in the WFOV image and anthropometric data of the size of the human iris. Third, the accuracy of the geometric transformation between the WFOV and NFOV cameras is enhanced by using multiple matrices of the transformation according to the Z distance. Fourth, the searching region for iris localization in the NFOV image is significantly reduced based on the detected iris region in the WFOV image and the matrix of geometric transformation corresponding to the estimated Z distance. Experimental results showed that the performance of the proposed iris localization method is better than that of conventional methods in terms of accuracy and processing time.

Differences in iris thickness among African Americans, Caucasian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Chinese Americans, and Filipino-Americans.

PubMed

Lee, Roland Y; Huang, Guofu; Porco, Travis C; Chen, Yi-Chun; He, Mingguang; Lin, Shan C

2013-12-01

To evaluate the capability of iris thickness parameters to explain the difference in primary angle-closure glaucoma prevalence among the different racial groups. In this prospective study, 436 patients with open and narrow angles that met inclusion criteria were consecutively recruited from the UCSF general ophthalmology and glaucoma clinics to receive anterior segment optical coherence tomography imaging under standardized dark conditions. Images from 11 patients were removed due to poor visibility of the scleral spurs and the remaining images were analyzed using the Zhongshan Angle Assessment Program to assess the following measurements for the nasal and temporal angle of the anterior chamber: iris thickness at 750 and 2000 μm from the scleral spurs and the maximum iris thickness at middle one third of the iris. Iris thickness parameters were compared among and within the following 5 different racial groups: African Americans, Caucasian Americans, Hispanic Americans, Chinese Americans, and Filipino-Americans. In comparing iris parameters among the open-angle racial groups, significant differences were found for nasal iris thickness at 750 and 2000 μm from the scleral spurs in which Chinese Americans displayed the highest mean value (P=0.01, P<0.0001). Among the narrow-angle racial groups, significant difference was found for nasal iris thickness at 2000 μm from the scleral in which Chinese Americans showed the highest mean value (P<0.0001). Significant difference was also found for temporal maximum iris thickness at middle one third of the iris in which African Americans exhibited the highest mean value (P=0.021). Iris thickness was modeled as a function of angle status using linear mixed-effects regression, adjusting for age, sex, pupil diameter, spherical equivalent, ethnicity, and the use of both eyes in patients. The iris thickness difference between the narrow-angle and open-angle groups was significant (P=0.0007). Racial groups that historically showed higher prevalence of primary angle-closure glaucoma possess thicker irides.

Iris Damage Is Associated With Elevated Cytokine Levels in Aqueous Humor.

PubMed

Aketa, Naohiko; Yamaguchi, Takefumi; Suzuki, Terumasa; Higa, Kazunari; Yagi-Yaguchi, Yukari; Satake, Yoshiyuki; Tsubota, Kazuo; Shimazaki, Jun

2017-05-01

To evaluate the association between iris damage and cytokine levels in the aqueous humor (AqH). A total of 201 AqH samples from 201 consecutive patients (mean age 73.7 ± 10.6) were collected at the beginning of corneal transplantation or cataract surgery. Iris damage of each case was assessed from preoperative slit-lamp findings based on its severity. The subjects were classified into three groups: eyes without iris damage (126 eyes), eyes with mild iris damage (51 eyes), and eyes with severe iris damage (24 eyes). The levels of cytokines (IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12p70, IL-13, IL-17a, interferon gamma-induced protein [IP]-10, monocyte chemotactic protein [MCP]-1, IFN-α, IFN-γ, macrophage inflammatory protein [MIP]-1α, MIP-1β, P-selectin, E-selectin, soluble intercellular adhesion molecule [sICAM]-1, TNF-α, and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor [GM-CSF]) in AqH were measured by multiplex beads immunoassay. The levels of aqueous protein, IL-1α, IL-1β, IL-4, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-17A, MCP-1, TNF-α, E-selectin, P-selectin, and sICAM-1 in eyes with mild and severe iris damage were higher than in those without iris damage (P < 0.033). Multivariate analyses of clinical factors revealed that iris damage was associated with the history of complicated glaucoma, and the number of previous intraocular surgeries. The levels of AqH IL-6, IL-8, IL-13, MIP-1α, TNF-α, and sICAM-1 were significantly elevated in eyes with mild and severe iris damage in phakic eyes, and the levels of AqH IL-8 and sICAM-1 were significantly elevated in eyes with severe iris damage in pseudophakic eyes, compared with the eyes without iris damage (P < 0.045). Iris damage was associated with the elevation in the levels of aqueous protein and cytokines.

Vaccine Therapy in Treating Patients With Stage IIC-IV Melanoma

ClinicalTrials.gov

2014-05-20

Ciliary Body and Choroid Melanoma, Medium/Large Size; Ciliary Body and Choroid Melanoma, Small Size; Extraocular Extension Melanoma; Iris Melanoma; Metastatic Intraocular Melanoma; Mucosal Melanoma; Recurrent Intraocular Melanoma; Recurrent Melanoma; Stage IIC Melanoma; Stage IIIA Intraocular Melanoma; Stage IIIA Melanoma; Stage IIIB Intraocular Melanoma; Stage IIIB Melanoma; Stage IIIC Intraocular Melanoma; Stage IIIC Melanoma; Stage IV Intraocular Melanoma; Stage IV Melanoma

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE) (Public Comment Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

In September 2016, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) released the draft Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE). Consistent with the 2013 IRIS Enhancements, draft IRIS assessments are released prior to e...

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY DOCUMENTS FOR BERYLLIUM AND COMPOUNDS

EPA Science Inventory

EPA's assessment of the noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of Beryllium was added to the IRIS database in 1998. The IRIS program is updating the IRIS assessment for Beryllium. This update will incorporate health effects information published since the last assess...

78 FR 18426 - Proposed Information Collection (IRIS) Activity; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-03-26

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS [OMB Control No. 2900-0619] Proposed Information Collection (IRIS... through the Inquiry Routing and Information System (IRIS). DATES: Written comments and recommendations on... information technology. Title: Inquiry Routing and Information System (IRIS), VA Form 0873. OMB Control Number...

Deep learning architecture for iris recognition based on optimal Gabor filters and deep belief network

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Fei; Han, Ye; Wang, Han; Ji, Jinchao; Liu, Yuanning; Ma, Zhiqiang

2017-03-01

Gabor filters are widely utilized to detect iris texture information in several state-of-the-art iris recognition systems. However, the proper Gabor kernels and the generative pattern of iris Gabor features need to be predetermined in application. The traditional empirical Gabor filters and shallow iris encoding ways are incapable of dealing with such complex variations in iris imaging including illumination, aging, deformation, and device variations. Thereby, an adaptive Gabor filter selection strategy and deep learning architecture are presented. We first employ particle swarm optimization approach and its binary version to define a set of data-driven Gabor kernels for fitting the most informative filtering bands, and then capture complex pattern from the optimal Gabor filtered coefficients by a trained deep belief network. A succession of comparative experiments validate that our optimal Gabor filters may produce more distinctive Gabor coefficients and our iris deep representations be more robust and stable than traditional iris Gabor codes. Furthermore, the depth and scales of the deep learning architecture are also discussed.

The International Reference Ionosphere - Status 2013

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bilitza, Dieter

2015-04-01

This paper describes the latest version of the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model. IRI-2012 includes new models for the electron density and ion densities in the region below the F-peak, a storm-time model for the auroral E-region, an improved electron temperature model that includes variations with solar activity, and for the first time a description of auroral boundaries. In addition, the thermosphere model required for baseline neutral densities and temperatures was upgraded from MSIS-86 to the newer NRLMSIS-00 model and Corrected Geomagnetic coordinates (CGM) were included in IRI as an additional coordinate system for a better representation of auroral and polar latitudes. Ongoing IRI activities towards the inclusion of an improved model for the F2 peak height hmF2 are discussed as are efforts to develop a "Real-Time IRI". The paper is based on an IRI status report presented at the 2013 IRI Workshop in Olsztyn, Poland. The IRI homepage is at

[Evaluation of Iris Morphology Viewed through Stromal Edematous Corneas by Infrared Camera].

PubMed

Kobayashi, Masaaki; Morishige, Naoyuki; Morita, Yukiko; Yamada, Naoyuki; Kobayashi, Motomi; Sonoda, Koh-Hei

2016-02-01

We reported that the application of infrared camera enables us to observe iris morphology in Peters' anomaly through edematous corneas. To observe the iris morphology in bullous keratopathy or failure grafts with an infrared camera. Eleven bullous keratopathy or failure grafts subjects (6 men and 5 women, mean age ± SD; 72.7 ± 13.0 years old) were enrolled in this study. The iris morphology was observed by applying visible light mode and near infrared light mode of infrared camera (MeibomPen). The detectability of pupil shapes, iris patterns and presence of iridectomy was evaluated. Infrared mode observation enabled us to detect the pupil shapes in 11 out of 11 cases, iris patterns in 3 out of 11 cases, and presence of iridetomy in 9 out of 11 cases although visible light mode observation could not detect any iris morphological changes. Applying infrared optics was valuable for observation of the iris morphology through stromal edematous corneas.

In vivo analysis of the iris thickness by spectral domain optical coherence tomography.

PubMed

Invernizzi, Alessandro; Cigada, Mario; Savoldi, Luisa; Cavuto, Silvio; Fontana, Luigi; Cimino, Luca

2014-09-01

To assess the effectiveness of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in providing in vivo measurements of iris thickness in healthy and pathological subjects. 14 healthy volunteers and 14 patients with unilateral Fuchs' uveitis were enrolled in the study. The two groups were comparable for age, gender and race. Each subject underwent complete clinical examination and anterior segment SD-OCT imaging in both eyes. SD-OCT scans of the iris were performed following a cross-sectional pattern. Iris thickness values were obtained using a purposely developed software-based analysis of OCT images. Measurements were carried out twice by two trained independent operators to assess intraobserver and interobserver repeatability. Analysis of iris thickness was conducted in four main quadrants: superior, inferior, nasal and temporal. Iris thickness values from normal subjects were compared with the ones measured in the affected and fellow eyes of patients with Fuchs' uveitis. Iris thickness measurements showed good intraobserver and interobserver repeatability (intraclass correlation coefficient >0.971). Superior and temporal iris sectors showed respectively thickest and thinnest values in all groups. In healthy eyes, iris thickness ranged from 327.92±37.29 μm temporally to 405.25±48.49 μm superiorly. Iris thickness measurements in the affected eyes of Fuchs' uveitis patients ranged from 285.48±56.02 μm temporally to 376.12±60.97 μm superiorly. Multiple comparison analysis showed iris thickness values to be significantly lower in eyes affected by Fuchs' uveitis than both in fellow eyes (p<0.001) of the same patients and in healthy eyes (p=0.0074). SD-OCT is a suitable technique for iris thickness assessment. Thickness analysis must be carried out using a sectorial approach, taking into consideration anatomical variations existing between different iris regions. SD-OCT is a potentially useful tool for detecting iris thickness variations induced by pathological conditions such as Fuchs' uveitis. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Detection of trace explosives on relevant substrates using a mobile platform for photothermal infrared imaging spectroscopy (PT-IRIS)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kendziora, Christopher A.; Furstenberg, Robert; Papantonakis, Michael; Nguyen, Viet; Byers, Jeff; McGill, R. Andrew

2015-05-01

This manuscript describes the results of recent tests regarding standoff detection of trace explosives on relevant substrates using a mobile platform. We are developing a technology for detection based on photo-thermal infrared (IR) imaging spectroscopy (PT-IRIS). This approach leverages one or more microfabricated IR quantum cascade lasers, tuned to strong absorption bands in the analytes and directed to illuminate an area on a surface of interest. An IR focal plane array is used to image the surface thermal emission upon laser illumination. The PT-IRIS signal is processed as a hyperspectral image cube comprised of spatial, spectral and temporal dimensions as vectors within a detection algorithm. Increased sensitivity to explosives and selectivity between different analyte types is achieved by narrow bandpass IR filters in the collection path. We have previously demonstrated the technique at several meters of stand-off distance indoors and in field tests, while operating the lasers below the infrared eye-safe intensity limit (100 mW/cm2). Sensitivity to explosive traces as small as a single 10 μm diameter particle (~1 ng) has been demonstrated. Analytes tested here include RDX, TNT, ammonium nitrate and sucrose. The substrates tested in this current work include metal, plastics, glass and painted car panels.

Propagating Disturbances in the Solar Corona and Spicular Connection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Samanta, Tanmoy; Pant, Vaibhav; Banerjee, Dipankar

2015-12-01

Spicules are small, hairy-like structures seen at the solar limb, mainly at chromospheric and transition region lines. They generally live for 3-10 minutes. We study these spicules in a south polar region of the Sun with coordinated observations using the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) instruments on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory. Propagating disturbances (PDs) are observed everywhere in the polar off-limb regions of the Sun at coronal heights. From these simultaneous observations, we show that the spicules and the PDs may have originated through a common process. From spacetime maps, we find that the start of the trajectory of PDs is almost cotemporal with the time of the rise of the spicular envelope as seen by IRIS slit-jaw images at 2796 and 1400 Å. During the return of spicular material, brightenings are seen in AIA 171 and 193 Å images. The quasi-periodic nature of the spicular activity, as revealed by the IRIS spectral image sequences, and its relation to coronal PDs, as recorded by the coronal AIA channels, suggest that they share a common origin. We propose that reconnection-like processes generate the spicules and waves simultaneously. The waves escape while the cool spicular material falls back.

Active iris vascular tufts bleeding successfully treated with argon laser photocoagulation.

PubMed

Sarmad, Ambreen; Alfaqawi, Fadi; Chakrabarti, Monali; Mitra, Arijit; Mushtaq, Bushra

2018-03-01

Iris vascular tufts (IVT) are rare biomicroscopic capillary outgrowths from the pupillary margins. Patients are usually asymptomatic until presenting with blurred vision due to spontaneous hyphema or with raised intraocular pressure. A 61-year-old woman presented to eye casualty with left eye (LE) blurred vision and discomfort for 1 day. Her external ocular examination was unremarkable and visual acuity was 6/6 in the right eye (RE) and 6/9 in the LE. Biomicroscopic examination revealed a 2-mm hyphema in her LE and bilateral multiple small IVT and active bleeding from IVT at the pupillary margin of the LE at the 5 o'clock position. Diagnosis of LE active bleeding from IVT was made and she underwent argon laser photocoagulation directed at the source of bleeding. The bleeding stopped immediately after the second burn. She was followed up for 3 months; her visual acuity was 6/5 and 6/6 in the RE and LE, respectively, with no further problems. Iris vascular tufts are benign and recurrent hemorrhages are unlikely. Therefore, definitive argon laser photocoagulation or surgical treatment are reserved to arrest further episodes of hyphema. Our case demonstrates the effective use of argon laser photocoagulation to completely arrest active bleeding from IVT and excellent recovery of hyphema with no further problems for 5 years.

Porcine cadaver iris model for iris heating during corneal surgery with a femtosecond laser

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Hui; Fan, Zhongwei; Wang, Jiang; Yan, Ying; Juhasz, Tibor; Kurtz, Ron

2015-03-01

Multiple femtosecond lasers have now been cleared for use for ophthalmic surgery, including for creation of corneal flaps in LASIK surgery. Preliminary study indicated that during typical surgical use, laser energy may pass beyond the cornea with potential effects on the iris. As a model for laser exposure of the iris during femtosecond corneal surgery, we simulated the temperature rise in porcine cadaver iris during direct illumination by the femtosecond laser. Additionally, ex-vivo iris heating due to femtosecond laser irradiation was measured with an infrared thermal camera (Fluke corp. Everett, WA) as a validation of the simulation.

Extending Iris: The VAO SED Analysis Tool

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laurino, O.; Busko, I.; Cresitello-Dittmar, M.; D'Abrusco, R.; Doe, S.; Evans, J.; Pevunova, O.

2013-10-01

Iris is a tool developed by the Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO) for building and analyzing Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs). Iris was designed to be extensible, so that new components and models can be developed by third parties and then included at runtime. Iris can be extended in different ways: new file readers allow users to integrate data in custom formats into Iris SEDs; new models can be fitted to the data, in the form of template libraries for template fitting, data tables, and arbitrary Python functions. The interoperability-centered design of Iris and the Virtual Observatory standards and protocols can enable new science functionalities involving SED data.

Using crypts as iris minutiae

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shen, Feng; Flynn, Patrick J.

2013-05-01

Iris recognition is one of the most reliable biometric technologies for identity recognition and verification, but it has not been used in a forensic context because the representation and matching of iris features are not straightforward for traditional iris recognition techniques. In this paper we concentrate on the iris crypt as a visible feature used to represent the characteristics of irises in a similar way to fingerprint minutiae. The matching of crypts is based on their appearances and locations. The number of matching crypt pairs found between two irises can be used for identity verification and the convenience of manual inspection makes iris crypts a potential candidate for forensic applications.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia Noncancer Inhalation ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

In September 2016, EPA finalized the IRIS assessment of Ammonia (Noncancer Inhalation). The Toxicological Review was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release in June 2016. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science discussion materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia (Noncancer Inhalation) are posted on this site. Note: No major science comments were received on the Interagency Science Discussion Draft. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for ammonia. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

Iridoschisis: high frequency ultrasound imaging. Evidence for a genetic defect?

PubMed Central

Danias, J; Aslanides, I M; Eichenbaum, J W; Silverman, R H; Reinstein, D Z; Coleman, D J

1996-01-01

AIMS: To elucidate changes in the anatomy of the anterior chamber associated with iridoschisis, a rare form of iris atrophy, and their potential contribution to angle closure glaucoma. METHODS: Both eyes of a 71-year-old woman with bilateral iridoschisis and fibrous dysplasia and her asymptomatic 50-year-old daughter were scanned with a very high frequency (50 MHz) ultrasound system. RESULTS: The symptomatic patient exhibited diffuse changes in the iris stoma with an intact posterior iris pigmented layer in both eyes. These changes were clinically compatible with the lack of iris transillumination defects. Additionally, iris bowing with a resultant narrowing of the angle occurred. The asymptomatic daughter showed discrete, but less severe iris stromal changes. CONCLUSION: This is the first detailed study of high frequency ultrasonic imaging of the iris in iridoschisis. The observed structural changes suggest angle narrowing by forward bowing of the anterior iris stroma may be a mechanism of IOP elevation in this condition. The ultrasonic detection of iris changes in the asymptomatic daughter of the symptomatic patient and the association of iridoschisis with fibrous dysplasia suggest a possible genetic component in the pathogenesis of this condition. Images PMID:9059271

Iris-based medical analysis by geometric deformation features.

PubMed

Ma, Lin; Zhang, D; Li, Naimin; Cai, Yan; Zuo, Wangmeng; Wang, Kuanguan

2013-01-01

Iris analysis studies the relationship between human health and changes in the anatomy of the iris. Apart from the fact that iris recognition focuses on modeling the overall structure of the iris, iris diagnosis emphasizes the detecting and analyzing of local variations in the characteristics of irises. This paper focuses on studying the geometrical structure changes in irises that are caused by gastrointestinal diseases, and on measuring the observable deformations in the geometrical structures of irises that are related to roundness, diameter and other geometric forms of the pupil and the collarette. Pupil and collarette based features are defined and extracted. A series of experiments are implemented on our experimental pathological iris database, including manual clustering of both normal and pathological iris images, manual classification by non-specialists, manual classification by individuals with a medical background, classification ability verification for the proposed features, and disease recognition by applying the proposed features. The results prove the effectiveness and clinical diagnostic significance of the proposed features and a reliable recognition performance for automatic disease diagnosis. Our research results offer a novel systematic perspective for iridology studies and promote the progress of both theoretical and practical work in iris diagnosis.

Iris: Constructing and Analyzing Spectral Energy Distributions with the Virtual Observatory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laurino, O.; Budynkiewicz, J.; Busko, I.; Cresitello-Dittmar, M.; D'Abrusco, R.; Doe, S.; Evans, J.; Pevunova, O.

2014-05-01

We present Iris 2.0, the latest release of the Virtual Astronomical Observatory application for building and analyzing Spectral Energy Distributions (SEDs). With Iris, users may read in and display SEDs inspect and edit any selection of SED data, fit models to SEDs in arbitrary spectral ranges, and calculate confidence limits on best-fit parameters. SED data may be loaded into the application from VOTable and FITS files compliant with the International Virtual Observatoy Alliance interoperable data models, or retrieved directly from NED or the Italian Space Agency Science Data Center; data in non-standard formats may also be converted within the application. Users may seamlessy exchange data between Iris and other Virtual Observatoy tools using the Simple Application Messaging Protocol. Iris 2.0 also provides a tool for redshifting, interpolating, and measuring integratd fluxes, and allows simple aperture corrections for individual points and SED segments. Custom Python functions, template models and template libraries may be imported into Iris for fitting SEDs. Iris may be extended through Java plugins; users can install third-party packages, or develop their own plugin using Iris' Software Development Kit. Iris 2.0 is available for Linux and Mac OS X systems.

Eclipse-Free-Time Assessment Tool for IRIS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Eagle, David

2012-01-01

IRIS_EFT is a scientific simulation that can be used to perform an Eclipse-Free- Time (EFT) assessment of IRIS (Infrared Imaging Surveyor) mission orbits. EFT is defined to be those time intervals longer than one day during which the IRIS spacecraft is not in the Earth s shadow. Program IRIS_EFT implements a special perturbation of orbital motion to numerically integrate Cowell's form of the system of differential equations. Shadow conditions are predicted by embedding this integrator within Brent s method for finding the root of a nonlinear equation. The IRIS_EFT software models the effects of the following types of orbit perturbations on the long-term evolution and shadow characteristics of IRIS mission orbits. (1) Non-spherical Earth gravity, (2) Atmospheric drag, (3) Point-mass gravity of the Sun, and (4) Point-mass gravity of the Moon. The objective of this effort was to create an in-house computer program that would perform eclipse-free-time analysis. of candidate IRIS spacecraft mission orbits in an accurate and timely fashion. The software is a suite of Fortran subroutines and data files organized as a "computational" engine that is used to accurately predict the long-term orbit evolution of IRIS mission orbits while searching for Earth shadow conditions.

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY DOCUMENTS FOR 1,2,3-TRICHLOROPROPANE

EPA Science Inventory

EPA's assessment of the noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) was added to the IRIS database in 1990. The IRIS program is updating the IRIS assessment for TCP. This update will incorporate health effects information published since t...

75 FR 28856 - Agency Information Collection (IRIS) Activities Under OMB Review

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-05-24

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS [OMB Control No. 2900-0619] Agency Information Collection (IRIS... Information System (IRIS). OMB Control Number: 2900-0619. Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved... veterans, dependents, and active duty personnel worldwide. IRIS allows a customer to submit questions...

75 FR 13208 - Proposed Information Collection (IRIS) Activity; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-03-18

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS [OMB Control No. 2900-0619] Proposed Information Collection (IRIS... submitted to VA through the Inquiry Routing and Information System (IRIS). DATES: Written comments and... (IRIS), VA Form 0873. OMB Control Number: 2900-0619. Type of Review: Extension of a currently approved...

Implantation of ArtificialIris, a CustomFlex irisprosthesis, in a trauma patient with an Artisan lens

PubMed Central

Doroodgar, Farideh; Jabbarvand, Mahmoud; Niazi, Feizollah; Niazi, Sana; Sanginabadi, Azad

2017-01-01

Abstract Purpose: To evaluate probable complications of ArtificialIris implantation with iris fixated intraocular lens. Method: Development of photophobia, glare, and psychological strain during face-to-face communication in a 23-year-old man with a widespread traumatic iris defect terminate to make a decision for performing implantation of an ArtificialIris (Humanoptics, Erlangen, Germany) under the remnant iris without removing the patient's existing Artisan lens. Results: Without any intraoperative or postoperative complications, the patient's visual acuity increased by 1 line, the endothelial cell loss was comparable with the cell loss associated with standard cataract surgery, and the anterior-chamber depth and anterior-chamber anatomy did not change. At the final follow-up examination, the mean intraocular pressure did not differ from baseline, and we achieved high level of patient satisfaction and subjective vision improvement. We discuss the particular importance of considering the patient's expectations, the appropriate measurements, ways to perfect color evaluation, and the types of ArtificialIris products. Conclusion: The implantation of the ArtificialIris in patients with aphakic iris-supported lenses (ie, pre-existing Artisan lenses) is a feasible approach and a useful option for patients with thin irises and iris hypoplasia who are at risk of subluxation or the dislocation of the posterior-chamber intraocular lens (PCIOL), and also those with sclerally fixed PCIOLs. PMID:29137026

Role of LTA4H Polymorphism in Tuberculosis-Associated Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome Occurrence and Clinical Severity in Patients Infected with HIV

PubMed Central

Narendran, Gopalan; Kavitha, Dhanasekaran; Karunaianantham, Ramesh; Gil-Santana, Leonardo; Almeida-Junior, Jilson L.; Reddy, Sirasanambatti Devarajulu; Kumar, Marimuthu Makesh; Hemalatha, Haribabu; Jayanthi, Nagesh Nalini; Ravichandran, Narayanan; Krishnaraja, Raja; Prabhakar, Angamuthu; Manoharan, Tamizhselvan; Nithyananthan, Lokeswaran; Arjunan, Gunasundari; Natrajan, Mohan; Swaminathan, Soumya

2016-01-01

Background Paradoxical tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) is an inflammatory phenomenon complicating HIV management in coincidental tuberculosis (TB) infection, upon immune reconstitution driven by antiretroviral therapy (ART). Leukotriene A4 hydroxylase (LTA4H), an enzyme which converts LTA4 to LTB4, regulates the balance between the anti-inflammatory lipoxins and pro-inflammatory LTB4, with direct implications in TB-driven inflammation. In humans, a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) in the LTA4H promoter which regulates its transcriptional activity (rs17525495) has been identified and described to impact clinical severity of TB presentation and response to corticosteroid therapy. Notably, the role of LTA4H on TB-IRIS has not been previously evaluated. Here, we performed an exploratory investigation testing the association of LTA4H polymorphism with respect to frequency of TB-IRIS occurrence and severity of TB-IRIS presentation in HIV-TB co-infected individuals. Methods Genotypic evaluation of the LTA4H enzyme from available samples was retrospectively correlated with clinical data captured in case sheets including IRIS details. The cohort included patients recruited from a prospective cohort study nested within a randomized clinical trial (NCT0933790) of ART-naïve HIV+ patients with newly diagnosed rifampicin sensitive pulmonary TB in South India. Frequency of the wild type genotype (CC), as well as of the mutant genotypes (CT or TT) in the IRIS and non-IRIS patients was estimated. Comparative analyses were performed between wild genotype (CC) and the mutant genotypes (CT or TT) and tested for association between the LTA4H polymorphisms and IRIS incidence and clinical severity. Results A total of 142 eligible ART-naïve patients were included in the analyses. Eighty-six individuals exhibited the wild genotype (CC) while 56 had mutant genotypes (43-CT and only 13-TT). Variant allele frequency was 0.23 and 0.26 in non-IRIS group and in IRIS group, respectively. Upon ART initiation, 51 patients developed IRIS while 91 did not. IRIS incidence was 34% and 37% in the wild (CC) and mutant type (CT/TT), respectively (p = 0.858) with a higher frequency of severe IRIS presentation in the mutant genotype group compared to the wild type genotype (p = 0.0006). A logistic regression model confirmed the association between the presence of CT/TT genotypes and occurrence of severe IRIS. Corticosteroid therapy successfully resolved IRIS in all cases irrespective of the LTA4H genotype. Conclusion A higher incidence of severe IRIS among patients with mutant LTA4H genotypes (CT and TT) was observed compared to the wild type, despite similar IRIS incidence and immune restoration in both groups. Steroids were effective in alleviating IRIS in all the genotypes. PMID:27643598

Qualitative Assessment of Ultrasound Biomicroscopic Images Using Standard Photographs: The Liwan Eye Study

PubMed Central

Jiang, Yuzhen; Huang, Wenyong; Huang, Qunxiao; Zhang, Jian; Foster, Paul J.

2010-01-01

Objective. To classify anatomic features related to anterior chamber angles by a qualitative assessment system based on ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) images. Methods. Cases of primary angle-closure suspect (PACS), defined by pigmented trabecular meshwork that is not visible in two or more quadrants on static gonioscopy (cases) and systematically selected subjects (1 of every 10) who did not meet this criterion (controls) were enrolled during a population-based survey in Guangzhou, China. All subjects underwent UBM examination. A set of standard UBM images was used to qualitatively classify anatomic features related to the angle configuration, including iris thickness, iris convexity, iris angulation, ciliary body size, and ciliary process position. All analysis was conducted on right eye images. Results. Based on the qualitative grades, the difference in overall iris thickness between gonioscopically narrow eyes (n = 117) and control eyes (n = 57) was not statistically significant. The peripheral one third of the iris tended to be thicker in all quadrants of the PACS eyes, although the difference was statistically significant only in the superior quadrant (P = 0.008). No significant differences were found in the qualitative classifications of iris insertion, iris angulation, ciliary body size, and ciliary process position. The findings were similar when compared with the control group of eyes with wide angles in all quadrants. Conclusions. Basal iris thickness seems to be more relevant to narrow angle configuration than to overall iris thickness. Otherwise, the anterior rotation and size of the ciliary body, the iris insertion, and the overall iris thickness are comparable in narrow- and wide-angle eyes. PMID:19834039

The concave iris in pigment dispersion syndrome.

PubMed

Liu, Lance; Ong, Ee Lin; Crowston, Jonathan

2011-01-01

To visualize the changes of the iris contour in patients with pigment dispersion syndrome after blinking, accommodation, and pharmacologic miosis using anterior segment optical coherence tomography. Observational case series. A total of 33 eyes of 20 patients with pigment dispersion syndrome. Each eye was imaged along the horizontal 0- to 180-degree meridian using the Visante Anterior Segment Imaging System (Carl Zeiss Meditec, Dublin, CA). Scans were performed at baseline and after focusing on an internal fixation target for 5 minutes, forced blinking, accommodation, and pharmacologic miosis with pilocarpine 2%. Quantitative analysis of the changes in the iris configuration. After 5 minutes of continual fixation, the iris became planar with the mean ± standard deviation curvature decreasing from 214 ± 74 μm to 67 ± 76 μm (P < 0.05). The iris remained planar in all patients with pigment dispersion syndrome after forced blinking, but the iris concavity recovered to 227 ± 113 μm (P = 0.34) and 238 ± 119 μm (P = 0.19) with the -3.0 and -6.0 diopter lenses, respectively. Pilocarpine-induced miosis caused the iris to assume a planar configuration in all subjects. This study shows that the iris in pigment dispersion syndrome assumes a planar configuration when fixating and that the concavity of the iris surface is not restored by blinking. Accommodation restored the iris concavity, suggesting that the posterior curvature of the iris in pigment dispersion syndrome is induced and probably maintained, at least in part, by accommodation. Copyright © 2011 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Qualitative evaluation of the iris and ciliary body by ultrasound biomicroscopy in subjects with angle closure.

PubMed

Ku, Judy Y; Nongpiur, Monisha E; Park, Judy; Narayanaswamy, Arun K; Perera, Shamira A; Tun, Tin A; Kumar, Rajesh S; Baskaran, Mani; Aung, Tin

2014-12-01

To qualitatively analyze anterior chamber structures imaged by ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) in primary angle-closure patients. Subjects diagnosed as primary angle-closure suspect (PACS), primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG), and previous acute primary angle closure (APAC) were recruited prospectively along with a group of normal controls. UBM was performed under standardized dark room conditions and qualitative assessment was carried out using a set of reference photographs of standard UBM images to categorize the various anatomic features related to angle configuration. These included overall and basal iris thicknesses, iris convexity, iris angulation, ciliary body size, and ciliary sulcus. A total of 60 PACS, 114 PACG, 41 APAC, and 33 normal controls were included. Patients were predominantly older Chinese females. After controlling the confounding effect of age and sex, eyes with overall thicker irides [medium odds ratio (OR) 3.58, thick OR 2.84] when compared with thin irides have a significantly higher likelihood of having PACS/PACG/APAC versus controls. Thicker basal iris component (medium OR 4.13, thick OR 3.39) also have higher likelihood of having angle closure when compared with thin basal iris thickness. Subjects with basal iris insertion, mild iris angulation, and large ciliary body have a higher OR of having angle closure. In contrast, the presence/absence of a ciliary sulcus did not influence the likelihood of angle closure. Eyes with thicker overall and basal iris thicknesses are more likely to have angle closure than controls. Other features that increase the likelihood of angle closure include basal iris insertion, mild iris angulation, and large ciliary body.

TREATMENT WITH THIDIAZURON IMPROVES OPENING AND VASE LIFE OF IRIS FLOWERS

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The marketability of Dutch iris (Iris × hollandica) cut flowers is limited by their short display life and frequent failure to open fully. We tested the ability of thidiazuron (TDZ), a phenyl urea compound with cytokinin-like activity, to improve iris flower opening and longevity. A postharvest pu...

Breaking the Blame Cycle: A Small Partnership between Preservice Writing Teachers and Elementary Classrooms.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hedengren, Elizabeth Finch

A partnership between a class for preservice elementary teachers in the university and an elementary class in the public schools goes a long way to breaking down the cycle of blame, whereby parents and teachers on all levels blame each other for the poor quality of education offered to students. A small program at Brigham Young University (Utah)…

Comments on the CASIA version 1.0 iris data set.

PubMed

Phillips, P Jonathon; Bowyer, Kevin W; Flynn, Patrick J

2007-10-01

We note that the images in the CASIA version 1.0 iris dataset have been edited so that the pupil area is replaced by a circular region of uniform intensity. We recommend that this dataset is no longer used in iris biometrics research, unless there this a compelling reason that takes into account the nature of the images. In addition, based on our experience with the Iris Challenge Evaluation (ICE) 2005 technology development project, we make recommendations for reporting results of iris recognition experiments.

Surgical peripheral iridectomy via a clear-cornea phacoemulsification incision for pupillary block following cataract surgery in acute angle closure.

PubMed

Fang, Aiwu; Wang, Peijuan; He, Rui; Qu, Jia

2018-05-18

To describe a technique of surgical peripheral iridectomy via a clear-cornea tunnel incision to prevent or treat pupillary block following phacoemulsification. Description of technique and retrospective description results in 20 eyes of 20 patients with acute angle closure with coexisting visually significant cataract undergoing phacoemulsification considered at risk of postoperative papillary block as well as two pseudo-phakic eyes with acute postoperative pupillary-block. Following phacoemulsification and insertion of an intraocular lens, a needle with a bent tip was inserted behind the iris through the corneal tunnel incision. A blunt iris repositor was introduced through the paracentesis and placed above the iris to exert posterior pressure and create a puncture. The size of the puncture was enlarged using scissors. For postoperative pupillary block the same technique was carried out through the existing incisions created for phacoemulsification. Peripheral iridectomy was successfully created in all 22 eyes. At a mean follow-up of 18.77 ± 9.72 months, none of the iridectomies closed or required enlargement. Two eyes had mild intraoperative bleeding and one eye a small Descemet's detachment that did not require intervention. No clinically significant complications were observed. Visual acuity and IOP improved or was maintained in all patients. The incidence of pupillary block in our hospital was 0.09% overall, 0.6% in diabetics and 3.5% in those with diabetic retinopathy. This technique of peripheral iridectomy via the cornea tunnel incision can be safely used during phacoemulsification in eyes at high risk of pupillary block or in the treatment of acute postoperative pupillary-block after cataract surgery. The technique is likely to be especially useful in brown iris, or if a laser is not available.

Impact of Protected Sleep Period for Internal Medicine Interns on Overnight Call on Depression, Burnout, and Empathy

PubMed Central

Shea, Judy A.; Bellini, Lisa M.; Dinges, David F.; Curtis, Meredith L.; Tao, Yuanyuan; Zhu, Jingsan; Small, Dylan S.; Basner, Mathias; Norton, Laurie; Novak, Cristina; Dine, C. Jessica; Rosen, Ilene M.; Volpp, Kevin G.

2014-01-01

Background Patient safety and sleep experts advocate a protected sleep period for residents. Objective We examined whether interns scheduled for a protected sleep period during overnight call would have better end-of-rotation assessments of burnout, depression, and empathy scores compared with interns without protected sleep periods and whether the amount of sleep obtained during on call predicted end-of-rotation assessments. Methods We conducted a randomized, controlled trial with internal medicine interns at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center (PVAMC) and the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) in academic year 2009–2010. Four-week blocks were randomly assigned to either overnight call permitted under the 2003 duty hour standards or a protected sleep period from 12:30 am to 5:30 am. Participants wore wrist actigraphs. At the beginning and end of the rotations, they completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI-HSS), and Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI). Results A total of 106 interns participated. There were no significant differences between groups in end-of-rotation BDI-II, MBI-HSS, or IRI scores at either location (P > .05). Amount of sleep while on call significantly predicted lower MBI-Emotional Exhaustion (P < .003), MBI-Depersonalization (P < .003), and IRI-Personal Distress (P < .006) at PVAMC, and higher IRI-Perspective Taking (P < .008) at HUP. Conclusions A protected sleep period produced few consistent improvements in depression, burnout, or empathy, although depression was already low at baseline. Possibly the amount of protected time was too small to affect these emotional states or sleep may not be directly related to these scores. PMID:24949128

Fourier transform spectroscopy for future planetary missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brasunas, John; Kolasinski, John; Kostiuk, Ted; Hewagama, Tilak

2017-01-01

Thermal-emission infrared spectroscopy is a powerful tool for exploring the composition, temperature structure, and dynamics of planetary atmospheres; and the temperature of solid surfaces. A host of Fourier transform spectrometers (FTS) such as Mariner IRIS, Voyager IRIS, and Cassini CIRS from NASA Goddard have made and continue to make important new discoveries throughout the solar system. Future FTS instruments will have to be more sensitive (when we concentrate on the colder, outer reaches of the solar system), and less massive and less power-hungry as we cope with decreasing resource allotments for future planetary science instruments. With this in mind, we have developed CIRS-lite, a smaller version of the CIRS FTS for future planetary missions. We discuss the roadmap for making CIRS-lite a viable candidate for future planetary missions, including the recent increased emphasis on ocean worlds (Europa, Encelatus, Titan) and also on smaller payloads such as CubeSats and SmallSats.

Calculated occultation profiles of Io and the hot spots

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mcewen, A. S.; Soderblom, L. A.; Matson, D. L.; Johnson, T. V.; Lunine, J. I.

1986-01-01

Occultations of Io by other Galilean satellites in 1985 provide a means to locate volcanic hot spots and to model their temperatures. The expected time variations in the integral reflected and emitted radiation of the occultations are computed as a function of wavelength (visual to 8.7 microns). The best current ephemerides were used to calculate the geometry of each event as viewed from earth. Visual reflectances were modeled from global mosaics of Io. Thermal emission from the hot spots was calculated from Voyager 1 IRIS observations and, for regions unobserved by IRIS, from a model based on the distribution of low-albedo features. The occultations may help determine (1) the location and temperature distribution of Loki; (2) the source(s) of excess emission in the region from long 50 deg to 200 deg and (3) the distribution of small, high-temperature sources.

2014 Summer Series - Robert Carvalho - Pursuing the Mysteries of the Sun: The IRIS Mission

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-06-19

Pursuing the Mysteries of the Sun: The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) Mission. Flight controllers from the IRIS mission will present their individual experiences on IRIS from development through the first year of flight. This will begin with a discussion of the unique nature of IRIS's mission and science, and how it fits into NASA's fleet of solar observatories. Next will be a discussion of the critical roles Ames contributed in the mission including spacecraft and flight software development, ground system development, and training for launch. This will be followed by experiences from launch, early operations, ongoing operations, and unusual operations experiences. The presentation will close with IRIS science imagery and questions.

An Improved Iris Recognition Algorithm Based on Hybrid Feature and ELM

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Juan

2018-03-01

The iris image is easily polluted by noise and uneven light. This paper proposed an improved extreme learning machine (ELM) based iris recognition algorithm with hybrid feature. 2D-Gabor filters and GLCM is employed to generate a multi-granularity hybrid feature vector. 2D-Gabor filter and GLCM feature work for capturing low-intermediate frequency and high frequency texture information, respectively. Finally, we utilize extreme learning machine for iris recognition. Experimental results reveal our proposed ELM based multi-granularity iris recognition algorithm (ELM-MGIR) has higher accuracy of 99.86%, and lower EER of 0.12% under the premise of real-time performance. The proposed ELM-MGIR algorithm outperforms other mainstream iris recognition algorithms.

Applications of the IRI in Southern Africa

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Coetzee, P. J.

2004-01-01

The IRI forms the basis of the Single Site Location Direction Finding networks of the South African Defence Force as well as theNational Intelligence Agency. It is also used in "Path Analysis" applications where the possible transmitter coverage is calculated. Another application of the IRI is in HF frequency predictions, especially for the South African Defence Force involved in peace keeping duties in Africa. The IRI is either used independently or in conjunction with vertical ionosondes. In the latter case the scaled F2 peak parameters (foF2, hmF2) are used as inputs to the IRI. The IRI thus gets "calibrated" to extend the area covered by the ionosonde(s). The IRI has proved to be a very important tool in South Africa and Africa in the fight against crime, drug trafficking, political instability and maintaining the peace in potentially unstable countries.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Interagency ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On August 21, 2013, the draft Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene and the draft charge to external peer reviewers were released for public review and comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene and the charge to external peer reviewers, are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for BaP that will be entered into the IRIS database.

Challenges in diagnosis and management of Cryptococcal immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) in resource limited settings.

PubMed

Musubire, A K; Meya, B D; Mayanja-Kizza, H; Lukande, R; Wiesner, L D; Bohjanen, P; R Boulware, R D

2012-06-01

In many resource-limited settings, cryptococcal meningitis (CM) contributes up to 20% of all deaths with further complications due to Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (IRIS). We present a case report on a patient who developed CM-IRIS and then subsequent CM-relapse with a fluconazole-resistant organism and then later CM-IRIS once again, manifesting as cystic cryptococcomas, hydrocephalus, and sterile CSF. In this case we, demonstrate that CM-IRIS and persistent low level cryptococcal infection are not mutually exclusive phenomena. The management of IRIS with corticosteroids may increase the risk of culture positive CM-relapse which may further increase the risk of recurrent IRIS and resulting complications including death. We also highlight the role of imaging and fluconazole resistance testing in patients with recurrent meningitis and the importance of CSF cultures in guiding treatment decisions.

Optimal wavelength band clustering for multispectral iris recognition.

PubMed

Gong, Yazhuo; Zhang, David; Shi, Pengfei; Yan, Jingqi

2012-07-01

This work explores the possibility of clustering spectral wavelengths based on the maximum dissimilarity of iris textures. The eventual goal is to determine how many bands of spectral wavelengths will be enough for iris multispectral fusion and to find these bands that will provide higher performance of iris multispectral recognition. A multispectral acquisition system was first designed for imaging the iris at narrow spectral bands in the range of 420 to 940 nm. Next, a set of 60 human iris images that correspond to the right and left eyes of 30 different subjects were acquired for an analysis. Finally, we determined that 3 clusters were enough to represent the 10 feature bands of spectral wavelengths using the agglomerative clustering based on two-dimensional principal component analysis. The experimental results suggest (1) the number, center, and composition of clusters of spectral wavelengths and (2) the higher performance of iris multispectral recognition based on a three wavelengths-bands fusion.

IRIS Assessment Plan for Ammonia and Ammonium Salts Noncancer Oral (Scoping and Problem Formulation Materials)

EPA Science Inventory

In April 2018, EPA released the draft IRIS Assessment Plan for Ammonia and Ammonium Salts Noncancer Oral. An IRIS Assessment Plan (IAP) communicates to the public the plan for assessing each individual chemical and includes summary information on the IRIS Program’s sco...

78 FR 53138 - Notice of Extension of Public Comment Period on the Draft IRIS Carcinogenicity Assessment for...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-08-28

... Extension of Public Comment Period on the Draft IRIS Carcinogenicity Assessment for Ethylene Oxide and Addition of Ethylene Oxide to October IRIS Bimonthly Meeting Agenda AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency... Ethylene Oxide to October IRIS Bimonthly Meeting Agenda. SUMMARY: EPA is announcing an extension of the...

Cross-sensor iris recognition through kernel learning.

PubMed

Pillai, Jaishanker K; Puertas, Maria; Chellappa, Rama

2014-01-01

Due to the increasing popularity of iris biometrics, new sensors are being developed for acquiring iris images and existing ones are being continuously upgraded. Re-enrolling users every time a new sensor is deployed is expensive and time-consuming, especially in applications with a large number of enrolled users. However, recent studies show that cross-sensor matching, where the test samples are verified using data enrolled with a different sensor, often lead to reduced performance. In this paper, we propose a machine learning technique to mitigate the cross-sensor performance degradation by adapting the iris samples from one sensor to another. We first present a novel optimization framework for learning transformations on iris biometrics. We then utilize this framework for sensor adaptation, by reducing the distance between samples of the same class, and increasing it between samples of different classes, irrespective of the sensors acquiring them. Extensive evaluations on iris data from multiple sensors demonstrate that the proposed method leads to improvement in cross-sensor recognition accuracy. Furthermore, since the proposed technique requires minimal changes to the iris recognition pipeline, it can easily be incorporated into existing iris recognition systems.

Spectral and Imaging Observations of a Current Sheet Region in a Small-scale Magnetic Reconnection Event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xue, Zhike; Yan, Xiaoli; Yang, Liheng; Wang, Jincheng; Feng, Song; Li, Qiaoling; Ji, Kaifan; Zhao, Li

2018-05-01

We report a possible current sheet region associated with a small-scale magnetic reconnection event by using the spectral and imaging observations of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) and the magnetograms obtained by the Solar Dynamics Observatory on 2016 August 08. The length and width of the current sheet region are estimated to be from 1.4 ± 0.1 Mm to 3.0 ± 0.3 Mm and from 0.34 ± 0.01 Mm to 0.64 ± 0.09 Mm, respectively. The evolutions of the length of the current sheet region are positively correlated with that of the width. These measurements are among the smallest reported. When the IRIS slit scans the current sheet region, the spectroscopic observations show that the Si IV line is broadened in the current sheet region and the plasma has a blueshifted feature at the middle and a redshifted feature at the ends of the current sheet region. The maximum measured blueshifted and redshifted Doppler velocities are ‑20.8 ± 0.9 and 34.1 ± 0.4 km s‑1, respectively. Additionally, the electron number densities of the plasma in the current sheet region are computed to be around 1011 cm‑3 based on the spectrums of the two O IV lines. The emergence, movement, and cancellation of a small sunspot with negative polarity are observed during the formation and shift of the current sheet region. We suggest that the occurrence and evolution of the magnetic reconnection are driven by the movement of the small sunspot in the photosphere.

Mycobacterial Antigen Driven Activation of CD14++CD16− Monocytes Is a Predictor of Tuberculosis-Associated Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome

PubMed Central

Andrade, Bruno B.; Singh, Amrit; Narendran, Gopalan; Schechter, Melissa E.; Nayak, Kaustuv; Subramanian, Sudha; Anbalagan, Selvaraj; Jensen, Stig M. R.; Porter, Brian O.; Antonelli, Lis R.; Wilkinson, Katalin A.; Wilkinson, Robert J.; Meintjes, Graeme; van der Plas, Helen; Follmann, Dean; Barber, Daniel L.; Swaminathan, Soumya; Sher, Alan; Sereti, Irini

2014-01-01

Paradoxical tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) is an aberrant inflammatory response occurring in a subset of TB-HIV co-infected patients initiating anti-retroviral therapy (ART). Here, we examined monocyte activation by prospectively quantitating pro-inflammatory plasma markers and monocyte subsets in TB-HIV co-infected patients from a South Indian cohort at baseline and following ART initiation at the time of IRIS, or at equivalent time points in non-IRIS controls. Pro-inflammatory biomarkers of innate and myeloid cell activation were increased in plasma of IRIS patients pre-ART and at the time of IRIS; this association was confirmed in a second cohort in South Africa. Increased expression of these markers correlated with elevated antigen load as measured by higher sputum culture grade and shorter duration of anti-TB therapy. Phenotypic analysis revealed the frequency of CD14++CD16− monocytes was an independent predictor of TB-IRIS, and was closely associated with plasma levels of CRP, TNF, IL-6 and tissue factor during IRIS. In addition, production of inflammatory cytokines by monocytes was higher in IRIS patients compared to controls pre-ART. These data point to a major role of mycobacterial antigen load and myeloid cell hyperactivation in the pathogenesis of TB-IRIS, and implicate monocytes and monocyte-derived cytokines as potential targets for TB-IRIS prevention or treatment. PMID:25275318

Double hump sign in indentation gonioscopy is correlated with presence of plateau iris configuration regardless of patent iridotomy.

PubMed

Kiuchi, Yoshiaki; Kanamoto, Takashi; Nakamura, Takao

2009-02-01

A plateau iris is one of the clinical forms of angle closure glaucoma. In patients with a patent iridotomy, the double hump sign detected during indentation gonioscopy has been reported to indicate the existence of a plateau iris configuration. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the double hump sign is correlated with the presence of the plateau iris syndrome regardless of the patency of the iridotomy. Five women and 3 men without a patent iridotomy presented with narrow angles on gonioscopy and a double hump sign on indentation gonioscopy. Ultrasound biomicroscopy (UBM) imaging was performed to determine the etiology of the narrow angle and double hump sign, and to determine the appropriate treatment to prevent the progression of visual field damage. Ten patients with narrow angles and without a double hump sign were also examined by UBM to serve as a control group. All 8 patients who showed double hump sign had a short iris root, which was inserted anterior to the ciliary face, a typical anatomic appearance of a plateau iris. On the other hand, only 1 eye of 10 eyes in control group appeared to have a plateau iris. A double hump sign observed on indentation gonioscopy is strongly correlated with the presence of a plateau iris, and therefore a useful indicator of a plateau iris configuration regardless of the patency of a laser iridotomy. Thus, a plateau iris configuration can be detected without using a UBM in many cases.

Iris reconstruction using autologous iris preserved in cold balanced salt solution for 8 hours in iatrogenic total iridodialysis during cataract surgery: a case report.

PubMed

Bang, Seung Pil; Jun, Jong Hwa

2017-04-04

A large iris defect or extensive iridodialysis can be an intractable cause of visual disturbance, photophobia, glare, monocular diplopia, or cosmetic deformity. The implantation of an artificial iris substitute could be an effective option, but this can cause a reduction in endothelial cell density. We succeeded in the anatomical restoration of iris tissue that was totally dialyzed out of the eye, and was preserved in cold balanced salt solution for 8 h. Engrafted iris tissue was maintained within the aqueous humor. A 71-year-old man was referred to our clinic for management of an iatrogenic total iridodialysis. The totally dialyzed iris tissue was immediately preserved in sterile cold balanced salt solution and packed in a sterile biopsy bottle that was surrounded with ice cubes. Under general anesthesia, a pars plana vitrectomy was performed to remove the remaining lens cortex and vitreous fiber anterior to the equator. A sulcus-positioned intraocular lens (IOL) was repositioned and fixed by ab externo scleral sutures. Preserved iris tissue was inserted and ironed using both iris spatula and ocular viscoelastic devices. Five-point ab interno scleral sutures were made 1.0 mm posterior to the limbus. The engrafted iris was successfully maintained for 6 months and did not undergo any atrophic change or depigmentation, which may be caused by primary implantation failure due to a blocked blood supply.

Potential roles for BMP and Pax genes in the development of iris smooth muscle.

PubMed

Jensen, Abbie M

2005-02-01

The embryonic optic cup generates four types of tissue: neural retina, pigmented epithelium, ciliary epithelium, and iris smooth muscle. Remarkably little attention has focused on the development of the iris smooth muscle since Lewis ([1903] J. Am. Anat. 2:405-416) described its origins from the anterior rim of the optic cup neuroepithelium. As an initial step toward understanding iris smooth muscle development, I first determined the spatial and temporal pattern of the development of the iris smooth muscle in the chick by using the HNK1 antibody, which labels developing iris smooth muscle. HNK1 labeling shows that iris smooth muscle development is correlated in time and space with the development of the ciliary epithelial folds. Second, because neural crest is the only other neural tissue that has been shown to generate smooth muscle (Le Lievre and Le Douarin [1975] J. Embryo. Exp. Morphol. 34:125-154), I sought to determine whether iris smooth muscle development shares similarities with neural crest development. Two members of the BMP superfamily, BMP4 and BMP7, which may regulate neural crest development, are highly expressed by cells at the site of iris smooth muscle generation. Third, because humans and mice that are heterozygous for Pax6 mutations have no irides (Hill et al. [1991] Nature 354:522-525; Hanson et al. [1994] Nat. Genet. 6:168-173), I determined the expression of Pax6. I also examined the expression of Pax3 in the developing anterior optic cup. The developing iris smooth muscle coexpresses Pax6 and Pax3. I suggest that some of the eye defects caused by mutations in Pax6, BMP4, and BMP7 may be due to abnormal iris smooth muscle. Copyright 2004 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Irigenin sensitizes TRAIL-induced apoptosis via enhancing pro-apoptotic molecules in gastric cancer cells.

PubMed

Xu, Ying; Gao, Cheng-Cheng; Pan, Zhen-Guo; Zhou, Chuan-Wen

2018-02-12

Tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) holds promising value for cancer therapy due to its capacity to induce apoptosis in cancer cells. Nevertheless, TRAIL therapy is greatly hampered by its resistance. Irigenin (Iri), isoflavonoids, can be isolated from the rhizome of Belamcanda chinensis, and has been shown anti-cancer properties. In this study, we explored if Iri could enhance TRAIL-regulated apoptosis in TRAIL resistant gastric cancer cells. Iri significantly potentiated TRAIL-triggered cytotoxicity. Iri alone and TRAIL alone showed no effective role in apoptosis induction, whereas combined treatment with Iri and TRAIL markedly induced apoptosis in cancer cells, as evidenced by the up-regulation of cleaved Caspase-8/-9/-3 and PARP. Additionally, the sensitization to TRAIL was along with the enhancement of pro-apoptotic proteins, including FAS-associated protein with death domain (FADD), death receptor 5 (DR5) and Bax. And suppressing FADD, DR5 and Bax by si RNA significantly reduced the apoptosis and enhanced the cell viability induced by the co-application of Iri and TRAIL. Moreover, the sensitization to TRAIL was accompanied by the decrease of Cellular-FLICE inhibitory protein (c-FLIP), Bcl-2 and Survivin. Additionally, Iri could sensitize TRAIL to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS). Pre-treatment of N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), ROS scavenger, attenuated Iri plus TRAIL-induced apoptosis and improved cell viability. Finally, combination of Iri and TRAIL inhibited tumor growth in the xenograft model. Collectively, our present study gave new insights into the effects of Iri on potentiating TRAIL-sensitivity, and suggested that Iri could be a potential candidate for sensitizer of TRAIL-resistant cancer cell treatment. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc.

Paradoxical Tuberculosis Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome (TB-IRIS) in HIV Patients with Culture Confirmed Pulmonary Tuberculosis in India and the Potential Role of IL-6 in Prediction

PubMed Central

Porter, Brian O.; Chandrasekhar, Chockalingam; Venkatesan, Perumal; Menon, Pradeep A.; Subramanian, Sudha; Anbalagan, Selvaraj; Bhavani, Kannabiran P.; Sekar, Sathiyavelu; Padmapriyadarshini, Chandrasekaran; Kumar, Satagopan; Ravichandran, Narayanan; Raja, Krishnaraj; Bhanu, Kesavamurthy; Mahilmaran, Ayyamperumal; Sekar, Lakshmanan; Sher, Alan; Sereti, Irini; Swaminathan, Soumya

2013-01-01

Background The incidence, manifestations, outcome and clinical predictors of paradoxical TB-IRIS in patients with HIV and culture confirmed pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in India have not been studied prospectively. Methods HIV+ patients with culture confirmed PTB started on anti-tuberculosis therapy (ATT) were followed prospectively after anti-retroviral therapy (ART) initiation. Established criteria for IRIS diagnosis were used including decline in plasma HIV RNA at IRIS event. Pre-ART plasma levels of interleukin (IL)-6 and C-reactive protein (CRP) were measured. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to evaluate associations between baseline variables and IRIS. Results Of 57 patients enrolled, 48 had complete follow up data. Median ATT-ART interval was 28 days (interquartile range, IQR 14–47). IRIS events occurred in 26 patients (54.2%) at a median of 11 days (IQR: 7–16) after ART initiation. Corticosteroids were required for treatment of most IRIS events that resolved within a median of 13 days (IQR: 9–23). Two patients died due to CNS TB-IRIS. Lower CD4+ T-cell counts, higher plasma HIV RNA levels, lower CD4/CD8 ratio, lower hemoglobin, shorter ATT to ART interval, extra-pulmonary or miliary TB and higher plasma IL-6 and CRP levels at baseline were associated with paradoxical TB-IRIS in the univariate analysis. Shorter ATT to ART interval, lower hemoglobin and higher IL-6 and CRP levels remained significant in the multivariate analysis. Conclusion Paradoxical TB–IRIS frequently complicates HIV-TB therapy in India. IL-6 and CRP may assist in predicting IRIS events and serve as potential targets for immune interventions. PMID:23691062

Interleukin-1 receptor antagonist, a biomarker of response to anti-TB treatment in HIV/TB co-infected patients.

PubMed

Nouhin, Janin; Pean, Polidy; Madec, Yoann; Chevalier, Mathieu F; Didier, Celine; Borand, Laurence; Blanc, François-Xavier; Scott-Algara, Daniel; Laureillard, Didier; Weiss, Laurence

2017-05-01

Despite the high frequency of tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/TB co-infected patients, no diagnostic test is available. Here, we investigated whether monocyte/macrophage activation markers can predict TB-IRIS occurrence and if they are modulated by anti-TB treatment. Frozen plasma was obtained from 127 HIV/TB co-infected adults naïve for antiretroviral therapy, enrolled in the CAMELIA trial, 36 of whom developed TB-IRIS. Concentrations of IL-1Ra, sCD14, and sCD163 were measured at anti-TB treatment onset (baseline), after 8 weeks of anti-TB treatment and at TB-IRIS time. At baseline, IL-1Ra and sCD14 concentrations were similar in TB-IRIS and non-IRIS patients. sCD163 concentrations, although significantly higher in TB-IRIS patients, did not remain associated with TB-IRIS occurrence in multivariate analysis. At the time of TB-IRIS, patients displayed higher concentrations of IL-1Ra (p = 0.002) and sCD14 (p < 0.001). The most striking result was the significant decrease in IL-1Ra after 8 weeks of anti-TB treatment (median reduction: -63% (p < 0.0001)). None of the biomarkers tested was associated with TB-IRIS occurrence. However, repeated measurement of IL-1Ra could help for the diagnosis of TB-IRIS. The substantial reduction of IL-1Ra under treatment suggests that IL-1Ra could be a surrogate biomarker of anti-TB treatment response in HIV-infected patients. Copyright © 2017 The British Infection Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterization of a Quadrotor Unmanned Aircraft System for Aerosol-Particle-Concentration Measurements.

PubMed

Brady, James M; Stokes, M Dale; Bonnardel, Jim; Bertram, Timothy H

2016-02-02

High-spatial-resolution, near-surface vertical profiling of atmospheric chemical composition is currently limited by the availability of experimental platforms that can sample in constrained environments. As a result, measurements of near-surface gradients in trace gas and aerosol particle concentrations have been limited to studies conducted from fixed location towers or tethered balloons. Here, we explore the utility of a quadrotor unmanned aircraft system (UAS) as a sampling platform to measure vertical and horizontal concentration gradients of trace gases and aerosol particles at high spatial resolution (1 m) within the mixed layer (0-100 m). A 3D Robotics Iris+ autonomous quadrotor UAS was outfitted with a sensor package consisting of a two-channel aerosol optical particle counter and a CO2 sensor. The UAS demonstrated high precision in both vertical (±0.5 m) and horizontal positions (±1 m), highlighting the potential utility of quadrotor UAS drones for aerosol- and trace-gas measurements within complex terrain, such as the urban environment, forest canopies, and above difficult-to-access areas such as breaking surf. Vertical profiles of aerosol particle number concentrations, acquired from flights conducted along the California coastline, were used to constrain sea-spray aerosol-emission rates from coastal wave breaking.

Test of SU(3) Symmetry in Hyperon Semileptonic Decays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pham, T. N.

2015-01-01

Existing analyzes of baryon semileptonic decays indicate the presence of a small SU(3) symmetry breaking in hyperon semileptonic decays, but to provide evidence for SU(3) symmetry breaking, one would need a relation similar to the Gell-Mann-Okubo (GMO) baryon mass formula which is satisfied to a few percents, showing evidence for a small SU(3) symmetry breaking effect in the GMO mass formula. In this talk, I would like to present a similar GMO relation obtained in a recent work for hyperon semileptonic decay axial vector current matrix elements. Using these generalized GMO relations for the measured axial vector current to vector current form factor ratios, it is shown that SU(3) symmetry breaking in hyperon semileptonic decays is of 5-11% and confirms the validity of the Cabibbo model for hyperon semi-leptonic decays.

Assessment of IRI-2012, NeQuick-2 and IRI-Plas 2015 models with observed equatorial ionization anomaly in Africa during 2009 sudden stratospheric warming event

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bolaji, O. S.; Oyeyemi, E. O.; Adewale, A. O.; Wu, Q.; Okoh, D.; Doherty, P. H.; Kaka, R. O.; Abbas, M.; Owolabi, C.; Jidele, P. A.

2017-11-01

In Africa, we assessed the performance of all the three options of International Reference Ionosphere 2012, IRI-2012 (i.e. IRI-2001, IRI-2001COR and IRI-NeQuick), NeQuick-2 and IRI-Plas 2015 models prior to and during 2009 sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) event to predict equatorial ionization anomaly (EIA) crest locations and their magnitudes using total electron content (TEC) from experimental records of Global Positioning System (GPS). We confirmed that the IRI-Plas 2015 that appeared as the best compared to all of the models as regard prediction of the EIA crest locations in the northern hemisphere of Africa is due to discontinuities in the GPS data between ∼8° N and 22° N. As regard the predictions of EIA crest magnitudes and the location of EIA crests in the southern hemisphere of Africa, they are not present in all the models. The NeQuick-2 model does not have the capability to predict either the EIA crest location in the northern or southern hemisphere. The SSW effect on the low latitude was able to modify a single EIA crest to pre-noon and post noon EIA crests in the northern hemisphere during the SSW peak phase and significantly reduced the GPS TEC magnitudes over the hemispheres as well. These SSW effects and delays of plasma transportation to higher latitudes in GPS TEC were absent in all the models. For future improvements of IRI-2012, NeQuick-2 and IRI-Plas 2015 models, SSW conditions should be included in order to characterize the effect of lower atmosphere on the ionosphere. The EIA trough modeling is only present in IRI-2001COR and IRI-2001NeQuick options. In the middle latitude, all the model could not predict the location of highest TEC magnitudes found at RBAY (Richardsbay, South Africa).

Establishing Age-Adjusted Reference Ranges for Iris-Related Parameters in Open Angle Eyes with Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography

PubMed Central

Peterson, Jeffrey R.; Blieden, Lauren S.; Chuang, Alice Z.; Baker, Laura A.; Rigi, Mohammed; Feldman, Robert M.; Bell, Nicholas P.

2016-01-01

Purpose Define criteria for iris-related parameters in an adult open angle population as measured with swept source Fourier domain anterior segment optical coherence tomography (ASOCT). Methods Ninety-eight eyes of 98 participants with open angles were included and stratified into 5 age groups (18–35, 36–45, 46–55, 56–65, and 66–79 years). ASOCT scans with 3D mode angle analysis were taken with the CASIA SS-1000 (Tomey Corporation, Nagoya, Japan) and analyzed using the Anterior Chamber Analysis and Interpretation software. Anterior iris surface length (AISL), length of scleral spur landmark (SSL) to pupillary margin (SSL-to-PM), iris contour ratio (ICR = AISL/SSL-to-PM), pupil radius, radius of iris centroid (RICe), and iris volume were measured. Outcome variables were summarized for all eyes and age groups, and mean values among age groups were compared using one-way analysis of variance. Stepwise regression analysis was used to investigate demographic and ocular characteristic factors that affected each iris-related parameter. Results Mean (±SD) values were 2.24 mm (±0.46), 4.06 mm (±0.27), 3.65 mm (±0.48), 4.16 mm (±0.47), 1.14 (±0.04), 1.51 mm2 (±0.23), and 38.42 μL (±4.91) for pupillary radius, RICe, SSL-to-PM, AISL, ICR, iris cross-sectional area, and iris volume, respectively. Both pupillary radius (P = 0.002) and RICe (P = 0.027) decreased with age, while SSL-to-PM (P = 0.002) and AISL increased with age (P = 0.001). ICR (P = 0.54) and iris volume (P = 0.49) were not affected by age. Conclusion This study establishes reference values for iris-related parameters in an adult open angle population, which will be useful for future studies examining the role of iris changes in pathologic states. PMID:26815917

Establishing Age-Adjusted Reference Ranges for Iris-Related Parameters in Open Angle Eyes with Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography.

PubMed

Peterson, Jeffrey R; Blieden, Lauren S; Chuang, Alice Z; Baker, Laura A; Rigi, Mohammed; Feldman, Robert M; Bell, Nicholas P

2016-01-01

Define criteria for iris-related parameters in an adult open angle population as measured with swept source Fourier domain anterior segment optical coherence tomography (ASOCT). Ninety-eight eyes of 98 participants with open angles were included and stratified into 5 age groups (18-35, 36-45, 46-55, 56-65, and 66-79 years). ASOCT scans with 3D mode angle analysis were taken with the CASIA SS-1000 (Tomey Corporation, Nagoya, Japan) and analyzed using the Anterior Chamber Analysis and Interpretation software. Anterior iris surface length (AISL), length of scleral spur landmark (SSL) to pupillary margin (SSL-to-PM), iris contour ratio (ICR = AISL/SSL-to-PM), pupil radius, radius of iris centroid (RICe), and iris volume were measured. Outcome variables were summarized for all eyes and age groups, and mean values among age groups were compared using one-way analysis of variance. Stepwise regression analysis was used to investigate demographic and ocular characteristic factors that affected each iris-related parameter. Mean (±SD) values were 2.24 mm (±0.46), 4.06 mm (±0.27), 3.65 mm (±0.48), 4.16 mm (±0.47), 1.14 (±0.04), 1.51 mm2 (±0.23), and 38.42 μL (±4.91) for pupillary radius, RICe, SSL-to-PM, AISL, ICR, iris cross-sectional area, and iris volume, respectively. Both pupillary radius (P = 0.002) and RICe (P = 0.027) decreased with age, while SSL-to-PM (P = 0.002) and AISL increased with age (P = 0.001). ICR (P = 0.54) and iris volume (P = 0.49) were not affected by age. This study establishes reference values for iris-related parameters in an adult open angle population, which will be useful for future studies examining the role of iris changes in pathologic states.

Spatula scaffold: An iris-sparing technique for lensectomy.

PubMed

Narang, Priya; Agarwal, Amar

2017-12-01

Lensectomy with vitrectomy is often performed for crystalline lenticular subluxation. We report a new technique and a practical approach that involves the placement of a spatula beneath the iris tissue that facilitates retroiridial removal of subluxated lens and acts as a scaffold by protecting the iris tissue from being accidentally trapped into the vitrectomy cutter port. Our technique facilitates management of the lens and vitreous without any trauma to the iris and secondarily obviates the need to perform an iris repair procedure that may arise due to iatrogenic reasons.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia (External Review Draft ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is conducting a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of ammonia that will appear in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for ammonia. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

On-instrument wavefront sensor design for the TMT infrared imaging spectrograph (IRIS) update

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunn, Jennifer; Reshetov, Vladimir; Atwood, Jenny; Pazder, John; Wooff, Bob; Loop, David; Saddlemyer, Leslie; Moore, Anna M.; Larkin, James E.

2014-08-01

The first light instrument on the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project will be the InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). IRIS will be mounted on a bottom port of the facility AO instrument NFIRAOS. IRIS will report guiding information to the NFIRAOS through the On-Instrument Wavefront Sensor (OIWFS) that is part of IRIS. This will be in a self-contained compartment of IRIS and will provide three deployable wavefront sensor probe arms. This entire unit will be rotated to provide field de-rotation. Currently in our preliminary design stage our efforts have included: prototyping of the probe arm to determine the accuracy of this critical component, handling cart design and reviewing different types of glass for the atmospheric dispersion.

IRIS Toxicological Review of 2-Hexanone (Interagency ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 25, 2009, the IRIS Summary and Toxicological Review of 2-hexanone was finalized and loaded onto the IRIS database. The Toxicological Review of 2-hexanone was reviewed internally by EPA, by other federal agencies and White House Offices, by expert external peer reviewers, and by the public. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency draft of the 2-hexanone IRIS assessment are posted on this site. The draft Toxicological Review of 2-hexanone provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard identification and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to 2-hexanone.

IRIS Toxicological Review of n-Butanol (External Review Draft ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is conducting a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of n-butanol that will appear in the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for n-butanol. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,2,3-trichloropropane ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 30, 2009, the IRIS Summary and Toxicological Review of 1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) was finalized and loaded onto the IRIS database. The Toxicological Review of TCP was reviewed internally by EPA, by other federal agencies and White House Offices, by expert external peer reviewers, and by the public. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency draft of the TCP IRIS assessment are posted on this site. This Tox Review provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to 1,2,3-trichloropropane.

Iris unwrapping using the Bresenham circle algorithm for real-time iris recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carothers, Matthew T.; Ngo, Hau T.; Rakvic, Ryan N.; Broussard, Randy P.

2015-02-01

An efficient parallel architecture design for the iris unwrapping process in a real-time iris recognition system using the Bresenham Circle Algorithm is presented in this paper. Based on the characteristics of the model parameters this algorithm was chosen over the widely used polar conversion technique as the iris unwrapping model. The architecture design is parallelized to increase the throughput of the system and is suitable for processing an inputted image size of 320 × 240 pixels in real-time using Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) technology. Quartus software is used to implement, verify, and analyze the design's performance using the VHSIC Hardware Description Language. The system's predicted processing time is faster than the modern iris unwrapping technique used today∗.

Functional maturation of motor nerve terminals in the avian iris: ultrastructure, transmitter metabolism and synaptic reliability

PubMed Central

Pilar, Guillermo; Tuttle, Jeremy; Vaca, Ken

1981-01-01

1. The transformation of easily fatigued embryonic neuromuscular junctions into highly reliable mature terminals was examined by studying functional and morphological changes during development of the avian iris. The mature ability to follow repetitive electrical nerve stimulation was correlated with the rate of acetylcholine (ACh) synthesis and choline uptake, and with the fine structure of the nerve terminals and the post-synaptic elements. 2. The terminals of the ciliary nerve of the chick initially form functional synaptic contacts with the iris muscle at embryonic St. 34-40. At the onset of this period, no Na+-dependent high affinity choline uptake can be demonstrated, and the low level of ACh synthesis present is sensitive to Na+ removal. At St. 36 [3H]ACh synthesis begins to increase, the increment being Na+-dependent. 3. ACh synthesis in the embryonic iris was insensitive to a conditioning [K+]o depolarization even as late as St. 43. Just before hatching, depolarization elicits some augmentation in synthesis, but by 2 days ex ovo this release-induced response has increased by an order of magnitude. 4. Concurrently with the acquisition of the ability to respond to depolarization with accelerated synthesis, neuromuscular transmission in the iris becomes reliable and secure during stimulation at 20 Hz. Embryonic junctions rapidly block during such stimulation, and the failure is shown to be presynaptic in origin, resulting most probably from failure to sustain adequate levels of transmitter release. 5. Ultrastructural examination of the developing ciliary terminals revealed few synaptic vesicles at early stages, and a dearth of other specializations. The sequence of development from these small structurally undistinguished endings to large en plaque junctions completely filled with vesicles was reconstructed and compared to other neuromuscular junctions. Morphological maturation appears progressive with little evidence of discontinuity signalling functional status, but it is only after the terminals enlarge and become closely packed with vesicles that mature synaptic reliability is found. 6. The temporal correlation between responsiveness of transmitter synthesis to depolarization and reliable neuromuscular transmission suggests that modulation of neurotransmitter metabolism in response to demand signals the achievement of junctional maturity. ImagesABPlate 2Plate 3Plate 4 PMID:6279822

On the dispersionless Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation with arbitrary nonlinearity and dimensionality: exact solutions, longtime asymptotics of the Cauchy problem, wave breaking and shocks

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santucci, F.; Santini, P. M.

2016-10-01

We study the generalization of the dispersionless Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (dKP) equation in n+1 dimensions and with nonlinearity of degree m+1, a model equation describing the propagation of weakly nonlinear, quasi one-dimensional waves in the absence of dispersion and dissipation, and arising in several physical contexts, like acoustics, plasma physics, hydrodynamics and nonlinear optics. In 2 + 1 dimensions and with quadratic nonlinearity, this equation is integrable through a novel inverse scattering transform, and it has been recently shown to be a prototype model equation in the description of the two-dimensional wave breaking of localized initial data. In higher dimensions and with higher nonlinearity, the generalized dKP equations are not integrable, but their invariance under motions on the paraboloid allows one to construct in this paper a family of exact solutions describing waves constant on their paraboloidal wave front and breaking simultaneously in all points of it, developing after breaking either multivaluedness or single-valued discontinuous profiles (shocks). Then such exact solutions are used to build the longtime behavior of the solutions of the Cauchy problem, for small and localized initial data, showing that wave breaking of small initial data takes place in the longtime regime if and only if m(n-1)≤slant 2. Lastly, the analytic aspects of such wave breaking are investigated in detail in terms of the small initial data, in both cases in which the solution becomes multivalued after breaking or it develops a shock. These results, contained in the 2012 master’s thesis of one of the authors (FS) [1], generalize those obtained in [2] for the dKP equation in n+1 dimensions with quadratic nonlinearity, and are obtained following the same strategy.

Evidence for two-loop interaction from IRIS and SDO observations of penumbral brightenings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Alissandrakis, C. E.; Koukras, A.; Patsourakos, S.; Nindos, A.

2017-07-01

Aims: We investigate small scale energy release events which can provide clues on the heating mechanism of the solar corona. Methods: We analyzed spectral and imaging data from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) aboard the Solar Dynamics Observatoty (SDO), and magnetograms from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) aboard SDO. Results: We report observations of small flaring loops in the penumbra of a large sunspot on July 19, 2013. Our main event consisted of a loop spanning 15'', from the umbral-penumbral boundary to an opposite polarity region outside the penumbra. It lasted approximately 10 min with a two minute impulsive peak and was observed in all AIA/SDO channels, while the IRIS slit was located near its penumbral footpoint. Mass motions with an apparent velocity of 100 km s-1 were detected beyond the brightening, starting in the rise phase of the impulsive peak; these were apparently associated with a higher-lying loop. We interpret these motions in terms of two-loop interaction. IRIS spectra in both the C II and Si iv lines showed very extended wings, up to about 400 km s-1, first in the blue (upflows) and subsequently in the red wing. In addition to the strong lines, emission was detected in the weak lines of Cl I, O I and C I, as well as in the Mg II triplet lines. Absorption features in the profiles of the C II doublet, the Si iv doublet and the Mg II h and k lines indicate the existence of material with a lower source function between the brightening and the observer. We attribute this absorption to the higher loop and this adds further credibility to the two-loop interaction hypothesis. Tilts were detected in the absorption spectra, as well as in the spectra of Cl I, O I, and C I lines, possibly indicating rotational motions from the untwisting of magnetic flux tubes. Conclusions: We conclude that the absorption features in the C II, Si iv and Mg II profiles originate in a higher-lying, descending loop; as this approached the already activated lower-lying loop, their interaction gave rise to the impulsive peak, the very broad line profiles and the mass motions. Movies associated to Figs. A.1-A.3 are available at http://www.aanda.org

Assessment of the potential of solar thermal small power systems in small utilities

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Steitz, P.; Mayo, L. G.; Perkins, S. P., Jr.

1978-01-01

The potential economic benefit of small solar thermal electric power systems to small municipal and rural electric utilities is assessed. Five different solar thermal small power system configurations were considered in three different solar thermal technologies. The configurations included: (1) 1 MW, 2 MW, and 10 MW parabolic dish concentrators with a 15 kW heat engine mounted at the focal point of each dish, these systems utilized advanced battery energy storage; (2) a 10 MW system with variable slat concentrators and central steam Rankine energy conversion, this system utilized sensible thermal energy storage; and (3) a 50 MW central receiver system consisting of a field of heliostats concentrating energy on a tower-mounted receiver and a central steam Rankine conversion system, this system also utilized sensible thermal storage. The results are summarized in terms of break-even capital costs. The break-even capital cost was defined as the solar thermal plant capital cost which would have to be achieved in order for the solar thermal plants to penetrate 10 percent of the reference small utility generation mix by the year 2000. The calculated break-even capital costs are presented.

Break-even zones for cable yarding by log size

Treesearch

Chris B. LeDoux

1984-01-01

The use of cable logging to extract small pieces of residue wood may result in low rates of production and a high cost per unit of wood produced. However, the logging manager can improve yarding productivity and break-even in cable residue removal operations by using the proper planning techniques. In this study, break-even zones for specific young-growth stands were...

Mitigation of autophagy ameliorates hepatocellular damage following ischemia-reperfusion injury in murine steatotic liver

PubMed Central

Kolachala, Vasantha L.; Jiang, Rong; Abramowsky, Carlos; Shenoi, Asha; Kosters, Astrid; Pavuluri, Haritha; Anania, Frank; Kirk, Allan D.

2014-01-01

Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is a common clinical consequence of hepatic surgery, cardiogenic shock, and liver transplantation. A steatotic liver is particularly vulnerable to IRI, responding with extensive hepatocellular injury. Autophagy, a lysosomal pathway balancing cell survival and cell death, is engaged in IRI, although its role in IRI of a steatotic liver is unclear. The role of autophagy was investigated in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed mice exposed to IRI in vivo and in steatotic hepatocytes exposed to hypoxic IRI (HIRI) in vitro. Two inhibitors of autophagy, 3-methyladenine and bafilomycin A1, protected the steatotic hepatocytes from HIRI. Exendin 4 (Ex4), a glucagon-like peptide 1 analog, also led to suppression of autophagy, as evidenced by decreased autophagy-associated proteins [microtubule-associated protein 1A/1B-light chain 3 (LC3) II, p62, high-mobility group protein B1, beclin-1, and autophagy-related protein 7], reduced hepatocellular damage, and improved mitochondrial structure and function in HFD-fed mice exposed to IRI. Decreased autophagy was further demonstrated by reversal of a punctate pattern of LC3 and decreased autophagic flux after IRI in HFD-fed mice. Under the same conditions, the effects of Ex4 were reversed by the competitive antagonist exendin 9-39. The present study suggests that, in IRI of hepatic steatosis, treatment of hepatocytes with Ex4 mitigates autophagy, ameliorates hepatocellular injury, and preserves mitochondrial integrity. These data suggest that therapies targeting autophagy, by Ex4 treatment in particular, may ameliorate the effects of IRI in highly prevalent steatotic liver. PMID:25258410

Iris alterations after DSAEK.

PubMed

Del Hierro Zarzuelo, A; Boto de Los Bueis, A

2016-09-01

To evaluate a series of case that developed iris changes after performing Descemet's stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK). Retrospective study of eyes that developed iris abnormalities, such as pupil ovalisation, iris atrophy, iridocorneal synechiae, mydriatic pupil, and pigmentary changes after performing DSAEK in a tertiary hospital. In a series of the first 32 DSAEK procedures performed, new single or mixed iris alterations were observed in 12 eyes (37.5%). Iris-corneal synechiae were observed in 7 eyes, corectopias in 9 eyes, iris atrophy in 3 cases, and one case developed an areflexic mydriatic pupil. Long-term pigment dispersion at the edge of the lenticule was observed in 12 eyes. The alterations occurred after three months from the surgery. In the evaluation of the associated factors, malignant glaucoma had occurred in 1 case, 2 eyes had required a second surgery, one case by re-DSAEK, and the other one by removing the intraocular lens due to lens opacification. Two cases had a shallow anterior chamber. No relationship was found between the thickness of the peripheral lenticule and the presence of synechiae. Iris changes regarding DSAEK are possible. A discussion is presented on the relationship between increased intraocular pressure due to air in anterior chamber and its relationship with ischaemia and secondary alterations in the iris. Copyright © 2016 Sociedad Española de Oftalmología. Published by Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Gaze Estimation for Off-Angle Iris Recognition Based on the Biometric Eye Model

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Karakaya, Mahmut; Barstow, Del R; Santos-Villalobos, Hector J

Iris recognition is among the highest accuracy biometrics. However, its accuracy relies on controlled high quality capture data and is negatively affected by several factors such as angle, occlusion, and dilation. Non-ideal iris recognition is a new research focus in biometrics. In this paper, we present a gaze estimation method designed for use in an off-angle iris recognition framework based on the ANONYMIZED biometric eye model. Gaze estimation is an important prerequisite step to correct an off-angle iris images. To achieve the accurate frontal reconstruction of an off-angle iris image, we first need to estimate the eye gaze direction frommore » elliptical features of an iris image. Typically additional information such as well-controlled light sources, head mounted equipment, and multiple cameras are not available. Our approach utilizes only the iris and pupil boundary segmentation allowing it to be applicable to all iris capture hardware. We compare the boundaries with a look-up-table generated by using our biologically inspired biometric eye model and find the closest feature point in the look-up-table to estimate the gaze. Based on the results from real images, the proposed method shows effectiveness in gaze estimation accuracy for our biometric eye model with an average error of approximately 3.5 degrees over a 50 degree range.« less

The International Reference Ionosphere 2012 - a model of international collaboration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bilitza, Dieter; Altadill, David; Zhang, Yongliang; Mertens, Chris; Truhlik, Vladimir; Richards, Phil; McKinnell, Lee-Anne; Reinisch, Bodo

2014-02-01

The International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) project was established jointly by the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) and the International Union of Radio Science (URSI) in the late sixties with the goal to develop an international standard for the specification of plasma parameters in the Earth's ionosphere. COSPAR needed such a specification for the evaluation of environmental effects on spacecraft and experiments in space, and URSI for radiowave propagation studies and applications. At the request of COSPAR and URSI, IRI was developed as a data-based model to avoid the uncertainty of theory-based models which are only as good as the evolving theoretical understanding. Being based on most of the available and reliable observations of the ionospheric plasma from the ground and from space, IRI describes monthly averages of electron density, electron temperature, ion temperature, ion composition, and several additional parameters in the altitude range from 60 km to 2000 km. A working group of about 50 international ionospheric experts is in charge of developing and improving the IRI model. Over time as new data became available and new modeling techniques emerged, steadily improved editions of the IRI model have been published. This paper gives a brief history of the IRI project and describes the latest version of the model, IRI-2012. It also briefly discusses efforts to develop a real-time IRI model. The IRI homepage is at http://IRImodel.org.

IRIS: Supporting & Managing the Research Life-Cycle

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bollini, Andrea; Mennielli, Michele; Mornati, Susanna; Palmer, David T.

2016-01-01

IRIS is a new Current Research Information System (CRIS) developed by Cineca to upgrade and replace two previous solutions that have been used by Italian universities in the last 10 years. At the end of 2015, sixty-three Italian institutions are using IRIS. One of the main components of IRIS is DSpace-CRIS, an open source solution that can also be…

[The automatic iris map overlap technology in computer-aided iridiagnosis].

PubMed

He, Jia-feng; Ye, Hu-nian; Ye, Miao-yuan

2002-11-01

In the paper, iridology and computer-aided iridiagnosis technologies are briefly introduced and the extraction method of the collarette contour is then investigated. The iris map can be overlapped on the original iris image based on collarette contour extraction. The research on collarette contour extraction and iris map overlap is of great importance to computer-aided iridiagnosis technologies.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia (Interagency Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On June 1, 2012, the draft Toxicological Review of Ammonia and the draft charge to external peer reviewers were released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia and the charge to external peer reviewers, are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for ammonia. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

IRIS Toxicological Review of n-Butanol (Interagency Science ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 8, 2011, the Toxicological Review of n-Butanol (External Review Draft) was released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments with EPA's response and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of n-Butanol and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for n-butanol. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

Fluorescein angiography of the iris in anterior segment pigment dispersal syndrome.

PubMed Central

Gillies, W E; Tangas, C

1986-01-01

The results are presented of fluorescein angiography of the iris in 11 patients with anterior segment pigment dispersal syndrome. These show a general hypovascularity of the iris with fine neovascularisation at the pupil margin and the peripupillary area. Hypoplasia of the iris stroma was also present in many cases. When the condition was virtually unilateral, the vascular changes were present though less marked in the relatively unaffected eye. It is postulated that the anterior segment pigment dispersal syndrome is secondary to a congenital mesodermal deficiency of the iris stroma with hypovascularity of the iris, which forms a poor support tissue for the pigment epithelium of the iris, resulting in shedding of pigment granules particularly in the region of the attachment of the dilator muscle to the pigment epithelium. The condition may be hereditary. Because of the hypovascularity the mesodermal hypoplasia may be progressive, but pigment release may diminish in later life with treatment, with consequent diminution of pupil activity. Images PMID:2421760

Feature and Score Fusion Based Multiple Classifier Selection for Iris Recognition

PubMed Central

Islam, Md. Rabiul

2014-01-01

The aim of this work is to propose a new feature and score fusion based iris recognition approach where voting method on Multiple Classifier Selection technique has been applied. Four Discrete Hidden Markov Model classifiers output, that is, left iris based unimodal system, right iris based unimodal system, left-right iris feature fusion based multimodal system, and left-right iris likelihood ratio score fusion based multimodal system, is combined using voting method to achieve the final recognition result. CASIA-IrisV4 database has been used to measure the performance of the proposed system with various dimensions. Experimental results show the versatility of the proposed system of four different classifiers with various dimensions. Finally, recognition accuracy of the proposed system has been compared with existing N hamming distance score fusion approach proposed by Ma et al., log-likelihood ratio score fusion approach proposed by Schmid et al., and single level feature fusion approach proposed by Hollingsworth et al. PMID:25114676

IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5 ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On March 10, 2016, the public comment draft Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine and the draft charge to external peer reviewers were released for public review and comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices are made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation materials provided to other agencies, including interagency review drafts of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine and the charge to external peer reviewers, are posted on this site. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for RDX. The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for RDX that will be entered into the IRIS database.

A hyperspectral imaging system for the evaluation of the human iris spectral reflectance

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Di Cecilia, Luca; Marazzi, Francesco; Rovati, Luigi

2017-02-01

According to previous studies, the measurement of the human iris pigmentation can be exploited to detect certain eye pathological conditions in their early stage. In this paper, we propose an instrument and a method to perform hyperspectral quantitative measurements of the iris spectral reflectance. The system is based on a simple imaging setup, which includes a monochrome camera mounted on a standard ophthalmic microscope movement controller, a monochromator, and a flashing LED-based slit lamp. To assure quantitative measurements, the system is properly calibrated against a NIST reflectance standard. Iris reflectance images can be obtained in the spectral range 495-795 nm with a resolution of 25 nm. Each image consists of 1280 x 1024 pixels having a spatial resolution of 18 μm. Reflectance spectra can be calculated both from discrete areas of the iris and as the average of the whole iris surface. Preliminary results suggest that hyperspectral imaging of the iris can provide much more morphological and spectral information with respect to conventional qualitative colorimetric methods.

A multi-approach feature extractions for iris recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sanpachai, H.; Settapong, M.

2014-04-01

Biometrics is a promising technique that is used to identify individual traits and characteristics. Iris recognition is one of the most reliable biometric methods. As iris texture and color is fully developed within a year of birth, it remains unchanged throughout a person's life. Contrary to fingerprint, which can be altered due to several aspects including accidental damage, dry or oily skin and dust. Although iris recognition has been studied for more than a decade, there are limited commercial products available due to its arduous requirement such as camera resolution, hardware size, expensive equipment and computational complexity. However, at the present time, technology has overcome these obstacles. Iris recognition can be done through several sequential steps which include pre-processing, features extractions, post-processing, and matching stage. In this paper, we adopted the directional high-low pass filter for feature extraction. A box-counting fractal dimension and Iris code have been proposed as feature representations. Our approach has been tested on CASIA Iris Image database and the results are considered successful.

Characterization of iris pattern stretches and application to the measurement of roll axis eye movements.

PubMed

Nishiyama, Junpei; Hashimoto, Tsutomu; Sakashita, Yusuke; Fujiyoshi, Hironobu; Hirata, Yutaka

2008-01-01

Eye movements are utilized in many scientific studies as a probe that reflects the neural representation of 3 dimensional extrapersonal space. This study proposes a method to accurately measure the roll component of eye movements under the conditions in which the pupil diameter changes. Generally, the iris pattern matching between a reference and a test iris image is performed to estimate roll angle of the test image. However, iris patterns are subject to change when the pupil size changes, thus resulting in less accurate roll angle estimation if the pupil sizes in the test and reference images are different. We characterized non-uniform iris pattern contraction/expansion caused by pupil dilation/constriction, and developed an algorithm to convert an iris pattern with an arbitrary pupil size into that with the same pupil size as the reference iris pattern. It was demonstrated that the proposed method improved the accuracy of the measurement of roll eye movement by up to 76.9%.

Feature and score fusion based multiple classifier selection for iris recognition.

PubMed

Islam, Md Rabiul

2014-01-01

The aim of this work is to propose a new feature and score fusion based iris recognition approach where voting method on Multiple Classifier Selection technique has been applied. Four Discrete Hidden Markov Model classifiers output, that is, left iris based unimodal system, right iris based unimodal system, left-right iris feature fusion based multimodal system, and left-right iris likelihood ratio score fusion based multimodal system, is combined using voting method to achieve the final recognition result. CASIA-IrisV4 database has been used to measure the performance of the proposed system with various dimensions. Experimental results show the versatility of the proposed system of four different classifiers with various dimensions. Finally, recognition accuracy of the proposed system has been compared with existing N hamming distance score fusion approach proposed by Ma et al., log-likelihood ratio score fusion approach proposed by Schmid et al., and single level feature fusion approach proposed by Hollingsworth et al.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Tetrahydrofuran (THF) (External ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is conducting a peer review and public comment of the scientific basis supporting the human health hazard and dose-response assessment of tetrahydrofuran (THF) that when finalized will appear on the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) database. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for tetrahydrofuran. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

New methods in iris recognition.

PubMed

Daugman, John

2007-10-01

This paper presents the following four advances in iris recognition: 1) more disciplined methods for detecting and faithfully modeling the iris inner and outer boundaries with active contours, leading to more flexible embedded coordinate systems; 2) Fourier-based methods for solving problems in iris trigonometry and projective geometry, allowing off-axis gaze to be handled by detecting it and "rotating" the eye into orthographic perspective; 3) statistical inference methods for detecting and excluding eyelashes; and 4) exploration of score normalizations, depending on the amount of iris data that is available in images and the required scale of database search. Statistical results are presented based on 200 billion iris cross-comparisons that were generated from 632500 irises in the United Arab Emirates database to analyze the normalization issues raised in different regions of receiver operating characteristic curves.

RELAP5 posttest calculation of IAEA-SPE-4

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Petelin, S.; Mavko, B.; Parzer, I.

The International Atomic Energy Agency`s Fourth Standard Problem Exercise (IAEA-SPE-4) was performed at the PMK-2 facility. The PMK-2 facility is designed to study processes following small- and medium-size breaks in the primary system and natural circulation in VVER-440 plants. The IAEA-SPE-4 experiment represents a cold-leg side small break, similar to the IAEA-SPE-2, with the exception of the high-pressure safety injection being unavailable, and the secondary side bleed and feed initiation. The break valve was located at the dead end of a vertical downcomer, which in fact simulates a break in the reactor vessel itself, and should be unlikely to happenmore » in a real nuclear power plant (NPP). Three different RELAP5 code versions were used for the transient simulation in order to assess the calculations with test results.« less

IRIS Toxicological Review of Tert-Butyl Alcohol (Tert-Butanol) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The IRIS Toxicological Review of tert-Butyl Alcohol (tert-Butanol) was released for external peer review in June 2017. EPA’s Science Advisory Board’s (SAB) Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) will conduct a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the tert-butanol assessment and release a final report of their review. Information regarding the peer review can be found on the SAB website. EPA is conducting an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for tert-butanol. The outcome of this project is a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for tert-butanol that will be entered into the IRIS database.

Iris metastasis as a first manifestation of lung adenocarcinoma.

PubMed

Hernández-Da Mota, S E; Ulaje-Nuñez, J M; Salinas-Gallegos, J L; Rodríguez-Reyes, A

2018-03-23

To describe a case of lung adenocarcinoma for which the first clinical manifestation was an iris metastasis. A 76-year-old male patient came for consultation referring a «pinkish speck» on his right eye. On biomicroscopy examination, a mass was found on the iris of the right eye. Subsequent systemic work-up of the patient revealed a left lung adenocarcinoma. Although uncommon, iris metastasis secondary to lung cancer should be part of differential diagnosis in iris tumours. Copyright © 2018 Sociedad Española de Oftalmología. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

Iris coloboma in one eye and pigment dispersion syndrome in the fellow eye.

PubMed

Galvis, Virgilio; Tello, Alejandro; Valarezo, Paul; Prada, Angélica M

2013-05-22

We report a case of a 43-year-old patient with coloboma of the iris, zonule, ciliary body, choroid and retina in the right eye and pigment dispersion syndrome in the left eye. Considering the hypothesis of the pigment dispersion syndrome pathogenesis in which a difference of pressures in the anterior and posterior chambers creates a posterior convexity of the iris leading to reverse pupillary block, iris touch and consequently causing pigment dispersion, we suggest that the presence of an iris coloboma, by equalising the pressures in the two chambers, prevented the onset of syndrome in that eye.

Pigment dispersion syndrome and pigmentary glaucoma--a major review.

PubMed

Niyadurupola, Nuwan; Broadway, David C

2008-12-01

Pigment dispersion syndrome (PDS) is an interesting condition that can lead to secondary open angle glaucoma. Pigmentary glaucoma is primarily a disease of young people, myopes and men. PDS is characterized by the presence of Krukenberg spindles, iris trans-illumination defects, trabecular meshwork pigmentation and backward bowing of the iris. Posterior bowing of the iris causes rubbing of the pigmented iris epithelium against lens structures, liberation of pigment and trabecular meshwork changes that result in reduced aqueous outflow with the risk of glaucoma. Peripheral laser iridotomy can reverse backward bowing of the iris and may prevent progression of pigmentary glaucoma.

Iris Transponder-Communications and Navigation for Deep Space

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Duncan, Courtney B.; Smith, Amy E.; Aguirre, Fernando H.

2014-01-01

The Jet Propulsion Laboratory has developed the Iris CubeSat compatible deep space transponder for INSPIRE, the first CubeSat to deep space. Iris is 0.4 U, 0.4 kg, consumes 12.8 W, and interoperates with NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN) on X-Band frequencies (7.2 GHz uplink, 8.4 GHz downlink) for command, telemetry, and navigation. This talk discusses the Iris for INSPIRE, it's features and requirements; future developments and improvements underway; deep space and proximity operations applications for Iris; high rate earth orbit variants; and ground requirements, such as are implemented in the DSN, for deep space operations.

Extending the imaging volume for biometric iris recognition.

PubMed

Narayanswamy, Ramkumar; Johnson, Gregory E; Silveira, Paulo E X; Wach, Hans B

2005-02-10

The use of the human iris as a biometric has recently attracted significant interest in the area of security applications. The need to capture an iris without active user cooperation places demands on the optical system. Unlike a traditional optical design, in which a large imaging volume is traded off for diminished imaging resolution and capacity for collecting light, Wavefront Coded imaging is a computational imaging technology capable of expanding the imaging volume while maintaining an accurate and robust iris identification capability. We apply Wavefront Coded imaging to extend the imaging volume of the iris recognition application.

Transition Region and Chromospheric Signatures of Impulsive Heating Events. I. Observations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Warren, Harry P.; Reep, Jeffrey W.; Crump, Nicholas A.; Simões, Paulo J. A.

2016-09-01

We exploit the high spatial resolution and high cadence of the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) to investigate the response of the transition region and chromosphere to energy deposition during a small flare. Simultaneous observations from the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager provide constraints on the energetic electrons precipitating into the flare footpoints, while observations of the X-Ray Telescope, Atmospheric Imaging Assembly, and Extreme Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) allow us to measure the temperatures and emission measures from the resulting flare loops. We find clear evidence for heating over an extended period on the spatial scale of a single IRIS pixel. During the impulsive phase of this event, the intensities in each pixel for the Si IV 1402.770 Å, C II 1334.535 Å, Mg II 2796.354 Å, and O I 1355.598 Å emission lines are characterized by numerous small-scale bursts typically lasting 60 s or less. Redshifts are observed in Si IV, C II, and Mg II during the impulsive phase. Mg II shows redshifts during the bursts and stationary emission at other times. The Si IV and C II profiles, in contrast, are observed to be redshifted at all times during the impulsive phase. These persistent redshifts are a challenge for one-dimensional hydrodynamic models, which predict only short-duration downflows in response to impulsive heating. We conjecture that energy is being released on many small-scale filaments with a power-law distribution of heating rates.

Spontaneous breaking of discrete symmetries in QCD on a small volume

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lucini, B.; Patella, A.; Pica, C.

2007-11-20

In a compact space with non-trivial cycles, for sufficiently small values of the compact dimensions, charge conjugation (C), spatial reflection (P) and time reversal (J) are spontaneously broken in QCD. The order parameter for the symmetry breaking is the trace of the Wilson line wrapping around the compact dimension, which acquires an imaginary part in the broken phase. We show that a physical signature for the symmetry breaking is a persistent baryonic current wrapping in the compact directions. The existence of such a current is derived analytically at first order in perturbation theory and confirmed in the non-perturbative regime bymore » lattice simulations.« less

Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome Unmasking or Worsening AIDS-Related Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy: A Literature Review.

PubMed

Fournier, Anna; Martin-Blondel, Guillaume; Lechapt-Zalcman, Emmanuèle; Dina, Julia; Kazemi, Apolline; Verdon, Renaud; Mortier, Emmanuel; de La Blanchardière, Arnaud

2017-01-01

Incidence of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in HIV-infected patients has declined in the combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) era although a growing number of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related PML-immune reconstitution inflammatory syndromes (PML-IRIS) have been published during the same period. Therapeutic management of PML-IRIS is not consensual and mainly relies on corticosteroids. Our main aim was, in addition to provide a thoughtful analysis of published PML-IRIS cases, to assess the benefit of corticosteroids in the management of PML-IRIS, focusing on confirmed cases. We performed a literature review of the 46 confirmed cases of PML-IRIS cases occurring in HIV-infected patients from 1998 to September 2016 (21 unmasking and 25 paradoxical PML-IRIS). AIDS-related PML-IRIS patients were mostly men (sex ratio 4/1) with a median age of 40.5 years (range 12-66). Median CD4 T cell count before cART and at PML-IRIS onset was 45/μl (0-301) and 101/μl (20-610), respectively. After cART initiation, PML-IRIS occurred within a median timescale of 38 days (18-120). Clinical signs were motor deficits (69%), speech disorders (36%), cognitive disorders (33%), cerebellar ataxia (28%), and visual disturbances (23%). Brain MRI revealed hyperintense areas on T2-weighted sequences and FLAIR images (76%) and suggestive contrast enhancement (87%). PCR for John Cunningham virus (JCV) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was positive in only 84% of cases; however, when performed, brain biopsy confirmed diagnosis of PML in 90% of cases and demonstrated histological signs of IRIS in 95% of cases. Clinical worsening related to PML-IRIS and leading to death was observed in 28% of cases. Corticosteroids were prescribed in 63% of cases and maraviroc in one case. Statistical analysis failed to demonstrate significant benefit from steroid treatment, despite spectacular improvement in certain cases. Diagnosis of PML-IRIS should be considered in HIV-infected patients with worsening neurological symptoms after initiation or resumption of effective cART, independently of CD4 cell count prior to cART. If PCR for JCV is negative in CSF, brain biopsy should be discussed. Only large multicentric randomized trials could potentially demonstrate the possible efficacy of corticosteroids and/or CCR5 antagonists in the management of PML-IRIS.

Immune Reconstitution Inflammatory Syndrome Unmasking or Worsening AIDS-Related Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy: A Literature Review

PubMed Central

Fournier, Anna; Martin-Blondel, Guillaume; Lechapt-Zalcman, Emmanuèle; Dina, Julia; Kazemi, Apolline; Verdon, Renaud; Mortier, Emmanuel; de La Blanchardière, Arnaud

2017-01-01

Incidence of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in HIV-infected patients has declined in the combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) era although a growing number of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS)-related PML-immune reconstitution inflammatory syndromes (PML-IRIS) have been published during the same period. Therapeutic management of PML-IRIS is not consensual and mainly relies on corticosteroids. Our main aim was, in addition to provide a thoughtful analysis of published PML-IRIS cases, to assess the benefit of corticosteroids in the management of PML-IRIS, focusing on confirmed cases. We performed a literature review of the 46 confirmed cases of PML-IRIS cases occurring in HIV-infected patients from 1998 to September 2016 (21 unmasking and 25 paradoxical PML-IRIS). AIDS-related PML-IRIS patients were mostly men (sex ratio 4/1) with a median age of 40.5 years (range 12–66). Median CD4 T cell count before cART and at PML-IRIS onset was 45/μl (0–301) and 101/μl (20–610), respectively. After cART initiation, PML-IRIS occurred within a median timescale of 38 days (18–120). Clinical signs were motor deficits (69%), speech disorders (36%), cognitive disorders (33%), cerebellar ataxia (28%), and visual disturbances (23%). Brain MRI revealed hyperintense areas on T2-weighted sequences and FLAIR images (76%) and suggestive contrast enhancement (87%). PCR for John Cunningham virus (JCV) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was positive in only 84% of cases; however, when performed, brain biopsy confirmed diagnosis of PML in 90% of cases and demonstrated histological signs of IRIS in 95% of cases. Clinical worsening related to PML-IRIS and leading to death was observed in 28% of cases. Corticosteroids were prescribed in 63% of cases and maraviroc in one case. Statistical analysis failed to demonstrate significant benefit from steroid treatment, despite spectacular improvement in certain cases. Diagnosis of PML-IRIS should be considered in HIV-infected patients with worsening neurological symptoms after initiation or resumption of effective cART, independently of CD4 cell count prior to cART. If PCR for JCV is negative in CSF, brain biopsy should be discussed. Only large multicentric randomized trials could potentially demonstrate the possible efficacy of corticosteroids and/or CCR5 antagonists in the management of PML-IRIS. PMID:28588577

BRCA1-IRIS Overexpression Promotes Formation of Aggressive Breast Cancers

PubMed Central

Shimizu, Yoshiko; Luk, Hugh; Horio, David; Miron, Penelope; Griswold, Michael; Iglehart, Dirk; Hernandez, Brenda; Killeen, Jeffrey; ElShamy, Wael M.

2012-01-01

Introduction Women with HER2+ or triple negative/basal-like (TN/BL) breast cancers succumb to their cancer rapidly due, in part to acquired Herceptin resistance and lack of TN/BL-targeted therapies. BRCA1-IRIS is a recently discovered, 1399 residue, BRCA1 locus alternative product, which while sharing 1365 residues with the full-length product of this tumor suppressor gene, BRCA1/p220, it has oncoprotein-like properties. Here, we examine whether BRCA1-IRIS is a valuable treatment target for HER2+ and/or TN/BL tumors. Methodology/Principal Findings Immunohistochemical staining of large cohort of human breast tumor samples using new monoclonal anti-BRCA1-IRIS antibody, followed by correlation of BRCA1-IRIS expression with that of AKT1, AKT2, p-AKT, survivin and BRCA1/p220, tumor status and age at diagnosis. Generation of subcutaneous tumors in SCID mice using human mammary epithelial (HME) cells overexpressing TERT/LT/BRCA1-IRIS, followed by comparing AKT, survivin, and BRCA1/p220 expression, tumor status and aggressiveness in these tumors to that in tumors developed using TERT/LT/RasV12-overexpressing HME cells. Induction of primary and invasive rat mammary tumors using the carcinogen N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (NMU), followed by analysis of rat BRCA1-IRIS and ERα mRNA levels in these tumors. High BRCA1-IRIS expression was detected in the majority of human breast tumors analyzed, which was positively correlated with that of AKT1-, AKT2-, p-AKT-, survivin, but negatively with BRCA1/p220 expression. BRCA1-IRIS-positivity induced high-grade, early onset and metastatic HER2+ or TN/BL tumors. TERT/LT/BRCA1-IRIS overexpressing HME cells formed invasive subcutaneous tumors that express high AKT1, AKT2, p-AKT and vimentin, but no CK19, p63 or BRCA1/p220. NMU-induced primary and invasive rat breast cancers expressed high levels of rat BRCA1-IRIS mRNA but low levels of rat ERα mRNA. Conclusion/Significance BRCA1-IRIS overexpression triggers aggressive breast tumor formation, especially in patients with HER2+ or TN/BL subtypes. We propose that BRCA1-IRIS inhibition may be pursued as a novel therapeutic option to treat these aggressive breast tumor subtypes. PMID:22511931

TRAC-PF1 code verification with data from the OTIS test facility. [Once-Through Intergral System

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Childerson, M.T.; Fujita, R.K.

1985-01-01

A computer code (TRAC-PF1/MOD1) developed for predicting transient thermal and hydraulic integral nuclear steam supply system (NSSS) response was benchmarked. Post-small break loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) data from a scaled, experimental facility, designated the One-Through Integral System (OTIS), were obtained for the Babcock and Wilcox NSSS and compared to TRAC predictions. The OTIS tests provided a challenging small break LOCA data set for TRAC verification. The major phases of a small break LOCA observed in the OTIS tests included pressurizer draining and loop saturation, intermittent reactor coolant system circulation, boiler-condenser mode, and the initial stages of refill. The TRAC code wasmore » successful in predicting OTIS loop conditions (system pressures and temperatures) after modification of the steam generator model. In particular, the code predicted both pool and auxiliary-feedwater initiated boiler-condenser mode heat transfer.« less

HyspIRI Low Latency Concept and Benchmarks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mandl, Dan

2010-01-01

Topics include HyspIRI low latency data ops concept, HyspIRI data flow, ongoing efforts, experiment with Web Coverage Processing Service (WCPS) approach to injecting new algorithms into SensorWeb, low fidelity HyspIRI IPM testbed, compute cloud testbed, open cloud testbed environment, Global Lambda Integrated Facility (GLIF) and OCC collaboration with Starlight, delay tolerant network (DTN) protocol benchmarking, and EO-1 configuration for preliminary DTN prototype.

Iridium Interfacial Stack (IRIS)

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Spry, David James (Inventor)

2015-01-01

An iridium interfacial stack ("IrIS") and a method for producing the same are provided. The IrIS may include ordered layers of TaSi.sub.2, platinum, iridium, and platinum, and may be placed on top of a titanium layer and a silicon carbide layer. The IrIS may prevent, reduce, or mitigate against diffusion of elements such as oxygen, platinum, and gold through at least some of its layers.

Long-term results after artificial iris implantation in patients with aniridia.

PubMed

Rickmann, Annekatrin; Szurman, Peter; Januschowski, Kai; Waizel, Maria; Spitzer, Martin S; Boden, Karl T; Szurman, Gesine B

2016-07-01

The custom-made, flexible artificial iris developed by HumanOptics and Koch can reconstruct the anterior segment of patients with aniridia. The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term clinical outcome and complication spectrum after artificial iris implantation and the role of the embedded fiber mesh in view of specific complications. In this retrospective interventional case series, patients received an artificial iris between 2004 and 2013. Only eyes with a minimum follow-up period of 2 years were included. Indications were congenital, traumatic, or iatrogenic aniridia. The artificial iris was used either with or without embedded fiber mesh for partial or full prostheses. We included 34 patients (mean age 48.8 years; SD ±17.2) with a mean follow-up of 50.0 months (SD ±18.9 months). No repositioning of prostheses was necessary. In cases of keratopathy (17.6 %) visual function increased from baseline mean 1.6 logMAR (SD ±0.7) to 1.2 logMAR (SD ±0.7) after artificial iris implantation. The remaining iris tissue darkened during the follow-up in 23.5 % (83.3 % with and 10.7 % without mesh), 8.8 % developed glaucoma (50 % with and 0 % without mesh) and 14.7 % needed consecutive surgery after prostheses implantation (50 % with and 7.1 % without mesh). In three out of seven trauma cases (42.9 %) silicone oil was spilled into the anterior chamber after 2.5 years on average. The artificial iris prosthesis revealed a good clinical outcome in terms of long-term stability, cosmetic appearance, visual function, and represents a good functional iris diaphragm for compartmentalisation. Complications such as glaucoma, darkening of iris tissue, and need for consecutive anterior segment surgery are clearly associated with implants with integrated fiber mesh, but not to those without. Hence, the use of full iris prostheses without embedded fiber mesh, even in cases with remnant iris, and the use of slightly smaller implants than officially recommended may be beneficial.

Comparison of GPS TEC variations with Holt-Winter method and IRI-2012 over Langkawi, Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Elmunim, N. A.; Abdullah, M.; Hasbi, A. M.; Bahari, S. A.

2017-07-01

The Total Electron Content (TEC) is the ionospheric parameter that has the main effect on radio wave propagation. Therefore, it is crucial to evaluate the performance of the TEC models for the further improvement of the ionospheric modelling in equatorial regions. This work presents an analysis of the TEC, derived from the GPS Ionospheric Scintillation and TEC Monitor (GISTM) receiver at the Langkawi station, Malaysia, located at the geographic coordinates of 6.19°N, 99.51°E and the geomagnetic coordinates of 3.39°S, 172.42°E. The diurnal, monthly and seasonal variations in 2014 of the observed GPS-TEC were compared with the statistical Holt-Winter method and a recent version of the International Reference Ionosphere model (IRI-2012), using three different topside options of an electron density, which are the IRI-2001, IRI01-corr and NeQuick. The maximum peaks of the GPS-TEC were observed in the post-noon time and the minimum was observed during the early morning time. In addition, in monthly variations the Holt-Winter and the IRI-2012 topside options showed an underestimation that was in agreement with the GPS-TEC, except for the IRI-2001 model which showed an overestimation in June, July and August. Regarding the seasonal variation of the GPS-TEC, the lowest values were observed during summer and it reached its maximum value during the equinox season. The IRI-2001 showed the highest value of percentage deviation compared to the IRI01-corr, NeQuick and Holt-Winter method. Therefore, the accuracy of the models was found to be approximately 95% in the Holt-Winter method, 75% in the IRI01-corr, 73% in the NeQuick and 66% in the IRI-2001 model. Hence, it can be inferred that the Holt-Winter method showed a higher performance and better estimates of the TEC compared to the IRI01-corr and NeQuick, while the IRI-2001 showed a poor predictive performance in the equatorial region over Malaysia.

Comparison of GPS-derived TEC with IRI-2012 and IRI-2007 TEC predictions at Surat, a location around the EIA crest in the Indian sector, during the ascending phase of solar cycle 24

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Patel, N. C.; Karia, S. P.; Pathak, K. N.

2017-07-01

This paper presents a comparison of GPS-derived TEC with IRI-2012 and IRI-2007 TEC Predictions at Surat (21.16°N Geographic latitude, 72.78°E Geographic longitude, 12.90°N Geomagnetic latitude) a location around the Equatorial Ionisation Anomaly (EIA) crest in the Indian sector, during the Ascending Phase of Solar Cycle 24, for a period of three years (January 2010-December 2012). In this comparison, plasmaspheric electron content (PEC) contribution to the GPS-TEC has been removed. It is observed that percentage PEC contribution to the GPS-TEC varies from about ∼15% (at the noon local time) to about ∼30% (at the morning local time). From the monthly comparison of GPS-TEC with IRI-TEC, it is observed that, TEC predicted by both the models overestimates in June-2012 and underestimates TEC in November-2011, December-2011 and March-2011. For all other months IRI estimates the TEC well. From the seasonal comparison, it is observed that the peak time appears ∼1-h later than the actual peak time in Winter 2010, Summer 2011, and Equinox 2010 and 2012 (the result suggest that it may be due to discrepancies/disagreement of both the versions of the IRI model in estimating the peak density as well as the thickness and shape parameters of the electron density profiles). For the Summer season, the IRI-TEC estimates the TEC well for all the years. Further, the seasonal variation of the GPS-TEC for all the three years matches well with IRI-2012 model compared to IRI-2007 model. Also, the mean annual TEC is predicted well by both the versions of the IRI model.

Head-to-head comparison of structurally unrelated dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitors in the setting of renal ischemia reperfusion injury.

PubMed

Reichetzeder, Christoph; von Websky, Karoline; Tsuprykov, Oleg; Mohagheghi Samarin, Azadeh; Falke, Luise Gabriele; Dwi Putra, Sulistyo Emantoko; Hasan, Ahmed Abdallah; Antonenko, Viktoriia; Curato, Caterina; Rippmann, Jörg; Klein, Thomas; Hocher, Berthold

2017-07-01

Results regarding protective effects of dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitors in renal ischaemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) are conflicting. Here we have compared structurally unrelated DPP4 inhibitors in a model of renal IRI. IRI was induced in uninephrectomized male rats by renal artery clamping for 30 min. The sham group was uninephrectomized but not subjected to IRI. DPP4 inhibitors or vehicle were given p.o. once daily on three consecutive days prior to IRI: linagliptin (1.5 mg·kg -1 ·day -1 ), vildagliptin (8 mg·kg -1 ·day -1 ) and sitagliptin (30 mg·kg -1 ·day -1 ). An additional group received sitagliptin until study end (before IRI: 30 mg·kg -1 ·day -1 ; after IRI: 15 mg·kg -1 ·day -1 ). Plasma-active glucagon-like peptide type 1 (GLP-1) increased threefold to fourfold in all DPP4 inhibitor groups 24 h after IRI. Plasma cystatin C, a marker of GFR, peaked 48 h after IRI. Compared with the placebo group, DPP4 inhibition did not reduce increased plasma cystatin C levels. DPP4 inhibitors ameliorated histopathologically assessed tubular damage with varying degrees of drug-specific efficacies. Renal osteopontin expression was uniformly reduced by all DPP4 inhibitors. IRI-related increased renal cytokine expression was not decreased by DPP4 inhibition. Renal DPP4 activity at study end was significantly inhibited in the linagliptin group, but only numerically reduced in the prolonged/dose-adjusted sitagliptin group. Active GLP-1 plasma levels at study end were increased only in the prolonged/dose-adjusted sitagliptin treatment group. In rats with renal IRI, DPP4 inhibition did not alter plasma cystatin C, a marker of glomerular function, but may protect against tubular damage. © 2017 The Authors. British Journal of Pharmacology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Pharmacological Society.

An inverse method to determine the mechanical properties of the iris in vivo

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background Understanding the mechanical properties of the iris can help to have an insight into the eye diseases with abnormalities of the iris morphology. Material parameters of the iris were simply calculated relying on the ex vivo experiment. However, the mechanical response of the iris in vivo is different from that ex vivo, therefore, a method was put forward to determine the material parameters of the iris using the optimization method in combination with the finite element method based on the in vivo experiment. Material and methods Ocular hypertension was induced by rapid perfusion to the anterior chamber, during perfusion intraocular pressures in the anterior and posterior chamber were record by sensors, images of the anterior segment were captured by the ultrasonic system. The displacement of the characteristic points on the surface of the iris was calculated. A finite element model of the anterior chamber was developed using the ultrasonic image before perfusion, the multi-island genetic algorithm was employed to determine the material parameters of the iris by minimizing the difference between the finite element simulation and the experimental measurements. Results Material parameters of the iris in vivo were identified as the iris was taken as a nearly incompressible second-order Ogden solid. Values of the parameters μ1, α1, μ2 and α2 were 0.0861 ± 0.0080 MPa, 54.2546 ± 12.7180, 0.0754 ± 0.0200 MPa, and 48.0716 ± 15.7796 respectively. The stability of the inverse finite element method was verified, the sensitivity of the model parameters was investigated. Conclusion Material properties of the iris in vivo could be determined using the multi-island genetic algorithm coupled with the finite element method based on the experiment. PMID:24886660

Conventional alpha beta (αβ) T cells do not contribute to acute intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury in mice.

PubMed

Yu, Yi; Feng, Xiaoyan; Vieten, Gertrud; Dippel, Stephanie; Imvised, Tawan; Gueler, Faikah; Ure, Benno M; Kuebler, Jochen F; Klemann, Christian

2017-01-01

Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is associated with significant patient mortality and morbidity. The complex cascade of IRI is incompletely understood, but inflammation is known to be a key mediator. In addition to the predominant innate immune responses, previous research has also indicated that αβ T cells contribute to IRI in various organ models. The aim of this study was to clarify the role αβ T cells play in IRI to the gut. Adult wild-type (WT) and αβ T cell-deficient mice were subjected to acute intestinal IRI with 30min ischemia followed by 4h reperfusion. The gene expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines was measured by qPCR, and the influx of leukocyte subpopulations in the gut was assessed via flow cytometry and histology. Pro-inflammatory cytokines in the serum were measured, and transaminases were assessed as an indicator of distant organ IRI. Intestinal IRI led to an increased expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the gut tissue and an influx of leukocytes that predominantly consisted of neutrophils and macrophages. Furthermore, intestinal IRI increased serum IL-6, TNF-α, and ALT/AST levels. The αβ T cell-deficient mice did not exhibit a more significant increase in pro-inflammatory cytokines in the gut or serum following IR than the WT mice. There was also no difference between WT- and αβ T cell-deficient mice in terms of neutrophil infiltration or macrophage activation. Furthermore, the increase in transaminases was equal in both groups indicating that the level of distant organ injury was comparable. An increasing body of evidence demonstrates that αβ T cells play a key role in IRI. In the gut, however, αβ T cells are not pivotal in the first hours following acute IRI as deficiency does not impact cytokine production, neutrophil recruitment, macrophage activation, or distant organ injury. Thus, αβ T cells may be considered innocent bystanders during the acute phase of intestinal IRI.

Clinical case definition and manifestations of paradoxical tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome.

PubMed

Manosuthi, Weerawat; Van Tieu, Hong; Mankatitham, Wiroj; Lueangniyomkul, Aroon; Ananworanich, Jintanat; Avihingsanon, Anchalee; Siangphoe, Umaporn; Klongugkara, Sukonsri; Likanonsakul, Sirirat; Thawornwan, Unchana; Suntisuklappon, Bussakorn; Sungkanuparph, Somnuek

2009-11-27

The International Network for the Study of HIV-associated IRIS (INSHI) recently published criteria for tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (TB-IRIS) diagnosis. The performance of this definition and clinical manifestations of TB-IRIS were studied. Antiretroviral therapy-naive HIV/TB Thai patients receiving antituberculous therapy were enrolled during 2006-2007 and prospectively followed through 24 weeks of antiretroviral therapy. Patients were defined as having paradoxical TB-IRIS if they fulfilled the 'study definition' by French 2004 and were confirmed by an external reviewer. All were later compared by the classification according to 'INSHI-2008'. For the 126 patients, median baseline CD4 cell count was 43 cells/microl and HIV-1 RNA was 5.9 log(10) Y copies/ml. Seventy-three (58%) had extrapulmonary/disseminated TB. Twenty-two (18%) and 21 (17%) fulfilled TB-IRIS criteria according to the study definition and INSHI-2008 definition, respectively. Two (2%) were diagnosed by study definition only and one (1%) by INSHI-2008 definition only. Twenty (16%) were concordantly diagnosed by both definitions and 103 (82%) were consistently negative. Eighteen (82%) had worsening of a preexisting site, whereas four (18%) had TB-IRIS in a new location. Lymph node enlargement (73%) and fever (59%) were common in TB-IRIS. Sensitivity and specificity of INSHI-2008 was 91% (95% confidence interval, 72-98%) and 99% (95% confidence interval, 95-99.8%), respectively. Positive predictive value was 95% and negative predictive value was 98%. By multivariate analysis, factors predicting TB-IRIS were extrapulmonary TB (odds ratio, 8.63) and disseminated TB (odds ratio, 4.17). There was high concordance between the INSHI-2008 and French 2004 definition for TB-IRIS diagnosis in HIV/TB patients with relatively high rate of paradoxical TB-IRIS. This suggests that lack of HIV-1 RNA and CD4 cell count monitoring does not impede the ability to diagnose TB-IRIS.

TB-IRIS and remodelling of the T cell compartment in highly immunosuppressed HIV+ patients with TB: the CAPRI T (ANRS-12614) study

PubMed Central

Haridas, V.; Pean, P.; Jasenosky, L.D.; Madec, Y.; Laureillard, D.; Sok, T.; Sath, S.; Borand, L.; Marcy, O.; Chan, S.; Tsitsikov, E.; Delfraissy, J.-F.; Blanc, F.-X.; Goldfeld, A.E.

2015-01-01

Objective To investigate the impact of tuberculosis (TB)-associated immune reconstitution syndrome (IRIS) upon immunological recovery and the T cell compartment after initiation of TB and antiretroviral therapy (ART). Design and methods We prospectively evaluated T cell immunophenotypes by flow cytometry and cytokines by Luminex assays in a subset (n=154) of highly immunosuppressed HIV+ patients with TB from the CAMELIA randomized clinical trial. We compared findings from patients who developed TB-IRIS to findings from patients who did not develop TB-IRIS. Data were evaluated with mixed effect linear regression, Kaplan-Meier estimates, and Wilcoxon rank sum tests, and q-values were calculated to control for multiple comparisons. Results Development of TB-IRIS was associated with significantly greater pre-ART frequencies of HLA-DR+CD45RO+CD4+, CCR5+CD4+, OX40+CD4+, and Fas+ effector memory (EM) CD8+ T cells, and significantly elevated levels of plasma IL-6, IL-1β, IL-8, and IL-10 and viral load. Post-ART initiation, EM CD4+ and Fas+ EM CD4+ T cell frequencies significantly expanded, and central memory (CM) CD4+ T cell frequencies significantly contracted in patients who experienced TB-IRIS. By week 34 post-TB treatment initiation, EM/CM CD4+ T cell ratios were markedly higher in TB-IRIS versus non-TB-IRIS patients. Conclusions A distinct pattern of pre-ART T cell and cytokine markers appear to poise the immune response to develop TB-IRIS. Experience of TB-IRIS is then associated with long-term remodeling of the CD4+ T cell memory compartment towards an EM-dominated phenotype. We speculate that these pre- and post-ART TB-IRIS-associated immune parameters may contribute to superior immune control of TB/HIV co-infection and better clinical outcome. PMID:25486415

Comparison of clinical outcomes of iris fixation and scleral fixation as treatment for intraocular lens dislocation.

PubMed

Kim, Kyeong Hwan; Kim, Wan Soo

2015-09-01

To compare the efficacy and safety of iris fixation with scleral fixation in surgical repositioning of dislocated intraocular lenses (IOLs). Retrospective, consecutive, comparative interventional case series. setting: Referral hospital. Seventy-eight consecutive patients who underwent surgical repositioning of dislocated intraocular lenses using suturing to the sclera or iris. Forty-four eyes of 44 patients underwent scleral fixation and 35 eyes of 34 patients underwent iris fixation of dislocated intraocular lenses. Visual acuity, refractive stability, operation time, and perioperative complications, including recurrence of IOL dislocation. Corrected distance visual acuity (CDVA) improved significantly 1 month postoperatively in both groups (P < .01 each), and remained stable for 12 months. One week postoperatively, however, CDVA improved significantly in the scleral fixation (P = .040) but not in the iris fixation (P = .058) group. The amount of refractive error significantly diminished 1 day after surgery (P = .028 in the scleral fixation and P = .046 in the iris fixation group). For the astigmatic components, Jackson crossed cylinders equivalent to conventional cylinders of positive power at axes of 0 degrees (J0) and 45 degrees (J45), J45 differed significantly in the scleral fixation and iris fixation groups (P = .009), whereas J0 was similar (P > .05). Operation time was significantly shorter (P = .0007), while immediate postoperative inflammation was significantly more severe (P = .001), in the iris fixation than in the scleral fixation group. Recurrence rates were similar (P > .05), but the mean time to recurrence was significantly shorter in the iris fixation than in the scleral fixation group (P = .031). Iris fixation and scleral fixation techniques had similar efficacy in the repositioning of dislocated intraocular lenses. Although operation time was shorter for iris fixation, it had several disadvantages, including induced astigmatism, immediate postoperative inflammation, earlier recurrence, and less stable refraction. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spectral analysis software improves confidence in plant and soil water stable isotope analyses performed by isotope ratio infrared spectroscopy (IRIS).

PubMed

West, A G; Goldsmith, G R; Matimati, I; Dawson, T E

2011-08-30

Previous studies have demonstrated the potential for large errors to occur when analyzing waters containing organic contaminants using isotope ratio infrared spectroscopy (IRIS). In an attempt to address this problem, IRIS manufacturers now provide post-processing spectral analysis software capable of identifying samples with the types of spectral interference that compromises their stable isotope analysis. Here we report two independent tests of this post-processing spectral analysis software on two IRIS systems, OA-ICOS (Los Gatos Research Inc.) and WS-CRDS (Picarro Inc.). Following a similar methodology to a previous study, we cryogenically extracted plant leaf water and soil water and measured the δ(2)H and δ(18)O values of identical samples by isotope ratio mass spectrometry (IRMS) and IRIS. As an additional test, we analyzed plant stem waters and tap waters by IRMS and IRIS in an independent laboratory. For all tests we assumed that the IRMS value represented the "true" value against which we could compare the stable isotope results from the IRIS methods. Samples showing significant deviations from the IRMS value (>2σ) were considered to be contaminated and representative of spectral interference in the IRIS measurement. Over the two studies, 83% of plant species were considered contaminated on OA-ICOS and 58% on WS-CRDS. Post-analysis, spectra were analyzed using the manufacturer's spectral analysis software, in order to see if the software correctly identified contaminated samples. In our tests the software performed well, identifying all the samples with major errors. However, some false negatives indicate that user evaluation and testing of the software are necessary. Repeat sampling of plants showed considerable variation in the discrepancies between IRIS and IRMS. As such, we recommend that spectral analysis of IRIS data must be incorporated into standard post-processing routines. Furthermore, we suggest that the results from spectral analysis be included when reporting stable isotope data from IRIS. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

S-Adenosylmethionine attenuates bile duct early warm ischemia reperfusion injury after rat liver transplantation.

PubMed

Tang, Yong; Chu, Hongpeng; Cao, Guojun; Du, Xiaolong; Min, Xiaobo; Wan, Chidan

2018-03-01

Warm ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) plays a key role in biliary complication, which is a substantial vulnerability of liver transplantation. The early pathophysiological changes of IRI are characterized by an excessive inflammatory response. S-Adenosylmethionine (SAM) is an important metabolic intermediate that modulates inflammatory reactions; however, its role in bile duct warm IRI is not known. In this study, male rats were treated with or without SAM (170 μmol/kg body weight) after orthotopic autologous liver transplantation. The histopathological observations showed that bile duct injury in the IRI group was more serious than in the SAM group. The alanine aminotransferase (ALT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and direct bilirubin (DBIL) levels in the serum of the IRI group were significantly increased compared to the SAM group (P < .05). Simultaneously, SAM effectively improved the survival of the transplant recipients. Furthermore, the H 2 O 2 and malondialdehyde (MDA) of the IRI group were much higher compared to the SAM group (P < .05). The GSH/GSSG ratio in the SAM group was significantly increased by SAM treatment compared to the IRI group (P < .05). SAM administration significantly inhibited macrophage infiltration in liver and bile duct tissues, down-regulated TNF-α levels and up-regulated IL-10 expression in bile duct tissues compared to the IRI group (P < .05). The number of apoptotic biliary epithelial cells and caspase-3-positive cells in IRI rat livers were much higher compared to those in SAM-treated rats at 24 h after liver transplantation (P < .05). These data suggested that SAM protected bile ducts against warm IRI by suppressing oxidative stress, inflammatory reactions and apoptosis of biliary epithelial cells after liver transplantation.α. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Ice-binding proteins confer freezing tolerance in transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana.

PubMed

Bredow, Melissa; Vanderbeld, Barbara; Walker, Virginia K

2017-01-01

Lolium perenne is a freeze-tolerant perennial ryegrass capable of withstanding temperatures below -13 °C. Ice-binding proteins (IBPs) presumably help prevent damage associated with freezing by restricting the growth of ice crystals in the apoplast. We have investigated the expression, localization and in planta freezing protection capabilities of two L. perenne IBP isoforms, LpIRI2 and LpIRI3, as well as a processed IBP (LpAFP). One of these isoforms, LpIRI2, lacks a conventional signal peptide and was assumed to be a pseudogene. Nevertheless, both LpIRI2 and LpIRI3 transcripts were up-regulated following cold acclimation. LpIRI2 also demonstrated ice-binding activity when produced recombinantly in Escherichia coli. Both the LpIRI3 and LpIRI2 isoforms appeared to accumulate in the apoplast of transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants. In contrast, the fully processed isoform, LpAFP, remained intracellular. Transgenic plants expressing either LpIRI2 or LpIRI3 showed reduced ion leakage (12%-39%) after low-temperature treatments, and significantly improved freezing survival, while transgenic LpAFP-expressing lines did not confer substantial subzero protection. Freeze protection was further enhanced by with the introduction of more than one IBP isoform; ion leakage was reduced 26%-35% and 10% of plants survived temperatures as low as -8 °C. Our results demonstrate that apoplastic expression of multiple L. perenne IBP isoforms shows promise for providing protection to crops susceptible to freeze-induced damage. © 2016 The Authors. Plant Biotechnology Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and The Association of Applied Biologists and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Cardiac-Specific SOCS3 Deletion Prevents In Vivo Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury through Sustained Activation of Cardioprotective Signaling Molecules.

PubMed

Nagata, Takanobu; Yasukawa, Hideo; Kyogoku, Sachiko; Oba, Toyoharu; Takahashi, Jinya; Nohara, Shoichiro; Minami, Tomoko; Mawatari, Kazutoshi; Sugi, Yusuke; Shimozono, Koutatsu; Pradervand, Sylvain; Hoshijima, Masahiko; Aoki, Hiroki; Fukumoto, Yoshihiro; Imaizumi, Tsutomu

2015-01-01

Myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) adversely affects cardiac performance and the prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction. Although myocardial signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 is potently cardioprotective during IRI, the inhibitory mechanism responsible for its activation is largely unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the role of the myocardial suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS)-3, an intrinsic negative feedback regulator of the Janus kinase (JAK)-STAT signaling pathway, in the development of myocardial IRI. Myocardial IRI was induced in mice by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery for 1 h, followed by different reperfusion times. One hour after reperfusion, the rapid expression of JAK-STAT-activating cytokines was observed. We precisely evaluated the phosphorylation of cardioprotective signaling molecules and the expression of SOCS3 during IRI and then induced myocardial IRI in wild-type and cardiac-specific SOCS3 knockout mice (SOCS3-CKO). The activation of STAT3, AKT, and ERK1/2 rapidly peaked and promptly decreased during IRI. This decrease correlated with the induction of SOCS3 expression up to 24 h after IRI in wild-type mice. The infarct size 24 h after reperfusion was significantly reduced in SOCS3-CKO compared with wild-type mice. In SOCS3-CKO mice, STAT3, AKT, and ERK1/2 phosphorylation was sustained, myocardial apoptosis was prevented, and the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1) was augmented. Cardiac-specific SOCS3 deletion led to the sustained activation of cardioprotective signaling molecules including and prevented myocardial apoptosis and injury during IRI. Our findings suggest that SOCS3 may represent a key factor that exacerbates the development of myocardial IRI.

Cardiac-Specific SOCS3 Deletion Prevents In Vivo Myocardial Ischemia Reperfusion Injury through Sustained Activation of Cardioprotective Signaling Molecules

PubMed Central

Nagata, Takanobu; Yasukawa, Hideo; Kyogoku, Sachiko; Oba, Toyoharu; Takahashi, Jinya; Nohara, Shoichiro; Minami, Tomoko; Mawatari, Kazutoshi; Sugi, Yusuke; Shimozono, Koutatsu; Pradervand, Sylvain; Hoshijima, Masahiko; Aoki, Hiroki; Fukumoto, Yoshihiro; Imaizumi, Tsutomu

2015-01-01

Myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (IRI) adversely affects cardiac performance and the prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction. Although myocardial signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) 3 is potently cardioprotective during IRI, the inhibitory mechanism responsible for its activation is largely unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the role of the myocardial suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS)-3, an intrinsic negative feedback regulator of the Janus kinase (JAK)-STAT signaling pathway, in the development of myocardial IRI. Myocardial IRI was induced in mice by ligating the left anterior descending coronary artery for 1 h, followed by different reperfusion times. One hour after reperfusion, the rapid expression of JAK-STAT–activating cytokines was observed. We precisely evaluated the phosphorylation of cardioprotective signaling molecules and the expression of SOCS3 during IRI and then induced myocardial IRI in wild-type and cardiac-specific SOCS3 knockout mice (SOCS3-CKO). The activation of STAT3, AKT, and ERK1/2 rapidly peaked and promptly decreased during IRI. This decrease correlated with the induction of SOCS3 expression up to 24 h after IRI in wild-type mice. The infarct size 24 h after reperfusion was significantly reduced in SOCS3-CKO compared with wild-type mice. In SOCS3-CKO mice, STAT3, AKT, and ERK1/2 phosphorylation was sustained, myocardial apoptosis was prevented, and the expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 family member myeloid cell leukemia-1 (Mcl-1) was augmented. Cardiac-specific SOCS3 deletion led to the sustained activation of cardioprotective signaling molecules including and prevented myocardial apoptosis and injury during IRI. Our findings suggest that SOCS3 may represent a key factor that exacerbates the development of myocardial IRI. PMID:26010537

Customized humanoptics silicone iris prosthesis in eyes with posttraumatic iris loss: outcomes and complications.

PubMed

Spitzer, Martin Stephan; Nessmann, Anja; Wagner, Julia; Yoeruek, Efdal; Bartz-Schmidt, Karl Ulrich; Szurman, Peter; Szurman, Gesine B

2016-05-01

Posttraumatic partial or total iris defects often cause significant debilitating glare, photophobia, decreased vision and cosmetic problems. Currently, the best cosmetic results can be obtained with a customized silicone iris prosthesis. However, little is known about the functional results and the rate of complication if this type of iris prosthesis is implanted into severely traumatized eyes. The aim of this study is to analyse the functional and cosmetic outcomes as well as complications after Artificial Iris implantation. A consecutive series of 34 patients who received a customized silicone iris prosthesis after severe globe injury with total or sub-total iris loss was analysed retrospectively. Additionally, patients were interviewed regarding change in subjective complaints. Median follow-up was 24 months (range 12.0-48.8). Mean visual acuity prior to Artificial Iris implantation was 1.1 logMAR (range 0.3-2.6). Five patients (15%) had pre-existing glaucoma and eight patients (24%) had pre-existing hypotony. Visual acuity 12 months after surgery was 1.4 logMAR (range 0.2-2.6). Complications included newly diagnosed glaucoma in three eyes (9%) and hypotony in three eyes (9%), persisting intraocular inflammation or macular oedema in seven patients (21%), and corneal endothelial decompensation requiring corneal transplantation in six patients (18%). Patients' satisfaction increased by reducing glare and enhanced cosmetic appearance. The customized silicone iris prosthesis is an individualized treatment approach with appealing cosmetic results. Therefore, especially traumatized eyes with highly different posttraumatic conditions could benefit. However, in some patients, the implantation of this device may cause an increase of intraocular pressure, corneal endothelial decompensation or persisting inflammation. © 2016 Acta Ophthalmologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography for Identification of Iris Vasculature and Staging of Iris Neovascularization: A Pilot Study.

PubMed

Roberts, Philipp K; Goldstein, Debra A; Fawzi, Amani A

2017-08-01

Purpose/Aim of the study: To assess the ability of optical coherence tomographic angiography (OCTA) to visualize the normal iris vasculature as well as neovascularization of the iris (NVI). Study participants with healthy eyes, patients at risk of NVI development and patients with active or regressed NVI were consecutively included in this cross-sectional observational study. Imaging was performed using a commercially available OCTA system (RTVue- XR Avanti, Optovue Inc., Fremont, CA, USA). Abnormal iris vessels were graded on OCTA according to a modified clinical staging system and compared to slitlamp and gonioscopic findings. Fifty eyes of 26 study participants (16 healthy eyes, 19 eyes at risk, 15 eyes with different stages of NVI) were imaged using OCTA. In 11 out of 16 healthy eyes (69%) with light or moderately dark iris pigmentation, we observed physiological, radially aligned iris vasculature on OCTA imaging, which could not be visualized in five eyes (31%) with darkly pigmented irides. One eye in the "eyes at risk" group was diagnosed with NVI based on OCTA, which was not observed clinically. Fifteen eyes with clinically active or regressed NVI were imaged. Different stages of NVI could be differentiated by OCTA, corresponding well to an established clinical grading system. Four eyes showed regressed NVI by OCTA, not seen clinically, and were graded as a newly defined stage 4. This pilot clinical study showed that OCTA for imaging of the iris vasculature in health and disease is highly dependent on iris pigmentation. Fine, clinically invisible iris vessels can be visualized by OCTA in the very early stages as well as in the regressed stage of NVI.

Iris concavity, corneal biomechanics, and their correlations with ocular biometry in a cohort of 10- to 12-year-old UK school boys: baseline data.

PubMed

Shah, Ameet; Low, Sancy; Garway-Heath, David F; Foster, Paul J; Barton, Keith

2014-04-17

Pigment dispersion syndrome is associated with iris concavity. This study investigated the prevalence of iris concavity, defined as a measurement of ≤-0.1 mm, in a cohort of 10- to 12-year-old boys, and explored the relationship between iris curvature and anterior segment biometry. Associations with corneal biomechanical parameters also were explored. A cohort of school boys (n = 96) was recruited from a local school. Anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) was performed under accommodative and nonaccommodative conditions, and iris curvature quantified. Corneal hysteresis (CH) and corneal resistance factor (CRF) were measured with the ocular response analyzer (ORA). Noncontact axial biometry was performed using laser interferometry. The prevalence of iris concavity was 24% on distance fixation, increasing to 65% on accommodation. Variables significantly associated with nonaccommodating iris curvature were lens vault (P = 0.02) and mean keratometry (P = 0.02). For both variables acting jointly, R(2) = 0.30. Variables associated significantly with accommodating iris curvature were anterior chamber depth (P = 0.009), lens vault (P = 0.049), and mean scleral spur angle (P < 0.0001). For these three variables acting jointly, R(2) = 0.33. Significant association was found between CH and spur-to-spur distance (R(2) = 0.07, P = 0.025). Iris concavity was a common finding in this cohort and related to anterior segment biometric parameters. Further work is required to clarify whether anatomical differences exist between iris concavity seen in the adolescent eye and that found in adults with pigment dispersion syndrome. Copyright 2014 The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc.

Relationship between iris surface features and angle width in Asian eyes.

PubMed

Sidhartha, Elizabeth; Nongpiur, Monisha Esther; Cheung, Carol Y; He, Mingguang; Wong, Tien Yin; Aung, Tin; Cheng, Ching-Yu

2014-10-23

To examine the associations between iris surface features with anterior chamber angle width in Asian eyes. In this prospective cross-sectional study, we recruited 600 subjects from a large population-based study, the Singapore Epidemiology of Eye Diseases (SEED) study. We obtained standardized digital slit-lamp iris photographs and graded the iris crypts (by number and size), furrows (by number and circumferential extent), and color (higher grade denoting darker iris). Vertical and horizontal cross-sections of anterior chamber were imaged using anterior segment optical coherence tomography. Angle opening distance (AOD), angle recess area (ARA), and trabecular-iris space area (TISA) were measured using customized software. Associations of the angle width with the iris surface features in the subject's right eyes were assessed using linear regression analysis. A total of 464 eyes of the 464 subjects (mean age: 57.5 ± 8.6 years) had complete and gradable data for crypts and color, and 423 eyes had gradable data for furrows. After adjustment for age, sex, ethnicity, pupil size, and corneal arcus, higher crypt grade was independently associated with wider AOD750 (β [change in angle width per grade higher] = 0.018, P = 0.023), ARA750 (β = 0.022, P = 0.049), and TISA750 (β = 0.011, P = 0.019), and darker iris was associated narrower ARA750 (β = -0.025, P = 0.044) and TISA750 (β = -0.013, P = 0.011). Iris surface features, assessed and measured from slit-lamp photographs, correlated well with anterior chamber angle width; irises with more crypts and lighter color were associated with wider angle. These findings may provide another imaging modality to assess angle closure risk based on iris surface features. Copyright 2014 The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Inc.

Anterior Segment Optical Coherence Tomography Angiography for Identification of Iris Vasculature and Staging of Iris Neovascularization: A Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Roberts, Philipp K.; Goldstein, Debra A.; Fawzi, Amani A.

2017-01-01

Purpose/Aim of the study To assess the ability of optical coherence tomographic angiography (OCTA) to visualize the normal iris vasculature as well as neovascularization of the iris (NVI). Materials and Methods Study participants with healthy eyes, patients at risk of NVI development and patients with active or regressed NVI were consecutively included in this cross-sectional observational study. Imaging was performed using a commercially available OCTA system (RTVue- XR Avanti, Optovue Inc., Fremont, CA, USA). Abnormal iris vessels were graded on OCTA according to a modified clinical staging system and compared to slitlamp and gonioscopic findings. Results Fifty eyes of 26 study participants (16 healthy eyes, 19 eyes at risk, 15 eyes with different stages of NVI) were imaged using OCTA. In 11 out of 16 healthy eyes (69%) with light or moderately dark iris pigmentation, we observed physiological, radially aligned iris vasculature on OCTA imaging, which could not be visualized in five eyes (31%) with darkly pigmented irides. One eye in the “eyes at risk” group was diagnosed with NVI based on OCTA, which was not observed clinically. Fifteen eyes with clinically active or regressed NVI were imaged. Different stages of NVI could be differentiated by OCTA, corresponding well to an established clinical grading system. Four eyes showed regressed NVI by OCTA, not seen clinically, and were graded as a newly defined stage 4. Conclusions This pilot clinical study showed that OCTA for imaging of the iris vasculature in health and disease is highly dependent on iris pigmentation. Fine, clinically invisible iris vessels can be visualized by OCTA in the very early stages as well as in the regressed stage of NVI. PMID:28441067

Real-time image-guided nasogastric feeding tube placement: A case series using Kangaroo with IRIS Technology in an ICU.

PubMed

Mizzi, Anna; Cozzi, Silvano; Beretta, Luigi; Greco, Massimiliano; Braga, Marco

2017-05-01

Pulmonary misplacement during the blind insertion of enteral feeding tubes is frequent, particularly in ventilated and neurologically impaired patients. This is probably the first clinical study using the Kangaroo Feeding Tube with IRIS technology (IRIS) which incorporates a camera designed to provide anatomic landmark visualization during insertion. The study aim was to evaluate IRIS performance during bedside gastric placement. This is the first prospective study to collect data on the use of IRIS. Twenty consecutive unconscious patients requiring enteral nutrition were recruited at a single center. IRIS placement was considered complete when a clear image of the gastric mucosa appeared. Correct placement was confirmed using a contrast-enhanced abdominal X-ray. To evaluate the device performance over time, the camera was activated every other day up to 17 d postplacement. In 7 (35%) patients, the trachea was initially visualized, requiring a second placement attempt with the same tube. The IRIS camera allowed recognition of the gastric mucosa in 18 (90%) patients. The esophagogastric junction was identified in one patient, while in a second patient the quality of visualization was poor. Contrast-enhanced X-ray confirmed the gastric placement of IRIS in all patients. IRIS allowed identification of gastric mucosa in 14 (70%) patients 3 d after placement. Performance progressively declined with time (P = 0.006, chi-square for trend). IRIS placement could have spared X-ray confirmation in almost all patients and prevented misplacement into the airway in about one third. Visualization quality needs to be improved, particularly after the first week. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

NARROW-LINE-WIDTH UV BURSTS IN THE TRANSITION REGION ABOVE SUNSPOTS OBSERVED BY IRIS

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hou, Zhenyong; Huang, Zhenghua; Xia, Lidong

Various small-scale structures abound in the solar atmosphere above active regions, playing an important role in the dynamics and evolution therein. We report on a new class of small-scale transition region structures in active regions, characterized by strong emissions but extremely narrow Si iv line profiles as found in observations taken with the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). Tentatively named as narrow-line-width UV bursts (NUBs), these structures are located above sunspots and comprise one or multiple compact bright cores at sub-arcsecond scales. We found six NUBs in two data sets (a raster and a sit-and-stare data set). Among these, fourmore » events are short-lived with a duration of ∼10 minutes, while two last for more than 36 minutes. All NUBs have Doppler shifts of 15–18 km s{sup −1}, while the NUB found in sit-and-stare data possesses an additional component at ∼50 km s{sup −1} found only in the C ii and Mg ii lines. Given that these events are found to play a role in the local dynamics, it is important to further investigate the physical mechanisms that generate these phenomena and their role in the mass transport in sunspots.« less

Glufosinate-ammonium

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Glufosinate - ammoni

Fomesafen

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Fomesafen ; CASRN 72

Pirimiphos-methyl

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Pirimiphos - methyl

Bromoxynil

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Bromoxynil ; CASRN 1

Prometryn

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Prometryn ; CASRN 72

Linuron

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Linuron ; CASRN 330

Dimethoate

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Dimethoate ; CASRN 6

Methidathion

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Methidathion ; CASRN

Phenmedipham

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Phenmedipham ; CASRN

Pendimethalin

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Pendimethalin ; CASR

Chlorsulfuron

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Chlorsulfuron ; CASR

Thiophanate-methyl

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Thiophanate - methyl

Thiram

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Thiram ; CASRN 137 -

Benefin

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Benefin ; CASRN 1861

Cyhalothrin/Karate

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Cyhalothrin / Karate

Triallate

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Triallate ; CASRN 23

Propiconazole

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Propiconazole ; CASR

Chlorimuron-ethyl

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Chlorimuron - ethyl

Cypermethrin

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Cypermethrin ; CASRN

Napropamide

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Napropamide ; CASRN

Difenzoquat

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Difenzoquat ; CASRN

Diphenylamine

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Diphenylamine ; CASR

Harmony

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Harmony ; CASRN 7927

Bidrin

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Bidrin ; CASRN 141 -

Pursuit

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Pursuit ; CASRN 8133

Imazalil

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Imazalil ; CASRN 355

Vinclozolin

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Vinclozolin ; CASRN

Chlorpropham

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Chlorpropham ; CASRN

Bayleton

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Bayleton ; CASRN 431

Propargite

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Propargite ; CASRN 2

Oxyfluorfen

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Oxyfluorfen ; CASRN

Amdro

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Amdro ; CASRN 67485

Sethoxydim

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Sethoxydim ; CASRN 7

Asulam

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Asulam ; CASRN 3337

Norflurazon

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Norflurazon ; CASRN

Dodine

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Dodine ; CASRN 2439

Dimethipin

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Dimethipin ; CASRN 5

Bromoxynil octanoate

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Bromoxynil octanoate

Folpet

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Folpet ; CASRN 133 -

Flurprimidol

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Flurprimidol ; CASRN

Oryzalin

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Oryzalin ; CASRN 190

Lactofen

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Lactofen ; CASRN 775

Flutolanil

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Flutolanil ; CASRN 6

Acephate

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Acephate ; CASRN 305

IRIS and the National Research Council (NRC)

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Since the 2011 National Academies’ National Research Council (NRC) review of the IRIS Program's assessment of Formaldehyde, EPA and NRC have had an ongoing relationship into the improvements of developing the IRIS Assessments.

Development of IR imaging system simulator

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiang, Xinglang; He, Guojing; Dong, Weike; Dong, Lu

2017-02-01

To overcome the disadvantages of the tradition semi-physical simulation and injection simulation equipment in the performance evaluation of the infrared imaging system (IRIS), a low-cost and reconfigurable IRIS simulator, which can simulate the realistic physical process of infrared imaging, is proposed to test and evaluate the performance of the IRIS. According to the theoretical simulation framework and the theoretical models of the IRIS, the architecture of the IRIS simulator is constructed. The 3D scenes are generated and the infrared atmospheric transmission effects are simulated using OGRE technology in real-time on the computer. The physical effects of the IRIS are classified as the signal response characteristic, modulation transfer characteristic and noise characteristic, and they are simulated on the single-board signal processing platform based on the core processor FPGA in real-time using high-speed parallel computation method.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Cerium Oxide and Cerium ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 29, 2009, the IRIS Summary and Toxicological Review of Cerium Oxide and Cerium Compounds was finalized and loaded onto the IRIS database. The Toxicological Review of Cerium Oxide and Cerium Compounds was reviewed internally by EPA, by other federal agencies and White House Offices, by expert external peer reviewers, and by the public. In the new IRIS process, introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency draft of the Cerium Oxide and Cerium Compounds IRIS assessment are posted on this site. The draft Toxicological Review of Cerium Oxide and Cerium Compounds provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard identification and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to cerium oxide and cerium compounds.

Does Iris Change Over Time?

PubMed Central

Mehrotra, Hunny; Vatsa, Mayank; Singh, Richa; Majhi, Banshidhar

2013-01-01

Iris as a biometric identifier is assumed to be stable over a period of time. However, some researchers have observed that for long time lapse, the genuine match score distribution shifts towards the impostor score distribution and the performance of iris recognition reduces. The main purpose of this study is to determine if the shift in genuine scores can be attributed to aging or not. The experiments are performed on the two publicly available iris aging databases namely, ND-Iris-Template-Aging-2008–2010 and ND-TimeLapseIris-2012 using a commercial matcher, VeriEye. While existing results are correct about increase in false rejection over time, we observe that it is primarily due to the presence of other covariates such as blur, noise, occlusion, and pupil dilation. This claim is substantiated with quality score comparison of the gallery and probe pairs. PMID:24244305

Retrospective Evaluation of Topical Bimatoprost and Iris Pigmentation Change.

PubMed

Zaleski-Larsen, Lisa A; Ruth, Nadine H; Fabi, Sabrina G

2017-12-01

Topical bimatoprost is a topical prostaglandin analog originally used to treat glaucoma and more recently used to cosmetically induce hypertrichosis of the eyelashes. Iris pigmentation change has been noted in the treatment of glaucoma but has not been assessed with the cosmetic periorbital application of bimatoprost. To evaluate for iris pigmentation change with the long-term cosmetic use of topical bimatoprost. A retrospective chart review in a cosmetic dermatology practice of women (N = 50) who consistently purchased topical bimatoprost over an average of 4.59 years was compared with that of age-matched non-bimatoprost patients (N = 50). A blinded evaluator assessed each patient for iris pigmentary change. No iris pigmentation change was noted with the cutaneous application of bimatoprost. The cutaneous application of bimatoprost appears to be safe with minimal risk for iris pigmentation change.

Does iris change over time?

PubMed

Mehrotra, Hunny; Vatsa, Mayank; Singh, Richa; Majhi, Banshidhar

2013-01-01

Iris as a biometric identifier is assumed to be stable over a period of time. However, some researchers have observed that for long time lapse, the genuine match score distribution shifts towards the impostor score distribution and the performance of iris recognition reduces. The main purpose of this study is to determine if the shift in genuine scores can be attributed to aging or not. The experiments are performed on the two publicly available iris aging databases namely, ND-Iris-Template-Aging-2008-2010 and ND-TimeLapseIris-2012 using a commercial matcher, VeriEye. While existing results are correct about increase in false rejection over time, we observe that it is primarily due to the presence of other covariates such as blur, noise, occlusion, and pupil dilation. This claim is substantiated with quality score comparison of the gallery and probe pairs.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Tetrahydrofuran (THF) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Tetrahydrofuran, that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment Development Process. Comments received from other Federal agencies and White House Offices are provided below with external peer review panel comments. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for tetrahydrofuran. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

Comparison with IRI-PLUS and IRI-2012-TEC values of GPS-TEC values

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Atıcı, Ramazan; Saǧır, Selçuk

2016-07-01

This study presents a comparison with IRI-PLUS and IRI-2012 Total Electron Content (TEC) values of Total Electron Content (TEC) values obtained from Ankara station (39,7 N; 32,76 E) of Global Position System (GPS) of Turkey on equinox and solstice days of 2009 year. For all days, it is observed that GPS-TEC values are greater than IRI-2012-TEC values, while IRI-PLUS-TEC values are very close to GPS-TEC values. When GPS-TEC values for both equinoxes are compared, it is seen that TEC values on September equinox are greater than one on March equinox. However, it is observed that GPS-TEC values on June solstice are greater than one on December solstice. Also, the relationship between GPS-TEC values and geomagnetic indexes is investigated.

Heparin binding epidermal growth factor in renal ischaemia/reperfusion injury.

PubMed

Mulder, Gemma M; Nijboer, Willemijn N; Seelen, Marc A; Sandovici, Maria; Bos, Eelke M; Melenhorst, Wynand B W H; Trzpis, Monika; Kloosterhuis, Niels J; Visser, Lydia; Henning, Rob H; Leuvenink, Henri G D; Ploeg, Rutger J; Sunnarborg, Susan W; van Goor, Harry

2010-06-01

The epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor and its ligands are crucially involved in the renal response to ischaemia. We studied the heparin binding-epidermal growth factor (HB-EGF), a major ligand for the EGF receptor, in experimental and human ischaemia/reperfusion injury (IRI). HB-EGF mRNA and protein expression was studied in rat kidneys and cultured human tubular (HK-2) cells that were subjected to IRI and in human donor kidneys during transplantation. The effect of EGF receptor inhibition was investigated in vivo and in vitro. Furthermore, urinary HB-EGF protein excretion was studied after renal transplantation. Finally, HB-EGF KO and WT mice were subjected to IRI to study the role of HB-EGF in renal injury. HB-EGF mRNA was significantly up-regulated in the early phase of IRI in rats, cells, and human donor biopsies. Treatment with PKI-166 reduces macrophage accumulation and interstitial alpha-SMA in the early phase of IRI in rats. In vitro, PKI-166 causes a marked reduction in HB-EGF-induced cellular proliferation. Urinary HB-EGF is increased after transplantation compared with control urines from healthy subjects. HB-EGF KO mice subjected to IRI revealed significantly less morphological damage after IRI, compared with WT mice. We conclude that IRI results in early induction of HB-EGF mRNA and protein in vivo and in vitro. Absence of HB-EGF and inhibition of the EGF receptor in the early phase of IRI has protective effects, suggesting a modulating role for HB-EGF.

PROTECTIVE EFFECT OF IRIS GERMANICA L. IN Β-AMYLOID-INDUCED ANIMAL MODEL OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE.

PubMed

Borhani, Mona; Sharifzadeh, Mohammad; Farzaei, Mohammad Hosein; Narimani, Zahra; Sabbaghziarani, Fatemeh; Gholami, Mahdi; Rahimi, Roja

2017-01-01

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia that is an irretrievable chronic neurodegenerative disease. In the current study, we have examined the therapeutic effects of Iris germanica extract on Amyloid β (Aβ) induced memory impairment. Wistar rats were divided into five groups of 8 per each. Groups were as followed: control group which were normal rats without induction of AD, Aβ group which received Aβ (50 ng/side), iris 100 group which received Aβ + Iris (100 mg/kg), iris 200 group which received Aβ + Iris (200 mg/kg), and iris 400 group which received Aβ + Iris (400 mg/kg). AD was established by intrahippocampal injection of 50 ng/μl/side Aβ1-42. The day after surgery, animals in treatment groups received different doses of the aqueous extract of Iris by gavage for 30 days. Morris water maze test (MWM) was performed to assess the effects of I. germanica on learning and memory of rats with Aβ induced AD. Data from MWM tests, including escape latency and traveled distance, demonstrated that I. germanica extract could markedly improve spatial memory in comparison to control. Moreover, the plant had a significantly better effect on the performance of AD rats in the probe test. I. germanica extract can successfully reverse spatial learning dysfunction in an experimental model of AD. Further neuro psyco-pharmacological studies are mandatory to reveal the mechanism of action of this natural remedy in the management of AD symptoms.

A new method for generating an invariant iris private key based on the fuzzy vault system.

PubMed

Lee, Youn Joo; Park, Kang Ryoung; Lee, Sung Joo; Bae, Kwanghyuk; Kim, Jaihie

2008-10-01

Cryptographic systems have been widely used in many information security applications. One main challenge that these systems have faced has been how to protect private keys from attackers. Recently, biometric cryptosystems have been introduced as a reliable way of concealing private keys by using biometric data. A fuzzy vault refers to a biometric cryptosystem that can be used to effectively protect private keys and to release them only when legitimate users enter their biometric data. In biometric systems, a critical problem is storing biometric templates in a database. However, fuzzy vault systems do not need to directly store these templates since they are combined with private keys by using cryptography. Previous fuzzy vault systems were designed by using fingerprint, face, and so on. However, there has been no attempt to implement a fuzzy vault system that used an iris. In biometric applications, it is widely known that an iris can discriminate between persons better than other biometric modalities. In this paper, we propose a reliable fuzzy vault system based on local iris features. We extracted multiple iris features from multiple local regions in a given iris image, and the exact values of the unordered set were then produced using the clustering method. To align the iris templates with the new input iris data, a shift-matching technique was applied. Experimental results showed that 128-bit private keys were securely and robustly generated by using any given iris data without requiring prealignment.

Technical note: quantitative measures of iris color using high resolution photographs.

PubMed

Edwards, Melissa; Gozdzik, Agnes; Ross, Kendra; Miles, Jon; Parra, Esteban J

2012-01-01

Our understanding of the genetic architecture of iris color is still limited. This is partly related to difficulties associated with obtaining quantitative measurements of eye color. Here we introduce a new automated method for measuring iris color using high resolution photographs. This method extracts color measurements in the CIE 1976 L*a*b* (CIELAB) color space from a 256 by 256 pixel square sampled from the 9:00 meridian of the iris. Color is defined across three dimensions: L* (the lightness coordinate), a* (the red-green coordinate), and b* (the blue-yellow coordinate). We applied this method to a sample of individuals of diverse ancestry (East Asian, European and South Asian) that was genotyped for the HERC2 rs12913832 polymorphism, which is strongly associated with blue eye color. We identified substantial variation in the CIELAB color space, not only in the European sample, but also in the East Asian and South Asian samples. As expected, rs12913832 was significantly associated with quantitative iris color measurements in subjects of European ancestry. However, this SNP was also strongly associated with iris color in the South Asian sample, although there were no participants with blue irides in this sample. The usefulness of this method is not restricted only to the study of iris pigmentation. High-resolution pictures of the iris will also make it possible to study the genetic variation involved in iris textural patterns, which show substantial heritability in human populations. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Potentiating Tissue-Resident Type 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells by IL-33 to Prevent Renal Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury.

PubMed

Cao, Qi; Wang, Yiping; Niu, Zhiguo; Wang, Chengshi; Wang, Ruifeng; Zhang, Zhiqiang; Chen, Titi; Wang, Xin Maggie; Li, Qing; Lee, Vincent W S; Huang, Qingsong; Tan, Jing; Guo, Minghao; Wang, Yuan Min; Zheng, Guoping; Yu, Di; Alexander, Stephen I; Wang, Hui; Harris, David C H

2018-03-01

The IL-33-type 2 innate lymphoid cell (ILC2) axis has an important role in tissue homeostasis, inflammation, and wound healing. However, the relative importance of this innate immune pathway for immunotherapy against inflammation and tissue damage remains unclear. Here, we show that treatment with recombinant mouse IL-33 prevented renal structural and functional injury and reduced mortality in mice subjected to ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Compared with control-treated IRI mice, IL-33-treated IRI mice had increased levels of IL-4 and IL-13 in serum and kidney and more ILC2, regulatory T cells (Tregs), and anti-inflammatory (M2) macrophages. Depletion of ILC2, but not Tregs, substantially abolished the protective effect of IL-33 on renal IRI. Adoptive transfer of ex vivo -expanded ILC2 prevented renal injury in mice subjected to IRI. This protective effect associated with induction of M2 macrophages in kidney and required ILC2 production of amphiregulin. Treatment of mice with IL-33 or ILC2 after IRI was also renoprotective. Furthermore, in a humanized mouse model of renal IRI, treatment with human IL-33 or transfer of ex vivo -expanded human ILC2 ameliorated renal IRI. This study has uncovered a major protective role of the IL-33-ILC2 axis in renal IRI that could be potentiated as a therapeutic strategy. Copyright © 2018 by the American Society of Nephrology.

Spatial Light Modulator Would Serve As Electronic Iris

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gutow, David A.

1991-01-01

In proposed technique for controlling brightness of image formed by lens, spatial light modulator serves as segmented, electronically variable aperture. Offers several advantages: spatial light modulator controlled remotely and responds faster than motorized iris or other remotely controlled mechanical iris. Unlike iris, modulator also configured so as not to vary depth of field appreciably. Unlike lead lanthanum zirconate titanate crystal, spatial light modulator does not require high voltage.

Risk factors and frequency of tuberculosis-associated immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome among HIV/Tuberculosis co-infected patients in Southern India.

PubMed

Vignesh, Ramachandran; Swathirajan, Chinnambedu R; Solomon, Sunil S; Shankar, Esaki Muthu; Murugavel, Kailapuri G

2017-01-01

Immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS) continues to be a complication in HIV/tuberculosis (TB) co-infected patients initiating highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors associated with developing IRIS to identify a possible biomarker to predict or diagnose IRIS in patients initiating HAART. A total of 175 HIV/TB co-infected patients initiating HAART were followed up longitudinally during September 2010 to May 2013 attending a HIV care clinic in Chennai. Patients were followed up longitudinally after HAART initiation and baseline demographic, laboratory parameters and treatment characteristics between patients with IRIS events and those without IRIS events were compared. Chi-square or Fisher's exact test for categorical variables and a Wilcoxon rank-sum test for continuous variables were performed using SPSS, version 12.0 software. Patients with IRIS had a significantly lower median baseline CD4+ T-cell count (P = 0.0039). There were no differences in terms of sex, CD4 T-cell %, plasma viral load, time interval between initiating ATT and HAART between the IRIS and non-IRIS patients. Low CD4+ T-cell count (<100 cells/μL) could be used as a marker to screen and monitor patients initiating HAART.

The infrared imaging spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: overview of innovative science programs

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wright, Shelley A.; Larkin, James E.; Moore, Anna M.; Do, Tuan; Simard, Luc; Adamkovics, Maté; Armus, Lee; Barth, Aaron J.; Barton, Elizabeth; Boyce, Hope; Cooke, Jeffrey; Cote, Patrick; Davidge, Timothy; Ellerbroek, Brent; Ghez, Andrea M.; Liu, Michael C.; Lu, Jessica R.; Macintosh, Bruce A.; Mao, Shude; Marois, Christian; Schoeck, Matthias; Suzuki, Ryuji; Tan, Jonathan C.; Treu, Tommaso; Wang, Lianqi; Weiss, Jason

2014-07-01

IRIS (InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph) is a first light near-infrared diffraction limited imager and integral field spectrograph being designed for the future Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). IRIS is optimized to perform astronomical studies across a significant fraction of cosmic time, from our Solar System to distant newly formed galaxies (Barton et al. [1]). We present a selection of the innovative science cases that are unique to IRIS in the era of upcoming space and ground-based telescopes. We focus on integral field spectroscopy of directly imaged exoplanet atmospheres, probing fundamental physics in the Galactic Center, measuring 104 to 1010 M supermassive black hole masses, resolved spectroscopy of young star-forming galaxies (1 < z < 5) and first light galaxies (6 < z < 12), and resolved spectroscopy of strong gravitational lensed sources to measure dark matter substructure. For each of these science cases we use the IRIS simulator (Wright et al. [2], Do et al. [3]) to explore IRIS capabilities. To highlight the unique IRIS capabilities, we also update the point and resolved source sensitivities for the integral field spectrograph (IFS) in all five broadband filters (Z, Y, J, H, K) for the finest spatial scale of 0.004" per spaxel. We briefly discuss future development plans for the data reduction pipeline and quicklook software for the IRIS instrument suite.

[Neuropathology of Natalizumab-Associated Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy].

PubMed

Kanda, Takashi

2015-07-01

The pathological findings of natalizumab-associated progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) are reviewed. In addition to the classical pathology of PML including the presence of enlarged abnormal astrocytes, intranuclear inclusions mainly found within large swollen oligodendrocytes and abundant myelin-laden macrophages/microglia, massive perivascular and parenchymal mononuclear cell infiltration was observed. The latter pathologic picture is that of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), and most of these infiltrating cells are CD8-positive T cells. Because IRIS inevitably occurs after the cessation of natalizumab therapy due to the development of PML and subsequent plasma exchange, most of the published pathologic pictures of natalizumab-associated PML patients were a mixture of PML and PML-IRIS. PML-IRIS is also characterized by fewer oligodendroglial viral inclusions and fewer cells that are immunoreactive against anti-JCV antibodies. These findings suggest the effective removal of JCV after the return of normal immune-surveillance in the central nervous system, but clinicians should be aware that JCV elimination is not complete under the IRIS condition, and the immunosuppressive therapy against IRIS should be carefully performed. Mononuclear cell infiltration in natalizumab-associated PML-IRIS patients was much more prominent than that in HIV-associated PML-IRIS patients, reflecting the retained, even enhanced, systemic immunities in patients treated by natalizumab.

Effect of Γ-aminobutyric acid on kidney injury induced by renal ischemia-reperfusion in male and female rats: Gender-related difference.

PubMed

Vafapour, Marzieh; Nematbakhsh, Mehdi; Monajemi, Ramesh; Mazaheri, Safoora; Talebi, Ardeshir; Talebi, Nahid; Shirdavani, Soheyla

2015-01-01

The most important cause of kidney injury is renal ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI), which is gender-related. This study was designed to investigate the protective role of Γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA (against IRI in male and female rats. Thirty-six female and male wistar rats were assigned to six experimental groups. The IRI was induced by clamping renal vessels for 45 min then was performed reperfusion for 24 h. The group sex posed to IRI were pretreated with GABA and were compared with the control groups. Serum levels of creatinine and blood urea nitrogen, kidney weight, and kidney tissue damage score increased in the IRI alone groups, (P < 0.05), while GABA decreased these parameters in female significantly (P < 0.05), but not in male rats. Uterus weight decreased significantly in female rats treated with GABA. Testis weight did not alter in male rats. Serum level of nitrite and kidney level of malondialdehyde (MDA) had no significant change in both female and male rats. Kidney level of nitrite increased significantly in female rats experienced IRI and serum level of MDA increased significantly in males that were exposed to IRI (P < 0.05). GABA could ameliorate kidney injury induced by renal IRI in a gender dependent manner.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Thallium and Compounds ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Thallium compounds are used in the semiconductor industry, the manufacture of optic lenses and low-melting glass, low-temperature thermometers, alloys, electronic devices, mercury lamps, fireworks, and imitation germs, and clinically as an imaging agent in the diagnosis of certain tumors. EPA's assessment of noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of thallium compounds was last prepared and added to the IRIS database between 1988 and 1990. The IRIS program is preparing an assessment that will incorporate current health effects information available for thallium and compounds, and current risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for thallium compounds will consist of a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physiochemical and toxicokinetic properties of a chemical, and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference values for the noncancer effects of thallium compounds (RfD and Rfc), and a cancer assessment. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary have been subject to Agency review, Interagency review, and external scientific peer review. The final product will reflect the Agency opinion on the overall toxicity of thallium and compounds. EPA is undertaking an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for thallium and compounds. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effec

Appropriate Objective Functions for Quantifying Iris Mechanical Properties Using Inverse Finite Element Modeling.

PubMed

Pant, Anup D; Dorairaj, Syril K; Amini, Rouzbeh

2018-07-01

Quantifying the mechanical properties of the iris is important, as it provides insight into the pathophysiology of glaucoma. Recent ex vivo studies have shown that the mechanical properties of the iris are different in glaucomatous eyes as compared to normal ones. Notwithstanding the importance of the ex vivo studies, such measurements are severely limited for diagnosis and preclude development of treatment strategies. With the advent of detailed imaging modalities, it is possible to determine the in vivo mechanical properties using inverse finite element (FE) modeling. An inverse modeling approach requires an appropriate objective function for reliable estimation of parameters. In the case of the iris, numerous measurements such as iris chord length (CL) and iris concavity (CV) are made routinely in clinical practice. In this study, we have evaluated five different objective functions chosen based on the iris biometrics (in the presence and absence of clinical measurement errors) to determine the appropriate criterion for inverse modeling. Our results showed that in the absence of experimental measurement error, a combination of iris CL and CV can be used as the objective function. However, with the addition of measurement errors, the objective functions that employ a large number of local displacement values provide more reliable outcomes.

The International Reference Ionosphere: Rawer's IRI and its status today

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bilitza, D.

2014-11-01

When the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) initiated the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) project in 1968 it wisely selected K. Rawer as its first Chairperson. With a solid footing and good contacts in both the ground-based and space-based ionospheric communities he was ideally suited to pull together colleagues and data from both communities to help build the first version of the IRI. He assembled a team of 20+ international ionospheric experts in the IRI Working Group and chaired and directed the group from 1968 to 1984. The working group has now grown to 63 members and the IRI model has undergone many revisions as new data became available and new modeling techniques were applied. This paper was presented during a special session of the Kleinheubach Tagung 2013 in honor of K. Rawer's 100th birthday. It will review the current status of the IRI model and project and the international recognition it has achieved. It is quite fitting that this year we not only celebrate K. Rawer's 100th birthday but also the exciting news that his favorite science endeavor, IRI, has been internationally recognized as an ISO (International Standardization Organization) standard. The IRI homepage is at http://irimodel.org.

Shape Adaptive, Robust Iris Feature Extraction from Noisy Iris Images

PubMed Central

Ghodrati, Hamed; Dehghani, Mohammad Javad; Danyali, Habibolah

2013-01-01

In the current iris recognition systems, noise removing step is only used to detect noisy parts of the iris region and features extracted from there will be excluded in matching step. Whereas depending on the filter structure used in feature extraction, the noisy parts may influence relevant features. To the best of our knowledge, the effect of noise factors on feature extraction has not been considered in the previous works. This paper investigates the effect of shape adaptive wavelet transform and shape adaptive Gabor-wavelet for feature extraction on the iris recognition performance. In addition, an effective noise-removing approach is proposed in this paper. The contribution is to detect eyelashes and reflections by calculating appropriate thresholds by a procedure called statistical decision making. The eyelids are segmented by parabolic Hough transform in normalized iris image to decrease computational burden through omitting rotation term. The iris is localized by an accurate and fast algorithm based on coarse-to-fine strategy. The principle of mask code generation is to assign the noisy bits in an iris code in order to exclude them in matching step is presented in details. An experimental result shows that by using the shape adaptive Gabor-wavelet technique there is an improvement on the accuracy of recognition rate. PMID:24696801

Shape adaptive, robust iris feature extraction from noisy iris images.

PubMed

Ghodrati, Hamed; Dehghani, Mohammad Javad; Danyali, Habibolah

2013-10-01

In the current iris recognition systems, noise removing step is only used to detect noisy parts of the iris region and features extracted from there will be excluded in matching step. Whereas depending on the filter structure used in feature extraction, the noisy parts may influence relevant features. To the best of our knowledge, the effect of noise factors on feature extraction has not been considered in the previous works. This paper investigates the effect of shape adaptive wavelet transform and shape adaptive Gabor-wavelet for feature extraction on the iris recognition performance. In addition, an effective noise-removing approach is proposed in this paper. The contribution is to detect eyelashes and reflections by calculating appropriate thresholds by a procedure called statistical decision making. The eyelids are segmented by parabolic Hough transform in normalized iris image to decrease computational burden through omitting rotation term. The iris is localized by an accurate and fast algorithm based on coarse-to-fine strategy. The principle of mask code generation is to assign the noisy bits in an iris code in order to exclude them in matching step is presented in details. An experimental result shows that by using the shape adaptive Gabor-wavelet technique there is an improvement on the accuracy of recognition rate.

Comparative analysis of classification based algorithms for diabetes diagnosis using iris images.

PubMed

Samant, Piyush; Agarwal, Ravinder

2018-01-01

Photo-diagnosis is always an intriguing area for the researchers, with the advancement of image processing and computer machine vision techniques it have become more reliable and popular in recent years. The objective of this paper is to study the change in the features of iris, particularly irregularities in the pigmentation of certain areas of the iris with respect to diabetic health of an individual. Apart from the point that iris recognition concentrates on the overall structure of the iris, diagnostic techniques emphasises the local variations in the particular area of iris. Pre-image processing techniques have been applied to extract iris and thereafter, region of interest from the extracted iris have been cropped out. In order to observe the changes in the tissue pigmentation of region of interest, statistical, texture textural and wavelet features have been extracted. At the end, a comparison of accuracies of five different classifiers has been presented to classify two subject groups of diabetic and non-diabetic. Best classification accuracy has been calculated as 89.66% by the random forest classifier. Results have been shown the effectiveness and diagnostic significance of the proposed methodology. Presented piece of work offers a novel systemic perspective of non-invasive and automatic diabetic diagnosis.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (Etbe) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The IRIS Toxicological Review of Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE) was released for external peer review in June 2017. EPA’s Science Advisory Board’s (SAB) Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) will conduct a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the ETBE assessment and release a final report of their review. Information regarding the peer review can be found on the SAB website. EPA is conducting an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for Ethyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (ETBE). The outcome of this project is a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for ETBE that will be entered into the IRIS database.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Final Report) ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA has finalized the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of benzo[a]pyrene. This assessment addresses the potential cancer and noncancer human health effects from long-term exposure to benzo[a]pyrene. Now final, this assessment will update the toxicological information on benzo[a]pyrene posted in 1987. EPA’s program and regional offices may use this assessment to inform decisions to protect human health. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for BaP that will be entered into the IRIS database.

IRIS Mission Operations Director's Colloquium

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Carvalho, Robert; Mazmanian, Edward A.

2014-01-01

Pursuing the Mysteries of the Sun: The Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) Mission. Flight controllers from the IRIS mission will present their individual experiences on IRIS from development through the first year of flight. This will begin with a discussion of the unique nature of IRISs mission and science, and how it fits into NASA's fleet of solar observatories. Next will be a discussion of the critical roles Ames contributed in the mission including spacecraft and flight software development, ground system development, and training for launch. This will be followed by experiences from launch, early operations, ongoing operations, and unusual operations experiences. The presentation will close with IRIS science imagery and questions.

A new phase-correlation-based iris matching for degraded images.

PubMed

Krichen, Emine; Garcia-Salicetti, Sonia; Dorizzi, Bernadette

2009-08-01

In this paper, we present a new phase-correlation-based iris matching approach in order to deal with degradations in iris images due to unconstrained acquisition procedures. Our matching system is a fusion of global and local Gabor phase-correlation schemes. The main originality of our local approach is that we do not only consider the correlation peak amplitudes but also their locations in different regions of the images. Results on several degraded databases, namely, the CASIA-BIOSECURE and Iris Challenge Evaluation 2005 databases, show the improvement of our method compared to two available reference systems, Masek and Open Source for Iris (OSRIS), in verification mode.

Multispectral iris recognition based on group selection and game theory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Foysal; Roy, Kaushik

2017-05-01

A commercially available iris recognition system uses only a narrow band of the near infrared spectrum (700-900 nm) while iris images captured in the wide range of 405 nm to 1550 nm offer potential benefits to enhance recognition performance of an iris biometric system. The novelty of this research is that a group selection algorithm based on coalition game theory is explored to select the best patch subsets. In this algorithm, patches are divided into several groups based on their maximum contribution in different groups. Shapley values are used to evaluate the contribution of patches in different groups. Results show that this group selection based iris recognition

Climate and floods still govern California levee breaks

USGS Publications Warehouse

Florsheim, J.L.; Dettinger, M.D.

2007-01-01

Even in heavily engineered river systems, climate still governs flood variability and thus still drives many levee breaks and geomorphic changes. We assemble a 155-year record of levee breaks for a major California river system to find that breaks occurred in 25% of years during the 20th Century. A relation between levee breaks and river discharge is present that sets a discharge threshold above which most levee breaks occurred. That threshold corresponds to small floods with recurrence intervals of ???2-3 years. Statistical analysis illustrates that levee breaks and peak discharges cycle (broadly) on a 12-15 year time scale, in time with warm-wet storm patterns in California, but more slowly or more quickly than ENSO and PDO climate phenomena, respectively. Notably, these variations and thresholds persist through the 20th Century, suggesting that historical flood-control effects have not reduced the occurrence or frequency of levee breaks. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.

The IRIS Data Management Center: Enabling Access to Observational Time Series Spanning Decades

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahern, T.; Benson, R.; Trabant, C.

2009-04-01

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) is funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to operate the facilities to generate, archive, and distribute seismological data to research communities in the United States and internationally. The IRIS Data Management System (DMS) is responsible for the ingestion, archiving, curation and distribution of these data. The IRIS Data Management Center (DMC) manages data from more than 100 permanent seismic networks, hundreds of temporary seismic deployments as well as data from other geophysical observing networks such as magnetotelluric sensors, ocean bottom sensors, superconducting gravimeters, strainmeters, surface meteorological measurements, and in-situ atmospheric pressure measurements. The IRIS DMC has data from more than 20 different types of sensors. The IRIS DMC manages approximately 100 terabytes of primary observational data. These data are archived in multiple distributed storage systems that insure data availability independent of any single catastrophic failure. Storage systems include both RAID systems of greater than 100 terabytes as well as robotic tape robots of petabyte capacity. IRIS performs routine transcription of the data to new media and storage systems to insure the long-term viability of the scientific data. IRIS adheres to the OAIS Data Preservation Model in most cases. The IRIS data model requires the availability of metadata describing the characteristics and geographic location of sensors before data can be fully archived. IRIS works with the International Federation of Digital Seismographic Networks (FDSN) in the definition and evolution of the metadata. The metadata insures that the data remain useful to both current and future generations of earth scientists. Curation of the metadata and time series is one of the most important activities at the IRIS DMC. Data analysts and an automated quality assurance system monitor the quality of the incoming data. This insures data are of acceptably high quality. The formats and data structures used by the seismological community are esoteric. IRIS and its FDSN partners are developing web services that can transform the data holdings to structures that are more easily used by broader scientific communities. For instance, atmospheric scientists are interested in using global observations of microbarograph data but that community does not understand the methods of applying instrument corrections to the observations. Web processing services under development at IRIS will transform these data in a manner that allows direct use within such analysis tools as MATLAB® already in use by that community. By continuing to develop web-service based methods of data discovery and access, IRIS is enabling broader access to its data holdings. We currently support data discovery using many of the Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) web mapping services. We are involved in portal technologies to support data discovery and distribution for all data from the EarthScope project. We are working with computer scientists at several universities including the University of Washington as part of a DataNet proposal and we intend to enhance metadata, further develop ontologies, develop a Registry Service to aid in the discovery of data sets and services, and in general improve the semantic interoperability of the data managed at the IRIS DMC. Finally IRIS has been identified as one of four scientific organizations that the External Research Division of Microsoft wants to work with in the development of web services and specifically with the development of a scientific workflow engine. More specific details of current and future developments at the IRIS DMC will be included in this presentation.

Fosetyl-al

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Fosetyl - al ; CASRN

NuStar

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016NuStar ; CASRN 85509 -

Merphos oxide

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) Merphos oxide ; CASR

78 FR 55290 - Approved Recovery Plan for the Dwarf Lake Iris

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2013-09-10

... plans. Additional efforts will focus on improving the baseline understanding of dwarf lake iris ecology... protection and management; (6) Improve understanding of baseline dwarf lake iris ecology; and (7) Review and...

How good is μ- τ symmetry after results on non-zero θ 13?

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gupta, Shivani; Joshipura, Anjan S.; Patel, Ketan M.

2013-09-01

Viability of the μ- τ interchange symmetry imposed as an approximate symmetry (1) on the neutrino mass matrix in the flavour basis (2) simultaneously on the charged lepton mass matrix M l and the neutrino mass matrix M ν and (3) on the underlying Lagrangian is discussed in the light of recent observation of a non-zero reactor mixing angle θ 13. In case (1), μ- τ symmetry breaking may be regarded as small (less than 20-30%) only for the inverted or quasidegenerate neutrino mass spectrum and the normal hierarchy would violate it by a large amount. The case (2) is more restrictive and the requirement of relatively small breaking allows only the quasidegenerate spectrum. If neutrinos obtain their masses from the type-I seesaw mechanism then small breaking of the μ- τ symmetry in the underlying Lagrangian may result in a large breaking in and even the hierarchical neutrino spectrum may also be consistent with mildly broken μ- τ symmetry of the Lagrangian. Neutrinoless double beta decay provides a good means of distinguishing above scenarios. In particular, non-observation of signal in future experiments such as GERDA would rule out scenarios (1) and (2).

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA's assessment of the noncancer health effects and carcinogenic potential of Beryllium was added to the IRIS database in 1998. The IRIS program is updating the IRIS assessment for Beryllium. This update will incorporate health effects information published since the last assessment was prepared as well as new risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for Beryllium will consist of an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physicochemical and toxicokinetic properties of the chemical and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference values for noncancer effects of Beryllium (RfD and RfC) and a cancer assessment. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary will be subject to internal peer consultation, Agency and Interagency review, and external scientific peer review. The final products will constitute the Agency's opinion on the toxicity of Beryllium. Beryllium is a light alkaline earth metal used in metal alloys and in high-performance products in the metallurgical, aerospace, and nuclear industries. According to the Superfund database, beryllium is found in over 300 NPL sites

Three-dimensional orientation of iris in an ocular prosthesis using a customized scale.

PubMed

Gupta, Lokendra; Aparna, I N; Dhanasekar, B; Prabhu, Nayana; Malla, Nirjalla; Agarwal, Priyanka

2014-04-01

The success of an ocular prosthesis depends largely on the correct orientation of the iris disk. Various methods have been put forth to achieve this. This article emphasizes one such simplified method, wherein a customized scale has been used to orient the iris disk mediolaterally, superoinferiorly, and anteroposteriorly in an ocular prosthesis. A scleral wax pattern was fabricated. The customized scale was used to measure the dimension and orientation of the natural iris. These measurements were then transferred to the scleral wax pattern with the customized scale. An iris disk was fabricated using black crayon on the scleral wax pattern according to the measurements. The scleral wax pattern, including the iris disk, was then placed in the eye socket to verify its dimension and orientation. A prefabricated iris disk was modified according to the measured dimensions and transferred to the final scleral wax pattern. The transfer of these dimensions to the definitive prosthesis was achieved successfully, ultimately improving the patient's social and psychological well being. © 2013 by the American College of Prosthodontists.

Unified framework for automated iris segmentation using distantly acquired face images.

PubMed

Tan, Chun-Wei; Kumar, Ajay

2012-09-01

Remote human identification using iris biometrics has high civilian and surveillance applications and its success requires the development of robust segmentation algorithm to automatically extract the iris region. This paper presents a new iris segmentation framework which can robustly segment the iris images acquired using near infrared or visible illumination. The proposed approach exploits multiple higher order local pixel dependencies to robustly classify the eye region pixels into iris or noniris regions. Face and eye detection modules have been incorporated in the unified framework to automatically provide the localized eye region from facial image for iris segmentation. We develop robust postprocessing operations algorithm to effectively mitigate the noisy pixels caused by the misclassification. Experimental results presented in this paper suggest significant improvement in the average segmentation errors over the previously proposed approaches, i.e., 47.5%, 34.1%, and 32.6% on UBIRIS.v2, FRGC, and CASIA.v4 at-a-distance databases, respectively. The usefulness of the proposed approach is also ascertained from recognition experiments on three different publicly available databases.

Iris pigmentation as a quantitative trait: variation in populations of European, East Asian and South Asian ancestry and association with candidate gene polymorphisms.

PubMed

Edwards, Melissa; Cha, David; Krithika, S; Johnson, Monique; Cook, Gillian; Parra, Esteban J

2016-03-01

In this study, we present a new quantitative method to measure iris colour based on high-resolution photographs. We applied this method to analyse iris colour variation in a sample of individuals of East Asian, European and South Asian ancestry. We show that measuring iris colour using the coordinates of the CIELAB colour space uncovers a significant amount of variation that is not captured using conventional categorical classifications, such as 'brown', 'blue' or 'green'. We tested the association of a selected panel of polymorphisms with iris colour in each population group. Six markers showed significant associations with iris colour in the European sample, three in the South Asian sample and two in the East Asian sample. We also observed that the marker HERC2 rs12913832, which is the main determinant of 'blue' versus 'brown' iris colour in European populations, is also significantly associated with central heterochromia in the European sample. © 2015 The Authors. Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Investigating microearthquake finite source attributes with IRIS Community Wavefield Demonstration Experiment in Oklahoma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fan, Wenyuan; McGuire, Jeffrey J.

2018-05-01

An earthquake rupture process can be kinematically described by rupture velocity, duration and spatial extent. These key kinematic source parameters provide important constraints on earthquake physics and rupture dynamics. In particular, core questions in earthquake science can be addressed once these properties of small earthquakes are well resolved. However, these parameters of small earthquakes are poorly understood, often limited by available datasets and methodologies. The IRIS Community Wavefield Experiment in Oklahoma deployed ˜350 three component nodal stations within 40 km2 for a month, offering an unprecedented opportunity to test new methodologies for resolving small earthquake finite source properties in high resolution. In this study, we demonstrate the power of the nodal dataset to resolve the variations in the seismic wavefield over the focal sphere due to the finite source attributes of a M2 earthquake within the array. The dense coverage allows us to tightly constrain rupture area using the second moment method even for such a small earthquake. The M2 earthquake was a strike-slip event and unilaterally propagated towards the surface at 90 per cent local S- wave speed (2.93 km s-1). The earthquake lasted ˜0.019 s and ruptured Lc ˜70 m by Wc ˜45 m. With the resolved rupture area, the stress-drop of the earthquake is estimated as 7.3 MPa for Mw 2.3. We demonstrate that the maximum and minimum bounds on rupture area are within a factor of two, much lower than typical stress drop uncertainty, despite a suboptimal station distribution. The rupture properties suggest that there is little difference between the M2 Oklahoma earthquake and typical large earthquakes. The new three component nodal systems have great potential for improving the resolution of studies of earthquake source properties.

Pupillary Reconstruction and Outcome after Artificial Iris Implantation.

PubMed

Mayer, Christian S; Reznicek, Lukas; Hoffmann, Andrea E

2016-05-01

Patients with iris defects suffer from severe visual impairment, especially increased glare sensitivity and cosmetic disturbances. This constitutes a great psychological strain for those patients. Until recently, possible treatment options were iris print contact lenses, sunglasses, and simple iris prostheses. The aim of this study was to investigate structural and functional outcome parameters and patient satisfaction after implantation of this new artificial iris prosthesis. Prospective case series investigating functional results and patient satisfaction after surgical iris reconstruction. Thirty-seven consecutive patients with traumatic iris defects presenting from 2011 through 2014 underwent pupillary reconstruction with a new artificial iris implant at the Department of Ophthalmology, Technical University Munich. The custom-made, flexible silicone iris prosthesis ArtificialIris (HumanOptics, Erlangen, Germany) used in this study is a novel and innovative device in the surgical treatment of iris defects. Patients were examined before and after iris reconstruction with the iris implant placed in the ciliary sulcus. Change of best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), intraocular pressure (IOP), pupillary aperture, glare, contrast sensitivity, endothelial cell density, anterior chamber depth, anterior chamber angle, and patient satisfaction were assessed. Thirty-two eyes of 32 patients (mean age, 52.9±16.0 years) were included. After implantation and during follow-up, BCVA and IOP did not change significantly (BCVA, 0.77±0.62 logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution [logMAR] preoperatively vs. 0.68±0.64 logMAR 1 month postoperatively [P = 0.792]; IOP, 14.94±3.55 mmHg preoperatively vs. 17.72±5.88 mmHg 1 month postoperatively [P = 0.197]). The pupillary aperture was reduced significantly (42.11±20.1 mm(2) to 8.7±0.3 mm(2); P < 0.001). Contrast sensitivity increased significantly (0.80±0.51 to 0.93±0.49; P = 0.014). Endothelial cell count revealed a significant decrease postoperatively (1949±716 per 1 mm(2) to 1841±689 per 1 mm(2); P = 0.003). Anterior chamber depth (4.03±1.06 mm preoperatively vs. 4.29±0.70 mm postoperatively; P = 0.186) and angle (43.2±13.5° preoperatively vs. 40.5±10.8° postoperatively; P = 0.772) showed no significant differences. Subjective impairment through glare (9.12±1.62 preoperatively vs. 3.07±2.29 postoperatively; P < 0.001) and cosmetic disturbance (6.33±3.21 preoperatively vs. 1.58±0.86 postoperatively; P < 0.001) improved significantly. Patient satisfaction with the overall result was 8.91±1.51 of 10 points on an analog scale. The implantation of the artificial iris is a new and effective therapeutic option for the treatment of distinctive traumatic iris defects and results in an individual, aesthetically appealing, and good functional outcome in addition to high patient satisfaction. Copyright © 2016 American Academy of Ophthalmology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Gastrectomy - slideshow

MedlinePlus

... the small intestine, and functions to break up food into small particles that can be absorbed by the small intestine. Review Date 11/10/2016 Updated by: Todd Gersten, MD, Hematology/Oncology, Florida Cancer Specialists & Research Institute, Wellington, FL. ...

S-Ethyl dipropylthiocarbamate (EPTC)

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) S - Ethyl dipropylth

IRIS Toxicological Review of Ammonia Noncancer Inhalation ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

EPA has finalized the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Assessment of Ammonia (Noncancer Inhalation). This assessment addresses the potential noncancer human health effects from long-term inhalation exposure to ammonia. Now final, this assessment will update the current toxicological information on ammonia posted in 1991. EPA’s program and regional offices may use this assessment to inform decisions to protect human health. EPA completed the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for ammonia. IRIS is an EPA database containing Agency scientific positions on potential adverse human health effects that may result from chronic (or lifetime) exposure to chemicals in the environment. IRIS contains chemical-specific summaries of qualitative and quantitative health information in support of two steps of the risk assessment paradigm, i.e., hazard identification and dose-response evaluation. IRIS assessments are used in combination with specific situational exposure assessment information to evaluate potential public health risk associated with environmental contaminants.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Libby Amphibole Asbestos ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On August 25, 2011, the draft Toxicological Review of Libby Amphibole Asbestos and the charge to external peer reviewers were released for external peer review and public comment. The Toxicological Review and charge were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release. In the new IRIS process (May 2009), introduced by the EPA Administrator, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and White House Offices will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments and the interagency science consultation draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of Libby Amphibole Asbestos and the charge to external peer reviewers are posted on this site. The project supports OSWER and Region 8 site clean-up and related risk management initiatives at this Superfund site. As with all IRIS assessments, the draft document will undergo agency review, OMB/interagency review and independent external peer review before being included on the IRIS data base.

Iris abscess as an unusual presentation of endogenous endophthalmitis in a patient with bacterial endocarditis.

PubMed

Ramonas, Krista M; Freilich, Benjamin D

2003-02-01

To report the clinical findings and management of a case of endogenous endophthalmitis in a patient with bacterial endocarditis presenting with a septic metastasis to the iris. Observational case report. Review of clinical findings and treatment. A 37-year-old intravenous drug user hospitalized with bacterial endocarditis secondary to methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia presented with a painful red left eye, hypopyon, and iris abscess. Roth spots were noted in the fundus of the right eye. Aqueous culture was positive for methicillin-sensitive S aureus. The patient was treated with intravitreal, topical, and intravenous antibiotics. The hypopyon and iris abscess resolved within 2 weeks, and the patient achieved a final visual acuity of 20/25 in the left eye. Septic metastasis to the iris is a rare occurrence. To our knowledge this is the first reported case of an iris abscess secondary to bacterial endocarditis.

Multispectral diagnostic imaging of the iris in pigment dispersion syndrome.

PubMed

Roberts, Daniel K; Lukic, Ana; Yang, Yongyi; Wilensky, Jacob T; Wernick, Miles N

2012-08-01

To determine if wavelength selection with near infrared iris imaging may enhance iris transillumination defects (ITDs) in pigment dispersion syndrome. An experimental apparatus was used to acquire iris images in 6 African-American (AA) and 6 White patients with pigment dispersion syndrome. Light-emitting diode probes of 6 different spectral bands (700 to 950 nm) were used to project light into patients' eyes. Iris patterns were photographed, ITD regions of interest were outlined, and region of interest contrasts were calculated for each spectral band. Contrasts varied as a function of wavelength (P<0.0001) for both groups, but tended to be highest in the 700 to 800 nm range. Contrasts were higher in Whites than AAs at 700 nm but the opposite was found at 810 nm (P<0.001). Optimized near infrared iris imaging may be wavelength dependent. Ideal wavelength to image ITDs in more pigmented eyes may be slightly longer than for less pigmented eyes.

IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane (with Inhalation ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

On September 9, 2011, the Toxicological Review of 1,4-Dioxane (inhalation) (External Review Draft) was posted for external peer review and public comment. Subsequently, the Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary were reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and Executive Office of the President before final public release. Based on the 2009 IRIS assessment development process, all written comments on IRIS assessments submitted by other federal agencies and the Executive Office of the President will be made publicly available. Accordingly, interagency comments with EPA's response and the interagency science discussion draft of the IRIS Toxicological Review of 1,4-dioxane (with inhalation update) and the draft IRIS Summary are posted on this site. The Toxicological Review of 1,4-dioxane provides scientific support and rationale for the hazard and dose-response assessment pertaining to chronic exposure to 1,4-dioxane.

Secure and Robust Iris Recognition Using Random Projections and Sparse Representations.

PubMed

Pillai, Jaishanker K; Patel, Vishal M; Chellappa, Rama; Ratha, Nalini K

2011-09-01

Noncontact biometrics such as face and iris have additional benefits over contact-based biometrics such as fingerprint and hand geometry. However, three important challenges need to be addressed in a noncontact biometrics-based authentication system: ability to handle unconstrained acquisition, robust and accurate matching, and privacy enhancement without compromising security. In this paper, we propose a unified framework based on random projections and sparse representations, that can simultaneously address all three issues mentioned above in relation to iris biometrics. Our proposed quality measure can handle segmentation errors and a wide variety of possible artifacts during iris acquisition. We demonstrate how the proposed approach can be easily extended to handle alignment variations and recognition from iris videos, resulting in a robust and accurate system. The proposed approach includes enhancements to privacy and security by providing ways to create cancelable iris templates. Results on public data sets show significant benefits of the proposed approach.

Challenging ocular image recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pauca, V. Paúl; Forkin, Michael; Xu, Xiao; Plemmons, Robert; Ross, Arun A.

2011-06-01

Ocular recognition is a new area of biometric investigation targeted at overcoming the limitations of iris recognition performance in the presence of non-ideal data. There are several advantages for increasing the area beyond the iris, yet there are also key issues that must be addressed such as size of the ocular region, factors affecting performance, and appropriate corpora to study these factors in isolation. In this paper, we explore and identify some of these issues with the goal of better defining parameters for ocular recognition. An empirical study is performed where iris recognition methods are contrasted with texture and point operators on existing iris and face datasets. The experimental results show a dramatic recognition performance gain when additional features are considered in the presence of poor quality iris data, offering strong evidence for extending interest beyond the iris. The experiments also highlight the need for the direct collection of additional ocular imagery.

IRIS family of IRCCD thermal imagers integrating long-life cryogenic coolers, sophisticated algorithms for image enhancement, and hot points detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dupuy, Pascal; Harter, Jean

1995-09-01

Iris is a modular infrared thermal image developed by SAGEM since 1988, based on a 288 by 4 IRCCD detector. The first section of the presentation gives a description of the different modules of the IRIS thermal imager and their evolution in recent years. The second section covers the description of the major evolution, namely the integrated detector cooler assembly (IDCA), using a SOFRADIR 288 by 4 detector and a SAGEM microcooler, now integrated in the IRIS thermal imagers. The third section gives the description of two functions integrated in the IRIS thermal imager: (1) image enhancement, using a digital convolution filter, and (2) automatic hot points detection and tracking, offering an assistance to surveillance and automatic detection. The last section presents several programs for navy, air forces, and land applications for which IRIS has already been selected and achieved.

[Use of computer technologies for studying the morphological characteristics of the iris color in anthropology].

PubMed

Dorofeeva, A A; Khrustalev, A V; Krylov, Iu V; Bocharov, D A; Negasheva, M A

2010-01-01

Digital images of the iris were received for study peculiarities of the iris color during the anthropological examination of 578 students aged 16-24 years. Simultaneously with the registration of the digital images, the visual assessment of the eye color was carried out using the traditional scale of Bunak, based on 12 ocular prostheses. Original software for automatic determination of the iris color based on 12 classes scale of Bunak was designed, and computer version of that scale was developed. The software proposed allows to conduct the determination of the iris color with high validity based on numerical evaluation; its application may reduce the bias due to subjective assessment and methodological divergences of the different researchers. The software designed for automatic determination of the iris color may help develop both theoretical and applied anthropology, it may be used in forensic and emergency medicine, sports medicine, medico-genetic counseling and professional selection.

Final Report from the External Peer Review of the IRIS ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

This document is the final report for the 2004 external peer review for the EPA IRIS Reassessment of the Inhalation Carcinogenicity of Naphthalene, prepared by the Office of Research and Development's National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Database. A panel of external peer reviewers met to discuss the IRIS report and their responses to the charge questions on July 30, 2004. This document contains the final written comments of the external peer reviewers. This document is the final report for the 2004 external peer review for the IRIS Reassessment of the Inhalation Carcinogenicity of Naphthalene, prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Center for Environmental Assessment (NCEA), for the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). A panel of external peer reviewers met to discuss their responses to the charge questions on July 30, 2004. This document contains the final written comments of the external peer reviewers.

Fluid and structure coupling analysis of the interaction between aqueous humor and iris.

PubMed

Wang, Wenjia; Qian, Xiuqing; Song, Hongfang; Zhang, Mindi; Liu, Zhicheng

2016-12-28

Glaucoma is the primary cause of irreversible blindness worldwide associated with high intraocular pressure (IOP). Elevated intraocular pressure will affect the normal aqueous humor outflow, resulting in deformation of iris. However, the deformation ability of iris is closely related to its material properties. Meanwhile, the passive deformation of the iris aggravates the pupillary block and angle closure. The nature of the interaction mechanism of iris deformation and aqueous humor fluid flow has not been fully understood and has been somewhat a controversial issue. The purpose here was to study the effect of IOP, localization, and temperature on the flow of the aqueous humor and the deformation of iris interacted by aqueous humor fluid flow. Based on mechanisms of aqueous physiology and fluid dynamics, 3D model of anterior chamber (AC) was constructed with the human anatomical parameters as a reference. A 3D idealized standard geometry of anterior segment of human eye was performed. Enlarge the size of the idealization geometry model 5 times to create a simulation device by using 3D printing technology. In this paper, particle image velocimetry technology is applied to measure the characteristic of fluid outflow in different inlet velocity based on the device. Numerically calculations were made by using ANSYS 14.0 Finite Element Analysis. Compare of the velocity distributions to confirm the validity of the model. The fluid structure interaction (FSI) analysis was carried out in the valid geometry model to study the aqueous flow and iris change. In this paper, the validity of the model is verified through computation and comparison. The results indicated that changes of gravity direction of model significantly affected the fluid dynamics parameters and the temperature distribution in anterior chamber. Increased pressure and the vertical position increase the velocity of the aqueous humor fluid flow, with the value increased of 0.015 and 0.035 mm/s. The results act on the iris showed that, gravity direction from horizontal to vertical decrease the equivalent stress in the normal IOP model, while almost invariably in the high IOP model. With the increased of the iris elasticity modulus, the equivalent strain and the total deformation of iris is decreased. The maximal value of equivalent strain of iris in high IOP model is higher than that of in normal IOP model. The maximum deformation of iris is lower in the high IOP model than in the normal IOP model. The valid model of idealization geometry of human eye could be helpful to study the relationship between localization, iris deformation and IOP. So far the FSI analysis was carried out in that idealization geometry model of anterior segment to study aqueous flow and iris change.

Relating quark confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in QCD

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Suganuma, Hideo; Doi, Takahiro M.; Redlich, Krzysztof; Sasaki, Chihiro

2017-12-01

We study the relation between quark confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in QCD. Using lattice QCD formalism, we analytically express the various ‘confinement indicators’, such as the Polyakov loop, its fluctuations, the Wilson loop, the inter-quark potential and the string tension, in terms of the Dirac eigenmodes. In the Dirac spectral representation, there appears a power of the Dirac eigenvalue {λ }n such as {λ }n{Nt-1}, which behaves as a reduction factor for small {λ }n. Consequently, since this reduction factor cannot be cancelled, the low-lying Dirac eigenmodes give negligibly small contribution to the confinement quantities, while they are essential for chiral symmetry breaking. These relations indicate that there is no direct one-to-one correspondence between confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in QCD. In other words, there is some independence of quark confinement from chiral symmetry breaking, which can generally lead to different transition temperatures/densities for deconfinement and chiral restoration. We also investigate the Polyakov loop in terms of the eigenmodes of the Wilson, the clover and the domain-wall fermion kernels, and find similar results. The independence of quark confinement from chiral symmetry breaking seems to be natural, because confinement is realized independently of quark masses and heavy quarks are also confined even without the chiral symmetry.

Derivation of two functional X chromosome centromeres from a single break bisecting the centromere of origin: Implications for centromere structure

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Schonberg, S.A.; Quarles, C.; Tifft, C.

1994-09-01

The precise nature of the functional human centromeric sequences remains a matter of some controversy. Evidence has accumulated over the past several years that directly implicates alphoid repeats as a critical component. We report a child with dysmorphic features consistent with the recently described small ring X syndrome, with a constitutional karyotype that addresses this issue. At 5 1/2 months, the patient was a small, hypotonic, delayed female with brachycephaly, a broad forehead, prominent nasal root, synophorous, small mouth, and cup-shaped ears with prominent lobules, as well as microcornea, and pendular nystagmus. Hand abnormalities included single palmar creases and shortmore » tapered fingers. In addition to mosaicism for a small ring chromosome derived from the proximal short arm of the X, the proband has, in all cells, a monocentric isochromosome for the long arm of the X. The karyotype is interpreted as 46,X,iso(Xq)/47,X,iso(Xq),r(Xp11cen). We present routine karyotypic and FISH analysis of the rearranged X chromosomes. We propose that the only mechanism consistent with this karyotype is that of a two-break rearrangement with one break bisecting a centromere in such a way as to retain functional centromeric activity in each of the separated regions. The second break, proximal in the short arm, allows for ring chromosome formation with the bisected centromere. The iso(Xq) arises by the classical mechanism of post-replication sister-reunion. The formation of two functional centromeres by a single break through the {open_quotes}parental{close_quotes} centromere indicates that the functional activity must be in a repeated component of the centromeric DNA and argues strongly against the requirement for any single gene in cis orientation.« less

The iris signal: blue periphery, tan collaret and freckles pattern - strong indicators for epidermal skin cancer in South-Eastern Europe.

PubMed

Grigore, M; Furtunescu, F; Minca, D; Costache, M; Garbe, C; Simionescu, O

2018-03-10

Eye and skin share the embryological origin. Both are established risk factors in epidermal skin cancer. There are few reports using iris colour classification scales, most of them analyse colour in general or are too complex to use in daily practice. To investigate which iris colour pattern is associated with epidermal skin cancer in a S-E European Caucasian population. A case-control study was conducted on 480 patients: 229 skin cancers patients and 251 controls (dermatological patients free of skin cancers) admitted in two medical clinics of Dermatology in Bucharest, between October 2011 and May 2014. High-resolution iris photographs were taken for each patient. Three parameters of the iris were analysed individually and in association patterns for each patient: periphery, collaret and freckles. The most frequent iris colour pattern associated with epidermal skin cancer was blue periphery with light brown collaret and freckles present. In terms of individual parameters, the strongest indicators for skin cancer patients were blue periphery and blue collaret. The results of this study sustain the hypothesis that blue periphery with light brown collaret and freckles iris pattern is a reliable phenotypic marker for epidermal skin cancer. The results of this study differ from previous reports in which skin cancer risk was associated with a homogeneous blue iris. We account these differences in the characteristics of the recruited patients (S-E European, skin type II and III). The assessment of iris colour patterns is an easy and inexpensive detection tool in skin cancer risk assessment. © 2018 European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Benzo[a]pyrene (Public Comment Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is developing an Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) assessment of benzo[a]pyrene and has released the draft assessment for public comment and external peer review. When final, the assessment will appear on the IRIS database.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Naphthalene (1998 Final)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the release of the final report, Toxicological Review of Naphthalene: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The updated Summary for Naphthalene and accompanying toxicological review have been added to the IRIS Database.

ARCoIRIS | CTIO

Science.gov Websites

Visitor's Computer Guidelines Network Connection Request Instruments Instruments by Telescope IR Instruments ‹› You are here CTIO Home » Astronomers » Instruments » IR Instruments » ARCoIRIS ARCoIRIS

IRIS Toxicological Review of Phosgene (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the release of the final report, Toxicological Review of Phosgene: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The updated Summary for Phosgene and accompanying toxicological review have been added to the IRIS Database.

AHMCT Intelligent Roadway Information System (IRIS) technical support and testing

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-12-31

This report documents the research project AHMCT IRIS Technical Support and Testing, : performed under contract 65A0275, Task ID 1777. It presents an overview of the Intelligent : Roadway Information System (IRIS), and its design and function. ...

AHMCT Intelligent Roadway Information System (IRIS) technical support and testing.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2011-12-01

This report documents the research project AHMCT IRIS Technical Support and Testing, : performed under contract 65A0275, Task ID 1777. It presents an overview of the Intelligent : Roadway Information System (IRIS), and its design and function. ...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Acrolein (2003 Final)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the release of the final report, Toxicological Review of Acrolein: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The updated Summary for Acrolein and accompanying toxicological review have been added to the IRIS Database.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Chloroform (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is announcing the release of the final report, Toxicological Review of Chloroform: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The updated Summary for Chloroform and accompanying Quickview have also been added to the IRIS Database.

A potential protective effect of α-tocopherol on vascular complication in spinal cord reperfusion injury in rats

PubMed Central

2010-01-01

Background Paraplegia remains a potential complication of spinal cord ischemic reperfusion injury (IRI) in which oxidative stress induced cyclooxygenase activities may contribute to ischemic neuronal damage. Prolonged administration of vitamin E (α-TOL), as a potent biological antioxidant, may have a protective role in this oxidative inflammatory ischemic cascade to reduce the incidence of paraplegia. The present study was designed to evaluate the preventive value of α-TOL in IRI of spinal cord. Methods For this study, 50 male Sprague-Dawley rats were used and divided into five experimental groups (n = 10): Control group (C); α-TOL control group (CE) which received intramuscular (i.m.) α-TOL injections (600 mg/kg); Sham operated group (S), IRI rats were subjected to laparotomy and clamping of the aorta just above the bifurcation for 45 min, then the clamp was released for 48 hrs for reperfusion; and IRIE rats group, received 600 mg/kg of α-TOL i.m. twice weekly for 6 weeks, followed by induction of IRI similar to the IRI group. At the end of the experimental protocol; motor, sensory and placing/stepping reflex evaluation was done. Plasma nitrite/nitrate (NOx) was measured. Then animals' spinal cord lumbar segments were harvested and homogenized for measurement of the levels of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), malondialdehyde (MDA) and advanced oxidation products (AOPP), while superoxide dismutase (SOD) and catalase (CAT) activity were evaluated. Results Induction of IRI in rats resulted in significant increases in plasma levels of nitrite/nitrate (p < 0.001) and spinal cord homogenate levels of PGE2, MDA, advanced oxidation protein products AOPP and SOD with significant reduction (p < 0.001) in CAT homogenate levels. Significant impairment of motor, sensory functions and placing/stepping reflex was observed with IRI induction in the spinal cord (p < 0.001). α-TOL administration in IRIE group significantly improved all the previously measured parameters compared with IRI group. Conclusions α-TOL administration significantly prevents the damage caused by spinal cord IRI in rats with subsequent recovery of both motor and sensory functions. Alpha-tocopherol improves the oxidative stress level with subsequent reduction of the incidence of neurological deficits due to spinal cord IRI conditions. PMID:20609232

Interferometric biosensing platform for multiplexed digital detection of viral pathogens and biomarkers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Daaboul, George

Label-free optical biosensors have been established as proven tools for monitoring specific biomolecular interactions. However, compact and robust embodiments of such instruments have yet to be introduced in order to provide sensitive, quantitative, and high-throughput biosensing for low-cost research and clinical applications. Here we present the interferometric reflectance-imaging sensor (IRIS). IRIS allows sensitive label free analysis using an inexpensive and durable multi-color LED illumination source on a silicon based surface. IRIS monitors biomolecular interaction through measurement of biomass addition to the sensor's surface. We demonstrate the capability of this system to dynamically monitor antigen---antibody interactions with a noise floor of 5.2 pg/mm 2 and DNA single mismatch detection under isothermal melting conditions in an array format. Ensemble detection of binding events using IRIS did not provide the sensitivity needed for detection of infectious disease and biomarkers at clinically relevant concentrations. Therefore, a new approach was adapted to the IRIS platform that allowed the detection and identification of individual nanoparticles on the sensor's surface. The new detection method was termed single-particle IRIS (SP-IRIS). We developed two detection modalities for SP-IRIS. The first modality is when the target is a nanoparticle such as a virus. We verified that SP-IRIS can accurately detect and size individual viral particles. Then we demonstrated that single nanoparticle counting and sizing methodology on SP-IRIS leads to a specific and sensitive virus sensor that can be multiplexed. Finally, we developed an assay for the detection of Ebola and Marburg. A detection limit of 3 x 103 PFU/ml was demonstrated for vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) pseudotyped with Ebola or Marburg virus glycoprotein. We have demonstrated that virus detection can be done in human whole blood directly without the need for sample preparation. The second modality of SP-IRIS we developed was single molecule counting of biomarkers utilizing a sandwich assay with detection probes labeled with gold nanoparticles. We demonstrated the use of single molecule counting in a nucleic acid assay for melanoma biomarker detection. We showed that a single molecule counting assay can lead to detection limits in the attomolar range. The improved sensitivity of IRIS utilizing single nanoparticle detection holds promise for a simple and low-cost technology for rapid virus detection and multiplexed molecular screening for clinical applications.

Gonioscopy in primary angle closure glaucoma.

PubMed

Bruno, Christina A; Alward, Wallace L M

2002-06-01

Primary angle closure is a condition characterized by obstruction to aqueous humor outflow by the peripheral iris, and results in changes in the iridocorneal angle that are visible through gonioscopic examination. Gonioscopy in these eyes, however, can be difficult. This chapter discusses techniques that might help in the examination. These include beginning the examination with the inferior angle, methods to help in looking over the iris, cycloplegia, locating the corneal wedge, indentation, van Herick estimation, examining the other eye, and topical glycerin. Finally, there is a discussion about the pathology associated with the closed angle, with emphasis on the appearance of iris bombé, plateau iris, and the distinction between iris processes and peripheral anterior synechiae.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-Trinitro-1,3,5 ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The IRIS Toxicological Review of Hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) was released for external peer review in September 2016. The EPA’s Science Advisory Board’s (SAB) Chemical Assessment Advisory Committee (CAAC) will conduct a peer review of the scientific basis supporting the RDX assessment and release a final report of their review. Information regarding the peer review can be found on the SAB website. EPA is undertaking an update of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) health assessment for RDX. The outcome of this project is an updated Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary for RDX that will be entered into the IRIS database.

Iris recognition based on robust principal component analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Karn, Pradeep; He, Xiao Hai; Yang, Shuai; Wu, Xiao Hong

2014-11-01

Iris images acquired under different conditions often suffer from blur, occlusion due to eyelids and eyelashes, specular reflection, and other artifacts. Existing iris recognition systems do not perform well on these types of images. To overcome these problems, we propose an iris recognition method based on robust principal component analysis. The proposed method decomposes all training images into a low-rank matrix and a sparse error matrix, where the low-rank matrix is used for feature extraction. The sparsity concentration index approach is then applied to validate the recognition result. Experimental results using CASIA V4 and IIT Delhi V1iris image databases showed that the proposed method achieved competitive performances in both recognition accuracy and computational efficiency.

Ischemia-Reperfusion Injury and Volatile Anesthetics

PubMed Central

Erturk, Engin

2014-01-01

Ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) is induced as a result of reentry of the blood and oxygen to ischemic tissue. Antioxidant and some other drugs have protective effect on IRI. In many surgeries and clinical conditions IRI is counteract inevitable. Some anesthetic agents may have a protective role in this procedure. It is known that inhalational anesthetics possess protective effects against IRI. In this review the mechanism of preventive effects of volatile anesthetics and different ischemia-reperfusion models are discussed. PMID:24524079

Modulation of the neurological and vascular complications by grape seed extract in a rat model of spinal cord ischemia-reperfusion injury by downregulation of both osteopontin and cyclooxygenase-2.

PubMed

Sakr, Hussein F; Abbas, Amr M; Bin-Jaliah, Ismaeel

2016-07-01

In this study, we investigated the effects of grape seed extract (GSE) on the expression of osteopontin (OPN) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in a rat model of spinal cord ischemia-reperfusion injury (SC-IRI). Fifty male rats were divided into 5 groups: control (CON); control + GSE (CON + GSE) (received GSE for 28 days); sham operated (Sham); IRI; and IRI + GSE. SC-IRI was induced by clamping the aorta just above the bifurcation for 45 min, and then the clamp was released for 48 h for reperfusion. IRI + GSE group received GSE for 28 days before SC-IRI. Sensory, motor, and placing/stepping reflex assessment was performed. Prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARs), and total antioxidant capacity (TAC) were measured in spinal cord homogenate. Immunohistochemical examination of the spinal cord for OPN and COX-2 were carried out. SC-IRI resulted in significant increase in plasma nitrite/nitrate level and spinal cord homogenate levels of TBARs and PGE2, and OPN and COX-2 expression with significant decrease in TAC. GSE improves the sensory and motor functions through decreasing OPN and COX-2 expression with reduction of oxidative stress parameters. We conclude a neuroprotective effect of GSE in SC-IRI through downregulating COX-2 and OPN expression plus its antioxidants effects.

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW AND SUMMARY ...

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Trichloroacetic acid is a crystalline solid with sharp, pungent odor. It is used as a soil sterilizer; and as a laboratory intermediate or reagent in the synthesis of a variety of medicinal products and organic chemicals. Trichloroacetic acid is also used industrially as an etching and pickling agent for the surface treatment of metals and as a solvent in the plastics industry. Trichloroacetic acid can be formed as a combustion byproduct of organic compounds in the presence of chlorine. It is also formed as a disinfection byproduct during water chlorination. The existing IRIS entry was added to the IRIS data base between 1994 and 1996. No RfD was developed. The IRIS program is updating the IRIS assessment for Trichloroacetic Acid. This update will incorporate health effects information published since the last assessment was prepared as well as new risk assessment methods. The IRIS assessment for Trichloroacetic Acid will consist of a Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary. The Toxicological Review is a critical review of the physicochemical and toxicokinetic properties of the chemical and its toxicity in humans and experimental systems. The assessment will present reference value for noncancer effects of Trichloroacetic Acid (RfD) and a cancer assessment. The Toxicological Review and IRIS Summary will be subject to internal peer consultation, Agency review and external scientific peer review. The final products will constitute the Agency's opinion on the

Analysis of Four Automated Urinalysis Systems Compared to Reference Methods.

PubMed

Bartosova, Kamila; Kubicek, Zdenek; Franekova, Janka; Louzensky, Gustav; Lavrikova, Petra; Jabor, Antonin

2016-11-01

The aim of this study was to compare four automated urinalysis systems: the Iris iQ200 Sprint (Iris Diagnostics, U.S.A.) combined with the Arkray AUTION MAX AX 4030, Iris + AUTION, Arkray AU 4050 (Arkray Global Business, Inc., Japan), Dirui FUS 2000 (Dirui Industrial Co., P.R.C.), and Menarini sediMAX (Menarini, Italy). Urine concentrations of protein and glucose (Iris, Dirui) were compared using reference quantitative analysis on an Abbott Architect c16000. Leukocytes, erythrocytes, epithelia, and casts (Iris, Arkray, Diuri, Menarini) were compared to urine sediment under reference light microscopy, Leica DM2000 (Leica Microsystems GmbH, Germany) with calibrated FastRead plates (Biosigma S.r.l., Italy), using both native and stained preparations. Total protein and glucose levels were measured using the Iris + AUTION system with borderline trueness, while the Dirui analysis revealed worse performances for the protein and glucose measurements. True classifications of leukocytes and erythrocytes were above 85% and 72%, respectively. Kappa statistics revealed a nearly perfect evaluation of leukocytes for all tested systems; the erythrocyte evaluation was nearly perfect for the Iris, Dirui and Arkray analyzers and substantial for the Menarini analyzer. The epithelia identification was connected to high false negativity (above 15%) in the Iris, Arkray, and Menarini analyses. False-negative casts were above 70% for all tested systems. The use of automated urinalysis demonstrated some weaknesses and should be checked by experienced laboratory staff using light microscopy.

Vascular tumors of the iris in 45 patients: the 2009 Helen Keller Lecture.

PubMed

Shields, Jerry A; Bianciotto, Carlos; Kligman, Brad E; Shields, Carol L

2010-09-01

To report on a series of vascular tumors of the iris. Noncomparative case series. A retrospective medical record review of all patients with an iris vascular tumor was performed to identify the clinical features and develop a simple classification of these lesions. Included were demographics, clinical features, systemic associations, complications, management, and histopathology. There were 54 eyes in 45 patients with an iris vascular tumor. These were categorized as racemose hemangioma (41 eyes: 29 simple and 12 complex), cavernous hemangioma (3 eyes: 2 localized and 1 systemic), capillary hemangioma (1 eye, localized), varix (3 eyes, localized), and microhemangiomatosis (6 eyes, localized). The hemangiomas occurred in adults at a median age of 55 years, whereas capillary hemangioma occurred in infancy and cavernous hemangioma with systemic involvement occurred in a child. Of the 41 eyes with iris racemose hemangioma, none showed systemic involvement. Of all 54 eyes, transient hyphema was the main complication, found at some point in 30% or more of each affected eye except for iris capillary and racemose hemangioma. Surgical resection was necessary in 1 cavernous hemangioma and 1 varix. The remainder were managed with observation. There are now well-documented examples of iris racemose hemangioma, cavernous hemangioma, capillary hemangioma, varix, and microhemangiomatosis. Transient hyphema is the main complication. Observation is usually advised. Most are solitary lesions confined to the iris and some (cavernous hemangioma and microhemangiomatosis) can have important systemic associations.

Soft dipole resonance and halo structure of 11Li

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kanungo, Rituparna

2016-03-01

The discovery of the nuclear halo in rare isotopes has ushered a new era in nuclear science breaking the boundaries of conventional concepts. The halo properties elucidate new features that till date remain a challenge to decipher from fundamental principles. Our knowledge on the halo is still gradually unfolding and reaching new levels of precision as efforts continue towards new experimental developments. In recent times, low-energy reactions in inverse kinematics have become possible providing a wealth of new structure information. In this presentation we will introduce a new reaction spectroscopy facility, IRIS, with a novel thin windowless solid H2/D2 target for studying transfer and inelastic scattering reactions of rare isotopes with very low yields. It was postulated that the loosely bound halo of two neutrons may lead to a core-halo oscillation resulting in dipole resonance(s) at very low excitation energy, called soft dipole resonance. Despite decades of search for this new phenomenon using various techniques, such as, no firm conclusion was reached. The presentation will discuss new results from IRIS that shows evidence of a soft dipole resonance state and further unveils its isoscalar character. New results of neutron transfer from 11Li will be presented showing resonance state(s) in the neutron unbound 10Li subsystem hence facilitating a description of the wavefunction of 11Li. NSERC, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Nova Scotia Research and Innovation Trust, grant-in-aid program of the Japanese government under Contract No. 23224008, US DOE Contract No. DE-AC52-07NA27344.

The Autonomic Signature of Guilt in Children: A Thermal Infrared Imaging Study

PubMed Central

Ioannou, Stephanos; Ebisch, Sjoerd; Aureli, Tiziana; Bafunno, Daniela; Ioannides, Helene Alexi; Cardone, Daniela; Manini, Barbara; Romani, Gian Luca; Gallese, Vittorio; Merla, Arcangelo

2013-01-01

So far inferences on early moral development and higher order self conscious emotions have mostly been based on behavioral data. Emotions though, as far as arguments support, are multidimensional notions. Not only do they involve behavioral actions upon perception of an event, but they also carry autonomic physiological markers. The current study aimed to examine and characterise physiological signs that underlie self-conscious emotions in early childhood, while grounding them on behavioral analyses. For this purpose, the “mishap paradigm” was used as the most reliable method for evoking feelings of “guilt” in children and autonomic facial temperature variation were detected by functional Infrared Imaging (fIRI). Fifteen children (age: 39–42 months) participated in the study. They were asked to play with a toy, falsely informed that it was the experimenter's “favourite”, while being unaware that it was pre-planned to break. Mishap of the toy during engagement caused sympathetic arousal as shown by peripheral nasal vasoconstriction leading to a marked temperature drop, compared to baseline. Soothing after the mishap phase induced an increase in nose temperature, associated with parasympathetic activity suggesting that the child's distress was neutralized, or even overcompensated. Behavioral analyses reported signs of distress evoked by the paradigm, backing up the thermal observation. The results suggest that the integration of physiological elements should be crucial in research concerning socio-emotional development. fIRI is a non invasive and non contact method providing a powerful tool for inferring early moral emotional signs based on physiological observations of peripheral vasoconstriction, while preserving an ecological and natural context. PMID:24260220

Renal ischemia-reperfusion injury and adenosine 2A receptor-mediated tissue protection: the role of CD4+ T cells and IFN-gamma.

PubMed

Day, Yuan-Ji; Huang, Liping; Ye, Hong; Li, Li; Linden, Joel; Okusa, Mark D

2006-03-01

A(2A) adenosine receptor (A(2A)R)-expressing bone marrow (BM)-derived cells contribute to the renal protective effect of A(2A) agonists in renal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). We performed IRI in mice lacking T and B cells to determine whether A(2A)R expressed in CD4+ cells mediate protection from IRI. Rag-1 knockout (KO) mice were protected in comparison to wild-type (WT) mice when subjected to IRI. ATL146e, a selective A(2A) agonist, did not confer additional protection. IFN-gamma is an important early signal in IRI and is thought to contribute to reperfusion injury. Because IFN-gamma is produced by kidney cells and T cells we performed IRI in BM chimeras in which the BM of WT mice was reconstituted with BM from IFN-gamma KO mice (IFN-gamma KO-->WT chimera). We observed marked reduction in IRI in comparison to WT-->WT chimeras providing additional indirect support for the role of T cells. To confirm the role of CD4+ A(2A)R in mediating protection from IRI, Rag-1 KO mice were subjected to ischemia-reperfusion. The protection observed in Rag-1 KO mice was reversed in Rag-1 KO mice that were adoptively transferred WT CD4+ cells (WT CD4+-->Rag-1 KO) or A(2A) KO CD4+ cells (A(2A) KO CD4+-->Rag-1 KO). ATL146e reduced injury in WT CD4+-->Rag-1 KO mice but not in A(2A) KO CD4+-->Rag-1 KO mice. Rag-1 KO mice reconstituted with CD4+ cells derived from IFN-gamma KO mice (IFN-gamma CD4+-->Rag-1 KO) were protected from IRI; ATL146e conferred no additional protection. These studies demonstrate that CD4+ IFN-gamma contributes to IRI and that A(2A) agonists mediate protection from IRI through action on CD4+ cells.

IRIS Toxicological Review of Decabromodiphenyl Ether (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the release of the final report, Toxicological Review of Decabromodiphenyl Ether: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The updated Summary for Decabromodiphenyl Ether and accompanying toxicological review have been added to the IRIS Da...

4-(2-Methyl-4-chlorophenoxy) butyric acid (MCPB)

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) 4 - ( 2 - Methyl - 4

Inertial and inclinometer based profiler repeatability and accuracy using the IRI model : final report.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2012-12-01

Oregon DOT is transitioning to use the International Roughness Index (IRI) for an incentive\\disincentive program for : pavement smoothness evaluation for newly paved roads. The IRI will typically be determined by contractors using inertial : profiler...

Replication of Structure Findings regarding the Interpersonal Reactivity Index.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Carey, John C.; And Others

1988-01-01

Attempted to verify multidimensional nature and item composition of Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) subscales through factor analysis. IRI responses from 365 female clinical dieticians and dietetic interns supported contention that IRI subscales measure four discernibly different empathy dimensions. (NB)

Vocabulary Questions on Informal Reading Inventories.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Duffelmeyer, Fredrick A.; And Others

1989-01-01

Examines the utility of informal reading inventories (IRI) and acknowledges four limitations of the research. Indicates that no validity-enhancing measures were implemented in conjunction with the three IRIs analyzed. Suggests that IRI vocabulary questions do not appear to be useful. (MG)

IRIS Arrays: Observing Wavefields at Multiple Scales and Frequencies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sumy, D. F.; Woodward, R.; Frassetto, A.

2014-12-01

The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) provides instruments for creating and operating seismic arrays at a wide range of scales. As an example, for over thirty years the IRIS PASSCAL program has provided instruments to individual Principal Investigators to deploy arrays of all shapes and sizes on every continent. These arrays have ranged from just a few sensors to hundreds or even thousands of sensors, covering areas with dimensions of meters to thousands of kilometers. IRIS also operates arrays directly, such as the USArray Transportable Array (TA) as part of the EarthScope program. Since 2004, the TA has rolled across North America, at any given time spanning a swath of approximately 800 km by 2,500 km, and thus far sampling 2% of the Earth's surface. This achievement includes all of the lower-48 U.S., southernmost Canada, and now parts of Alaska. IRIS has also facilitated specialized arrays in polar environments and on the seafloor. In all cases, the data from these arrays are freely available to the scientific community. As the community of scientists who use IRIS facilities and data look to the future they have identified a clear need for new array capabilities. In particular, as part of its Wavefields Initiative, IRIS is exploring new technologies that can enable large, dense array deployments to record unaliased wavefields at a wide range of frequencies. Large-scale arrays might utilize multiple sensor technologies to best achieve observing objectives and optimize equipment and logistical costs. Improvements in packaging and power systems can provide equipment with reduced size, weight, and power that will reduce logistical constraints for large experiments, and can make a critical difference for deployments in harsh environments or other situations where rapid deployment is required. We will review the range of existing IRIS array capabilities with an overview of previous and current deployments and examples of data and results. We will review existing IRIS projects that explore new array capabilities and highlight future directions for IRIS instrumentation facilities.

The Infrared Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) for TMT: multi-tiered wavefront measurements and novel mechanical design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dunn, Jennifer; Andersen, David; Chapin, Edward; Reshetov, Vlad; Wierzbicki, Ramunas; Herriot, Glen; Chalmer, Dean; Isbrucker, Victor; Larkin, James E.; Moore, Anna M.; Suzuki, Ryuji

2016-08-01

The InfraRed Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) will be the first light adaptive optics instrument on the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). IRIS is being built by a collaboration between Caltech, the University of California, NAOJ and NRC Herzberg. In this paper we present novel aspects of the Support Structure, Rotator and On-Instrument Wavefront Sensor systems being developed at NRC Herzberg. IRIS is suspended from the bottom port of the Narrow Field Infrared Adaptive Optics System (NFIRAOS), and provides its own image de-rotation to compensate for sidereal rotation of the focal plane. This arrangement is a challenge because NFIRAOS is designed to host two other science instruments, which imposes strict mass requirements on IRIS. As the mechanical design of all elements has progressed, we have been tasked with keeping the instrument mass under seven tonnes. This requirement has resulted in a mass reduction of 30 percent for the support structure and rotator compared to the most recent IRIS designs. To accomplish this goal, while still being able to withstand earthquakes, we developed a new design with composite materials. As IRIS is a client instrument of NFIRAOS, it benefits from NFIRAOS's superior AO correction. IRIS plays an important role in providing this correction by sensing low-order aberrations with three On-Instrument Wavefront Sensors (OIWFS). The OIWFS consists of three independently positioned natural guide star wavefront sensor probe arms that patrol a 2-arcminute field of view. We expect tip-tilt measurements from faint stars within the IRIS imager focal plane will further stabilize the delivered image quality. We describe how the use of On-Detector Guide Windows (ODGWs) in the IRIS imaging detector can be incorporated into the AO correction. In this paper, we present our strategies for acquiring and tracking sources with this complex AO system, and for mitigating and measuring the various potential sources of image blur and misalignment due to properties of the mechanical structure and interfaces.

Honokiol protects against renal ischemia/reperfusion injury via the suppression of oxidative stress, iNOS, inflammation and STAT3 in rats.

PubMed

Yu, Yongwu; Li, Mingxv; Su, Ning; Zhang, Zhiyong; Zhao, Haidan; Yu, Hai; Xu, Yingluan

2016-02-01

Honokiol is the predominant active ingredient in the commonly used traditional Chinese medicine, Magnolia, which has been confirmed in previous studies to exhibit anti-oxidation, antimicrobial, antitumor and other pharmacological effects. However, its effects on renal ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) remain to be elucidated. The present study aimed to examine the effects of honokiol on renal IRI, and to investigate its potential protective mechanisms in the heart. Male adult Wistar albino rats were induced into a renal IRI model. Subsequently, the levels of serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), and the levels of serum nitrite and the kidney nitrite were examined in the IRI group. The levels of oxidative stress, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), inflammatory factors and caspase-3 were evaluated using a series of commercially available kits. The levels of phosphorylated signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (p-STAT3) and the protein expression levels of STAT3 were determined using western blotting. Pretreatment with honokiol significantly reduced the levels of serum creatinine, BUN, ALT, AST and ALP, and the level of nitrite in the kidney of the IRI group, compared with the control group. The levels of malondialdehyde, the activity of myeloperoxidase, and the gene expression and activity of iNOS were reduced in the IRI rats, compared with the sham-operated rats, whereas the levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase were increased following treatment with honokiol in the IRI rats. In addition, the expression levels of tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6 in the IRI rats were increased by honokiol. Treatment with honokiol suppressed the protein expression levels of p-STAT3 and caspase-3 in the IRI rats. These findings indicated that honokiol protects against renal IRI via the suppression of oxidative stress, iNOS, inflammation and STAT3 in the rat.

Pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenetic markers of irinotecan toxicity.

PubMed

Hahn, Roberta Zilles; Antunes, Marina Venzon; Verza, Simone Gasparin; Perassolo, Magda Susana; Suyenaga, Edna Sayuri; Schwartsmann, Gilberto; Linden, Rafael

2018-06-22

Irinotecan (IRI) is a widely used chemotherapeutic drug, mostly used for first-line treatment of colorectal and pancreatic cancer. IRI doses are usually established based on patient's body surface area, an approach associated with large inter-individual variability in drug exposure and high incidence of severe toxicity. Toxic and therapeutic effects of IRI are also due to its active metabolite SN-38, reported to be up to 100 times more cytotoxic than IRI. SN-38 is detoxified by the formation of SN-38 glucuronide, through UGT1A1. Genetic polymorphisms in the UGT1A1 gene are associated to higher exposures to SN-38 and severe toxicity. Pharmacokinetic models to describe IRI and SN-38 kinetic profiles are available, with few studies exploring pharmacokinetic and pharmacogenetic-based dose individualization. The aim of this manuscript is to review the available evidence supporting pharmacogenetic and pharmacokinetic dose individualization of IRI in order to reduce the occurrence of severe toxicity during cancer treatment. The PubMed database was searched, considering papers published in the period from 1995-2017, using the keywords irinotecan, pharmacogenetics, metabolic genotyping, dose individualization, therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, either alone or in combination, with original papers being selected based on the presence of relevant data. The findings of this review confirm the importance of considering individual patient characteristics to select IRI doses. Currently, the most straightforward approach for IRI dose individualization is UGT1A1 genotyping. However, this strategy is sub-optimal due to several other genetic and environmental contributions to the variable pharmacokinetics of IRI and its active metabolite. The use of dried blood spot sampling could allow the clinical application of complex sampling for the clinical use of limited sampling and population pharmacokinetic models for IRI doses individualization. Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.org.

Retrofitted supersymmetric models

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bose, Manatosh

This thesis explores several models of metastable dynamic supersymmetry breaking (MDSB) and a supersymmetric model of hybrid inflation. All of these models possess discrete R-symmetries. We specially focus on the retrofitted models for supersymmetry breaking models. At first we construct retrofitted models of gravity mediation. In these models we explore the genericity of the so-called "split supersymmetry." We show that with the simplest models, where the goldstino multiplet is neutral under the discrete R-symmetry, a split spectrum is not generic. However if the goldstino superfield is charged under some symmetry other than the R-symmetry, then a split spectrum is achievable but not generic. We also present a gravity mediated model where the fine tuning of the Z-boson mass is dictated by a discrete choice rather than a continuous tuning. Then we construct retrofitted models of gauge mediated SUSY breaking. We show that, in these models, if the approximate R-symmetry of the theory is spontaneously broken, the messenger scale is fixed; if explicitly broken by retrofitted couplings, a very small dimensionless number is required; if supergravity corrections are responsible for the symmetry breaking, at least two moderately small couplings are required, and that there is a large range of possible messenger scales. Finally we switch our attention to small field hybrid inflation. We construct a model that yields a spectral index ns = 0.96. Here, we also briefly discuss the possibility of relating the scale of inflation with the dynamics responsible for supersymmetry breaking.

IRI-2016: Description and Introduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bilitza, Dieter; Watanabe, Shigeto; Truhlik, Vladimir; Altadill, David

2016-07-01

The International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) is recognized as the official standard for the ionosphere (COSPAR, URSI, ISO) and is widely used for a multitude of different applications as evidenced by the many papers in science and engineering journals that acknowledge the use of IRI (e.g., about 11% of all Radio Science papers each year and citations in 21 different journals in 2015). The improvement process of the model is continuing as new data become fully available and new modeling techniques provide a more optimal representation of the observed variation patterns. We will introduce and present the latest version of the IRI model (IRI-2016) and discuss the impact of the various improvements and new additions. Most importantly, two new models will be introduced for the F2 peak height, hmF2, that were developed based on ionosonde measurements and COSMIC radio occultation data, respectively. In addition IRI-2016 includes an improved representation of the ionosphere during the very low solar activities that were reached during the last solar minimum in 2008/2009. A number of other improvements and corrections were implemented in the model and will be discussed in this presentation. We will also report about recent IRI workshops and their findings and plans for the future.

Pharmacology of Ischemia-Reperfusion. Translational Research Considerations.

PubMed

Prieto-Moure, Beatriz; Lloris-Carsí, José M; Barrios-Pitarque, Carlos; Toledo-Pereyra, Luis-H; Lajara-Romance, José María; Berda-Antolí, M; Lloris-Cejalvo, J M; Cejalvo-Lapeña, Dolores

2016-08-01

Ischemia-reperfusion (IRI) is a complex physiopathological mechanism involving a large number of metabolic processes that can eventually lead to cell apoptosis and ultimately tissue necrosis. Treatment approaches intended to reduce or palliate the effects of IRI are varied, and are aimed basically at: inhibiting cell apoptosis and the complement system in the inflammatory process deriving from IRI, modulating calcium levels, maintaining mitochondrial membrane integrity, reducing the oxidative effects of IRI and levels of inflammatory cytokines, or minimizing the action of macrophages, neutrophils, and other cell types. This study involved an extensive, up-to-date review of the bibliography on the currently most widely used active products in the treatment and prevention of IRI, and their mechanisms of action, in an aim to obtain an overview of current and potential future treatments for this pathological process. The importance of IRI is clearly reflected by the large number of studies published year after year, and by the variety of pathophysiological processes involved in this major vascular problem. A quick study of the evolution of IRI-related publications in PubMed shows that in a single month in 2014, 263 articles were published, compared to 806 articles in the entire 1990.

Update On Ink Jet Proofing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Santos, Richard P.

1989-04-01

IRIS Graphics, Inc., is a new start-up company chartered to develop, manufacture, and market direct digital filmless color imaging systems. IRIS is pleased to have been the recipient of the Graphic Art Technologies Foundation INTERTEC '87 Award for innovative excellence. IRIS is extremely proud to have been given this honor. IRIS was incorporated in April 1984 and received its initial funding of approximately 1 million by September 1984. The first 2044 Beta unit was installed in August 1985, and the first 2044 sales were made in December 1985 to R. R. Donnelley, the largest printer in the United States, and to G. S. Litho, the largest U.S. color separation house. In May 1986, IRIS received an additional 3 million in its second round of financing. A smaller version of the 2044, the 2024 was introduced at Lasers In Graphics in September 1986. IRIS achieved additional financing in July 1987 and completed the introduction of the new breakthrough Series 3000 again at Lasers In Graphics in September 1987 in Orlando, Florida. IRIS occupies 20,000 square feet at its new location in Bedford, Massachusetts, which located off of Route 128 in the high technology area near Boston.

Association between iris constitution and apolipoprotein e gene polymorphism in hypertensives.

PubMed

Um, Jae-Young; Hwang, Chung-Yeon; Hwang, Woo-Jun; Kang, Sung-Do; Do, Keum-Rok; Cho, Ju-Jang; Cho, Jae-Woon; Kim, Sung-Hoon; Shin, Tae-Yong; Kim, Yun-Kyung; Kim, Hyung-Min; Hong, Seung-Heon

2004-12-01

Iridology is a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) that involves the diagnosis of medical conditions by noting irregularities of the pigmentation in the iris. Iris constitution has a strong familial aggregation and heredity is implicated. Apolipoprotein E (apoE) gene polymorphism is one of the most well-studied genetic markers for vascular diseases, including hypertension. In this study, we investigated the relationship between iris constitution and apoE polymorphism in hypertensives. We classified 87 hypertensives and 79 controls according to iris constitution and determined the apoE genotype of each individual. A significantly higher percentage of individuals with neurogenic constitutions was found in the hypertensive group when compared with the control group (chi(2) = 40.244, p < 0.001). In addition, a neurogenic constitution increased the relative risk for hypertension for subjects with an apo epsilon2 or an epsilon4 allele (chi(2) = 4.086, p = 0.049, odds ratio = 2.633, confidence interval = 1.004-6.905). Our results imply that a neurogenic iris constitution enhances the relative risk for hypertension in subjects with the apo epsilon2 or epsilon4 allele. Furthermore, we attempted to evaluate the efficacy of iris constitutional medicine and to find an association with hypertension.

Modulated Elliptical Slot

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Abou-Khousa, M. A.

2009-01-01

A novel modulated slot design has been proposed and tested. The proposed slot is aimed to replace the inefficient small dipoles used in conventional MST-based imaging systems. The developed slot is very attractive as MST array element due to its small size and high efficiency/modulation depth. In fact, the developed slot has been successfully used to implement the first prototype of a microwave camera operating at 24 GHZ. It is also being used in the design of the second generation of the camera. Finally, the designed elliptical slot can be used as an electronically controlled waveguide iris for many other purposes (for instance in constructing waveguide reflective phase shifters and multiplexers/switches).

IRIS Toxicological Review of Acrylonitrile (External Review Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

[UPDATE] New Schedule for IRIS Acrylonitrile Assessment

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trimethylbenzenes (Final Report)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA has finalized the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) Assessment of Trimethylbenzenes (TMBs). This assessment addresses the potential non-cancer and cancer human health effects from long-term exposure to TMBs. Now final, this assessment will be the first IRIS a...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Trimethylbenzenes (Interagency Science Discussion Draft)

EPA Science Inventory

In September 2016, EPA finalized the IRIS assessment of Trimethylbenzenes. The Toxicological Review was reviewed internally by EPA and by other federal agencies and White House Offices before public release in June 2016. Consistent with the May 2009 IRIS assessment development pr...

4-(2,4-Dichlorophenoxy)butyric acid (2,4-DB)

Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS)

Integrated Risk Information System ( IRIS ) Chemical Assessment Summary U.S . Environmental Protection Agency National Center for Environmental Assessment This IRIS Summary has been removed from the IRIS database and is available for historical reference purposes . ( July 2016 ) 4 - ( 2,4 - Dichloro

IRIS TOXICOLOGICAL REVIEW OF TETRACHLOROETHYLENE (PERCHLOROETHYLENE) (INTERAGENCY SCIENCE DISCUSSION DRAFT)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is releasing the draft report, Toxicological Review of Tetrachloroethylene (Perchloroethylene), that was distributed to Federal agencies and White House Offices for comment during the Science Discussion step of the IRIS Assessment...

IRIS Toxicological Review of 2-Methylnaphthalene (2003, Final)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA announced the release of the final report, Toxicological Review of 2-Methylnaphthalene: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The updated Summary for 2-Methylnaphthalene and accompanying toxicological review have also been added to the IRIS Datab...

IRIS Assessment Plan for Uranium (Scoping and Problem Formulation Materials)

EPA Science Inventory

In January 2018, EPA released the IRIS Assessment Plan for Uranium (Oral Reference Dose) (Scoping and Problem Formulation Materials). An IRIS Assessment Plan (IAP) communicates to the public the plan for assessing each individual chemical and includes summary informatio...

IRIS Toxicological Review of Vinyl Chloride (Final Report, 2000)

EPA Science Inventory

EPA is announcing the release of the final report, Toxicological Review of Vinyl Chloride: in support of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS). The updated Summary for Vinyl Chloride and accompanying Quickview have also been added to the IRIS Database.

IRIS thermal balance test within ESTEC LSS

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Messidoro, Piero; Ballesio, Marino; Vessaz, J. P.

1988-01-01

The Italian Research Interim Stage (IRIS) thermal balance test was successfully performed in the ESTEC Large Space Simulator (LSS) to qualify the thermal design and to validate the thermal mathematical model. Characteristics of the test were the complexity of the set-up required to simulate the Shuttle cargo bay and allowing IRIS mechanism actioning and operation for the first time in the new LSS facility. Details of the test are presented, and test results for IRIS and the LSS facility are described.

Cysts of the Iris Pigment Epithelium. What Is New and Interesting? The 2016 Jose Rizal International Medal Lecture.

PubMed

Shields, Jerry A; Shields, Carol L

2017-01-01

Cysts of the iris pigment epithelium (IPE) can involve the pupillary margin, midzone, or peripheral location or can be free-floating in the aqueous or vitreous or lodged in the anterior chamber angle. Avariant of IPE cyst, known as iris flocculi, can be a marker for systemic thoracic aneurysm. Review of IPE cysts and description of new observations of the lesions. Review of IPE cysts. Lesions in 672 eyes were classified as of the pupillary margin (n = 49; 7%), midzone (n = 188; 28%), peripheral (n = 424; 63%), or dislodged/free-floating (n = 11; 2%). Cysts of the IPE occurred most often in young adults (21-40 years) (n = 229; 34%) manifesting with peripheral or midzonal cysts. The characteristic clinical features of pupillary margin cyst were teardrop configuration at the pupillary margin, midzonal cyst with fusiform brown appearance, peripheral cyst as iris stromal bulge, dislodged cyst as a brown lesion in the angle, and free-floating cyst with round mass moving by gravitational forces in the aqueous or vitreous. Ultrasound biomicroscopy and anterior segment optical coherence tomography demonstrated the lesions. Surgical intervention for drainage/resection was rarely necessary (<1%). Some (<1%) cysts were associated with iris nevus, iris melanoma, or ciliary body melanoma. Pupillary margin cysts (flocculi) can be found with dissecting thoracic aortic aneurysm, related to genetic mutation in smooth muscle of the iris and aorta. Cysts of the IPE most often affect the peripheral region (iridociliary) and rarely require intervention. These cysts can be associated with underlying iris or ciliary body nevus or melanoma. Patients with iris flocculi should be monitored for dissecting thoracic aneurysm. Copyright© 2017 Asia-Pacific Academy of Ophthalmology.

Intestinal ischemia/reperfusion injury triggers activation of innate toll-like receptor 4 and adaptive chemokine programs.

PubMed

Watson, M J; Ke, B; Shen, X-D; Gao, F; Busuttil, R W; Kupiec-Weglinski, J W; Farmer, D G

2008-12-01

Ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) is a major problem in intestinal transplantation. Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) has been implicated as a possible link between the innate and adaptive immune systems, however little data exists regarding TLR4 in intestinal IRI. The goal of this study is to evaluate the involvement of TLR4 in intestinal IRI and to assess the effect on T cell related chemokine programs. C57BL6 mice underwent 100 minutes of warm intestinal ischemia by SMA clamping. Control WT mice underwent laparotomy without vascular occlusion. Separate survival and analysis groups were performed, and intestinal tissue was harvested at 1 hour, 2 hours, 4 hours, and 24 hours post-reperfusion. Analysis included histology, CD3 immunostaining, myeloperoxidase activity, Western blot, and PCR. Survival was significantly worse in the IRI group vs control (50% vs. 100%). IRI caused severe histopathological injury including mucosal erosions and villous congestion and hemorrhage. Myeloperoxidase activity increased in a time-dependent manner after IRI (2.71 0.25 at 1 hour, 2.92 0.25 at 2 hours, 4 0.16 at 4 hours, 5.1 0.25 at 24 hours vs 0.47 0.11 controls, P < .05). Protein expression of TLR4 followed by NF-kappaB was increased after IRI. Additionally, mRNA production of IP-10, MIP-2, MCP-1, and RANTES was increased at all time-points, as was mRNA for ICAM-1 and E-selectin. This study is the first to demonstrate increased expression of TLR4 and NF-kappaB after warm intestinal IRI. This detrimental cascade may be initiated by TLR4 via NF-kappaB signaling pathways, implicating TLR4 as a potential therapeutic target for the prevention of intestinal IRI.

Ultrastructural analysis of the pigment dispersion syndrome in DBA/2J mice.

PubMed

Schraermeyer, Mareike; Schnichels, Sven; Julien, Sylvie; Heiduschka, Peter; Bartz-Schmidt, Karl-Ulrich; Schraermeyer, Ulrich

2009-11-01

To characterise ocular pigment abnormalities associated with iris atrophy in DBA/2J mice as a model for human pigment dispersion syndrome. Immunohistochemistry, electron and light microscopy were performed to examine the eyes of DBA/2J mice ranging in age from 2.5 to 18 months old. The focus of our study was the description of the ultrastructural modifications in the irides of DBA/2J mice. The DBA/2J mice presented modifications in the melanosomes in all the pigmented parts of the eye, including the retinal pigment epithelial cells and choroidal melanocytes of the ciliary pigment epithelium. The extracellular matrix of the iris stroma disappeared with ageing. Pigmented cells detached from the iris and migrated into the trabecular meshwork exclusively on the anterior iris surface. These cells were identified as macrophages by immunohistochemistry and electron microscopy. There was no evidence that melanocytes or iris pigment epithelial cells migrated into the trabecular meshwork, but they became more and more depigmented. The aqueous outflow was blocked by pigment-laden cells, but not by cellular debris or melanosomes. No substantial amount of extracellular melanosomes was observed. The morphology of melanosomes is aberrant in all pigment cells in the eyes of DBA/2J mice. We conclude that the disease process begins with the transfer of both immature melanosomes from the iris pigment epithelium (IPE) and melanocytes to macrophages, which subsequently migrate into the trabecular meshwork. Accumulating macrophages cause a blockade of the chamber angle. As the disease progresses, the IPE, melanocytes and iris stroma, including blood vessels, disappear, leading to iris atrophy. It is speculated that the loss of these pigment cells is partly caused by reduction of the iris stroma.