Awareness of Cornea Donation of Registered Tissue Donors in Nanjing

Objective To evaluate the current cornea donation awareness of tissue donors in the city of Nanjing, China Methods Altogether 2000 registered tissue donors in the Red Cross Eye Bank of Nanjing by the end of 2010 and 2000 control residents of Nanjing in February to June 2011 were randomly selected to par- ticipate in our field questionnaire survey. The questionnaire consisted of questions regarding the understand- ing of cornea donation, the attitude toward cornea donation, and attitude toward legislation and free dona- tion. The awareness of cornea donation between the registered tissue donors and residents was compared. Related factors of the willingness to donate corneas and to become a tissue donor were evaluated with uni- variate and multiple logistic regression analysis. Results A total of 1867 （response rate： 93.4%） tissue donors and 1796 （response rate： 89.8%; ef- fective questionnaires： 1697） residents participated in this survey. For the questions about the knowledge of cornea donation, 90.3% tissue donors （residents： 78.9%） knew that donated corneas could be used for transplantations; 71.2% tissue donors （residents： 47.6%） knew that the appearance would not be destroyed after cornea donation; 70.7% tissue donors （residents： 20.0%） knew the formalities to become a cornea do- nor. For attitude toward cornea donation, 82.2% tissue donors （residents： 45.1%） were willing to donate corneas or eyeballs after death; 84.0% tissue donors （residents： 30.2%） had discussed with their families about donation; 85.1% tissue donors （residents： 24.8%） supported their families＇ or friends＇ cornea donation For attitude toward legislation and free donation, 88.3% tissue donors （residents： 61.3%） approved of legis- lation to regular cornea donation; 72.2% tissue donors （residents： 38.8%） thought that cornea or organ do- nation should be gratis. The difference between two groups was significant （P〈0.001）. However, some tissue donors did not know cornea donation well, some even opposed the legislation of cornea donation and free donation protocol. For the factors influencing the willingness to donate corneas, population was the mostrelevant factor （P〈0.O01）, since tissue donors were more willing to donate corneas than residents. Other significantly related factor were age, gender, occupation, and education level （P〈0.001 ）, while political status or religion were not significant. For the factors related to becoming a tissue donor, older age, male, white-collars （including white-collar, civil servant, teacher, soldier, lawyer, salesman, healthcare provider）, higher education level, party members （including the Chinese Communist Party members, democratic party members, and the CommunistYouth League members） （P〈0.05）. Conclusions The registered tissue donors have better understanding and more positive attitude to- wards cornea donation than control residents do. They approve of the legislation of cornea donation and free donation protocol. It may be more effective to target the population of over 58 years old, male, white-collars, well-educated people, and party members in the promotion of cornea donation.

Point Cloud Processing Methods for 3D Point Cloud Detection Tasks

Light detection and ranging(LiDAR)sensors play a vital role in acquiring 3D point cloud data and extracting valuable information about objects for tasks such as autonomous driving,robotics,and virtual reality(VR).However,the sparse and disordered nature of the 3D point cloud poses significant challenges to feature extraction.Overcoming limitations is critical for 3D point cloud processing.3D point cloud object detection is a very challenging and crucial task,in which point cloud processing and feature extraction methods play a crucial role and have a significant impact on subsequent object detection performance.In this overview of outstanding work in object detection from the 3D point cloud,we specifically focus on summarizing methods employed in 3D point cloud processing.We introduce the way point clouds are processed in classical 3D object detection algorithms,and their improvements to solve the problems existing in point cloud processing.Different voxelization methods and point cloud sampling strategies will influence the extracted features,thereby impacting the final detection performance.

Three-dimensional anthropometry in periorbital region

Anthropometry can analyze the size,weight,and proportion of the human body objectively and quantitatively to supplement the visual assessment.Various non-invasive three-dimensional(3D)anthropometric techniques have been applied to assess soft tissues’3D morphology in the clinical practice.Among them,non-invasive stereophotogrammetry and laser scanning techniques are becoming increasingly popular in craniofacial surgery and plastic surgery.They have been applied for craniofacial growth estimation and morphometric investigation,genetic and acquired malformation diagnosis,as well as orthodontic or surgical treatment arrangement and outcome evaluation.However,few studies have been published for assessing the 3D morphology of soft tissues in the periorbital region.This paper reviews the studies involving the application and evaluation of the increasingly popular 3D photogrammetry in the periorbital region.These studies proposed detailed and standardized protocols for three-dimensionally assessing linear,curvilinear,angular,as well as volumetric measurements,and verified its high reliability in the periorbital region(even higher than caliper-derived direct measurements).In the future,reliable and accurate 3D imaging techniques,as well as standardized analyzing protocols,may find applications in following up morphological growth,preoperatively diagnosing and assessing patient periorbital conditions,planning surgical procedures,postoperatively evaluating treatment outcomes of a specific procedure,and comparing the differences in surgical results between various procedures,studies,as well as populations.

A highly selective fluorescent probe for visualizing dry eye disease-associated viscosity variations

Dry eye disease(DED) is a multifactorial chronic inflammatory disease of the ocular surface with complex and unclear etiology. The development of reliable detection tools for the pathology of DED will benefit its treatment, but it is still lacking. In parallel, it has been discovered recently that viscosity changes are involved in inflammation processes. In this regard, we constructed a fluorescent probe V5with an asymmetric donor-acceptor-donor(D-A-D) feature after rational structural modulation for viscosity detection during DED progression. The probe manifested a remarkable fluorescence enhancement(110 folds) in highly viscous conditions without interferences from polarity and reactive species. Specifically, no aggregation effect of the probe was found in glycerol. Moreover, viscosity increment in human corneal epithelial cells(HCECs) induced by hyperosmosis and inflammation was monitored, and ferroptosis in HCECs also led to the viscosity elevation. A reactive oxygen species(ROS)-dependent viscosity changes during DED progression is demonstrated. Finally, viscosity change in corneal epithelial cell layer from mice treated by scopolamine was also visualized for the first time. We anticipate this work can provide a new lens to the pathogenesis study and diagnosis of DED and other ophthalmic diseases using fluorescence methods.

An overview of functional biolubricants

At present,more and more diseases are associated with the lubrication dysfunction,which requires a systematic study of the complex lubrication behavior of tissues and organs in human body.Natural biomacromolecular lubricants are essential for maintaining ultra-low coefficients of friction between sliding biological interfaces.However,when the surface lubrication performance of tissues or organs destroys heavily,it will bring friction/shear damage for sliding contact interfaces.Therefore,the application of exogenous biological lubricating materials to improve the lubrication situation of damaged tissue or organ interfaces has attracted extensive attention of researchers.In this review,based on a simple summary of lubrication mechanism at sliding biological interface,we systematically introduce the research progress of several kinds of representatively biolubrication materials,including eye drops,tissue anti-adhesion agents,joint lubricants,and medical device lubricants.Meanwhile,the lubrication mechanism and individual advantage and shortcoming for each of these synthetic exogenous lubricated materials are clarified.Correspondingly,the important lubrication application functionality of these biolubricant materials in typically medical surgery scenes,such as dry eye syndrome,tissue adhesion,arthritis,and interventional medical devices,is discussed.Finally,we look forward to the future development direction of artificial biolubricant materials.

Retinal dopamine transporter in experimental myopia

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the distribution, changes and a possible role for retinal dopamine transporter (DAT) in experimental myopia in chickens. METHODS: Two-day-old chickens were divided into four groups. Chicken eyes were fitted with lenses of -10D,-20D and translucent goggles unilaterally. Normal eyes were used as controls. After 3 wk, all chickens were given an intramuscular injection of (125)I-beta-CIT 2beta-carbomethoxy-3beta-(4-iodophenyl)tropane and sacrificed two hours post injection. Retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) and the neural retina were obtained together or RPE was dissected out from the neural retina. Radioactive DAT from each specimen was assayed by gamma-counter. RESULTS: Retinal DAT was detected in RPE specimens rather than in the neural retina in all eyes. Radioactive DAT in myopic eyes was higher, compared with control eyes. CONCLUSIONS: Retinal DAT is mainly located in the RPE and may be involved in the formation of lens induced myopia (LIM) and form deprivation myopia (FDM). These methods may provide a new approach for further studying the role of the dopamine system in experimental myopia.