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Riadh Messaoud,1 Lamia El Fekih,2,3 Anis Mahmoud,1 Hager Ben Amor,4 Radhouane Bannour,5 Serge Doan,6,7 Moncef Khairallah41Department of Ophthalmology, Tahar Sfar University Hospital, Mahdia, Tunisia; 2Department of Ophthalmology, Internal Security Forces Hospital, La Marsa, Tunisia; 3Faculty of Medicine, Tunis-El Manar University, Tunis, Tunisia; 4Fattouma Bourguiba University Hospital, Monastir, Tunisia; 5Ophthalmology Private Practice, Monastir, Tunisia; 6Department of Ophthalmology, Bichat Hospital, Paris, France; 7Fondation A de Rothschild, Paris, FrancePurpose: To evaluate the clinical improvement in ocular symptoms and signs in patients suffering from Demodex anterior blepharitis after using a novel cleansing wipe impregnated with 2.5% terpinen-4-ol and 0.2% hyaluronic acid.Study design: This was an exploratory, multicenter, open, randomized, two-parallel group comparative study.Methods: Forty-eight patients with Demodex anterior blepharitis were randomly assigned to apply the sterile wipe T1172 (Blephademodex®), either once daily (n=24, Group 1) or twice daily (n=24, Group 2) for 29 days. Overall ocular discomfort and other individual symptoms were measured using a 0–10 numeric rating scale at Day 8 and Day 29. Ocular signs, including eyelid margin hyperemia and number of cylindrical dandruff, were examined at slit lamp. Overall treatment performance by investigator, patient satisfaction and tolerance were evaluated with questionnaires.Results: Overall ocular discomfort was significantly reduced from baseline (p

We present WearMoCap, an open-source library to track the human pose from smartwatch sensor data and leveraging pose predictions for ubiquitous robot control. WearMoCap operates in three modes: 1) a Watch Only mode, which uses a smartwatch only, 2) a novel Upper Arm mode, which utilizes the smartphone strapped onto the upper arm and 3) a Pocket mode, which determines body orientation from a smartphone in any pocket. We evaluate all modes on large-scale datasets consisting of recordings from up to 8 human subjects using a range of consumer-grade devices. Further, we discuss real-robot applications of underlying works and evaluate WearMoCap in handover and teleoperation tasks, resulting in performances that are within 2 cm of the accuracy of the gold-standard motion capture system. Our Upper Arm mode provides the most accurate wrist position estimates with a Root Mean Squared prediction error of 6.79 cm. To evaluate WearMoCap in more scenarios and investigate strategies to mitigate sensor drift, we publish the WearMoCap system with thorough documentation as open source. The system is designed to foster future research in smartwatch-based motion capture for robotics applications where ubiquity matters. www.github.com/wearable-motion-capture., Competing Interests: NK and OA were employed by the Corporate Functions-R&D, Procter and Gamble. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2025 Weigend, Kumar, Aran and Ben Amor.)

A group of self-limiting and frequently neglected diseases exist in the literature like Rickettsial disease, Malaria, Dengue fever, Chikungunya, West Nile virus infection, Rift Valley fever, Bartonellosis, or Lyme disease which are poorly understood due to lack of proper diagnostic testing. Currently, multimodal imaging has become a critical modality in the diagnosis and management of ocular diseases. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is one such remarkable imaging modality in the field of ophthalmology providing high-resolution, cross-sectional images of the retina and choroid with the recent advances such as enhanced depth imaging and swept source OCT. Additionally, OCT angiography (OCTA) has further revolutionised dynamic imaging of retinal and choroidal vasculature non-invasively. This review article highlights the OCT and OCTA biomarkers in the diagnosis and prognosis of the aforementioned neglected diseases.

This work aims to use a green, economical and efficient adsorbent to remove organic matter from Tunisian industrial wet phosphoric acid (WPA: 52% P 2 O 5 ). For this purpose, a natural and abundant clay is extracted from the Douiret, Tataouine deposit in southern Tunisia. This clay is being tested for the first time as an adsorbent in WPA medium. The raw clay and purified clay are analysed using standard analytical techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and BET methods. The results show that the raw clay is a mixture of illite and kaolinite, with other mineral impurities, mainly quartz. Organic matter adsorption tests show that the purified clay exhibits greater effectiveness than raw clay. The parametric study with purified clay indicates that temperature, contact time, and clay dosage strongly influence organic matter adsorption. The highest adsorption occurs at 60 °C after 50 min, reaching 56% with 8 g of purified clay per kg of WPA. Among several recognised models, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Sips isotherm model are the most suitable for modelling the experimental data. This study suggests that Douiret clay can be considered an effective, inexpensive and environmentally friendly adsorbent for eliminating organic matter in industrial phosphoric acid.

Purpose: To describe optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) findings in eyes with active and scarred toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis., Methods: OCTA scans in active (25 eyes) and scarred (17 eyes) retinochoroiditis were retrospectively reviewed., Results: In active lesions, OCTA findings included a non-detectable flow signal area in retinal vascular plexuses and choriocapillaris in all 25 eyes (100%), an abnormal intraretinal vascular process in 2 eyes (8%), and an associated area of retinal flow deficit secondary to branch retinal artery occlusion in one eye (4%). In scarred lesions, OCTA findings included a flow deficit area in retinal vascular plexuses and choriocapillaris in all 17 eyes (100%), a visibility of larger deeper choroidal vessels at the level of choriocapillaris in 9 eyes (53%), and a well-defined intraretinal vascular network in one eye (5.9%). Peripapillary scars were associated on OCTA with wedge-shaped loss of radial peripapillary capillaries with corresponding localized retinal nerve fiber layer defect and visual field loss., Conclusion: OCTA allows to non-invasively detect retinal and choroidal vascular changes in active and scarred toxoplasmic retinochoroiditis.

Purpose: To compare clinical profile and visual outcomes of occlusive versus non-occlusive retinal vasculitis (RV)., Methods: A retrospective comparative study., Results: 284 patients were enrolled, including 124 patients with occlusive RV (ORV) and 160 patients with non-occlusive RV (NORV). Patients with ORV were older (p ≤ 10-3), predominantly male (p ≤10-3), with less bilateral involvement (31.5% vs 53,4%; p ≤ 10 -3 ). Infectious RV was more frequently diagnosed in the ORV group than in the NORV group (48.8% vs 32.9%, p = .006). Behçet disease and ocular tuberculosis were the leading causes of ORV. Idiopathic RV, Behçet disease, and sarcoidosis were the most common causes of NORV. Independent predictive factors of poor visual outcome were worse baseline visual acuity in both groups ( p = .006 and p ≤ 10-3, respectively), and retinal hemorrhages ( p = .048) and optic atrophy ( p = .040) in the ORV group., Conclusion: Occlusive and non-occlusive RV have distinctive clinical and etiological profile.

Objective: To define the swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT) features which distinguish ocular toxoplasmosis (OT) from other forms of retinochoroiditis., Methods: This is a prospective diagnostic study enrolling 43 eyes of 43 patients with active toxoplasmic (TOXO) retinochoroiditis matched to 54 eyes (54 lesions) with non-TOXO retinochoroiditis evaluated by structural SS-OCT., Results: The finding of retinal hyper-reflective round deposits, sub-lesional choroidal thickening, and sub-lesional retinal pigment epithelium elevation were more likely to be found in TOXO lesions with a positive likelihood ratio of 45.2 (95% CI: 6.45-316.56), 23.86 (95% CI: 6.09-93.36), and 9.79 (95% CI: 4.22-22.7), respectively. The presence of each of these findings was associated with a high level for positive predictive value (PPV) (88.63-97.29), negative predictive value (NPV) (88.3-92.45), sensitivity (83.72-90.69), and specificity (90.74-98.14). Two-parameter model binary logistic regression suggested that sub-lesional retinal pigment epithelium elevation and sub-lesional choroidal thickening were significant predictors of the diagnosis of OT (Wald = 11.905, p < 0.001; Wald = 14.881, p < 0.001; respectively). By adding hyper-reflective round deposits along the posterior hyaloid or the retinal surface the model improved its performance with very good diagnostic accuracy with area under the curve (AUC) values of 0.96 (95% CI: 0.9-0.99) for two parameters model and 0.98 (95% CI: 0.93-0.99) for the three parameters model., Conclusions: Our results show that three OCT findings including retinal hyper-reflective round deposits, sub-lesional choroidal thickening, and sub-lesional retinal pigment epithelium elevation are more likely to occur in OT patients as compared with non-OT patients., (© 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to The Royal College of Ophthalmologists.)

Hypopyon usually corresponds to the sedimentation of white blood cells, and it signifies severe intraocular inflammation. This key clinical sign may occur in association with a wide variety of infectious, inflammatory, and neoplastic conditions that may be sight- and, occasionally, life-threatening. A careful history and thorough clinical examination are the cornerstones for orienting the differential diagnosis, identifying the causative agent, and initiating prompt and appropriate treatment. This review outlines the clinical characteristics and management of hypopyon in relation with the underlying causative infectious or noninfectious ocular or systemic diseases.

Objective: To report a case of abducens nerve palsy with associated retinal involvement due to rickettsia typhi infection., Material and Methods: A single case report documented with multimodal imaging., Results: A 18-year-old woman with a history of high-grade fever was initially diagnosed with typhoid fever and treated with fluoroquinolone. She presented with a 5-day history of diplopia and headaches. Her best-corrected visual acuity was 20/20 in both eyes. Ocular motility examination showed left lateral gaze restriction. Lancaster test confirmed the presence of left abducens palsy. Fundus examination showed optic disc swelling in both eyes associated with superotemporal retinal hemorrhage and a small retinal infiltrate with retinal hemorrhage in the nasal periphery in the left eye. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain and orbits showed no abnormalities. A diagnosis of rickettsial disease was suspected and the serologic test for Richettsia Typhi was positive. The patient was treated with doxycycline (100 mg every 12 h) for 15 days with complete recovery of the left lateral rectus motility and resolution of optic disc swelling, retinal hemorrhages, and retinal infiltrate., Conclusion: Rickettsial disease should be considered in the differential diagnosis of abducens nerve palsy in any patient with unexplained fever from endemic area. Fundus examination may help establish an early diagnosis and to start an appropriate rickettsial treatment.

Purpose: To describe multimodal imaging findings in a patient with idiopathic retinal vasculitis, aneurysms, and neuroretinitis (IRVAN) syndrome presenting with branch retinal artery occlusion (BRAO)., Case Description: A 33-year-old woman presented with acute BRAO in the right eye. A diagnosis of underlying IRVAN syndrome was made based on the presence of arteriolar aneurysms on the optic disc and along major arterioles and faint retinal hard exudates in both eyes. Eight months later, best-corrected visual acuity was 20/25 in the right eye and 20/20 in the left eye. The hard exudates had increased, and there were extensive areas of peripheral retinal capillary nonperfusion without new vessels. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed a localized retinal thinning corresponding to the prior BRAO. Fundus autofluorescence showed nodulo-linear periarterial hypoautofluorescence. OCT angiography (OCTA) showed localized ischemic changes, mainly involving the deep capillary plexus, corresponding to the area of resolved BRAO. It also clearly delineated the optic disc aneurysms. The patient received bilateral scatter laser photocoagulation directed to areas of peripheral capillary nonperfusion. Over a 6-month follow-up period, visual acuity remained unchanged, and there was no evidence of disease progression., Conclusion: Multimodal imaging, including fundus autofluorescence, OCT, and OCTA can provide additional valuable information in the evaluation of IRVAN syndrome complicated with BRAO.

Purpose: To report optical coherence tomography angiography findings in a patient with rickettsial retinitis., Methods: A 29-year-old man complaining of acute blurring vision in the right eye associated with Rickettsia conorii infection underwent a comprehensive ocular examination, fluorescein angiography, spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, and swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography., Results: Funduscopy showed two large areas of retinitis in the inferior macula along the distribution of the inferotemporal artery with associated retinal hemorrhages, retinal edema, and serous retinal detachment. Fluorescein angiography showed early hypofluorescence and late staining of white retinal lesions and associated adjacent retinal vascular leakage and optic disc hyperfluorescence. Optical coherence tomography angiography showed hypointense dark areas in the superficial capillary plexus and larger hypointense areas in the deep capillary plexus, outer retina, and choriocapillaris layer. The patient was treated with doxycycline and prednisone. Six weeks after presentation, retinal changes seen at the acute phase had resolved, leading to mild residual retinal pigment epithelial changes. Fluorescein angiography showed retinal capillary nonperfusion within areas of resolved retinitis. Spectral-domain optical coherence tomography findings included inner retinal atrophy, intraretinal cysts, and disruption of ellipsoid zone and interdigitation zone. Swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography showed well-delineated hypointense greyish areas of retinal capillary nonperfusion in both the superficial and deep capillary plexuses. Visual field testing revealed the presence of a corresponding paracentral defect., Conclusion: Optical coherence tomography angiography may be a valuable noninvasive imaging technique for detecting and analyzing occlusive complications associated with rickettsial retinitis.

Purpose : To describe swept-source optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) findings in uveitic cystoid macular edema (CME). Methods : Prospective study of 36 eyes. Results : Cystoid black spaces were shown in the deep capillary plexus (DCP) in 36 eyes (100%) and in the superficial capillary plexus (SCP) in 6 eyes (16.7%). Grayish areas of capillary non perfusion/hypoperfusion were seen in 69.4% of eyes in the DCP (vs 25% in the SCP, p < .001). The foveal avascular zone was larger than in the control healthy eyes in the DCP ( p < .001). Capillary density was lower than in the control group in the SCP ( p = .001) and the DCP ( p < .001). Of 11 eyes with resolved CME on OCT, 4 eyes showed complete recovery of both plexuses on OCTA. There was a persistence of areas of capillary rarefaction in 4 eyes, and of hypoperfusion/nonperfusion in 3 eyes. Conclusion : OCTA visualizes perifoveal microvascular changes in uveitic CME.

Adherence to medical treatment in primary open angle glaucoma is key to the success of the treatment. Most of the work show that glaucoma patients are poor observant. Poor adherence is multifactorial. The analysis of these factors is crucial. That is why the author wanted to expose, through a literature review, the main determinants of adherence in glaucoma.

Purpose: To report the results of multimodal imaging of acute outer retinitis associated to mumps infection., Methods: A patient with mumps-associated outer retinitis evaluated by color fundus photography, spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT), optical coherence tomography angiography, fundus autofluorescence (FAF), fluorescein angiography (FA), and indocyanine green angiography (ICGA)., Results: We report a case of a 12-year-old boy who developed bilateral outer retinitis related to mumps. Ophthalmoscopy showed confluent areas of outer retinitis involving the posterior pole and the periphery with a centrifugal gyrate pattern. SD-OCT revealed a marked disorganization of the outer retinal layers with multiple highly reflective spicules. FA shows diffuse late hyperfluorescence with optic disk staining. ICGA shows macular and peripheral hyperfluorescent lesions with a geographical pattern in the late phases. The patient was treated with acyclovir and oral prednisone. Four weeks after presentation visual acuity remained unchanged, and retinal changes seen at the acute phase had resolved leading to extensive retinal atrophy and optic disk pallor. SD-OCT showed atrophy of the retinal pigment epithelial and outer retinal layers. FAF revealed scattered hyperautofluorescent lesions. Electrophysiology showed generalized retinal dysfunction., Conclusions: Mumps infection should be considered in the differential diagnosis of bilateral necrotizing outer retinitis in children and young adults. A multimodal imaging approach may help distinguish mumps-associated retinitis from other causes of viral retinitis and facilitate appropriate management.

Building a meaningful model of biological regulatory network is usually done by specifying the components (e.g. the genes) and their interactions, by guessing the values of parameters, by comparing the predicted behaviors to the observed ones, and by modifying in a trial-error process both architecture and parameters in order to reach an optimal fitness. We propose here a different approach to construct and analyze biological models avoiding the trial-error part, where structure and dynamics are represented as formal constraints. We apply the method to Hopfield-like networks, a formalism often used in both neural and regulatory networks modeling. The aim is to characterize automatically the set of all models consistent with all the available knowledge (about structure and behavior). The available knowledge is formalized into formal constraints. The latter are compiled into Boolean formula in conjunctive normal form and then submitted to a Boolean satisfiability solver. This approach allows to formulate a wide range of queries, expressed in a high level language, and possibly integrating formalized intuitions. In order to explore its potential, we use it to find cycles for 3-nodes networks and to determine the flower morphogenesis regulatory network of Arabidopsis thaliana. Applications of this technique are numerous and concern the building of models from data as well as the design of biological networks possessing specified behaviors.

Dehydration responsive element binding proteins (DREB) are members of a larger family of transcription factors, many of which have been reported to contribute to plant responses to abiotic stresses in several species. While, little is known about their role in potato (Solanum tuberosum). This report describes the cloning and characterization of a DREB transcription factor cDNA, StDREB2, isolated from potato (cv Nicola) plants submitted to salt treatment. Based on a multiple sequence alignment, this protein was classified into the A-5 group of DREB subfamily. Expression studies revealed that StDREB2 was induced in leaves, roots and stems upon various abiotic stresses and in response to exogenous treatment with abscisic acid (ABA). In agreement with this expression pattern, over-expression of StDREB2 in transgenic potato plants resulted in enhanced tolerance to salt stress. These data suggest that the isolated StDREB2 encodes a functional protein involved in plant response to different abiotic stresses. An electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) indicated that the StDREB2 protein bound specifically to the DRE core element (ACCGAGA) in vitro. Moreover, Semi quantitative RT-PCR analysis revealed that the transcript level of a putative target gene i.e. δ(1)-pyrroline-5-carboxylate synthase (P5CS) was up-regulated in transgenic plants submitted to salt stress conditions. A concomitant increase in proline accumulation was also observed under these conditions. Taking together, all these data suggest that StDREB2 takes part in the processes underlying plant responses to abiotic stresses probably via the regulation of ABA hormone signaling and through a mechanism allowing proline synthesis., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Limit cycles, because they are constituted of a periodic succession of states (discrete or continuous) constitute a good manner to store information. From any points of the state space reached after a perturbation or stimulation of the cognitive system storing this information, one can aim to join through a more or less long return trajectory a precise neighbourhood of the asymptotic trajectory at a specific moment (or a specific place) on the limit cycle, i.e. where the information of interest stands. We propose that the isochronal fibration, initially imagined and described by A. T. Winfree may be an excellent way to connect directly those two locations. Each isochron is indeed the set of points in temporal phase with one single point of the attractor. The characterisation of the isochronal fibration of various dynamical systems is not easy and until now has principally only been done numerically but not analytically. By integrating the homogeneous solutions of the dynamical system we can solve this fibration in the case of the well known anharmonic pendulum. Other isochronal fibration on classical examples such as the van der Pol system and the non-symmetrical PFK limit cycle are obtained numerically and we also provide the first numerical study on 3-dimentional systems like the anharmonic pendulum with a linear relaxation on its third variable and the Lorenz attractor. The empirical approach seems us useful for dealing with the isochronal fibration which could constitute a powerful tool for understanding and controlling the dynamics of biological or biological-inspired systems.

Regulatory interaction networks are often studied on their dynamical side (existence of attractors, study of their stability). We focus here also on their robustness, that is their ability to offer the same spatiotemporal patterns and to resist to external perturbations such as losses of nodes or edges in the networks interactions architecture, changes in their environmental boundary conditions as well as changes in the update schedule (or updating mode) of the states of their elements (e.g., if these elements are genes, their synchronous coexpression mode versus their sequential expression). We define the generic notions of boundary, core, and critical vertex or edge of the underlying interaction graph of the regulatory network, whose disappearance causes dramatic changes in the number and nature of attractors (e.g., passage from a bistable behaviour to a unique periodic regime) or in the range of their basins of stability. The dynamic transition of states will be presented in the framework of threshold Boolean automata rules. A panorama of applications at different levels will be given: brain and plant morphogenesis, bulbar cardio-respiratory regulation, glycolytic/oxidative metabolic coupling, and eventually cell cycle and feather morphogenesis genetic control.