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Abstract Introduction The study aims to demonstrate and estimate the prevalence of clinical corneal ectasia and keratoconus (KC) in patients with relatively low keratometry (low-K KC). Methods In a retrospective, analytical, and non-interventionist study, one eye was randomly selected from 1054 patients from the original Tomographic Biomechanical Index (TBIv1) study and the external validation (from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and Milan, Italy clinics). Patients were stratified into three groups. Group 1 included 736 normal patients, and groups 2 and 3 included 318 patients with clinical KC in both eyes, divided into low-K KC (90 patients) and high-K KC (228 patients), respectively. All patients underwent a comprehensive ophthalmological evaluation along with Pentacam and Corvis ST (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany) examinations. Cases with maximum mean zone 3 mm keratometry (Kmax zone mean 3 mm) lower than 47.6 diopters (D) were considered as low-keratometry keratoconus, and cases with Kmax zone mean 3 mm higher than 47.6 D were regarded as high-keratometry keratoconus. Results Ninety (28.30%) of the 318 KC group presented ectasia with low-keratometric values (low-Kmax). The average age in the normal group was 39.28 years (range 6.99–90.12), in the low-Kmax KC group it was 37.49 (range 13.35–78.45), and in the high-Kmax KC group it was 34.22 years (range 12.7–80.34). Mean and SD values and median (range), respectively, of some corneal tomographic and biomechanical parameters evaluated from the low-Kmax KC group were as follows: Belin-Ambrósio enhanced ectasia display (BAD-D) 3.79 ± 1.62 and 3.66 (0.83–9.73); Pentacam random forest index (PRFI) 0.78 ± 0.25 and 0.91 (0.05–1); corneal biomechanical index (CBI) 0.58 ± 0.43 and 0.75 (0–1); TBI 0.93 ± 0.17 and 1 (0.35–1); and stiffness parameter at A1 (SP-A1) 86.16 ± 19.62 and 86.05 (42.94–141.66). Conclusion Relatively low keratometry, with a Kmax lower than 47.6 D, can occur in up to 28.30% of clinical keratoconus. These cases have a less severe presentation of the disease. Future studies involving larger populations and prospective designs are necessary to confirm the prevalence of keratoconus with low keratometry and define prognostic factors in such cases.

Purpose: This article introduces the Pentacam® Cornea OCT (optical coherence tomography). This advanced corneal imaging system combines rotating ultra-high-resolution spectral domain OCT with sub- 2-micron axial resolution and Scheimpflug photography. The purpose of this study is to present the first experience with the instrument and its potential for corneal diagnostics, including optical biopsy. Methods: In this prospective study, the Pentacam® Cornea OCT was used to image the corneas of seven patients. The novel wide-angle pericentric scan system enables optimal OCT imaging performance for the corneal layer structure over the entire width of the cornea, including the limbal regions. A detailed analysis of the resulting images assessed the synergism between the OCT and Scheimpflug photography. Results: The Pentacam® Cornea OCT demonstrated significantly improved image resolution and ability to individualize corneal layers with high quality. There is a synergism between the OCT high-definition signal to individualize details on the cornea and Scheimpflug photography to detect and quantify corneal scattering. The noncontact exam was proven safe, user-friendly, and effective for enabling optical biopsy. Conclusions: Pentacam® Cornea OCT is an advancement in corneal imaging technology. The ultra-high-resolution spectral domain OCT and Scheimpflug photography provide unprecedented detail and resolution, enabling optical biopsy and improving the understanding of corneal pathology. Further studies are necessary to compare and analyze the tomographic reconstructions of the cornea with the different wavelengths, which may provide helpful information for diagnosing and managing corneal diseases.

Davide Mohammad Reza Beigi, Greta Pellegrino, Marius Cadar, Ilaria Bisconti, Francesca Romana Di Ciommo, Katia Stefanantoni, Fabrizio Conti, Valeria Riccieri Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche Internistiche, Anestesiologiche e Cardiovascolari, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, ItalyCorrespondence: Davide Mohammad Reza Beigi, Dipartimento di Scienze Cliniche Internistiche, Anestesiologiche e Cardiovascolari, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, Tel +393496300710, Email davidemrb@gmail.comObjective: This work aims to evaluate the prevalence of anxiety and COVID-19-related fear in systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients during the second and third waves of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in Italy and their possible associated factors.Methods: A cohort study was carried out on 114 SSc patients referred to our Scleroderma Clinic, matched for sex and age. Twenty-eight of them had missed scheduled examinations during the October 2020–March 2021 period and 86 has attended regular outpatient visits during the same period. Both groups were administered (by telephone for cases and in-person for controls) the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale-7 (GAD-7) questionnaire and the validated on SSc patients COVID-19 Fears Questionnaire for Chronic Medical Conditions (COVID-19 Fears). Concurrent factors related to higher scores were investigated in patients who did not have an outpatient follow-up.Results: The missing group had significantly more patients scoring ≥ 8 on the GAD-7 questionnaire [22 (78.6%) vs 16 (18.6%), p < 0.0001] and significantly higher scores on the COVID-19 Fears questionnaire (median [quartiles] 31.5 [26.25;37.25] vs 20 [13.75;28], p < 0.0001) than the attending group. Multivariate analysis performed on the missing patients group showed a significant association of the lack of work and ongoing therapy for anxiety/depression with GAD-7 (p = 0.0275 and p = 0.0188) and COVID-19 Fears score (p = 0.0016 and p = 0.0099).Conclusion: Anxiety disorder and COVID-19-related fear were greater in SSc patients who missed regular follow-ups and are associated with a lack of work activity. These findings aim to identify a subgroup deserving attention regarding risk factors for missed periodic controls.Keywords: systemic sclerosis, anxiety, COVID-19 fear

The orchid family is renowned for its enormous diversity in pollination biology. Many orchid species use deception to attract pollinators, and the main strategy in terrestrial orchids is food deception. Food‐deceptive orchids usually show a low number of pollinator visitations, making field observations of pollinators difficult.In this study visual census, pollinator capture and molecular analysis of pollinaria found on caught insects allowed us to obtain information on species composition of orchid pollinators.A total of 321 insects were caught; most specimens were hymenopterans (Apis mellifera, Bombus ruderatus and Eucera rufa) and coleopterans (Tropinota hirta and T. squalida). The identity of species to which pollinaria found on the insect's body belonged was confirmed by molecular analysis. Moreover, some individuals of Billaea lata (Tachinidae, Diptera) were captured and photographed with the pollinaria on their head.Two new and important results emerged clearly in this work: a dipteran, Billaea lata, pollinator of Anacamptis pyramidalis, and two beetles in the genus Tropinota are pollinators of Orchis italica. Our results confirm that generalized food‐deceptive orchids of the genera Orchis and Anacamptis show weak pollinator specificity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This article introduces the Pentacam® Cornea OCT (optical coherence tomography). This advanced corneal imaging system combines rotating ultra-high-resolution spectral domain OCT with sub- 2-micron axial resolution and Scheimpflug photography. The purpose of this study is to present the first experience with the instrument and its potential for corneal diagnostics, including optical biopsy. Methods: In this prospective study, the Pentacam® Cornea OCT was used to image the corneas of seven patients. The novel wide-angle pericentric scan system enables optimal OCT imaging performance for the corneal layer structure over the entire width of the cornea, including the limbal regions. A detailed analysis of the resulting images assessed the synergism between the OCT and Scheimpflug photography. Results: The Pentacam® Cornea OCT demonstrated significantly improved image resolution and ability to individualize corneal layers with high quality. There is a synergism between the OCT high-definition signal to individualize details on the cornea and Scheimpflug photography to detect and quantify corneal scattering. The noncontact exam was proven safe, user-friendly, and effective for enabling optical biopsy. Conclusions: Pentacam® Cornea OCT is an advancement in corneal imaging technology. The ultra-high-resolution spectral domain OCT and Scheimpflug photography provide unprecedented detail and resolution, enabling optical biopsy and improving the understanding of corneal pathology. Further studies are necessary to compare and analyze the tomographic reconstructions of the cornea with the different wavelengths, which may provide helpful information for diagnosing and managing corneal diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflorescence display size and flower position on the inflorescence play important roles in plant reproduction, in the formation of fruits and are primarily linked to pollinator behaviour. We used three orchids to determine how visitation rates and choice of pollinator depend on number and position of the flowers along the inflorescence.We measured reproductive success in (1) natural conditions, (2) hand‐pollination experiments and (3) an experimental design, by modifying composition of inflorescences in populations of two deceptive orchids, Orchis anthropophora and O. italica, and one rewarding orchid, Anacamptis coriophora subsp. fragrans.There were no differences in natural fruit production in relation to flower position on the inflorescence (i.e. upper versus lower part), suggesting no preference of pollinators for different parts of the inflorescence. Hand‐pollination experiments highlighted low pollen limitation in A. coriophora subsp. fragrans but high limitation in O. italica and O. anthropophora. Reproductive success of deceptive orchids in experimental plots decreased significantly when flowers on the upper half of the inflorescence were removed leading to reduced floral display, while reproductive success of the nectariferous species did not differ significantly.Our data highlight that in the examined orchids there is no clear relationship between fruit formation and flower position along inflorescences. Thus we can affirm that, for orchids, the entire inflorescence plays a dominant role in insect attraction but the part of the flower spike does not influence the choice of the insect. This implies that all flowers have the same possibility of receiving visits from pollinators, and therefore each flower has the same opportunity to set fruit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Review efficacy and safety of minimally-invasive treatments for Low Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) in patients affected by Benign Prostate Hyperplasia (BPH). We performed a systematic review of the literature from 1993 to 2022 leveraging original research articles, reviews, and case-studies published in peer-reviewed journals and stored in public repositories. Prostate artery embolization (PAE), transurethral needle ablation (TUNA), transurethral microwave thermotherapy (TUMT), high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), laser treatments and Cryoablation are valid and safe alternatives to the gold standard (surgery) in the treatment of LUTS in patients affected by BPH, with fewer undesired effects being reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To prospectively review the importance of biomechanical assessment in the screening, diagnosis, prognosis, individualized planning, and clinical follow-up for ectatic corneal diseases. Methods: We demonstrate two commercially available devices to assess the corneal biomechanics in vivo, the Ocular Response Analyzer (ORA, Reichester, NY, USA) and the Corvis ST (Oculus, Wetzlar, Germany). Novel devices have been demonstrated to provide in vivo biomechanical measurements, including Brillouin optical microscopy and OCT elastography. Conclusion: The integration of biomechanical data and other data from multimodal refractive imaging using artificial intelligence demonstrated the ability to enhance accuracy in diagnosing ectatic corneal diseases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigation of floral characters and nuclear microsatellite markers in populations belonging to three morphologically similar Serapias species for evidence of floral or reproductive isolation is reported. Results indicate that despite the absence of floral isolation between two of the species reproductive isolation exists.

The future impact of climate change and a warmer world is a matter of great concern. We therefore aimed to evaluate the effects of temperature on pollen viability and fruit set of Mediterranean orchids.The in vitro and controlled pollination experiments were performed to evaluate the ability of pollinia stored at lower and higher temperatures to germinate and produce fruits and seeds containing viable embryos.In all of the examined orchids, pollen stored at −20 °C remained fully viable for up to 3 years, reducing its percentage germination from year 4 onwards. Pollinia stored at higher temperatures had a drastic reduction in vitality after 2 days at 41–44 °C, while pollinia stored at 47–50 °C did not show any pollen tube growth.The different levels of pollen viability duration among the examined orchids can be related to their peculiar reproductive biology and pollination ecology. The germinability of pollinia stored at lower temperatures for long periods suggests that orchid pollinia can be conserved ex situ. In contrast, higher temperatures can have harmful effects on the vitality of pollen and consequently on reproductive success of the plants. To our knowledge, this is the first report demonstrating the effects of global change on orchid pollen, and on pollen ability to tolerate, or not, higher air temperatures. Although vegetative reproduction allows orchids to survive a few consecutive warm years, higher temperatures for several consecutive years can have dramatic effects on reproductive success of orchids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silicided Ni/Au contacts with very low contact resistance were realized on p-type [001] silicon at low temperature by ex-situ or, alternatively, by in situ annealing processes. During the ex-situ annealing, performed at 200 °C for 10 s, a uniformly thin (14 nm) Ni2Si layer was formed having an extremely flat interface with silicon thanks to the trans-rotational structure of the silicide. During the in situ annealing, promoted by a sputter etch processing (T < 300 °C), a 44 nm-thick silicide layer was formed as a mixture of trans-rotational NiSi and epitaxial NiSi2, domains. In both cases, using a low thermal budget has guaranteed a limited consumption of silicon during the reaction process and a good adhesion with the substrate avoiding gold contaminations. As a consequence of the presence of trans-rotational domains, wherein a pseudo-epitaxial relationship between the silicide and the silicon lattices is established, an ohmic behavior was observed in a wide range of substrate doping (3.5 × 1018 ÷ 3 × 1019 B/cm3) for both annealing processes (in situ and ex-situ). On the other hand, conventional TiNiAu and CrNiAu contacts showed, in the same range of B doping concentration, a rectifying behavior with systematically higher specific contact resistance values (Rc) compared to those of the Ni silicided contacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AIMS: To determine the reliability and the validity of visual leg measurements used in dental kinesiology, which suggests that a masticatory dysfunction, such as occurs in temporomandibular disorders (TMD), can influence the length and the internal rotation of lower limbs. METHODS: The leg-length inequality test and the internal foot-rotation test were performed independently by 3 different examiners on 41 subjects who were also screened for TMD. Data were analyzed by means of kappa statistics and by calculation of sensitivity and specificity values. RESULTS: Chance-corrected reliability was generally poor for both the leg-length inequality test (0.33 < or = k < or = 0.39) and the internal foot-rotation test (0.15 < or = k < or = 0.27). Sensitivity and specificity values of the tests to differentiate TMD and healthy subjects were below acceptable thresholds; they ranged from 0.41 to 0.57. CONCLUSION: Visual evaluations of leg-length inequality and internal foot rotation were unreliable and are not valid for TMD diagnoses. The results of chiropractic visual leg measurement procedures in dentistry should be interpreted with caution, particularly when clinical decisions may lead to nonreversible dental treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]