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The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy and repeatability of refractive errors obtained using three autorefractors based on different measurement principles, vis-à-vis, gold-standard retinoscopy.

Accuracy of noncycloplegic, sphero-cylindrical refractive error of 234 eyes was obtained using the rotary prism-based RM-8900 closed-field autorefractor, photorefraction based Spot vision screener, wavefront aberrometry based E-see, and streak retinoscopy by four different examiners, masked to the results of each other. Intersession repeatability of autorefractors was determined by repeat measurements in a subset of 40 subjects.

Retinoscopy values of M, J

, and J

power vectors for the cohort ranged from -10.2 to 8 D, -1.4 to 1.8 D, and -0.9 to 1.2 D, respectively. Across autorefractors, the interequipment bias of M and J

power vectors were statistically insignificant (< ±0.5 D;

> 0.05) but the corresponding limits of agreement were ±2.5 and ±1 D, respectively, without any trend acrs caution while used for screening and quantification of refractive errors.

To evaluate the performance of the quantitative visual acuity (qVA) method in measuring the visual acuity (VA) behavioral function.

We evaluated qVA performance in terms of the accuracy, precision, and efficiency of the estimated VA threshold and range in Monte Carlo simulations and a psychophysical experiment. We also compared the estimated VA threshold from the qVA method with that from the Electronic Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study (E-ETDRS) and Freiburg Visual Acuity Text (FrACT) methods. Four repeated measures with all three methods were conducted in four Bangerter foil conditions in 14 eyes.

In both simulations and psychophysical experiment, the qVA method quantified the full acuity behavioral function with two psychometric parameters (VA threshold and VA range) with virtually no bias and with high precision and efficiency. There was a significant correlation between qVA estimates of VA threshold and range in the psychophysical experiment. In addition, qVA threshold estimates were highly correlated with those from the E-ETDRS and FrACT methods.

The qVA method can provide an accurate, precise, and efficient assessment of the full acuity behavioral function with both VA threshold and range.

The qVA method can accurately, precisely, and efficiently assess the full VA behavioral function. Further research will evaluate the potential value of these rich measures for both clinical research and patient care.

The qVA method can accurately, precisely, and efficiently assess the full VA behavioral function. Further research will evaluate the potential value of these rich measures for both clinical research and patient care.

To date, there are only six published reports of adductor spasmodic dysphonia (SD) responding to awake thalamic deep brain stimulation (DBS).

We retrospectively reviewed cases of Essential Tremor (ET) with SD that were seen in our center from 2012 to 2020. We further identified those that have undergone thalamic DBS, and had a blinded laryngologist rate first the audio voice recordings before and after DBS using the Unified Spasmodic Dysphonia Rating Scale (USDRS), and the video recordings last to rate the related movements and facial grimacing.

We identified three cases of adductor SD with ET that had undergone bilateral ventralis intermedius (VIM) DBS under general anesthesia. All patients noted improvement of their limb and voice tremor, as well as their SD post-DBS. Although improvement of tremor was observed even with initial programming in all three, improvement of SD was noted only upon reaching higher amplitudes or wider pulse widths. Blinded voice assessments showed improvement of USDRS scores post-DBS compared to pre-DBS, and with stimulator on compared to stimulator off.

We report the first three cases of SD responding favorably to bilateral VIM asleep DBS and summarize the nine cases so far of SD who have undergone thalamic DBS.

We report the first three cases of SD responding favorably to bilateral VIM asleep DBS and summarize the nine cases so far of SD who have undergone thalamic DBS.Angelicae Sinensis Radix is a widely used traditional Chinese medicine and spice in China. The purpose of this study was to develop a methodology for geographical classification of Angelicae Sinensis Radix and determine the contents of ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide in the samples using near-infrared spectroscopy. A qualitative model was established to identify the geographical origin of Angelicae Sinensis Radix using Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy. Support vector machine (SVM) algorithms were used for the establishment of a qualitative model. The optimum SVM model had a recognition rate of 100% for the calibration set and 83.72% for the prediction set. In addition, a quantitative model was established to predict the content of ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide using FT-NIR. Partial least squares regression (PLSR) algorithms were used for the establishment of a quantitative model. Synergy interval-PLS (Si-PLS) was used to screen the characteristic spectral interval to obtain the best PLSR model. The coefficient of determination for calibration (R2C) for the best PLSR models established with the optimal spectral preprocessing method and selected important spectral regions for the quantitative determination of ferulic acid and Z-ligustilide was 0.9659 and 0.9611, respectively, while the coefficient of determination for prediction (R2P) was 0.9118 and 0.9206, respectively. The values of the ratio of prediction to deviation (RPD) of the two final optimized PLSR models were greater than 2. The results suggested that NIR spectroscopy combined with SVM and PLSR algorithms could be exploited in the discrimination of Angelicae Sinensis Radix from different geographical locations for quality assurance and monitoring. This study might serve as a reference for quality evaluation of agricultural, pharmaceutical, and food products.Engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) have been widely developed in various fields in recent years, resulting in an increasing occurrence of nanoparticles in the natural environment. read more However, the tiny substances have created unexpected confusion in environmental sample testing due to the negative nanoeffect of ENPs. In this paper, a novel technique of spectrophotometric determination of p-nitrophenol (PNP) was developed under the interfering impact of nano-Fe(OH)3, widely distributed in the natural environment as a typical example of ENPs. Because of the strong absorption at the two characteristic peaks of PNP, namely, 317 nm and 400 nm, nano-Fe(OH)3 interfered with the colorimetric determination of PNP. Thus, the developed testing method, with HCl acidification at 60°C and ascorbic acid (AA) masking FeCl3, was proposed and successfully realized the accurate determination of PNP in water samples by ultraviolet spectrophotometry with 317 nm as the absorption wavelength. The final colorimetric system of 5% HCl, 10% CH3OH, and 1% ascorbic acid was confirmed by optimized batch experiments, and the optimum condition of acidification pretreatment was heating at 60°C for 20 min.