Purpose:To provide a geographical map of choroidal thickness(CT)around the macular region armong subjects with low,moderate and high myopia.Methods:20 myopic subjects(n=40 eyes)without other identified pathologies par...Purpose:To provide a geographical map of choroidal thickness(CT)around the macular region armong subjects with low,moderate and high myopia.Methods:20 myopic subjects(n=40 eyes)without other identified pathologies participated in this study:20 eyes of≤3 diopters(D)(low myopic),10 eyes between-3 and-6D(moderate myopic),and 10 eyes of≥6D(high myopic).The mean age of subjects was 30.2 years(±7.6 years;range,24 to 46 years).A 1050 nm spectral-domain optical coberence tomography(SD-OCT)system,operating at 120kHz imaging rate,was used in this study to simultaneously capture 3D anatomical images of the choroid and measure intraocular length(IOL)in the subject.The 3D OCT images of the choroid were segmented into superior,inferior,nasal and temporal quadrants,from which the CT was measured,representing radial distance between the outer retinal pigment epithelium(RPE)layer and inner scleral border.Measurements were made within concentric regjons centered at fovea centralis,extended to 5 mm away from fovea at 1 mm intervals in the nasal and temporal directions.The measured IOL was the distance from the anterior cornea surface to the RPE in alignment along the optical axis of the eye.Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate CT at each geographic region and observe the relationship between CT and the degree of myopia.Results:For low myopic eyes,the IOL was measured at 24.619±0.016 mm.The CT(273.85±49.01μm)was greatest under fovea as is in the case of healthy eyes.Peripheral to the fovea,the mean CT decreased rapidly along the nasal direction,reaching a minimum of 180.65±58.25 pum at 5 mm away from the fovea.There was less of a change in thickness from the fovea in the temporal direction reaching a minimum of 234.25±42.27μm.In contrast to the low myopic eyes,for moderate and high myopic eyes,CTs were thickest in termnporal region(where CT=194.94±27.28 and 163±34.89μm,respectively).Like the low myopic eyes,moderate and high myopic eyes had thinnest CTs in the nasal region(where CT=100.84±16.75 and 86.64±42.6μm,respectively)-High myopic eyes had the longest mean IOL(25.983±0.021 mm),while the IOL of moderate myopia was 25.413±0.022 mm(**p<0.001).The CT reduction rate was calculated at 31.28 umn/D(diopter)from low to mod-erate myopia,whilst it is 13.49μm/D from moderate to high myopia.The similar tendency was found for the IOL reduction rate in our study:0.265 mm/D from low to moderate myopia,and 0.137 mm/D from moderate to high myopia.Conclusion:The CT decreases and the IOL increases gradually with the increase of myopic condition.The current results support the theory that choroidal abnormality may play an important role in the pathogenesis of myopic degeneration.展开更多
Average credit scores for people in the United States （US） differ from state to state. Some states have high, and some states have low average credit scores. Since lenders and employers use credit scores to make loa...Average credit scores for people in the United States （US） differ from state to state. Some states have high, and some states have low average credit scores. Since lenders and employers use credit scores to make loan and employment decisions, people living in states where average credit scores are high should experience the benefits of living where credit scores tend to allow more favorable loan and employment decisions. Although credit scores are the direct result of credit histories, credit histories may be impacted by demographic factors. If the demographic factors that impact credit histories are identified, ways to improve credit scores are likely to be discovered and available to people and state government policymakers. This study looks for demographic factors to indirectly explain the average credit scores for people living in each state of the US. The methodology includes statistical analyses and geographic information systems （GIS） mapping. Statistical analyses provide evidence to suggest that state average credit scores are explained by the demographic factors of education, family, income, and health. GIS mapping reveals clusters of states with similar demographics and credit scores.展开更多
Geographical variations in all-cause mortality rates may be influenced by residents’ place of residence and the time period under study. Understanding these variations is essential for designing effective public heal...Geographical variations in all-cause mortality rates may be influenced by residents’ place of residence and the time period under study. Understanding these variations is essential for designing effective public health interventions and optimizing resource allocation. This study aimed to identify small area level factors associated with all-cause mortality and to map hotspots of excess deaths across a region. The analysis produced relative mortality rates and exceedance probabilities to pinpoint areas with an excess burden of death. Results showed that all-cause mortality was particularly concentrated in the upper central and northern regions of the region, where many rural counties are located. Key factors associated with higher mortality rates included lower median income, younger median age, and a lower percentage of Hispanic population in the counties studied. These findings highlight the importance of addressing income disparity in high-mortality areas, particularly in rural regions, to guide resource allocation and develop targeted interventions that can most effectively reduce mortality rates where they are needed most.展开更多
Climate change significantly affects vegetation dynamics.Thus,understanding interactions between vegetation and climatic factors is essential for ecological management.This study used kernel Normalized Difference Vege...Climate change significantly affects vegetation dynamics.Thus,understanding interactions between vegetation and climatic factors is essential for ecological management.This study used kernel Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(kNDVI)and climatic data(temperature,precipitation,humidity,and vapor pressure deficit(VPD))of China from 2000 to 2022,integrating Geographic Convergent Cross Mapping(GCCM)causal modeling,Extreme Gradient Boosting-Shapley Additive Explanations(XGBoost-SHAP)nonlinear threshold identification,and Geographical Simulation and Optimization Systems-Future Land Use Simulation(GeoSOS-FLUS)spatial prediction modeling to investigate vegetation spatiotemporal characteristics,driving mechanisms,nonlinear thresholds,and future spatial patterns.Results indicated that from 2000 to 2022,China's kNDVI showed an overall increasing trend(annual average ranging from 0.29 to 0.33 with distinct spatial differentiation:52.77%of areas locating in agricultural and ecological restoration regions in the central-eastern plain)experienced vegetation improvement,whereas 2.68%of areas locating in the southeastern coastal urbanized regions and the Yangtze River Delta experience vegetation degradation.The coefficient of variation(CV)of kNDVI at 0.30–0.40(accounting for 10.61%)was significantly higher than that of NDVI(accounting for 1.80%).Climate-driven mechanisms exhibited notable library length(L)dependence.At short-term scales(L<50),vegetation-driven transpiration regulated local microclimate,with a causal strength from kNDVI to temperature of 0.04–0.15;at long-term scales(L>100),cumulative temperature effects dominated vegetation dynamics,with a causal strength from temperature to kNDVI of 0.33.Humidity and kNDVI formed bidirectional positive feedback at long-term scales(L=210,causal strength>0.70),whereas the long-term suppressive effect of VPD was particularly pronounced(causal strength=0.21)in arid areas.The optimal threshold intervals identified were temperature at–12.18℃–0.67℃,precipitation at 24.00–159.74 mm,humidity of lower than 22.00%,and VPD of<0.07,0.17–0.24,and>0.30 kPa;notably,the lower precipitation threshold(24.00 mm)represented the minimum water requirements for vegetation recovery in arid areas.Future kNDVI spatial patterns are projected to continue the trend of"southeastern optimization and northwestern delay"from 2025 to 2040:the area proportion of high kNDVI value(>0.50)will rise from 40.43%to 41.85%,concentrated in the Sichuan Basin and the southern hills;meanwhile,the proportion of low-value areas of kNDVI(0.00–0.10)in the arid northwestern areas will decline by only 1.25%,constrained by sustained temperature and VPD stress.This study provides a scientific basis for vegetation dynamic regulation and sustainable development under climate change.展开更多
Wireless sensor Mobile ad hoc networks have excellent potential in moving and monitoring disaster area networks on real-time basis.The recent challenges faced in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks(MANETs)include scalability,local...Wireless sensor Mobile ad hoc networks have excellent potential in moving and monitoring disaster area networks on real-time basis.The recent challenges faced in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks(MANETs)include scalability,localization,heterogeneous network,self-organization,and self-sufficient operation.In this background,the current study focuses on specially-designed communication link establishment for high connection stability of wireless mobile sensor networks,especially in disaster area network.Existing protocols focus on location-dependent communications and use networks based on typically-used Internet Protocol(IP)architecture.However,IP-based communications have a few limitations such as inefficient bandwidth utilization,high processing,less transfer speeds,and excessive memory intake.To overcome these challenges,the number of neighbors(Node Density)is minimized and high Mobility Nodes(Node Speed)are avoided.The proposed Geographic Drone Based Route Optimization(GDRO)method reduces the entire overhead to a considerable level in an efficient manner and significantly improves the overall performance by identifying the disaster region.This drone communicates with anchor node periodically and shares the information to it so as to introduce a drone-based disaster network in an area.Geographic routing is a promising approach to enhance the routing efficiency in MANET.This algorithm helps in reaching the anchor(target)node with the help of Geographical Graph-Based Mapping(GGM).Global Positioning System(GPS)is enabled on mobile network of the anchor node which regularly broadcasts its location information that helps in finding the location.In first step,the node searches for local and remote anticipated Expected Transmission Count(ETX),thereby calculating the estimated distance.Received Signal Strength Indicator(RSSI)results are stored in the local memory of the node.Then,the node calculates the least remote anticipated ETX,Link Loss Rate,and information to the new location.Freeway Heuristic algorithm improves the data speed,efficiency and determines the path and optimization problem.In comparison with other models,the proposed method yielded an efficient communication,increased the throughput,and reduced the end-to-end delay,energy consumption and packet loss performance in disaster area networks.展开更多
In this article, 1650 herbarium specimens of representatives of the genus Gagea Salisb. were used as research material from the collections of the National Herbarium of Uzbekistan (TASH). It presents a geographical co...In this article, 1650 herbarium specimens of representatives of the genus Gagea Salisb. were used as research material from the collections of the National Herbarium of Uzbekistan (TASH). It presents a geographical coordinate system, habitats, phenology, and economic values. The distribution of species in Uzbekistan was indicated by the phytogeographic regions of the country. The herbarium material of Gagea Salisb. has been studied in TASH, SAMSU and MSU. The TASH Herbarium presents samples from 1914 to 2019. The review was written using information published between 1988 and 2019 from a number of reliable sources, including Science Direct, Springer, PubMed, EMBASE and Wikipedia.展开更多
Background:Although congenital hypothyroidism(CH)has been widely studied in Western countries,CH incidence at different administrative levels in China during the past decade remains unknown.This study aimed to update ...Background:Although congenital hypothyroidism(CH)has been widely studied in Western countries,CH incidence at different administrative levels in China during the past decade remains unknown.This study aimed to update the incidence and revealed the spatial pattern of CH incidence in the mainland of China,which could be helpful in the planning and implementation of preventative measures.Methods:The data used in our study were derived from 245 newborns screening centers that cover 30 provinces of the Chinese Newborn Screening Information System.Spatial auto-correlation was analyzed by Global Moran I and Getis-Ord Gi statistics at the provincial level.Kriging interpolation methods were applied to estimate a further detailed spatial distribution of CH incidence at city level throughout the mainland of China,and Kulldorff space scanning statistical methods were used to identify the spatial clusters of CH cases at the city level.Results:A total of 91,921,334 neonates were screened from 2013 to 2018 and 42,861 cases of primary CH were identified,yielding an incidence of 4.66 per 10,000 newborns screened(95%confidence interval[CI]:4.62–4.71).Neonates in central(risk ratio[RR]=0.84,95%CI:0.82–0.85)and western districts(RR=0.71,95%CI:0.69–0.73)had lower probability of CH cases compared with the eastern region.The CH incidence indicated a moderate positive global spatial autocorrelation(Global Moran I value=0.394,P<0.05),and the CH cases were significantly clustered in spatial distribution.A most likely city-cluster(log-likelihood ratio[LLR]=588.82,RR=2.36,P<0.01)and 25 secondary city-clusters of high incidence were scanned.The incidence of each province and each city in the mainland of China was estimated by kriging interpolation,revealing the most affected province and city to be Zhejiang Province and Hangzhou city,respectively.Conclusion:This study offers an insight into the space clustering of CH incidence at provincial and city scales.Future work on environmental factors need to focus on the effects of CH occurrence.展开更多
基金supported in part by research grants from the National Eye Institute (R01EY024158,R01EY021242,P30001730)。
文摘Purpose:To provide a geographical map of choroidal thickness(CT)around the macular region armong subjects with low,moderate and high myopia.Methods:20 myopic subjects(n=40 eyes)without other identified pathologies participated in this study:20 eyes of≤3 diopters(D)(low myopic),10 eyes between-3 and-6D(moderate myopic),and 10 eyes of≥6D(high myopic).The mean age of subjects was 30.2 years(±7.6 years;range,24 to 46 years).A 1050 nm spectral-domain optical coberence tomography(SD-OCT)system,operating at 120kHz imaging rate,was used in this study to simultaneously capture 3D anatomical images of the choroid and measure intraocular length(IOL)in the subject.The 3D OCT images of the choroid were segmented into superior,inferior,nasal and temporal quadrants,from which the CT was measured,representing radial distance between the outer retinal pigment epithelium(RPE)layer and inner scleral border.Measurements were made within concentric regjons centered at fovea centralis,extended to 5 mm away from fovea at 1 mm intervals in the nasal and temporal directions.The measured IOL was the distance from the anterior cornea surface to the RPE in alignment along the optical axis of the eye.Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate CT at each geographic region and observe the relationship between CT and the degree of myopia.Results:For low myopic eyes,the IOL was measured at 24.619±0.016 mm.The CT(273.85±49.01μm)was greatest under fovea as is in the case of healthy eyes.Peripheral to the fovea,the mean CT decreased rapidly along the nasal direction,reaching a minimum of 180.65±58.25 pum at 5 mm away from the fovea.There was less of a change in thickness from the fovea in the temporal direction reaching a minimum of 234.25±42.27μm.In contrast to the low myopic eyes,for moderate and high myopic eyes,CTs were thickest in termnporal region(where CT=194.94±27.28 and 163±34.89μm,respectively).Like the low myopic eyes,moderate and high myopic eyes had thinnest CTs in the nasal region(where CT=100.84±16.75 and 86.64±42.6μm,respectively)-High myopic eyes had the longest mean IOL(25.983±0.021 mm),while the IOL of moderate myopia was 25.413±0.022 mm(**p<0.001).The CT reduction rate was calculated at 31.28 umn/D(diopter)from low to mod-erate myopia,whilst it is 13.49μm/D from moderate to high myopia.The similar tendency was found for the IOL reduction rate in our study:0.265 mm/D from low to moderate myopia,and 0.137 mm/D from moderate to high myopia.Conclusion:The CT decreases and the IOL increases gradually with the increase of myopic condition.The current results support the theory that choroidal abnormality may play an important role in the pathogenesis of myopic degeneration.
文摘Average credit scores for people in the United States （US） differ from state to state. Some states have high, and some states have low average credit scores. Since lenders and employers use credit scores to make loan and employment decisions, people living in states where average credit scores are high should experience the benefits of living where credit scores tend to allow more favorable loan and employment decisions. Although credit scores are the direct result of credit histories, credit histories may be impacted by demographic factors. If the demographic factors that impact credit histories are identified, ways to improve credit scores are likely to be discovered and available to people and state government policymakers. This study looks for demographic factors to indirectly explain the average credit scores for people living in each state of the US. The methodology includes statistical analyses and geographic information systems （GIS） mapping. Statistical analyses provide evidence to suggest that state average credit scores are explained by the demographic factors of education, family, income, and health. GIS mapping reveals clusters of states with similar demographics and credit scores.
文摘Geographical variations in all-cause mortality rates may be influenced by residents’ place of residence and the time period under study. Understanding these variations is essential for designing effective public health interventions and optimizing resource allocation. This study aimed to identify small area level factors associated with all-cause mortality and to map hotspots of excess deaths across a region. The analysis produced relative mortality rates and exceedance probabilities to pinpoint areas with an excess burden of death. Results showed that all-cause mortality was particularly concentrated in the upper central and northern regions of the region, where many rural counties are located. Key factors associated with higher mortality rates included lower median income, younger median age, and a lower percentage of Hispanic population in the counties studied. These findings highlight the importance of addressing income disparity in high-mortality areas, particularly in rural regions, to guide resource allocation and develop targeted interventions that can most effectively reduce mortality rates where they are needed most.
基金funded by the Key Science and Technology Research Projects of Henan Province(252102320172).
文摘Climate change significantly affects vegetation dynamics.Thus,understanding interactions between vegetation and climatic factors is essential for ecological management.This study used kernel Normalized Difference Vegetation Index(kNDVI)and climatic data(temperature,precipitation,humidity,and vapor pressure deficit(VPD))of China from 2000 to 2022,integrating Geographic Convergent Cross Mapping(GCCM)causal modeling,Extreme Gradient Boosting-Shapley Additive Explanations(XGBoost-SHAP)nonlinear threshold identification,and Geographical Simulation and Optimization Systems-Future Land Use Simulation(GeoSOS-FLUS)spatial prediction modeling to investigate vegetation spatiotemporal characteristics,driving mechanisms,nonlinear thresholds,and future spatial patterns.Results indicated that from 2000 to 2022,China's kNDVI showed an overall increasing trend(annual average ranging from 0.29 to 0.33 with distinct spatial differentiation:52.77%of areas locating in agricultural and ecological restoration regions in the central-eastern plain)experienced vegetation improvement,whereas 2.68%of areas locating in the southeastern coastal urbanized regions and the Yangtze River Delta experience vegetation degradation.The coefficient of variation(CV)of kNDVI at 0.30–0.40(accounting for 10.61%)was significantly higher than that of NDVI(accounting for 1.80%).Climate-driven mechanisms exhibited notable library length(L)dependence.At short-term scales(L<50),vegetation-driven transpiration regulated local microclimate,with a causal strength from kNDVI to temperature of 0.04–0.15;at long-term scales(L>100),cumulative temperature effects dominated vegetation dynamics,with a causal strength from temperature to kNDVI of 0.33.Humidity and kNDVI formed bidirectional positive feedback at long-term scales(L=210,causal strength>0.70),whereas the long-term suppressive effect of VPD was particularly pronounced(causal strength=0.21)in arid areas.The optimal threshold intervals identified were temperature at–12.18℃–0.67℃,precipitation at 24.00–159.74 mm,humidity of lower than 22.00%,and VPD of<0.07,0.17–0.24,and>0.30 kPa;notably,the lower precipitation threshold(24.00 mm)represented the minimum water requirements for vegetation recovery in arid areas.Future kNDVI spatial patterns are projected to continue the trend of"southeastern optimization and northwestern delay"from 2025 to 2040:the area proportion of high kNDVI value(>0.50)will rise from 40.43%to 41.85%,concentrated in the Sichuan Basin and the southern hills;meanwhile,the proportion of low-value areas of kNDVI(0.00–0.10)in the arid northwestern areas will decline by only 1.25%,constrained by sustained temperature and VPD stress.This study provides a scientific basis for vegetation dynamic regulation and sustainable development under climate change.
文摘Wireless sensor Mobile ad hoc networks have excellent potential in moving and monitoring disaster area networks on real-time basis.The recent challenges faced in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks(MANETs)include scalability,localization,heterogeneous network,self-organization,and self-sufficient operation.In this background,the current study focuses on specially-designed communication link establishment for high connection stability of wireless mobile sensor networks,especially in disaster area network.Existing protocols focus on location-dependent communications and use networks based on typically-used Internet Protocol(IP)architecture.However,IP-based communications have a few limitations such as inefficient bandwidth utilization,high processing,less transfer speeds,and excessive memory intake.To overcome these challenges,the number of neighbors(Node Density)is minimized and high Mobility Nodes(Node Speed)are avoided.The proposed Geographic Drone Based Route Optimization(GDRO)method reduces the entire overhead to a considerable level in an efficient manner and significantly improves the overall performance by identifying the disaster region.This drone communicates with anchor node periodically and shares the information to it so as to introduce a drone-based disaster network in an area.Geographic routing is a promising approach to enhance the routing efficiency in MANET.This algorithm helps in reaching the anchor(target)node with the help of Geographical Graph-Based Mapping(GGM).Global Positioning System(GPS)is enabled on mobile network of the anchor node which regularly broadcasts its location information that helps in finding the location.In first step,the node searches for local and remote anticipated Expected Transmission Count(ETX),thereby calculating the estimated distance.Received Signal Strength Indicator(RSSI)results are stored in the local memory of the node.Then,the node calculates the least remote anticipated ETX,Link Loss Rate,and information to the new location.Freeway Heuristic algorithm improves the data speed,efficiency and determines the path and optimization problem.In comparison with other models,the proposed method yielded an efficient communication,increased the throughput,and reduced the end-to-end delay,energy consumption and packet loss performance in disaster area networks.
文摘In this article, 1650 herbarium specimens of representatives of the genus Gagea Salisb. were used as research material from the collections of the National Herbarium of Uzbekistan (TASH). It presents a geographical coordinate system, habitats, phenology, and economic values. The distribution of species in Uzbekistan was indicated by the phytogeographic regions of the country. The herbarium material of Gagea Salisb. has been studied in TASH, SAMSU and MSU. The TASH Herbarium presents samples from 1914 to 2019. The review was written using information published between 1988 and 2019 from a number of reliable sources, including Science Direct, Springer, PubMed, EMBASE and Wikipedia.
基金supported by a grant from the National Key Research and Development Program of China(No.2017YFC1001700).
文摘Background:Although congenital hypothyroidism(CH)has been widely studied in Western countries,CH incidence at different administrative levels in China during the past decade remains unknown.This study aimed to update the incidence and revealed the spatial pattern of CH incidence in the mainland of China,which could be helpful in the planning and implementation of preventative measures.Methods:The data used in our study were derived from 245 newborns screening centers that cover 30 provinces of the Chinese Newborn Screening Information System.Spatial auto-correlation was analyzed by Global Moran I and Getis-Ord Gi statistics at the provincial level.Kriging interpolation methods were applied to estimate a further detailed spatial distribution of CH incidence at city level throughout the mainland of China,and Kulldorff space scanning statistical methods were used to identify the spatial clusters of CH cases at the city level.Results:A total of 91,921,334 neonates were screened from 2013 to 2018 and 42,861 cases of primary CH were identified,yielding an incidence of 4.66 per 10,000 newborns screened(95%confidence interval[CI]:4.62–4.71).Neonates in central(risk ratio[RR]=0.84,95%CI:0.82–0.85)and western districts(RR=0.71,95%CI:0.69–0.73)had lower probability of CH cases compared with the eastern region.The CH incidence indicated a moderate positive global spatial autocorrelation(Global Moran I value=0.394,P<0.05),and the CH cases were significantly clustered in spatial distribution.A most likely city-cluster(log-likelihood ratio[LLR]=588.82,RR=2.36,P<0.01)and 25 secondary city-clusters of high incidence were scanned.The incidence of each province and each city in the mainland of China was estimated by kriging interpolation,revealing the most affected province and city to be Zhejiang Province and Hangzhou city,respectively.Conclusion:This study offers an insight into the space clustering of CH incidence at provincial and city scales.Future work on environmental factors need to focus on the effects of CH occurrence.
