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Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSCs) are considered a valuable option to treat ocular surface disorders such as mustard keratopathy (MK). MK often leads to vision impairment due to corneal opacification and neovascularization and cellular senescence seems to have a role in its pathophysiology. Herein, we utilized intrastromal MSC injections to treat MK. Thirty-two mice were divided into four groups based on the exposure to 20 mM or 40 mM concentrations of mustard and receiving the treatment or not. Mice were clinically and histopathologically examined. Histopathological evaluations were completed after the euthanasia of mice after four months and included hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), CK12, and beta-galactosidase (β-gal) staining. The treatment group demonstrated reduced opacity compared to the control group. While corneal neovascularization did not display significant variations between the groups, the control group did register higher numerical values. Histopathologically, reduced CK12 staining was detected in the control group. Additionally, β-gal staining areas were notably lower in the treatment group. Although the treated groups showed lower severity of fibrosis compared to the control groups, statistical difference was not significant. In conclusion, it seems that delivery of MSCs in MK has exhibited promising therapeutic results, notably in reducing corneal opacity. Furthermore, the significant reduction in the β-galactosidase staining area may point towards the promising anti-senescence potential of MSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In terms of security, MDS matrices are one of the best choices for the diffusion layer of block ciphers. However, as these matrices grow in size, their software implementation becomes a challenge. In this paper, to benefit from the properties of MDS matrices and avoid the mentioned challenge, we use 4 × 4 MDS matrices to build some 16 × 16 matrices with a low number of zero elements. We show that if these matrices are used as diffusion layers of software-based SPN structures, the resulting block ciphers have similar properties as AES in software implementation complexity (i.e. the number of required CPU instructions) and resistance against linear and differential attacks. Moreover, the best impossible differential and square distinguishers for the proposed 16 × 16 structures have a similar length as SPN structures with 16 × 16 MDS matrices. Thus, the new structures outperform AES concerning the impossible differential and square attacks. Additionally, we show that if the proposed SPN structure uses the AES key schedule, its results for the differential related-key attacks are better than those for AES. We also extend the idea and use 4×4 MDS matrices to design 24×24 and 32×32 matrices with acceptable properties for SPN structure design. Finally, we extend the idea to propose some matrices for Feistel structures with SP-type F-functions. We show that the resulting structures are more secure than the improved Type-II GFS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Keratoconjunctivitis is one of the most common pathologies worldwide, caused by several infectious and noninfectious factors. This study aimed to determine the effect of povidone-iodine 2% eye drops in treating adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis. METHODS: This analytic cross-sectional study was conducted on patients referred to Farabi Eye Hospital Records of patients with adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis, more than 12 years of age, and no allergy to iodine who were treated by povidone-iodine 2% eye drops four times a day were assessed. Data included demographic characteristics, family history of adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis, follicular conjunctivitis, petechial conjunctival hemorrhages, periauricular lymphadenopathy, and the presence of conjunctival pseudomembrane were collected from the records. Discharge decrease, injection decrease, swelling decrease, pseudomembrane formation, periauricular lymphadenopathy, and subepithelial infiltration on the 7th day of assessment by physical examination were reported. RESULTS: Patients with a mean (±standard deviation) age of 33.77 (11.01) years were assessed. At the baseline, 95 (99.0%) follicular conjunctivitis, 94 (97.9%) petechial conjunctival hemorrhages, 29 (30.2%) periauricular lymphadenopathy, and 5 (5.2%) conjunctival pseudomembrane were recorded. On the 7th day of treatment, the discharge decreased in 92.7% of patients, and the injection decreased in 90.6%. The swelling decrease was also detected in 79.2% of patients. Subepithelial infiltration was only seen in 21.9% of the study population. Results showed that 2.1% of patients had periauricular lymphadenopathy, and only 13 out of 96 patients (13.5%) had pseudomembrane formation after 7 days. CONCLUSIONS: Based on the safety, availability, and tolerability of povidone-iodine and its promising effects on patients with adenoviral keratoconjunctivitis, further clinical trials assessing the impact of this drug in a longer duration of follow-up can be recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: To investigate the short-term functional and microstructural outcomes of pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) without gas tamponade in lamellar macular holes (LH). MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this prospective case series, LH cases diagnosed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) underwent PPV with epiretinal membrane (ERM) removal and internal limiting membrane peeling without gas tamponade. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination, including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and OCT imaging preoperatively and 3 months after the surgery. RESULTS: Among 22 eyes, 10 degenerative (Deg) LH, 8 tractional (Trac) LH, and 4 mixed-type LH were assessed. After the surgery, anatomical closure occurred in 20 eyes (91%) without any significant difference between LH subgroups. Comparing preoperative and postoperative values, no significant changes was detected regarding BCVA neither totally (P = 0.5) nor in subgroups (P for Deg = 1.0, Trac = 0.71, Mix = 0.18). The overall central foveal thickness was increased significantly after surgery (P < 0.01), but in subgroup analysis, the increase was significant only for Trac LH (P = 0.02). The tractional LH eyes had less ellipsoid zone (EZ) disruptions compared to Deg or mixed subgroups before surgery. There were no changes in EZ integrity before and after the surgery. In regression analysis, no correlation was found between demographic or clinical characteristics and anatomical closure or BCVA improvement postoperatively. CONCLUSION: PPV resulted in 91% anatomical closure of all cases of LH but without functional improvement in short-term. Further prospective clinical trials with larger sample size and longer follow-up would be required to confirm the clinical significance of these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linear feedback shift registers (LFSRs) are used in many stream ciphers because of their maximal period and good statistical properties. Due to the linearity of the LFSR, its output cannot be directly used as the keystream. Different methods have been proposed to utilize LFSRs in construction of stream ciphers. Jumping is one of these methods which is used in some stream ciphers like Mickey and Pomaranch but the period for this method cannot be generally determined. In this paper, using the jumping LFSRs, some new primitives are proposed. According to the properties of these new primitives, a lower bound for their period can be computed. In some of the proposed primitives, this lower bound can be determined without the knowledge of the jump index. These primitives are applicable when the calculation of the jump index is infeasible. The proposed primitives can be used as building blocks to design the software oriented and the hardware oriented stream ciphers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]