Additional Sections Research Articles

Verbalisations of Emotions in the Sociolect of Secondary School Students in the Light of Survey Research

The article contains the results of a survey on words within one of the lexical-semantic fields that can be distinguished among Polish secondary school students – the issue of using messages regarding effects/feelings in informal situations. The aim of the study was to isolate units of articles regarding emotions and their descriptions. Source material for the 1765 survey. Follow-up additional advanced testing descriptive section. The quantitative range is indicated as fields, and its exclusion is displayed based on the survey results. Featured include: colloquialisms (chicken face, embarrassment); profanity (whore); descriptions of the internal state and situation (I made a blunder, it was a disaster); loanwords and their innovations (lofciam, wiksa). The collected material makes it possible to present and partially discuss lexemes, nominative phrases, utterances and sentences used by students from selected secondary schools. The content presented in the article is real material obtained during several years of research.

The Radiosurgery Society Working Groups on GRID, LATTICE, Microbeam, and FLASH Radiotherapies: 2022 to 2023 Advancements Symposium and Subsequent Progress Made

PurposeSince the inaugural workshop “Understanding High-Dose, Ultra-High Dose Rate and Spatially Fractionated Radiotherapy.” hosted by the NCI and sponsored by the Radiosurgery Society (RSS), growing collaborations and investigations have ensued among experts, practitioners, and researchers. The RSS GRID, Lattice, Microbeam & FLASH (GLMF) Working Groups were formed as a framework for these efforts and have focused on advancing the understanding of the biology, technical/physical parameters, trial design, and clinical practice of these new radiation therapy modalities. Methods and MaterialsIn view of the steadily increasing clinical interest in SFRT and FLASH, a full-day symposium entitled “Advancements in GRID, LATTICE, and FLASH Radiotherapy Symposium” was established in 2022 that immediately preceded the RSS scientific meeting. This well-attended symposium focused on clinical, technical, and physics approaches for SFRT, while closely examining relevant radiobiological underpinnings. Practical clinical trial development was a highlighted discussion. An additional section reviewed proton therapy and other particle-based techniques for the delivery of GRID and Lattice therapy. A treatment planning and delivery tutorial for GRID, Lattice, and proton GRID/Lattice was directed towards the real-world considerations for the development of new clinical GRID or LATTICE programs. An overall similar approach was applied to the discussion of FLASH. This report summarizes the content of the first GLMF Symposium and related work of the RSS GLMF Working Groups in the field of heterogeneous and ultra-high dose rate irradiation, over approximately 2 years. ResultsThe GLMF Working Groups have continued to expand in membership and attendance, and several resultant trial concepts, research efforts, academic discussions, and peer-reviewed publications have followed as the number of institutions and practitioners utilizing SFRT and FLASH continues to grow. ConclusionsThe GLFM Working Groups and the RSS continue to demonstrate excellent progress in proliferating use of and improving understanding of SFRT and ultra-high dose rate radiotherapy techniques.

Effects of a combined neuropsychological and cognitive behavioral group therapy on young adults with Fragile X Syndrome: An explorative study

BackgroundFragile X Syndrome (FXS) is an X-linked neurodevelopmental disorder that leads to intellectual disability (ID) along with cognitive-behavioral difficulties. Research on psychosocial treatments in individuals FXS and ID is still lacking. This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a combined neuropsychological and cognitive behavioral group therapy (nCBT) among young adults with FXS. MethodTen young adults diagnosed with FXS took part in the second stage intervention of "Corp-osa-Mente" (CoM II), a group nCBT program previously outlined by Montanaro and colleagues in an earlier study, with the participants being the same as in the previous research. This report details the outcomes of an additional twelve-month group sections aimed at enhancing the ability to manage emotions and the socio-communicative skills of these young adults. Caregivers completed measures of adaptive functioning, emotional and behavior problems, executive function, communication skills and family quality of life at pre-treatment (T0) and post-treatment (T1). ResultsCoM II showed a decrease in depressive and anxiety symptoms from T0 to T1, along with increased socio-pragmatic and communication skills from pre-test to post-test intervention. Additionally, our analysis revealed improvements in the adapative behavior of participants and in the family quality of life. ConclusionsThese preliminary findings suggest that young adults with FXS and ID experienced positive outcomes through participation in CoM II, a group nCBT. However, it is recommended to undertake additional methodologically rigorous studies, such as randomized controlled trials (RCTs), to substantiate these initially promising findings.

Teachers’ professional ideas on the characteristics of evaluation of educational results of students with limited health abilities on lessons of physics and mathematics

Introduction. The article is dedicated to the problem of evaluating educational achievements of students with limited health abilities in the classes of physics and mathematics. The results of the research aimed at the study of professional views of the teachers on the issues of conducting interim certification of students at the level of basic general education are presented in this work. The actuality of the study is determined by the need to improve the quality of general education of students with OHS, which is directly related to the assessment of their educational results. Materials and Methods. The study was conducted among physics and mathematics teachers using an online questionnaire, consisting of problems, the answers to which characterize the professional positions of teachers in terms of defining goals, developing assessment tools, using a differentiated approach and creating special conditions when conducting midterm assessment and assessing the educational results of students with special educational needs. Results. The results of the study showed a fairly wide variability of the views of the teachers on the subject studied. The majority of respondents point to the need to modify and differentiate the ratings by the degree of complexity, allowing to provide different types of assistance to students, and consider it necessary to create special conditions. At the same time, in practice, part of the teachers address the problem quite formally, and in some cases the special educational needs of the students are ignored. Discussion and Conclusions. According to the results of the study, the author, on the one hand, notes the insufficient scientific development of the problem, on the other hand, he identifies some professional deficits of physics and mathematics teachers in terms of competencies related to the assessment of educational results. These deficits, according to the author, can be overcome by developing and including in the content of the main and additional professional educational programs sections related to the study of the special educational needs of different categories of students with disabilities, which determine the features of assessing their educational achievements, including the features of adapting assessment tools and assessment procedures, creating special conditions.

The Sensitivity of Immunohistochemical Expression of p53 as an Indicator of the Malignant Potential of Gastric Hyperplastic Polyps: A Retrospective Study

Background: Hyperplastic polyps account for 30–93% of gastric polyps. Recently, there have been studies about the development of dysplasia in this type of polyp. Every cell in the body contains the p53 gene, which has anti-cancer properties. Objective: The sensitivity of immunohistochemical expression of p53 is evaluated among gastric hyperplastic polyps with and without dysplasia and gastric adenomatous polyps to know its usefulness as a diagnostic marker. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was done on fifty formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded blocks of gastric polyps (44 hyperplastic polyps without dysplasia, 3 hyperplastic polyps with dysplasia, and 3 adenomas). Cases were collected from the archives of the pathology department from June 2019 to July 2023. Additional sections of the block were immunostained with P53 protein. Results: Fifty paraffin blocks from patients with gastric polyps (17 males, 33 females) were included in the study. 44 of the cases are classified as hyperplastic polyps, 3 as hyperplastic polyps with dysplasia, and 3 as adenomatous polyps. Most gastric hyperplastic polyps showed staining in different scores. All gastric hyperplastic polyps with dysplasia showed nuclear staining, whereas two out of three gastric adenomatous polyps showed no staining. Conclusion: There was no significant association between p53 protein expression and the type of gastric polyps, the presence of intestinal metaplasia, or H. pylori. However, it has a significant correlation with the size of the polyps.

An Improved Penalty-Based Excited-State Variational Monte Carlo Approach with Deep-Learning Ansatzes.

We introduce several improvements to the penalty-based variational quantum Monte Carlo (VMC) algorithm for computing electronic excited states of Entwistle et al. [Nat. Commun. 14, 274 (2023)] and demonstrate that the accuracy of the updated method is competitive with other available excited-state VMC approaches. A theoretical comparison of the computational aspects of these algorithms is presented, where several benefits of the penalty-based method are identified. Our main contributions include an automatic mechanism for tuning the scale of the penalty terms, an updated form of the overlap penalty with proven convergence properties, and a new term that penalizes the spin of the wave function, enabling the selective computation of states with a given spin. With these improvements, along with the use of the latest self-attention-based ansatz, the penalty-based method achieves a mean absolute error below 1 kcal/mol for the vertical excitation energies of a set of 26 atoms and molecules, without relying on variance matching schemes. Considering excited states along the dissociation of the carbon dimer, the accuracy of the penalty-based method is on par with that of natural-excited-state (NES) VMC, while also providing results for additional sections of the potential energy surface, which were inaccessible with the NES method. Additionally, the accuracy of the penalty-based method is improved for a conical intersection of ethylene, with the predicted angle of the intersection agreeing well with both NES-VMC and multireference configuration interaction.

Lexical Language Contact Phenomena: A Combined Model Based on the Vocabulario español-guarani (18th century)

Abstract The purpose of this work, which falls within the areas of lexicography (studying missionary linguistics) and sociolinguistics (studying cultural contact), is to analyse the linguistic and cultural contacts between Spanish and Guarani, based on lexicographic material extracted from the Vocabulario español-guarani by Pablo Restivo (1728). The basis of the analysis is provided by the names of animals—one of the ‘secular’ fields where the highest frequency of borrowings is found (Cerno & Obermeier 2013). The methodology applied is the Haspelmath model (2009) and the Gruda model (2018). The premise is that the arrival and work of the Jesuit missionaries created cultural contact that is reflected in the codified language and, in turn, in this dictionary of the time. The main contribution is a new combined model of lexical reflections in a situation of cultural contact that can be applied in the analysis of this kind of lexicographic work, while an additional section provides a presentation of Restivo’s work and its background.

Reported community engagement in health equity research published in high-impact medical journals: a scoping review

ObjectiveTo assess reported community engagement in the design and conduct of health equity-focused articles published in high-impact journals.DesignScoping review follows guidance from the Joanna Briggs Institute and Preferred Reporting Items...

Dynamic control analysis of energy-efficient side-stream extractive distillation process for separating close-boiling mixture

To separate the close-boiling mixture comprising heptane and toluene, this study introduces an environmentally-friendly method of side-stream extractive distillation by utilizing aniline as the separating agent. This approach modifies traditional extractive distillation by adding a side rectifier, converting two-way vapor and liquid communication into one-way liquid transfer using an additional distillation section along with corresponding reboiler. Our present study investigates the dynamic control behavior for a strongly non-ideal system without and with heat integration. It focuses on achieving stable and reliable regulatory control by closely keeping the dual-product composition to their original design standards. Key control loops are pinpointed, with a specific emphasis on those centered around adjusting reboiler heat duty and side-stream flow rate within extractive column C1 to regulate the temperatures of Stages 48 and 36. Furthermore, control effectiveness is enhanced by introducing a feedforward action of reboiler heat duty-to-feed flowrate. By developing a new and robust control architecture, high feed flowrate and composition disturbances can be managed efficiently, solving the issues of oscillation and large transient response.

Thermally coupled distillation columns without vapor transfer – Current state and further needs

Reducing the energy requirements is one essential pillar in the effort to reduce the carbon footprint of the energy intensive chemical industry. Thermal coupling of distillation columns and the equipment-integrated implementation in dividing wall columns can be considered a mature and established technology to reduce the energy demand of distillation sequences. Despite the widespread investigations and applications, the vaporous transfer stream between thermally linked columns or vapor split in the dividing wall column is associated with certain limitations. Some of these can effectively be overcome by adding an additional column section with reboiler or condenser to the thermally linked column, converting the bidirectional transfer of liquid and vapor to a unidirectional liquid transfer, which mandates additional investment, but provides an additional degree of freedom and retains the energy saving potential of the thermally coupled sequence. Although these so-called Liquid-Only-Transfer (LOT) sequences have been introduced almost 25 years ago, the process concept is receiving an increasing interest in recent years, with specific focus on conceptual design and control studies. The current review provides a methodological overview on synthesis, design and control studies for LOT-sequences, considering zeotropic and azeotropic distillation processes. It analyzes the advantages and challenges of this interesting process concept and highlights research areas and questions that still require additional attention.

Self-centering dual rocking core system with viscous dampers in additional rocking sections

To mitigate the high mode effects and reduce the force requirements of the structural members in the multi-story self-centering dual rocking core (SDRC) system, this paper proposes the multiple self-centering dual rocking core system with viscous dampers in additional rocking sections (MSDRCV system). The sketch and ideal working mechanisms of the MSDRCV system are interpreted. The additional rocking sections are set to decrease the force requirements of structural members and viscous dampers are included to mitigate high mode responses of the additional rocking sections, introducing seismic performance enhancement. Comparative analyses on a 9-story MSDRCV system with viscous dampers in rocking sections, a 9-story multiple self-centering dual rocking core system without viscous dampers in rocking sections (MSDRC system) and a 9-story SDRC system were carried out. The MSDRCV and MSDRC system can realize the reduction of the force demands in structural members in contrast to the SDRC system. Nevertheless, the high mode responses caused the uncontrollable displacement concentration in the MSDRC system and hence aggravated the seismic performance under rare seismic events. The analysis results in the frequency domain confirmed that the viscous dampers in the MSDRCV system can efficiently control the high-mode responses. The effects of the design parameters of the viscous dampers on the peak responses of the MSDRCV systems were comprehensively studied via parametric analyses. The results offer guidance for the viscous dampers design.

Anorexia Nervosa Across the Lifespan: A Review of Recent Literature.

In this review, the authors provide an update on the understanding of anorexia nervosa (AN) across the lifespan. Focusing on key pieces of literature from the past 5 years, this review summarizes recent updates to DSM-5 within the domain of AN, including the addition of a new AN diagnosis: atypical anorexia. Additional sections covered in this review include improvements in the epidemiological understanding of AN across the developmental spectrum, treatment approaches that have been established as gold standard as well as new directions recently explored in treatment, and recent advancements in the biopsychosocial underpinnings of AN. Altogether, although this review captures several advancements in the field's overall conceptualization of AN, several key areas of treatment and diagnostic capacity continue to require additional focus and research.

Investigating the neural mechanisms of transcranial direct current stimulation effects on human cognition: current issues and potential solutions.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been studied extensively for its potential to enhance human cognitive functions in healthy individuals and to treat cognitive impairment in various clinical populations. However, little is known about how tDCS modulates the neural networks supporting cognition and the complex interplay with mediating factors that may explain the frequently observed variability of stimulation effects within and between studies. Moreover, research in this field has been characterized by substantial methodological variability, frequent lack of rigorous experimental control and small sample sizes, thereby limiting the generalizability of findings and translational potential of tDCS. The present manuscript aims to delineate how these important issues can be addressed within a neuroimaging context, to reveal the neural underpinnings, predictors and mediators of tDCS-induced behavioral modulation. We will focus on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), because it allows the investigation of tDCS effects with excellent spatial precision and sufficient temporal resolution across the entire brain. Moreover, high resolution structural imaging data can be acquired for precise localization of stimulation effects, verification of electrode positions on the scalp and realistic current modeling based on individual head and brain anatomy. However, the general principles outlined in this review will also be applicable to other imaging modalities. Following an introduction to the overall state-of-the-art in this field, we will discuss in more detail the underlying causes of variability in previous tDCS studies. Moreover, we will elaborate on design considerations for tDCS-fMRI studies, optimization of tDCS and imaging protocols and how to assure high-level experimental control. Two additional sections address the pressing need for more systematic investigation of tDCS effects across the healthy human lifespan and implications for tDCS studies in age-associated disease, and potential benefits of establishing large-scale, multidisciplinary consortia for more coordinated tDCS research in the future. We hope that this review will contribute to more coordinated, methodologically sound, transparent and reproducible research in this field. Ultimately, our aim is to facilitate a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms by which tDCS modulates human cognitive functions and more effective and individually tailored translational and clinical applications of this technique in the future.

(004) ROUTINE PATHOLOGY EXAMINATION OF EXCISED SPECIMEN FROM PATIENTS WITH NEUROPROLIFERATIVE VESTIBULODYNIA

Abstract Introduction Neuroproliferative vestibulodynia (NPV) is suspected in individuals with vulvas with complaints of entrance dyspareunia, vestibular allodynia and hyperalgesia, after ruling out other causes. When conservative biopsychosocial treatments for suspected NPV are unsuccessful, vestibulectomy may be an appropriate option. Excised vestibular surgical specimens are routinely sent for pathologic assessment including hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. Objective To review reports of gross and microscopic pathology examinations of excised vestibular specimens from a cohort of patients with NPV and compare immunohistochemical staining density among subgroups classified by severity of subepithelial inflammatory infiltrate. Methods Excised specimens from vestibulectomy surgeries were placed in 10% neutral buffered formalin prior to pathology examination. Routine pathology assessment included gross examination and cytological characterization of H&E-stained vestibular tissue for malignancy, viral nuclear changes (in addition to P16 staining as needed), and quality of the vestibular epithelium and subepithelial inflammatory infiltrate. Severity of this infiltrate was classified by the pathologist as mild, mild-moderate, moderate, or severe. Additional vestibular tissue sections were processed for immunohistochemical staining for CD117 and PGP9.5, protein markers consistent with mast cells and nerves, respectively. Separating the tissues into subgroups based on severity of subepithelial inflammatory infiltrate, they were compared to mast cell counts and immunopositive mean fractional area for CD117 and PGP9.5 using the Kruskal-Wallis test. Results Gross examinations of the 1:00-11:00 (n = 63) and 12:00 (n = 54) regions of vestibular tissue showed mean dimensions (length, width, thickness) to be 5.8 x 2.1 x 0.6 cm and 1.0 x 0.7 x 0.3 cm, respectively. Microscopic examinations revealed no malignant cells in any specimen, and viral nuclear findings were consistent with HPV in 3 specimens. Vestibular tissue was characterized as non-reactive squamous epithelium in 91% and 93% of specimens for the 1:00-11:00 and 12:00 regions, respectively. Mature lymphocytes were found in the subepithelial stromal infiltrate of 67% of specimens in both the 1:00-11:00 and 12:00 regions. Severity of subepithelial stromal infiltrate was reported as: mild in 67% and 65%; mild-moderate in 5% and 4%; moderate in 14% and 15%; and severe in 14% and 17% of cases for the 1:00-11:00 and 12:00 regions, respectively. Among the subgroups categorized by severity of inflammatory infiltrate, there were no significant differences for CD117-immunopositive cell counts or mean fractional area of CD117 and PGP9.5 in the 1:00-11:00 and 12:00 regions. Conclusions Routine pathology examination including H&E staining is standard for vestibulectomy specimens. There were no significant differences found among subgroups comparing severity of subepithelial inflammatory infiltrate with immunohistochemical data. Thus, information gleaned from routine pathology examination did not provide confirmation of the diagnosis of NPV. To better understand NPV, excised vestibular tissue should also be immunostained for CD117 and PGP9.5. Disclosure No.

Using 5TE Sensors for Monitoring Moisture Conditions in Green Parks.

The ground surface and subsurface of green parks in arid and desert areas may be subjected to desiccation as a result of weather and hot temperatures. It is not wise to wait until plants are turning pale and yellow before watering is resumed. Given the scarcity of water in typical desert zones, we recommend full control of irrigation water. This study presents a method of recycling irrigation water using 5TE sensors, employing time-domain reflectometry (TDR) technology. A trial test section was constructed along the coast of the eastern province of Saudi Arabia. Water recycling involves using clay-sand liners placed below the top agricultural soils to intercept excess water and direct it towards a collection tank, and then it is pumped out to a major water supply tank. The main properties of soils and clay-sand liners normally taken into account include moisture content, density, and hydraulic conductivity. An assessment of geotechnical properties of clay-sand mixtures containing 20% clay content was conducted. The profiles of moisture and temperature changes were monitored using 5TE sensors and data loggers. The 5TE sensors provided continuous measurements at varying temperatures and watering cycles. Twenty-nine watering cycles were conducted over a six-month period. An additional section was considered with a liner consisting of the same clay but enhanced with bentonite as one-third of the clay content. The volumetric water content was found to vary from 0.150 to 0.565 following changing weather and direct watering cycles. The results indicated that the use of a TDR instrumentation is a cost-effective and time-saving technique to construct a system for saving irrigation water.

Permian–Triassic Boundary in Sedimentary Succession of the Barents Sea

Abstract —The Permian–Triassic (P–T) boundary records the most dramatic events in Phanerozoic history. The character of the boundary differs greatly, so it has been the subject of great discussion. The Barents Sea separates regions having markedly different expressions of the P–T boundary, and it can give an insight into the conditions of formation of this boundary in different parts of the European North. This contribution is based on a combination of regional projects from the Russian and Norwegian sectors, including seismic data across the Barents Sea and well data in marginal zones. Application of new seismic data and the sequence stratigraphy concept provides a novel approach to correlation and interpretation of the P–T boundary beneath the Barents Sea. The study has revealed a distinct regional sequence boundary corresponding to the P–T boundary with conformable and unconformable bedding. Three major types of this stratigraphic boundary are recognized. The distinct “erosional” type of the P–T boundary, with a significantly reduced Permian section, exists in the southeast (Timan–Pechora Basin). The conformable “overcompensated” type of boundary with an additional Lower Triassic section is interpreted in the central part of the Barents Sea. Westward, beneath the Norwegian sector, a relatively conformable “condensed” type of P–T boundary predominates. In addition to these types associated with regional paleostructural and depositional trends, the superposed “structural” subtype caused by local growth of structures at the Permian–Triassic boundary is identified.

Abstract 67: Predicting colorectal patient prognoses by functional characterisation of heterogeneous cell types and their spatial interaction using a new technique: Whole slide imaging mass cytometry

Abstract Immunotherapies stimulate T cell function in the tumor microenvironment (TME). CD3+ and CD8+ T cell infiltration can predict disease recurrence in colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and has been validated as Immunoscore® (IS). The TME comprises multiple heterogeneous populations of immune cells, including T cells and cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs); CRC tumors are also morphologically diverse. Standard BioTools™ (SBI) has developed a novel whole slide Imaging Mass Cytometry™ technique that allows complete analysis of cell population heterogeneity in the TME using >40 markers. We hypothesised there are multiple heterogeneous subtypes of CAFs within CRC tumors and that they modulate T cell infiltration and patient outcome. In collaboration with SBI, we studied a cohort of CRC patients stratified based on T cell infiltrate and disease recurrence. We identified multiple CAF populations that interact with tumor-infiltrating T cell populations. Slides from 10 CRC patients with high or low CD3+CD8+ T cell infiltrate (IS) were stained with a panel encompassing markers for CAF and T cell heterogeneity, function, and metabolism. Slides were imaged using the Hyperion XTi™ Imaging System at SBI. Using a scan mode called Preview Mode, the whole slide was imaged in minutes to identify CAF and T cell phenotypic regions of interest. Next, the same slide was imaged at 1 μm resolution using Cell Mode (CM). Finally, for each sample, an additional serial section was imaged using a slightly lower resolution called Tissue Mode (TM). TM allowed us to image the samples in several hours instead of days while capturing the full heterogeneity of the entire tissue sample. We used clustering to identify phenotype clusters and neighbourhood analysis to study spatial enrichment. We also compared results between CM and TM. We report: Identification of heterogeneous CAF subtypes in CRC patients with high or low IS; determination of CAF populations that spatially interact with T cells in patients with high or low IS; and examination of consistent spatial interactions between CAF and T cells in CRC, and whether these interactions differ in patients with high or low IS. TM revealed several heterogeneous cellular populations that differed between patients with high or low IS; importantly, low IS tumors had more podoplanin+αSMA+ CAF populations and fewer podoplanin+αSMA- cell populations compared with high IS tumors. High IS tumors had more PD-1+CD8+ T cells compared with low IS tumors; these PD-1+CD8+ T cells spatially interacted with podoplanin+αSMA- CAF populations in high IS tumors. CAF-PD-1+CD8+ T cell interactions were absent from low IS tumors. Thus, CAF-PD-1+CD8+ T cell interactions are important in CRC patients with high IS, and these cellular interactions require further investigation. Citation Format: Rory M. Costello, Sonya Fenton, Helen McGuire, Liang Lim, David Howell, Qanber Raza, Jyh Yun Chwee, Roslyn Kemp. Predicting colorectal patient prognoses by functional characterisation of heterogeneous cell types and their spatial interaction using a new technique: Whole slide imaging mass cytometry [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 67.

Diagnosis and histopathological evaluation of soft drusen in patients that underwent evisceration and enucleation

Abstract Objectives: Drusen are yellow deposits between the basal lamina of the retinal pigment epithelium and the inner collagenous layer of Bruch’s membrane. Soft drusen, generally characterized by a medium to large size and poorly demarcated boundaries, increases the risk for advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The prevalence of soft drusen in histopathological sections of the macular region, obtained from enucleated and eviscerated eyes, will be correlated in this study. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective cross-sectional study performed at the MUHC-McGill University Ocular Pathology and Translational Research Laboratory (McGill University, Montreal, Canada). A total of 158 eyes were evaluated between 2011 and 2019. Of these, 50% were enucleated and 50% eviscerated eyes. Cases were divided by age in decades into both groups, eviscerated and enucleated eyes. Inclusion criteria were patients aged 50 years or older, identification by histological criteria of macular area, histopathologically preserved macular area, presence of sufficient residual tissue for additional sections, and concrete patient data. The histopathological review was performed in digitized H and E slides (ZEISS Axio Scan.Z1) to assess the presence of soft drusen. Results: The results in both groups, enucleated and eviscerated eyes, were similar, as well as the histopathological criteria used in the analysis of soft drusen. Conclusion: Prevalence of AMD in the referred population was comparable to that described in both studied groups.

A115 EVALUATING THE CONTENT AND FACE VALIDITY OF LOW-COST GEL POLYPS FOR POLYPECTOMY SKILLS TRAINING IN NOVICE ENDOSCOPISTS

Abstract Background Polypectomy is an essential endoscopic skill involving the removal of potentially premalignant lesions during colonoscopy. The ad hoc nature of polyp encounters is a significant barrier to polypectomy training, as this limits the ability to deliberately practice the skill. Effective and accessible polypectomy simulators may improve global implementation of polypectomy curricula. Aims To determine the face and content validity of a novel low-cost gel polyp simulator for use in endoscopic training programs. Methods A novel gel polyp simulator with multiple polyp morphologies based on the Paris classification was developed and used with a commercially available colonic phantom (Koken Lower GI Endoscopy Simulator Type II LM-107, Koken CO.LTD, Japan) in an endoscopy simulation-based training course (July, 2023). Feedback based on previous prototypes of the simulator were implemented into the simulator utilized in the present study. Novice (ampersand:003C25 procedures) and expert (ampersand:003E1000 procedures) endoscopists performed simulated procedures with the gel polyps. Using a five-point Likert scale (“strongly agree” to “strongly disagree”), a post-training survey based on previously published surveys used to determine the face and content validity of low-cost physical colonic simulators was administered. A section for additional comments was placed at the end of the survey. Results The face and content validity survey was completed by 3 experts and 21 novices. The median score for all face validity questions was 5 (IQR 5-5) from experts and 5 (IQR 5-5) from novices. The median score for all content validity questions was 5 (IQR 5-4) from experts and 5 (IQR 5-5) from novices. In the additional comments section of the survey, one expert commented that future iterations of the gel polyps should be made thicker so that trainees could practice using endoscopic clips. The gel polyp simulator cost $0.61 CAD/polyp including the cost of materials and 3D printed molds. Conclusions The gel polyp simulator appears to be a feasible modality for polypectomy training that is reproducible using accessible and low cost materials. Face and Content Validity Survey (questions and median survey score) Funding Agencies None

Additional damped rocking sections for enhancing seismic performance of self-centering dual rocking core systems

This paper aims to propose a novel self-centering dual rocking core system with damped multiple rocking sections (denoted as MSDRC system) for achieving enhanced seismic performance in mitigating high mode effects and responses. The configuration and desired seismic performance of the MSDRC system are introduced. The multiple rocking sections are introduced to reduce the structural member force demands caused by higher mode effects and buckling restrained braces (BRBs) are equipped in multiple rocking sections for absorbing higher mode energy. Comparative analyses set out to study the dynamic responses and highlight the benefits of the proposed MSDRC system compared to the existing self-centering dual rocking core (SDRC) and self-centering multiple rocking core (SMRC) systems. To facilitate an equitable comparison, the 9-story MSDRC, SDRC, and SMRC systems are engineered to attain identical target drift under design basis earthquakes (DBE). The analyses reveal that, in contrast to the SDRC system, the multiple rocking sections in SMRC and MSDRC systems can efficiently reduce the structural member force demands. Compared to the SMRC system, the BRBs in the multiple rocking sections in the MSDRC system can absorb sufficient energy to avoid inter-story drift concentration caused by higher mode responses under strong earthquakes. Parametric dynamic analyses are also performed to explore the influence of the capacity of BRBs on the dynamic nonlinear behaviors of the developed MSDRC system. The analysis results provide design recommendations for the design of BRBs in the rocking sections.