Abnormalities in the thickness of the retinal ganglion cell / inner plexiform layer in age-related macular degeneration

© 2020, Serbia Medical Society. All rights reserved. Introduction/Objective The study aims to analyze the thickness of both the ganglion cell layer and the inner plexiform layer (GCL + IPL) among patients suffering from dry and wet form of age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods One hundred ninety-five patients with AMD participated in the study, along with 94 healthy individuals (mean age 75.2 ± 7.8 years; range 55–86). They were divided into three groups: the first group, or group I, included 100 patients suffering from wet AMD; the second group, or group II, included 95 patients afflicted with dry AMD; the final 94 patients made up the control group, group III, of healthy individuals without systemic or ocular diseases. Measurements such as the average macular thickness, the average and minimum GCL + IPL thickness, and the GCL + IPL thickness in all six sectors were obtained by Cirrus spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT, Carl Zeiss Meditec, Inc., Dublin, CA, USA). SPSS version 20.0 was used to analyze the data, while the level of statistical significance was set at p < 0.05. Results In the case of patients with wet AMD, the average value for GCL + IPL thickness was 43.13 μm, for patients with dry AMD the value was 66.73 μm, and the average thickness measured for the control group was 86.23 μm. There was a statistically significant difference between the average GCL + IPL and minimum GCL + IPL thicknesses between the groups (p < 0.001). Lower values were noted for patients with wet AMD (p < 0.001) than those with dry AMD. In the latter, the average GCL + IPL and the minimum GCL + IPL thicknesses were lower than those of the healthy participants, at a level of statistical significance (p < 0.001). Conclusion Participants with AMD exhibited thinner GCL + IPL than the healthy participants, as did the participants with wet AMD when compared to the participants with dry AMD

Development of collisional data base for elementary processes of electron scattering by atoms and molecules

We present a progress report on the development of the Belgrade electron/molecule data base which is hosted by The Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade and The Astronomical Observatory Belgrade. The data base has been developed under the standards of Virtual Atomic Molecular Data Centre (VAMDC) project which provides a common portal for several European data bases that maintain atomic and molecular data. The Belgrade data base (BEAMDB) covers collisional data of electron interactions with atoms and molecules in the form of differential (DCS) and integrated cross sections as well as energy loss spectra. The final goal of BEAMDB becoming both a node within the VAMDC consortium and within the radiation damage RADAM data base has been achieved

Plasma Parameters From Quasi-Thermal Noise Observed by Parker Solar Probe: A New Model for the Antenna Response

International audienceQuasi-Thermal Noise (QTN) spectroscopy is a reliable diagnostic routinely used for measuring electron density and temperature in space plasmas. The observed spectrum depends on both antenna geometry and plasma kinetic properties. Parker solar probe (PSP), launched in 2018, is equipped with an antenna system consisting of two linear dipoles with a significant gap between the antenna arms. Such a configuration, not utilized on previous missions, cannot be completely described by current models of the antenna response function. In this work, we calculate the current distribution and the corresponding response function for the PSP antenna geometry, and use these results to generate synthetic QTN spectra. Applying this model to the Encounter 7 observations from PSP provides accurate estimations of electron density and temperature, which are in very good agreement with particle analyzer measurements

Severe bleeding complications and multiple kidney transplants in a patient with tuberous sclerosis complex caused by a novel TSC2 missense variant

We presented an extremely severe case of tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) in a female patient with recurring, lifethreatening bleeding complications related to renal angiomyolipomas. Massive intratumoral hemorrhage requir