Jahreszeitliche Schwankungen und Einfluss der Ernährung auf die makuläre Pigmentdichte

Zusammenfassung: Hintergrund: Wir haben gezeigt, dass die makuläre Pigmentdichte (MPD) mit einem modifizierten konfokalen Scanning-Laser-Ophthalmoskop (HRA, Fa. Heidelberg Engineering, Heidelberg, Deutschland) bestimmt werden kann. In dieser Studie untersuchten wir, ob Schwankungen der MPD bei gesunden Probanden im Verlauf eines Jahres auftraten und ob die MPD von wechselnden Ernährungsgewohnheiten abhängig ist. Methode: Die MPD wurde mithilfe von Autofluoreszenzbildern, die mit einem HRA aufgenommen wurden, dargestellt und in einem auf die Fovea zentrierten Messfeld von 2° Durchmesser bei den Probanden im Abstand von 2Monaten innerhalb eines Jahres bestimmt. Ergebnisse: Wir schlossen 30 gesunde Probanden im Alter von 19-34Jahren (Mittel: 23±2Jahre) in die Studie ein. Die mittlere MPD war an Untersuchungszeitpunkt1 0,215±0,056D.U., bei der 2.Untersuchung 0,235±0,051D.U., bei der 3. 0,218±0,055D.U., an Untersuchungszeitpunkt4 0,228±057D.U., bei der 5.Untersuchung 0,225±0,053D.U. und bei der letzten 0,203±0,050D.U.. Die statistische Analyse zeigte keine signifikanten Unterschiede der MPD im Verlauf eines Jahres. Zusammenfassung: Die Studie zeigt, dass bei jungen und gesunden Probanden die MPD keinen jahreszeitlichen und diätetischen Schwankungen unterlieg

Bouncing ball orbits and symmetry breaking effects in a three-dimensional chaotic billiard

We study the classical and quantum mechanics of a three-dimensional stadium billiard. It consists of two quarter cylinders that are rotated with respect to each other by 90 degrees, and it is classically chaotic. The billiard exhibits only a few families of nongeneric periodic orbits. We introduce an analytic method for their treatment. The length spectrum can be understood in terms of the nongeneric and unstable periodic orbits. For unequal radii of the quarter cylinders the level statistics agree well with predictions from random matrix theory. For equal radii the billiard exhibits an additional symmetry. We investigated the effects of symmetry breaking on spectral properties. Moreover, for equal radii, we observe a small deviation of the level statistics from random matrix theory. This led to the discovery of stable and marginally stable orbits, which are absent for un equal radii.Comment: 11 pages, 10 eps figure

CFH, C3 and ARMS2 Are Significant Risk Loci for Susceptibility but Not for Disease Progression of Geographic Atrophy Due to AMD

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a prevalent cause of blindness in Western societies. Variants in the genes encoding complement factor H (CFH), complement component 3 (C3) and age-related maculopathy susceptibility 2 (ARMS2) have repeatedly been shown to confer significant risks for AMD; however, their role in disease progression and thus their potential relevance for interventional therapeutic approaches remains unknown. Here, we analyzed association between variants in CFH, C3 and ARMS2 and disease progression of geographic atrophy (GA) due to AMD. A quantitative phenotype of disease progression was computed based on longitudinal observations by fundus autofluorescence imaging. In a subset of 99 cases with pure bilateral GA, variants in CFH (Y402H), C3 (R102G), and ARMS2 (A69S) are associated with disease (P = 1.6x10(-9), 3.2x10(-3), and P = 2.6x10(-12), respectively) when compared to 612 unrelated healthy control individuals. In cases, median progression rate of GA over a mean follow-up period of 3.0 years was 1.61 mm(2)/year with high concordance between fellow eyes. No association between the progression rate and any of the genetic risk variants at the three loci was observed (P>0.13). This study confirms that variants at CFH, C3, and ARMS2 confer significant risks for GA due to AMD. In contrast, our data indicate no association of these variants with disease progression which may have important implications for future treatment strategies. Other, as yet unknown susceptibilities may influence disease progression