Correlation between Macular Neovascularization (MNV) Type and Druse Type in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Based on the CONAN Classification

To investigate associations and predictive factors between macular neovascularization (MNV) lesion variants and drusen types in patients with treatment-naïve neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: Multimodal imaging was retrospectively reviewed for druse type (soft drusen, subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDDs) or mixed) and MNV type (MNV 1, MNV 2, MNV 1/2 or MNV 3). The Consensus on Neovascular AMD Nomenclature (CONAN) classification was used for characterizing MNV at baseline. Results: One eye of each eligible patient was included (n = 191). Patients with predominant SDDs had an increased adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for MNV 2 (23.4453, p = 0.0025) and any type of MNV 3 (8.7374, p < 0.0001). Patients with MNV 1/2 had an aOR for predominant SDDs (0.3284, p = 0.0084). Patients with MNV1 showed an aOR for SDDs (0.0357, p < 0.0001). Eyes with SDDs only without other drusen types showed an aOR for MNV 2 (9.2945, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: SDDs represent a common phenotypic characteristic in AMD eyes with treatment-naïve MNV. The aOR for eyes with predominant SDDs to develop MNV 2 and MNV 3 was much higher, possibly due to their location in the subretinal space. The predominant druse type may help to predict which type of MNV will develop during the course of AMD

Star clusters near and far; tracing star formation across cosmic time

© 2020 Springer-Verlag. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-020-00690-x.Star clusters are fundamental units of stellar feedback and unique tracers of their host galactic properties. In this review, we will first focus on their constituents, i.e.\ detailed insight into their stellar populations and their surrounding ionised, warm, neutral, and molecular gas. We, then, move beyond the Local Group to review star cluster populations at various evolutionary stages, and in diverse galactic environmental conditions accessible in the local Universe. At high redshift, where conditions for cluster formation and evolution are more extreme, we are only able to observe the integrated light of a handful of objects that we believe will become globular clusters. We therefore discuss how numerical and analytical methods, informed by the observed properties of cluster populations in the local Universe, are used to develop sophisticated simulations potentially capable of disentangling the genetic map of galaxy formation and assembly that is carried by globular cluster populations.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

7th Drug hypersensitivity meeting: part two

No abstract availabl

The ERA5 Extreme Seasons Explorer as a Basis for Research at the Weather and Climate Interface

Meteorological extremes on the seasonal time scale have received increased attention due to their relevance for society and economy. A recently developed approach to identify seasonal extremes is applied here to ERA5 reanalyses from 1950 to 2020 to identify hot and cold, wet and dry, and stormy and calm extreme seasons globally. The approach consists of (i) fitting a statistical model to seasonal mean values (of temperature, precipitation, and wind speed) at each grid point, (ii) selecting a local return period threshold above which seasonal mean values are deemed extreme, and (iii) forming spatially coherent extreme season objects. The paper introduces the ERA5 extreme season explorer, an open-access web portal enabling researchers to visualize and download ex-treme season objects of any of the six types in their region of interest, for further investigating their underlying dynamics, statistical properties, and impacts. To illustrate the potential of our extreme season objects, we first discuss the top 10 cold winters in ERA5 globally and then focus on an unusual triple-compound extreme season in winter 1953/54 in Europe, which was simultaneously extremely cold, dry, and calm. We show that detailed analysis of weather system dynamics, includ-ing cyclones, blocks, jets, and Rossby waves, provides important insight into the processes leading to extreme seasons. In summary, this study presents for the first time a catalogue of objectively identified extreme seasons in the last decades, shows exemplarily how large-scale dynamics can lead to such seasons, and with the help of the explorer supports the community in accelerating research in this important area at the interface of weather and climate dynamics.ISSN:0003-0007ISSN:1520-047

Some years ago, and some years to go : fastening technology in the Institute of Structural Engineering

On the occasion of Konrad Bergmeister's 20th anniversary of academic activity in the Institute of Structural Engineering, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, the authors are happy to give a narration of the past and a wish for the future: to present the developments and innovations carried out by the team of fastening technology so far, and a preview of the future work anticipated. Since the last few years, particular investigations on the behaviour of connections to concrete under various design situations have been carried out in the Institute of Structural Engineering of the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences (BOKU) - Vienna from the respective research group headed by Professor Konrad Bergmeister. Objective of the present paper is the review of the state-of-knowledge and the normative framework with regard to the response of fastenings under axial, shear and oblique loads, seismic excitation and long-term loading. The authors are excited to see the future of this research within the very promising recently established Christian Doppler Laboratory "Life-cycle robustness in fastening technology" (LiCRoFasT), and an outlook to the objectives of this research project is also presented herein

Superviser un-e étudiant-e au cabinet du médecin généraliste, quels enjeux?

Résumé pour la pratique : Il est nécessaire pour tous nos instituts de considérer le développement des compétences pédagogiques des cliniciens enseignants dans une perspective longitudinale de professionnalisation et de développement des pratiques, en s’appuyant sur les cadres conceptuels qui définissent ces bonnes pratiques

Correlation between Macular Neovascularization (MNV) Type and Druse Type in Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Based on the CONAN Classification

To investigate associations and predictive factors between macular neovascularization (MNV) lesion variants and drusen types in patients with treatment-na&iuml;ve neovascular age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Methods: Multimodal imaging was retrospectively reviewed for druse type (soft drusen, subretinal drusenoid deposits (SDDs) or mixed) and MNV type (MNV 1, MNV 2, MNV 1/2 or MNV 3). The Consensus on Neovascular AMD Nomenclature (CONAN) classification was used for characterizing MNV at baseline. Results: One eye of each eligible patient was included (n = 191). Patients with predominant SDDs had an increased adjusted odds ratio (aOR) for MNV 2 (23.4453, p = 0.0025) and any type of MNV 3 (8.7374, p &lt; 0.0001). Patients with MNV 1/2 had an aOR for predominant SDDs (0.3284, p = 0.0084). Patients with MNV1 showed an aOR for SDDs (0.0357, p &lt; 0.0001). Eyes with SDDs only without other drusen types showed an aOR for MNV 2 (9.2945, p &lt; 0.0001). Conclusions: SDDs represent a common phenotypic characteristic in AMD eyes with treatment-na&iuml;ve MNV. The aOR for eyes with predominant SDDs to develop MNV 2 and MNV 3 was much higher, possibly due to their location in the subretinal space. The predominant druse type may help to predict which type of MNV will develop during the course of AMD

Farnesoid X receptor activation by bile acids suppresses lipid peroxidation and ferroptosis

Abstract Ferroptosis is a regulated cell death modality that occurs upon iron-dependent lipid peroxidation. Recent research has identified many regulators that induce or inhibit ferroptosis; yet, many regulatory processes and networks remain to be elucidated. In this study, we performed a chemical genetics screen using small molecules with known mode of action and identified two agonists of the nuclear receptor Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR) that suppress ferroptosis, but not apoptosis or necroptosis. We demonstrate that in liver cells with high FXR levels, knockout or inhibition of FXR sensitized cells to ferroptotic cell death, whereas activation of FXR by bile acids inhibited ferroptosis. Furthermore, FXR inhibited ferroptosis in ex vivo mouse hepatocytes and human hepatocytes differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells. Activation of FXR significantly reduced lipid peroxidation by upregulating the ferroptosis gatekeepers GPX4, FSP1, PPARα, SCD1, and ACSL3. Together, we report that FXR coordinates the expression of ferroptosis-inhibitory regulators to reduce lipid peroxidation, thereby acting as a guardian of ferroptosis