Neovascularization detection in diabetic retinopathy from fluorescein angiograms.

Although a lot of work has been done on optical coherence tomography and color images in order to detect and quantify diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, exudates, or neovascularizations, none of them is able to evaluate the diffusion of the neovascularizations in retinas. Our work has been to develop a tool that is able to quantify a neovascularization and the fluorescein leakage during an angiography. The proposed method has been developed following a clinical trial protocol; images are taken by a Spectralis (Heidelberg Engineering).

Regulation of plasma testosterone, corticosterone, and metabolites in response to stress, reproductive stage, and social challenges in a desert male songbird.

In many male vertebrates, the secretion of reproductive (gonadal androgens) and adrenocortical (glucocorticoids) hormones varies seasonally and in response to environmental stimuli, and these hormones exert numerous behavioral and metabolic effects. We performed two field studies on adult male Rufous-winged Sparrows, Peucaea carpalis, a Sonoran Desert rain-dependent sedentary species, to (a) determine seasonal changes in initial (baseline) and acute stress-induced plasma testosterone (T), corticosterone (CORT), and two metabolites (uric acid and glucose) and (b) compare the effects of two types of social challenge (song playback or simulated territorial intrusion consisting of song playback plus exposure to a live decoy bird) on plasma T, CORT, these metabolites, and territorial behavior. Initial plasma T was higher during the summer breeding period than during post-breeding molt.