Autophagy of iron-binding proteins may contribute to the oxidative stress resistance of ARPE-19 cells.

The objective of this study was to elucidate possible reasons for the remarkable resistance of human retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells to oxidative stress. Much oxidative damage is due to hydrogen peroxide meeting redox-active iron in the acidic and reducing lysosomal environment, resulting in the production of toxic hydroxyl radicals that may oxidize intralysosomal content, leading to lipofuscin (LF) formation or, if more extensive, to permeabilization of lysosomal membranes. Formation of LF is a risk factor for age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and known to jeopardize normal autophagic rejuvenation of vital cellular biomolecules.

Best vitelliform macular dystrophy in a Swedish family: genetic analysis and a seven-year follow-up of photodynamic treatment of a young boy with choroidal neovascularization.

Purpose: To determine the mutation in a Swedish family with Best disease (vitelliform macular dystrophy; VMD) and to investigate the short- and long-term effects of photodynamic treatment (PDT) on subretinal neovascularization in a young boy.

Methods: The five members of three generations of a family with VMD underwent a thorough ophthalmological examination, including best-corrected visual acuity (VA), visual field, colour vision, biomicroscopy of the posterior segment (dilated), fundus photography and electro-oculography (EOG). For the proband, an eleven-year-old boy, his father and grandfather, dark adaptation test, angiography and electroretinography (ERG) were also performed.

A three-year follow-up of ranibizumab treatment of exudative AMD: impact on the outcome of carrying forward the last acuity observation in drop-outs.

Purpose: To analyse a 3-year clinical patient cohort of ranibizumab treatment of exudative age-related macular degeneration (AMD), to investigate the impact on visual outcome of carrying forward the last acuity observation in drop-outs and to explore possible differences between the early and the late phase of the study.

Methods: A retrospective study of 312 eyes with neovascular AMD. The patients were followed up monthly, received three initial monthly injections of 0.

What does the commonly used DCF test for oxidative stress really show?

H(2)DCF-DA (dihydrodichlorofluorescein diacetate) is widely used to evaluate 'cellular oxidative stress'. After passing through the plasma membrane, this lipophilic and non-fluorescent compound is de-esterified to a hydrophilic alcohol [H(2)DCF (dihydrodichlorofluorescein)] that may be oxidized to fluorescent DCF (2',7'-dichlorofluorescein) by a process usually considered to involve ROS (reactive oxygen species). It is, however, not always recognized that, being a hydrophilic molecule, H(2)DCF does not cross membranes, except for the outer fenestrated mitochondrial ones.

"As long as I'm in good health". The relationship between medical diagnoses and life satisfaction in the oldest-old.

Background And Aims: Life satisfaction in the elderly has usually been found to be closely related to self-rated health, and less to diagnoses and more objective measures of health status. However, few studies have examined the relative importance of various specific diagnoses in population-based samples.

Methods: In this study, we investigate the relationship between life satisfaction and medical diagnoses in a non-demented sample of 392 participants aged 80 and older.

Relationship between serum progesterone concentrations and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mortality in elderly Swedish men and women: An 8-year prospective study.

Background: The use of synthetic progesterone-like substances in hormone replacement therapy and birth control pills has been associated with increases in cardiovascular morbidity and the prevalence of diabetes.

Objectives: The primary aims of this study were to investigate whether physiologic concentrations of progesterone might also be associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and to explore potential gender differences in these associations in elderly Swedish men and women.

Methods: This prospective, longitudinal study was performed in a Swedish population-based sample of opposite-sex twins aged between 71 and 80 years who were not receiving sex hormone therapy.

Significant improvements in near vision, reading speed, central visual field and related quality of life after ranibizumab treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To investigate the effects on near visual acuity, reading speed, central visual field and related quality of life of ranibizumab treatment of wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

Methods: The study was a prospective, non-comparative consecutive case series, followed for 3 months and investigator-driven. Thirty eyes of 30 patients with wet AMD were included, mean age 75 years (range 69-95 years).

Interrelations and associations of serum levels of steroids and pituitary hormones with markers of insulin resistance, inflammatory activity, and renal function in men and women aged >70 years in an 8-year longitudinal study of opposite-sex twins.

Background: The physiological serum levels of steroids and pituitary hormones in older men and women have been sparsely reported in the literature.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate the normal variation and sex differences in steroids and pituitary hormones in those aged >70 years, and to study the interrelation between these hormones and indicators of the metabolic syndrome, inflammatory activity, and renal function.

Methods: The investigation comprised a population-based sample of pairs of white opposite-sex twins from the Swedish Twin Registry.

Heritabilities for fifteen routine biochemical values: findings in 215 Swedish twin pairs 82 years of age or older.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to calculate the overall heritability of some routine biochemical analyses. Furthermore, as genetic and environmental influences might differ across various segments, genetic impact in the highest and lowest thirds of the distributions was estimated.

Methods: Ninety-six monozygotic and 120 dizygotic same-sex twin pairs aged 82 and older were tested.

ARPE-19 retinal pigment epithelial cells are highly resistant to oxidative stress and exercise strict control over their lysosomal redox-active iron.

Normal retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells are postmitotic, long-lived and basically not replaced. Daily, they phagocytose substantial amounts of lipid-rich material (photoreceptor outer segment discs), and they do so in the most oxygenated part of the body-the retina. One would imagine that this state of affairs should be associated with a rapid formation of the age pigment lipofuscin (LF).

Prophylactic laser treatment of soft drusen maculopathy: a prospective, randomized Nordic study.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate whether mild laser treatment of soft drusen maculopathy might reduce the incidence of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) and/or significantly reduce loss of visual acuity compared with outcomes in a control group.

Methods:  A total of 135 patients (mean age 70.4 years) were randomized into a treatment group of 67 subjects and a control group of 68 subjects.

The immune risk profile is associated with age and gender: findings from three Swedish population studies of individuals 20-100 years of age.

Earlier we identified an Immune Risk Profile (IRP) of very old individuals, 86-94 years of age, characterised by an inverted CD4/CD8 ratio and associated with persistent cytomegalovirus infection and an increase in the numbers of CD3+CD8+CD28- cells. In the present study we included data from a population-based sample in the age range of 20-79 years to examine the prevalence of individuals with an inverted CD4/CD8 ratio relative to age and gender across the entire adult lifespan. Immunological monitoring that was conducted included analysis of the numbers of T-cells in the subsets CD3+, CD3+CD4+, and CD3+CD8+ as well as CD3+CD8+CD28+, CD3+CD8+CD28-, and CD8+CD45RA+CCR7+.

Identification of dementia in epidemiological research: a study on the usefulness of various data sources.

Background And Aims: Prevalence and incidence ratios of dementia in epidemiological studies vary according to the data source used. Medical records, cognitive tests, and registry information are sources frequently used to differentiate dementia from normal aging. The aim of the present study was to compare the identification of dementia from these different sources with that from consensus diagnosis.

The superior retina performs better than the inferior retina when reading with eccentric viewing: a comparison in normal volunteers.

Purpose: Patients with an absolute central scotoma, such as in age-related macular degeneration, need to use eccentric viewing for reading. In the present study, we investigated whether there are differences in reading performance between the superior and inferior retina.

Methods: Twelve volunteers with normal vision, aged 25-58 years and able to maintain stable eccentric viewing, were studied in a scanning laser ophthalmoscope while reading a line of text, 6 degrees above or below a fixation line (series A).

Low systolic blood pressure is associated with impaired cognitive function in the oldest old: longitudinal observations in a population-based sample 80 years and older.

Background And Aims: The primary aim of the present study was to examine whether there is an association between blood pressure and the risk of subsequent cognitive decline in the oldest old. Various factors associated with blood pressure and cognitive function were considered.

Methods: The study comprised 599 individuals of a population-based sample, 199 men (mean age at baseline 82.

From basic to clinical research: a journey with the retina, the retinal pigment epithelium, the cornea, age-related macular degeneration and hereditary degenerations, as seen in the rear view mirror.

Purpose: This Acta Ophthalmologica Award and Gold Medal Honorary Lecture (the Lundsgaard Gold Medal Honorary Lecture) reviews some of the work I have carried out with my mentors and many of my wonderful collaborators and research students over more than 40 years, also including related work by other groups. It concentrates on the basic electrophysiology and ultrastructure of the retina and the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE), as well as covering basic and clinical aspects of the cornea, contact lenses, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and hereditary diseases.

Methods: The review describes research performed using light and electron microscopy, basic and clinical electrophysiology, genetics and biochemistry in animal experiments and in research on patients.

[Gradually improved long-term survival in diabetes. Long disease duration can provide information about protective possibilities].

Studies on patients with long-term diabetes survival without severe complications can give information about protective factors. Therefore, the present study aims to describe the long-term survival of patients with diabetes during successive periods following the introduction of insulin therapy in 1923. After registration in 1973 of the first local diabetic patient in Jönköping with a fifty-year survival, this group has successively increased.

Encouraging results of photodynamic therapy with Visudyne in a clinical patient material of age-related macular degeneration.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of photodynamic therapy (PDT) on subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) in age-related macular degeneration (AMD) in a Swedish patient material with smaller lesions than those investigated in the TAP (Treatment of Age-related Macular Degeneration with Photodynamic Therapy) and VIP (Verteporfin in Photodynamic Therapy) Studies.

Methods: Photodynamic therapy with verteporfin was performed according to the results and recommendations of the TAP and VIP Studies. The patients were followed up for 12 months and retreatment was performed every 12 weeks when leakage from CNV was present.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus contributes to cognitive decline in old age: a longitudinal population-based study.

We examined change in neuropsychological test performance related to type 2 diabetes mellitus across a 6-year interval. A population-based sample of 274 elderly participants (36 with diabetes and 238 without diabetes) was examined at four occasions at a 2-year interval. The participants were 80-93 years of age (M = 82.

Comorbid type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension exacerbates cognitive decline: evidence from a longitudinal study.

Background: diabetes and hypertension are two highly prevalent diseases in the old population. They are highly related such that comorbidity is common.

Objectives: to examine (i) the independent impact of the respective diseases on cognitive decline in very old age and (ii) the interactive impact of the two diseases on cognitive decline.

Laxative treatment elevates plasma homocysteine: a study on a population-based Swedish sample of old people.

Objectives: Elevated plasma homocysteine might indicate an increased risk of cancer, and cardiovascular and neurological diseases. The homocysteine level depends on the supply of folate and cobalamine, and constipation and/or laxative treatment might compromise this supply. The present study examined the impact of constipation and laxative treatment on the blood levels of homocysteine, folate and cobalamine in a population-based sample of aged people, including consideration of frailty and impaired renal function, both of which may also influence the homocysteine level.

Does aspirin protect against Alzheimer's dementia? A study in a Swedish population-based sample aged > or =80 years.

Objective: It has been reported that aspirin and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) may protect against dementia of Alzheimer's type and/or vascular dementia. However, co-morbidity and the dose of aspirin may be critical. A major indication for low-dose aspirin is prophylaxis after stroke and transient ischaemic attacks, conditions that may obscure an anti-dementia effect by the drug.