A higher intake of omega-3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LCPUFA) and fish is associated with decreased likelihood of having neovascular (NV) age-related macular degeneration (AMD), according to a study by the Age-Related Eye Disease Study (AREDS) Research Group Coordinating Center.

A total of 4,519 AREDS participants aged 60 to 80 years at enrollment provided estimates of habitual nutrient intake through a self-administered semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Investigators used stereoscopic color fundus photographs to categorize participants into four AMD severity groups and a control group (participants with less than 15 small drusen).

Results showed that, after adjustment for total energy intake and covariates and comparing highest vs. lowest quintile of intake, dietary total omega-3 LCPUFA intake was inversely associated with NV AMD, as was docosahexaenoic acid, a retinal omega-3 LCPUFA. Higher fish consumption, both total and broiled/baked, was also inversely associated with NV AMD. Dietary arachidonic acid was directly associated with NV AMD prevalence. No statistically significant relationships existed for the other lipids or AMD groups.

Digital infrared thermal imaging (DITI) has been used to monitor the temperature distribution of human skin. Patients with Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO) are treated with immunosuppressive agents if the ophthalmopathy is at an inflammatory state. Scientists at the National Taiwan University, Taipei, conducted a study on the feasibility of DITI in determining inflammatory state and follow-up effect of methylprednisolone pulse therapy in patients with Graves'.

Investigators used DITI to measure local temperatures of lateral orbit (reference point), upper eyelid, caruncle, medial conjunctiva, lateral conjunctiva, lower eyelid and cornea and to make thermal density plots in 14 patients (28 eyes) with Graves' who had inflammatory signs (mean clinical activity score 2.5) and in 16 normal controls (32 eyes). They also performed methylprednisolone pulse therapy in 11 patients (22 eyes) with active Graves', and they measured clinical activity score and local temperatures before and after treatment. They then analyzed the focal change in temperature after treatment and the correlation between temperature variation and change in clinical activity score. Thermal density plots were also compared.

Local temperatures of the caruncle, medial conjunctiva, lateral conjunctiva and lower eyelid of the patients were significantly higher than those of normal controls. In the 11 Graves' patients treated with methylprednisolone pulse therapy, the temperatures of the caruncle, medial conjunctiva and lower eyelid were significantly lower after treatment. Temperature variation significantly and positively correlated with a change in clinical activity score. The temperature decreased after treatment in patients who were responsive to methylprednisolone pulse therapy, and the thermal density plot was close to that of normal controls.

The authors of the study believe that DITI might be helpful in evaluating the inflammatory state of Graves' and the follow-up effect of methylprednisolone pulse therapy.