ABSTRACT
Epidemiological studies demonstrate a prevalence of Adamantiades-Behçets disease (MAB) in the range of 0.12-420 per 100,000 inhabitants with the highest rates in Istanbul, Turkey and the lowest rates in the USA. Ophthalmological data on the prevalence of ocular involvement are limited for MAB in Germany because most epidemiological studies are based on rheumatological or dermatological data. Berlin is the city with the highest number of non-native German inhabitants and its multiethnic character renders it uniquely appropriate for epidemiological studies on MAB. This article summarizes the most important epidemiological data of 140 patients (63 female and 77 male) with a mean follow-up of 6.4 years (range 0.5-22 years) which we have recently published. The mean age was 23 years at the first manifestation and 32 years when the fully developed disease was recorded. The mean age at onset of ocular involvement was 30 years, 56% of patients developed ocular involvement, which was the first manifestation in 8.6% and the second manifestation in 19.3%. More than half the patients developed ocular involvement. The calculated prevalence of ocular involvement in MAB is 1.77/100,000 inhabitants for the population of Berlin.
Subject(s)
Behcet Syndrome/epidemiology , Eye Diseases/epidemiology , Adolescent , Child , Child, Preschool , Comorbidity , Female , Germany/epidemiology , Humans , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Prevalence , Risk Factors , Young AdultABSTRACT
PURPOSE: To evaluate the association of HLA-B51 and ocular involvement in Adamantiades-Behçet's disease. METHODS: We retrospectively analysed all patients with Adamantiades-Behçet's disease examined in our Department of Ophthalmology since 1982. All patients fulfilled the criteria of the International Study Group for Behçet's disease. We included 140 patients (63 female and 77 male) with a mean follow-up of 6.4 years. RESULTS: The mean age at the first manifestation was 23 years; full disease was noted at 32 years. The mean age at the time of eye involvement was 30 years. Most of the patients were of Turkish (n=73) or German (n=34) origin. A total of 56% patients developed eye involvement. Forty-nine out of 76 HLA-B51-positive patients (64.5%) and 26 out of 60 HLA-B51-negative patients (43.3%; P=0.014) developed ocular involvement. CONCLUSION: More than the half of the patients with Adamantiades-Behçet's disease evaluated in our department developed ocular involvement. There was a statistically significantly higher frequency of HLA-B51 in these patients.
Subject(s)
Behcet Syndrome/genetics , Eye Diseases/genetics , HLA-B Antigens , Adolescent , Adult , Behcet Syndrome/complications , Child , Child, Preschool , Eye Diseases/etiology , Female , Genetic Predisposition to Disease , HLA-B51 Antigen , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Retrospective Studies , Young AdultABSTRACT
The function of DNA during oxidative stress and its suitability as a potential building block for molecular devices depend on long-distance transfer of electrons and holes through the molecule, yet many conflicting measurements of the efficiency of this process have been reported. It is accepted that charges are transported over long distances through a multistep hopping reaction; this 'G-hopping' involves positive charges moving between guanines (Gs), the DNA bases with the lowest ionization potential. But the mechanism fails to explain the persistence of efficient charge transfer when the guanine sites are distant, where transfer rates do not, as expected, decrease rapidly with transfer distance. Here we show experimentally that the rate of charge transfer between two guanine bases decreases with increasing separation only if the guanines are separated by no more than three base pairs; if more bridging base pairs are present, the transfer rates exhibit only a weak distance dependence. We attribute this distinct change in the distance dependence of the rate of charge transfer through DNA to a shift from coherent superexchange charge transfer (tunnelling) at short distances to a process mediated by thermally induced hopping of charges between adenine bases (A-hopping) at long distances. Our results confirm theoretical predictions of this behaviour, emphasizing that seemingly contradictory observations of a strong as well as a weak influence of distance on DNA charge transfer are readily explained by a change in the transfer mechanism.
