Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Western Australia, 2007.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [95]-111).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 2005. / [School of Medicine] Department of Pharmacology. Includes bibliographical references. Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 91-102).

Thesis (M.S.)--Worcester Polytechnic Institute. / Keywords: Diabetes; imaging; phosphorescence; retina. Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-70).

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 119-154).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (University of Texas Digital Repository, viewed on Sept. 9, 2009). Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Changes in retinal structure are related to different eye diseases. Various retinal imaging techniques, such as fundus imaging and optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging modalities, have been developed for non-intrusive ophthalmology diagnoses according to the vasculature changes. However, it is time consuming or even impossible for ophthalmologists to manually label all the retinal structures from fundus images and OCT images. Therefore, computer aided diagnosis system for retinal imaging plays an important role in the assessment of ophthalmologic diseases and cardiovascular disorders. The aim of this PhD thesis is to develop segmentation methods to extract clinically useful information from these retinal images, which are acquired from different imaging modalities. In other words, we built the segmentation methods to extract important structures from both 2D fundus images and 3D OCT images. In the first part of my PhD project, two novel level set based methods were proposed for detecting the blood vessels and optic discs from fundus images. The first one integrates Chan-Vese's energy minimizing active contour method with the edge constraint term and Gaussian Mixture Model based term for blood vessels segmentation, while the second method combines the edge constraint term, the distance regularisation term and the shape-prior term for locating the optic disc. Both methods include the pre-processing stage, used for removing noise and enhancing the contrast between the object and the background. Three automated layer segmentation methods were built for segmenting intra-retinal layers from 3D OCT macular and optic nerve head images in the second part of my PhD project. The first two methods combine different methods according to the data characteristics. First, eight boundaries of the intra-retinal layers were detected from the 3D OCT macular images and the thickness maps of the seven layers were produced. Second, four boundaries of the intra-retinal layers were located from 3D optic nerve head images and the thickness maps of the Retinal Nerve Fiber Layer (RNFL) were plotted. Finally, the choroidal layer segmentation method based on the Level Set framework was designed, which embedded with the distance regularisation term, edge constraint term and Markov Random Field modelled region term. The thickness map of the choroidal layer was calculated and shown.

Les compléments alimentaires à visée oculaire qui envahissent le marché, contiennent dans la majorité des cas des oméga 3, des vitamines, des oligoéléments auxquels sont associés d’autres molécules connues pour leurs propriétés anti-inflammatoires et/ou anti-oxydantes. Néanmoins, à notre connaissance il n’existait pas d’étude portant sur les formes finalisées complexes de ces compléments. Notre projet a donc pour objectif d’évaluer et de caractériser in-vivo et in-vitro l’effet protecteur sur les cellules rétiniennes d’une supplémentation alimentaire à visée oculaire commercialisée en France et en Tunisie. Ce supplément contient des oméga 3, des caroténoïdes, des vitamines, des oligoéléments et du résvératrol. In-vivo, nous avons utilisé un modèle de dégénérescence rétinienne progressive induite par la lumière et in-vitro un modèle de mort des cellules d’épithélium pigmentaire rétinien (ARPE-19) induite par le peroxyde d’hydrogène (H2O2 ).Dans une première étape nous avons mis en évidence que le complément alimentaire protège la fonction (électrorétinographie, ERG) et la structure (histologie et comptage de cellules apoptotiques) de la rétine contre les lésions induites par la lumière et protège lescellules ARPE-19 contre le stress oxydant induit par le H2O2 (MTT). Dans une deuxième étape, nous avons montré qu’une semaine de supplémentation entraîne une modification du contenu en acides gras dans le plasma et les rétines in-vivo, et dans les cellules ARPE919 in-vitro, caractérisée par une augmentation des taux d’EPA et DPA, deux précurseurs de DHA(HPLC). In-vivo, ni la quantité (spectromètre) ni la vitesse de régénération de la rhodopsine (ERG) ne sont affectées. Au cours de l’exposition à la lumière, l’expression des cytokines (milliplex) est orientée vers un profil anti-inflammatoire et l’expression génique (qPCR) d’iPLA2, PPAR-α, Caspase-12 est maintenue élevée tout au long de l’exposition à la lumière cyclique intense chez les animaux supplémentés. En conclusion, nous avons émis l’hypothèse que l’accumulation préférentielle des acides gras polyinsaturés à longue chaine (EPA et DPA) participe à l’effet protecteur du complément alimentaire en permettant 1/ un renouvellement facilité du DHA rétinien et 2/ ainsi le maintien de l’activité d’iPLA 2. Le DHA libéré des membranes activerait les voies de signalisation anti-inflammatoire et anti-oxydante par l’intermédiaire du récepteur nucléaire PPAR-α. / Dietary supplement for ocular purpose have exploded on the market. In most cases, they contain omega 3, vitamins and trace elements associated with molecules known for their anti-inflammatory and/or anti-oxidant proprieties. However, to our knowledge no studies had evaluated dietary supplements on their finalized complex formulation. In this context, the aim of our project was to evaluate and characterize in-vivo and in-vitro the protective effect on retinal cells of a dietary supplement for ocular purpose marketed in France and Tunisia. This dietary supplement contains omega 3, vitamins, trace elements, carotenoids and resveratrol. Therefore, we have used,an in-vivo experimental model of progressive light-induced retinal damage and an in-vitro model of hydrogen peroxide(H2O2 )-induced retinal pigment cells (ARPE-19) death. First, we have demonstrated that the dietary supplement prevented retinal function (electroretinography, ERG) and structure (histology and detection of apoptotic nuclei) from light-induced retinal damage and protects ARPE-19 cells (MTT) from H2O2 induced oxidative stress. Second, we have shown that one-week supplementation induced modifications in retinal (in-vivo), plasma (in-vivo) and ARPE-19 cells (in-vitro) fatty acids contents, characterized by an increase in EPA and DPA contents, the two synthetic precursors of DHA (HPLC). In addition, in-vivo neither rhodopsin content (spectrometer) nor response recovery (ERG) were affected. Furthermore, during light-exposure cytokines expression (milliplex) were oriented towards an anti-inflammatory profile and gene expression (qPCR) of iPLA2, PPAR-α, Caspase-12 was kept high throughout exposure to intense cyclic light in retina of supplemented animals. In conclusion, we hypothesized that preferential accumulation of long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (EPA and DPA ) is involved in the protective effect of dietary supplement allowing : 1 / facilitated renewal of retinal DHA and 2 / maintaining of iPLA 2 activity. DHA released from membranes activate the anti- inflammatory and antioxidant signaling pathways via the nuclear receptor PPAR- α.