AdaptDx helps detect early warning signs for this disease’s progression into its “wet” form, which is often characterized by neovascularization across Bruch’s membranes. For 10 points each:
[10m] Name this disease whose earlier “dry” form exhibits yellow deposits called drusen spots. Since the structure affected by this disease is in the middle of the retina, even elderly patients often retain some peripheral vision.
ANSWER: macular degeneration [or age-related macular degeneration; or AMD; accept dry or wet macular degeneration; accept geographic atrophy or GA; prompt on blindness; prompt on vision loss]
[10h] Risk of AMD increases with polymorphisms of factors B and H, which facilitate the alternative form of this pathway. Another form of this pathway uses mannose-binding lectins but converges at C3 convertase assembly.
ANSWER: complement pathway [or complement system; or complement cascade; prompt on classical or lectin pathways by asking “what larger system is that pathway a part of?”; prompt on innate immunity; prompt on inflammation or inflammatory pathway]
[10e] The 2013 ALIENOR study found that elevated differences between the systolic and diastolic forms of this quantity, but not hypertension itself, were significantly correlated with late AMD.
ANSWER: blood pressure [or BP; accept pulse pressure or PP; prompt on pressure]
<UCLA B, Biology>