Liveticker 2010

• November 2010
  All post-exposition measurements have been completed and data assessment is on the way. A list of recent publications from THAO1 can be found under “Publications".
  
  
• October, 20th
  Our post altitude examinations are now underway at the Tübingen Eye Hospital and will be completed by early November. We are again examining the same subjects using identical ophthalmological equipment. Since the high altitude exposure at the Capanna Margherita, all subjects have not been at altitude in the meantime and are again adapted to low altitudes. These measurements will serve as a second baseline recording. We then will be able to start evaluating our data in the near future and look forward to hopefully novel scientific contributions. We will keep updating our website in the future as well so please visit us again.
  
  
• September, 8th
  Today has been our last day of science at the Capanna Margherita finishing off the last group who was not able to descend today as planned because of the storm. During the afternoon the clouds lifted and revealed the hut packed in ice which was an incredible sight!
  
  We will be packing up tomorrow getting everything ready to fly out on Friday and look forward to a nice hot shower after a very successful two weeks up at 4554m!
  
  
  
  
• September, 6th
  Two days ago we received a very special visit in support of our study -via helicopter from Zermatt- from Christina Fasser, President of Retina Suisse and Retina International (http://www.retina.ch/ and http://www.retina-international.org/).
  
  Meanwhile group 3 has arrived and we are making good progress. But with the arrival of group 3 the weather changed dramatically and together with the hut crew, we are now the only people left at the Capanna Margherita. Predicted substantial snow fall and high winds with basically no visibility for the next two days makes a very poor weather outlook and we are not sure if group 3 will even be able to descend on the planned date. But as we usually say here: "isch normal oder :)"
  
  With these facts at hand we have decided to cancel group 4 as it will be too risky for the group to ascend. In addition the hut is running on very low gasoline provisions depending on a helicopter flight as soon as possible. However, until now there is no scheduled date for a possible flight.
  
  As we are very pleased with the examinations up to this point our decision will hopefully enable us to return back from the mountain on time and complete all scientific and logistical endeavors as now planned.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• September, 4th:
  After a few days of extensive examinations we have successfully completed the first group and the second group has already arrived. Although some of the subjects suffer from -mostly minor- symptoms of acute mountain sickness (which do not require waking-up our high-altitude specialist Dr. Kai Schommer) we are able to examine everyone up to this point and are very pleased with our progress.
  
  In this update we would like to describe our daily routine in a bit more detail:
  6am is wake up time for everyone and the study doctors begin with their clinical assessment, first of themselves and then of the subjects. This includes: taking blood pressure, pulsoxymetry, O2-saturation, checking for pulmonary and peripheral edema, ataxia (having them walk on a straight line with arms up in front), and asking specifically for symptoms of acute mountain sickness.
  7am is breakfast time including zwieback, special high altitude coffee amd milk (powder).
  At 7:30am we begin with our general and ophthalmological examinations which last straight until noon.
  12 o'clock: lunch, which features phantastic italian specialties, such as pasta, pizza, variety of cheeses and ham, usually a dessert and (this time) real Italian espresso.
  After lunch time at 1pm we start again and try to finish by 6pm for dinner. But due to our ectensive protocols, we quite often have to continue even after dinner time until 9pm when the generator shuts down.
  Bedtime is at 10pm after our last clinical exams. The day ends with clinical assessments of all participants.
  
  
  
  
• September 1st:
  
  Arrival of Dr. Fischer, Dr. Schatz and the first probandgroup
  
  
• August 27th: This is our first online report from Capanna Margherita. After driving all equipment to the helicopter base of Air Zermatt, we managed to divide and load the 1.2 tons of medical supplies for the 3 flights from Zermatt to Capanna Margherita. With perfect weather conditions on the 26.08.2010 we were able to transport all gear to our research facility at 4554 m. After unloading at the hut we drove to Gressoney to start our ascent to the Capanna Gnifetti at 3611 m. After a good night's sleep and first medical examinations we started out for the climb to Capanna Margherita this morning at 6 30am. After a rough 5 hours in stormy white out conditions we reached the hut around noon today. All three of us are feeling fine, although the altitude kicks in. Now that our first group of subjects will be arriving on Monday, we are busy setting up all the equipment getting very excited to preform the first measurements. On Sunday two additional clinical scientists will arrive at the Capanna Margherita to complete our team.
  Attached are some pictures from our first couple of days. More frequent updates with pictures and videos will follow.
  
  
  Helicopter during equipment transportation
  
  
  Climbing Gnifetti and Margherita
  
  
  Baseline recordings at the University of Tübingen
  
  
  Trying on Fleece from Biwakschachtel and Bergfühlung Tübingen
  
  
  Equipment transportation
  
  
  Capanna Margherita from helicopter approach during equipment transportation
  
  
  Capanna Margherita from helicopter approach during equipment transportation
  
  
• August 29th-Sep 12th: subjects -divided into groups of 4- will be examined at the Capanna Margherita at 4554m using the latest state of the art technologies in the field of Ophthalmology.

• August 5th-22th: subjects will be examined in the University Eye Hospital Tübingen. We will test whether the subjects will fulfill all inclusion criteria and perform our pre-high altitude exposure measurements to gain the needed baseline readings.

• August 7/8th: members of our research team will visit the facilities to organize all planned examinations.
  
  With internet available, we will be able to update our website with text and photos as often as possible during our stay at the highest accommodated mountain hut in Europe.