Corneal Alterations in Patients with Osteogenesis Imperfecta: An in vivo Corneal Confocal Microscopy Study.

Purpose: Osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) is a rare hereditary disorder of the connective tissue. Despite recent attention to corneal abnormalities in OI, understanding remains limited. This study aimed to comprehensively evaluate corneal changes in a large sample of OI patients compared to controls using in vivo confocal microscopy (IVCM).

Targeting protein aggregation using a cocoa-bean shell extract to reduce α-synuclein toxicity in models of Parkinson's disease.

Neurodegenerative diseases are among the major challenges in modern medicine, due to the progressive aging of the world population. Among these, Parkinson's disease (PD) affects 10 million people worldwide and is associated with the aggregation of the presynaptic protein α-synuclein (α-syn). Here we use two different PD models, yeast cells and neuroblastoma cells overexpressing α-syn, to investigate the protective effect of an extract from the cocoa shell, which is a by-product of the roasting process of cocoa beans.

Macular Alterations in a Cohort of Caucasian Patients Affected by Retinitis Pigmentosa.

Objectives: Our objective was to investigate the prevalence of macular complications detected by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) in a large Caucasian cohort of RP patients, highlight the major alterations in chorioretinal structure, and compare the macular structural changes in eyes affected by retinal dystrophies with those in healthy controls.

Methods: This was an observational, retrospective, and cross-sectional study. Three hundred and seven patients with RP were consecutively enrolled and underwent clinical assessment.