Ocular pharmacological and biochemical profiles of 6-thioguanine: a drug repurposing study.

Introduction: The purine analog 6-thioguanine (6TG), an old drug approved in the 60s to treat acute myeloid leukemia (AML), was tested in the diabetic retinopathy (DR) experimental setting along with a molecular modeling approach.

Methods: A computational analysis was performed to investigate the interaction of 6TG with MC1R and MC5R. This was confirmed in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) exposed to high glucose (25 mM) for 24 h.

Changes in Circulating Acylated Ghrelin and Neutrophil Elastase in Diabetic Retinopathy.

: The role and the levels of ghrelin in diabetes-induced retinal damage have not yet been explored. The present study aimed to measure the serum levels of total ghrelin (TG), and its acylated (AG) and des-acylated (DAG) forms in patients with the two stages of diabetic retinopathy (DR), non-proliferative (NPDR) and proliferative (PDR). Moreover, the correlation between serum ghrelin and neutrophil elastase (NE) levels was investigated.

Better than expected? Predictors of coping with expectation violations in the communication about death and dying.

Background: End-of-life (EOL) communication is often avoided, especially among young adults. Negative expectations concerning EOL conversations with relatives or significant others are one major reason.

Objective: To investigate how best to violate negative expectations concerning EOL conversations by identifying predictors of coping with expectation violations in this context.

Multimodal Assessment of the Prognostic Role of Ectopic Inner Foveal Layers on Epiretinal Membrane Surgery.

Background: To perform a multimodal assessment of the ectopic inner foveal layers' (EIFL) prognostic role on idiopathic epiretinal membrane (ERM) surgery.

Methods: We retrospectively followed-up for 12 months 27 patients who underwent ERM surgery and stratified them based on EIFL presence (group 1) or absence (group 2) at baseline. Central Retinal Thickness (CRT) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) were compared pre- and post-operatively at 1, 4 and 12 months, whereas fixation stability (FS), macular sensitivity (MS) and multifocal electroretinogram (mfERG) responses were confronted at baseline and 12 months.

Brolucizumab Intravitreal Injections for Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration: Real-Life Study on a Cohort of Italian Patients.

To report the real-life Brolucizumab therapeutical outcomes of treatment-naïve and non-treatment-naïve eyes with neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD) and to analyze the incidence of therapy-related adverse events. A total of 56 eyes of 54 patients diagnosed with nAMD were retrospectively evaluated over a 3-month follow-up. Naïve eyes received a 3-month loading phase, whereas non-naïve eyes were treated with one intravitreal injection + ProReNata scheme.