Fixation Improvement through Biofeedback Rehabilitation in Stargardt Disease.

Stargardt disease is the most common hereditary macular degeneration in juveniles. It is characterized by macular dystrophy associated with loss of central vision in the first or second decade of life, a "beaten-metal" appearance in the fovea or parafoveal region, yellowish flecks around the macula or in posterior area of the retina, progressive atrophy of the bilateral foveal retinal pigment epithelium, and the "dark choroid" sign on fundus fluorescein angiography in most cases. We report a case of Stargardt disease in a 26-year-old Caucasian female submitted to rehabilitative training with microperimetry MP-1 to find a new preferred retinal locus (PRL) and to train her to better her quality of life.

Visual Recovery after Primary Retinal Detachment Surgery: Biofeedback Rehabilitative Strategy.

Purpose. To evaluate possible speeding up recovery time after retinal detachment (RD) surgery using biofeedback strategy. Methods.

Ocular Effects of Niacin: A Review of the Literature.

Cystoid macular edema is a condition that involves the macula, caused by an accumulation of extracellular fluid in the macular region with secondary formation of multiple cystic spaces. This condition is provoked by a variety of pathological conditions such as intraocular inflammation, central or branch retinal vein occlusion, diabetic retinopathy and most commonly following cataract extraction, hereditary retinal dystrophies, and topical or systemic assumption of drugs. Niacin is a vitamin preparation usually used for the treatment of lipid disorders.

Psychosis, Mood and Behavioral Disorders in Usher Syndrome: Review of the Literature.

The aim of this review is to focus the current knowledge about mental and behavioral disorders in Usher syndrome. Previous studies described the presence of various mental disorders associated with Usher syndrome, suggesting possible mechanisms of association between these disorders. The most common manifestations are schizophrenia-like disorder and psychotic symptoms.

Circulating levels of reactive oxygen species in patients with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy and the influence of antioxidant supplementation: 6-month follow-up.

Aims: The aim was to evaluate circulating levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and changes in central macular thickness (CMT) in patients with nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) after antioxidant supplementation.

Materials And Methods: A total of 68 patients (68 eyes) with NPDR were enrolled. Patients were randomly divided into two groups: Treated with antioxidant supplement (Group A) and untreated control group (Group B).

New trends in visual rehabilitation with MP-1 microperimeter biofeedback: optic neural dysfunction.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of visual rehabilitation with MP-1 microperimeter biofeedback in advanced optic neural dysfunction due to glaucoma, and to precisely characterize fixation stability and location in affected patients. Ten patients (18 eyes) with advanced glaucoma were submitted to a rehabilitation protocol that consisted of: a 25-item questionnaire (National Eye Institute Visual Functioning Que stionnaire); measurement of visual acuity; a reading speed test; microperimetry with fixation study, retinal sensitivity and the bivariate contour ellipse area (BCEA). The rehabilitation program consisted of 10 training sessions of 10 minutes per eye performed over a period of one week and was repeated at four months, eight months, and one year.

Post-operative hospitalization in retinal detachment correlation to recurrences.

Purpose: To evaluate relationships between the incidence of re-detachment and postoperative days of hospitalization in patients with diagnosis of retinal detachment (RD) who underwent surgery either through ab-externo approach (scleral buckling and encircling) or ab-interno approach (vitrectomy and oil-gas tamponade).

Methods: This retrospective study included 268 patients (268 eyes) with diagnosis of primary RD: 127 males (47%) and 141 (53%) females, mean age of 64.1 ± 17.

Visual rehabilitation in patients with myopic maculopathy: our experience.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of the MP-1 microperimeter (Nidek Technologies Srl, Padova, Italy) and Visual Pathfinder (LACE Inc) in improving visual function of patients with myopic maculopathy.

Design: Prospective, nonrandomized, interventional case series.

Participants: Seventeen patients (34 eyes) between 36 and 58 years of age with myopic maculopathy and central retinal scotomas.

Cystoid macular edema induced by low doses of nicotinic Acid.

Cystoid macular edema (CME) is a condition that involves the macula, causing painless vision loss. In this paper, we report a case of niacin-induced bilateral cystoid macular edema (CME) in a middle-age woman taking low dose of niacin (18 mg of nicotinic acid). Optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed retinal thickening and cystoid spaces in both eyes, whereas fluorescein angiography (FA; HRA 2, Heidelberg Engineering) revealed the absence of fluorescein leakage also in later phases.

Optical Coherence Tomography evaluation in X-linked retinoschisis.

X-linked Retinoschisis is a bilateral retinal disease with a recessive X-linked inheritance, characterized by a macular involvement. Maculopathy consists of bilateral star-shaped microcystic changes. Peripheral retina is sometimes involved with schisis.

Genetic analysis for two italian siblings with usher syndrome and schizophrenia.

Usher syndrome is a group of autosomal recessive genetic disorders characterized by deafness, retinitis pigmentosa, and sometimes vestibular areflexia. The relationship between Usher syndrome and mental disorders, most commonly a "schizophrenia-like" psychosis, is sometimes described in the literature. The etiology of psychiatric expression of Usher syndrome is still unclear.

Potential role of intravitreal human placental stem cell implants in inhibiting progression of diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetes: neuroprotective growth factors in the vitreous.

Background: Intravitreal injection of human mesenchymal stem cells has been shown to be effective in slowing the progression of diabetic retinopathy in an animal model of chemically induced diabetes mellitus. We studied changes in growth factor levels released from human mesenchymal stem cells in the vitreous cavity as well as changes in growth factor levels in host retinal neurons following intravitreal injection.

Methods: Twenty-two Lewis rats were treated with an intravitreal human mesenchymal stem cell microinjection.

Efficacy of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide in long standing diabetic macular edema: a microperimetry and optical coherence tomography study.

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of intravitreal triamcinolone acetonide in patients suffering from diffuse long standing diabetic macular edema, by the assessment of retinal thickness and retinal function by means of optical coherence tomography (OCT) and microperimetry-1.

Methods: Twenty eyes received 8 mg in 0.2 mL preservative free intravitreal triamcinolone injection delivered through the pars plana.

Microperimetric biofeedback in AMD patients.

To analyse biofeedback training by microperimeter MP-1 (Nidek Technologies) on patients with Age Related Maculopathy (AMD). We enrolled 15 patients (10 female and 5 male) and examined total of 27 eyes with AMD. All the patient underwent 10 training sessions of 10 min for each eye, performed once a week using the MP-1 biofeedback examination.

Optical coherence tomography and electro-oculogram abnormalities in X-linked retinitis pigmentosa.

Purpose: To determine the correlations between morphological optical coherence tomography (OCT) and electrophysiological electro-oculogram (EOG) alterations in families with X-linked retinitis pigmentosa (XLRP).

Design: Observational case series.

Participants And Methods: About 32 eyes of 16 members of four different families: Seven obligate carriers, four affected male homozygotes and five unaffected females underwent ophthalmologic completed exams including EOG and OCT.

Adrenomedullin plasma concentrations in patients with retinitis pigmentosa.

Purpose: To evaluate the relationship between retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and plasma adrenomedullin (ADM) levels.

Methods: Blood samples were obtained from a group of 40 consecutive patients with RP matched with 35 healthy subjects (HS) as control. We carried out a complete ophtalmological examination.