Serum Myostatin is Associated With Central-to-Peripheral Arterial Stiffness Gradient in Healthy Adolescents: The MACISTE Study.

Background: Myostatin is a protein compound, structurally related to the transforming growth factor-beta protein, which plays a pivotal role in regulating muscle growth and extracellular matrix production. It exerts both profibrotic and antihypertrophic effects on vascular smooth muscle cells. Aim of the study was to explore the potential association between serum myostatin levels (sMSTN) and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cf-PWV), carotid-radial pulse wave velocity (cr-PWV), and their ratio (PWVr), in a cohort of healthy adolescents.

Intereye Asymmetry as a Predictor of Progression in Patients With Untreated Keratoconus: Findings From a Longitudinal Study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate interocular predictors of progression in patients with untreated keratoconus.

Methods: This is a multicenter longitudinal observational study with real-world data collected through the Save Sight Keratoconus Registry. Patients between the period of June 2000 and September 2022 were included in this study.

Time is -ending: Sublexical information activates the horizontal mental time line in word processing.

The mental time line (MTL) is a spatial continuum on which earlier events are generally associated with the left space and later events with the right space. Accordingly, past- and future-related words receive faster responses with, respectively, the left and the right hand. Yet, it is currently unclear whether the MTL is activated by the whole word or whether it can be triggered by more subtle sublexical cues, such as verb-endings, and whether the activation of this spatial continuum is an automatic phenomenon.

Comparison of standard versus accelerated corneal collagen cross-linking for keratoconus: 5-year outcomes from the Save Sight Keratoconus Registry.

Objective: To compare long-term effectiveness of Standard (UV intensity: 3 mW/cm, duration: 30 min) vs Accelerated (UV intensity: 9 mW/cm, duration: 10 min) corneal cross-linking (CXL) for stabilising keratoconus.

Methods: Data for this observational study were captured through a web-based registry system from the routine clinical practice (15 sites across Australia, New Zealand and Italy). The outcomes were compared using mixed-effects regression models.

Relationship between measures of adiposity, blood pressure and arterial stiffness in adolescents. The MACISTE study.

Objective: Children and adolescents with adiposity excess are at increased risk of future cardiovascular (CV) disease. Fat accumulation promotes the development of elevated blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness, two main determinants of CV risk which are strongly inter-related. We aimed at investigating whether the association between overweight and arterial stiffness, taken at different arterial segments, is mediated by increased BP or is BP-independent.