Publications by authors named "R Cascella"

Recent advancements in Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) technologies have revolutionized genomic research, presenting unprecedented opportunities for personalized medicine and population genetics. However, issues such as data silos, privacy concerns, and regulatory challenges hinder large-scale data integration and collaboration. Federated Learning (FL) has emerged as a transformative solution, enabling decentralized data analysis while preserving privacy and complying with regulations such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

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Rare diseases are heterogeneous diseases characterized by various symptoms and signs. Due to the low prevalence of such conditions (less than 1 in 2000 people), medical expertise is limited, knowledge is poor and patients' care provided by medical centers is inadequate. An accurate diagnosis is frequently challenging and ongoing research is also insufficient, thus complicating the understanding of the natural progression of the rarest disorders.

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Article Synopsis
  • FSHD is a myopathy linked to changes in DNA methylation at the D4Z4 locus, and this study evaluates the effectiveness of a methylation assay as a diagnostic tool.
  • The research involved 218 individuals suspected of having FSHD, comparing traditional molecular testing with the new methylation assay to assess accuracy and consistency.
  • The refined methylation assay showed high sensitivity (90%), specificity (100%), and accuracy (93%), indicating its potential for early detection, even in asymptomatic individuals with a family history of FSHD.
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Autosomal dominant retinitis pigmentosa (AD-RP) is caused by several genes, among which is one of the most investigated. This article will be focused on and its role in explaining AD-RP cases in the Italian population, taking advantage of the experience of the Genomic Medicine Laboratory UILDM at the Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS. The retrospective evaluation of the distribution of variants in the Italian patients with a clinical suspicion of RP pointed out eight variants.

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Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive debilitating neurological disorder representing the most common neurodegenerative disease worldwide. Although the exact pathogenic mechanisms of AD remain unresolved, the presence of extracellular amyloid-β peptide 1-42 (Aβ) plaques in the parenchymal and cortical brain is considered one of the hallmarks of the disease. In this work, we investigated the Aβ fibrillogenesis timeline up to 48 h of incubation, providing morphological and chemo-structural characterization of the main assemblies formed during the aggregation process of Aβ, by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), respectively.

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