Parsplana vitrectomy alone versus parsplana vitrectomy combined with phacoemulsification for the treatment of rhegmatogenous retinal detachment: a randomized study.

Background: To compare parsplana vitrectomy (PPV) with and without phacoemulsification to treat rhegmatogenous retinal detachment (RRD).

Methods: Subjects aged 48-65 years with RRD in a phakic eye due to superior retinal tears with an overall extension of retinal breaks < 90° underwent to PPV alone (group A); or PPV plus phacoemulsification (phacovitrectomy, PCV, group B). Post-operative follow-up visits occurred at 1 week, 1 month (m1), 3 months (m3), and 6 months (m6) after surgery.

The epidemiology of Moebius syndrome in Italy.

Background: The epidemiology of Moebius syndrome (MBS) is difficult to assess. In the present study, we investigated the epidemiology of MBS in a well-defined population within a precise geographical area.

Materials And Methods: Our university hospital is the only national referral center for the diagnosis and treatment of MBS.

Assessment of Choroidal Neovascularization Perfusion: A Pilot Study With Laser Speckle Flowgraphy.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify perfusion in the area of choroidal neovascularization (CNV) using laser speckle flowgraphy (LSFG) before and after intravitreal anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) injection.

Methods: Retrospective case series. Fifteen eyes of 15 patients with treatment-naïve CNV due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and with available LSFG images were included.

Visual outcome and poor prognostic factors in acute retinal necrosis syndrome.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of selected clinical parameters on the mid-/long-term visual outcome of patients with acute retinal necrosis (ARN)

Design: A retrospective cohort study

Setting: Two University Hospitals (Parma, Italy; Lausanne, Switzerland).

Participants: Thirty-nine non-HIV patients (39 eyes) with ARN, as confirmed by polymerase chain reaction on intraocular samples. The following potential predictors were tested using linear regression models: age, sex, etiology, best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) on admission, delay between ARN symptom onset and treatment initiation, and surgery (performed or not).

Comparative Analysis of the Safety and Functional Outcomes of Anterior versus Retropupillary Iris-Claw IOL Fixation.

Purpose: To compare the functional and clinical outcomes of the iris-claw intraocular lens (IOL) placed on the anterior versus posterior surface of the iris.

Patients And Methods: A multicenter, retrospective study. Data on eyes that underwent anterior or retropupillary iris-claw IOL implantation because of inadequate capsular support secondary to complicated cataract surgery, trauma, and dislocated/opacified IOLs since January 2015 were analyzed.

Optical coherence tomography is a useful tool in the differentiation between true edema and pseudoedema of the optic disc.

Purpose: To assess the usefulness of spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness measurement in discriminating early phase optic disc edema (ODE) from pseudoedema (PODE).

Methods: Hospital-based, multicenter, cross-sectional study involving external patients referred for recent identification of "presumed ODE". Patients underwent SD-OCT optic nerve head (ONH) RNFL thickness measurement at their first evaluation.

Variability of Crops' Compositional Characteristics: What Do Experimental Data Show?

Common pillar across the risk assessment strategies implemented worldwide for genetically modified plants is the comparison of their compositional profile to that of conventional counterparts deemed safe. If differences are observed, those that cannot be attributed to natural variation are further evaluated for their safety relevance. This principle is clear, but its implementation is challenging.

Ranking brain areas encoding the perceived level of pain from fMRI data.

Pain perception is thought to emerge from the integrated activity of a distributed brain system, but the relative contribution of the different network nodes is still incompletely understood. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we aimed to identify the more relevant brain regions to explain the time profile of the perceived pain intensity in healthy volunteers, during noxious chemical stimulation (ascorbic acid injection) of the left hand. To this end, we performed multi-way partial least squares regression of fMRI data from twenty-two a-priori defined brain regions of interest (ROI) in each hemisphere, to build a model that could efficiently reproduce the psychophysical pain profiles in the same individuals; moreover, we applied a novel three-way extension of the variable importance in projection (VIP) method to summarize each ROI contribution to the model.

Accuracy of funduscopy to identify true edema versus pseudoedema of the optic disc.

Purpose: Differential diagnosis between acute optic disc edema (ODE) and optic disc pseudoedema (PODE) may be a clinical challenge even for well-trained ophthalmologists. Funduscopy remains the first-line investigation. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of funduscopy in differentiating ODE from PODE.

Ophthalmologic and systemic features in möbius syndrome an italian case series.

Purpose: To describe clinical features in a large series of Möbius syndrome (MBS) cases, investigating whether specific neuro-ophthalmologic patterns of disease may provide further insight into MBS pathogenesis.

Design: Observational, prospective study.

Participants: Fifty-five affected subjects.

A regularization algorithm for decoding perceptual temporal profiles from fMRI data.

In several biomedical fields, researchers are faced with regression problems that can be stated as Statistical Learning problems. One example is given by decoding brain states from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Recently, it has been shown that the general Statistical Learning problem can be restated as a linear inverse problem.

Erythrocyte transmembrane electron transfer in haemodialysis patients.

Background And Aims: Patients with chronic renal failure, especially those treated with haemodialysis, have an increased risk of developing atherosclerotic vascular disease probably as a result of enhanced oxidative stress. The human cell membrane possesses electron transfer systems which protect against extracellular pro-oxidant challenge. We evaluated (1) the erythrocyte velocity of ferricyanide reduction (RBC vfcy) in 25 uraemic patients (aged 25-71 years; 14 males), (2) the changes induced by a single haemodialysis session and (3) biomarkers of oxidative stress.

Tissue kallikrein gene polymorphisms induce no change in endothelium-dependent or independent vasodilation in hypertensive and normotensive subjects.

Background: Tissue kallikrein (TK) generates Lys-bradykinin, which is then converted to bradykinin and releases nitric oxide (NO) from endothelial cells via B2 receptors. TK gene inactivation in mice causes severe endothelial dysfunction, which is also a hallmark of human primary hypertension (PH). Healthy carriers of a loss-of-function Arg to His substitution at position 53 (R53H) of the TK gene exhibit paradoxical arterial eutrophic remodeling.

Clustering of insulin resistance with vascular dysfunction and low-grade inflammation in type 2 diabetes.

Vascular dysfunction, low-grade inflammation, insulin resistance, and impaired fibrinolysis have each been reported to be present in type 2 diabetes, but their relationships, and the role of obesity, have not been investigated. We measured insulin sensitivity (euglycemic clamp), forearm blood flow responses to graded local acetylcholine (Ach) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) infusions, plasma concentrations of tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-6, von Willebrand factor (vWF), plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI)-1, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in 81 diabetic patients. When patients were stratified by insulin resistance, more severe insulin resistance was associated (P < 0.

Endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress in chronic renal failure.

Uremic patients have an increased incidence of cardiovascular disease (CVD), endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress that can contribute to cardiovascular (CV) events. To assess the relationship between endothelial dysfunction, oxidative stress and renal failure severity, we studied 40 patients (age 57 +/- 7 yrs, 24 males) affected by chronic kidney disease (CKD) K/DOQI stage 3-5 (serum creatinine (Cr) 5.6 +/- 2.

The T-786C and Glu298Asp polymorphisms of the endothelial nitric oxide gene affect the forearm blood flow responses of Caucasian hypertensive patients.

Objectives: We sought to investigate whether two polymorphisms located in the promoter (T(-786)C) and exon 7 (Glu298Asp) of the endothelial nitric oxide (NO) synthase (eNOS) gene affected agonists-mediated NO release.

Background: Endothelial dysfunction can be genetically determined. Therefore, we investigated whether two polymorphisms located in the eNOS gene affected agonists-mediated NO release.

Myocardial ultrasonic backscatter in hypertension: relation to aldosterone and endothelin.

A disproportionate accumulation of fibrillar collagen is a characteristic feature of hypertensive heart disease, but the extent of myocardial fibrosis may differ in different models of hypertension. In experimental studies, aldosterone and endothelins emerge as important determinants of myocardial fibrosis. Changes in myocardial extracellular matrix and collagen deposition can be estimated noninvasively by analysis of the ultrasonic backscatter signal, which arises from tissue heterogeneity within the myocardium and describes myocardial texture.