Inflammaging: should this term be suitable for age related macular degeneration too?

INTRODUCTION: Inflammaging is a phenomenon triggered by the conjunction of chronic repetitive and subclinical inflammation from external aggressors and internal inflammatory mechanisms due to the progressive degradation of systems such as the mitochondrial function. Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of blindness and visual impairment in patients older than 60 years in developed countries. DISCUSSION: Remarkable correlations have been documented between common or rare immunological/inflammatory gene polymorphisms and AMD, unequivocally indicating the involvement of inflammation and immune-mediated processes (complement activation) in the pathogenesis of this disease. CONCLUSION: Altogether these factors also drive this pathologic condition under the general heading of "Inflammaging".

About Chlamydia trachomatis. Reply to Garcia-Teillard et al. Trachoma and the Importance of Sexual Infective Route in Developed Countries. Comment on "Gallenga et al. Why the SAFE-S Strategy for Trachoma? Are Musca sorbens or Scatophaga stercoraria Really the Culprit?-A Brief Historical Review from an Italian Point of View. Pathogens 2023, 12, 1419".

The confirmatory comment of Garcia-Teillard et al [...].

Why the SAFE-S Strategy for Trachoma? Are Musca sorbens or Scatophaga stercoraria Really the Culprit?-A Brief Historical Review from an Italian Point of View.

The biological history of Chlamydia trachomatis is intertwined with the evolution of the man. Infecting Elemental Bodies (EBs), having penetrated mucosal epithelial cells, wrap themselves in a cloak (ĸλαµÎ¹ς) of glycogen that ensures their obligatory intracellular survival and protects this differentiation into Reticulate Bodies (RBs) that feed on cellular ATP. Multiple chemokines and cytokines are involved under the direction of IL-6 in the florid phase and IL-17A in the scar phase. The WHO has successfully identified the SAFE strategy against trachoma (Surgery, Antibiotics, Facial cleansing, Environment) as the blueprint to eliminate the disease by 2020. Recently, interest has been increasingly focused on changing sexual attitudes in different areas of the world, leaving Musca sorbens, Scatophaga stercoraria, and stepsisters fairly blameless, but extolling the role of Chlamydia trachomatis in apparently "sterile" chronic prostatitis or conjunctivitis or, less frequently, in oropharyngitis and proctitis. The addition of an S (SAFE-S) standing for "sexual behavior" was then proposed to also attract the interest and attention not only of Ophthalmologists and Obstetricians/Gynecologists, Urologists/Andrologists, and the School Authorities for information on the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases, but also of Social Physicians and Pediatricians. This means that sexually transmitted infections should be screened in asymptomatic patients with risky sexual behavior or sexual contact with people diagnosed with a transmitted infection.

Postoperative finding in the intraoperative floppy-iris syndrome.

We describe a postoperative finding discovered before surgery in the second eye of a patient who had intraoperative floppy-iris syndrome (IFIS). Recognizing the risk for IFIS is important to anticipate and manage the syndrome and ensure successful cataract surgery. Obtaining the right information about the past and present intake of alpha-blockers is mandatory.

Novel evidence of ghrelin and growth hormone segretagogue receptor expression by human ocular tissues.

AIM OF THE STUDY: The gastrointestinal peptide hormone ghrelin (Ghr) was discovered in 1999 as the endogenous ligand for the growth hormone secretagogue receptor (GHSR-1a). It is a pleiotropic peptide that modulates a wide spectrum of biological activities, such as growth hormone (GH) release, feeding stimulation, adiposity and cardiovascular actions. The presence of Ghr mRNA in the iris and ciliary body (CB) epithelium was recently demonstrated in animal models, where a possible myorelaxing effect on the iris muscles has been suggested. Based on these observations, the aim of our study was to investigate the Ghr and GHSR-1a expression and localization in the normal human eye. MATERIAL: Five different ciliary body/iris samples from normal eyes were subjected to Western blot analysis. Immunohistochemical detection was performed on three enucleated eyes. Twenty aqueous humor (AqH) samples obtained from patients submitted to cataract surgery were analyzed with an ELISA for the presence of Ghr. RESULTS: Ghr and GHSR-1a were co-expressed by the pigmented epithelium (PE) of the CB, by the retinal pigmented epithelium (RPE) and by the anterior limiting layer (ALL) of the iris. No reaction was detected at the subepithelial level in the ciliary or pupillae smooth muscle cells. The AqH samples were positive for the presence of Ghr. CONCLUSION: This study provides the first evidence that Ghr and GHSR-1a are expressed in the human eye by specific cells. The understanding of the functional role of Ghr at the human eye level needs more efforts and investigation, but a hypothetical action on the GH retinal synthesis and/or on the circadian clock system could be suggested.

Retinal nerve fiber layer and macular thickness in adolescents with epilepsy treated with valproate and carbamazepine.

PURPOSE: To evaluate retinal nerve retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) and macular thickness by using optical coherence tomography (OCT) in epileptic adolescents before and during monotherapy with valproic acid (VPA) and carbamazepine (CBZ). METHODS: We examined prospectively 45 epilepsy patients with partial and generalized epilepsy. The patients were evaluated before the beginning of therapy and after 1 year of VPA or CBZ monotherapy. Forty-five untreated healthy controls were evaluated at baseline and after 1 year. RESULTS: At the beginning of the study, the two groups of patients showed RNFL and macular thickness measurements similar to control values. At the end of the follow-up, the data of the three groups were similar to baseline, showing no significant differences in the evaluated parameters. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrates that no modification of RNFL and macular thickness parameters is found after 1 year of treatment with VPA and CBZ monotherapy.