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Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between ischemic index (ISI) measured on ultra-widefield (UWF) fluorescein angiography (FA) images and macular parameters obtained by optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A) in eyes affected by central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO). Methods: Retrospective study of data from 12 eyes affected by treatment-naïve CRVO. All patients underwent a comprehensive ocular examination including structural OCT, OCT-A, and UWF FA. Variables analyzed included best corrected visual acuity (BCVA) measured with the ETDRS chart; foveal avascular zone (FAZ) area at full-thickness OCT-A angiogram; perfusion density (PD) in the superficial (SCP) and deep capillary plexus (DCP); ISI; and central macular thickness (CMT). Results: ISI showed a significant positive correlation with FAZ area (r = 0.63, p = 0.019) and a significant negative correlation with PD in the SCP (r = −0.62, p = 0.022), PD in the DCP (r = −0.66, p = 0.011), and BCVA (r = −0.75, p = 0.002). FAZ area also negatively correlated to PD in the SCP (r = −0.75, p = 0.002) and DCP (r = −0.64, p = 0.016). BCVA positively correlated to PD in the SCP (r = 0.67, p = 0.009) and DCP (r = 0.68, p = 0.008), while a negative correlation was found with FAZ area (r = −0.65, p = 0.013) and CMT (r = −0.70, p = 0.006). Discussion/Conclusion: OCT-A macular parameters (namely, FAZ area and PD of SCP and DCP) significantly correlated with ISI, a quantitative way to assess peripheral retinal nonperfusion on UWF FA. Macular OCT-A analysis may help in assessing the need for additional UWF FA testing in eyes affected by CRVO.

PURPOSE To quantitatively evaluate the photoreceptor structural changes in the fellow unaffected eyes of patients with unilateral central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC). METHODS This is a retrospective cross-sectional study. We analyzed data from patients with diagnosis of unilateral CSC, as based on clinical examination and multimodal imaging, who had structural optical coherence tomography obtained. An additional group of age-matched healthy patients was included for comparison. Main outcome measures were as follows: (1) the foveal photoreceptor outer segment lateral surface and (2) the foveal choroidal thickness. RESULTS One hundred and sixty fellow unaffected eyes of 160 unilateral CSC patients and 50 age-matched controls (50 eyes) were included. The mean ± SD age was 51.6 ± 11.1 years (range 28-80 years) in the unilateral CSC group and 52.8 ± 10.8 years (range 31-74 years) in the control group (P = 0.511). The foveal photoreceptor outer segment lateral surface was significantly increased in the unaffected eyes with CSC in the fellow eye (0.068 ± 0.007 mm2) as compared with control eyes (0.060 ± 0.005 mm2, P < 0.0001). The mean ± SD foveal choroidal thickness was 368.0 ± 105.7 µm in the unilateral CSC group and 302.9 ± 92.2 µm in control patients (P < 0.0001). In the Pearson correlation test, the photoreceptor outer segment lateral surface correlated with the choroidal thickness in the CSC group (R = 0.166, P = 0.016) but not in the control group (R = -0.025, P = 0.864). CONCLUSION Our results corroborate the hypothesis that retinal and choroidal changes affect both eyes of patients with acute/history of unilateral disease. These structural changes could be intended as an imaging evidence of reduced photoreceptor outer segment turnover secondary to retinal pigment epithelium and choroid dysfunction.

The film is a copy of the real or a phantasmagoria of dreams? This alternative should be considered one of the genetic matrices of the language and theory of cinema. Using digital technology, the reference to the referent and the ontological nature of cinema as a trace of reality, they entirely vanish. The complete dematerialization of bodily qualities is a generalphenomenon of the society of the spectacle, with the dominance of the commodity form. Digital technology brings this tendency to extremes, changing the ontological nature of the film. Digital technology, and now the three-dimensional, they realize a complete reversal of reality and fantasy and they change the basis of our mode of perception. The film “critic-expressive” is opposed to the phantasmagoria of the spectacle, calling for self-consciousness of the viewer. The techniques of three-dimensionality are part of a dream world, which aims to block all awareness of pain and conflict. The technique is not destiny, but dialectic, continuous contradiction, between two possible forms: the one is dominated by the will of power, the other by the idea of salvation of the phenomenon and the singularity. The three-dimensional cinema produce a magic, auratic film: what will it be a new “critic-expressive” film?

Research has shown that the quality of interpersonal relationships plays an important role in influencing childhood obesity-risk behavior. However, studies conducted so far have focused mostly on self-report data. But they rarely control for the effect of experimentally-induced social rejection or perceived maternal rejection. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of the quality of the maternal relationships as well as experimentally-induced social rejection on children's motivation to consume high-caloric food. Eighty children (8-12 years of age) and their mothers participated in an experimental study. Participants were randomly assigned to a social inclusion (acceptance) or exclusion (rejection) condition in a computer-based ball-toss game (Cyberball). After completing the Cyberball game, children were presented with high-caloric food and were evaluated on the amount of the food they consumed. Participants also completed a self-report questionnaire assessing their perceptions of their mothers' acceptance-rejection. Further, mothers' Body Mass Index (BMI) was measured, and a semi-structured interview was conducted to assess the tendency of mothers to regulate their child's stress with food. Results showed that the consumption of high-caloric food was directly influenced by the children's perceptions of maternal acceptance-rejection, and by the experience of brief, experimentally-induced social exclusion (rejection). Additionally, children's consumption of high-caloric food was related to their mothers' use of food to help regulate children's distress, and by the children's own BMI. The results document the importance of affective-relational experiences in the development of childhood obesity. The results also highlight the apparent fact that regardless of individual and family characteristics, the experience of even short-term social rejection can activate obesity-risk behaviors which deplete children's self-regulatory mechanisms, thereby resulting in more consumption of high-caloric food.

The presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) was investigated using hybridization in 15 lymph nodes and one Kaposi's sarcoma skin lesion obtained from HIV-positive patients. Cryostat tissue sections were hybridized with chemically modified DNA probes for HBV and HIV. HIV genome was mainly observed in the cytoplasm of cells present in 7 15 lymph nodes and in the Kaposi's sarcoma skin lesion, thus indicating the expression of HIV replication. Control samples hybridized with an HTLV I probe were negative. HBV genome was found in the cytoplasm of lymphoid mononuclear cells in 2 7 lymph nodes, obtained from HIV+ patients without serum markers of ongoing HBV infection. Lymph node positivity for HBV DNA also confirms that lymphoid cells may be a target for HBV. Since HBV infection seems to precede HIV infection in nearly all patients, it is possible that it may represent a factor facilitating the development of the HIV-related disease.

Scopo dell'articolo è indagare il concetto di mutazione antropologica a partire dall'analisi di alcuni testi teorici di Pier Paolo Pasolini e di Ernesto de Martino. Il saggio si sofferma su una definizione possibile di mutazione per poi sviluppare un'indagine sul rapporto - ambivalente e per lo più inconscio - fra pratiche d'iniziazione e consumi simbolici di massa: lo studio ipotizza che la diffusione massiccia, nell'età contemporanea, di alcuni consumi simbolici di massa (come per esempio la sovra-stimolazione estetica pornorgrafica e la pratica dei tatuaggi), sia da interpretare come un "ritorno del represso sociale".