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Cutaneous horns are relatively rare benign tumors which occur most frequently on sun exposed skin and develop on various types of underlying skin lesions: benign, premalignant and malignant. The treatment of choice consists in the surgical excision of the lesion to healthy tissue. The histopathological examination is mandatory in order to establish the nature of the lesion, on which the cutaneous horn develops.

Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is the most frequent malignant epithelial tumor of the periocular area. The clinical and histological classification of periocular basal cell carcinoma (pBCC) is essential in order to establish the risk of recurrence and to compare the results of the treatment. Until now, there is no unitary histological classification of pBCC.The aim of this study is to identify the demographic, clinical and histopathological characteristics of adult patients with pBCC, in order to obtain useful data for comparison in other investigations and to identify the histological origin of this eyelid tumor, as there are only hypothesis on this issue.A descriptive retrospective study was conducted on a series of 39 consecutive patients over the age of 20, who were surgically treated for pBCC in the 2nd Ophthalmology Clinic of the "Prof. Dr. Nicolae Oblu" Emergency Clinical Hospital from Iaşi, Romania, over an 11-year period (July 2007-February 2018). The analyzed data were the following: date of resection, patient age at resection, gender, tumor location, histological subtype, and immunohistochemical (IHC) expression patterns of anti-cytokeratin (CK) antibodies (anti-CK AE1∕AE3, anti-CK5∕6, anti-CK7, anti-CK17, anti-CK19, anti-CK20) and anti-epithelial membrane antigen (EMA) antibody.A total of 39 histopathologically diagnosed cases of pBCC were evaluated. The mean age at resection was of 66 years (range: 26-87 years). As for gender, 17 (43.6%) were male patients, with a mean age of 64.84 years (range: 26-78 years) and 22 (56.4%) were female patients, with a mean age of 66.68 years (range: 46-87 years). The pBCC occurred on the right side in 18 (46.2%) cases and on the left in 21 (53.8%) cases. Of all removed specimens, 24 (61.53%) involved the lower eyelid, seven (17.94%) the medial canthus, five (12.82%) the upper eyelid, and three (7.62%) lacked the specification of the site. The most common histological subtype was nodular, accounting for 26 (66.7%) cases. Adenoid BCC was identified in four (10.3%) cases, and morpheaform in one (2.6%) case. Squamous differentiation (basosquamous subtype) was identified in eight (20.5%) cases. The IHC profile of pBCC included: strong immunopositivity for CK AE1∕AE3, and CK17 all histological subtypes, and CK5∕6 positivity only in squamous differentiation areas. No immunopositivity was identified for CK19, CK20, and EMA IHC staining.Our retrospective study indicates that most of pBCCs developed particularly in elderly female patients and tumors were located in the lower eyelid with a left side and lower eyelid preferences. Most of our pBCC cases were histologically classified as nodular subtype, and morpheaform and basosquamous form affected mostly the lower eyelid. pBCC IHC profile showed a strong immunopositivity for CK17, thus suggesting that the origin of this cancer is in the follicular germinative cells. We can conclude that our results showed a demographic, clinical, histological, and IHC profile which seems to be representative for Central and Eastern European countries, maybe due to the same genetic predisposition and environmental factors.

Meningioma is a common intracranial neoplasm derived from meningothelial cells, and it is generally associated with a benign clinical course. In spite of this, the malignant behaviour of these tumours as the occurrence of extracranial meningioma metastases in different organs is described in the literature: lung and pleura, spine and other bones, abdominal organs, lymph nodes or even skin. The aim of this review is to analyse the pathways of metastatic spread of the intracranial meningioma tumour cells towards different organs.

The conjunctival nevus affecting children and adolescents is a rare condition and the literature showed only few reports on this issue. The aim of this article is to determine the histopathological features for the correct diagnosis of an inflammatory juvenile compound nevus of the conjunctiva (IJCNC) in order to make the difference between this tumor and other lesions, like conjunctival melanoma or lymphoma, very similar from a gross point of view. This article is a clinical pathological study of two cases of IJCNC with particular histopathological characteristics, who were admitted at the 2nd Ophthalmology Clinic, "Prof. Dr. Nicolae Oblu" Emergency Clinical Hospital, Iasi, Romania, over a period of five years (from July 1, 2012 to June 30, 2017). Both patients were adolescents, a boy (13-year-old) and a girl (12-year-old). Both lesions were bulbar juxtalimbal located and grew in size over one year. Seen at slit-lamp biomicroscopy, the first one presented as a non-pigmented lesion, while the second was a pigmented nevus, but their dimensions did not exceed 10 mm in diameter. From a histopathological point of view, both of them showed a nested junctional growth pattern, along with intra- and subepithelial location, of the nevomelanocytes. Tumoral cells demonstrated different degrees of atypical cytology, but in the second case, it was more obvious. Microscopic examination also revealed epithelial cystic inclusions, and prominent inflammation in the stroma of these two nevi. One of the cases presented heavy inflammation that took the form of lymphoid follicles and sheets of eosinophils, but the other showed only diffuse inflammation with lymphocytes plasma cells, and eosinophils within its stroma. The immunohistochemical characterization (anti-melan A, anti-S100 protein and anti-cytokeratin AE1÷AE3 antibodies) of the tumoral cells helped to the diagnosis.IJCNC represent a small group of nevi that develop in adolescents and have some particular histopathological features. The pathological diagnosis is difficult as the microscopic features are very similar to a conjunctival melanoma, but a detailed microscopic examination, immunohistochemical stainings and the young age of the patient could help in establishing the benign nature of these lesions.

Amniotic membrane (AM) transplantation has been used successfully worldwide in ophthalmology plastic surgery for over 100 years. This review presents the histological and the immunohistochemical features of AM compared to those of the conjunctiva and discusses the techniques of processing and preservation, its mechanism of action in ocular reconstruction, its clinical ophthalmic indications, but also advantages and limitations of grafting with this biomaterial.

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a multifactorial disease and is a major cause of blindness in the entire world. Current studies show a tight connection between gut microbiota and AMD. This literature review shows the positive role played by gut microbiota, which is essential in providing the optimal serotonin level in retina protection against the noxious action of various factors of the environment. Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT) is a monoamine neurotransmitter derived from tryptophan which is poorly expressed in the retina, but it may provide protection against retinal damage, such as light-induced retinopathy and age-related macular degeneration, due to the fact that certain serotonin receptor agonists and antagonists of those 7 classes and 17 subtypes of 5-HT receptors help prevent serum deprivation, anoxia and oxidative damage. Our study also shows the role played by other diet-related factors, which protect retina against oxidative stress and delay the onset of AMD.