Ricerc@Sapienza

Retinoblastoma (RB) is the most common tumor of the eye in early childhood. Although recent advances in conservative treatment have greatly improved the visual outcome, local tumor control remains difficult in the presence of massive vitreous seeding. Traditional biopsy has long been considered unsafe in RB, due to the risk of extraocular spread. Thus, the identification of new biomarkers is crucial to design safer diagnostic and more effective therapeutic approaches.

Cholesterol and its oxygenated metabolites, such as oxysterols, are intensively investigated as potential players in the pathophysiology of brain disorder. Altered oxysterol levels have been described in patients with numerous neuropsychiatric disorders, including Alzheimer's disease, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy, and Smith-Lemli-Opitz Syndrome. Recent studies have shown that Autism Spectrum Disorders are associated with disruption of cholesterol metabolism.

Research on bicuspid aortic valve disease (BAV) and related com- plications has grown in an exponential manner in the last decades. However, the current knowledge of the mechanisms underlying the development of this disease is still limited, since all clinical and surgical studies on BAV mainly focused their objects on its major vascular complications, such as ascending aortic aneurysms and dissection.

The study aimed to investigate the correlations among immune, haematological, endocrinological markers and fitness parameters, and assess if the physiological parameters could be a predictor of fitness values. Anthropometric, physical evaluations (countermovement jump—CMJ, 10 m sprint, VO2max, repeated sprint ability—RSA total time and index) and determination of blood (IL-6, IL-10, IL-17A and tumour necrosis factor) and salivary (testosterone and cortisol) samples parameters in 28 young male soccer players (age: 13.0 ± 0.2 years, body mass index (BMI): 19.5 ± 2.2 kg/m2) were analysed.

Background: The risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a brain infection caused by John Cunningham virus (JCPyV), is the main limitation to the use of natalizumab, highly effective in the treatment of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients. Establishing the PML risk against expected benefits represents an obligatory requirement of MS treatment algorithm.

BACKGROUND:
Aedes mosquitoes are vectors of arboviral diseases of great relevance for public health. The recent outbreaks of dengue, Zika, chikungunya and the rapid worldwide spreading of Aedes albopictus emphasize the need for improvement of vector surveillance and control. Host antibody response to mosquito salivary antigens is emerging as a relevant additional tool to directly assess vector-host contact, monitor efficacy of control interventions and evaluate risk of arboviral transmission.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:

Hematophagous arthropods during feeding inject into their hosts a cocktail of salivary proteins whose main role is to allow for an effective blood meal by counteracting host hemostasis, inflammation and immunity. However, saliva of blood feeders also evokes in vertebrates an antibody response that can be used to evaluate exposure to disease vectors.

Background
Plasma neurofilament light (NFL) and total Tau (t-Tau) proteins are candidate biomarkers for early stages of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The impact of biological factors on their plasma concentrations in individuals with subjective memory complaints (SMC) has been poorly explored. We longitudinally investigate the effect of sex, age, APOE ε4 allele, comorbidities, brain amyloid-β (Aβ) burden, and cognitive scores on plasma NFL and t-Tau concentrations in cognitively healthy individuals with SMC, a condition associated with AD development.