Role of stem cells-based in facial nerve reanimation: A meta-analysis of histological and neurophysiological outcomes

Adipose Stem Cells in Modern-Day Ophthalmology

Stem cells (SCs) have evolved as an interesting and viable factor in ophthalmologic patient care in the past decades. SCs have been classified as either embryonic, mesenchymal, tissue-specific, or induced pluripotent cells. Multiple novel management techniques and clinical trials have been established to date. While available publications are predominantly animal-model-based, significant material is derived from human studies and case-selected scenarios. This possibility of explanting cells from viable tissue to regenerate/repair damaged tissue points to an exciting future of therapeutic options in all fields of medicine, and ophthalmology is surely not left out. Adipose tissue obtained from lipo-aspirates has been shown to produce mesenchymal SCs that are potentially useful in different body parts, including the oculo-visual system. An overview of the anatomy, physiology, and extraction process for adipose-tissue-derived stem cells (ADSC) is important for better understanding the potential therapeutic benefits. This review examines published data on ADSCs in immune-modulatory, therapeutic, and regenerative treatments. We also look at the future of ADSC applications for ophthalmic patient care. The adverse effects of this relatively novel therapy are also discussed.

New Targets and New Technologies in the Treatment of Parkinson’s Disease: A Narrative Review

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease, whose main neuropathological finding is pars compacta degeneration due to the accumulation of Lewy bodies and Lewy neurites, and subsequent dopamine depletion. This leads to an increase in the activity of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and the internal globus pallidus (GPi). Understanding functional anatomy is the key to understanding and developing new targets and new technologies that could potentially improve motor and non-motor symptoms in PD. Currently, the classical targets are insufficient to improve the entire wide spectrum of symptoms in PD (especially non-dopaminergic ones) and none are free of the side effects which are not only associated with the procedure, but with the targets themselves. The objective of this narrative review is to show new targets in DBS surgery as well as new technologies that are under study and have shown promising results to date. The aim is to give an overview of these new targets, as well as their limitations, and describe the current studies in this research field in order to review ongoing research that will probably become effective and routine treatments for PD in the near future.