Once again, the eye can reveal the body’s secrets. In a recent analysis, Retinal pathological features and proteome signatures of Alzheimer’s disease, published in Acta Neuropathologica, Cedars-Sinai investigators looked at post mortem retinal and brain tissue samples collected over 14 years from 86 human donors and compared samples from donors with normal cognitive function to those with mild cognitive impairment at the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as those with later-stage dementia. (Koronyo, Y., Rentsendorj, A., Mirzaei, N. et al. Retinal pathological features and proteome signatures of Alzheimer’s disease. Acta Neuropathol (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00401-023-02548-2)
I grew up on baseball. When I was young I quickly realized that there was one position on the field that was noticeably different from the others. Most of the fielders faced a certain direction, had similar gloves, and the same basic uniforms. But the catcher had on pads, a facemask, faced the opposite direction, and had a mitt that was vastly different from the other players. I was told that this was for the player’s protection. You see, while all the other players only dealt with the intermittent grounder, fly ball, or throw, the catcher was bombarded by high energy pitches every play.