Poppers maculopaty is a rare retinal disease which is poorly understood. It is characterized by disruption of inner segment/outer segment junction of central cones and yellow foveal lesions causing photophobia, central scotoma and impaired visual acuity.  ”Poppers” is a slang term referring to recreational substances of abuse belonging to the alkyl nitrite family of compounds. Inhalation of the fumes from these volatile nitric oxide donors provides a brief sense of euphoria, sexual arousal and myorelaxation. High concentrations of nitric oxide are suspected to represent the underlying cause of retinal damage linked to poppers intake.

Nicotinamide (Nam, amide form of niacin acid or nicotinate), a precursor for nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+), is important for normal physiological function of organisms. Nam also suppresses mobilization of Ca2+ from sarcoplasmic reticulum into cytoplasm through inhibiting ADP-ribose cyclase. Previously, we have demonstrated that a pharmacological dose of Nam normalizes maternal blood pressure in mouse models of preeclampsia, a pregnancy related hypertensive disorder.

Raynaud's phenomenon represents a harbinger of polyautoimmunity and although it is usually associated with systemic sclerosis, the discussion surrounding its classification in rheumatology is interesting given the current understanding of capillaroscopic findings in rheumatic diseases and improvements in immunological diagnostics.