Abstract: Methods of treating presbyopia or cataract in a subject in need thereof are provided. The methods require administering to the subject an effective amount of a composition comprising a compound that inhibits the formation of high molecular weight aggregates of human ?-A-crystallin. Compositions containing certain compounds are believed to be also effective in the treatment of transthyretin (TTR)-associated amyloidosis and Parkinson's disease.

Abstract: Methods of treating presbyopia or cataract in a subject in need thereof are provided. The methods require administering to the subject an effective amount of a composition comprising a compound that inhibits the formation of high molecular weight aggregates of human ?-A-crystallin. Compositions containing certain compounds are believed to be also effective in the treatment of transthyretin (TTR)-associated amyloidosis and Parkinson's disease.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for rapidly and reliably detecting compounds of interest using mass spectra. For the apparatus, an ion mobility spectrometer is connected to an electron ionization cell which, in turn, is connected to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer. For the method, mass spectra for a compound of interest are pre-selected and then averaged over a plurality of ion, mobility spectrometer scans to create a mass spectrum which is matched against the fingerprint of the compound of interest produced by fragmenting the ions in the electron ionization cell. Additionally, a feedback mechanism is disclosed for optimizing the maximum allowable extraction frequency in the mass spectrometer.