NFASC and Cognitive impairment: Similar alterations in NF have been described in the brain (Vickers et al., 1994; Bussière et al., 2003; Thangavel et al., 2009) and retina (Wilson et al., 2016); preclinical and clinical data indicate that hyperphosphorylation of neurofilaments precedes degeneration (Wilson et al., 2016) and that decreased immunoreactivity for nonphosphorylated NF in hippocampal and cortical neurons is linked to cognitive impairment in aging and dementia in patients (Vickers et al., 1994; Bussière et al., 2003; Thangavel et al., 2009).