Molecular and Serological Findings in Sheep During Two Outbreaks in Sicily (Southern Italy).

Q fever is a widespread zoonotic disease caused by the obligate intracellular bacterium , primarily transmitted through the inhalation of contaminated aerosols. This study aimed to detect in two Sicilian sheep flocks, with no better defined reproductive disorders reported by the farmers. Blood, individual and bulk milk, ticks, and conjunctival swabs were collected from both flocks (A and B).

Tumor microenvironment of Burkitt lymphoma: different immune signatures with different clinical behavior.

Burkitt lymphoma (BL) is characterized by a tumor microenvironment (TME) in which macrophages represent the main component, determining a distinct histological appearance known as "starry sky" pattern. However, in some instances, BL may exhibit a granulomatous reaction that has been previously linked to favorable prognosis and spontaneous regression. The aim of our study was to deeply characterize the immune landscape of 7 cases of Epstein-Barr virus-positive (EBV+) BL with granulomatous reaction compared with 8 cases of EBV+ BL and 8 EBV-negative (EBV-) BL, both with typical starry sky pattern, by Gene expression profiling performed on the NanoString nCounter platform.

Technical refinements of the scapular tip-free flap for mandibular reconstruction.

Background: The use of scapular tip chimeric free flaps (STFFs) for reconstructing mandibular defects has recently become popular, but its utility relative to other bone-containing free flaps remains debatable. The aim of the report is to describe how technical modification of STFF impacted in its use for mandibular reconstruction also commenting results obtained in a unicentric series of patients.

Patients And Methods: Patients undergoing mandibular reconstruction using an STFF from January 1, 2014 to June 1, 2022 were retrospectively enrolled in this report.

Sex Differences in Conversion Risk from Mild Cognitive Impairment to Alzheimer's Disease: An Explainable Machine Learning Study with Random Survival Forests and SHAP.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) exhibits sex-linked variations, with women having a higher prevalence, and little is known about the sexual dimorphism in progressing from Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) to AD. The main aim of our study was to shed light on the sex-specific conversion-to-AD risk factors using Random Survival Forests (RSF), a Machine Learning survival approach, and Shapley Additive Explanations (SHAP) on dementia biomarkers in stable (sMCI) and progressive (pMCI) patients. With this purpose, we built two separate models for male (M-RSF) and female (F-RSF) cohorts to assess whether global explanations differ between the sexes.

Cognitive telerehabilitation: an expert consensus paper on current evidence and future perspective.

The progressive improvement of the living conditions and medical care of the population in industrialized countries has led to improvement in healthcare interventions, including rehabilitation. From this perspective, Telerehabilitation (TR) plays an important role. TR consists of the application of telemedicine to rehabilitation to offer remote rehabilitation services to the population unable to reach healthcare.

Skin Expander for Scalp Reconstruction: Reappraisal of a Reconstructive Procedure for Aplasia Cutis Congenita.

Purpose: Aplasia cutis congenita (ACC) is a heterogeneous group of congenital disorders characterized by the absence of epidermis, dermis, appendages, subcutaneous tissue, and bone. The aim of the study is to describe a clinical report of ACC of the scalp treated with skin expanders.

Clinical Report: In October 2019, a 16-year-old female patient underwent scalp expansion with 2 rectangular devices (150 and 250 cm3; Radovan Mentor-Johnson&Johnson).

Perioperative pain management after scapular tip free flap harvesting for head and neck reconstruction using mini-catheters to inject the local anesthetic.

Purpose: Although functional and esthetic results after the use of a scapular tip free flap (STFF) in head and neck reconstruction, and the related donor-site morbidity, have been extensively described, data regarding acute postoperative donor-site pain management are lacking. Purpose of this study is to explore the use of mini-catheters to administer local anesthetics for donor-site pain management after reconstruction using STFF.

Methods: Patients who underwent head and neck reconstruction using a STFF were prospectively enrolled and, through a perineural catheter placed in the donor site during the surgical procedure, a bolus of chirochaine was injected before the patient regained consciousness and at 8, 16, and 24 h postoperatively.

Wessex Head Injury Matrix in Patients with Prolonged Disorders of Consciousness: A Reliability Study.

The Wessex Head Injury Matrix (WHIM) was developed to assess patients with disorders of consciousness (DOC) and was tested in terms of inter-rater reliability (IRR) and test-retest reliability (TRR) in the year 2000. The American Congress of Rehabilitation and Medicine reported that IRR and TRR were unproven. We aim to assess the reliability of the WHIM in prolonged DOC patients (PDOC).

Explainability of random survival forests in predicting conversion risk from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer's disease.

Random Survival Forests (RSF) has recently showed better performance than statistical survival methods as Cox proportional hazard (CPH) in predicting conversion risk from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, RSF application in real-world clinical setting is still limited due to its black-box nature.For this reason, we aimed at providing a comprehensive study of RSF explainability with SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) on biomarkers of stable and progressive patients (sMCI and pMCI) from Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.

Ferroportin expression and regulation in human placenta/fetal membranes: Implications for ferroptosis and adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Iron overload is associated with pregnancy complications. Ferroportin (FPN) is the only known iron exporter in mammalian cells. We hypothesize that FPN is functionally important in ferrotopsis, a process of iron-dependent non-apoptotic programmed cell death, and may have a critical role to play in pregnancy success.

A Canine Leptospirosis Clinical Case Due to (Serogroup Icterohaemorrhagiae) in a Dog Kennel in Castelvetrano (Western Sicily, South Italy).

Leptospirosis is a worldwide widespread zoonosis caused by genus. We report an acute leptospirosis case in a puppy housed at a municipal kennel and the subsequent diagnostic investigations carried out on all dogs housed in the kennel. Laboratory investigation included mainly a microagglutination test, real-time PCR, and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) for genus.

Double Arterialized Scapular Tip Free Flap for Mandibular Reconstruction.

Introduction: Scapular tip free flap (STFF) has become today one of the workhorse flaps for maxillary reconstruction; recently, the possibility of extending the vascular supply by adding to the angular branch of the circumflex pedicle up to its periosteal entrance in the lateral border of the scapula has been proposed as a reliable technique to improve the length of perfused bone when STFF is used for mandibular reconstruction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the patients who had received microvascular reconstruction of the mandible with STFF vascularized by both the circumflex scapular artery via the periosteal branch and the thoracodorsal artery via the angular artery.

Methods: A retrospective chart review was conducted for all patients who underwent reconstruction with an STFF for mandibular defect between January 2016 and December 2020 at the University Hospital of Parma.

Modified Preauricular Transparotid Approach for Treating Mandibular Condylar Fractures.

Aim Of The Study: We introduce a technical variant of the standard preauricular approach to treat intracapsular and condylar neck fractures: the modified preauricular transparotid approach (MPTA). The main modification, when compared with the conventional submandibular approach, is that the incision of the superficial musculoaponeurotic system is performed directly above the parotid gland, and the buccal branch of the facial nerve is dissected in a retrograde way within the parotid gland.

Case Series: Between January 2019 and December 2020 at the Maxillofacial Departments of "Ospedale Maggiore" of Parma and "Policlinico San Martino" of Genoa 6 patients affected by intracapsular and condylar neck fractures underwent open reduction and internal with MPTA.

Maxillomandibular Advancement for Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: Long-Term Results of Respiratory Function and Reverse Face-Lift.

Purpose: Scientific literature considers maxillomandibular advancement (MMA) as the most effective surgical treatment for the management of adult obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Maxillomandibular advancement enlarges the pharyngeal space by expanding the skeletal framework. Moreover, it projects the soft tissue of the cheeks, the mouth, and the nose in the aging face, which is characterized by multiple signs affecting the middle third and the lower third.

Behavioral scales variability in patients with prolonged disorders of consciousness.

Background: The principal conditions differentiating disorders of consciousness (DOC) patients are the unresponsive wakefulness syndrome/vegetative state (UWS/VS) and the minimally conscious state (MCS). Many individuals who suffer from sudden-onset severe brain injury move through stages of UWS/VS and MCS before regaining full awareness. In some patients, the DOC condition is protracted for years (PDOC).

Analysis of the High Submandibular Approach: A Critical Reapprasail of a Transfacial Access to the Mandibular Skeleton.

Aim: In 2006 following the development of dedicated osteosynthesis plates, Meyer and colleagues reported a successful clinical study of condylar fractures treated by a modified submandibular approach; it was called high submandibular approach or "Strasbourg approach." The aim of this study is to describe the high submandibular approach step by step.

Case Series: Between January 2010 and December 2015 at the Maxillofacial Unit of the Hospital "Policlinico San Martino" 13 patients affected by subcondylar fracture underwent open reduction and internal with high submandibular approach.

Mediating Mindfulness-Based Interventions with Virtual Reality in Non-Clinical Populations: The State-of-the-Art.

Mindfulness is one of the most popular psychotherapeutic techniques that help to promote good mental and physical health. Combining mindfulness with immersive virtual reality (VR) has been proven to be especially effective for a wide range of mood disorders for which traditional mindfulness has proven valuable. However, the vast majority of immersive VR-enhanced mindfulness applications have focused on clinical settings, with little evidence on healthy subjects.

Fully Digitalized Workflow for One-Stage Mandibular Contouring and Orthognathic Surgery to Correct Severe Facial Asymmetry.

Introduction: Surgical correction of facial asymmetry is commonly performed in at least two stages. Recently, because of the long duration of a two-step procedure, the demand for a one-step procedure has increased. Our study aims to present a fully digitalized workflow for one-stage mandibular contouring (MC) and bimaxillary surgery to correct severe facial asymmetry using 3D technology.

Gender Influences Virtual Reality-Based Recovery of Cognitive Functions in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury: A Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Clinical Trial.

The rehabilitation of cognitive deficits in individuals with traumatic brain injury is essential for promoting patients' recovery and autonomy. Virtual reality (VR) training is a powerful tool for reaching this target, although the effectiveness of this intervention could be interfered with by several factors. In this study, we evaluated if demographical and clinical variables could be related to the recovery of cognitive function in TBI patients after a well-validated VR training.

Serogroup Pomona in a Dairy Cattle Farm in a Multi-Host Zootechnical System.

Bovine leptospirosis is an infectious zoonotic disease causing reproductive problems and economic losses in livestock. This work reports, for the first time in Sicily (South Italy), an outbreak of serogroup Pomona that occurred in cattle farms within the Nebrodi Park and was mainly characterized by full-term abortion. Blood and urine samples were collected at different time points from animals of six different farms (Farms A-F) sharing the same grazing area.

Stroke Telerehabilitation in Calabria: A Health Technology Assessment.

Telerehabilitation (TR) is defined as a model of home service for motor and cognitive rehabilitation, ensuring continuity of care over time. TR can replace the traditional face-to-face approach as an alternative method of delivering conventional rehabilitation and applies to situations where the patient is unable to reach rehabilitation facilities or for low-income countries where outcomes are particularly poor. For this reason, in this study, we sought to demonstrate the feasibility and utility of a well-known TR intervention on post-stroke patients living in one of the poorest indebted regions of Italy, where the delivery of rehabilitation services is inconsistent and not uniform.

Nociceptive Response Is a Possible Marker of Evolution in the Level of Consciousness in Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome Patients.

The Nociception Coma Scale (NCS) and its revised version (NCS-R) were used to evaluate behavioral responses to pain in non-communicative patients. We hypothesized that if patients demonstrate changes to their NCS(-R) scores over time, their evolving behavioral abilities could indicate a forthcoming diagnostic improvement with the Coma Recovery Scale-Revised (CRS-R). Forty-three Vegetative State/Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndrome (VS/UWS) patients were enrolled in the study.