Preclinical Implementation of matRadiomics: A Case Study for Early Malformation Prediction in Zebrafish Model.

Radiomics provides a structured approach to support clinical decision-making through key steps; however, users often face difficulties when switching between various software platforms to complete the workflow. To streamline this process, matRadiomics integrates the entire radiomics workflow within a single platform. This study extends matRadiomics to settings and validates it through a case study focused on malformation differentiation in a zebrafish model.

The added value of targeting airway hyperresponsiveness by blocking TSLP in the management of severe asthma.

Airways hyperresponsiveness (AHR) is a pathognomonic event of asthma in which the airways are reactive to various bronchoconstrictor stimuli at 'doses' that normally have no bronchoconstrictor effect in non-asthmatics. AHR is an objective measure of clinical efficacy, and the introduction of biologics revived interest as a marker of disease and its pathophysiologic mechanism. This article aims to discuss the mechanisms of AHR, focusing on the role of epithelial damage and TSLP production, and promote its correct assessment for the evaluation of patients with severe asthma, to predict the risk of exacerbations and outcomes, and the eligibility for treatment with an anti-TSLP agent.

Mixed Reality-Based Smart Occupational Therapy Personalized Protocol for Cerebellar Ataxic Patients.

Background: Occupational therapy (OT) is an essential component of patient care, and it is especially beneficial if focused on meaningful activities. For ataxic patients, traditional procedures are currently the most efficient, although without specific guidelines and suggestions for virtual reality integration. In this context, this study proposes Hybrid Smart Rehabilitation (HSR) based on mixed reality (MR) as an aid in overcoming limitations of the traditional OT procedures.

Jingle Cell Rock: Steering Cellular Activity With Low-Intensity Pulsed Ultrasound (LIPUS) to Engineer Functional Tissues in Regenerative Medicine.

Acoustic manipulation or perturbation of biological soft matter has emerged as a promising clinical treatment for a number of applications within regenerative medicine, ranging from bone fracture repair to neuromodulation. The potential of ultrasound (US) endures in imparting mechanical stimuli that are able to trigger a cascade of molecular signals within unscathed cells. Particularly, low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) has been associated with bio-effects such as activation of specific cellular pathways and alteration of cell morphology and gene expression, the extent of which can be modulated by fine tuning of LIPUS parameters including intensity, frequency and exposure time.

Virus-Induced MicroRNA Modulation and Systemic Sclerosis Disease.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short noncoding RNA sequences that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. They are involved in the regulation of multiple pathways, related to both physiological and pathological conditions, including autoimmune diseases, such as Systemic Sclerosis (SSc). Specifically, SSc is recognized as a complex and multifactorial disease, characterized by vascular abnormalities, immune dysfunction, and progressive fibrosis, affecting skin and internal organs.

Michelangelo Effect in Cognitive Rehabilitation: Using Art in a Digital Visuospatial Memory Task.

The Michelangelo effect is a phenomenon that shows a reduction in perceived effort and an improvement in performance among both healthy subjects and patients when completing a motor task related to artistic stimuli, compared to performing the same task with non-artistic stimuli. It could contribute to the efficacy of art therapy in neurorehabilitation. In this study, the possible occurrence of this effect was tested in a cognitive task by asking 15 healthy subjects and 17 patients with a history of stroke to solve a digital version of the classical memory card game.

Coexistence of Eosinophilic Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis and Allergic Bronchopulmonary Aspergillosis: A Fascinating Relationship.

Elevated eosinophil counts are associated with various diseases, including eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis (EGPA) and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (ABPA). EGPA is a rare small-vessel vasculitis characterized by asthma, eosinophilia, fleeting pulmonary infiltrates, and systemic manifestations. ABPA, initiated by immune reactions against in the airways, presents with poorly controlled asthma, wheezing, hemoptysis, productive cough, and systemic symptoms, which result in characteristic central bronchiectasis.

Michelangelo Effect in Virtual Sculpturing: Prospective for Motor Neurorehabilitation in the Metaverse.

We investigated the Michelangelo effect, i.e. the facilitatory effect of a virtual art therapy in motor rehabilitation (Iosa et al.

Development of an Oral IgA Response against SARS-CoV-2 Following Immunization with Different COVID-19 Vaccines.

The mucosal immune response is recognized to be important in the early control of infection sustained by viruses with mucosal tissues as the primary site of entry and replication, such as SARS-CoV-2. Mucosal IgA has been consistently reported in the mouth and eye of SARS-CoV-2 infected subjects, where it correlated inversely with COVID-19 symptom severity. Yet, there is still scarce information on the comparative ability of the diverse SARS-CoV-2 vaccines to induce local IgA responses at the virus entry site.

Characterization of the Pathogenic Potential of the Beach Sand Microbiome and Assessment of Quicklime as a Remediation Tool.

Beach sand may act as a reservoir for potential human pathogens, posing a public health risk. Despite this, the microbiological monitoring of sand microbiome is rarely performed to determine beach quality. In this study, the sand microbial population of a Northern Adriatic Sea beach sand was profiled by microbiological (CFU counts) and molecular methods (WGS, microarray), showing significant presence of potential human pathogens including drug-resistant strains.

Circulating miRNAs Expression in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex multifactorial disease that causes increasing morbidity worldwide, and many individuals with ME/CFS symptoms remain undiagnosed due to the lack of diagnostic biomarkers. Its etiology is still unknown, but increasing evidence supports a role of herpesviruses (including HHV-6A and HHV-6B) as potential triggers. Interestingly, the infection by these viruses has been reported to impact the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs), short non-coding RNA sequences which have been suggested to be epigenetic factors modulating ME/CFS pathogenic mechanisms.

Harnessing Biofabrication Strategies to Re-Surface Osteochondral Defects: Repair, Enhance, and Regenerate.

Osteochondral tissue (OC) is a complex and multiphasic system comprising cartilage and subchondral bone. The discrete OC architecture is layered with specific zones characterized by different compositions, morphology, collagen orientation, and chondrocyte phenotypes. To date, the treatment of osteochondral defects (OCD) remains a major clinical challenge due to the low self-regenerative capacity of damaged skeletal tissue, as well as the critical lack of functional tissue substitutes.

3D Tortuosity and Diffusion Characterization in the Human Mineralized Collagen Fibril Using a Random Walk Model.

Bone tissue is mainly composed at the nanoscale of apatite minerals, collagen molecules and water that form the mineralized collagen fibril (MCF). In this work, we developed a 3D random walk model to investigate the influence of bone nanostructure on water diffusion. We computed 1000 random walk trajectories of water molecules within the MCF geometric model.

Effects on Corticospinal Tract Homology of Faremus Personalized Neuromodulation Relieving Fatigue in Multiple Sclerosis: A Proof-of-Concept Study.

Objectives: Fatigue in multiple sclerosis (MS) is a frequent and invalidating symptom, which can be relieved by non-invasive neuromodulation, which presents only negligible side effects. A 5-day transcranial direct-current stimulation, 15 min per day, anodically targeting the somatosensory representation of the whole body against a larger occipital cathode was efficacious against MS fatigue (fatigue relief in multiple sclerosis, Faremus treatment). The present proof-of-concept study tested the working hypothesis that Faremus S1 neuromodulation modifies the homology of the dominant and non-dominant corticospinal (CST) circuit recruitment.

Augmented Virtual Reality in Vestibular Assessment: A Dynamic Gait Application.

Introduction: Dizziness is a common complaint affecting up to 23% of the world population. Diagnosis is of utmost importance and routinely involves several tests to be performed in specialized centers. The advent of a new generation of technical devices would make envision their use for a valid objective vestibular assessment.

Potential Use of a Combined Bacteriophage-Probiotic Sanitation System to Control Microbial Contamination and AMR in Healthcare Settings: A Pre-Post Intervention Study.

Microbial contamination in the hospital environment is a major concern for public health, since it significantly contributes to the onset of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), which are further complicated by the alarming level of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of HAI-associated pathogens. Chemical disinfection to control bioburden has a temporary effect and can favor the selection of resistant pathogens, as observed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, probiotic-based sanitation (probiotic cleaning hygiene system, PCHS) was reported to stably abate pathogens, AMR, and HAIs.

Shaping the subway microbiome through probiotic-based sanitation during the COVID-19 emergency: a pre-post case-control study.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the extent to which the public transportation environment, such as in subways, may be important for the transmission of potential pathogenic microbes among humans, with the possibility of rapidly impacting large numbers of people. For these reasons, sanitation procedures, including massive use of chemical disinfection, were mandatorily introduced during the emergency and remain in place. However, most chemical disinfectants have temporary action and a high environmental impact, potentially enhancing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of the treated microbes.

Phenotyping the Histopathological Subtypes of Non-Small-Cell Lung Carcinoma: How Beneficial Is Radiomics?

The aim of this study was to investigate the usefulness of radiomics in the absence of well-defined standard guidelines. Specifically, we extracted radiomics features from multicenter computed tomography (CT) images to differentiate between the four histopathological subtypes of non-small-cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). In addition, the results that varied with the radiomics model were compared.