Croplands proximity is associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis incidence and age at onset.

Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease resulting from an intricate interplay between genetics and environmental factors. Many studies have explored living in rural areas as a possible risk factor for ALS, without focusing simultaneously on incidence, age at onset and phenotypic features.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of croplands residential proximity on ALS incidence and phenotype, focusing on age of onset, site of onset and progression rate.

Domain knowledge-guided machine learning framework for state of health estimation in Lithium-ion batteries.

Accurate estimation of battery state of health is crucial for effective electric vehicle battery management. Here, we propose five health indicators that can be extracted online from real-world electric vehicle operation and develop a machine learning-based method to estimate the battery state of health. The proposed indicators provide physical insights into the energy and power fade of the battery and enable accurate capacity estimation even with partially missing data.

Continuous Markov Models for Analyzing the Effect of Environmental Personal Exposure on Multiple Sclerosis Progression.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory autoimmune demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system, leading to progressive functional impairments. Predicting disease progression with a probabilistic and time-dependent approach might help suggest interventions for a better management of the disease. Recently, there has been increasing focus on the impact of air pollutants as environmental factors influencing disease progression.

Smartphone applications for nutrition Support: A systematic review of the target outcomes and main functionalities.

Introduction: A proper nutrition is essential for human life. Recently, special attention on this topic has been given in relation to three health statuses: obesity, malnutrition and specific diseases that can be related to food or treated with specific diets. Mobile technology is often used to assist users that wish to regulate their eating habits, and identifying which fields of application have been explored the most by the app developers and which main functionalities have been adopted can be useful in view of future app developments.

V-care: An application to support lifestyle improvement in children with obesity.

Background: Obesity is increasing in the pediatric population, and it represents an important risk factor for the life-long development of several diseases. Although health promotion represents the mainstay of obesity prevention and treatment, lifestyle modification programs are often unsuccessful.

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to introduce the V-care app, a mobile health platform specifically developed to offer effective interaction and support young people in a long-term obesity treatment, combining different strategies to maximize the results of the lifestyle modification program and minimize the possibility of dropouts.

Artificial intelligence and statistical methods for stratification and prediction of progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: A systematic review.

Background: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterised by the progressive loss of motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. The fact that ALS's disease course is highly heterogeneous, and its determinants not fully known, combined with ALS's relatively low prevalence, renders the successful application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques particularly arduous.

Objective: This systematic review aims at identifying areas of agreement and unanswered questions regarding two notable applications of AI in ALS, namely the automatic, data-driven stratification of patients according to their phenotype, and the prediction of ALS progression.

Impaired Glucose-Insulin Metabolism in Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome Related to SARS-CoV-2 in Children.

An interaction between metabolic glucose impairment and coronavirus disease 2019 is reported. The development of a severe multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) related to SARS-CoV-2 infection has been described. We evaluated the impact of MIS-C on glycemic patterns in pediatric patients.

Exploring the inter-subject variability in the relationship between glucose monitoring metrics and glycated hemoglobin for pediatric patients with type 1 diabetes.

Objectives: Despite the widespread diffusion of continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) systems, which includes both real-time CGM (rtCGM) and intermittently scanned CGM (isCGM), an effective application of CGM technology in clinical practice is still limited. The study aimed to investigate the relationship between isCGM-derived glycemic metrics and glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), identifying overall CGM targets and exploring the inter-subject variability.

Methods: A group of 27 children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes under multiple daily injection insulin-therapy was enrolled.

Patient-Generated Health Data Integration and Advanced Analytics for Diabetes Management: The AID-GM Platform.

Diabetes is a high-prevalence disease that leads to an alteration in the patient's blood glucose (BG) values. Several factors influence the subject's BG profile over the day, including meals, physical activity, and sleep. Wearable devices are available for monitoring the patient's BG value around the clock, while activity trackers can be used to record his/her sleep and physical activity.

Nearest Consensus Clustering Classification to Identify Subclasses and Predict Disease.

Disease subtyping, which helps to develop personalized treatments, remains a challenge in data analysis because of the many different ways to group patients based upon their data. However, if we can identify subclasses of disease, then it will help to develop better models that are more specific to individuals and should therefore improve prediction and understanding of the underlying characteristics of the disease in question. This paper proposes a new algorithm that integrates consensus clustering methods with classification in order to overcome issues with sample bias.

A multicenter prospective study on the risk of acquiring liver disease in anti-hepatitis C virus negative patients affected from homozygous beta-thalassemia.

Although the risk of transfusion-transmitted hepatitis has been recently reduced, transfusion-dependent beta-thalassemia patients may still develop liver disease due to viral infection or iron overload. We assessed the frequency and causes of liver dysfunction in a cohort of anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) negative thalassemics. Of 1,481 thalassemics enrolled in 31 centers, 219 (14.

The current risk of retroviral infections transmitted by transfusion in patients who have undergone multiple transfusions. Cooleycare Cooperative Group.

Background: To conduct a multicenter, prospective survey within the program of the Cooleycare Cooperative Group to evaluate the rate of transfusion-transmitted infections with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and human T-lymphotropic virus (HTLV) in a cohort of patients who were homozygous for beta thalassemia and underwent multiple transfusions during the 6-year follow-up.

Patients And Methods: One thousand three hundred eighty-four patients with beta thalassemia from 36 centers were enrolled from December 1989 to March 1990. Serum samples were tested at regular intervals during the period from December 1989 to March 1996 for anti-HIV and anti-HTLV antibodies in 1 laboratory.

The incidence and natural course of transfusion-associated GB virus C/hepatitis G virus infection in a cohort of thalassemic patients. The Cooleycare Cooperative Group.

To evaluate the risk of transmitting blood-borne GB virus C/hepatitis G virus (GBV-C/HGV) and to define the natural course of infection, we performed a prospective study in a cohort of multitransfused beta-thalassemics during a 6-year follow-up period. We analyzed serum samples of 150 patients collected at 3-year intervals from 1990 to 1996. GBV-C/HGV RNA was determined by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction and antibodies to E2-protein by an enzyme immunoassay.

Asymptomatic hepatitis G virus infection in blood donors.

Background: Hepatitis G virus (HGV) has been reported in patients with fulminant hepatitis and aplastic anemia, but HGV RNA has also been found in healthy individuals. The possible associations of HGV with liver function and hematologic abnormalities in asymptomatic blood donors were investigated.

Study Design And Methods: Serum HGV RNA was determined in 200 repeat donors (Group A), 44 subjects with elevated alanine aminotransferase (Group B), and 54 hepatitis C virus carriers (Group C).

Sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus to a repeat blood donor.

Background: Sexual transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) can occur, albeit inefficiently, and this represents a possible cause of community-acquired infections. This study describes a case of asymptomatic HCV infection acquired by a repeat blood donor from her sexual partner.

Case Report: A female repeat blood donor showed anti-HCV seroconversion and a slight elevation in alanine aminotransferase.

The incidence and risk factors of community-acquired hepatitis C in a cohort of Italian blood donors.

To assess the incidence and source of community-acquired hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among subjects at low risk for blood-borne diseases, we prospectively studied a cohort of 16,515 repeat blood donors over a mean follow-up time of 36 months. Second- and third-generation methods were used for hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) testing. HCV RNA was determined in the serum of anti-HCV-positive donors by reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction.

Influence of different hepatitis C virus genotypes on the course of asymptomatic hepatitis C virus infection.

Background & Aims: The association of liver disease with hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes mainly refers to patients with serious liver damage; little information is available on symptomless carriers. The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation of genotypes with clinical course, risk factors for infection, and antibody to HCV reactivity in asymptomatic subjects.

Methods: One hundred nine viremic blood donors with at least 1 year of follow-up were studied; 41 underwent liver biopsy.

Hepatitis C virus RNA and liver histology in blood donors reactive to a single antigen by second-generation recombinant immunoblot assay.

The clinical significance of single band reactivity (indeterminate pattern) at anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) second-generation recombinant immunoblot assay (RIBA-2) was investigated in symptomless subjects with normal liver function tests to obtain data for their counseling and clinical management. Serum and hepatic HCV RNA were determined by the nested polymerase chain reaction, and liver histology was evaluated in 40 symptomless blood donors with stable indeterminate RIBA-2 pattern, including 38 reactive to c22-3. All but one had normal alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels.

[Effect of althesin on intraocular pressure].

A study was undertaken on three groups of surgical patient to compare the variations of the intraocular tension induced by Althesin. In the first group was used only Althesin, for the second Althesin associated with a depolarizing curare, for the third Althesin plus neuroleptoanalgesia and succinylcholine. During the operation in every group was observed a fall of intraocular tension produced by Althesin, but no significative changes with reference to the others drugs employed.