Sensor-Derived Measures of Motor and Cognitive Functions in People With Multiple Sclerosis Using Unsupervised Smartphone-Based Assessments: Proof-of-Concept Study.

Background: Smartphones and wearables are revolutionizing the assessment of cognitive and motor function in neurological disorders, allowing for objective, frequent, and remote data collection. However, these assessments typically provide a plethora of sensor-derived measures (SDMs), and selecting the most suitable measure for a given context of use is a challenging, often overlooked problem.

Objective: This analysis aims to develop and apply an SDM selection framework, including automated data quality checks and the evaluation of statistical properties, to identify robust SDMs that describe the cognitive and motor function of people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Konectom™ cognitive processing speed test enables reliable remote, unsupervised cognitive assessment in people with multiple sclerosis: Exploring the use of substitution time as a novel digital outcome measure.

Background: The Konectom™ smartphone-based cognitive processing speed (CPS) test is designed to assess processing speed and account for impact of visuomotor function on performance.

Objective: Evaluate reliability and validity of Konectom CPS Test, performed in clinic and remotely.

Methods: Data were collected from people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) aged 18-64 years and healthy control participants (HC) matched for age, sex, and education.

2024 SIAC guidelines on cardiorespiratory rehabilitation in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease.

The 2024 Interamerican Society of Cardiology (SIAC) guidelines on cardiorespiratory rehabilitation (CRR) in pediatric patients with congenital heart disease aim to gather and evaluate all relevant evidence available on the topic to unify criteria and promote the implementation of CRR programs in this population in Latin America and other parts of the world. Currently, there is no unified CRR model for the pediatric population. Consequently, our goal was to create these CRR guidelines adapted to the characteristics of congenital heart disease and the physiology of this population, as well as to the realities of Latin America.

Adenocarcinoma of the sigmoid colon causing sigmoido-rectal intussusception: A rare entity in adults.

Introduction: Intussusception occurs when a more proximal portion of the bowel (intussusceptum) invaginates into the more distal bowel (intussuscipiens). The pathomechanism is thought to involve altered bowel peristalsis at the intraluminal lesion, which is then a lead point for the intussusceptum. Intestinal intussusception is rare in adults, accounting for approximately 1 % of all bowel obstructions.

Digital Devices for Assessing Motor Functions in Mobility-Impaired and Healthy Populations: Systematic Literature Review.

Background: With the advent of smart sensing technology, mobile and wearable devices can provide continuous and objective monitoring and assessment of motor function outcomes.

Objective: We aimed to describe the existing scientific literature on wearable and mobile technologies that are being used or tested for assessing motor functions in mobility-impaired and healthy adults and to evaluate the degree to which these devices provide clinically valid measures of motor function in these populations.

Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted by searching Embase, MEDLINE, CENTRAL (January 1, 2015, to June 24, 2020), the United States and European Union clinical trial registries, and the United States Food and Drug Administration website using predefined study selection criteria.

Setting up regional diagnostic reference levels for pediatric interventional cardiology in Latin America and the Caribbean countries: preliminary results and identified challenges.

The goal of the present study was to propose a set of preliminary regional diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) for pediatric interventional cardiology (IC) procedures in Latin America and the Caribbean countries, classified by age and weight groups. The study was conducted in the framework of the Optimization of Protection in Pediatric Interventional Radiology in Latin America and the Caribbean program coordinated by the World Health Organization and the Pan American Health Organization in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. The first step of the program was focused on pediatric IC.

Pitfalls and technical errors in the first approach to neonates with anorectal malformations in a non-specialist context: can we do any better? A review from three Eastern African Centres.

Introduction: In sub-Saharan Africa, Anorectal malformations (ARM) are the most frequent cause of neonatal obstruction. Referral to a Pediatric Surgeon is frequently delayed. The first treatment is often delivered at not specialist level and mismanagement may result.

[Use of ivabradine for the treatment of congenital junctional ectopic tachycardia].

The congenial form of junctional ectopic tachycardia is a rare variant of pediatric tachyarrhythmia that due to its incessant nature and its refractoriness to the traditionally used antiarrhythmic agents has a high morbimortality The clinical cases of two patients with a diagnosis of congenital junctional ectopic tachycardia with inadequate response to the regular pharmacological options, who developed dilated cardiomyopathy and ventricular dysfunction secondary to sustained tachycardia, are presented. In both ivrabadine, a new innovative option was used with excellent clinical response.

Changes in Body Size during Early Growth Are Independently Associated with Arterial Properties in Early Childhood.

Unlabelled: Nutritional status in early life stages has been associated with arterial parameters in childhood. However, it is still controversial whether changes in standardized body weight (z-BW), height (z-BH), BW for height (z-BWH) and/or body mass index (z-BMI) in the first three years of life are independently associated with variations in arterial structure, stiffness and hemodynamics in early childhood. In addition, it is unknown if the strength of the associations vary depending on the growth period, nutritional characteristics and/or arterial parameters analyzed.

Oxygen Transport Membranes for Efficient Glass Melting.

Glass manufacturing is an energy-intensive process in which oxy-fuel combustion can offer advantages over the traditional air-blown approach. Examples include the reduction of NO and particulate emissions, improved furnace operations and enhanced heat transfer. This paper presents a one-dimensional mathematical model solving mass, momentum and energy balances for a planar oxygen transport membrane module.

Challenges, constraints and failures that are related to the posterior sagittal anorectoplasty approach to anorectal malformations in a low-resource context: An experience from a sudanese tertiary referral centre.

Background: Anorectal malformations (ARMs) in the sub-Saharan Africa are a common cause of neonatal referral for intestinal obstruction, and the posterior sagittal anorectoplasty (PSARP) approach is rapidly spreading. The small number of paediatric surgeons and the low-resource context limit children's access to care and constrain the quality of results. A retrospective, observational study has been done on a consecutive series of ARM cases admitted to a Sudanese tertiary paediatric surgical centre within the framework of a partnership between Italian and Sudanese academic institutions addressed to review and upgrade the standard of care of major congenital anomalies.

Age and sex impact plasma NFL and t-Tau trajectories in individuals with subjective memory complaints: a 3-year follow-up study.

Background: Plasma neurofilament light (NFL) and total Tau (t-Tau) proteins are candidate biomarkers for early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The impact of biological factors on their plasma concentrations in individuals with subjective memory complaints (SMC) has been poorly explored. We longitudinally investigate the effect of sex, age, APOE ε4 allele, comorbidities, brain amyloid-β (Aβ) burden, and cognitive scores on plasma NFL and t-Tau concentrations in cognitively healthy individuals with SMC, a condition associated with AD development.

Association of plasma YKL-40 with brain amyloid-β levels, memory performance, and sex in subjective memory complainers.

Neuroinflammation, a key early pathomechanistic alteration of Alzheimer's disease, may represent either a detrimental or a compensatory mechanism or both (according to the disease stage). YKL-40, a glycoprotein highly expressed in differentiated glial cells, is a candidate biomarker for in vivo tracking neuroinflammation in humans. We performed a longitudinal study in a monocentric cohort of cognitively healthy individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease exploring whether age, sex, and the apolipoprotein E ε4 allele affect plasma YKL-40 concentrations.

A Path Toward Precision Medicine for Neuroinflammatory Mechanisms in Alzheimer's Disease.

Neuroinflammation commences decades before Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical onset and represents one of the earliest pathomechanistic alterations throughout the AD continuum. Large-scale genome-wide association studies point out several genetic variants-, and -potentially linked to neuroinflammation. Most of these genes are involved in proinflammatory intracellular signaling, cytokines/interleukins/cell turnover, synaptic activity, lipid metabolism, and vesicle trafficking.

In vivo staging of regional amyloid deposition predicts functional conversion in the preclinical and prodromal phases of Alzheimer's disease.

We tested the usefulness of a regional amyloid staging based on amyloid sensitive positron emission tomography to predict conversion to cognitive impairment and dementia in preclinical and prodromal Alzheimer's disease (AD). We analyzed 884 cases, including normal controls, and people with subjective cognitive decline or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative with a maximum follow-up of 6 years and 318 cases with subjective memory complaints with a maximum follow-up time of three years from the INveStIGation of AlzHeimer's PredicTors cohort (INSIGHT-preAD study). Cox regression showed a significant association of regional amyloid stages with time to conversion from a cognitively normal to an MCI, and from an MCI to a dementia status.

Stroke volume and cardiac output non-invasive monitoring based on brachial oscillometry-derived pulse contour analysis: Explanatory variables and reference intervals throughout life (3-88 years).

Background: Non-invasive assessment of stroke volume (SV), cardiac output (CO) and cardiac index (CI) has shown to be useful for the evaluation, diagnosis and/or management of different clinical conditions. Through pulse contour analysis (PCA) cuff‑based oscillometric devices would enable obtaining ambulatory operator-independent non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring. There are no reference intervals (RIs), when considered as a continuum in childhood, adolescence and adult life, for PCA-derived SV [SV(PCA)], CO [CO(PCA)] and CI [CI(PCA)].

Resting-state posterior alpha rhythms are abnormal in subjective memory complaint seniors with preclinical Alzheimer's neuropathology and high education level: the INSIGHT-preAD study.

Cognitive reserve is present in Alzheimer's disease (AD) seniors with high education attainment making them clinically resilient to extended brain neuropathology and neurodegeneration. Here, we tested whether subjective memory complaint (SMC) seniors with AD neuropathology and high education attainment of the prospective INSIGHT-preAD cohort (Paris) may present abnormal eyes-closed resting state posterior electroencephalographic rhythms around individual alpha frequency peak, typically altered in AD patients. The SMC participants negative to amyloid PET AD markers (SMCneg) with high (over low-moderate) education level showed higher posterior alpha 2 power density (possibly "neuroprotective").

Association of brain network dynamics with plasma biomarkers in subjective memory complainers.

Using a single integrated analysis, we examined the relationship between brain networks and molecular pathways in a cohort of elderly individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease. In 205 subjective memory complainers (124 females, mean age: 75.7 ± 3.

Aortic pressure and forward and backward wave components in children, adolescents and young-adults: Agreement between brachial oscillometry, radial and carotid tonometry data and analysis of factors associated with their differences.

Non-invasive devices used to estimate central (aortic) systolic pressure (cSBP), pulse pressure (cPP) and forward (Pf) and backward (Pb) wave components from blood pressure (BP) or surrogate signals differ in arteries studied, techniques, data-analysis algorithms and/or calibration schemes (e.g. calibrating to calculated [MBPc] or measured [MBPosc] mean pressure).

Arterial Structural and Functional Characteristics at End of Early Childhood and Beginning of Adulthood: Impact of Body Size Gain during Early, Intermediate, Late and Global Growth.

Unlabelled: An association between nutritional characteristics in theearlylife stages and the state of the cardiovascular (CV) system in early childhood itself and/or at the beginning of adulthood has been postulated. It is still controversial whether changes in weight, height and/or body mass index (BMI) during childhood or adolescence are independently associated with hemodynamics and/or arterial properties in early childhood and adulthood.

Aims: First, to evaluate and compare the strength of association between CVproperties (at 6 and 18 years (y)) and (a) anthropometric data at specific growth stages (e.

Isolated fallopian tube torsion in pediatric age: An Italian multicenter retrospective study.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to quantify the experience of five Italian centers on the diagnosis and management of isolated fallopian tube torsion (IFTT) in children.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the data of 20 patients aged 1-16 years of age with surgically diagnosed IFTT between 1991 and 2017 from five Italian centers of pediatric surgery. We analyzed common presenting signs, symptoms, and radiographic findings, as well as surgical interventions to describe management offering further insight into the diagnosis and treatment of this rare entity.

Differential default mode network trajectories in asymptomatic individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease.

Introduction: The longitudinal trajectories of functional brain dynamics and the impact of genetic risk factors in individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease are poorly understood.

Methods: In a large-scale monocentric cohort of 224 amyloid stratified individuals at risk for Alzheimer's disease, default mode network (DMN) resting state functional connectivity (FC) was investigated between two serial time points across 2 years.

Results: Widespread DMN FC changes were shown in frontal and posterior areas, as well as in the right hippocampus.