Lower Extremity Fibro-Adipose Vascular Anomaly: A Post-surgical Rehabilitation Treatment.

Fibro-adipose vascular anomaly (FAVA) presents diagnostic and therapeutic challenges due to its rarity and overlapping features with other vascular malformations. Predominantly affecting the lower extremities, it manifests with pain and contracture, and surgical resection may be necessary in symptomatic cases. We present a case of a 36-year-old patient with FAVA in the right lower extremity, experiencing persistent symptoms since adolescence.

The design and implementation of a novel music-based curriculum for dementia care professionals: The experience of SOUND in Italy, Portugal and Romania.

Background: The positive effects of active and passive music activities on older people with dementia are well and largely documented by the literature. Nevertheless, the use of music as a non-pharmacological intervention is not so common both in private and public older people care facilities because in-home staff have no competencies for delivering such activities. Conversely, the realization and implementation of a co-designed music-based curriculum for dementia care professionals may help the diffusion of music in the older people care facilities.

Age-Related Variations in Breast Cancer Complications: Insights from Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Clinical Practice.

Background Breast cancer patients often experience complications related to the disease or its treatment. With the rising average life expectancy, age is becoming less of a factor in treatment decisions for this condition. This study aims to evaluate differences in breast cancer complications among various age groups in patients referred to a hospital's physical medicine and rehabilitation (PMR) department.

The link between obesity and the gut microbiota and immune system in early-life.

In early-life, the gut microbiota is highly modifiable, being modulated by external factors such as maternal microbiota, mode of delivery, and feeding strategies. The composition of the child's gut microbiota will deeply impact the development and maturation of its immune system, with consequences for future health. As one of the main sources of microorganisms to the child, the mother represents a crucial factor in the establishment of early-life microbiota, impacting the infant's wellbeing.

A quasi-experimental mixed-method pilot study to check the efficacy of the "SOUND" active and passive music-based intervention on mental wellbeing and residual cognition of older people with dementia and dementia professionals' burnout: a research protocol.

Purpose: The SOUND method offers an innovative blended intervention based on music circle-activities and cognitive stimulation approaches which was co-designed by musicians, health professionals, older people with dementia, family caregivers and researchers, for its application in dementia settings. The purpose of the paper is to describe the detailed procedure of the quasi-experimental pilot study.

Method: The experimental phase of SOUND uses a mixed-method design encompassing qualitative and quantitative observations, cognitive testing, self-report and interviewer-assisted questionnaires to investigate the effectiveness of the intervention for 45 people with dementia and 45 professionals (15 in every study country: Italy, Portugal, Romania).

The impact of echocardiographic indexation to evaluate cardiac reverse remodeling throughout pregnancy and postpartum.

Introduction And Objectives: Echocardiography guidelines suggest normalizing left ventricular (LV) volumes and mass (LVM) to body size. During pregnancy, continuous weight variation impacts on body surface area (BSA) calculation, limiting the longitudinal analysis of cardiac remodeling (CR) and reverse remodeling (RR) variables. Our aim was to identify the most common indexing methodologies in the literature on pregnant populations through a systematic review; and, to compare four scaling methods: (i) none (absolute values); (ii) indexing to the BSA before pregnancy; (iii) allomeric indexing; and (iv) indexing to BSA measured at the same day of cardiac assessment, using an illustrative example.

Cardiovascular risk factors during pregnancy impact the postpartum cardiac and vascular reverse remodeling.

Pregnant women with cardiovascular risk (CVR) factors are highly prone to develop cardiovascular disease later in life. Thus, recent guidelines suggest extending the follow-up period to 1 yr after delivery. We aimed to evaluate cardiovascular remodeling during pregnancy and determine which CVR factors and potential biomarkers predict postpartum cardiac and vascular reverse remodeling (RR).

The contribution of maternal factors to the oral microbiota of the child: Influence from early life and clinical relevance.

The mother represents one of the earliest sources of microorganisms to the child, influencing the acquisition and establishment of its microbiota in early life. However, the impact of the mother on the oral microbiota of the child from early life until adulthood remains to unveil. This narrative review aims to: i) explore the maternal influence on the oral microbiota of the child, ii) summarize the similarity between the oral microbiota of mother and child over time, iii) understand possible routes for vertical transmission, and iv) comprehend the clinical significance of this process for the child.

The Role of Biotics as a Therapeutic Strategy for Oral Mucositis - A Systematic Review.

Objectives: Oral mucositis (OM) is an acute and highly prevalent side effect of cancer treatments. Currently, there is no effective strategy for its prevention or treatment. This systematic review aimed to assess the effectiveness of biotics used as a therapeutic strategy for the management of OM.

The PERInatal MYocardial Remodeling (PERIMYR) cohort study protocol: A prospective study of cardiac remodeling and "recovery" in pregnancy as a model to understand the impact of comorbidities in cardiac remodeling and reverse remodeling.

Introduction: Heart failure (HF) is among the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Several conditions trigger left ventricular chronic pressure or volume overload, hypertrophy, systolic and diastolic dysfunction, leading to cardiac remodeling and a rapid progression toward HF. Therapeutic interventions elicit reverse remodeling (RR), a highly variable myocardial response that ranges from none to total ventricular structural/functional recovery.

Knowledge, attitudes, and practices of prenatal care practitioners regarding oral health in pregnancy-A systematic review.

Background: Hormonal and behavioral changes during pregnancy may impact the oral health of women, which can influence the pregnancy course. Prenatal care practitioners (PCP) must be aware of this bidirectional relation in order to include an oral assessment in routine prenatal care.

Objectives: To characterize the knowledge and attitudes of PCP regarding oral health in pregnant women.

Potential Pathogenic and Opportunistic Oral Bacteria in Early Life: The Role of Maternal Factors in a Portuguese Population.

In early life, maternal factors are of the utmost relevance for oral microbiome acquisition and maturation. Therefore, our study explored the impact of maternal factors, such as saliva and breastmilk colonization, cardiovascular risk factors (CRF), type of delivery, oral health, and caregiving habits on the prevalence of potential pathogenic and opportunistic oral bacteria in early life. A total of 26 healthy mothers, 23 mothers with CRF, and their 50 children were included and samples (child's oral swabs, mother's saliva, and breastmilk) were collected 4 to 12 weeks after delivery and inoculated in selective and differential media for detection of non-fastidious Gram-negative and Gram-positive bacteria to isolate potential pathogenic and opportunistic bacteria identified by MALDI-TOF MS (414 isolates).

Vertical Transmission and Antifungal Susceptibility Profile of Yeast Isolates from the Oral Cavity, Gut, and Breastmilk of Mother-Child Pairs in Early Life.

Yeast acquisition begins at birth; however, the contribution of the mother on yeast transmission to the offspring and associated resistance is yet to be clarified. The aim of this study was to explore the vertical transmission of yeasts and their antifungal susceptibility profile in early life. Oral, fecal, and breastmilk samples were collected from 73 mother-child pairs four to twelve weeks after delivery and cultured on Sabouraud dextrose agar with chloramphenicol.

Embodiment Comfort Levels During Motor Imagery Training Combined With Immersive Virtual Reality in a Spinal Cord Injury Patient.

Brain-machine interfaces combining visual, auditory, and tactile feedback have been previously used to generate embodiment experiences during spinal cord injury (SCI) rehabilitation. It is not known if adding temperature to these modalities can result in discomfort with embodiment experiences. Here, comfort levels with the embodiment experiences were investigated in an intervention that required a chronic pain SCI patient to generate lower limb motor imagery commands in an immersive environment combining visual (virtual reality -VR), auditory, tactile, and thermal feedback.

Effect of uremic state in intestine through a co-culture in vitro intestinal epithelial model.

The progressive loss of renal function in chronic kidney disease (CKD) leads to the accumulation of uremic toxins. Recent studies related uremic plasma as well dysbiotic gut microbiome to impaired intestinal barrier function, allowing the translocation of microorganisms or by-products from the intestinal lumen to systemic circulation, contributing to systemic inflammation, cardiovascular risk and progression of CKD. Our main goal was to evaluate the impact of different uremic conditions on an improved in vitro intestinal Caco-2/HT29-MTX/Raji B triple co-culture model.

Influence of delivery and feeding mode in oral fungi colonization - a systematic review.

Postnatal acquisition of microorganisms from maternal and environmental sources contributes to the child microbiome development. Several studies showed that the mode of delivery and breastfeeding may have impact on the oral bacterial colonization, however, the influence on oral fungal colonization is still unknown. We performed a systematic literature review on mother to child oral fungi transmission, namely regarding the association between the mode of delivery and breastfeeding in oral yeast colonization.

A simple and effective method for addition silicone impression disinfection.

Purpose: Although dental impression disinfection is determinant to reduce the cross-infection risk, some studies have shown that, in real practice, the disinfection procedures vary considerably. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the antimicrobial effectiveness and the impact on the dimensional stability of addition silicone' impressions of water wash and the most clinically used disinfection solutions: 3% hydrogen peroxide, commercial disinfectant MD520 (Durr) and 1% and 5.25% sodium hypochlorite.

Unmet needs in Primary Care of older clients with mental health concerns.

Objective: To examine the unmet needs of older clients with perceived mental health problems who attend primary healthcare services.

Design: Unmet needs were derived from (i) the health concerns and caregiver network availability provided by a General Practitioner (GPs) and from (ii) a qualitative analysis of an open question about needs completed by informal caregivers (ICs) of those clients.

Participants: The sample comprised 436 clients with mean age of 75.

Screening of Dementia in Portuguese Primary Care: Methodology, Assessment Tools, and Main Results.

The objectives of this article are as follows: (1) to describe the assessment protocol used to outline people with probable dementia in Primary Health Care; (2) to show the methodological design and procedure to obtain a representative sample of patients with probable dementia; and (3) to report the main characteristics of the sample collected in the context of the study "Characteristics and needs of people with probable dementia." The study protocol was based on the "Community Assessment of Risk and Treatment Strategies (CARTS) Program" and is composed by a set of instruments that allow the assessment of older adults with probable dementia in several areas (health, psychological, functionality, and other). Descriptive analysis was used to characterize the final sample ( = 436).

Pelvic floor muscle training protocol for stress urinary incontinence in women: A systematic review.

Introduction: Strengthening exercises for pelvic floor muscles (SEPFM) are considered the first approach in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Nevertheless, there is no evidence about training parameters.

Objective: To identify the protocol and/or most effective training parameters in the treatment of female SUI.

Perceived Risk of Mental Health Problems in Primary Care.

In the face of limited resources and an aging population with increasingly care needs, healthcare systems must identify community-dwelling older adults with mental health problems at higher risk of adverse outcomes such as institutionalization, hospitalization and death, in order to deliver timely and efficient care. The objectives of this study were to assess the prevalence of mental health concerns and the associated perceived risk of adverse outcomes in a large sample of older patients in primary care (PC). We trained general practitioners and nurses to use the Risk Instrument for Screening in the Community to rank perceived risk of mental health concerns (including neurocognitive and mood disorders) from 1 (mild) to 3 (severe).