Left Atrial Wall Thickness Measured by a Machine Learning Method Predicts AF Recurrence After Pulmonary Vein Isolation.

Background: Left atrial (LA) remodeling plays a significant role in the progression of atrial fibrillation (AF). Although LA wall thickness (LAWT) has emerged as an indicator of structural remodeling, its impact on AF outcomes remains unclear. We aimed to determine the association between LAWT and AF recurrence after pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), as well as to evaluate the relationship between LAWT and LA fibrosis.

Bowel-Associated Dermatosis-Arthritis Syndrome: A Report of a Rare Case.

A 31-year-old female, recently discharged after improvement of an exacerbation of ulcerative colitis, returned to the hospital due to fever, polyarthralgia affecting the knees and ankles, and symmetric violaceous papulopustular lesions on her arms, trunk, and lower limbs. Histological examination revealed superficial dermal edema and perivascular invasion of neutrophils with leukocytoclasia, consistent with neutrophilic dermatosis, and a diagnosis of bowel-associated dermatosis-arthritis syndrome (BADAS) was established. BADAS is a rare, characteristic neutrophilic dermatosis and arthritis mainly associated with intestinal inflammatory disease due to bacterial overgrowthand subsequent immune complex formation and deposition.

Dysphagia After Partial Horizontal Supracricoid Laryngectomy: A Close Look.

Partial horizontal supracricoid laryngectomy (SCPL) with cricohyoidoepiglottopexy (CHEP) is a conservative surgical alternative for laryngeal cancer in the glottic or supraglottic region. Dysphagia and aspiration are frequently reported consequences of this surgery. We describe the case of a 72-year-old male patient diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx (T2N0M0), who underwent SCPL with CHEP reconstruction.

Body image of university students: a systematic review of the characteristics of interventions.

Background: Body image is the mental representation of the body and can be influenced by cognitive, biological, behavioral, sociocultural, and environmental factors. University students often encounter challenges related to it.

Objective: This systematic review examined interventions aimed at holistically developing a positive body image within this population.

Anatomical Vascular Differences and -Induced Vascular Morphological Changes Are Associated with a High Parasite Load in the Skin of Dogs Infected with .

Canine visceral leishmaniasis (CVL), caused by the protozoan , affects several organs, including the skin. Dogs are considered the major domestic reservoir animals for leishmaniasis, and through their highly parasitized skin, they can serve as a source of infection for sandfly vectors. Therefore, studies of the skin parasite-host relationship can contribute to the understanding of the infectious dissemination processes of parasites in the dermis and help to identify targets for diagnosis and treatment.

Behaviour-correlated profiles of cerebellar-cerebral functional connectivity observed in independent neurodevelopmental disorder cohorts.

The cerebellum, through its connectivity with the cerebral cortex, plays an integral role in regulating cognitive and affective processes, and its dysregulation can result in neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD)-related behavioural deficits. Identifying cerebellar-cerebral functional connectivity (FC) profiles in children with NDDs can provide insight into common connectivity profiles and their correlation to NDD-related behaviours. 479 participants from the Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders (POND) network (typically developing = 93, Autism Spectrum Disorder = 172, Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder = 161, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder = 53, mean age = 12.

Refinement of the rKLi8.3-Based Serodiagnostic ELISA Allows Detection of Canine Leishmaniosis in Dogs with Low Antibody Titers.

The diagnosis of canine leishmaniasis (CanL) still represents a challenge due to the variable clinical manifestations and the large number of asymptomatic dogs. Serological tests are most commonly used to detect infected animals, revealing anti- antibodies, mainly of the IgG isotype. Recently, a new diagnostic antigen, rKLi8.

Correction: Frequency of co-seropositivities for certain pathogens and their relationship with clinical and histopathological changes and parasite load in dogs infected with Leishmania infantum.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Postoperative cerebellar mutism syndrome is an acquired autism-like network disturbance.

Background: Cerebellar mutism syndrome (CMS) is a common and debilitating complication of posterior fossa tumor surgery in children. Affected children exhibit communication and social impairments that overlap phenomenologically with subsets of deficits exhibited by children with Autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Although both CMS and ASD are thought to involve disrupted cerebro-cerebellar circuitry, they are considered independent conditions due to an incomplete understanding of their shared neural substrates.

Mobilization of endocannabinoids by midbrain dopamine neurons is required for the encoding of reward prediction.

Brain levels of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) shape motivated behavior and nucleus accumbens (NAc) dopamine release. However, it is not clear whether mobilization of 2-AG specifically from midbrain dopamine neurons is necessary for dopaminergic responses to external stimuli predicting forthcoming reward. Here, we use a viral-genetic strategy to prevent the expression of the 2-AG-synthesizing enzyme diacylglycerol lipase α (DGLα) from ventral tegmental area (VTA) dopamine cells in adult mice.

Establishing national clinical diagnostic reference levels and achievable doses for CT examinations in Brazil: A prospective study.

Purpose: Diagnostic reference levels (DRL) and achievable doses (AD) are important tools for radiation dose optimization. Therefore, a prospective study was performed which aimed to establish a multi-parametric, clinical indication based - DRL(DRL) and clinical indication - AD (AD) for adult CT in Brazil.

Methods: The prospective study included 4787 patients (50 ± 18 years old; male:female 2041:2746) at 13 Brazilian sites that have been submitted to head, paranasal sinus, cervical spine, chest, or abdomen-pelvis CT between January and October 2021 for 13 clinical indications.

Is There Any Difference in the In Situ Immune Response in Active Localized Cutaneous Leishmaniasis That Respond Well or Poorly to Meglumine Antimoniate Treatment or Spontaneously Heal?

Localized cutaneous leishmaniasis caused by can either respond well or poorly to the treatment or heal spontaneously; It seems to be dependent on the parasite and/or host factors, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. We evaluated the in situ immune response in eighty-two active lesions from fifty-eight patients prior to treatment classified as early spontaneous regression (SRL-n = 14); treatment responders (GRL-n = 20); and non-responders (before first treatment/relapse, PRL1/PRL2-n = 24 each). Immunohistochemistry was used to identify cell/functional markers which were correlated with the clinical characteristics.

Advancement in Leishmaniasis Diagnosis and Therapeutics.

Leishmaniasis is a complex of clinical manifestations that affects thousands of people in the world each year according to WHO [...

Setting up regional diagnostic reference levels for pediatric computed tomography in Latin America: preliminary results, challenges and the work ahead.

We established a framework for collecting radiation doses for head, chest and abdomen-pelvis computed tomography (CT) in children scanned at multiple imaging sites across Latin America with an aim towards establishing diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) and achievable doses (ADs) in pediatric CT in Latin America. Our study included 12 Latin American sites (in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras and Panama) contributing data on the four most common pediatric CT examinations (non-contrast head, non-contrast chest, post-contrast chest and post-contrast abdomen-pelvis). Sites contributed data on patients' age, sex and weight, scan factors (tube current and potential), volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) and dose length product (DLP).

Association between social support and frequency of physical activity in adult workers.

Introduction: The benefits of taking up physical activity are well established and social support has been identified as one of the main determinants of this behavior.

Objectives: To investigate the association between social support and weekly frequency of physical activity in adults working at a public university in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional population study with a convenience sample of 189 contract workers of both sexes, aged from 21 to 72 years (39.

Microplastics in sediments from the southern Gulf of Mexico: Abundance, distribution, composition, and adhered pollutants.

Approximately 23 Mt of plastics reaches the ocean each year, fragmented into microplastics (MP). MPs are widely dispersed in the sea, becoming deposited in sediments. MPs are considered carriers of pollutants such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and, when ingested by biota, pose a high health risk.

Bradyarrhythmia in a marathonist: Cardiac vagal denervation as alternative treatment.

Although not routinely used, cardioneuroablation or modulation of the cardiac autonomic nervous system has been proposed as an alternative approach to treat young individuals with enhanced vagal tone and significant atrioventricular (AV) disturbances. We report the case of a 42-year-old athlete with prolonged ventricular pauses associated with sinus bradycardia and paroxysmal episodes of AV block (maximum of 6.6 s) due to enhanced vagal tone who was admitted to our hospital for pacemaker implantation.

Hawksbill Sea Turtle () Blood and Eggs Organochlorine Pesticides Concentrations and Embryonic Development in a Nesting Area (Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico).

Environmental contaminants with chemical origins, such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) have major impacts on the health of marine animals, including sea turtles, due to the bioaccumulation of those substances by transference throughout the food chain. The effects of environmental pollution on the health of marine turtles are very important for management strategies and conservation. During recent decades, the south Gulf of Mexico and the Yucatan Peninsula have suffered from increasingly frequent disturbances from continental landmasses, river systems, urban wastewater runoff, port areas, tourism, industrial activities, pesticides from agricultural use, and other pollutants, such as metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and hydrocarbons (from the oil industry activities), which contaminate water and sediments and worsen the environmental quality of the marine ecosystem in this region.

Correction: Psychosocial and environmental determinants of physical activity in a Brazilian public university employees-ELDAF: A prospective cohort study protocol.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Ignorance Isn't Bliss: We Must Close the Machine Learning Knowledge Gap in Pediatric Critical Care.

Pediatric intensivists are bombarded with more patient data than ever before. Integration and interpretation of data from patient monitors and the electronic health record (EHR) can be cognitively expensive in a manner that results in delayed or suboptimal medical decision making and patient harm. Machine learning (ML) can be used to facilitate insights from healthcare data and has been successfully applied to pediatric critical care data with that intent.

Body Appreciation, Depressive Symptoms, and Self-Esteem in Pregnant and Postpartum Brazilian Women.

Background: During pregnancy and the postpartum period, women experience tremendous biopsychosocial changes in a short period of time. Poor body appreciation, depressive symptoms, and low self-esteem during the perinatal period may cause negative consequences for both the mother and the infant's physiological and psychological health. The aim of this study was to analyze the differences in body appreciation, depressive symptoms, and self-esteem between the three gestational trimesters and the postpartum period.

[Psychometric properties of the Brazilian version of the Denver II: developmental screening test].

The scope of the Denver II Developmental Screening Test is to assess the development of children between 0 and 6 years of age. The aim of this study was to verify evidence of intra- and inter-examiner reliability, concurrent validity, sensitivity and specificity of the Brazilian version of Denver II. It involved a cross-sectional methodological study.

Outcomes of a combined vs non-combined endo-epicardial ventricular tachycardia ablation strategy.

Background: Direct comparisons of combined (C-ABL) and non-combined (NC-ABL) endo-epicardial ventricular tachycardia (VT) ablation outcomes are scarce. We aimed to investigate the long-term clinical efficacy and safety of these 2 strategies in ischemic heart disease (IHD) and non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) populations.

Methods: Multicentric observational registry included 316 consecutive patients who underwent catheter ablation for drug-resistant VT between January 2008 and July 2019.

Impact of a radiological protection campaign in emergency paediatric radiology: a multicentric observational study in Brazil.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of a paediatric radiological protection campaign, implemented in the emergency units of a healthcare provider network in Brazil. This campaign aimed to promote awareness among emergency department physicians, regarding justification of paediatric X-ray referrals for paranasal sinus, chest and CT exams, as a strategy to reduce exposure to ionising radiation.

Method: Frequency analysis of common paediatric imaging referrals from 19 emergency departments was performed for a 3-year period (2015-2018) to coincide with before, during and after the implementation of the radiation protection campaign.