Diffusion Tensor Imaging as Neurologic Predictor in Patients Affected by Traumatic Brain Injury: Scoping Review.

: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), a variant of Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI), enables a neuroanatomical microscopic-like examination of the brain, which can detect brain damage using physical parameters. DTI's application to traumatic brain injury (TBI) has the potential to reveal radiological features that can assist in predicting the clinical outcomes of these patients. What is the ongoing role of DTI in detecting brain alterations and predicting neurological outcomes in patients with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury and/or diffuse axonal injury? : A scoping review of the PubMed, Scopus, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) guidelines.

A rare case of split notochord syndrome with neurenteric cyst: clinical challenges, surgical approach, and literature review.

Split notochord syndrome (SNS) is a rare congenital anomaly characterized by incomplete midline notochordal integration during gastrulation, leading to segmental clefts of the spine. This case report describes a female patient with symptomatic cervico-dorsal SNS associated with a neurenteric cyst (NEC), intrathoracic gut duplication, and secondary hydrocephalus. Multistep surgical interventions were performed, including hydrocephalus management, excision of the cyst and gut duplication, and detethering with sectioning of the filum.

Relationship Between Mediterranean Diet, Cardiovascular Risk Factors, and Meningiomas: A Retrospective Study.

Background/aim: The Mediterranean diet may be deemed as the best combination of nutrients to play a protective role against cancer. Previous studies have demonstrated how a healthy lifestyle, and the adherence to the Mediterranean diet might affect the onset of most common cancers, focusing less on their relationship with central nervous system (CNS) tumoral pathologies, especially benign ones, such as meningiomas.

Patients And Methods: This was a retrospective multicenter study, involving 52 patients who underwent meningioma resection and a group of 100 subjects not affected by brain tumors.

Role of Mediterranean diet in the development and recurrence of meningiomas: a narrative review.

Several studies through the years have proven how an unhealthy nutrition, physical inactivity, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, and smoking represent relevant risk factors in cancer genesis. This study aims to provide an overview about the relationship between meningiomas and food assumption in the Mediterranean diet and whether it can be useful in meningioma prevention or it, somehow, can prevent their recurrence. The authors performed a wide literature search in PubMed and Scopus databases investigating the presence of a correlation between Mediterranean diet and meningiomas.

The Role of Aquaporins in Epileptogenesis-A Systematic Review.

Aquaporins (AQPs) are a family of membrane proteins involved in the transport of water and ions across cell membranes. AQPs have been shown to be implicated in various physiological and pathological processes in the brain, including water homeostasis, cell migration, and inflammation, among others. Epileptogenesis is a complex and multifactorial process that involves alterations in the structure and function of neuronal networks.

The role of neuronal plasticity in cervical spondylotic myelopathy surgery: functional assessment and prognostic implication.

Cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) is a degenerative disease representing the most common spinal cord disorder in the adult population. It is characterized by chronic compression leading to neurological dysfunction due to static and dynamic injury of the spinal cord in cervical spine. These insidious damage mechanisms can result in the reorganization of cortical and subcortical areas.

Sonodynamic therapy and magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound: new therapeutic strategy in glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma (GB) is one of the most aggressive and difficult-to-treat brain tumors, with a poor prognosis and limited treatment options. In recent years, sonodynamic therapy (SDT) and magnetic resonance focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) have emerged as promising approaches for the treatment of GB. SDT uses ultrasound waves in combination with a sonosensitizer to selectively damage cancer cells, while MRgFUS delivers high-intensity ultrasound waves to precisely target tumor tissue and disrupt the blood-brain barrier to enhance drug delivery.

Functional Living Skills in Patients with Major Neurocognitive Disorder Due to Degenerative or Non-Degenerative Conditions: Effectiveness of a Non-Immersive Virtual Reality Training.

Virtual reality has gained attention as an effective tool for cognitive, motor, and daily activity rehabilitation in patients with major neurocognitive disorder (M-NCD). The first objective of this study was to check for differences between M-NCD caused by degenerative and non-degenerative conditions (DC and NDC, respectively) in terms of relearning four functional living skills (FLSs), by means of a non-immersive virtual reality training (VRT). The second purpose was to verify whether spontaneous transfer from the virtual environment to the real environment occurred.

Maximal Safe Resection in Glioblastoma Surgery: A Systematic Review of Advanced Intraoperative Image-Guided Techniques.

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) represents the most common and aggressive central nervous system tumor associated with a poor prognosis. The aim of this study was to depict the role of intraoperative imaging techniques in GBM surgery and how they can ensure the maximal extent of resection (EOR) while preserving the functional outcome. The authors conducted a systematic review following PRISMA guidelines on the PubMed/Medline and Scopus databases.

Lumbar facet joint stabilization for symptomatic spinal degenerative disease: A systematic review of the literature.

Objective: Lumbar spinal degenerative disease (LSDD), unresponsive to conservative therapy, is commonly treated by surgical decompression and interbody fusion. Since facet joint incompetence has been suggested as responsible for the entire phenomenon of spinal degeneration, facet stabilization can be considered as an alternative technique to treat symptomatic spinal degenerative disease. The purpose of this study was to systematically review the literature for studies utilizing lumbar facet joint fixation techniques for LSDD to assess their safety and efficacy.

Alginate Encapsulation Stabilizes Xylanase Toward the Laccase Mediator System.

Xylanase, a hydrolytic enzyme, is susceptible to inactivation by the oxidative conditions generated by the laccase mediator system (LMS). Given the impetus to develop a mixed enzyme system for application in biomass processing industries, xylanase was encapsulated with either Cu- or Ca-alginate and then exposed to the LMS with variations such as mediator type, mediator concentration, and treatment pH. Results demonstrate that alginate-encapsulated xylanase retains substantial activity (> 80%) when exposed to the LMS relative to non-encapsulated xylanase.

Intraoperative Evaluation of Brain-Tumor Microvascularization through MicroV IOUS: A Protocol for Image Acquisition and Analysis of Radiomic Features.

Microvascular Doppler (MicroV) is a new-generation Doppler technique developed by Esaote (Esaote s.p.a.

A First Assessment of Carbon Nanotubes Grown on Oil-Well Cement via Chemical Vapor Deposition.

In this study, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were synthesized on an oil-well cement substrate using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. The effect of synthesis process on cement was investigated in depth. In this regard, FE-SEM, RAMAN and X-Ray spectroscopy were used to characterize the cement before and after the synthesis process to reveal the modifications to the cementitious matrix and some unique morphological features of CNTs.

A Spotlight on the Role of Radiomics and Machine-Learning Applications in the Management of Intracranial Meningiomas: A New Perspective in Neuro-Oncology: A Review.

: In recent decades, the application of machine learning technologies to medical imaging has opened up new perspectives in neuro-oncology, in the so-called radiomics field. Radiomics offer new insight into glioma, aiding in clinical decision-making and patients' prognosis evaluation. Although meningiomas represent the most common primary CNS tumor and the majority of them are benign and slow-growing tumors, a minor part of them show a more aggressive behavior with an increased proliferation rate and a tendency to recur.

The Palliative Care in the Metastatic Spinal Tumors. A Systematic Review on the Radiotherapy and Surgical Perspective.

Spine represents the most common site for metastatic disease involvement. Due to the close relationship between the spinal cord and critical structures, therapeutical management of metastatic spinal cord disease remains challenging. Spinal localization can lead to neurological sequelae, which can significantly affect the quality of life in patients with a limited life expectancy.

The Role of 3D-Printed Custom-Made Vertebral Body Implants in the Treatment of Spinal Tumors: A Systematic Review.

In spinal surgery, 3D prothesis represents a useful instrument for spinal reconstruction after the removal of spinal tumors that require an "en bloc" resection. This represents a complex and demanding procedure, aiming to restore spinal length, alignment and weight-bearing capacity and to provide immediate stability. Thus, in this systematic review the authors searched the literature to investigate and discuss the advantages and limitations of using 3D-printed custom-made vertebral bodies in the treatment of spinal tumors.

Liquid Biopsy in Diagnosis and Prognosis of High-Grade Gliomas; State-of-the-Art and Literature Review.

Gliomas, particularly high-grade gliomas, represent the most common and aggressive tumors of the CNS and are still burdened by high mortality and a very poor prognosis, regardless of the type of therapy. Their diagnosis and monitoring rely on imaging techniques and direct biopsy of the pathological tissue; however, both procedures have inherent limitations. To address these limitations, liquid biopsies have been proposed in this field.

Intraoperative Ultrasound: Emerging Technology and Novel Applications in Brain Tumor Surgery.

Intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) is becoming progressively more common during brain tumor surgery. We present data from our case series of brain tumor surgery performed with the aid of IOUS in order to identify IOUS advantages and crucial aspects that may improve the management of neurosurgical procedures for brain tumors. From January 2021 to September 2021, 17 patients with different brain tumors underwent brain tumor surgery aided by the use of IOUS.

Functional Living Skills: A Non-Immersive Virtual Reality Training for Individuals with Major Neurocognitive Disorders.

The loss of functional living skills (FLS) is an essential feature of major neurocognitive disorders (M-NCD); virtual reality training (VRT) offers many possibilities for improving FLS in people with M-NCD. The aim of our study was to verify the effectiveness of a non-immersive VRT on FLS for patients with M-NCD. VRT was carried out for 10 to 20 sessions, by means of four 3D apps developed in our institute and installed on a large touch screen.

Coplanar Indirect-Navigated Intraoperative Ultrasound: Matching Un-navigated Probes With Neuronavigation During Neurosurgical Procedures. How We Do It.

Background: Intraoperative ultrasound (IOUS) is becoming more and more adopted in neurosurgery, since it has been associated to greater extent of resection (EOR) and to gross total resection (GTR) during brain tumor surgery. IOUS main limitations are spatial resolution, width and orientation of the field of view and scan quality, which are operator-dependent. Furthermore, most neurosurgeons are not confident with this technique, which needs a long learning curve in order to identify and interpret anatomic structures.

[The management of nephropathic patients during the Covid-19 pandemic: the experience of Ragusa].

The public emergency caused by Covid-19 has forced health services to reorganize in order to separate positive patients from negative ones. In nephrology, this reorganization involves several levels of assistance concerning hospitalizations, ambulatory care and haemodialysis. Within the Complex Unit of Nephrology in Ragusa, the distribution of nephro-dialytic resources has involved four different hospitals, hence ensuring haemodialysis services for asymptomatic and pauci-symptomatic Covid-19 patients as well as for patients in Covid-Unit, Sub-Intensive Therapy and Intensive Care Unit.

Telephone-Based Reality Orientation Therapy for Patients With Dementia: A Pilot Study During the COVID-19 Outbreak.

Importance: When in-person rehabilitation is not feasible, interventions delivered in remote telephone-based sessions may be an option.

Objective: To determine whether telephone-based reality orientation therapy (T-ROT) can improve cognition, mood, and neuropsychiatric symptoms among patients with major neurocognitive disorders (NCDs) who are forced to isolate and also whether T-ROT can relieve the burden of distress among their caregivers.

Design: Nonrandomized interventional comparison study.

[Therapeutic options to reduce arterial stiffness in chronic kidney disease].

Chronic kidney disease is associated with an increased cardiovascular risk. Several uremic toxins are also vascular toxins and may contribute to the increase of the cardiovascular risk through the development of aortic stiffening. In this process, oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction play an important role.