GeneXpert MTB/RIF Ultra in Pediatric Tuberculosis: How Disease Characteristics Modify Test Performances.

Introduction: The diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis (TB) is challenging, due to the lower sensitivity of microbiological tests, such as culture and microscopy, compared to their performance in adult cases. Guidelines have introduced molecular tests, including GeneXpert MTB/ RIF and GeneXpert MTB/RIF Ultra. These tests use a real-time polymerase chain reaction method and provide information on M.

Lipidomics of coconut, almond and soybean milks - Detailed analysis of polar lipids and comparison with bovine milk.

In this work, the lipidomic analysis on polar components of almond, coconut, and soy beverages was performed by liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. A comparison with bovine milk was also performed. A total of 30 subclasses of polar lipids, belonging mainly to glycerophospholipids and sphingolipids, and a total of 572 molecular species were identified.

Parallel single-cell metabolic analysis and extracellular vesicle profiling reveal vulnerabilities with prognostic significance in acute myeloid leukemia.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is an aggressive disease with a high relapse rate. In this study, we map the metabolic profile of CD34(CD38) AML cells and the extracellular vesicle signatures in circulation from AML patients at diagnosis. CD34 AML cells display high antioxidant glutathione levels and enhanced mitochondrial functionality, both associated with poor clinical outcomes.

Water-assisted colonoscopy in inflammatory bowel diseases: From technical implications to diagnostic and therapeutic potentials.

Water-assisted colonoscopy (WAC) application in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) endoscopy offers significant technical opportunities. Traditional gas-aided insufflation colonoscopy increases patient discomfort, presenting challenges in the frequent and detailed mucosal assessments required for IBD endoscopy. WAC techniques, including water immersion and exchange, provide superior patient comfort and enhanced endoscopic visualisation.

Long-Term Effectiveness and Safety of Ustekinumab in Crohn's Disease: Results from a Large Real-Life Cohort Study.

Ustekinumab (UST) is an interleukin-12/interleukin-23 receptor antagonist approved for the treatment of Crohn's disease (CD). Only limited real-life data on the long-term outcomes of CD patients treated with UST are available. This study assessed UST's long-term effectiveness and safety in a large population-based cohort of moderate to severe CD patients.

Exploring the Experiences of Young Australians' Use of Offline and Online Peer Support.

This study aimed to explore the experiences of peer interactions among LGBTQA+ young people in Australia. 22 verbatim transcriptions from semi-structured interviews with LGBTQA+ young Australians aged 16-24 were analyzed using Reflexive Thematic Analysis. Four themes were developed; (1) Online safety and anonymity facilitate identity exploration, (2) the risks and benefits of online support, (3) the risks and benefits of in-person peer support, and (4) gender and sexuality diverse experiences of peer support differ.

Very rare isolated colonic inflammatory cap polyps in a patient with known long-standing ulcerative colitis.

Inflammatory cap polyps (ICP) are an extremely rare finding during digestive endoscopy, typically presenting as multiple polyps in the form of cap polyposis. Among the few reported cases of ICP, some have been associated with multiple polyposis forms, showing a clinical presentation similar to inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), which was subsequently ruled out following further diagnostic evaluation. In this report, we present an exceptionally rare case of two isolated ICPs (not in the form of cap polyposis) in a patient with a long-standing, well-established histological diagnosis of IBD located in atypical sites (specifically, the descending and transverse colon), with a characteristic endoscopic appearance.

Early Intervention Programme for Young Adults in Northern Italy: A 10-Year Analysis of Socio-Demographic and Clinical Characteristics.

Introduction: Early intervention represents an opportunity to contain psychological distress and intervene promptly on conditions that, otherwise, could assume a chronic course. Based on these observations, an early intervention programme for people 18-25 years old, the 'Progetto Giovani' (Youth Project), was implemented in two adult mental health services (AMHSs) in the northwest of Italy.

Methods: This study aims to describe the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics of the patients included in the Youth Project from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2022.

Aloe Extracellular Vesicles as Carriers of Photoinducible Metabolites Exhibiting Cellular Phototoxicity.

The growing interest in plant-origin active molecules with medicinal properties has led to a revaluation of plants in the pharmaceutical field. Plant-derived extracellular vesicles (PDEVs) have emerged as promising candidates for next-generation drug delivery systems due to their ability to concentrate and deliver a plethora of bioactive molecules. These bilayer membranous vesicles, whose diameter ranges from 30 to 1000 nm, are released by different cell types and play a crucial role in cross-kingdom communication between plants and humans.

Conversational LLM Chatbot ChatGPT-4 for Colonoscopy Boston Bowel Preparation Scoring: An Artificial Intelligence-to-Head Concordance Analysis.

Background/objectives: To date, no studies have evaluated Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer (ChatGPT) as a large language model chatbot in optical applications for digestive endoscopy images. This study aimed to weigh the performance of ChatGPT-4 in assessing bowel preparation (BP) quality for colonoscopy.

Methods: ChatGPT-4 analysed 663 anonymised endoscopic images, scoring each according to the Boston BP scale (BBPS).

Pyrfume: A window to the world's olfactory data.

Advances in theoretical understanding are frequently unlocked by access to large, diverse experimental datasets. Our understanding of olfactory neuroscience and psychophysics remain years behind the other senses, in part because rich datasets linking olfactory stimuli with their corresponding percepts, behaviors, and neural pathways remain scarce. Here we present a concerted effort to unlock and unify dozens of stimulus-linked olfactory datasets across species and modalities under a unified framework called Pyrfume.

Treatment of acute pharyngitis in children: an Italian intersociety consensus (SIPPS-SIP-SITIP-FIMP-SIAIP-SIMRI-FIMMG).

Sore throat represents one of the main causes of antibiotic overprescription in children. Its management is still a matter of debate, with countries considering streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis a benign and self-limiting condition and others advocating for its antibiotic treatment to prevent suppurative complications and acute rheumatic fever. Italian paediatricians frequently prescribe antibiotics on a clinical basis regardless of microbiological results.

Machine learning as a tool predicting short-term postoperative complications in Crohn's disease patients undergoing intestinal resection: What frontiers?

The recent study, "Predicting short-term major postoperative complications in intestinal resection for Crohn's disease: A machine learning-based study" investigated the predictive efficacy of a machine learning model for major postoperative complications within 30 days of surgery in Crohn's disease (CD) patients. Employing a random forest analysis and Shapley Additive Explanations, the study prioritizes factors such as preoperative nutritional status, operative time, and CD activity index. Despite the retrospective design's limitations, the model's robustness, with area under the curve values surpassing 0.

Depression weights in patients with gastric cancer: Bibliometric analysis as a weapon to chart the future of research.

Bibliometric analyses are increasing in the field of gastric cancer. This letter discusses a recently published analysis that focused on the bidirectional relationship between depression and gastric cancer and evaluated the types of papers published in this field and the changes in the direction of research. There is an increasing need for new, clinically relevant studies of this association.

When the vermiform appendix resembles a polyp: Be cautious of an intussuscepted appendix polypectomy.

This article discusses a recently published case report on a rare instance of type IV appendiceal intussusception with a concurrent mucinous adenocarcinoma of the cecum in a young individual. The report highlights challenges in diagnosing appendiceal intussusception, emphasizing the importance of endoscopic expertise in preventing impulsive decisions such as inappropriate polypectomies. The rarity of the concurrent intussuscepted appendix and mucinous cecal cancer is underscored, prompting consideration of malignancy in appendiceal intussusception cases.

LipidOne 2.0: A Web Tool for Discovering Biological Meanings Hidden in Lipidomic Data.

LipidOne 2.0 (https://lipidone.eu) is a new web bioinformatic tool for the analysis of lipidomic data.

Integrating Machine Learning with Robotic Rehabilitation May Support Prediction of Recovery of the Upper Limb Motor Function in Stroke Survivors.

Motor impairment is a common issue in stroke patients, often affecting the upper limbs. To this standpoint, robotic neurorehabilitation has shown to be highly effective for motor function recovery. Notably, Machine learning (ML) may be a powerful technique able to identify the optimal kind and intensity of rehabilitation treatments to maximize the outcomes.

Olfactory training: perspective from people who were disturbed by their smell problems.

Purpose: Olfactory training (OT) is an effective and affordable option in the treatment of olfactory dysfunction. Despite significant progress in the field in recent years, some factors influencing OT participation remain unclear.

Methods: Based on an anonymous online survey orchestrated by AbScent.

Resilience of hospitals in an age of disruptions: a systematic literature review on resources and capabilities.

Hospitals play a critical role in ensuring continuous and effective healthcare delivery, especially during crises. However, the COVID-19 pandemic exposed vulnerabilities in hospital systems, prompting a need to enhance resilience-the ability to withstand, absorb, respond to, recover from, and learn from disasters. A systematic literature review, grounded in the resource-based view, identified organizational characteristics, in terms of resources and capabilities, and their synergistic effects that bolster hospital resilience.

Effects of increasing tidal volume and end-expiratory lung volume on induced bronchoconstriction in healthy humans.

Background: Increasing functional residual capacity (FRC) or tidal volume (V) reduces airway resistance and attenuates the response to bronchoconstrictor stimuli in animals and humans. What is unknown is which one of the above mechanisms is more effective in modulating airway caliber and whether their combination yields additive or synergistic effects. To address this question, we investigated the effects of increased FRC and increased V in attenuating the bronchoconstriction induced by inhaled methacholine (MCh) in healthy humans.