Analysis of Missingness Scenarios for Observational Health Data.

Despite the extensive literature on missing data theory and cautionary articles emphasizing the importance of realistic analysis for healthcare data, a critical gap persists in incorporating domain knowledge into the missing data methods. In this paper, we argue that the remedy is to identify the key scenarios that lead to data missingness and investigate their theoretical implications. Based on this proposal, we first introduce an analysis framework where we investigate how different observation agents, such as physicians, influence the data availability and then scrutinize each scenario with respect to the steps in the missing data analysis.

Direct evidence that late Neanderthal occupation precedes a technological shift in southwestern Italy.

Objectives: During the middle-to-upper Paleolithic transition (50,000 and 40,000 years ago), interaction between Neanderthals and Homo sapiens varied across Europe. In southern Italy, the association between Homo sapiens fossils and non-Mousterian material culture, as well as the mode and tempo of Neanderthal demise, are still vividly debated. In this research, we focus on the study of two human teeth by using 3D geometric morphometric approaches for a reliable taxonomical attribution as well as obtaining new radiometric dates on the archeological sequence.

Integrating ZooMS and zooarchaeology: New data from the Uluzzian levels of Uluzzo C Rock Shelter, Roccia San Sebastiano cave and Riparo del Broion.

In this study we explore the potential of combining traditional zooarchaeological determination and proteomic identification of morphologically non-diagnostic bone fragments (ZooMS) collected from the Uluzzian levels of three Italian sites: Uluzzo C Rock Shelter, Roccia San Sebastiano cave, and Riparo del Broion. Moreover, we obtained glutamine deamidation ratios for all the contexts analysed during routine ZooMS screening of faunal samples, giving information on collagen preservation. We designed a selection protocol that maximizes the efficiency of the proteomics analyses by excluding particularly compromised fragments (e.

Development and validation of a self-administered questionnaire measuring essential knowledge in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

To develop and validate a questionnaire assessing patient knowledge in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Knowledge considered essential for patients with RA was identified through a series of Delphi rounds among rheumatologists, health professionals (HPs), patients, and then reformulated to construct the knowledge questionnaire. Cross-sectional multicenter validation was performed in 12 rheumatology departments to assess internal validity (Kuder-Richardson coefficient), external validity, acceptability, reproducibility (Lin's concordance correlation coefficient) and sensitivity to change (difference in total score before and after patient education sessions).

Lymphoma complicating rheumatoid arthritis: results from a French case-control study.

Objectives: To study the characteristics of B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) or Hodgkin lymphoma complicating rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to identify RA-related factors associated with their occurrence.

Methods: A multicentre case-control study was performed in France. Cases were patients with RA fulfilling ACR-EULAR 2010 criteria in whom B-cell NHL or Hodgkin lymphoma developed after the diagnosis of RA.

[Rheumatic immune adverse events related to immune checkpoint inhibitors-(IrAEs related to ICI)].

New anti-cancer therapeutics have been developed in the recent years and dramatically change prognosis and patient management. Either used alone or in combination, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI), such as anti-CTLA-4 and anti-PD1/PD-(L)1, act by removing T-cell inhibition to enhance their antitumor response. This change in therapeutic targets leads to a break in immune-tolerance and a unique toxicity profile resulting in immune complications.

Efficacy of tocilizumab in patients with hand osteoarthritis: double blind, randomised, placebo-controlled, multicentre trial.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of tocilizumab, an antibody against IL-6 receptor, in patients with hand osteoarthritis.

Methods: This was a multicentre, 12-week, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled study from November 2015 to October 2018. Patients with symptomatic hand osteoarthritis (pain ≥40 on a 0-100 mm visual analogue scale (VAS) despite analgesics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs; at least three painful joints, Kellgren-Lawrence grade ≥2) were randomised to receive two infusions 4 weeks apart (weeks 0 and 4) of tocilizumab (8 mg/kg intravenous) or placebo.

Correction: A biface production older than 600 ka ago at Notarchirico (Southern Italy) contribution to understanding early Acheulean cognition and skills in Europe.

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

Essential knowledge for patients with rheumatoid arthritis or spondyloarthritis: Results of a multicentric survey in France among health professionals and patients.

Objective: Information and education are recommended for patients with inflammatory arthritis including rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and spondyloarthritis (SpA). However, there is no consensus on which knowledge is essential to enhance patients' self-management. The aim of this study was to determine such knowledge.

Performance Evaluation of a New Culture Colorimetric Detection Assay.

Objective: To evaluate the performance of the culture colorimetric detection assay MYCO WELL D-ONE (MWD-ONE), designed to detect sexually transmitted infections using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) as a reference method.

Materials And Methods: One hundred and ten urogenital samples were screened for (GV), (TV), (MH), , and (UU)/ (UP) using the MWD-ONE and real-time PCR assays species Real-TM Quant and Anyplex II STI-7 Detection, respectively.

Results: GV was detected in 33 samples by both the MWD-ONE and real-time PCR, while 6 samples gave discordant results.

[Pharmaceutical interviews for rheumatoid arthritis patients: Perceptions and expectations of community pharmacists].

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis has a low level of medication adherence. Abroad, the community pharmacist has a positive impact on the patients' adherence in several chronic diseases. In France, community pharmacists' missions are developing with the implementation of pharmaceutical interviews.

Rapid and cost-effective identification and antimicrobial susceptibility testing in patients with Gram-negative bacteremia directly from blood-culture fluid.

Rapid pathogen identification (ID) and antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) in bacteremia cases or sepsis could improve patient prognosis. Thus, it is important to provide timely reports, which make it possible for clinicians to set up appropriate antibiotic therapy during the early stages of bloodstream infection (BSI). This study evaluates an in-house microbiological protocol for early ID as well as AST on Gram negative bacteria directly from positive monomicrobial and polymicrobial blood cultures (BCs).

A bicentre retrospective study of features and outcomes of patients with reactive arthritis.

Objective: Reactive arthritis (ReA) is a sterile arthritis following an extra-articular infection, usually of the gastrointestinal or genitourinary tract. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence and the clinical and therapeutic characteristics of ReA and to compare them with those of a historical cohort. We hypothesised that improved hygiene together with prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections may have decreased the incidence of ReA.

Filling the gap. Human cranial remains from Gombore II (Melka Kunture, Ethiopia; ca. 850 ka) and the origin of Homo heidelbergensis.

African archaic humans dated to around 1,0 Ma share morphological affinities with Homo ergaster and appear distinct in cranio-dental morphology from those of the Middle Pleistocene that are referred to Homo heidelbergensis. This observation suggests a taxonomic and phylogenetic discontinuity in Africa that ranges across the Matuyama/Brunhes reversal (780 ka). Yet, the fossil record between roughly 900 and 600 ka is notoriously poor.

Climate-driven environmental changes around 8,200 years ago favoured increases in cetacean strandings and Mediterranean hunter-gatherers exploited them.

Cetacean mass strandings occur regularly worldwide, yet the compounded effects of natural and anthropogenic factors often complicate our understanding of these phenomena. Evidence of past stranding episodes may, thus, be essential to establish the potential influence of climate change. Investigations on bones from the site of Grotta dell'Uzzo in North West Sicily (Italy) show that the rapid climate change around 8,200 years ago coincided with increased strandings in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Neanderthal in the karst: First dating, morphometric, and paleogenetic data on the fossil skeleton from Altamura (Italy).

In 1993, a fossil hominin skeleton was discovered in the karst caves of Lamalunga, near Altamura, in southern Italy. Despite the fact that this specimen represents one of the most extraordinary hominin specimens ever found in Europe, for the last two decades our knowledge of it has been based purely on the documented on-site observations. Recently, the retrieval from the cave of a fragment of bone (part of the right scapula) allowed the first dating of the individual, the quantitative analysis of a diagnostic morphological feature, and a preliminary paleogenetic characterization of this hominin skeleton from Altamura.

Screening of respiratory pathogens by Respiratory Multi Well System (MWS) r-gene™ assay in hospitalized patients.

Novel respiratory viruses have been identified as possible agents of upper and lower respiratory tract infections. Multiplex real-time PCRs have been developed to identify clinically relevant respiratory pathogens. In this study, 178 respiratory samples already screened for influenza virus types A and B by Flu A/B ASR real-time PCR kit were retrospectively analyzed with the Respiratory Multi Well System (MWS) r-gene™ real-time PCR kit which detects a wide spectrum of respiratory pathogens.