Publications by authors named "Randazzo M"
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a complex condition with a multifactorial aetiology including both genetic and epigenetic factors. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play a role in ASD and may influence metabolic pathways. Glycosylation (the glycoconjugate synthesis pathway) is a necessary process for the optimal development of the central nervous system (CNS).
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- Chest pain can often be misdiagnosed and has many potential causes, some of which are serious and require quick diagnosis.
- The text describes a rare case where a patient had a combination of severe conditions: a heart attack, aortic dissection, pulmonary embolism, and pneumothorax.
- A team of healthcare professionals worked together effectively to manage and treat this complex situation.
Introduction: Most patients suffering from neurological disorders endure varying degrees of upper limb dysfunction, limiting their everyday activities, with only a limited number regaining full arm use. Robotic and technological rehabilitation has been demonstrated to be a feasible solution to guarantee an effective rehabilitation to recover upper limb performance or to prevent complications of upper limb immobility. However, there is currently a lack of studies which analyze the sustainability of robotic and technological rehabilitation by comparing its costs to conventional rehabilitation pathways.
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- The study evaluates the recovery of cardiac diagnostic procedures in Italy one year after the COVID-19 outbreak, focusing on procedure volumes, practices, and staff well-being.
- A global survey revealed a 72% drop in cardiac diagnostic procedures in April 2020 compared to March 2019, with only a slight recovery (3% increase) by April 2021, though some specific tests showed increased volumes.
- Many healthcare centers adopted measures like physical distancing and COVID-19 screening, but 25% of physicians reported high psychological stress levels, highlighting ongoing challenges within the healthcare system.
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- The study examines how aortic pulsatility index (API) and cardiac power output (CPO) can help assess heart function in patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) after administering a milrinone bolus.
- In a group of 224 patients with severe CS, those with lower baseline API and CPO had a higher risk of needing advanced heart treatments or dying within a year.
- The findings suggest that using API and CPO measurements can effectively stratify risk and predict outcomes in these patients, enhancing clinical decision-making.
Virtual reality (VR) applications in paediatric rehabilitation are recent but promising. This brief report describes a VR rehabilitation program for a small sample of children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). The program focused explicitly on executive functions, a key area of concern for this population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFVaccination, particularly against pneumococcus and influenza, is a low-cost primary prevention, useful to avoid hard complications, particularly among frail older people. In this pilot study, we aimed to assess the effect of a strategy for influenza and pneumococcal vaccination for outpatients mainly affected by cognitive or endocrinological conditions, evaluating what could stimulate or demotivate vaccination among older people. This study was conducted during the 2023-2024 influenza season at the outpatient clinics in Palermo, Italy.
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- Influenza poses a significant public health risk, particularly for severe cases, prompting the need for effective vaccination strategies among pediatric populations in Palermo.
- A study was conducted in two phases, starting with an educational intervention for family pediatricians (FPs), followed by monitoring the safety and acceptance of the qLAIV vaccine among children.
- Results showed a vaccination coverage rate of 13.2%, much higher than the average rates in the Palermo LHA and throughout Sicily, with only mild adverse reactions reported, indicating that educational efforts can enhance vaccination rates effectively.
Pilot Study for a Model for the Collection of Waiting Lists Data.
Stud Health Technol Inform
May 2024
The analysis of data on waiting lists in Italy is regulated by the PNGLA (National Plan for the Governance of Waiting Lists). However, the Plan does not specify the characteristics of the data to be returned by the Regions for the purposes of monitoring, with the result that it is frequently either in aggregate form, unreadable, or incomplete, and therefore cannot be analysed in any meaningful way. Fondazione the Bridge and AGENAS, with the University of Genoa and the University of Pavia, conducted a pilot study on a methodological model for the collection of waiting lists data.
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- * AI technologies are being applied across various areas such as wearables, electrocardiograms, and genetics, achieving unprecedented detection accuracy for diseases like valvular heart disease and cardiomyopathies.
- * While the number of studies is increasing, rigorous validation is needed to ensure effectiveness and equity, with ongoing trials focused on demonstrating real-world improvements in patient outcomes.
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- Recent advancements in AI for cardiovascular care are promising for improving diagnosis, treatment, and patient outcomes, with 10% of FDA-approved clinical AI algorithms dedicated to this area.
- The review highlights the use of multimodal inputs and generative AI in cardiology, indicating a shift toward more complex and effective healthcare solutions.
- It emphasizes the importance of careful implementation, ethical considerations, and rigorous evaluation to ensure AI enhances patient care and supports healthcare providers effectively.
Article Synopsis
- - The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted cardiovascular testing in Latin America (LATAM), with a study finding a 21% decrease in procedure volumes from pre-pandemic levels in April 2021, contrasting with zero change in the rest of the world.
- - Central America and Mexico experienced the largest reductions in procedures (47%), while healthcare centers in LATAM reported more staff layoffs and salary cuts than those in other regions.
- - The study highlighted the lasting effects of the pandemic on cardiovascular care and emphasized the need for mental health support for healthcare workers in LATAM, as nearly 50% reported excessive psychological stress.
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- Researchers developed a deep learning (DL) model to detect regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) in transthoracic echocardiography, addressing issues like interobserver variability.
- The model was trained using a large dataset of echocardiography videos and showed high accuracy in identifying RWMA, scoring 0.96 on the area under the curve.
- While the DL model performed similarly to expert readers in most regions, it surpassed novice readers in RWMA detection, suggesting its potential to enhance both efficiency and educational aspects in RWMA assessment.
Purpose: Unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP) represents about 30-40% of overall cerebral palsy diagnoses. Upper limb impairment has a significant negative impact on activities of daily living (ADL), and recent studies have shown that the use of virtual reality (VR) can increase motivation and promote an improvement in ADL. This preliminary study was aimed at exploring the acceptability and usability of a VR rehabilitation treatment, using the VITAMIN Platform, for children with UCP.
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- The study investigates how the size of the heart affects the accuracy of SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) in identifying obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD).
- Among 2066 patients, it was found that those with a low left ventricular volume had lower diagnostic performance compared to those with larger volumes, particularly affecting older and male patients.
- The results indicate that smaller heart sizes lead to a significant decrease in the effectiveness of SPECT MPI, highlighting the need for tailored diagnostic approaches based on cardiac size, age, and sex.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to evaluate the recovery of cardiac diagnostic procedure volumes in Oceania during the COVID-19 pandemic by comparing data from March 2019, April 2020, and April 2021 across various health facilities.
- Results showed that 11,902 procedures were performed in April 2021, slightly below pre-pandemic levels, while the rest of the world had similar recovery rates, indicating a small decline in both regions.
- Although there were no significant differences in overall recovery rates, anatomical coronary testing in Oceania demonstrated poorer recovery compared to the rest of the world, raising concerns about specific diagnostic procedures.
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- The paper outlines the creation and use of a tour guide robot as part of the 5g-TOURS EU project focused on leveraging 5G technology for various applications.
- It explores how this robot is designed to off-load intelligent processing to a remote server through a 5G network, reducing the robot's computational burden.
- Additionally, the paper addresses unique challenges encountered in real-world interactions and provides insights on the system's architecture, navigation, and the software implementation, which is available to the public.
Article Synopsis
- * Researchers analyzed data from 544 CA patients, 200 controls with similar symptoms, and 174 healthy subjects using AI software and echocardiographic assessments.
- * Despite identifying higher impairment in LV global longitudinal strain and ASR in CA patients, the ASR was only moderately effective at distinguishing CA from controls, highlighting its limitations as a specific biomarker for CA.
Article Synopsis
- The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted cardiovascular care, particularly affecting noninvasive testing for coronary artery disease (CAD), with unclear trends across different income levels.
- A global survey by the International Atomic Energy Agency included data from 669 centers in 107 countries, revealing that traditional tests decreased by 14%, while advanced tests increased by 15% from 2019 to 2021.
- The rise in advanced testing mainly occurred in high- and upper middle-income countries, highlighting a growing disparity in CAD diagnostic practices between wealthier and lower-income nations.
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- Recent advancements in percutaneous treatments for tricuspid valve disease highlight the gaps in our understanding of right ventricular (RV) behavior in health and disease.
- Current assessments of RV physiology using non-invasive methods, especially echocardiography, are deemed incomplete.
- This review aims to discuss the current and future benefits of three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) in improving the evaluation of the right heart.
This study was undertaken to set a novel developmental screening test for autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using the Griffiths Scales of Child Development (Griffith III) (Green et al., 2016; Stroud et al., 2016), in order to intercept the early atypical developmental patterns indicating ASD risk in the first 3 years of age.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Acute kidney injury (AKI) after robot-assisted partial nephrectomy (RAPN) is a robust surrogate for chronic kidney disease. The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of ischemia type and duration during RAPN with postoperative AKI.
Materials And Methods: We reviewed all patients who underwent RAPN at our institution since 2011.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to assess how diagnostic cardiovascular procedure volumes rebounded in the U.S. and abroad during the year after COVID-19 hit, relying on data from 669 facilities worldwide.
- In the early pandemic (April 2020), procedure volumes dropped significantly but showed a better recovery in U.S. facilities by April 2021 compared to non-U.S. facilities, although high-income non-U.S. countries showed similar recovery rates as the U.S.
- Regional variations within the U.S. were noted, with the Midwest having the highest recovery rate, but no specific factors were found to predict recovery levels from the initial drop in procedure volumes.
Adults with aging-related hearing loss (ARHL) experience adaptive neural changes to optimize their sensory experiences; for example, enhanced audiovisual (AV) and predictive processing during speech perception. The mismatch negativity (MMN) event-related potential is an index of central auditory processing; however, it has not been explored as an index of AV and predictive processing in adults with ARHL. In a pilot study we examined the AV MMN in two conditions of a passive oddball paradigm - one AV condition in which the visual aspect of the stimulus can predict the auditory percept and one AV control condition in which the visual aspect of the stimulus cannot predict the auditory percept.
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