Publications by authors named "Ruta F"

Introduction: A key element for a healthy lifestyle in the formative years of a young adult is a balanced, healthy, individualized diet.

Aim: The aim of this study was to analyze the eating behavior and lifestyles of students at a university in Romania, as well as the extent to which the study program interferes with these factors.

Methods: A retrospective study was performed, with the data being collected through an online questionnaire via the Google Forms platform; data collection for the current study was carried out in November 2024 during a student session.

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Article Synopsis
  • * Participants were categorized based on their urinary infection history, and data was collected on their intestinal microbiota, dietary habits, lifestyle, and understanding of their conditions.
  • * Findings revealed that factors like abdominal pain, constipation, and poor dietary choices are linked to both IBS and LUTIs, suggesting that these conditions may influence and worsen each other's symptoms.
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Article Synopsis
  • Life expectancy and overall function of amputated patients have improved, leading to a higher incidence of hip issues requiring total hip arthroplasty (THA), but not all surgeons are adequately trained for these cases.
  • This review analyzes 17 manuscripts, documenting 39 cases of THA in amputees, highlighting differences between above-knee amputations (AKA) and below-knee amputations (BKA) and emphasizing the need for careful planning and rehabilitation considerations before surgery.
  • Patients with BKA often have higher functional demands post-surgery, requiring precise component positioning and intensive physiotherapy, while AKA patients may present unique challenges due to the lack of a knee joint and varying levels of mobility.
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Background: The direct anterior approach is increasingly used for primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) due to its minimally invasive nature and rapid recovery time. Difficulties in identifying the correct intermuscular interval can arise during the procedure, sometimes resulting in excessive medial exposure. This study aimed to evaluate demographics and risk factors, outcomes, and potential complications in those THA patients in which a medialized approach was performed.

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Unlabelled: The scientific literature suggests that, if periprosthetic osteolysis (PPO) is not treated, it may have a negative impact on the results of a total hip replacement and possibly result in failure. This systematic review aimed to determine the efficacy of using bisphosphonates preventatively to limit PPO after a total hip arthroplasty (THA).

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines.

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Anomalies in lipid metabolism involve multifactorial pathogenesis, among other factors, being associated with an inflammatory state and disturbances in vitamin D status. The literature has focused on the binary relationships between inflammation and dyslipidemia, vitamin D and dyslipidemia, or vitamin D and inflammation. Our study aimed to explore the link between all these three factors: 25-OH vitamin D serum levels, the presence of inflammation assessed through serum C-reactive protein (CRP), and serum lipid profile in 2747 hospitalized patients.

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(1) Background: Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among otherwise healthy women represent a problem that requires additional understanding and approaches. Evidencing the link between dysbiosis and UTIs and the associated potential risk factors could lead to therapeutic approaches with increased efficiency under the conditions of reducing the risks associated with antibiotic treatments. The purpose of this study was to evaluate dysbiosis and other potential risk factors in women with a history of urinary tract infections; (2) Methods: Fecal dysbiosis tests were performed comparatively in two groups of women.

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Pump-probe nano-optical experiments were used to study the light-induced insulator to metal transition (IMT) in thin films of vanadium dioxide (VO_{2}), a prototypical correlated electron system. We show that inhomogeneous optical contrast is prompted by spatially uniform photoexcitation, indicating an inhomogeneous photosusceptibility of VO_{2}. We locally characterize temperature and time dependent variations of the photoexcitation threshold necessary to induce the IMT on picosecond timescales with hundred nanometer spatial resolution.

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Objectives: This study aims to investigate hospital nurses' perceptions of illness due to environmental exposures.

Design: A qualitative exploratory study, designed in accordance with the specified reporting guidelines for qualitative research.

Sample: Nurses working in Italian hospitals.

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(1) Direct anterior approach (DAA) has recently acquired popularity through improvements such as the anterior minimally invasive surgical technique (AMIS). This retrospective study examines the first 1000 consecutive THAs performed utilizing the AMIS approach in a high-volume center between 2012 and 2017. (2) 1000 consecutive THAs performed at a single institution utilizing the AMIS approach were retrospectively analyzed with a minimum five-year follow-up.

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Organ transplantation is one the most important contributions of modern medicine to society since it provides a unique therapy for terminal organ failure. However, the development of this therapeutic approach is hindered by the limited organ supply. In Italy, organ procurement requires a multidisciplinary medical-surgical approach in which legal medical doctors (LMDs) are generally tasked with ascertaining the reality of death.

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Aim: Eating disorders are major illnesses that primarily affect adolescents and young adults and seriously threaten public health. Early identification of at-risk individuals and timely initiation of treatment is crucial to improve outcomes. The Inside Out Institute Screener (IOI-S) is a rapid self-administration screening tool for high-risk and early-stage eating disorders.

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The integration time and signal-to-noise ratio are inextricably linked when performing scanning probe microscopy based on raster scanning. This often yields a large lower bound on the measurement time, for example, in nano-optical imaging experiments performed using a scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM). Here, we utilize sparse scanning augmented with Gaussian process regression to bypass the time constraint.

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Background: The importance of environmental sustainability is acknowledged in all sectors, including healthcare. To meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 2030 Agenda, healthcare will need a paradigm shift toward more environmentally sustainable practices that will also impact clinical decision-making. The study investigates trauma and emergency surgeons' perception, acceptance, and employment of environmentally friendly habits.

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Exciton polaritons are quasiparticles of photons coupled strongly to bound electron-hole pairs, manifesting as an anti-crossing light dispersion near an exciton resonance. Highly anisotropic semiconductors with opposite-signed permittivities along different crystal axes are predicted to host exotic modes inside the anti-crossing called hyperbolic exciton polaritons (HEPs), which confine light subdiffractionally with enhanced density of states. Here, we show observational evidence of steady-state HEPs in the van der Waals magnet chromium sulfide bromide (CrSBr) using a cryogenic near-infrared near-field microscope.

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Background: COVID-19 has caused a worldwide pandemic that has significantly affected people's health and daily lives. Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 have impaired physical and psychological conditions. Despite this, few studies have examined the physical and psychological health of COVID-19 patients after discharge from the hospital.

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Raised life expectancy and aging of the general population are associated with an increased concern for fragility fractures due to factors such as osteoporosis, reduced bone density, and an higher risk of falls. Among these, the most frequent are vertebral compression fractures (VCF), which can be clinically occult. Once the diagnosis is made, generally thorough antero-posterior and lateral views of the affected spine at the radiographs, a comprehensive workup to assess the presence of a metabolic bone disease or secondary causes of osteoporosis and bone frailty is required.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study explores the use of work-function-mediated charge transfer for controlling the electrostatics of individual atomic layers, using α-RuCl as a 2D electron acceptor next to hexagonal boron nitride (BN).
  • It highlights how this arrangement induces unique nano-optical behavior in BN by causing interlayer charge polarization, resulting in a reduction of phonon polariton (PhP) propagation length significantly beyond intrinsic losses.
  • The findings are backed by advanced techniques like scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy and first-principles calculations, demonstrating the promising applications of charge-transfer heterostructures in enhancing the optoelectronic properties of 2D insulators.
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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of maternal age and body mass index (BMI) on induction of labor with oral misoprostol for premature rupture of membrane (PROM) at term. We have conducted retrospective cross-sectional study, including only term (37 weeks or more of gestation) PROM in healthy nulliparous women with a negative vaginal-rectal swab for group B streptococcus, a single cephalic fetus with normal birthweight, and uneventful pregnancy that were induced after 24 h from PROM. Ninety-one patients were included.

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Introduction: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) is a successful surgery, but despite the advancements in anesthesiology and orthopedics, sometimes blood transfusions are required to manage the anemia due to the blood loss, involving a substantial number of patients. The aim of this retrospective comparative study is to define how the choice of the surgical approach, either direct anterior (DA) or posterolateral (PL), may influence the postoperative blood loss and the need for transfusion in THA.

Materials And Methods: Data collection was carried out retrospectively of THAs performed between 2016 and 2021 on primary hip osteoarthritis treated by DA or with PL approach.

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Total hip arthroplasty (THA) in obese patients (BMI > 30) is considered technically demanding, and it is associated with higher rates of general and specific complications including infections, component malpositioning, dislocation, and periprosthetic fractures. Classically, the Direct Anterior Approach (DAA) has been considered less suitable for performing THA surgery in the obese patient, but recent evidence produced by high-volume DAA THA surgeons suggests that DAA is suitable and effective in obese patients. At the authors' institution, DAA is currently the preferred approach for primary and revision THA surgery, accounting for over 90% of hip surgeries without specific patient selection.

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Background: The frequency of alarms from monitors and other electro-medical devices is of great utility but can increase the professional's workload and expose nurses in the intensive care unit to Alarm Fatigue. A recent study suggested that students in training can also experience the problem during their first clinical experiences in intensive care. Unfortunately, no data are available about the Italian panorama.

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Plasmon polaritons in van der Waals materials hold promise for various photonics applications. The deterministic imprinting of spatial patterns of high carrier density in plasmonic cavities and nanoscale circuitry can enable the realization of advanced nonlinear nanophotonic and strong light-matter interaction platforms. Here we demonstrate an oxidation-activated charge transfer strategy to program ambipolar low-loss graphene plasmonic structures.

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