Publications by authors named "Spina A"

This study evaluates the efficacy of GPT-4, a Large Language Model, in simplifying medical literature for enhancing patient comprehension in glaucoma care. GPT-4 was used to transform published abstracts from 3 glaucoma journals (n = 62) and patient education materials (Patient Educational Model [PEMs], n = 9) to a 5th-grade reading level. GPT-4 was also prompted to generate de novo educational outputs at 6 different education levels (5th Grade, 8th Grade, High School, Associate's, Bachelor's and Doctorate).

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Background: This study assesses the effectiveness of large language models (LLMs) in simplifying complex language within orthopaedic patient education materials (PEMs) and identifies predictive factors for successful text transformation.

Methods: We transformed 48 orthopaedic PEMs using GPT-4, GPT-3.5, Claude 2, and Llama 2.

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Background: Ovarian cancer (OvC) constitutes significant management challenges primarily due to its late-stage diagnosis and the development of resistance to chemotherapy. The standard treatment regimen typically includes carboplatin and paclitaxel, with the addition of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors for patients with high-grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC) harboring BRCA1/2 mutations. However, the variability in treatment responses suggests the need to investigate factors beyond BRCA1/2 mutations, such as DNA repair mechanisms and epigenetic alterations.

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Since the COVID-19 pandemic, considerable advances have been made to improve epidemic preparedness by accelerating diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccine development. However, we argue that it is crucial to make equivalent efforts in the field of outbreak analytics to help ensure reliable, evidence-based decision making. To explore the challenges and key priorities in the field of outbreak analytics, the Epiverse-TRACE initiative brought together a multidisciplinary group of experts, including field epidemiologists, data scientists, academics, and software engineers from public health institutions across multiple countries.

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The axis CXCL12-CXCR4 is highly expressed in ovarian cancer where contributes to disease progression. Aim of the work was to evaluate the effect of the newly developed CXCR4 antagonist R54 on human ovarian cancer cells aggressiveness. CXCL12-CXCR4 axis was evaluated in human ovarian cancer cells through proliferation, migration and signaling CXCL12-dependents.

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This study focused on the interplay between NADPH oxidase 2 (NOX 2) activation and mitochondrial superoxide (mitoO) formation induced by clinically relevant concentrations of arsenic trioxide (ATO; AsO) in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cells. Carefully controlled inhibitor studies and small interfering RNA mediated downregulation of p47 (a component of the NOX 2 complex) expression demonstrated that, in an APL cell line, ATO promotes upstream NOX 2 activation critically connected with the formation of mitoO and with the ensuing mitochondrial permeability transition (MPT)-dependent apoptosis. Instead, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines respond to ATO with low NOX 2 activation, resulting in a state that is non-permissive for mitoO formation.

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Purpose: To determine risk factors for meibomian gland disease and associated structural abnormalities in meibography among young medical trainees.

Methods: This study included 84 medical students and residents younger than 45 years. All participants completed an ocular history and lifestyle questionnaire and the standardized patient evaluation of eye dryness (SPEED) II questionnaire.

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Strategies for controlling cholesterol and lipid metabolism, including the use of food supplements, are part of the non-pharmacological intervention to ameliorate cardiovascular health. To demonstrate the efficacy of a standardized flavonoids (150 mg/day) extract from on cholesterol and lipid management, a placebo-controlled clinical trial on 64 subjects with high cholesterol was carried out. The total study duration was 4 months, with intermediate checkpoints at 1-month intervals.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluated how well ChatGPT-4 can simplify complex medical texts for better patient understanding, focusing on neurology and neurosurgery.
  • Readability scores significantly improved, dropping from high school levels to a 5th grade reading level, indicating enhanced accessibility for patients.
  • Although content preservation was generally high and validated through expert assessments, the effectiveness of similarity analysis using Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) decreased for longer texts, suggesting limitations in its accuracy for larger documents.
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  • In ovarian cancer, a comprehensive study examined various metabolism-related markers to understand their prognostic value, but results showed mixed outcomes in large patient groups.
  • The study used advanced techniques on tissue samples from over 300 patients to analyze markers tied to glycolysis, glutamine metabolism, and hypoxia, but found that only one marker (GLS) hinted at a connection to patient survival, which was not statistically significant after adjustments.
  • Ultimately, the research highlights the diversity of metabolism markers in ovarian cancer and suggests their expression patterns may still be relevant for future drug development, even if they don't currently correlate with treatment outcomes.
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  • The study explored the use of plant extracts from sumac and mugwort as bio-herbicides to enhance the quality of durum wheat (cv Valbelice) over two years (2014 and 2016), comparing them with untreated, water-treated, and chemically treated controls.
  • Analysis involved evaluating various quality characteristics of the grain and wholemeal flour, including protein content, gluten quality, and technological features such as mixograph performance and bread-making tests.
  • While there were no significant differences in overall grain weight or kernel weight between treatments, notable variations in kernel defects and flour characteristics were observed, emphasizing the impact of the year on results.
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Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) and erythropoiesis are activated during pregnancy and after bleeding by the derepression of retrotransposons, including endogenous retroviruses and long interspersed nuclear elements. Retrotransposon transcription activates the innate immune sensors cyclic guanosine 3',5'-monophosphate-adenosine 5'-monophosphate synthase (cGAS) and stimulator of interferon (IFN) genes (STING), which induce IFN and IFN-regulated genes in HSCs, increasing HSC division and erythropoiesis. Inhibition of reverse transcriptase or deficiency for cGAS or STING had little or no effect on hematopoiesis in nonpregnant mice but depleted HSCs and erythroid progenitors in pregnant mice, reducing red blood cell counts.

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  • There are currently no specific biomarkers to identify patients with advanced ovarian carcinoma who are responsive to bevacizumab (BEV), a key treatment option.
  • A study analyzed TP53 mutations and p53 expression in advanced ovarian cancer patients undergoing BEV treatment, finding that unclassified missense TP53 mutations significantly improved overall survival.
  • The results suggest that unclassified TP53 mutations could serve as a favorable prognostic indicator in these patients, indicating the need for further research to explore their potential role in predicting treatment outcomes.
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Currently, in dairy farming, there is growing concern for the welfare of calves during the critical period between the separation from their dams and weaning. During weaning, rationed feeding is a practice used to improve feed efficiency and control the calves' growth, but it could also have negative consequences associated with hunger and feed restriction behavior. One such consequence could be the performance by calves of stereotyped behaviors indicative of poor welfare, such as non-nutritive oral behaviors.

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Cognitive decline, a common consequence of aging, detrimentally affects independence, physical activity, and social interactions. This decline encompasses various cognitive functions, including processing speed, memory, language, and executive functioning. This trial aimed to investigate, with a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial on 96 healthy older adults, the efficacy of once-daily 250 mg of a standardized grape ( L.

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  • The study investigates the presence of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and antibiotic resistance proteins in bovine milk from various breeds, focusing on both intensive and non-intensive farming practices.
  • Using advanced techniques like LAP-MALDI mass spectrometry and metaproteomics, researchers analyzed milk samples to identify and characterize these proteins while successfully distinguishing Podolica breed milk from other breeds with an impressive accuracy rate.
  • The findings revealed a significant diversity in the bacterial ecosystem of milk and identified specific resistance proteins, like beta-lactamases, across samples, indicating no significant differences linked to the breed of cow.
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Sports trainers have recently shown increasing interest in innovative methods, including transcranial electric stimulation, to enhance motor performance and boost the acquisition of new skills during training. However, studies on the effectiveness of these tools on fast visuomotor learning and brain activity are still limited. In this randomized single-blind, sham-controlled, between-subjects study, we investigated whether a single training session, either coupled or not with 2 mA online high-frequency transcranial random noise stimulation (hf-tRNS) over the bilateral primary motor cortex (M1), would affect dart-throwing performance (i.

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The use of inulin in food is highly appreciated by consumers because of its prebiotic effect. In this study, the effects of increasing additions (5, 10 and 20%) of inulin as a substitute for wheat flour in bread production were investigated with regard to the physical, technological and rheological properties of the flour blends. Inulin reduced the water-binding capacity from 1.

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Background: Although uncertainties exist regarding implementation, artificial intelligence-driven generative language models (GLMs) have enormous potential in medicine. Deployment of GLMs could improve patient comprehension of clinical texts and improve low health literacy.

Objective: The goal of this study is to evaluate the potential of ChatGPT-3.

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Dietary interventions represent an interesting alternative to pharmacological treatments for improving the quality of life (QoL) of subjects suffering from gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a food supplement (FS) containing a probiotic strain, bioactive peptides, and vitamins in relieving heartburn/dyspeptic symptoms in subjects with mild-to-moderate GERD. Fifty-six adult participants were randomly assigned to receive the placebo or the active FS for 28 days.

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Purpose: To evaluate the impact of a four-month training program on radiology residents' diagnostic accuracy in assessing deep myometrial invasion (DMI) in endometrial cancer (EC) using MRI.

Method: Three radiology residents with limited EC MRI experience participated in the training program, which included conventional didactic sessions, case-centric workshops, and interactive classes. Utilizing a training dataset of 120 EC MRI scans, trainees independently assessed subsets of cases over five reading sessions.

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  • Myeloma with extramedullary plasmacytomas (EMP) shows significantly worse outcomes compared to paraosseous plasmacytomas (PP), and existing treatments have been ineffective.
  • A study evaluated the effectiveness of daratumumab-based treatments in 102 myeloma patients, finding similar overall response rates for both groups at diagnosis, but lower rates at relapse.
  • Despite EMP patients having shorter median overall survival at diagnosis, there were no significant differences in treatment timelines or responses between EMP and PP patients during relapse, suggesting daratumumab may be beneficial even in difficult cases.
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  • Homologous Recombination Deficiency (HRD) status is important for predicting how ovarian cancer patients will respond to treatment with PARP inhibitors, and the Myriad myChoiceCDx Assay is an FDA-approved method for assessing this status.
  • In a study of 100 untreated ovarian cancer patients, HRD analysis was conducted using three different commercial panels and compared to the Myriad reference test, showing strong agreement in results.
  • The findings suggest that these commercial tests can reliably assess HRD status and are associated with patient outcomes, indicating their potential for clinical use alongside the Myriad test.
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The Podolica cattle breed is widespread in southern Italy, and its productivity is characterized by low yields and an extraordinary quality of milk and meats. Most of the milk produced is transformed into "Caciocavallo Podolico" cheese, which is made with 100% Podolica milk. Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) is the technique that, in this research work, was applied together with machine learning to discriminate 100% Podolica milk from contamination of other Calabrian cattle breeds.

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