Covered Stent Correction for Sinus Venosus Atrial Septal Defects, an Emerging Alternative to Surgical Repair: Results of an International Registry.

Background: Covered stent correction for a sinus venosus atrial septal defect (SVASD) was first performed in 2009. This innovative approach was initially viewed as experimental and was reserved for highly selected patients with unusual anatomic variants. In 2016, increasing numbers of procedures began to be performed, and in several centers, it is now offered as a standard of care option alongside surgical repair.

Double trouble: Co-infection of and in golden jackal () in Friuli Venezia Giulia, Italy.

This study reports the first co-infection of and two nematodes affecting canid cardiopulmonary systems, in golden jackals () in Italy. Data on golden jackal carcasses, recovered in Friuli Venezia Giulia (Italy) from 2020 to 2023, were recorded using InfoFaunaFVG wildlife monitoring network. Out of 60 necropsied golden jackals, 24 tested positive for either pathogen, with 3 animals displaying co-infection.

Optimization of Platelet-Rich Plasma Preparation for Regenerative Medicine: Comparison of Different Anticoagulants and Resuspension Media.

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has emerged as a promising therapy in regenerative medicine. However, the lack of standardization in PRP preparation protocols presents a challenge in achieving reproducible and accurate results. This study aimed to optimize the PRP preparation protocol by investigating the impact of two different anticoagulants, sodium citrate (SC) and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), and resuspension media, plasma versus sodium chloride (NaCl).

Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Score (SLE-DAS) enables accurate and user-friendly definitions of clinical remission and categories of disease activity.

Objectives: There is an unmet need for accurate and user-friendly definitions of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) disease activity and remission. We aimed to derive and validate the SLE Disease Activity Score (SLE-DAS) definitions for disease activity categories and clinical remission state.

Methods: Derivation was conducted at Padova Lupus Clinic (Italy).

Unexpected Effects on Some Spanish Cultural Landscapes of the Mediterranean Diet.

The declaration of the Mediterranean Diet as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in order to preserve a cultural and gastronomical legacy included the protection of lifestyles, knowledge, sociability, and environmental relationships. However, the patrimonialization, popularization, and globalization of a certain conception of this diet have turned it into a de-territorialized global phenomenon. As a consequence of this process, it has been necessary to notably increase the production of its ingredients to satisfy its growing demand, which, in turn, has generated "secondary effects" in some Mediterranean environments of Southeastern Spain.

Walking the Dog in Madrid During the Pandemic.

The relationships we humans form with our pets condition the spaces we inhabit and how we move around in them. This article discusses relations between humans and their dogs in the city of Madrid during the Covid-19 lockdown. As an emergency ethnography, this article shows how, in this context, dogs can become the centre of relations between neighbours, facilitating or worsening them, creating new problems and simplifying others.

Chemical Composition and Antioxidant Activity of Monguba (Pachira aquatica) Seeds.

Monguba fruit has a seed with a chestnut-like flavor that can be consumed boiled, fried, and roasted. These nutritious seeds also have been used in popular medicine to treat several diseases. Nevertheless, the nutritional and functional potential of monguba seed is still underexploited.

Topographic distribution of gastritis in heavy pigs investigated by a geographic information system approach.

The aim of this paper was to determine the topographic distribution of gastritis lesions in pigs through an open source geographic information system (GIS) software analysis. The stomachs of 146 Italian heavy pigs were collected at slaughter and subjected to macroscopic pathological examination of the internal mucosa. A total of 623 lesions were either classified as hyperplastic or follicular (97%) with the remaining minority of lesions categorised as atrophic and simple.

Facial soft biometric features for forensic face recognition.

This paper proposes a functional feature-based approach useful for real forensic caseworks, based on the shape, orientation and size of facial traits, which can be considered as a soft biometric approach. The motivation of this work is to provide a set of facial features, which can be understood by non-experts such as judges and support the work of forensic examiners who, in practice, carry out a thorough manual comparison of face images paying special attention to the similarities and differences in shape and size of various facial traits. This new approach constitutes a tool that automatically converts a set of facial landmarks to a set of features (shape and size) corresponding to facial regions of forensic value.

Combination of Face Regions in Forensic Scenarios.

This article presents an experimental analysis of the combination of different regions of the human face on various forensic scenarios to generate scientific knowledge useful for the forensic experts. Three scenarios of interest at different distances are considered comparing mugshot and CCTV face images using MORPH and SC face databases. One of the main findings is that inner facial regions combine better in mugshot and close CCTV scenarios and outer facial regions combine better in far CCTV scenarios.

Implementation and performance of a GPS/INS tightly coupled assisted PLL architecture using MEMS inertial sensors.

The use of global navigation satellite system receivers for navigation still presents many challenges in urban canyon and indoor environments, where satellite availability is typically reduced and received signals are attenuated. To improve the navigation performance in such environments, several enhancement methods can be implemented. For instance, external aid provided through coupling with other sensors has proven to contribute substantially to enhancing navigation performance and robustness.

Identification using face regions: application and assessment in forensic scenarios.

This paper reports an exhaustive analysis of the discriminative power of the different regions of the human face on various forensic scenarios. In practice, when forensic examiners compare two face images, they focus their attention not only on the overall similarity of the two faces. They carry out an exhaustive morphological comparison region by region (e.

Validation of the verbal autopsy method to ascertain acute respiratory infection as cause of death.

The validity of the Verbal Autopsy (VA) in death due to acute respiratory infection (ARI), was tested in 36 children who died by any acute infectious disease as stated by the necropsy diagnosis, at two public hospitals in Mexico City; the illness started at home. Clinical data obtained through VA were compared with diagnoses of necropsies, which were considered as "gold standard". The presence of dyspnoea for more than one day showed sensitivity of 0.

Immunization promotion activities: are they effective in encouraging mothers to immunize their children?

Mass media communication is an important strategy for increasing parental uptake and to promote community participation when large-scale immunization activities are carried out. In Mexico, the National Vaccination Council (CONAVA) launches three immunization campaigns every year accompanied by three vaccination promotion campaigns. This study was conducted to assess whether communication activities to promote CONAVA's Second National Health Week (SNHW) were effective in providing information to mothers about the importance of immunizing their children under five years of age and in prompting them to seek immunization services.

[Mortality for diarrheic disease in Mexico: problem of accessibility or quality of care?].

Objective: To evaluate the access to health services and the process of care provided to children under five years old who died from acute diarrhea (AD).

Material And Methods: In four states of Mexico, a cross-sectional study was carried out. Deaths from AD that occurred in the lapse of one year were included.

[Characteristics associated with under-registration of children's deaths in the state of Guerrero, Mexico].

Objective: To estimate the frequency of under-registered children deaths in rural areas and to identify associated characteristics.

Material And Methods: The study was conducted in three stages. In the first, three strata of communities were formed according to the number of inhabitants; then a representative number of villages was randomly selected from each stratum.

Infant mortality due to acute respiratory infections: the influence of primary care processes.

A population-based case control study was conducted to ascertain whether the process of primary care can be a determinant of infant mortality due to Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI). Cases were 118 infants who died from ARI, individually matched with 118 infants who suffered an ARI episode and recovered. Information was gathered through interviewing mothers.

[Death caused by acute diarrhea in children: a study of prognostic factors].

Objective: To identify prognostic factors of death due to acute diarrhea related to the process disease-health care-death in the State of Tlaxcala, Mexico.

Material And Methods: A case-control design was used. Cases were defined as children who died between the ages of seventy-two hours and five years between 1992 and 1994.

Improving physician prescribing patterns to treat rhinopharyngitis. Intervention strategies in two health systems of Mexico.

To improve prescribing practices for rhinopharyngitis, an interactive educational intervention and a managerial intervention were carried out in 18 primary care facilities in metropolitan Mexico City. Four family medicine clinics of the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) and 14 health centres of the Ministry of Health (SSA) were included. A quasi-experimental design was employed.

[Reduction in the mortality from acute diarrheal diseases. The experiences of an action-research program].

In order to accelerate the descending mortality rate of acute diarrhea in children under five years of age in Mexico, six strategies were implemented. The results showed that after nine months, 49 per cent of mothers had been trained, and improved significantly their home management of diarrhea. The use of oral rehydration salts increased from 10 to 30 per cent; use of oral rehydration therapy increased from 77 to 83 per cent; and timely and appropriate demand for medical help increased from 51 to 62 per cent (p < 0.

[The verbal autopsy on children with a respiratory infection and acute diarrhea. An analysis of the disease-care-death process].

The study focuses on children between 72 hours and five years of age who died of acute respiratory infection (ARI) or acute diarrhea (AD) in the State of Tlaxcala. Peer Review Mortality Committee of the State contributed with the staff to the deaths analysis. Cases were included only when diagnosis was confirmed by verbal autopsy (VA).

[The verbal autopsy: a tool for the study of mortality in children].

The verbal autopsy (VA) is a technique that has been used since 1931, but it wasn't until the last decade that it has been more widely used by different investigators to study mortality both in infancy/childhood and adulthood. The VA consists of an interview directed to a care-giver (usually the mother) close to the deceased subject, and its objective is to disclose information about the cause of death. The VA has been particularly useful in those places where a reliable record of mortality is unavailable or nonexisting.