Novel approach to treating calcified infrarenal aortic stenosis using intravascular lithotripsy without stenting.

This case report presents the use of intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) in a 68-year-old woman with disabling bilateral claudication owing to a heavily calcified subocclusive stenosis of the infrarenal aorta. The patient had a history of tobacco use, dyslipidemia, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, with absent femoral pulses and severe arterial calcification. A 12-mm Shockwave L6 lithotripsy catheter was employed to treat the aortic lesion, resulting in a significant decrease in the aortic pressure gradient without the need for stenting.

Pulmonary fibrosis as the sole manifestation of anti-Ku antibody positivity in the absence of myositis: A case report.

Background: Anti-Ku antibodies are autoantibodies directed against the Ku protein complex involved in DNA repair. They are typically associated with overlap syndromes featuring polymyositis and systemic sclerosis. Isolated pulmonary involvement without myositis is exceedingly rare.

Loss of increases type I interferon signalling and reduces pancreatic tumour growth by enhancing immune cell infiltration.

Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most lethal forms of cancer, and despite low incidence rates, it remains the sixth leading cause of cancer related deaths worldwide. Immunotherapy, which aims to enhance the immune system's ability to recognize and eliminate cancer cells, has emerged as a promising approach in the battle against PDAC. PARP7, a mono-ADP-ribosyltransferase, is a negative regulator of the type I interferon (IFN-I) pathway and has been reported to reduce anti-tumour immunity.

Desensitization With Imlifidase for HLA-Incompatible Deceased Donor Kidney Transplantation: A Delphi International Expert Consensus.

Highly sensitized (HS) patients in need of kidney transplantation (KTx) typically spend a longer time waiting for compatible kidneys, are unlikely to receive an organ offer, and are at increased risk of antibody-mediated rejection (AMR). Desensitization using imlifidase, which is more rapid and removes total body immunoglobulin G (IgG) to a greater extent than other methods, enables transplantation to occur between HLA-incompatible (HLAi) donor-recipient pairs and allows patients to have greater access to KTx. However, when the project was launched there was limited data and clinical experience with desensitization in general and with imlifidase specifically.

Associations between degree of food processing and all-cause and cause-specific mortality: a multicentre prospective cohort analysis in 9 European countries.

Background: Ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption has been linked with higher risk of mortality. This multi-centre study investigated associations between food intake by degree of processing, using the Nova classification, and all-cause and cause-specific mortality.

Methods: This study analyzed data from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition.

Advanced robotics for automated EV battery testing using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

Introduction: The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) has highlighted the need for efficient diagnostic methods to assess the state of health (SoH) of lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) at the end of their life cycle. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) offers a non-invasive technique for determining battery degradation. However, automating this process in industrial settings remains a challenge.

Update on Pulmonary Toxicity Induced by New Breast Cancer Treatments.

In recent years, new anticancer drugs have been investigated and approved for the treatment of breast cancer based on improved survival outcomes. However, these new treatments have specific class-related side effects. Pulmonary toxicity has been identified as an adverse event of special interest with everolimus, and is becoming an increasingly significant clinical challenge with the recent approval of trastuzumab deruxtecan.

Considerations for developing syndrome-informed early interventions for children with neurogenetic conditions.

New insights regarding the early emergence of phenotypic patterns of strength and challenge in neurogenetic conditions afford the possibility of personalized, anticipatory intervention approaches. The development of novel 'syndrome-informed' interventions, however, should incorporate principles that will maximize the utility of intervention activities for as many children with a given neurogenetic condition as possible. This review examines several of these dimensions, including the use of community-engaged frameworks to ensure feasibility and acceptability of novel interventions; the development of cross-nationally valid approaches that can be readily translated into other languages and cultural contexts; and the use of adaptive interventions designs that allow for the tailoring of intervention pathways based on key child dimensions.

The dilemma of X-linked agammaglobulinemia carriers.

Background: Many patients with X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA) nowadays have reached adulthood, as well as their sisters, possibly carriers of a deleterious Bruton tyrosine kinase variant. Studies on motherhood outcomes in families with XLA are lacking.

Objective: We sought to investigate adherence to carrier status screening, interest in preconception and prenatal genetic counseling, and reproductive decisions in relatives with XLA.

Rare epithelial gastric cancers: a review of the current treatment knowledge.

Gastric cancer (GC), one of the tumours with the highest mortality worldwide, is not a homogeneous disease, showing different features according to location, macroscopic aspect, histotype and molecular alterations. Adenocarcinoma is the most frequent epithelial GC (95%), the remaining 5% comprising rare epithelial tumours with their peculiarities, behaviour and incidence <6 cases/100,000/year. Due to the low number of cases, many aspects must be elucidated in this context.

A new Digital Harmony Search algorithm for optimizing Pump Scheduling in Water Distribution Networks.

Pumps in Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) adequately provide effective pressure where low elevation or high head losses are detected within the system. One of the most effective strategies to ensure economic sustainability is Pump Scheduling (PS), assuring the optimization of pump management and enabling significant energy cost saving. Meta-heuristic algorithms can be applied to Pump Scheduling, given their ability to provide reliable global solutions, further complemented by limited computational efforts.

Lightweight Retinal Layer Segmentation With Global Reasoning.

Automatic retinal layer segmentation with medical images, such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) images, serves as an important tool for diagnosing ophthalmic diseases. However, it is challenging to achieve accurate segmentation due to low contrast and blood flow noises presented in the images. In addition, the algorithm should be light-weight to be deployed for practical clinical applications.

Successful Management of Palatal Developmental Groove-Associated Periodontal Defect Using Palatal Access Flap and Odontoradiculoplasty: A Case Report.

This case report discusses the successful management of a deep palatal developmental groove associated with Stage III generalized Grade C periodontitis. Despite prior nonsurgical periodontal therapy, the disease progressed rapidly, necessitating further intervention. A comprehensive evaluation revealed generalized periodontitis with localized tooth-related predisposing factor due to a developmental groove in the vital upper left lateral incisor.

Cartilage thickness can be accurately measured intraoperatively in total knee arthroplasty: A step further in calipered kinematic alignment.

Introduction: Kinematic alignment (KA) in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is by definition a pure femoral resurfacing procedure aiming to restore the individual prearthritic anatomy. However, when a 2 mm compensation is systematically used on the worn side, the variability in cartilage thickness in the unworn compartment might alter the accuracy of the technique. This study aimed to validate two intraoperative femoral cartilage thickness measurement techniques by comparing them to the photographic method, which measures cartilage thickness through pixel analysis of bone-cut images.

Primordial black holes and their gravitational-wave signatures.

In the recent years, primordial black holes (PBHs) have emerged as one of the most interesting and hotly debated topics in cosmology. Among other possibilities, PBHs could explain both some of the signals from binary black hole mergers observed in gravitational-wave detectors and an important component of the dark matter in the Universe. Significant progress has been achieved both on the theory side and from the point of view of observations, including new models and more accurate calculations of PBH formation, evolution, clustering, merger rates, as well as new astrophysical and cosmological probes.

Healthcare provision for displaced people in transit: Analyses of routinely collected data from INTERSOS clinics at the Ukrainian border with Moldova and Poland.

Background: The Russian military invasion of Ukraine has sparked Europe's largest forced displacement since World War II, bringing about significant health vulnerabilities for migrants and refugees. European health information systems lack comprehensive data coverage, especially in underrepresented migration stages like transit. This study aims to address this gap by analyzing data from INTERSOS clinics at the Moldovan and Polish borders with Ukraine to identify the common health conditions prompting people to seek healthcare services during transit.

The Influence of Temporomandibular Joint Disorders and Mandibular Position on Visual Capacities: A Case-Control Study.

Aims: To verify the possible association between the stomatognathic and the visual system by analyzing the effects that different mandibular postures may have on the accommodative capacity and ocular convergence and by assessing whether temporomandibular disorders (TMD) can influence visual abilities.

Materials And Methods: A case-control study was performed during a 1-year period on a sample of 100 subjects (50 cases and 50 controls). The subjects underwent a gnathological examination, and two visual tests were performed in three different jaw positions: maximum intercuspation, resting position, and open mouth.

Management of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a review for clinicians.

Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (iCCA) is an aggressive liver malignancy that arises from second-order biliary epithelial cells. Its incidence is gradually increasing worldwide. Well-known risk factors have been described, although in many cases, they are not identifiable.

Exploring Inhibitory Control Processes in Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM): A Single Case Study.

Individuals who possess a Highly Superior Autobiographical Memory (HSAM) can remember their own lives in exceptional detail, retrieving specific autobiographical events in response to dates (e.g., 15 April 1995).

Massive subcutaneous filariosis by in beech marten () in Italy.

The beech marten () is a small-size mustelid endangered according to the IUCN Red List. Despite the plethora of parasites potentially affecting its population decline, subcutaneous filarioids are occasionally reported in martens and their competent arthropod vectors are to date unknown. Therefore, from January 2023 to August 2024, this study investigated the presence of subcutaneous filarioids and ectoparasites of road-killed beech martens ( = 7) from southwestern Italy.

Missing value replacement in strings and applications.

Missing values arise routinely in real-world sequential (string) datasets due to: (1) imprecise data measurements; (2) flexible sequence modeling, such as binding profiles of molecular sequences; or (3) the existence of confidential information in a dataset which has been deleted deliberately for privacy protection. In order to analyze such datasets, it is often important to replace each missing value, with one or more letters, in an efficient and effective way. Here we formalize this task as a combinatorial optimization problem: the set of constraints includes the of the missing value (i.

Nanosized MCM-41 silica from rice husk and its application for the removal of organic dyes from water.

A novel synthesis of a nanometric MCM-41 from biogenic silica obtained from rice husk is here presented. CTABr and Pluronic F127 surfactants were employed as templating agents to promote the formation of a long-range ordered 2D-hexagonal structure with cylindrical pores and to limit the particle growth at the nanoscale level thus resulting in a material with uniform particle size of 20-30 nm. The physico-chemical properties of this sample (RH-nanoMCM) were investigated through a multi-technique approach, including PXRD, Si MAS NMR, TEM, -potential and N physisorption analysis at 77 K.

Chondroitin Sulphate-Chitosan Based Nanogels Loaded with Naringenin-β-Cyclodextrin Complex as Potential Tool for the Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy: A Formulation Study.

Purpose: The main purpose of the study was the formulation development of nanogels (NHs) composed of chondroitin sulfate (CS) and low molecular weight chitosan (lCH), loaded with a naringenin-β-cyclodextrin complex (NAR/β-CD), as a potential treatment for early-stage diabetic retinopathy.

Methods: Different formulations of NHs were prepared by varying polymer concentration, lCH ratio, and pH and, then, characterized for particle size, zeta potential, particle concentration (particles/mL) and morphology. Cytotoxicity and internalization were assessed in vitro using Human Umbilical Vein Endothelial Cells (HUVEC).