Sports Activity with Ankle Osteoarthritis and Total Ankle Arthroplasty.

The interest in performing total ankle arthroplasty (TAA) to address end-stage ankle osteoarthritis (OA) is continuously growing. Sports activity plays an important role in our world. The literature is sparse regarding return-to-sports activity following TAA.

Predicting attentional focus: Heartbeat-evoked responses and brain dynamics during interoceptive and exteroceptive processing.

Attention shapes our consciousness content and perception by increasing the probability of becoming aware and/or better encoding a selection of the incoming inner or outer sensory world. Engaging interoceptive and exteroceptive attention should elicit distinctive neural responses to visceral and external stimuli and could be useful in detecting covert command-following in unresponsive patients. We designed a task to engage healthy participants' attention toward their heartbeats or auditory stimuli and investigated whether brain dynamics and the heartbeat-evoked potential (HEP) distinguished covert interoceptive-exteroceptive attention.

Urinary Catheterization Management in Older Adults with Hip Fracture: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: Urinary catheterization is a common procedure in the perioperative management of patients with hip fracture. However, decisions on its insertion or removal are often variable. This systematic review aimed to synthesize current evidence on urinary catheterization management in older patients with hip fracture by thoroughly reviewing the implementation of structured programs.

Total capsulectomy and NPWT for management of a Mycobacterium abscessus breast implant infection unresponsive to antimicrobial therapy: a case report and literature review.

Background: Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) periprosthetic infections after breast augmentation procedures are increasingly common worldwide and should raise suspicion after empirical antimicrobial therapy fails but clinical signs of infection persist. In this case experience, the authors suggest the use of negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) for NTM-infected wounds to obtain a faster periprosthetic space closure, shorten healing time, and anticipate breast reimplantation.

Case Report: This case report describes the successful application of NPWT to manage wound healing after breast removal in a 60-year-old female who underwent secondary breast augmentation 7 years before.

The issue of climate change and the spread of tropical diseases in Europe and Italy: vector biology, disease transmission, genome-based monitoring and public health implications.

Background: Climate change significantly influences the distribution and severity of tropical diseases. Rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and extreme weather events are transforming the habitats of vectors like mosquitoes and ticks, promoting their proliferation and geographic spread. These changes have facilitated the resurgence of diseases such as malaria, dengue, and chikungunya fever in previously unaffected areas, including parts of Europe and Italy.

Edge-to-edge repair for tricuspid regurgitation: 1-year follow-up and clinical implications from the TR-Interventional Study.

Aims: Tricuspid regurgitation affects 7% of the population, with moderate-to-severe tricuspid regurgitation contributing to up to 12% of heart failure-related hospitalizations. Traditional treatments have several limitations, prompting the exploration of innovative interventions. Our study aims to investigate the efficacy and clinical outcomes following transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) in patients with severe, symptomatic tricuspid regurgitation through a 1-year follow-up.

Partitioned polygenic risk scores identify distinct types of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is characterized by an excess of lipids, mainly triglycerides, in the liver and components of the metabolic syndrome, which can lead to cirrhosis and liver cancer. While there is solid epidemiological evidence that MASLD clusters with cardiometabolic disease, several leading genetic risk factors for MASLD do not increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, suggesting no causal relationship between MASLD and cardiometabolic derangement. In this work, we leveraged measurements of visceral adiposity identifying 27 previously unknown genetic loci associated with MASLD (n = 36,394), six replicated in four independent cohorts (n = 3,903).

Data-driven cluster analysis identifies distinct types of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) exhibits considerable variability in clinical outcomes. Identifying specific phenotypic profiles within MASLD is essential for developing targeted therapeutic strategies. Here we investigated the heterogeneity of MASLD using partitioning around medoids clustering based on six simple clinical variables in a cohort of 1,389 individuals living with obesity.

Real-world safety profile of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs): Disproportionality analysis of major bleeding events.

Background: Direct Oral Anticoagulants (DOACs) have revolutionized the management of thrombotic conditions, providing more predictable and manageable anticoagulation compared to traditional vitamin K antagonists. Despite their success, major bleeding events remain a significant concern. This study aims to assess and compare the haemorrhagic risks associated with various DOACs using data from the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS).

How Reliable is the Assessment of Fusion Status Following ACDF Using Dynamic Flexion-Extension Radiographs?

Study Design: Reliability study.

Objectives: The radiographic diagnosis of non-union is not standardized. Prior authors have suggested using a cutoff of <1 mm interspinous process motion (ISPM) on flexion-extension radiographs, but the ability of practicing surgeons to make these measurements reliably is not clear.

Dengue virus transmission in Italy: historical trends up to 2023 and a data repository into the future.

Dengue virus circulation is on the rise globally, with increased epidemic activity in previously unaffected countries, including within Europe. In 2023, global dengue activity peaked, and Italy reported the highest number of dengue cases and local chains of transmission to date. By curating several sources of information, we introduce a novel data repository focused on dengue reporting in Italy.

Circuits and mechanisms for TMS-induced corticospinal waves: Connecting sensitivity analysis to the network graph.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive, FDA-cleared treatment for neuropsychiatric disorders with broad potential for new applications, but the neural circuits that are engaged during TMS are still poorly understood. Recordings of neural activity from the corticospinal tract provide a direct readout of the response of motor cortex to TMS, and therefore a new opportunity to model neural circuit dynamics. The study goal was to use epidural recordings from the cervical spine of human subjects to develop a computational model of a motor cortical macrocolumn through which the mechanisms underlying the response to TMS, including direct and indirect waves, could be investigated.

A new telemedicine-based sleep service using WatchPAT ONE for patients with suspected OSA: what does the patient experience?

Purpose: Obstructive Sleep Apnea is a widespread disease but is very underdiagnosed and undertreated. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness and patient satisfaction of using the WatchPAT ONE, a disposable home sleep apnea test device, within a telemedicine-based management pathway.

Methods: All patients who used the telemedicine services for OSA diagnosis using the WatchPAT ONE were prospectively enrolled in the study.

What Radiographic and Spinopelvic Parameters do Spine Surgeons Consider in Decision-Making for Treatment of Degenerative Lumbar Spondylolisthesis?

Study Design: Cross-sectional survey.

Objective: Surgical treatment of degenerative lumbar spondylolisthesis is remarkably varied due to heterogeneity of clinical-radiological presentations. This study aimed to assess which spinopelvic radiological parameters were considered for decision-making.

Safety and efficacy of autologous adipose-derived stem cells for knee osteoarthritis in the elderly population: A systematic review.

Introduction: Osteoarthritis (OA) is a progressive joint disease, and over 240 million people suffer from symptomatic OA, primarily in the knee, and mainly affects the elderly population over 65. A combination of different risk factors leads to biological changes in the microenvironments of the joints, causing cartilage overload and chondrocyte aging. Adipose-derived MSCs (ADSCs) are demonstrated to improve joint environments with an effective therapy for Knee OA.

The potential impact of new remodelling intrapharynegal OSA surgery on sleep architecture: a preliminary investigation.

Purpose: Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) often experience poor sleep quality and excessive daytime sleepiness, which significantly affect their daily lives. Among the therapeutic options, Barbed Pharyngoplasty (BP) is widely used, showing an overall improvement in the primary efficacy parameters. However, the impact of this surgical intervention on sleep architecture remains unclear.

Histopathological evaluation of spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee: time to reconsider history and nomenclature-a scoping review.

Spontaneous osteonecrosis of the knee (SONK) was first described by Ahlbäck et al. in 1968. However, subsequent studies revealed that subchondral fractures, rather than necrosis, are the most common histopathological finding in bone samples from patients diagnosed with SONK.

The effects of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on cholinergic neural networks in humans: A neurophysiological study.

Objective: The mechanisms of actions of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) are still unclear, however the activity of the cholinergic system seems to be critical for the induction of VNS-mediated plasticity. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a well-suited, non-invasive tool to investigate cortical microcircuits involving different neurotransmitters. Herein, we evaluated the effect of taVNS on short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI), a TMS paradigm specifically measuring cholinergic neurotransmission.