Increased accuracy in component positioning using an image-less robotic arm system in primary total knee arthroplasty: a retrospective study.

Background: Robotic-assisted total knee arthroplasty (RTKA) and navigated total knee arthroplasty (NTKA) have shown improved knee alignment and reduced radiographic outliers. Recent studies have proven that conventional mechanical alignment may not be the optimal goal for every patient. The aim of this study was to compare the accuracy of the planned implant positioning of a novel image-less robotic technique with an established navigated technique (NTKA).

The role of immune suppression in COVID-19 hospitalization: clinical and epidemiological trends over three years of SARS-CoV-2 epidemic.

Specific immune suppression types have been associated with a greater risk of severe COVID-19 disease and death. We analyzed data from patients >17 years that were hospitalized for COVID-19 at the "Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico" in Milan (Lombardy, Northern Italy). The study included 1727 SARS-CoV-2-positive patients (1,131 males, median age of 65 years) hospitalized between February 2020 and November 2022.

Correlation between visual field index and quality of life in glaucoma patients: a new tool to screen quality of life perception?

Purpose: To evaluate the correlation between the visual field index (VFI) and vision-related quality of life (QoL) considering several confounding variables that may have a positive or negative effect.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional, mono-centric study on glaucoma patients. Quality of life was examined with the NEI-VFQ 25 and the Glaucoma Symptom Scale (GSS).

Low neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and pan-immune-inflammation-value predict nodal pathologic complete response in 1274 breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy: a multicenter analysis.

Background: Systemic inflammatory markers draw great interest as potential blood-based prognostic factors in several oncological settings.

Objectives: The aim of this study is to evaluate whether neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and pan-immune-inflammation value (PIV) predict nodal pathologic complete response (pCR) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) in node-positive (cN+) breast cancer (BC) patients.

Design: Clinically, cN+ BC patients undergoing NAC followed by breast and axillary surgery were enrolled in a multicentric study from 11 Breast Units.

Delayed adverse events following COVID-19 vaccination in patients with systemic sclerosis and other autoimmune diseases: a substudy of the COVAD-2 cohort.

Data on short-term safety of COVID-19 vaccination in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc) were explored previously in the first COVID-19 vaccination in autoimmune diseases (COVAD) survey conducted in 2021. However, delayed adverse events (ADEs) (occurring > 7 days post-vaccination) are poorly characterized in these patients with SSc. In this study, we analysed delayed COVID-19 vaccine-related ADEs among patients with SSc, other systemic autoimmune and inflammatory disorders (SAIDs) and healthy controls (HCs) using data from the second COVAD study conducted in 2022.

Correlates of breakthrough COVID-19 in vaccinated patients with systemic sclerosis: survival analysis from a multicentre international patient-reported survey.

This study aimed to assess the incidence, predictors, and outcomes of breakthrough infection (BI) following coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccination in patients with systemic sclerosis (SSc), a risk group associated with an immune-suppressed state and high cardiopulmonary disease burden. Cross-sectional data from fully vaccinated respondents with SSc, non-SSc autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRDs), and healthy controls (HCs) were extracted from the COVAD database, an international self-reported online survey. BI was defined according to the Centre for Disease Control definition.

Proteomic Analysis on Sequential Samples of Cystic Fluid Obtained from Human Brain Tumors.

Cystic formation in human primary brain tumors is a relatively rare event whose incidence varies widely according to the histotype of the tumor. Composition of the cystic fluid has mostly been characterized in samples collected at the time of tumor resection and no indications of the evolution of cystic content are available. We characterized the evolution of the proteome of cystic fluid using a bottom-up proteomic approach on sequential samples obtained from secretory meningioma (SM), cystic schwannoma (CS) and cystic high-grade glioma (CG).

Propranolol for the treatment of infantile hemangiomas: a nine-year monocentric experience from a tertiary hospital.

Background: Propranolol is currently considered the first-line therapy for problematic infantile hemangiomas (IH), the most common benign vascular neoplasm of infancy.

Objectives: We present a retrospective observational study aimed at assessing the efficacy of propranolol in 44 IH patients.

Materials & Methods: A nine-year retrospective review considering clinicodemographical and therapy-related variables was performed on medical records of infants treated for IH with oral propranolol.

A simple voltammetric method to evaluate the firing distance through determination of nitrocellulose.

Nitrocellulose (NC) is the main component of propellants for small firearm ammunitions. Even though NC particles are ejected from gun barrels together with bullets and they are often recovered on close-to-muzzle targets, quantitative analysis of nitrocellulose for forensic purposes has been neglected so far. Moreover, although the presence of the nitroester groups makes nitrocellulose electroactive, its electrochemical determination has been poorly considered in literature.

High Quality Factor in Solution-Processed Inorganic Microcavities Embedding CsPbBr Perovskite Nanocrystals.

Optical microcavities grant manipulation over light-matter interactions and light propagation, enabling the fabrication of foundational optical and optoelectronic components. However, the materials used for high-performing systems, mostly bulk inorganics, are typically costly, and their processing is hardly scalable. In this work, we present an alternative way to fabricate planar optical resonators via solely solution processing while approaching the performances of conventional systems.

Study of Alternative Imaging Methods for In Vivo Boron Neutron Capture Therapy.

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is an innovative and highly selective treatment against cancer. Nowadays, in vivo boron dosimetry is an important method to carry out such therapy in clinical environments. In this work, different imaging methods were tested for dosimetry and tumor monitoring in BNCT based on a Compton camera detector.

COVID-19 vaccine safety during pregnancy and breastfeeding in women with autoimmune diseases: results from the COVAD study.

Objectives: We investigated coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine safety in pregnant and breastfeeding women with autoimmune diseases (AID) in the COVID-19 Vaccination in Autoimmune Diseases (COVAD) study.

Methods: Delayed-onset (>7 days) vaccine-related adverse events (AE), disease flares and AID-related treatment modifications were analysed upon diagnosis of AID vs healthy controls (HC) and the pregnancy/breastfeeding status at the time of at least one dose of vaccine.

Results: Among the 9201 participants to the self-administered online survey, 6787 (73.

Ketogenic dietary therapies in epilepsy: recommendations of the Italian League against Epilepsy Dietary Therapy Study Group.

A stepwise increase in the utilization of ketogenic dietary therapies for drug-resistant epilepsy has been observed in Italy in the last decade, although it is still considered often underused in many centers when compared to other countries. The Dietary Therapy Study Group of the Italian League against Epilepsy proposes practical recommendations to improve shared knowledge and facilitate the application of ketogenic dietary therapies, optimizing its efficacy and tolerability. The experts involved (11 child neuropsychiatrists, two adult neurologists, one psychologist, one pharmacologist, one pediatric endocrinologist, one representative of patients' associations, and three dietitians and clinical nutritionists) responded to a survey on current clinical practice issues and were asked to discuss controversial topics related to supplementation, long-term maintenance, transition, and a multidisciplinary approach to ketogenic dietary therapies.

Go beyond the limits of genetic algorithm in daily covariate selection practice.

Covariate identification is an important step in the development of a population pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic model. Among the different available approaches, the stepwise covariate model (SCM) is the most used. However, SCM is based on a local search strategy, in which the model-building process iteratively tests the addition or elimination of a single covariate at a time given all the others.

Colonization of Residents and Staff of an Italian Long-Term Care Facility and an Adjacent Acute Care Hospital Geriatrics Unit by Multidrug-Resistant Bacteria.

In 2022, we undertook a point prevalence screening study for with extended-spectrum β-lactamases (ESBLs), high-level AmpC cephalosporinases and carbapenemases, and also methicillin-resistant (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) in a long-term care facility (LTCF) and the associated acute-care hospital Geriatrics unit in Bolzano, Northern Italy. Urine samples and rectal, inguinal, oropharyngeal, and nasal swabs were plated on selective agar plates. Metadata of the patients, including demographic data, were collected, and risk factors for colonization were determined.

Long-term safety of COVID vaccination in individuals with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: results from the COVAD study.

Limited evidence on long-term COVID-19 vaccine safety in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) continues to contribute to vaccine hesitancy. We studied delayed-onset vaccine adverse events (AEs) in patients with IIMs, other systemic autoimmune and inflammatory disorders (SAIDs), and healthy controls (HCs), using data from the second COVID-19 Vaccination in Autoimmune Diseases (COVAD) study. A validated self-reporting e-survey was circulated by the COVAD study group (157 collaborators, 106 countries) from Feb-June 2022.

Children under 6 years with acute headache in Pediatric Emergency Departments. A 2-year retrospective exploratory multicenter Italian study.

Background: Preschool age (i.e. children under six years of age) represents a red flag for requiring neuroimaging to exclude secondary potentially urgent intracranial conditions (PUIC) in patients with acute headache.

Normative values of the topological metrics of the structural connectome: A multi-site reproducibility study across the Italian Neuroscience network.

Purpose: The use of topological metrics to derive quantitative descriptors from structural connectomes is receiving increasing attention but deserves specific studies to investigate their reproducibility and variability in the clinical context. This work exploits the harmonization of diffusion-weighted acquisition for neuroimaging data performed by the Italian Neuroscience and Neurorehabilitation Network initiative to obtain normative values of topological metrics and to investigate their reproducibility and variability across centers.

Methods: Different topological metrics, at global and local level, were calculated on multishell diffusion-weighted data acquired at high-field (e.

High fatigue scores in patients with idiopathic inflammatory myopathies: a multigroup comparative study from the COVAD e-survey.

Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIMs) confer a significant risk of disability and poor quality of life, though fatigue, an important contributing factor, remains under-reported in these individuals. We aimed to compare and analyze differences in visual analog scale (VAS) scores (0-10 cm) for fatigue (VAS-F) in patients with IIMs, non-IIM systemic autoimmune diseases (SAIDs), and healthy controls (HCs). We performed a cross-sectional analysis of the data from the COVID-19 Vaccination in Autoimmune Diseases (COVAD) international patient self-reported e-survey.

In Situ/Microinvasive Adenocarcinoma of the Uterine Cervix and HPV-Type Impact: Pathologic Features, Treatment Options, and Follow-Up Outcomes-Cervical Adenocarcinoma Study Group (CAS-Group).

It is unknown whether human papillomavirus (HPV) status impacts the prognosis of early stage cervical glandular lesions. This study assessed the recurrence and survival rates of in situ/microinvasive adenocarcinomas (AC) according to HPV status during a 5-year follow-up. The data were retrospectively analyzed in women with available HPV testing before treatment.

Adverse pregnancy outcomes in women at increased risk of preterm pre-eclampsia on first-trimester combined screening.

Objective: Uteroplacental dysfunction may not only result in pre-eclampsia (PE) but also in preterm birth (PTB), small-for-gestational-age (SGA) birth and stillbirth. The aim of this study is to evaluate the positive predictive value (PPV) of first-trimester combined PE screening for all of these placenta-mediated adverse pregnancy outcomes.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Prussian Blue nanoparticles: An FDA-approved substance that may quickly degrade at physiological pH.

Prussian blue (PB) is a coordination polymer based on the FeCNFe sequence. It is an FDA-approved drug, intended for oral use at the acidic pH of the stomach and of most of the intestine track. However, based on FDA approval, a huge number of papers proposed the use of PB nanoparticles (PBnp) under "physiological conditions", meaning pH buffered at 7.