Temperature control during pars plana vitrectomy.

Purpose: To evaluate the impact of temperature-controlled pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) on structural and functional outcomes in a rabbit eye model in vivo.

Methods: Ten healthy New Zealand White rabbits underwent temperature-controlled PPV in the right eye (group A), using a device specifically designed to heat the infusion fluid/air and integrated into the vitrectomy machine, and conventional PPV in the left eye (group B). Both eyes received ophthalmic examination and electroretinography (ERG) before and 1 week postoperatively.

Effects of autism spectrum disorder on parents labour market: Productivity loss and policy evaluation in Kazakhstan.

Kazakhstan has witnessed a significant increase in the number of Autism Spectrum Disorder cases due to the implementation of mechanisms for early detection. However, despite these efforts, accessing quality services and effective interventions for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder remains challenging. While the government has implemented various policies to address the impact of Autism Spectrum Disorder on the labour market, especially for those with disabilities, the effectiveness of these policies needs to be evaluated.

Prevention of Meningococcal Disease: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of General Practitioners and Primary Care Pediatricians in South Italy.

Background: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the knowledge, attitude, and current practices about prevention of meningococcal disease among general practitioners (GPs) and primary care pediatricians (PCPs) in Italy.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was carried out between February 2022 and July 2023 among a random sample of GPs and PCPs in Southern Italy. The data were collected using a questionnaire accessible via an internet link with the free software Google Forms.

Ultra-Processed Food Intake and Increased Risk of Obesity: A Narrative Review.

The prevalence of obesity has become a global health concern, with significant impacts on quality of life and mortality rates. Recent research has highlighted the role of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) in driving the obesity epidemic. UPFs undergo extensive processing, often containing high levels of sugars, fats, and additives, while lacking essential nutrients.

Dietary Protein and Physical Exercise for the Treatment of Sarcopenia.

Sarcopenia is a multifactorial age-related disorder that causes a decrease in muscle mass, strength, and function, leading to alteration of movement, risk of falls, and hospitalization. This article aims to review recent findings on the factors underlying sarcopenia and the strategies required to delay and counteract its symptoms. We focus on molecular factors linked to ageing, on the role of low-grade chronic and acute inflammatory conditions such as cancer, which contributes to the onset of sarcopenia, and on the clinical criteria for its diagnosis.

Unraveling the impact of different liposomal formulations on the plasma protein corona composition might give hints on the targeting capability of nanoparticles.

Nanoparticles (NPs) interact with biological fluids after being injected into the bloodstream. The interactions between NPs and plasma proteins at the nano-bio interface affect their biopharmaceutical properties and distribution in the organ and tissues due to protein corona (PrC) composition, and in turn, modification of the resulting targeting capability. Moreover, lipid and polymer NPs, at their interface, affect the composition of PrC and the relative adsorption and abundance of specific proteins.

Kinematic network of joint motion provides insight on gait coordination: An observational study on Parkinson's disease.

The analysis of gait kinematics requires to encode and collapse multidimensional information from multiple anatomical elements. In this study, we address this issue by analyzing the joints' coordination during gait, borrowing from the framework of network theory. We recruited twenty-three patients with Parkinson's disease and twenty-three matched controls that were recorded during linear gait using a stereophotogrammetric motion analysis system.

Risk assessment of national railway infrastructure due to sea-level rise: an application of a methodological framework in Italian coastal railways.

Nowadays, within the built environment, railway infrastructures play a key role to sustain national policies oriented toward promoting sustainable mobility. For this reason, national institutions and infrastructure managers need to increase their awareness in relation to the current and future climate risks on their representative systems. Among climate change impacts, preventing the effects of sea-level rise (SLR) on coastal railway infrastructures is a priority.

Environmental productivity growth, regulation and types of pollutants: Evidence from European firms.

European manufacturing firms have to cope with the new regulations that advocate a greener and more sustainable future with less emissions and at the same time enhance or at least maintain their productivity levels. A unique dataset is constructed by combining information on different firms' pollutants with their financial information during the 2011-2017 period. A non-radial directional distance function analysis is adopted with desirable and undesirable outputs to estimate environmental productivity growth and its components, which addresses the problem of heterogeneity.

Towards sustainable environment in North African countries: The role of military expenditure, renewable energy, tourism, manufacture, and globalization on environmental degradation.

Climate change resulting from increasing emissions has become a pressing concern in North African countries due to its significant environmental and socio-economic impacts. There is a need for extensive research on this topic to raise global awareness of the associated dangers. This study investigates the dynamic impact of economic growth, military expenditure, globalization, renewable energy, manufacturing, tourism, capital formation, and labor on CO emissions in North African countries from 1995 to 2021.

Non-linear ground deformation detection and monitoring using time series InSAR along the coastal urban areas of Pakistan.

Conventional geodetic methods rely on point measurements, which have drawbacks for detecting and tracking geologic disasters at specific locations. In this study, the time series Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) approach was incorporated to estimate non-linear surface deformation caused by tectonic, shoreline reclamation, and other anthropogenic activities in economically important urban regions of Pakistan's southern coast, which possesses around 270 km. The shoreline is extended from the low-populated area on the premises of the Hub River in the west to the highly populated Karachi City and Eastern Industrial Zone, where we collected the Sentinel-1A C-band data from 2017 to 2023 to address urban security and threats to human life and property.

Treatment response assessment of acute pyelonephritis: A multi-reader DWI-based MRI approach.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of a structured reporting score (SRS) in treatment response assessment for acute pyelonephritis (APN) using a diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) -based MRI approach. Additionally, we explored the influence of reader experience on the interpretation of SRS and DWI, including lesion conspicuity and measurements of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) maps.

Methods: Follow-up DWI-based MRIs of 36 patients treated for APN between September 2021 and June 2023 were retrospectively reviewed by three readers.

Fast boulder fracturing by thermal fatigue detected on stony asteroids.

Spacecraft observations revealed that rocks on carbonaceous asteroids, which constitute the most numerous class by composition, can develop millimeter-to-meter-scale fractures due to thermal stresses. However, signatures of this process on the second-most populous group of asteroids, the S-complex, have been poorly constrained. Here, we report observations of boulders' fractures on Dimorphos, which is the moonlet of the S-complex asteroid (65803) Didymos, the target of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) planetary defense mission.

The geology and evolution of the Near-Earth binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos.

Images collected during NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission provide the first resolved views of the Didymos binary asteroid system. These images reveal that the primary asteroid, Didymos, is flattened and has plausible undulations along its equatorial perimeter. At high elevations, its surface is rough and contains large boulders and craters; at low elevations its surface is smooth and possesses fewer large boulders and craters.

Evidence for multi-fragmentation and mass shedding of boulders on rubble-pile binary asteroid system (65803) Didymos.

Asteroids smaller than 10 km are thought to be rubble piles formed from the reaccumulation of fragments produced in the catastrophic disruption of parent bodies. Ground-based observations reveal that some of these asteroids are today binary systems, in which a smaller secondary orbits a larger primary asteroid. However, how these asteroids became binary systems remains unclear.

Sex-Related Differences in Cardiovascular Risk in Adolescents with Overweight or Obesity.

Background: Pediatric obesity is closely associated with cardiometabolic comorbidities, but the role of sex in this relationship is less investigated. We aimed to evaluate sex-related differences on cardiometabolic risk factors and preclinical signs of target organ damage in adolescents with overweight/obesity (OW/OB).

Methods: The main cross-sectional study included 988 adolescents (510 boys and 478 girls) with OW/OB aged 10-18 years.

Effects of interfacial debonding on the stability of finitely strained periodic microstructured elastic composites.

Predicting failure initiation in nonlinear composite materials, often referred to as metamaterials, is a fundamental challenge in nonlinear solid mechanics. Microstructural failure mechanisms encompass fracture, decohesion, cavitation, compression-induced contact and instabilities, affecting their unconventional static and dynamic performances. To fully take advantage of these materials, especially in extreme applications, it is imperative to predict their nonlinear behaviour using reliable, accurate and computationally efficient numerical methodologies.

Importance of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Applied to Congenital Heart Diseases in Pediatric Age: A Narrative Review.

Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) represent a heterogeneous group of congenital defects, with high prevalence worldwide. Non-invasive imaging is essential to guide medical and surgical planning, to follow the patient over time in the evolution of the disease, and to reveal potential complications of the chosen treatment. The application of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) in this population allows for obtaining detailed information on the defects without the necessity of ionizing radiations.

Self-Perception Profile, Body Image Perception and Satisfaction in Relation to Body Mass Index: An Investigation in a Sample of Adolescents from the Campania Region, Italy.

(1) Background: Body image dissatisfaction has been commonly reported in adolescents with overweight/obesity and has been related to a lack of motivation to change lifestyle behaviors. Plus, a better perception of physical fitness has been related to a higher self-perception in physical aspect and social items in youths. (2) Methods: A total of 120 (59.

Free-hand ultrasound strain elastography in evaluation of soft tissue tumors.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate elastography in a wide spectrum of soft tissue superficial lesions by correlating the elastographic characteristics of these lesions with the elastographic score (ES) system established by Asteria.

Methods: Forty patients with different superficial lesions of the soft tissues were studied, including lipomas, schwannomas, neuromas, epidermal inclusion cysts, "in transit" melanoma metastasis, arterio-venous malformation, and giant-cell tumor. An ultrasound examination was performed combined with color-Doppler and elastographic module.

Simultaneous induction of systemic hyperglycaemia and stress impairs brain redox homeostasis in the adult zebrafish.

For diabetic patients it is crucial to constantly monitor blood glucose levels to mitigate complications due to hyperglycaemia, including neurological issues and cognitive impairments. This activity leads to psychological stress, called "diabetes distress," a problem for most patients living with diabetes. Diabetes distress can exacerbate the hyperglycaemia effects on brain and negatively impact the quality of life, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly explored.