Acute mastoiditis: 30 years review in a tertiary hospital.

Objective: Acute mastoiditis, the most common complication of acute otitis media, is approached in our study, focused on children from the Autonomous Community of Cantabria, Spain. The aim is to analyze its clinical-epidemiological characteristics and propose diagnostic and treatment recommendations.

Study Design/setting: We conducted a 30-year retrospective study on patients under 18 years of age diagnosed with acute mastoiditis in Cantabria.

Longitudinal trajectory of plasma p-tau217 in cognitively unimpaired subjects.

Background: The advent of Alzheimer's disease-modifying drugs requires accurate biological diagnosis to identify candidates for these therapies. So far, the most promising single plasma biomarker is phosphorylated tau at threonine 217 (p-tau217). To understand its biological features, it is essential to know its longitudinal trajectory and factors influencing it in cognitively unimpaired subjects with no brain pathology.

Age, Technology, and the Digital Divide: Are They Directly Related to Mental Health Problems?

Unlabelled: In current times, we coexist with technology, using it every day. However, in older people, the use and employability of technology on a day-to-day basis is often more complicated or even null due to a lack of knowledge.

Background/objectives: The youngest generation were born surrounded by technology, which has given them superior capabilities when it comes to handling technology compared to elderly people.

New Insights into Mucosa-Associated Microbiota in Paired Tumor and Non-Tumor Adjacent Mucosal Tissues in Colorectal Cancer Patients.

Background/objective: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. Increasing scientific evidence supports the idea that gut microbiota dysbiosis accompanies colorectal tumorigenesis, and these changes could be causative. Implementing gut microbiota analysis in clinical practice is limited by sample type, sequencing platform and taxonomic classification.

SMN Deficiency Induces an Early Non-Atrophic Myopathy with Alterations in the Contractile and Excitatory Coupling Machinery of Skeletal Myofibers in the SMN∆7 Mouse Model of Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is caused by a deficiency of the ubiquitously expressed survival motor neuron (SMN) protein. The main pathological hallmark of SMA is the degeneration of lower motor neurons (MNs) with subsequent denervation and atrophy of skeletal muscle. However, increasing evidence indicates that low SMN levels not only are detrimental to the central nervous system (CNS) but also directly affect other peripheral tissues and organs, including skeletal muscle.

Leveraging a deep learning generative model to enhance recognition of minor asphalt defects.

Deep learning-based computer vision systems have become powerful tools for automated and cost-effective pavement distress detection, essential for efficient road maintenance. Current methods focus primarily on developing supervised learning architectures, which are limited by the scarcity of annotated image datasets. The use of data augmentation with synthetic images created by generative models to improve these supervised systems is not widely explored.

Changes in choroidal thickness and lamina cribrosa position in subjects with overdipper pattern of arterial pressure.

Introduction: The purpose is to analyze the changes produced in subjects with an overdipper pattern of ambulatory blood pressure monitoring with the aim of understanding the pathophysiology of normal tension glaucoma.

Methods: A cross sectional study was performed in patients exhibiting overdipper and non-overdipper blood pressure patterns, respectively. Different optic parameters were assessed including the analysis of ganglion cell layer (GCL), peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) and Bruch's membrane opening-minimum rim width (BMO-MRW), as well as changes produced in choroidal thickness (CT) and lamina cribrosa (LC) position at two different periods of the day (early morning and evening).

IgA Vasculitis (Henoch-Schönlein Purpura): An Update on Treatment.

IgA vasculitis (IgAV), previously named as Henoch-Schönlein purpura, is the most frequent systemic vasculitis in children. In adults, IgAV is less common although it is associated with more severe disease. In fact, the frequency of glomerulonephritis (referred to as IgAV nephritis) in adults is higher than in children and tends to present more severely, with around 10-30% of those affected eventually progressing to end-stage renal disease.

Liver Fibrosis Index-4 Does Not Correlate to Liver Elastography in Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease.

: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD). The Fibrosis-4 (FIB-4) index is a non-invasive tool for assessing liver fibrosis that has been validated in various liver diseases. The main objective of this study was to study whether the FIB-4 index is a reliable predictor of liver fibrosis, as assessed through elastography, in patients with IBD.

Novel Applications in Controlled Drug Delivery Systems by Integrating Osmotic Pumps and Magnetic Nanoparticles.

The alarming rise in chronic diseases worldwide highlights the urgent need to overcome the limitations of conventional drug delivery systems. In this context, osmotic pumps are able to release drugs by differential osmotic pressure, achieving a controlled rate independent of physiological factors and reducing the dosing frequency. As osmotic pumps are based on the phenomenon of osmosis, the choice of high osmolality draw solutions (DSs) is a critical factor in the successful delivery of the target drug.

Notch Effect in Acrylonitrile Styrene Acrylate (ASA) Single-Edge-Notch Bending Specimens Manufactured by Fused Filament Fabrication.

This paper analyses the notch effect in the fracture behaviour of acrylonitrile-styrene-acrylate (ASA) material manufactured by fused filament fabrication (FFF). The research is performed on 72 single-edge-notch bending (SENB) specimens containing U-notches with nominal notch radii varying from 0 mm (crack-like defects) up to 2.0 mm, and fabricated with three different raster orientations (0/90, 45/-45, 30/-60).

Polarization-insensitive optical coherence tomography using pseudo-depolarized reference light for mitigating birefringence-related image artifacts.

Significance: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) images are prone to image artifacts due to the birefringence of the sample or the optical system when a polarized light source is used for imaging. These artifacts can lead to degraded image quality and diagnostic information.

Aim: We aim to mitigate these birefringence-related artifacts in OCT images by adding a depolarizer module in the reference arm of the interferometer.

QRISK3 and SCORE2 are equally reliable predictors of carotid plaques in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Objectives: Cardiovascular (CV) disease is the leading cause of death among patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This study aimed to compare the performance of QRESEARCH-risk estimator version 3 (QRISK3) and the Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation-2 (SCORE2) scores to identify SLE patients at high risk of CV events, as indicated by the presence of carotid plaques.

Methods: Subclinical atherosclerosis was evaluated using carotid ultrasound in 365 SLE patients.