Dysphagia in Rare Diseases and Syndromes: Current Approaches to Management and Therapeutic Innovations-A Systematic Review.

This study presents a comprehensive investigation into the correlation between Rare Diseases and Syndromes (RDS) and the dysphagic disorders manifested during childhood and adulthood in affected patients. Dysphagia is characterized by difficulty or an inability to swallow food of any consistency, as well as saliva or medications, from the oral cavity to the stomach. RDS often present with complex and heterogeneous clinical manifestations, making it challenging to develop standardized diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

Towards a Thriving Workplace: A Feasibility Study on Mindfulness and the Mediterranean Lifestyle for Corporate Wellness.

This study explores the potential of integrating mindfulness and the Mediterranean lifestyle into corporate wellness programs to enhance workplace well-being. A survey of 485 employees from Greece and Cyprus examined how mindfulness, resilience, adherence to the Mediterranean lifestyle, and work ability are connected. Pearson correlation analysis showed statistically significant positive relationships between mindfulness, resilience, and work ability ( < 0.

Enhancing Communication and Swallowing Skills in Children with Cri Du Chat Syndrome: A Comprehensive Speech Therapy Guide.

A specific deletion on the short arm of chromosome 5 (5p) is the hallmark of the rare genetic syndrome called Cri du Chat Syndrome (CdCS). It causes severe difficulty with swallowing, speech, motor skills, and cognitive deficiencies. These arise from characteristic laryngeal abnormalities and oral-motor dysfunctions.

Carob Syrup: Prebiotic Potential of a Neglected Functional Beverage of Mediterranean Countries.

Carob syrup, a traditional Mediterranean functional beverage obtained from (L.) pods, has been historically valued for its nutritional properties but is currently underutilized. This study compared the prebiotic potential of three handmade carob syrups produced by Tunisian women with commercial benchmarks from Italy, Greece and Cyprus.

Oxidative Status and Lipid Metabolism Analytes in Dogs with Mast Cell Tumors: A Preliminary Study.

Mast cell tumors (MCTs) are common skin neoplasms in dogs. Prognostic indicators include histologic grade, clinical stage, high Ki-67 index, elevated argyrophilic nucleolus organizer regions (AgNOR) index, mutations, and recurrence after surgery. Blood serum redox status has been shown to correlate with prognostic factors in canine lymphoma and mammary tumors.

Improving outcomes for very preterm babies in England: does place of birth matter? Findings from OPTI-PREM, a national cohort study.

Objective: Babies born between 27 and 31 weeks of gestation contribute substantially towards infant mortality and morbidity. In England, their care is delivered in maternity services colocated with highly specialised neonatal intensive care units (NICU) or less specialised local neonatal units (LNU). We investigated whether birth setting offered survival and/or morbidity advantages to inform National Health Service delivery.

Childhood Mediterranean Diet Compliance Is Associated with Lower Incidence of Childhood Obesity, Specific Sociodemographic, and Lifestyle Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study in Children Aged 6-9 Years.

Background: Mediterranean diet (MD) constitutes a commonly examined dietary model. It includes a plethora of bioactive ingredients with strong antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antithrombotic and anticancer properties. Several substantial studies support strong evidence that MD can exert preventing actions against human morbidity and mortality, promoting human well-being and quality of life.

Gaming Platforms for People with ASD.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has a significant impact on a person's social, emotional, and communication functioning. According to research, individualized instruction can significantly improve these deficits. One of the most successful methods of achieving this outcome is by gaming platforms that provide serious games (SGs).

Segmenting female students' perceptions about Fintech using Explainable AI.

The use of Financial Technology (Fintech) has been proposed as a promising way to bridge the gender gap, both financially and socially. However, there is evidence that Fintech is far from achieving this objective, and that women's perceptions of Fintech usages are not clear. Therefore, the main objective of the this study is to segment women's perceptions toward Fintech tools and interpret these segments using machine learning methods.

Investigation of Sexual Education Programs for Adolescents With Autism and the Role of Parents in Providing Support.

Background: Sexual education of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex challenge, as the lack of specialized programs limits effective learning. Adolescents with ASD have difficulty understanding abstract concepts such as consent, personal boundaries and safety, which increases the risk of exploitation.

Objective: This study seeks to examine the experiences and challenges parents face in providing sexuality education to their children with ASD, highlighting the need for programs that respond to the particular needs of these adolescents.

Impact of innovative technologies on quality and safety in surgery.

Technological advancements gradually lead to the revision and transformation of healthcare, training, and research. Surgery is a field of medicine where the collaboration of human resources and the application of innovative technologies could elevate faithfulness and efficiency. The article, exploring the technologies and analyzing them in terms of their reliability, the benefits of performing precision surgeries, the effectiveness in the outcome of surgery with less psychosomatic fatigue, and the improvements in the training process for surgeons, emphasizes the safety and quality that can be achieved.

Bees remain heat tolerant after acute exposure to desiccation and starvation.

Organisms may simultaneously face thermal, desiccation and nutritional stress under climate change. Understanding the effects arising from the interactions among these stressors is relevant for predicting organisms' responses to climate change and for developing effective conservation strategies. Using both dynamic and static protocols, we assessed for the first time how sublethal desiccation exposure (at 16.

Non-Native Flora of the Mediterranean Lesvos Island (East Aegean, Greece): Floristic Analysis, Traits, and Assessment.

A checklist of Lesvos Island's non-native vascular flora is presented. Through the literature and a roadside survey, we recorded 187 non-native plant taxa, representing 12% of the total regional flora. A total of 37 taxa were reported for the first time for Lesvos, including three taxa that are also new to the Greek non-native flora.

Projected changes of the emission and transport of organic pollutants and metals from shipping in European seas 2018-2050.

The ChemicalDrift model is applied to predict concentrations of metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emitted from shipping in European seas in 2050, compared to 2018. Sources include antifouling paints (AFPs), discharge water from scrubbers and atmospheric deposition. The fate of pollutants in the marine environment is presented, highlighting the effect of degradation and volatilization, with seasonal and regional differences.

Temporal trends in online searches related to COVID-19 vaccine safety: A digital infodemiology study.

Background: The rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines may have raised public concerns about their safety and side effects in the United States (US). This study aimed to assess trends in online searches related to the safety and side effects of COVID-19 vaccines in the US from 2021-2022.

Methods: Google COVID-19 Vaccination Search Insights was used to analyze searches about COVID-19 vaccine safety and side effects in the US from January 4, 2021, to November 21, 2022 (98 weeks).

Long-term health effects of antipyretic drug use in the aging population: a systematic review.

It is unclear whether fever suppression in the elderly provides long-term benefits or poses risks due to their distinct immune profiles and body temperature regulation compared to younger individuals. This study aimed to assess the long-term health effects of antipyretic treatment during infections in the elderly. A systematic review was conducted, including studies that compared antipyretic treatment with other drugs, therapies, placebo, or no treatment.

Investigating the Potential of L(+)-Lactic Acid as a Green Inhibitor and Eradicator of a Dual-Species spp. Biofilm Formed on Food Processing Model Surfaces.

spp. are prevalent foodborne bacterial enteric pathogens. Their inclusion in biofilms on abiotic surfaces is considered a strategy that facilitates their extraintestinal survival.

Exploring the utilization and deficiencies of Generative Artificial Intelligence in students' cognitive and emotional needs: a systematic mini-review.

Despite advances in educational technology, the specific ways in which Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) and Large Language Models cater to learners' nuanced cognitive and emotional needs are not fully understood. This mini-review methodically describes GAI's practical implementations and limitations in meeting these needs. It included journal and conference papers from 2019 to 2024, focusing on empirical studies that employ GAI tools in educational contexts while addressing their practical utility and ethical considerations.

Source apportionment of ultrafine particles in urban Europe.

There is a body of evidence that ultrafine particles (UFP, those with diameters ≤ 100 nm) might have significant impacts on health. Accordingly, identifying sources of UFP is essential to develop abatement policies. This study focuses on urban Europe, and aims at identifying sources and quantifying their contributions to particle number size distribution (PNSD) using receptor modelling (Positive Matrix Factorization, PMF), and evaluating long-term trends of these source contributions using the non-parametric Theil-Sen's method.

Strategies for detecting land-use change on the River Tea SCI ecological corridor via satellite images.

Land-cover change is often accompanied by land-use change, altering ecosystem services, species habitats and contributing to climate change. The general goal of this study is to analyse different sources of information to quantify land use and land cover change (LULCC) in the River Tea SCI (Galicia, NW Spain) in 2015-2023. The study area has multiple coverages with very low variability between them and with a great deal of fragmentation in the territory, which makes it difficult to obtain high accuracy levels.

The importance of landscape and fire-history as factors explaining post-fire vegetation recovery in a Mediterranean island using Sentinel-2 satellite data.

Fire is a natural and human-induced process which under specific conditions can be considered a critical disturbance in Mediterranean ecosystems, that shapes their development and ecology. This study aims to monitor post-fire vegetation recovery using remote sensing methodologies, more specifically, spectral indices of Sentinel-2 satellite data as proxies to burn severity and post-fire recovery. Additionally, we considered other underlying factors such as times burned, topographic variables (elevation, slope, aspect), and prior land cover types.