276 research outputs found
La mordenzatura dei solchi, una nuova metodica a confronto. Valutazione clinica e in vivo
No full textDescription of a monstrous little girl born in the Verona area on June 14, 1789
No full text[no abstract available
Enteric pathogens in the pig and wild boar meat chain in Sardinia
No full textThis study aimed to (1) characterize pathogenicity, genetic similarity, and antimi-crobial resistance (AMR) of Salmonella, pathogenic Escherichia coli, and Yersinia enterocolitica isolates from pigs and wild boars in Sardinia and (2) evaluate the effectiveness of the Sardinian fermented sausage (SFS) production process in controlling Salmonella through a challenge test.
Pigs and wild boars are reservoirs of foodborne pathogens, posing public health risks. Regional epidemiological studies are crucial to understanding pathogen prevalence, AMR dynamics, and potential transmission routes in different pro-duction systems.
Environmental sampling was conducted in six pig farms and slaughterhouses, where Y. enterocolitica was detected in 33.4% of farms, while Salmonella (13.1%) and pathogenic E. coli (26.3%) were only identified in slaughtered pigs. High-risk globally distributed E. coli strains (ST88, ST101, ST648) were isolated. More than half of commensal E. coli isolates carried AMR genes, particularly for tetracycline and ampicillin. In wild boars, Salmonella was found in 4.5% of animals, while Y. enterocolitica was detected in 30.3%. Novel Salmonella enterica serotype, Escherichia species (E. marmotae, E. ruysiae) and pathogenic E. coli were identified, with a lower prevalence of antimicrobial resistance compared to domestic pigs. The challenge test, conducted on three batches of SFS, involved Salmonella inoculation during mixing. Although fermentation reduced microbial load, the pathogen remained detectable at the end of production and after 40 days. The findings emphasize the need for enhanced biosecurity measures in farms and continuous monitoring of enteric pathogens in both domestic and wild swine. Whole genome sequencing analysis provided deeper epidemiological insights, confirming genetic links among isolates and identifying risk factors along the production chain. Findings provide insights for risk management in meat production and emphasize the importance of strict control over raw materials, fermentation, and maturation to ensure food safetyThis study aimed to (1) characterize pathogenicity, genetic similarity, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) of Salmonella, pathogenic Escherichia coli, and Yersinia enterocolitica isolates from pigs and wild boars in Sardinia and (2) evaluate the effectiveness of the Sardinian fermented sausage (SFS) production process in controlling Salmonella through a challenge test.
Pigs and wild boars are reservoirs of foodborne pathogens, posing public health risks. Regional epidemiological studies are crucial to understanding pathogen prevalence, AMR dynamics, and potential transmission routes in different production systems.
Environmental sampling was conducted in six pig farms and slaughterhouses, where Y. enterocolitica was detected in 33.4% of farms, while Salmonella (13.1%) and pathogenic E. coli (26.3%) were only identified in slaughtered pigs. High-risk globally distributed E. coli strains (ST88, ST101, ST648) were isolated. More than half of commensal E. coli isolates carried AMR genes, particularly for tetracycline and ampicillin. In wild boars, Salmonella was found in 4.5% of animals, while Y. enterocolitica was detected in 30.3%. Novel Salmonella enterica serotype and Escherichia species (E. marmotae, E. ruysiae) and pathogenic E. coli were identified, with a lower prevalence of antimicrobial resistance compared to domestic pigs. The challenge test, conducted on three batches of SFS, involved Salmonella inoculation during mixing. Although fermentation reduced microbial load, the pathogen remained detectable at the end of production and after 40 days. The findings emphasize the need for enhanced biosecurity measures in farms and continuous monitoring of enteric pathogens in both domestic and wild swine. Whole genome sequencing analysis provided deeper epidemiological insights, confirming genetic links among isolates and identifying risk factors along the production chain. Findings provide insights for risk management in meat production and emphasize the importance of strict control over raw materials, fermentation and maturation to ensure food safety
A Digital Phenotypic Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (DANO): A Pilot Study on Sociability Changes in Patients Undergoing Treatment for Brain Malignancies
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Open AccessArticle
A Digital Phenotypic Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (DANO): A Pilot Study on Sociability Changes in Patients Undergoing Treatment for Brain Malignancies †
by Francesca Siddi 1,2,*,Patrick Emedom-Nnamdi 3,Michael P. Catalino 4,Aakanksha Rana 1,5ORCID,Alessandro Boaro 1,2ORCID,Hassan Y. Dawood 1ORCID,Francesco Sala 2,Jukka-Pekka Onnela 3,‡ andTimothy R. Smith 1,‡
1
Computational Neuroscience Outcomes Center, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
2
Section of Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, 37129 Verona, Italy
3
Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
4
Department of Neurosurgery, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22908, USA
5
McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Previous Presentations: This work was virtually presented as an oral poster presentation at the 2021 Annual Meeting of the European Association of Neurosurgical Societies (eEANS), Virtual Congress, 1–7 October 2021; EP13028.
‡
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Cancers 2025, 17(1), 139; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers17010139
Submission received: 15 October 2024 / Revised: 24 December 2024 / Accepted: 3 January 2025 / Published: 4 January 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Novel Diagnostic and Therapeutic Approaches in Diffuse Gliomas)
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Simple Summary
Nowadays, smartphones are the principal tool for interactions between people. Mobile health applications might be used to study the cognitive functions in the neuro-oncological population. Many brain tumor patients have cognitive challenges that have an impact on sociability. Digital phenotyping is able to characterize social and spatial dimensions of human behavior from mobile phone call records. The aim of this study was to start to explore this technology in brain cancer patients, focusing on sociability data. The results of this pilot study indicate that a digital assessment in neuro-oncology can be used to characterize and follow the social activity of patients’ lives. Changes in the patient’s social network relate to disease progression, suggesting a new tool to improve the complex evaluation of underserved brain cancer patients.
Abstract
Background: The digital phenotyping tool has great potential for the deep characterization of neurological and quality-of-life assessments in brain tumor patients. Phone communication activities (details on call and text use) can provide insight into the patients’ sociability. Methods: We prospectively collected digital-phenotyping data from six brain tumor patients. The data were collected using the Beiwe application installed on their personal smartphones. We constructed several daily sociability features from phone communication logs, including the number of incoming and outgoing text messages and calls, the length of messages and duration of calls, message reciprocity, the number of communication partners, and number of missed calls. We compared variability in these sociability features against those obtained from a control group, matched for age and sex, selected among patients with a herniated disc. Results: In brain tumor patients, phone-based communication appears to deteriorate with time, as evident in the trend for total outgoing minutes, total outgoing calls, and call out-degree. Conclusions: These measures indicate a possible decrease in sociability over time in brain tumor patients that may correlate with survival. This exploratory analysis suggests that a quantifiable digital sociability phenotype exists and is comparable for patients with different survival outcomes. Overall, assessing neurocognitive function using digital phenotyping appears promising
The cerebral aqueduct compliance: a simple morphometric model
No full textBackground and objectives: This work aimed to identify different configurations of the adytum of the cerebral aqueduct suggesting its safe neuroendoscopic navigation. This concept is intimately connected to the physiological aqueductal dilatability or compliance, which is relatively ignored in the literature. A better knowledge of the extent of physiological aqueductal dilatability might better define the ideal diameter and safer features of dedicated flexible endoscopes. Methods: The study includes 45 patients operated on using a flexible scope with a 3.9-mm diameter, where the structural elements of the adytum of the cerebral aqueduct are clearly visible. Patients were grouped according to the pathology (colloid cyst/normal anatomy, intraventricular hemorrhage, tetraventricular obstructive hydrocephalus, normal pressure hydrocephalus, and distal membranous aqueductal stenosis). A simple geometrical scheme was applied to the endoscopic anatomy of the aqueductal adytum in relation to the posterior commissure to measure its pathologic deformations. Eventual damages to the aqueduct walls caused by the endoscope were also reported. Results: Proceeding from normal anatomy to hydrocephalic condition, the ratio between the commissure and the aqueductal access area progressively decreases, while the vertex angle increases. Interestingly, the entity of the ependymal damages due to the passage of the endoscope correlates with such measures. Conclusion: The cerebral aqueduct, excluding atrophic processes, is provided with a certain degree of dilatability, which we estimate to be around a diameter of 4 mm. This represents the maximum size for a flexible neuroendoscope for a safe aqueductal neuronavigation. The schematic model of the aqueductal adytum as a triangle defines 3 different aqueductal patterns and can be helpful when an intraoperative decision on whether to navigate the aqueduct must be taken
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