Diagnostics

BACKGROUND: In the evolving field of maxillofacial surgery, integrating advanced technologies like Large Language Models (LLMs) into medical practices, especially for trauma triage, presents a promising yet largely unexplored potential. This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of using LLMs for triaging complex maxillofacial trauma cases by comparing their performance against the expertise of a tertiary referral center. METHODS: Utilizing a comprehensive review of patient records in a tertiary referral center over a year-long period, standardized prompts detailing patient demographics, injury characteristics, and medical histories were created...

Systemic vasculitides are a rare and complex group of diseases that can affect multiple organ systems. Clinically, presentation may be vague and non-specific and as such, diagnosis and subsequent management are challenging. These entities are typically classified by the size of vessel involved, including large-vessel vasculitis (giant cell arteritis, Takayasu's arteritis, and clinically isolated aortitis), medium-vessel vasculitis (including polyarteritis nodosa and Kawasaki disease), and small-vessel vasculitis (granulomatosis with polyangiitis and eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis)...

Glaucoma is one of the world's leading causes of irreversible vision loss. It is often asymptomatic until it reaches an advanced stage, which can have a significant impact on patients' daily lives. This paper describes the case of a 50-year-old female patient who presented with acute onset of ocular pain, photophobia, and loss of visual acuity in her right eye (RE). The patient's medical history includes congenital cataracts, surgical aphakia, nystagmus, strabismus, amblyopia, and secondary glaucoma. Ophthalmological examination showed BCVA RE-hand movement, left eye (LE)-0...

The tumor-to-stroma ratio is a highly debated prognostic factor in the management of several solid tumors and there is no universal agreement on its practicality. In our study, we proposed confirming or dismissing the hypothesis that a simple measurement of stroma quantity is an easy-to-use and strong prognostic tool. We have included 74 consecutive patients with colorectal cancer who underwent primary curative abdominal surgery. The tumors have been grouped into stroma-poor (stroma < 10%), medium-stroma (between 10 and 50%) and stroma-rich (over 50%)...

In the original publication [...].

BACKGROUND: Patients with cirrhosis often develop hyperdynamic circulation with increased cardiac output, heart rate, and redistribution of the circulating volume with expanded plasma volume (PV). PV determination is part of the evaluation of patients with cirrhosis, but gold-standard methods are invasive, expensive, and time-consuming. Therefore, other estimations of PV would be preferable, and the aim of this study was therefore to study if PV, as assessed by a simplified algorithm based on hematocrit and weight, can replace the gold-standard method...

BACKGROUND: Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors constitute a novel class of oral biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, their use has been associated with increased risk of major cardiovascular events. We investigated whether treatment with JAK inhibitors exerts significant alterations in the micro- and microvasculature in RA patients. METHODS: Thirteen patients with RA initiating treatment with JAK inhibitors were prospectively studied...

(1) Background: Although DR screening is effective, one of its most significant problems is a lack of attendance. The aim of the present study was to demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm in predicting the development of any type of DR and referable DR. (2) Methods: A retrospective study with an 11-year follow-up of a population of 120,389 T2DM patients was undertaken. (3) Results: Applying the results of the algorithm showed an AUC of 0.93 (95% CI, 0.92-0.94) for any DR and 0.90 (95% CI, 0.89-0.91) for referable DR...

Pediatric sarcomas, rare malignancies of mesenchymal origin, pose diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. In this review, we explore the role of radiomics in reshaping our understanding of pediatric sarcomas, emphasizing methodological considerations and applications such as diagnostics and predictive modeling. A systematic review conducted up to November 2023 identified 72 papers on radiomics analysis in pediatric sarcoma from PubMed/MEDLINE, Web of Knowledge, and Scopus. Following inclusion and exclusion criteria, 10 reports were included in this review...

Salmonella species are prominent foodborne microbial pathogens transmitted through contaminated food or water and pose a significant threat to human health. Accurate and rapid point-of-care (POC) diagnosis is gaining attention in effectively preventing outbreaks of foodborne disease. However, the presence of dead bacteria can interfere with an accurate diagnosis, necessitating the development of methods for the rapid, simple, and efficient detection of viable bacteria only. Herein, we used an improved propidium monoazide (PMAxx) to develop a nucleic acid lateral flow (NALF) assay based on recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) to differentiate viable Salmonella Typhimurium...

Radiologic usual interstitial pneumonia (UIP) patterns and concordant clinical characteristics define a diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). However, limited expert access and high inter-clinician variability challenge early and pre-invasive diagnostic sensitivity and differentiation of IPF from other interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). We investigated a machine learning-driven software system, Fibresolve, to indicate IPF diagnosis in a heterogeneous group of 300 patients with interstitial lung disease work-up in a retrospective analysis of previously and prospectively collected registry data from two US clinical sites...

Recent studies have begun exploring the potential involvement of microbiota in the pathogenesis of oral lichen planus (OLP), yet comprehensive investigations remain limited. Hence, this study aimed to compare the microbial profiles in saliva samples obtained from patients with OLP against those from healthy controls (HC), along with a comparison between erosive (E) and non-erosive (NE) OLP patients. Saliva samples were collected from 60 OLP patients (E: n = 25, NE: n = 35) and 30 HC individuals. Analysis revealed no significant differences in alpha diversity, as assessed by the Chao1 and Shannon index, across the three groups...

BACKGROUND: An adequate early mobilization followed by an effective and pain-free rehabilitation are critical for clinical and functional recovery after hip and proximal femur fracture. A multimodal approach is always recommended so as to reduce the administered dose of analgesics, drug interactions, and possible side effects. Peripheral nerve blocks should always be considered in addition to spinal or general anesthesia to prolong postoperative analgesia. The pericapsular nerve group (PENG) block appears to be a less invasive and more effective analgesia technique compared to other methods...

Longitudinal data, while often limited, contain valuable insights into features impacting clinical outcomes. To predict the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in patients with metabolic syndrome, particularly those transitioning from stage 3a to 3b, where data are scarce, utilizing feature ensemble techniques can be advantageous. It can effectively identify crucial risk factors, influencing CKD progression, thereby enhancing model performance. Machine learning (ML) methods have gained popularity due to their ability to perform feature selection and handle complex feature interactions more effectively than traditional approaches...

This study had two main objectives. Firstly, we conducted a thorough literature review on the prenatal diagnosis of abdominal congenital arteriovenous fistulas (CAVFs) involving the abdominal aorta and hepatic arteries. Secondly, we aimed to provide detailed descriptions of eight additional cases diagnosed at our medical center and assess the outcome of this anomaly for informed counseling. We conducted a systematic search of online databases using specific keywords like "outcome", "ultrasound", "intrahepatic fistulae", and "fetal venous anomalies", focusing on studies published between 1998 and 2023...

This retrospective study aimed to compare risk factors for vascular calcification (VC) between pre-hemodialysis (HD) and prevalent HD adult patients while investigating associations with calcification biomarkers. Baseline data from 30 pre-HD and 85 HD patients were analyzed, including iPTH, vitamin D, FGF 23, fetuin-A, sclerostin, and VC scores (Adragao method). Prevalence of VC was similar in both groups, but HD patients had more frequent VC scores ≥ 6. Pre-HD patients were older, with higher prevalence of hypertension and less frequent use of calcium phosphate binders...

A heart with a borderline ventricle refers to a situation where there is uncertainty about whether the left or right underdeveloped ventricle can effectively support the systemic or pulmonary circulation with appropriate filling pressures and sufficient physiological reserve. Pediatric cardiologists often deal with congenital heart diseases (CHDs) associated with various degrees of hypoplasia of the left or right ventricles. To date, no specific guidelines exist, and surgical management may be extremely variable in different centers and sometimes even in the same center at different times...

While neutralizing antibodies (nAbs) induced by monovalent severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccinations are primarily directed against the wildtype (WT), subsequent exposure to the Omicron variants may increase the breadth of the antibodies' cross-neutralizing activity. Here, we analyzed the impact of an Omicron breakthrough infection (BTI) or a fourth monovalent mRNA vaccination on nAb profiles in people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLWH). Using a multivariant surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT), we quantified nAbs in 36 three-times vaccinated PLWH, of whom 9 acquired a serologically confirmed Omicron BTI, 8 received a fourth vaccine dose, and 19 were neither infected nor additionally vaccinated...

BACKGROUND: Effective identification and management in the early stages of sepsis are critical for achieving positive outcomes. In this context, neutrophil-reactive intensity (NEUT-RI) emerges as a promising and easily interpretable parameter. This study aimed to assess the predictive value of NEUT-RI in diagnosing sepsis and to evaluate its prognostic significance in distinguishing 28-day mortality outcomes. MATERIALS: This study is a secondary, retrospective, observational analysis...

A laboratory-based lateral flow (LF) test that utilizes up-converting reporter particles (UCP) for ultrasensitive quantification of Schistosoma circulating anodic antigen (CAA) in urine is a well-accepted test to identify active infection. However, this UCP-LF CAA test requires sample pre-treatment steps not compatible with field applications. Flow, a new low-cost disposable, allows integration of large-volume pre-concentration of urine analytes and LF detection into a single field-deployable device. We assessed a prototype Flow- Schistosoma (Flow-S) device with an integrated UCP-LF CAA test strip, omitting all laboratory-based steps, to enable diagnosis of active Schistosoma infection in the field using urine...