Body composition analysis in adolescent male athletes: Skinfold versus ultrasound

Introduction: Aim of this study was to compare the repeatability of the evaluation of body composition with the skinfold measuring technique and the portable ultrasound measuring technique BodyMetrix TM BX2000, in order to estimate body fat percentage in adolescents athletes. Materials e Methods: Twenty adolescent male athletes have been recruited in a basketball centre. Skinfold and ultrasound measurements were detected on the right side of the body in 2 anatomical points: triceps and subscapular. Results: The results obtained by both techniques showed a high correlation with final body fat mass (%), although differences have been observed with both methods in each anatomical site. Conclusions: The assessment of body composition is an important parameter that allows us to have an estimate of the percentage of body fat. Therefore, it is a fundamental criterion for both the professionals of wellness and the athlete, since allows to verify the results produced by dietary plans and training

Calcific tendinopathy of supraspinatus tendon in elite volleyball players: A point-of-care ultrasound diagnosis

In overhead sports like volleyball, the onset of a rotator cuff tendinopathy due to functional overload is a not uncommon observation. Herein, we present the case of a symptomatic calcific tendinopathy involving the supraspinatus tendon with a subacromial impingement syndrome in a young elite volleyball player. Shoulder and supraspinatus tendon evaluation with static and dynamic ultrasonography (US) can assist in the rapid diagnosis of tendinopathy. Thus, sports physicians must be aware of this in order to expedite rapid referral to a musculoskeletal specialist who can perform a point-of-care US examination of the shoulder. This approach to sports pathology potentially improves patient outcomes

COVID-19 pandemic as a watershed moment: A call for systematic psychological health care for frontline medical staff

: The COVID-19 pandemic is producing a huge health care burden with millions of cases and thousands of deaths. The coronavirus' high virulence and contagiousness and the frequent sudden onset of illness is overwhelming critical care and frontline healthcare staff. Frontline professionals are exposed to unprecedented levels of intensive existential threat requiring systematic, specialized psychological intervention and support. New psychological services need to be urgently implemented to manage the mental healthcare needs of frontline medical staff working with patients with COVID-19. The COVID-19 pandemic is a watershed moment: health care systems universally require a step-change to improve our preparedness for future pandemics

Patient Safety Walkaround: a communication tool for the reallocation of health service resources: An Italian experience of safety healthcare implementation

The study aims to evaluate the use of Patient Safety Walkaround (SWR) execution model in an Italian Hospital, through the adoption of parametric indices, survey tools, and process indicators.In the 1st meeting an interview was conducted to verify the knowledge of concepts of clinical risk management (process indicators). One month after, the questions provided by Frankel (survey tool) were administered.Each month after, an SWR has been carried trying to assist the healthcare professionals and collecting suggestions and solutions.Results have been classified according to Vincent model and analyzed to define an action plan. The amount of risk was quantified by the risk priority index (RPI).An organizational deficit concerns the management of the operating theatre.A state of intolerance was noticed of queuing patients for outpatient visits. The lack of scheduling of the operating rooms is often the cause of sudden displacements. A consequence is the conflict between patients and caregivers. Other causes of the increase of waiting times are the presence in the ward of a single trolley for medications and the presence of a single room for admission and preadmission of patients.Patients victims of allergic reactions have attributed such reactions to the presence of other patients in the process of acceptance and collection of medical history.All health professionals have reported the problem of n high number of relatives of the patients in the wards.Our study indicated the consistency of SWR as instrument to improve the quality of the care

identification of peri prostatic neurovascular fibers before and after radical prostatectomy by means of diffusion tensor imaging dti with clinical correlations initial experience

Aim: To evaluate if Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) is able to detect morphological changes of peri-prostatic neurovascular fibers (PNF) before and after robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) and if these changes are related to urinary incontinence (UI) and erectile dysfunction (ED). Materials and methods: From October 2014 and August 2017 26 patients with biopsy-proven prostate cancer underwent prostatic multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (mp-MRI) including DTI sequencing before and six months after, RARP. Images were analyzed by placing six regions of interest (ROI) respectively at the base, mid-gland and apex, one for each side, to obtain tractography reconstruction of the PNF. Patients were asked to complete an International Consultation Incontinence Questionnaire – Short Form (ICIQ-SF) and International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) questionnaires before RARP and 6 months postoperatively. Fractional anisotropy (FA), number (N) and length (L) of PNF before and after RARP were compared by means of Student's t-test; Spearman test was used to evaluate the correlation between DTI parameters and questionnaires scores. We observed a significant difference in N values before and after RARP (p<0.001) and a negative correlation between IIEF-5 score and post-operative FA values at both the right (rho=-0.42; p= 0.0456) and left (rho=- 0.66; p=0.0006) base of the prostate. DTI with tractography of PNF is able to detect quantitative changes in N, L and FA values in PNF after RARP. In particular we observed an inverse correlation between FA of PNF and ED at 6 months after RARP. Further investigations are needed to confirm this trend

Radiomics for the Discrimination of Infiltrative vs In Situ Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most common malignant tumor in women worldwide. Its early diagnosis relies on radiology and clinical evaluation, supplemented by biopsy confirmation. Technological advances in medical imaging, especially in the field of artificial intelligence, allow to address clinical challenges in cancer detection and classification, as well as in the assessment of treatment response, and in monitoring disease progression. Radiomics allows to extract features from images, related to tumor size, shape, intensity, and texture, providing comprehensive tumor characterization. In this paper, we briefly review some Radiomics approaches in breast cancer, focusing on the non-invasive distinction between in-situ and infiltrating breast tumors, and present a preliminary test using Radiomics signatures in DCE-MRI and machine learning, aimed to investigate the feasibility of distinguishing infiltrating cancer from ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) diagnosed by preoperative core needle biopsy

Ferromagnetic Josephson Junctions for High Performance Computation

Josephson junctions drive the operation of superconducting qubits and they are the key for the coupling and the interfacing of superconducting qubit components with other quantum platforms. They are the only means to introduce non linearity in a superconducting circuit and offer direct solutions to tune the properties of a superconducting qubit, thus enlarging the possible qubit layouts. Junctions performances and tunability can take advantage of using a large variety of barriers and their special functionalities. We mention pertinent results on the advances in understanding the properties of ferromagnetic junctions, which make possible the use of these devices either as memory elements and as core circuit elements

Anti-HPV vaccination in women treated for HPV-related lesions: effective vaccination strategy for achieving HPV-related diseases control

Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination is able to reduce the risk of relapse in women undergoing surgery for HPVrelated lesions. The surgical treatment of these lesions can correlate with a greater risk of preterm parts. The extension of the recommendation of HPV vaccination to patients treated for a previous HPV-related lesion would entail a lower expense for the Health System. Therefore, an increase in the use of HPV vaccination is desirable also in this target population as well as the implementation of a care pathway dedicated to women treated for HPV lesions that includes vaccination in the prevention activities of relapses

Toward autonomous robotic prostate biopsy: a pilot study

Purpose We present the validation of PROST, a robotic device for prostate biopsy. PROST is designed to minimize human error by introducing some autonomy in the execution of the key steps of the procedure, i.e., target selection, image fusion and needle positioning. The robot allows executing a targeted biopsy through ultrasound (US) guidance and fusion with magnetic resonance (MR) images, where the target was defined. Methods PROST is a parallel robot with 4 degrees of freedom (DOF) to orient the needle and 1 DOF to rotate the US probe. We reached a calibration error of less than 2 mm, computed as the difference between the needle positioning in robot coordinates and in the US image. The autonomy of the robot is given by the image analysis software, which employs deep learning techniques, the integrated image fusion algorithms and automatic computation of the needle trajectory. For safety reasons, the insertion of the needle is assigned to the doctor. Results System performance was evaluated in terms of positioning accuracy. Tests were performed on a 3D printed object with nine 2-mm spherical targets and on an anatomical commercial phantom that simulates human prostate with three lesions and the surrounding structures. The average accuracy reached in the laboratory experiments was 1.30 ± 0.44 mm in the first test and 1.54 ± 0.34 mm in the second test. Conclusions We introduced a first prototype of a prostate biopsy robot that has the potential to increase the detection of clinically significant prostate cancer and, by including some level of autonomy, to simplify the procedure, to reduce human errors and shorten training time. The use of a robot for the biopsy of the prostate will create the possibility to include also a treatment, such as focal ablation, to be delivered through the same system