Inclusion of Rurality and Social Determinants of Health in Documents for the Primary Prevention of Type 2 Diabetes: A Systematic Review.

Purpose: The type 2 diabetes (T2D) burden is disproportionately concentrated in low- and middle-income economies, particularly among rural populations. The purpose of the systematic review was to evaluate the inclusion of rurality and social determinants of health (SDOH) in documents for T2D primary prevention. Methods: This systematic review is reported following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. We searched 19 databases, from 2017-2023, for documents on rurality and T2D primary prevention. Furthermore, we searched online for documents from the 216 World Bank economies, categorized by high, upper-middle, lower-middle, and low income status. We extracted data on rurality and the ten World Health Organization SDOH. Two authors independently screened documents and extracted data. Findings: Based on 3318 documents (19 databases and online search), we selected 15 documents for data extraction. The 15 documents applied to 32 economies; 12 of 15 documents were from nongovernment sources, none was from low-income economies, and 10 of 15 documents did not define or describe rurality. Among the SDOH, income and social protection (SDOH 1) and social inclusion and nondiscrimination (SDOH 8) were mentioned in documents for 25 of 29 high-income economies, while food insecurity (SDOH 5) and housing, basic amenities, and the environment (SDOH 6) were mentioned in documents for 1 of 2 lower-middle-income economies. For U.S. documents, none of the authors was from institutions in noncore (most rural) counties. Conclusions: Overall, documents on T2D primary prevention had sparse inclusion of rurality and SDOH, with additional disparity based on economic status. Inclusion of rurality and/or SDOH may improve T2D primary prevention in rural populations.

Quantitative Analysis of Innate Lymphoid Cells in Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is one of the principal causes of death in Mexico and worldwide. AMI triggers an acute inflammatory process that induces the activation of different populations of the innate immune system. Innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) are an innate immunity, highly pleiotropic population, which have been observed to participate in tissue repair and polarization of the adaptive immune response. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to analyze the levels of subsets of ILCs in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), immediately 3 and 6 months post-AMI, and analyze their correlation with clinical parameters. RESULTS: We evaluated 29 STEMI patients and 15 healthy controls and analyzed the different subsets of circulating ILCs, immediately 3 and 6 months post-AMI. We observed higher levels of circulating ILCs in STEMI patients compared to control subjects and a significant correlation between ILC levels and cardiac function. We also found increased production of the cytokines interleukin 5 (IL-5) and interleukin 17A (IL-17A), produced by ILC2 cells and by ILC3 cells, respectively, in the STEMI patients. CONCLUSION: This study shows new evidence of the role of ILCs in the pathophysiology of AMI and their possible involvement in the maintenance of cardiac function.

Visual recognition memory of scenes is driven by categorical, not sensory, visual representations.

When we perceive a scene, our brain processes various types of visual information simultaneously, ranging from sensory features, such as line orientations and colors, to categorical features, such as objects and their arrangements. Whereas the role of sensory and categorical visual representations in predicting subsequent memory has been studied using isolated objects, their impact on memory for complex scenes remains largely unknown. To address this gap, we conducted an fMRI study in which female and male participants encoded pictures of familiar scenes (e.g., an airport picture) and later recalled them, while rating the vividness of their visual recall. Outside the scanner, participants had to distinguish each seen scene (e.g., an airport picture) from three similar lures (e.g., 3 airport pictures). We modeled the sensory and categorical visual features of multiple scenes using both early and late layers of a deep convolutional neural network. Then, we applied representational similarity analysis to determine which brain regions represented stimuli in accordance with the sensory and categorical models. We found that categorical, but not sensory, representations predicted subsequent memory. In line with the previous result, only for the categorical model, the average recognition performance of each scene exhibited a positive correlation with the average visual dissimilarity between the item in question and its respective lures. These results strongly suggest that even in memory tests that ostensibly rely solely on visual cues (such as force-choice visual recognition with similar distractors), memory decisions for scenes may be primarily influenced by categorical rather than sensory representations.Significance Statement Our memory for real-world scenes often comprises a tableau of complex visual features, but recent findings challenge the view that our memories of such stimuli rely on purely visual information. Instead, it appears that our memory for scenes is heavily influenced by higher-level categorical information. Analyzing cortical representations in regions responsive to both categorical and sensory features, we discovered that only the former can reliably predict memory outcomes. Moreover, the distinctiveness of scenes in terms of their categoric features among similar examples is positively associated with our ability to accurately recognize previously encountered scenes. In essence, this study sheds light on how our brains rely on categorical information to recognize natural scenes.

Evaluation of a FlpA Glycoconjugate Vaccine with Ten N-Heptasaccharide Glycan Moieties to reduce Campylobacter jejuni Colonisation in Chickens.

Campylobacter is a major cause of acute gastroenteritis in humans, and infections can be followed by inflammatory neuropathies and other sequelae. Handling or consumption of poultry meat is the primary risk factor for human campylobacteriosis, and C. jejuni remains highly prevalent in retail chicken in many countries. Control of Campylobacter in the avian reservoir is expected to limit the incidence of human disease. Toward this aim, we evaluated a glycoconjugate vaccine comprising the fibronectin-binding adhesin FlpA conjugated to up to ten moieties of the conserved N-linked heptasaccharide glycan of C. jejuni or with FlpA alone. The glycan dose significantly exceeded previous trials using FlpA with two N-glycan moieties. Vaccinated birds were challenged with C. jejuni orally or by exposure to seeder-birds colonised by C. jejuni to mimic natural transmission. No protection against caecal colonisation was observed with FlpA or the FlpA glycoconjugate vaccine. FlpA-specific antibody responses were significantly induced in vaccinated birds at the point of challenge relative to mock-vaccinated birds. A slight but significant antibody response to the N-glycan was detected after vaccination with FlpA-10×GT and challenge. As other laboratories have reported protection against Campylobacter with FlpA and glycoconjugate vaccines in chickens, our data indicate that vaccine-mediated immunity may be sensitive to host- or study-specific variables.

Thyroid Ultrasound Appropriateness Identification Through Natural Language Processing of Electronic Health Records.

Objective: To address thyroid cancer overdiagnosis, we aim to develop a natural language processing (NLP) algorithm to determine the appropriateness of thyroid ultrasounds (TUS). Patients and Methods: Between 2017 and 2021, we identified 18,000 TUS patients at Mayo Clinic and selected 628 for chart review to create a ground truth dataset based on consensus. We developed a rule-based NLP pipeline to identify TUS as appropriate TUS (aTUS) or inappropriate TUS (iTUS) using patients' clinical notes and additional meta information. In addition, we designed an abbreviated NLP pipeline (aNLP) solely focusing on labels from TUS order requisitions to facilitate deployment at other health care systems. Our dataset was split into a training set of 468 (75%) and a test set of 160 (25%), using the former for rule development and the latter for performance evaluation. Results: There were 449 (95.9%) patients identified as aTUS and 19 (4.06%) as iTUS in the training set; there are 155 (96.88%) patients identified as aTUS and 5 (3.12%) were iTUS in the test set. In the training set, the pipeline achieved a sensitivity of 0.99, specificity of 0.95, and positive predictive value of 1.0 for detecting aTUS. The testing cohort revealed a sensitivity of 0.96, specificity of 0.80, and positive predictive value of 0.99. Similar performance metrics were observed in the aNLP pipeline. Conclusion: The NLP models can accurately identify the appropriateness of a thyroid ultrasound from clinical documentation and order requisition information, a critical initial step toward evaluating the drivers and outcomes of TUS use and subsequent thyroid cancer overdiagnosis.

Beyond stimulus-response rules: Task sets incorporate information about performance difficulty.

The capacity for goal-directed behavior relies on the generation and implementation of task sets. While task sets are traditionally defined as mnemonic ensembles linking task goals to stimulus-response mappings, we here asked the question whether they may also entail information about task difficulty: does the level of focus required for performing a task become incorporated within the task set? We addressed this question by employing a cued task-switching protocol, wherein participants engaged in two intermixed tasks with trial-unique stimuli. Both tasks were equally challenging during a baseline and a transfer phase, while their difficulty was manipulated during an intermediate learning phase by varying the proportion of trials with congruent versus incongruent response mappings between the two tasks. Comparing congruency effects between the baseline and transfer phases, Experiment 1 showed that the task with a low (high) proportion of congruent trials in the learning phase displayed reduced (increased) cross-task interference effects in the transfer phase, indicating that the level of task focus required in the learning phase had become associated with each task set. Experiment 2 indicated that strengthening of task focus level in the task with a low proportion of congruent trials was the primary driver of this effect. Experiment 3 ruled out the possibility of cue-control associations mediating this effect. Taken together, our results show that task sets can become associated with the focus level required to successfully implement them, thus significantly expanding our concept of the type of information that makes up a task set. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Sleep, Diet Quality, and Lipid Profile Assessment in NCAA Division I Acrobatics and Tumbling Student-Athletes: A Cross-Sectional Study.

OBJECTIVE: Acrobatics and Tumbling (A&T), an emerging National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) sport, involves athletes with rigorous training backgrounds, usually extending from youth through early adulthood. This study examines the sleep health, diet quality, and lipid profile of A&T athletes clustered by their performance position. METHODS: Forty-two A&T athletes, clustered as tops (n = 19; age = 19.6 ± 1.0 years; body mass index [BMI] = 22.3 ± 1.7 kg/m2) and bases (n = 23; age = 19.6 ± 1.3 years; BMI = 25.7 ± 2.5 kg/m2), completed preseason sleep and diet quality (Rapid Eating Assessment for Participants-Shortened [REAP-S]) surveys. Fasting blood samples were collected for lipid analysis. Body composition was assessed via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. RESULTS: Most athletes (71.4%; base n = 14, top n = 16) reported insufficient sleep (≤7 hours) and "good" sleep quality (90.4%, n = 38; base n = 18, top n = 20). Average REAP-S score was 29.24 ± 3.74. Approximately 31% (n = 13) displayed at least one undesirable lipid concentration according to medical guidelines for normal levels (total cholesterol [TC] < 200 mg/dL, triglycerides [TG] < 150 mg/dL, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol [HDL-C] > 40 mg/dL, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol [LDL-C] < 130 mg/dL). Approximately 20% exhibited elevated TC (top n = 4, base n = 4), 12.5% had elevated TG (base n = 5), 2.5% showed low HDL-C (base n = 1), and 10% presented elevated LDL-C (top n = 2, base n = 2). CONCLUSIONS: Most athletes experienced suboptimal sleep (≤7 hours/night) and 31% displayed at least one undesirable lipid concentration (elevated TC, TG, or LDL-C or reduced HDL-C). Tailoring interventions with sports dietitians is recommended, focused on increasing monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat intake while reducing saturated fat consumption. These interventions could mitigate cardiovascular risks, improve recovery, and possibly enhance athletic performance.

On the prediction of tibiofemoral contact forces for healthy individuals and osteoarthritis patients during gait: a comparative study of regression methods.

Knee osteoarthritis (OA) is a public health problem affecting millions of people worldwide. The intensity of the tibiofemoral contact forces is related to cartilage degeneration, and so is the importance of quantifying joint loads during daily activities. Although simulation with musculoskeletal models has been used to calculate joint loads, it demands high-cost equipment and a very time-consuming process. This study aimed to evaluate consolidated machine learning algorithms to predict tibiofemoral forces during gait analysis of healthy individuals and knee OA patients. Also, we evaluated three different datasets to train each model, considering different combinations of primary kinematic and kinetic data, and post-processing data. We evaluated 14 patients with severe unilateral knee OA and 14 healthy individuals during 3-5 gait trials. Data were split into 70% and 30% of the samples as training and test data. Test data was independently evaluated considering a mixture of pathological and healthy individuals, and only OA and Control patients. The main results showed that accurate predictions of the tibiofemoral contact forces were achieved using machine learning methods and that the predictions were sensitive to changes in the input data as training. The present study provided insights into the most promising regressions methods to predict knee contact forces representing an important starting point for the broader application of biomechanical analysis in clinical environments.

Physical Examination of the Thyroid: Accuracy in Detecting Thyroid Nodules and Frequency of Additional Findings.

OBJECTIVE: Thyroid palpation is a common clinical practice to detect thyroid abnormalities. However, its accuracy and potential for additional findings remain unclear. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic accuracy of physical exams in detecting thyroid nodules. METHODS: A retrospective observational study was conducted on a random sample of adult patients who underwent their first-time thyroid ultrasound between January 2015 and September 2017, following a documented thyroid physical exam. The study assessed the performance of thyroid palpation in detecting 1 or multiple thyroid nodules, as well as the proportion of additional findings on ultrasounds due to false positive thyroid palpation. RESULTS: We included 327 patients, mostly female (65.1%), white (84.1%), and treated in a primary care setting (54.4%) with a mean age of 50.8 years (SD 16.9). For solitary thyroid nodules, the physical exam had a sensitivity of 20.3%, specificity of 79.1%, an accuracy of 68.5%, negative predictive value of 81.8%, and positive predictive value of 17.6%. For detecting a multinodular goiter, physical exams demonstrated a sensitivity of 10.8%, specificity of 96.5%, accuracy of 55.4%, negative predictive value of 53.9, and positive predictive value of 73.9%. Among 154 cases with palpable nodules, 60% had additional nodules found in subsequent thyroid ultrasound. CONCLUSION: Thyroid physical exam has limited diagnostic performance and leads to additional findings when followed by a thyroid ultrasound. Future efforts should be directed at improving the accuracy of thyroid physical exams or re-evaluating its routine use.

Prognostic and Diagnostic Utility of Serum Biomarkers in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a major cause of morbidity and death among the pediatric population. Timely diagnosis, however, remains a complex task because of the lack of standardized methods that permit its accurate identification. The aim of this study was to determine whether serum levels of brain injury biomarkers can be used as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in this pathology. This prospective, observational study collected and analyzed the serum concentration of neuronal injury biomarkers at enrollment, 24h and 48h post-injury, in 34 children ages 0-18 with pTBI and 19 healthy controls (HC). Biomarkers included glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurofilament protein L (NfL), ubiquitin-C-terminal hydrolase (UCH-L1), S-100B, tau and tau phosphorylated at threonine 181 (p-tau181). Subjects were stratified by admission Glasgow Coma Scale score into two categories: a combined mild/moderate (GCS 9-15) and severe (GCS 3-8). Glasgow Outcome Scale-Extended (GOS-E) Peds was dichotomized into favorable (≤4) and unfavorable (≥5) and outcomes. Data were analyzed utilizing Prism 9 and R statistical software. The findings were as follows: 15 patients were stratified as severe TBI and 19 as mild/moderate per GCS. All biomarkers measured at enrollment were elevated compared with HC. Serum levels for all biomarkers were significantly higher in the severe TBI group compared with HC at 0, 24, and 48h. The GFAP, tau S100B, and p-tau181 had the ability to differentiate TBI severity in the mild/moderate group when measured at 0h post-injury. Tau serum levels were increased in the mild/moderate group at 24h. In addition, NfL and p-tau181 showed increased serum levels at 48h in the aforementioned GCS category. Individual biomarker performance on predicting unfavorable outcomes was measured at 0, 24, and 48h across different GOS-E Peds time points, which was significant for p-tau181 at 0h at all time points, UCH-L1 at 0h at 6-9 months and 12 months, GFAP at 48h at 12 months, NfL at 0h at 12 months, tau at 0h at 12 months and S100B at 0h at 12 months. We concluded that TBI leads to increased serum neuronal injury biomarkers during the first 0-48h post-injury. A biomarker panel measuring these proteins could aid in the early diagnosis of mild to moderate pTBI and may predict neurological outcomes across the injury spectrum.

Perceived plausibility modulates hippocampal activity in episodic counterfactual thinking.

Episodic counterfactual thinking (ECT) consists of imagining alternative outcomes to past personal events. Previous research has shown that ECT shares common neural substrates with episodic future thinking (EFT): our ability to imagine possible future events. Both ECT and EFT have been shown to critically depend on the hippocampus, and past research has explored hippocampal engagement as a function of the perceived plausibility of an imagined future event. However, the extent to which the hippocampus is modulated by perceived plausibility during ECT is unknown. In this study, we combine two functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets to investigate whether perceived plausibility modulates hippocampal activity during ECT. Our results indicate that plausibility parametrically modulates hippocampal activity during ECT, and that such modulation is confined to the left anterior portion of the hippocampus. Moreover, our results indicate that this modulation is positive, such that increased activity in the left anterior hippocampus is associated with higher ratings of ECT plausibility. We suggest that neither effort nor difficulty alone can account for these results, and instead suggest possible alternatives to explain the role of the hippocampus during the construction of plausible and implausible ECT.

Modelling terrigenous DOC across the north west European Shelf: Fate of riverine input and impact on air-sea CO2 fluxes.

Terrigenous carbon in aquatic systems is increasingly recognised as an important part of the global carbon cycle. Despite this, the fate and distribution of terrigenous dissolved organic carbon (tDOC) in coastal and oceanic systems is poorly understood. We have implemented a theoretical framework for the degradation of tDOC across the land to ocean continuum in a 3D hydrodynamical-biogeochemical model on the North West European Shelf. A key feature of this model is that both photochemical and bacterial tDOC degradation rates are age dependant constituting an advance in our ability to describe carbon cycling in the marine environment. Over the time period 1986-2015, 182±17 Gmol yr-1 of riverine tDOC is input to the shelf. Results indicate that bacterial degradation is by far the most important process in removing tDOC on the shelf, contributing to 73±6 % (132±11 Gmol yr-1) of the total removal flux, while 21±3 % (39±6 Gmol yr-1) of riverine tDOC was advected away from the shelf and photochemical degradation removing 5±0.5 % of the riverine flux. Explicitly including tDOC in the model decreased the air-sea carbon dioxide (CO2) flux by 112±8 Gmol yr-1 (4±0.4 %), an amount approximately equivalent to the CO2 released by the UK chemical industry in 2020. The reduction is equivalent to 62 % of the riverine tDOC input to the shelf while approximately 17 % of riverine input is incorporated into the foodweb. This work can improve the assumptions of the fate of tDOC by Earth System Models and demonstrates that the inclusion of tDOC in models can impact ecosystem dynamics and change predicted global carbon budgets for the ocean.

On the frequency and nature of the cues that elicit déjà vu and involuntary autobiographical memories.

Barzykowski and Moulin suggest that déjà vu and involuntary autobiographical memories recruit similar retrieval processes. Here, we invite the authors to clarify three issues: (1) What mechanism prevents déjà vu to happen more frequently? (2) What is the role of semantic cues in involuntary autobiographical retrieval? and (3) How déjà vu relates to non-believed memories?

Exploring an Unknown Corner of a Well-Known Topic: HIIE Influence on Renal Health and Filtration in Healthy Individuals Free of Cardiometabolic Diseases.

Aerobic exercise, specifically high-intensity interval exercise (HIIE), and its effects on renal health and filtration (RHF) are not well understood. Several studies support incorporating contemporary biomarkers serum cystatin C (CyC) and urine epidermal growth factor (uEGF) to combat the volatility of serum creatinine (sCr). Using these biomarkers, we examined the acute influences HIIE has on RHF to determine if there is a ceiling effect in healthy populations. The purpose was to determine the influence of an acute bout of HIIE on RHF. Thirty-six participants (n = 22 males; n = 14 females; age 37.6 ± 12.4 years.; BF% 19.2 ± 7.1%; VO2max 41.8 + 7.4 mL/kg/min) completed 30 min of HIIE on a treadmill (80% and 40% of VO2reserve in 3:2 min ratio). Blood and urine samples were obtained under standardized conditions before, 1 h, and 24 h post-exercise. CyC, sCR, uEGF, urine creatinine (uCr), uCr/uEGF ratio, and multiple estimates of glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) and CKD-EPI equations were used. The analysis employed paired sample t-tests and repeated measures ANOVAs. CyC, uEGF, uCr, and uCr/uEGF ratio concentrations were not altered between timepoints. sCr increased 1 h post-exercise (p > 0.002) but not at 24 h post-exercise. eGFR decreased in the MDRD and CKD-EPI equations at 1 h (p > 0.012) with no changes at 24 h post-exercise. CyC and sCr/CyC demonstrated no significant changes. CyC and uEGF are not altered by acute HIIE. The results demonstrate a potential ceiling effect in contemporary and traditional biomarkers of RHF, indicating improvements in RHF may be isolated to populations with reduced kidney function.

Drivers of Thyroid Ultrasound Use: A Retrospective Observational Study.

OBJECTIVE: Excessive use of thyroid ultrasound (TUS) contributes to the overdiagnosis of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer. In this study, we evaluated drivers of and clinical trajectories following TUS orders. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of 500 adult patients who underwent an initial TUS between 2015 and 2017 at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. A framework was employed to classify the indication for TUS, and it was characterized as inappropriate when ordered without a guideline-based indication. Medical records were reviewed for up to 12 months following the TUS, and clinical outcomes were evaluated. RESULTS: The mean age mean age (SD) was 53.6 years (16.6), 63.8% female, and 86.6% white. TUS orders were triggered by incidental findings on unrelated imaging (31.6%), thyroid symptoms (20.4%), thyroid abnormalities on routine physical examination (17.2%), and thyroid dysfunction workup (11.8%). In females and males, the most common reason were incidental findings on imaging (female, 91/319, 28.5% and male, 67/181, 37.0%). In primary care practice, TUS orders were mostly triggered by symptoms (71/218, 32.5%), while thyroid dysfunction workup was the primary reason in endocrinology (28/100, 28.0%). We classified 11.2% (56/500) TUS orders as likely to have been ordered inappropriately based on current guidelines. Finally, 119 patients (119/500, 23.8%) had a thyroid biopsy with 11.8% had thyroid cancer (14/119. 11.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Incidental findings on imaging, symptoms, and routine physical exam findings in asymptomatic patients were the most prevalent drivers of TUS. Furthermore, 1 in 10 TUS were likely inappropriately ordered based on current practice guidelines.

Neural retrieval processes occur more rapidly for visual mental images that were previously encoded with high-vividness.

Visual mental imagery refers to our ability to experience visual images in the absence of sensory stimulation. Studies have shown that visual mental imagery can improve episodic memory. However, we have limited understanding of the neural mechanisms underlying this improvement. Using electroencephalography, we examined the neural processes associated with the retrieval of previously generated visual mental images, focusing on how the vividness at generation can modulate retrieval processes. Participants viewed word stimuli referring to common objects, forming a visual mental image of each word and rating the vividness of the mental image. This was followed by a surprise old/new recognition task. We compared retrieval performance for items rated as high- versus low-vividness at encoding. High-vividness items were retrieved with faster reaction times and higher confidence ratings in the memory judgment. While controlling for confidence, neural measures indicated that high-vividness items produced an earlier decrease in alpha-band activity at retrieval compared with low-vividness items, suggesting an earlier memory reinstatement. Even when low-vividness items were remembered with high confidence, they were not retrieved as quickly as high-vividness items. These results indicate that when highly vivid mental images are encoded, the speed of their retrieval occurs more rapidly, relative to low-vivid items.

Evaluating the exoscope as an alternative to the operating microscope in plastic surgery.

BACKGROUND: Microsurgery is most commonly used in the anastomosis of vessels, flap harvesting, lymphedema, and nerve reconstruction, among others. During the 1920s the first microscope was invented by Nylen and Holmgren, quickly becoming the gold standard for microsurgery. However, technological advances have come forth in the form of exoscopes. METHODS: A search for full-text articles where using an exoscope was compared with a traditional operating microscope was conducted on the databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Embase. The following terms were used to guide our search: Microscope AND exoscope AND plastic surgery; Microscope AND exoscope AND microvascular surgery. RESULTS: Our search yielded 69 studies, of which 12 were included. Five exoscope systems were used by the authors. All studies reported the exoscope as a valid alternative to the standard operating microscope. The exoscope was reported as non-inferior to the operating microscope. Although some studies reported lower quality of image, this did not seem to influence the outcome of surgeries. Newer models may have bridged the gap between the operating microscope's image quality and the exoscope. Superior ergonomics was always reported among the included studies. CONCLUSION: Based on our search, we conclude that the exoscope is a safe and valid alternative to the operating microscope in plastic surgery. As newer models are now commercially available, these have overcome difficulties in image quality and zoom capabilities, responsible for the main drawbacks of the first exoscope systems.

Artificial Intelligence in Thyroidology: A Narrative Review of the Current Applications, Associated Challenges, and Future Directions.

Background: The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in health care has grown exponentially with the promise of facilitating biomedical research and enhancing diagnosis, treatment, monitoring, disease prevention, and health care delivery. We aim to examine the current state, limitations, and future directions of AI in thyroidology. Summary: AI has been explored in thyroidology since the 1990s, and currently, there is an increasing interest in applying AI to improve the care of patients with thyroid nodules (TNODs), thyroid cancer, and functional or autoimmune thyroid disease. These applications aim to automate processes, improve the accuracy and consistency of diagnosis, personalize treatment, decrease the burden for health care professionals, improve access to specialized care in areas lacking expertise, deepen the understanding of subtle pathophysiologic patterns, and accelerate the learning curve of less experienced clinicians. There are promising results for many of these applications. Yet, most are in the validation or early clinical evaluation stages. Only a few are currently adopted for risk stratification of TNODs by ultrasound and determination of the malignant nature of indeterminate TNODs by molecular testing. Challenges of the currently available AI applications include the lack of prospective and multicenter validations and utility studies, small and low diversity of training data sets, differences in data sources, lack of explainability, unclear clinical impact, inadequate stakeholder engagement, and inability to use outside of the research setting, which might limit the value of their future adoption. Conclusions: AI has the potential to improve many aspects of thyroidology; however, addressing the limitations affecting the suitability of AI interventions in thyroidology is a prerequisite to ensure that AI provides added value for patients with thyroid disease.

Evaluation of N-glycan-decorated live attenuated Escherichia coli and outer membrane vesicles as vaccines against Campylobacter jejuni colonisation in chickens.

Campylobacter jejuni is a leading global cause of bacterial gastroenteritis in humans, and poultry are a major reservoir. Glycoconjugate vaccines containing the conserved C. jejuni N-glycan have previously been reported to be effective at reducing caecal colonisation of chickens by C. jejuni. These include recombinant subunit vaccines, live E. coli strains expressing the N-glycan on the surface as well as outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) derived from these E. coli strains. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of live E. coli expressing the C. jejuni N-glycan from a plasmid and glycosylated OMVs (G-OMVs) derived from them against colonisation by different C. jejuni strains. Despite the C. jejuni N-glycan being expressed on the surface of the live strain and the OMVs, no reduction in caecal colonisation by C. jejuni was observed and N-glycan-specific responses were not detected.

Interpersonal coordination of opposing player dyads during attacks performed in official football matches.

The purpose of this study was to characterise the interpersonal coordination between opponent players during offensive sequences in official matches and to verify if offensive sequences ended in shots to goal present different coordination patterns when compared than those that ended in defensive tackles. A total of 580 offensive sequences occurred during matches resulting in shots to goal (n = 172) or defensive tackles (n = 408) were analysed. The bidimensional coordinates and technical actions of male professional football players (n = 1160) were obtained using a video-based tracking system. Dyads were defined using a network analysis and composed of the nearest opponent. Interpersonal coordination of the dyads was analysed using the vector coding and the frequency for each coordination pattern was computed. In-phase was predominant for all displacement directions and offensive sequences outcomes, and antiphase was the least frequent. For lateral displacements, offensive sequences ending in shot to goal presented lower frequency for in-phase and higher frequency for offensive player phase than ended in defensive tackle. This information about the relationship of opponent players dyads during decisive moments of the matches provides fundamentals for future research and assists coaches to understand the different behaviours in successful and unsuccessful attacks.