Risultati per: Passo 12. Ripulire in modo mirato le cartelle cliniche degli assisiti

Objective
Despite the Global Vaccine Action Plan’s goal of at least 90% vaccine coverage for all children, Uganda has made limited progress in vaccination over the past decade. The objective of this study was to examine the subnational trends in the prevalence and inequalities in under-immunisation and zero-dose among children aged 12–23 months in Uganda.

Study design
A retrospective national cross-sectional study.

Setting
Uganda

Participants
Uganda Demographic and Health Survey secondary data of only children aged 12–23 months. The samples selected for analyses were 1507 in 2006, 1409 in 2011 and 2650 children in 2016.

Outcome measure
The primary outcomes were under-immunisation and zero-dose vaccination.
Absolute and relative inequality measures were used in the analysis.

Results
From 2006 to 2016, the under-vaccination rate decreased by 21%, but remained high at 40.8%. The zero-dose vaccination rate dropped by 82%, affecting 1.2% of children in 2016. Subnational inequalities in under-vaccination increased over time with widening gaps between regions. While inequalities across wealth quintiles, maternal education levels and places of residence narrowed, children of mothers with lower education levels continued to have the highest under-vaccination rates. The rural–urban gap for zero-dose vaccination remained unchanged, with rural children disproportionately impacted.

Conclusion
While some progress was made in reducing under-vaccination rates in Uganda within the study period, no region achieved an under-vaccination rate below 20%. This indicates significant challenges in reaching the Sustainable Development Goal target of at least 80% immunisation coverage. Targeted interventions are necessary to improve healthcare access, enhance public health communication and strengthen the health system, particularly in underserved communities and among vulnerable populations.

Studio Gemelli-Cattolica su 35 pazienti in fase avanzata

Introduction
Iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) and dental caries are prevalent diseases among Pakistani children. Limited research has been done to explore their association with permanent teeth. Given the caries susceptibility of permanent first molars and their role in the development of ideal occlusion, this study aimed to estimate caries frequency in these molars and assess its association with IDA in 7–12 year-old children.

Methods and analysis
This analytical cross-sectional study will include 141 children aged 7–12 years visiting physicians in the paediatric OPD of Dr. Ruth K.M. Pfau, Civil Hospital Karachi. Using consecutive sampling, children who met initial screening criteria were further evaluated to determine eligibility for the study. Data collection will involve physical examinations (including weight and height), oral examinations (including the relevant oral hygiene and caries assessments) and laboratory examinations (including the prescribed tests). In addition, questions will be asked about sociodemographic characteristics, history of IDA, oral hygiene habits, smokeless tobacco use and the frequency of cariogenic dietary consumption. Exposure variable will include the presence of IDA, assessed using complete blood count, C-reactive protein and ferritin tests and treated as a dichotomous variable. Outcome variable will include dental caries in at least one permanent first molar, assessed using the Decayed, Missing, and Filled Teeth index and also treated as a dichotomous variable. Analysis will include Poisson regression with robust variance, reporting prevalence ratios with 95% CIs for the association of IDA and dental caries in the permanent first molars. Frequency of children with carious permanent first molars with 95% CIs will also be reported.

Ethics and dissemination
This research has been approved by ethical review committee of Aga Khan University (Reference number: 2024-9692-30593) and the institutional review board of Dow University of Health Sciences (IRB Reference: IRB-3556/DUHS/Approval/2024/196) before participant recruitment. Results will be disseminated through seminars and peer-reviewed publications.

Objective
To identify the early predictors of a self-reported persistence of long COVID syndrome (LCS) at 12 months after hospitalisation and to propose the prognostic model of its development.

Design
A combined cross-sectional and prospective observational study.

Setting
A tertiary care hospital.

Participants
221 patients hospitalised for COVID-19 who have undergone comprehensive clinical, sonographic and survey-based evaluation predischarge and at 1 month with subsequent 12-month follow-up. The final cohort included 166 patients who had completed the final visit at 12 months.

Main outcome measure
A self-reported persistence of LCS at 12 months after discharge.

Results
Self-reported LCS was detected in 76% of participants at 3 months and in 43% at 12 months after discharge. Patients who reported incomplete recovery at 1 year were characterised by a higher burden of comorbidities (Charlson index of 0.69±0.96 vs 0.31±0.51, p=0.001) and residual pulmonary consolidations (1.56±1.78 vs 0.98±1.56, p=0.034), worse blood pressure (BP) control (systolic BP of 138.1±16.2 vs 132.2±15.8 mm Hg, p=0.041), renal (estimated glomerular filtration rate of 59.5±14.7 vs 69.8±20.7 mL/min/1.73 m2, p=0.007) and endothelial function (flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery of 10.4±5.4 vs 12.4±5.6%, p=0.048), higher in-hospital levels of liver enzymes (alanine aminotransferase (ALT) of 76.3±60.8 vs 46.3±25.3 IU/L, p=0.002) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) (34.3±12.1 vs 28.3±12.6 mm/h, p=0.008), slightly higher indices of ventricular longitudinal function (left ventricular (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) of 18.0±2.4 vs 17.0±2.3%, p=0011) and higher levels of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale anxiety (7.3±4.2 vs 5.6±3.8, p=0.011) and depression scores (6.4±3.9 vs 4.9±4.3, p=0.022) and EFTER-COVID study physical symptoms score (12.3±3.8 vs 9.2±4.2, p

Numero triplicato rispetto al 2023, anche 7.700 morti

Introduction
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling condition that can affect adolescents during a vulnerable period of development. The underlying biological mechanisms for ME/CFS remain unclear and have rarely been investigated in the adolescent population, despite this period representing an age peak in the overall incidence. The primary objective of this is to provide a foundational set of biological data on adolescent ME/CFS patients. Data generated will be compared with controls and over several time points within each patient to potentially develop a biomarker signature of the disease, identify subsets or clusters of patients, and to unveil the pathomechanisms of the disease.

Methods and analysis
This protocol paper outlines a comprehensive, multilevel, longitudinal, observational study in paediatric ME/CFS. ME/CFS patients aged 12–19 years and controls will donate biosamples of urine, blood, and peripheral blood mononuclear cells for an in-depth omics profiling analysis (whole-genome sequencing, metabolomics and quantitative proteomics) while being assessed by gold-standard clinical and neuropsychological measures. ME/CFS patients will then be provided with a take-home kit that enables them to collect urine and blood microsamples during an average day and during days when they are experiencing postexertional malaise. The longitudinal repeated-measures study design is optimal for studying heterogeneous chronic diseases like ME/CFS as it can detect subtle changes, control for individual differences, enhance precision and boost statistical power. The outcomes of this research have the potential to identify biomarker signatures, aid in understanding the underlying mechanisms, and ultimately, improve the lives of children with ME/CFS.

Ethics and dissemination
This project was approved by the Royal Children’s Hospital’s Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC 74175). Findings from this study will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journal publications and presentations at relevant conferences. All participants will be provided with a summary of the study’s findings once the project is completed.

Annals of Internal Medicine, Ahead of Print.

Annals of Internal Medicine, Ahead of Print.

L’high-tech dei container medici d’emergenza apprezzati dal Papa

L’high-tech dei container medici d’emergenza apprezzati dal Papa

Iniziativa benefica high-tech mercoledì in Vaticano

Introduction
Despite the availability of a safe and effective measles vaccine in Ethiopia, the country has experienced recurrent and significant measles outbreaks, with a nearly fivefold increase in confirmed cases from 2021 to 2023. The WHO has identified being unvaccinated against measles as a major factor driving this resurgence of cases and deaths. Consequently, this study aimed to apply robust machine learning algorithms to predict the key factors contributing to measles vaccination dropout.

Methods
This study utilised data from the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey to evaluate measles vaccination dropout. Eight supervised machine learning algorithms were implemented: eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Random Forest, Gradient Boosting, Support Vector Machine, Decision Tree, Naïve Bayes, K-Nearest Neighbours and Logistic Regression. Data preprocessing and model development were performed using R language V.4.2.1. The predictive models were evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score and area under the curve (AUC). Unlike previous studies, this research utilised Shapley values to interpret individual predictions made by the top-performing machine learning model.

Results
The XGBoost algorithm surpassed all classifiers in predicting measles vaccination dropout (Accuracy and AUC values of 73.9% and 0.813, respectively). The Shapley Beeswarm plot displayed how each feature influenced the best model’s predictions. The model predicted that the younger mother’s age, religion-Jehovah/Adventist, husband with no and mother with primary education, unemployment of the mother, residence in the Oromia and Somali regions, large family size and older paternal age have a strong positive impact on the measles vaccination dropout.

Conclusion
The measles dropout rate in the country exceeded the recommended threshold of

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Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4147647-A4147647, November 12, 2024. Background and Objectives:Yoga may be a promising form of mind-body rehabilitation for patients with long term illness. Digitally delivered yoga increases access to participation but has not previously been evaluated in the heart failure population. The aim of this study was to examine the effects of tele-yoga on cognition, sleep, health-related quality of life and exercise capacity in persons with heart failure.Methods:The Tele-yoga study (ClinicalTrials.gov, ID: NCT 03703609) was a parallel two-arm randomised controlled trial (RCT) with 1:1 distribution to an intervention and control group. Study participants were randomised to tele-yoga including live-streamed group-yoga for 60 minutes twice weekly during 12 weeks and yoga individually for 10 minutes/day using an app, or to a control group receiving individual exercise advice. Cognition (Montreal Cognitive Assessment: MoCA), sleep (minimal insomnia symptom scale; MISS), health-related quality of life (EQ-5D VAS) and sub-maximal exercise capacity (6 minute walk test; 6MWT) were assessed at baseline, after 3 and 6 months. Linear mixed model with random intercept for patients as the random effect and group-time interaction along with age was taken as the fixed effects to analyse outcomes.Results:A total of 311 participants were included (tele-yoga n=156 and active controls n=155), mean age 66 years, 70% men. Adherence to the group yoga was very good. The linear mixed models showed a significant change in cognition, health-related quality of life and exercise capacity favouring the tele-yoga group. No significant differences between the groups were seen regarding sleep. When analysing the fixed effects of all outcomes, age, group assignment and time-points interaction had significant effects on EQ-5D VAS score, 6MWT distance and MoCA scores. For EQ-5D VAS the tele-yoga group performed significantly better than the control group at 3 months, but not at 6 months. For the 6MWT distance, the tele-yoga group performed better than the control group at 3 months, but not at 6 months. The tele-yoga group had significantly higher MoCA scores than the control group at both 3 and 6 months.Conclusion:This adequately powered RCT showed that digitally delivered mind-body training in the format of group and individual yoga during 12 weeks lead to an improvement in cognition, quality of life and exercise capacity at the end of the intervention. The effect was sustained for cognition also after 6 months.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4145890-A4145890, November 12, 2024. Background:Catheter ablation (CA) is a well-established treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF). The most popular current methods of CA include radiofrequency ablation (RFA) and cryoablation (CRYO) which are thermal methods of ablation known to affect the autonomic nervous system through ablation of cardiac ganglionated plexi (GP). Pulsed[SC1] -field ablation (PFA) is a newer method of CA with demonstrated efficacy that preferentially affects cardiac cells and spares surrounding structures such as GP through irreversible electroporation which does not lead to chronic fibrosis like RFA or CRYO. Elevations in the marker the marker P terminal force (PTF) have been associated with AF/stroke and have been known to correlate with atrial fibrosis, and higher PTF after cryoablation for patients with paroxysmal AF has been associated with an increased risk of recurrence. The differences in P-wave parameters pre and post PFA have not been studied.Objective:To investigate the differences in P-wave parameters after PFA and compare them to CRYO.Methods:We identified 40 patients who underwent PFA (20 patients) or CRYO (20 patients) for paroxysmal AF and compared P-wave parameters including duration and amplitude in leads aVF, V1 and the PTF calculated as the duration x amplitude of the terminal negative component of the P-wave in V1. Data were obtained from 12-lead electrocardiograms obtained pre and post ablation.Results:The mean age of patients in our study was 61 with 75% male and 33% on antiarrythmics. We noticed a significant reduction in PTF for patients who underwent CRYO (54 mVmS at baseline compared to 36.8 mVmS after CRYO, p = 0.04) and no significant reduction in PTF for patients who underwent PFA (46 mVmS at baseline compared to 38 mVmS after PFA, p = 0.27). There was also a significant increase in HR after CRYO (65 bpm at baseline compared to 78 bpm after CRYO, p=0.01) and no significant change in HR after PFA (61 bpm at baseline compared with 60 bpm after PFA, p=0.8). There was no statistical difference in both groups looking at aVF or total V1 duration or amplitude pre and post ablation.Conclusions:CRYO leads to a significant change in PTF after ablation while PFA does not, consistent with the notion that PFA does not lead to fibrosis and PTF is not a useful marker for measuring risk of recurrence of AF post PFA.