Risultati per: Sviluppo di un test meno invasivo per la malattia infiammatoria intestinale

Objectives
To compare the accuracy of trained level 1 diabetic retinopathy (DR) graders (nurses, endocrinologists and one general practitioner), level 2 graders (midlevel ophthalmologists) and level 3 graders (senior ophthalmologists) in Vietnam against a reference standard from the UK and assess the impact of supplementary targeted grader training.

Design
Diagnostic test accuracy study.

Setting
Secondary care hospitals in Southern Vietnam.

Participants
DR training was delivered to Vietnamese graders in February 2018 by National Health Service (NHS) UK graders. Two-field retinal images (412 patient images) were graded by 14 trained graders in Vietnam between August and October 2018 and then regraded retrospectively by an NHS-certified reference standard UK optometrist (phase I). Further DR training based on phase I results was delivered to graders in November 2019. After training, a randomised subset of images from January to October 2020 (115 patient images) was graded by six of the original cohort (phase II). The reference grader regraded all images from phase I and II retrospectively in masked fashion.

Primary and secondary outcome measures
Sensitivity was calculated at the two different time points, and 2 was used to test significance.

Results
In phase I, the sensitivity for detecting any DR for all grader groups in Vietnam was low (41.8–42.2%) and improved in phase II after additional training was delivered (51.3–87.2%). The greatest improvement was seen among level 1 graders (p

Ultima volta del «concorsone» nazionale: dall’anno prossimo varranno le pre-selezioni già al liceo. Sempre che le elezioni non cambino lo scenario

This systematic review and meta-analysis compares the performance of the log-rank test vs the MaxCombo and difference in restricted mean survival time tests in immuno-oncology trials.

Introduction
Young febrile infants are at higher risk of invasive bacterial infections (IBIs) compared with older children. The clinical features of IBI are subtle in this cohort mandating that clinicians take a cautious approach to their initial assessment and management. This includes the measurement of blood biomarkers of infection such as C reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT). In the UK, PCT is not widely available and not recommended for routine use in hospital. This is in contrast to Europe and the USA where PCT is regularly used to assist clinical decision-making. The objective of this review and meta-analysis is to report the diagnostic test accuracy of PCT in detecting IBI in febrile infants less than 91 days old, compare its accuracy with CRP and define optimal PCT cut-off values in this cohort.

Methods and analysis
A search strategy will include MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library and grey literature. There will be no language or date limitations. Diagnostic accuracy studies compliant with STARD criteria will be considered against eligibility criteria. Abstracts, then full texts, of potentially eligible studies will be independently screened for selection. Data extraction and quality assessment, using the QUADAS-2 tool, will be completed by two independent authors and a third author used for any inconsistencies. True positives, false positives, true negatives and false negatives will be pooled to collate specificity and sensitivity with 95% CIs. Results will be portrayed in forest plots, alongside their quality assessments.

Ethics and dissemination
This review does not require ethical clearance. This review will be published in peer-reviewed journals and key messages will be disseminated through presentations at local and international conferences related to this field. The authors aim for this review to be completed and published in 2023.

A reduced rectoanal gradient, compared with age- and sex-matched asymptomatic individuals, was the most important parameter on anorectal manometry to predict impaired evacuation by balloon expulsion test or defecography and should be considered probable evidence of a defecatory disorder.

Objective
To estimate the effectiveness of messenger RNA (mRNA) booster doses during the period of Delta and Omicron variant dominance.

Design
We conducted a matched test-negative case–control study to estimate the vaccine effectiveness (VE) of three and two doses of mRNA vaccines against infection (regardless of symptoms) and against COVID-19-related hospitalisation and death.

Setting
Veterans Health Administration.

Participants
We used electronic health record data from 114 640 veterans who had a SARS-CoV-2 test during November 2021–January 2022. Patients were largely 65 years or older (52%), male (88%) and non-Hispanic white (59%).

Main outcome measures
First positive result for a SARS-CoV-2 PCR or antigen test.

Results
Against infection, booster doses had higher estimated VE (64%, 95% CI 63 to 65) than two-dose vaccination (12%, 95% CI 10 to 15) during the Omicron period. For the Delta period, the VE against infection was 90% (95% CI 88 to 92) among boosted vaccinees, higher than the VE among two-dose vaccinees (54%, 95% CI 50 to 57). Against hospitalisation, booster dose VE was 89% (95% CI 88 to 91) during Omicron and 94% (95% CI 90 to 96) during Delta; two-dose VE was 63% (95% CI 58 to 67) during Omicron and 75% (95% CI 69 to 80) during Delta. Against death, the VE with a booster dose was 94% (95% CI 90 to 96) during Omicron and 96% (95% CI 87 to 99) during Delta.

Conclusions
Among an older, mostly male, population with comorbidities, we found that an mRNA vaccine booster was highly effective against infection, hospitalisation and death. Although the effectiveness of booster vaccination against infection was moderately higher against Delta than against the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant, effectiveness against severe disease and death was similarly high against both variants.

Objective
To determine the test–retest reliability of the Brain Injury Screening Tool (BIST), which was designed to support the initial assessment of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) across a variety of contexts, including primary and secondary care.

Design
Test–retest design over a 2-week period.

Setting
Community based.

Participants
Sixty-eight adults (aged 18–58 years) who had not experienced an mTBI within the last 5 years and completed the BIST on two different occasions.

Measures
Participants were invited to complete the 15-item BIST symptom scale and the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21) online at two time-points (baseline and 2 weeks later). To account for large variations in mood affecting symptom reporting, change scores on the subscales of the DASS-21 were calculated, and outliers were removed from the analysis.

Results
The BIST total symptom score and subscale scores (physical-emotional, cognitive and vestibular) demonstrated moderate to good test–retest reliability with intraclass correlation coefficients ranging between 0.51 and 0.83. There were no meaningful differences between symptom reporting on the total scale or subscales of the BIST between time1 and time2 at the p

Introduction
Viability assessment of the graft is essential to lower the risk of liver transplantation (LT) failure and need for emergency retransplantation, however, this still relies mainly on surgeon’s experience. Post-LT graft function recovery assessment is also essential to aid physicians in the management of LT recipients and guide them through challenging decision making.
This study aims to trial the use of indocyanine green clearance test (IGT) in the donor as an objective tool to assess graft viability and in the recipient to assess graft function recovery after LT.

Methods and analysis
This is an observational prospective single-centre study on consecutive liver transplant donors and recipients.

Primary objective
To determine the capability of IGT of predicting graft viability at the time of organ retrieval. Indocyanine green will be administered to the donor and the plasma disappearance rate (PDR) measured using the pulsidensitometric method. Some 162 IGT donor procedures will be required (α, 5%; β, 20%) using an IGT-PDR cut-off value of 13% to achieve a significant discrimination between viable and non-viable grafts.

Secondary objective
IGT-PDR will be measured at different time-points in the LT recipient: during the anhepatic phase, after graft reperfusion, at 24 hours, on day 3 and day 7 after LT. The slope of IGT values from the donor to the recipient will be evaluated for correlation with the development of early allograft dysfunction.

Ethics and dissemination
This research protocol was approved by Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS Ethics Committee (reference number: 0048466/20, study ID: 3656) and by the Italian National Transplant Center (CNT) (reference number: Prot.11/CNT2021). Liver recipients will be required to provide written informed consent. Results will be published in international peer-reviewed scientific journals and presented in congresses.

Trial registration number
NCT05228587.

Il fenomeno, in forte crescita da metà giugno, è trainato dall’ondata estiva dei contagi

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer globally.1 When diagnosed early, the 5-year survival rate is 92%,2 yet 23% of CRCs are diagnosed at an advanced stage3 in the United Kingdom with a 5-year survival rate of 10%.2 Early CRC has symptoms that are shared with common benign conditions.4 Colonoscopy capacity is limited, and referring all symptomatic patients for colonoscopy would overwhelm available resources. An intermediate triage test to identify patients at risk of CRC could streamline referral pathways.

Objectives
To describe 6-min walk test (6MWT) outcomes, and to investigate their correlations with cardiopulmonary and lung function among patients with interstitial lung disease (ILD) which was not limited to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Methods
We collected patients’ demographic data and obtained minute-by-minute 6MWT outcomes. Modified Borg scale was employed to assess patients’ dyspnoea, whereas New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification and pulmonary function test were used to evaluate patients’ cardiopulmonary functions.

Results
Heart rate (HR) exhibited a continuous upward trend, while SpO2 exhibited an overall downward with a slight increase at the fifth minute. The SpO2 nadir for 70 patients (9.3%) was lower than 80%. Further, the SpO2 nadir for 78.27% of the participants appeared at the end of the fourth minute. The 6-min walk distance (6MWD) had the strongest correlation with NYHA classification (r=0.82, p

Objective
Evaluate the change in participant emergency care knowledge and skill confidence after implementation of the WHO-International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Basic Emergency Care (BEC) course.

Design
Pretest/post-test quasi-experimental study.

Setting
Mechnikov Hospital in Dnipro, Ukraine.

Participants
Seventy-nine participants engaged in the course, of whom 50 (63.3%) completed all assessment tools. The course was open to healthcare providers of any level who assess and treat emergency conditions as part of their practice. The most common participant profession was resident physician (24%), followed by health educator (18%) and prehospital provider (14%).

Interventions
The 5-day WHO-ICRC BEC course.

Primary and secondary outcome measures
Change in pre-course and post-course knowledge and skill confidence assessments. Open-ended written feedback was collected upon course completion and analysed for common themes.

Results
Participant knowledge assessment scores improved from 19 (IQR 15–20) to 22 (IQR 19–23) on a 25-point scale (p