Review

Authors: Umile Giuseppe Longo, Laura Risi Ambrogioni, Alessandra Berton...

: This study intends to summarize the causes, clinical examination, and treatments of scapular dyskinesis (SD) and to briefly investigate whether alteration can be managed by a precision rehabilitation protocol planned on the basis of features derived from clinical tests. : We performed a comprehensive search of PubMed, Cochrane, CINAHL and EMBASE databases using various combinations of the keywords "Rotator cuff", "Scapula", "Scapular Dyskinesis", "Shoulder", "Biomechanics" and "Arthroscopy". : SD incidence is growing in patients with shoulder pathologies, even if it is not a specific injury or directly related to a particular injury. SD can be caused by multiple factors or can be the trigger of shoulder-degenerative pathologies. In both cases, SD results in a protracted scapula with the arm at rest or in motion. : A clinical evaluation of altered shoulder kinematics is still complicated. Limitations in observing scapular motion are mainly related to the anatomical position and function of the scapula itself and the absence of a tool for quantitative SD clinical assessment. High-quality clinical trials are needed to establish whether there is a possible correlation between SD patterns and the specific findings of shoulder pathologies with altered scapular kinematics.

Topics: Biomechanical Phenomena; Dyskinesias; Humans; Range of Motion, Articular; Scapula; Shoulder; Shoulder Joint

PubMed: 32344746
DOI: 10.3390/ijerph17082974

Review

Authors: Vincenzo Candela, Angelo De Carli, Umile Giuseppe Longo...

 The aim of this article is to illustrate the recent framework necessary to standardize studies on groin pain and review the existing literature on groin pain in football.  The common pathological processes underlying groin pain such as muscle, tendon or ligament strain, bone injury or fracture, sport hernia, bursitis, osteitis pubis, and hip-related diseases have been reviewed and current management options have been considered.  Groin pain is considered a pain in pubic or lower abdominal or adductors region which can be monolateral or bilateral. It is common in high-intensity team sports and can negatively affect an athlete's professional carrier, causing serious disruption in the performance. Despite a high prevalence of groin pain in athletes, diagnosis and management of the underlying pathological processes remain a challenge for surgeons, radiologists, and physiotherapists alike.  A multidisciplinary approach is essential for patients with groin pain allowing prompt diagnosis and initiation of treatment thus facilitating more rapid return to play and preventing potential long-term sequelae of chronic groin pathology.

PubMed: 34235383
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1730978

Authors: Elena Biagi, Claudio Franceschi, Simone Rampelli...

The study of the extreme limits of human lifespan may allow a better understanding of how human beings can escape, delay, or survive the most frequent age-related causes of morbidity, a peculiarity shown by long-living individuals. Longevity is a complex trait in which genetics, environment, and stochasticity concur to determine the chance to reach 100 or more years of age [1]. Because of its impact on human metabolism and immunology, the gut microbiome has been proposed as a possible determinant of healthy aging [2, 3]. Indeed, the preservation of host-microbes homeostasis can counteract inflammaging [4], intestinal permeability [5], and decline in bone and cognitive health [6, 7]. Aiming at deepening our knowledge on the relationship between the gut microbiota and a long-living host, we provide for the first time the phylogenetic microbiota analysis of semi-supercentenarians, i.e., 105-109 years old, in comparison to adults, elderly, and centenarians, thus reconstructing the longest available human microbiota trajectory along aging. We highlighted the presence of a core microbiota of highly occurring, symbiotic bacterial taxa (mostly belonging to the dominant Ruminococcaceae, Lachnospiraceae, and Bacteroidaceae families), with a cumulative abundance decreasing along with age. Aging is characterized by an increasing abundance of subdominant species, as well as a rearrangement in their co-occurrence network. These features are maintained in longevity and extreme longevity, but peculiarities emerged, especially in semi-supercentenarians, describing changes that, even accommodating opportunistic and allochthonous bacteria, might possibly support health maintenance during aging, such as an enrichment and/or higher prevalence of health-associated groups (e.g., Akkermansia, Bifidobacterium, and Christensenellaceae).

Topics: Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Bacteria; Female; Gastrointestinal Microbiome; Humans; Intestines; Italy; Longevity; Male; Middle Aged; Young Adult

PubMed: 27185560
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2016.04.016

Authors: Javier Narváez, Myriam Aburto, Daniel Seoane-Mato...

OBJECTIVE

To develop a joint proposal for screening criteria of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and vice versa, which serves as a guidelines in patient referral between the Rheumatology and Pneumology departments to early detection of these patients.

METHODS

A systematic literature review was carried out on the risk factors for the development of ILD in RA patients, and for the referral criteria to Rheumatology for suspected early RA. Based on the available evidence, screening criteria were agreed using the Delphi method by a panel of pneumologists and rheumatologists with expertise in these pathologies.

RESULTS

Screening criteria for ILD in patients with RA and for the early detection of RA in cases with ILD of unknown etiology have been developed. In both cases, a detection strategy was based on clinical risk factors. Recommendations also included the complementary tests to be carried out in the different clinical scenarios and on the periodicity that screening should be repeated.

CONCLUSION

A selective screening strategy is recommended for the first time in the early diagnosis of patients with ILD-RA. This multidisciplinary proposal aims to solve some common clinical questions and help decision-making, although its usefulness to identify these patients with good sensitivity must be confirmed in a validation study.

Topics: Humans; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Lung Diseases, Interstitial; Rheumatologists; Rheumatology; Risk Factors

PubMed: 35753951
DOI: 10.1016/j.reumae.2021.12.003

Review

Authors: J L Liss, S Seleri Assunção, J Cummings...

The critical role of primary care clinicians (PCCs) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) prevention, diagnosis and management must evolve as new treatment paradigms and disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) emerge. Our understanding of AD has grown substantially: no longer conceptualized as a late-in-life syndrome of cognitive and functional impairments, we now recognize that AD pathology builds silently for decades before cognitive impairment is detectable. Clinically, AD first manifests subtly as mild cognitive impairment (MCI) due to AD before progressing to dementia. Emerging optimism for improved outcomes in AD stems from a focus on preventive interventions in midlife and timely, biomarker-confirmed diagnosis at early signs of cognitive deficits (i.e. MCI due to AD and mild AD dementia). A timely AD diagnosis is particularly important for optimizing patient care and enabling the appropriate use of anticipated DMTs. An accelerating challenge for PCCs and AD specialists will be to respond to innovations in diagnostics and therapy for AD in a system that is not currently well positioned to do so. To overcome these challenges, PCCs and AD specialists must collaborate closely to navigate and optimize dynamically evolving AD care in the face of new opportunities. In the spirit of this collaboration, we summarize here some prominent and influential models that inform our current understanding of AD. We also advocate for timely and accurate (i.e. biomarker-defined) diagnosis of early AD. In doing so, we consider evolving issues related to prevention, detecting emerging cognitive impairment and the role of biomarkers in the clinic.

Topics: Alzheimer Disease; Humans; Primary Health Care; Time Factors

PubMed: 33458891
DOI: 10.1111/joim.13244

Authors: Daniele Passaretti, Vittorio Candela, Teresa Venditto...

Results - Total alcohol consumption, wine consumption, and duration of alcohol intake were higher in both men and women with RCT than in both men and women in the control group. Excessive alcohol consumption was found to be a risk factor for the occurrence of RCT in both sexes (men: OR =3.0, CI: 1.5-6.0, p < 0.001; women: OR =3.6, CI: 1.7-7.8, p < 0.001). Massive tears were associated with a higher intake of alcohol (especially wine) than smaller lesions.

PubMed: 27416305
DOI: 10.1080/17453674.2016.1210559

Review

Authors: Thomas Candela, Agnès Fouet

Poly-gamma-glutamate (PGA), a natural polymer, is synthesized by several bacteria (all Gram-positive), one archaea and one eukaryote. PGA has diverse biochemical properties, enabling it to play different roles, depending on the organism and its environment. Indeed, PGA allows bacteria to survive at high salt concentrations and may also be involved in virulence. The minimal gene sets required for PGA synthesis were recently defined. There are currently two nomenclatures depending on the PGA final status: cap, for 'capsule', when PGA is surface associated or pgs, for 'polyglutamate synthase', when PGA is released. The minimal gene sets contain four genes termed cap or pgs B, C, A and E. The PGA synthesis complex is membrane-anchored and uses glutamate and ATP as substrates. Schematically, the reaction may be divided into two steps, PGA synthesis and PGA transport through the membrane. PGA synthesis depends primarily on CapB-CapC (or PgsB-PgsC), whereas PGA transport requires the presence, or the addition, of CapA-CapE (or PgsAA-PgsE). The synthesis complex is probably responsible for the stereochemical specificity of PGA composition. Finally, PGA may be anchored to the bacterial surface or released. An additional enzyme is involved in this reaction: either CapD, a gamma-glutamyl-transpeptidase that catalyses anchorage of the PGA, or PgsS, a hydrolase that facilitates release. The anchoring of PGA to the bacterial surface is important for virulence. All cap genes are therefore potential targets for inhibitors specifically blocking PGA synthesis or anchorage.

Topics: Bacillus; Bacterial Proteins; Food Microbiology; Glutamate Synthase; Molecular Structure; Polyglutamic Acid

PubMed: 16689787
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2006.05179.x

Authors: Grace X Li, Kathryn Chen, Deshan F Sebaratnam...

PubMed: 39865317
DOI: 10.1111/ajd.14419

Authors: Hirokazu Tsukaya

The shoot system is the basic unit of development of seed plants and is composed of a leaf, a stem, and a lateral bud that differentiates into a lateral shoot. The most specialized organ in angiosperms, the flower, can be considered to be part of the same shoot system since floral organs, such as the sepal, petal, stamen, and carpel, are all modified leaves. Scales, bracts, and certain kinds of needle are also derived from leaves. Thus, an understanding of leaf development is critical to an understanding of shoot development. Moreover, leaves play important roles in photosynthesis, respiration and photoperception. Thus, a full understanding of leaves is directly related to a full understanding of seed plants.The details of leaf development remain unclear. The difficulties encountered in studies of leaf development, in particular in dicotyledonous plants such as Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Henyn., are derived from the complex process of leaf development, during which the division and elongation of cells occur at the same time and in the same region of the leaf primordium (Maksymowych, 1963; Poethig and Sussex, 1985). Thus, we cannot divide the entire process into unit processes in accordance with the tenets of classical anatomy.Genetic approaches in Arabidopsis, a model plant (Meyerowitz and Pruitt, 1985), have provided a powerful tool for studies of mechanisms of leaf development in dicotyledonous plants, and various aspects of the mechanisms that control leaf development have been revealed in recent developmental and molecular genetic studies of Arabidopsis (for reviews, see Tsukaya, 1995 and 1998; Van Lijsebettens and Clarke, 1998; Sinha, 1999; Van Volkenburgh, 1999; Tsukaya, 2000; Byrne et al., 2001; Dengler and Kang, 2001; Dengler and Tsukaya, 2001; Tsukaya, 2001). In this review, we shall examine the information that is currently available about various mechanisms of leaf development in Arabidopsis. Vascular patterning is also an important factor in the determination of leaf shape, and this topic is reviewed in this resource by Turner (see also Dengler and Kang, 2001). The interested reader is also referred to work on the basic characterization of the vascular patterning in foliage leaves of Arabidopsis has been carried out by Candela et al. (1999) and Semiarti et al. (2001). For terminology, see (Fig. 1).

PubMed: 22303217
DOI: 10.1199/tab.0072

Review

Authors: Catalina Solano, Marie Chicaud, Stessy Kutchukian...

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this review is to summarize the existing suction systems in flexible ureteroscopy (fURS) and to evaluate their effectiveness and safety.

METHODS

A narrative review was performed using the Pubmed and Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC) databases. Additionally, we conducted a search on the Twitter platform. Studies including suctions systems in fURS were included. Editorials, letters and studies reporting intervention with semirigid ureteroscopy, PCNL and mPCNL were excluded.

RESULTS

A total of 12 studies were included in this review. These studies comprised one in vitro study, one ex vivo study, one experimental study and eight cohort studies. The Pubmed and WoSCC searches identified three suction techniques (Irrigation/Suctioning system with control of pressure, suction ureteral access sheath (sUAS) and direct in scope suction (DISS)), and the Twitter search identified four of them. The overall results showed that suction is an effective and safe technique that improves stone-free rates, reduces operative time and limits complication rates after fURS.

CONCLUSIONS

The use of suctioning during common endourological procedures has been shown to improve safety and efficacy in several indications. However, randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm this.

PubMed: 37109152
DOI: 10.3390/jcm12082815