Orthopaedic physicians' awareness, diagnostic challenges and referral barriers in axial spondyloarthritis: insights from a nationwide survey in Germany.

Background: Axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) is a chronic inflammatory disease primarily affecting the spine and sacroiliac joints, potentially leading to pain, stiffness and disability. Despite diagnostic advances, delays persist. Orthopaedic physicians, often the first specialists consulted for back pain, play a crucial role in early detection and referral to rheumatologists.

CULTURE PROVEN MULTI-BACTERIAL GASTROINTESTINAL INFECTIONS ARE RARE IN CHILDREN.

We analyzed 6256 pediatric stool cultures and found that 11.4% were positive, with declining positivity rates as the age of the tested patients increased. Multipositive stool cultures (0.

Grover-Sagnac interferometer.

We demonstrate a nontraditional design of the Sagnac interferometer by replacing the commonly used beam splitter with a linear-optical Grover multiport. This substitution creates a pole at the origin of the device parameter space, with an associated resonance in the output intensity. The structure of this resonance is dictated only by the nonreciprocal portion of the phase acquired in the Sagnac loop.

Hand Function Impairments Are More Pronounced in Female RA and PsA Patients and also Found in Patients without Concurrent Hand Inflammation.

Purpose: Hand function is considered being critical in rheumatoid (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) patients, however, comprehensive assessment of hand function is rarely done in patients with inflammatory arthritis.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, RA and PsA patients and healthy controls (HC) were assessed for hand function using isometric grip strength (dynamometer), dynamic grip strength (vigorimeter), and fine-motor skills (Moberg Picking-Up Test). Between-group differences and the associations with disease activity (Disease Activity Score 28, DAS28, RA; Disease Activity in Psoriasis Arthritis, DAPSA, PsA) were analysed using linear mixed-effects models with age as covariate and participants ID as random intercept term.

Polypropylene Surgical Mesh Implants for Hernia and Pelvic Floor Disorders: A Materials Performance Perspective.

Surgical meshes are medical devices that were initially designed for hernia repair and later adopted for pelvic floor reconstructive surgeries, including pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Polypropylene (PP) is the most common material for surgical mesh, but others have been used clinically. Complications with PP surgical mesh have been attributed to several factors, including the post-implantation degradation of the surgical mesh materials.

Corrigendum: Advancement and independent validation of a deep learning-based tool for automated scoring of nail psoriasis severity using the modified nail psoriasis severity index.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fmed.2025.

New case law and liability risks for manufacturers of medical AI.

Recent case law can shape how innovation unfolds.

Advances in precision medicine in imaging and therapeutic strategies for psoriatic disease.

Psoriatic disease, encompassing psoriasis (PsO) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), affects approximately 2 % of the global population. In the majority of cases, skin alterations occur first, followed by musculoskeletal disorders. The transition from cutaneous to synovio-entheseal disease reflects a gradual immune-driven progression from localized to systemic manifestations in most cases.

Molecular Subtypes and Targeted Therapeutic Strategies in Small Cell Lung Cancer: Advances, Challenges, and Future Perspectives.

Small cell lung cancer (SCLC) is a highly aggressive malignancy characterized by rapid progression, early metastasis, and high recurrence rates. Historically considered a homogeneous disease, recent multi-omic studies have revealed distinct molecular subtypes driven by lineage-defining transcription factors, including ASCL1, NEUROD1, POU2F3, and YAP1, as well as an inflamed subtype (SCLC-I). These subtypes exhibit unique therapeutic vulnerabilities, thereby paving the way for precision medicine and targeted therapies.

Cynicism among medical students: An in-depth analysis of mental health dynamics and protective factors in medical education using structural equation modeling.

Background: Medical students frequently grapple with challenges during their studies, including emotional impacts, career socialization, psychiatric comorbidities, and burnout syndrome. Burnout syndrome profoundly influences mental and physical health, impacting patient care. Within this complex landscape, elevated stress levels specifically manifest in increased cynicism, reduced idealism, and other mental health issues.

Serum extracellular matrix biomarkers in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and psoriasis and their association with hand function.

Inflammatory arthritis, including rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis, is characterized by physical function impairment. This becomes apparent even before arthritis onset, as in psoriasis (PsO). Chronic inflammation triggers an accelerated remodeling of the extracellular matrix (ECM), resulting in released ECM fragments detectable in blood.

Advancement and independent validation of a deep learning-based tool for automated scoring of nail psoriasis severity using the modified nail psoriasis severity index.

Objective: To improve and validate a convolutional neural network (CNN)-based model for the automated scoring of nail psoriasis severity using the modified Nail Psoriasis Severity Index (mNAPSI) with adequate accuracy across all severity classes and without dependency on standardized conditions.

Methods: Patients with psoriasis (PsO), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and non-psoriatic controls including healthy individuals and patients with rheumatoid arthritis were included for training, while validation utilized an independent cohort of psoriatic patients. Nail photographs were pre-processed and segmented and mNAPSI scores were annotated by five expert readers.

Evidences for gestures associated with pruritus in very young infants: a pilot study.

The anatomical and functional basis for pruritus is present from birth. However, pruritus in this population is largely underestimated. The aim of this study was to analyze behaviors potentially associated with pruritus in infants under 6 months suffering from atopic dermatitis (AD).

Automated Imaging Differentiation for Parkinsonism.

Importance: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) paired with appropriate disease-specific machine learning holds promise for the clinical differentiation of Parkinson disease (PD), multiple system atrophy (MSA) parkinsonian variant, and progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). A prospective study is needed to test whether the approach meets primary end points to be considered in a diagnostic workup.

Objective: To assess the discriminative performance of Automated Imaging Differentiation for Parkinsonism (AIDP) using 3-T diffusion MRI and support vector machine (SVM) learning.

Targeting the PARylation-Dependent Ubiquitination Signaling Pathway for Cancer Therapies.

Poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation (PARylation) is a dynamic protein post-translational modification (PTM) mediated by ADP-ribosyltransferases (ARTs), which regulates a plethora of essential biological processes, such as DNA repair, gene expression, and signal transduction. Among these, PAR-dependent ubiquitination (PARdU) plays a pivotal role in tagging PARylated substrates for subsequent ubiquitination and degradation events through the coordinated action of enzymes, including the E3 ligase RNF146 and the ADP-ribosyltransferase tankyrase. Notably, this pathway has emerged as a key regulator of tumorigenesis, immune modulation, and cell death.

Polygenic scores for disease risk are not associated with clinical outcomes in Parkinson's disease.

Polygenic risk scores (PRS) in Parkinson's disease (PD) are associated with disease risk. Recently, pathway-specific PRS have been created to take advantage of annotations inking variants to biological pathways or cell types. Here, we investigated 8 biological pathways or regions of open chromatin using pathway-specific PRS: alpha-synuclein pathway, adaptive immunity, innate immunity, lysosomal pathway1, endocytic membrane-trafficking pathway, mitochondrial pathway, microglial open chromatin single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and monocyte open chromatin SNPs.

Sensor-assessed grasping time as a biomarker of functional impairment in rheumatoid arthritis.

Quantifying physical impairment in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is important to determine disease burden and disability. Therefore, we aimed to define hand function impairments in RA patients using an opto-electronic measurement system (OMS). In this cross-sectional pilot study, spatio-temporal and hand segment data were collected during the fine motor skill Moberg Picking-Up Test (MPUT) and two elementary hand movement tasks in RA patients and healthy controls (HC) using a marker-based OMS.

Early detection of rheumatoid arthritis through patient empowerment by tailored digital monitoring and education: a feasibility study.

Patients at risk for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) describe fluctuating and nonspecific symptoms, making it difficult to quantify symptom burden and recognize RA progression. This study aimed to assess feasibility and diagnostic value of a multimodal digital self-monitoring program in preclinical RA. This prospective cohort study included individuals at-risk for RA, who first watched self-produced educational videos about (preclinical) RA and joint self-examination techniques and then started the REMOTRA symptom monitoring.