An integrated computational approach for diversity-sensitive personalized medicine.

Diversity in biological, social, and environmental factors plays a central role in shaping brain health and disease. Distinct brain disorders frequently exhibit overlapping clinical phenotypes, despite arising from heterogeneous biological and contextual mechanisms. This convergence challenges conventional, population-averaged approaches, which often fail to capture interindividual variability and lead to limited reproducibility, weak translational potential, and inadequate tools for individual-level characterization.

Efficacy, safety, and legal considerations of do-it-yourself artificial pancreas systems: a position statement from italian diabetes societies.

Do-It-Yourself Artificial Pancreas Systems (DIY-APS)-which combine commercially available devices with open-source software-are increasingly used for the management of type 1 diabetes, despite a lack of formal regulatory approval in many jurisdictions, including in Italy. This position statement, endorsed by Italian diabetes societies (Associazione Medici Diabetologici, Societa Italiana di Diabetologia, and Società Italiana di Endocrinologia e Diabetologia Pediatrica) and "Diabete Italia", the national patient association, addresses the efficacy, safety, and legal implications of DIY-APS in Italy. Real-world evidence and clinical trials demonstrate that DIY-APS improves glycemic control and quality of life and reduce fear of hypoglycemia in users.

Higher-order and distributed synergistic functional interactions encode information gain in goal-directed learning.

Goal-directed learning arises from distributed neural circuits including the prefrontal, posterior parietal and temporal cortices. However, the role of cortico-cortical functional interactions remains unclear. To address this question, we integrated information dynamics analysis with magnetoencephalography to investigate the encoding of learning signals through neural interactions.

L-Dopa-induced changes in aperiodic bursts dynamics relate to individual clinical improvement in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by severe motor symptoms, transiently alleviated by medication (e.g. levodopa), and widespread brain activity alterations that remain poorly understood at a large scale level.

Synergistic Signatures of Group Mechanisms in Higher-Order Systems.

The interplay between causal mechanisms and emerging collective behaviors is a central aspect of understanding, controlling, and predicting complex networked systems. In our work, we investigate the relationship between higher-order mechanisms and higher-order behavioral observables in two representative models with group interactions: a simplicial Ising model and a social contagion model. In both systems, we find that group (higher-order) interactions show emergent synergistic (higher-order) behavior.

Complexity in speech and music listening via neural manifold flows.

Understanding the complex neural mechanisms underlying speech and music perception remains a multifaceted challenge. In this study, we investigated neural dynamics using human intracranial recordings. Employing a novel approach based on low-dimensional reduction techniques, the Manifold Density Flow (MDF), we quantified the complexity of brain dynamics during naturalistic speech and music listening and during resting state.

A Taxonomy of Neuroscientific Strategies Based on Interaction Orders.

In recent decades, neuroscience has advanced with increasingly sophisticated strategies for recording and analysing brain activity, enabling detailed investigations into the roles of functional units, such as individual neurons, brain regions and their interactions. Recently, new strategies for the investigation of cognitive functions regard the study of higher order interactions-that is, the interactions involving more than two brain regions or neurons. Although methods focusing on individual units and their interactions at various levels offer valuable and often complementary insights, each approach comes with its own set of limitations.

The Interplay among Wnt/β-catenin Family Members in Colorectal Adenomas and Surrounding Tissues.

Background: The colorectal adenoma undergoes neoplastic progression via the normal epithelium-adenoma-adenocarcinoma sequence as reported in the Vogelgram. The hazard of developing a tumor is deeply associated with the number and size of adenomas and their subtype. Adenomatous polyps are histologically categorized as follows: approximately 80-90% are tubular, 5-15% are villous, and 5-10% are tubular/villous.

Hypoxic Functional Regulation Pathways in the GI Tract: Focus on the HIF-1α and Microbiota's Crosstalk.

Hypoxia is an essential gastrointestinal (GI) tract phenomenon that influences both physiologic and pathologic states. Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs), the primary drivers of cell adaptation to low-oxygen environments, have been identified as critical regulators of gut homeostasis: directly, through the induction of different proteins linked to intestinal barrier stabilization (ie, adherent proteins, tight junctions, mucins, integrins, intestinal trefoil factor, and adenosine); and indirectly, through the regulation of several immune cell types and the modulation of autophagy and inflammatory processes. Furthermore, hypoxia and HIF-related sensing pathways influence the delicate relationship existing between bacteria and mammalian host cells.

Follow-up evaluation and management of anemia in inflammatory bowel disease: A study by the Italian Group for Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IG-IBD).

Background: The RIDART I study found a 13.6% prevalence of anemia in Italian patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD); most cases were due to iron-deficiency anemia (IDA).

Aims: To evaluate changes in hemoglobin concentration during a 24-week follow-up of anemic patients with IBD.

Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Worsened Health-Related Quality of Life of Patients with Inflammatory Bowel Disease? A Longitudinal Disease Activity-Controlled Study.

The present longitudinal study aimed to investigate the burden of disease activity change on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) during the two different pandemic waves in 2020 and 2021. A sample of 221 IBD patients (recruited during March-May 2020 for T0 and March-May 2021 for T1) was included. The psychological impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R)) and HRQoL (Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire (IBDQ)) were assessed.

Circulating Extracellular Vesicles Are Increased in Newly Diagnosed Celiac Disease Patients.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are a class of circulating entities that are involved in intercellular crosstalk mechanisms, participating in homeostasis maintenance, and diseases. Celiac disease is a gluten-triggered immune-mediated disorder, characterized by the inflammatory insult of the enteric mucosa following local lymphocytic infiltration, resulting in villous atrophy. The goal of this research was the assessment and characterization of circulating EVs in celiac disease patients, as well as in patients already on an adequate gluten-free regimen (GFD).

An Italian prospective multicenter study on colonoscopy practice and quality: What has changed in the last 10 years.

Background: A relevant number of adenomas can be missed during colonoscopy.

Aims: Assess the current status of colonoscopy procedures in Italian centers.

Methods: A prospective observational study involving 17 hospitals (34 endoscopists) included consecutive patients undergoing standard colonoscopy.

Gastrointestinal manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 infection in an Italian population of hospitalized patients.

Background: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus enters the cells angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor; therefore, tissues expressing this receptor are potential targets for infection. Although many studies have observed gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients, prevalence and clinical impact are still uncertain due to the heterogeneity of reports and obstacles to generalization.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we included symptomatic patients requiring hospital admission, with a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 by nasopharyngeal polymerase chain reaction test, between 18 March and 30 May 2020.

The role of Zinc L-Carnosine in the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal mucosal disease in humans: a review.

Zinc L-carnosine is a pharmaceutical compound with direct mucosal cytoprotective and anti-inflammatory action through its antioxidative effects, cytokine modulation and membrane-stabilizing properties. Chemically, it is not an anti-secretory, antacid or raft-forming agent; its properties are mainly mediated by its higher affinity for damaged mucosa that permits the release of zinc locally by ligand exchange. Beneficial effects on various types of mucosal damage have been described in vitro and in vivo, in both animals and humans.

Prevalence, Pathogenesis and Management of Anemia in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: An IG-IBD Multicenter, Prospective, and Observational Study.

Background: Anemia is a common extraintestinal manifestation of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), with a 6% to 74% prevalence and a negative impact on patient survival and quality of life, although the prevalence is apparently declining due to improved disease treatment. We aimed to investigate the prevalence, pathogenesis, and clinical correlates of anemia in Italian patients with IBD.

Methods: A multicenter, prospective, observational study, involving 28 Italian gastroenterology centers, was conducted to investigate the epidemiology and consequences of IBD-associated anemia.

Effect of algorithmic bias and network structure on coexistence, consensus, and polarization of opinions.

Individuals of modern societies share ideas and participate in collective processes within a pervasive, variable, and mostly hidden ecosystem of content filtering technologies that determine what information we see online. Despite the impact of these algorithms on daily life and society, little is known about their effect on information transfer and opinion formation. It is thus unclear to what extent algorithmic bias has a harmful influence on collective decision-making, such as a tendency to polarize debate.

Bariatric procedures and microbiota: patient selection and outcome prediction.

Obesity is a major health issue throughout the world and bariatric surgery plays a key role in its management and treatment. The role of microbiota in determining the pathogenesis of obesity has been widely studied, while its role in determining the outcome of bariatric surgery is an emerging issue that will be an outcome in near future studies. Studies on mice first showed the key role of microbiota in determining obesity, highlighting the fat mass increase in mice transplanted with microbiota from fat individuals, as well as the different microbiota composition between mice undergone to low-fat or high-fat diets.

Novel trends with biologics in inflammatory bowel disease: sequential and combined approaches.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) management has changed dramatically over the past 20 years, after the introduction of targeted biological therapies. However, the impact of these new drugs in changing the natural history of disease is still under debate. Recent evidence seems to suggest that the extent of their efficacy might be, at least partially, dependent on the timing of their introduction and on the subsequent management strategy.

Influence of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Disease Activity and Quality of Life in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients.

The present preliminary cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the extent to which health-related quality of life of patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) was influenced by the outbreak of Covid-19 while controlling for disease activity. Two samples of 195 (recruited before Covid-19 outbreak) and 707 patients (recruited during the Covid-19-related lockdown) were included. Psychological distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, HADS), quality of life (Inflammatory Bowel Disease Questionnaire, IBDQ), and somatization (Patient Health Questionnaire, PHQ-12) were concurrently assessed.

How to Face the Advent of SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination in IBD Patients: Another Task for Gastroenterologists.

The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to an unprecedented effort to develop vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 infection since this seems to be the most effective strategy to counter the pandemic. In the past weeks, the administration of vaccines has started in different parts of the world sustaining the hype of significantly containing the impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the rapid time lapse from vaccine development to distribution has raised several concerns on its safety and efficacy.