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Capitalizing on the widespread adoption of smartphones among farmers and the application of artificial intelligence in computer vision, a variety of mobile applications have recently emerged in the agricultural domain. This paper introduces GranoScan, a freely available mobile app accessible on major online platforms, specifically designed for the real-time detection and identification of over 80 threats affecting wheat in the Mediterranean region. Developed through a co-design methodology involving direct collaboration with Italian farmers, this participatory approach resulted in an app featuring: (i) a graphical interface optimized for diverse in-field lighting conditions, (ii) a user-friendly interface allowing swift selection from a predefined menu, (iii) operability even in low or no connectivity, (iv) a straightforward operational guide, and (v) the ability to specify an area of interest in the photo for targeted threat identification. Underpinning GranoScan is a deep learning architecture named efficient minimal adaptive ensembling that was used to obtain accurate and robust artificial intelligence models. The method is based on an ensembling strategy that uses as core models two instances of the EfficientNet-b0 architecture, selected through the weighted F1-score. In this phase a very good precision is reached with peaks of 100% for pests, as well as in leaf damage and root disease tasks, and in some classes of spike and stem disease tasks. For weeds in the post-germination phase, the precision values range between 80% and 100%, while 100% is reached in all the classes for pre-flowering weeds, except one. Regarding recognition accuracy towards end-users in-field photos, GranoScan achieved good performances, with a mean accuracy of 77% and 95% for leaf diseases and for spike, stem and root diseases, respectively. Pests gained an accuracy of up to 94%, while for weeds the app shows a great ability (100% accuracy) in recognizing whether the target weed is a dicot or monocot and 60% accuracy for distinguishing species in both the post-germination and pre-flowering stage. Our precision and accuracy results conform to or outperform those of other studies deploying artificial intelligence models on mobile devices, confirming that GranoScan is a valuable tool also in challenging outdoor conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The transition from pediatric to adult healthcare in individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) poses significant challenges mainly due to the high burden of IBD during adolescence, a critical period of psychosocial development. So far, there are few longitudinal data linking transition readiness to long-term disease outcomes. Objective: We aimed to assess patients' readiness to transition and its impact on clinical outcomes, quality of life, and adherence to therapy. Design: An observational, prospective study was conducted in a tertiary adult and pediatric center, including adolescents aged ⩾17 years with a diagnosis of IBD, who underwent a 'structured transition' program including two joint adult–pediatric visits. Methods: Transition readiness skills were assessed with the Transition Readiness Assessment Questionnaire (TRAQ). All patients completed the TRAQ at the time of recruitment, which occurred during the initial joint adult–pediatric visit, to determine those deemed ready for transition versus those not ready. The Morisky Medication Adherence Scale and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36) were also completed at baseline and after 12 months. Clinical outcomes were collected at the 12-month follow-up. Results: In all, 80 patients were enrolled who had transitioned through a structured transition clinic and completed 12 months of follow-up. In total, 54 patients were ready for the transition, with a mean TRAQ = 3.2 ± 0.5. The number of clinical relapses and hospitalizations at 12 months was lower in ready compared to not-ready patients (p = 0.004 and p = 0.04, respectively). SF-36 did not differ between ready and not-ready patients and pre- and post-transition clinics (p > 0.05). Based on the receiver operating characteristic curve, a TRAQ cutoff ⩾3.16 could predict medication adherence with a sensibility of 77%, a specificity of 82%, and an AUC of 0.81 (0.71–0.91; p < 0.001). Conclusion: Patients ready for transition had better outcomes at 12 months compared to those who were not ready. Therefore, readiness assessment tools should be integrated into transition management to ensure that interventions are targeted, patient-centered, and responsive to individuals' changing needs. Plain language summary: Transition readiness associated with improved clinical outcomes The transition for individuals with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a dynamic and complex process that must be planned and cannot simply be performed once the patient is 18 years old. Since it does not depend solely on the patient's age but also on developmental readiness, it requires preparation and education starting from early adolescence. In the current study, a 'joint-visit' including both pediatric and adult providers yields positive clinical outcomes over 12 months. Patients ready for transition reported fewer relapses, hospitalizations, and improved therapy adherence compared to those not ready. Readiness assessment tools should be integrated into transition clinics to facilitate targeted interventions for IBD patients based on the changing needs of individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: We aimed to evaluate the serum and faecal expression of miR‐126 and miR‐20a in children with Crohn's disease (CD) during infliximab (IFX) therapy. Methods: In this prospective observational study, serum and faeces from CD patients were collected before IFX therapy (T0), after induction (T1) and after 6 months from IFX (T2). IFX levels were determined by Enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay at T1 and T2. miRNAs were profiled through Real‐Time RT‐PCR. The activity of disease was evaluated through the Paediatric Crohn's disease activity index (PCDAI), serum C‐reactive protein (CRP) and faecal calprotectin. Results: Nine CD children were enrolled. Serum and faecal miR‐126 and miR‐20a levels were higher at T0 and showed a time‐dependent decrease, being significantly down‐regulated after IFX treatment at T2. Specifically, IFX levels recorded at T1 and T2 negatively correlated with the serum and faecal expression of miR‐126 and miR‐20a. Serum and faecal changes of miR‐126 and miR20‐a were positively associated with the decrease of the inflammatory marker CRP and PDCAI at all time points. Conclusion: In children with CD, IFX therapy decreases the expression of serum and faecal miR‐126 and miR‐20a, suggesting an involvement of these two miRNAs in the action of the drug. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The capability of prompt response in the case of critical circumstances occurring within a maritime scenario depends on the awareness level of the competent authorities. From this perspective, a quick and integrated surveillance service represents a tool of utmost importance. This is even more true when the main purpose is to tackle illegal activities such as smuggling, waste flooding, or malicious vessel trafficking. This work presents an improved version of the OSIRIS system, a previously developed Information and Communication Technology framework devoted to understanding the maritime vessel traffic through the exploitation of optical and radar data captured by satellite imaging sensors. A number of dedicated processing units are cascaded with the objective of (i) detecting the presence of vessel targets in the input imagery, (ii) estimating the vessel types on the basis of their geometric and scatterometric features, (iii) estimating the vessel kinematics, (iv) classifying the navigation behavior of the vessel and predicting its route, and, eventually, (v) integrating the several outcomes within a webGIS interface to easily assess the traffic status inside the considered area. The entire processing pipeline has been tested on satellite imagery captured within the Mediterranean Sea or extracted from public annotated datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A machine learning method for classifying lung ultrasound is proposed here to provide a point of care tool for supporting a safe, fast, and accurate diagnosis that can also be useful during a pandemic such as SARS-CoV-2. Given the advantages (e.g., safety, speed, portability, cost-effectiveness) provided by the ultrasound technology over other examinations (e.g., X-ray, computer tomography, magnetic resonance imaging), our method was validated on the largest public lung ultrasound dataset. Focusing on both accuracy and efficiency, our solution is based on an efficient adaptive ensembling of two EfficientNet-b0 models reaching 100% of accuracy, which, to our knowledge, outperforms the previous state-of-the-art models by at least 5%. The complexity is restrained by adopting specific design choices: ensembling with an adaptive combination layer, ensembling performed on the deep features, and minimal ensemble using two weak models only. In this way, the number of parameters has the same order of magnitude of a single EfficientNet-b0 and the computational cost (FLOPs) is reduced at least by 20%, doubled by parallelization. Moreover, a visual analysis of the saliency maps on sample images of all the classes of the dataset reveals where an inaccurate weak model focuses its attention versus an accurate one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abbreviations CD crohn's disease EGD esophagogastroduodenoscopy IBD inflammatory bowel disease PUCAI pediatric ulcerative colitis activity index UC ulcerative colitis UGI upper gastrointestinal The historical view that ulcerative colitis (UC) is a superficial inflammatory disease confined to the colon has proven simplistic in the paediatric onset UC, and atypical phenotypes variants should be recognised. In 2013, data from the EUROKIDS registry showed that UGI findings occurred in 11 of 260 (4.2%) UC children.[3] Later in 2018, our group found that 20.5% of a large cohort of paediatric UC presented UGI involvement, making it the most frequent atypical UC phenotype.[4] The typical clinical manifestations include epigastric and abdominal pain, nausea, vomiting, and weight loss. Based on this evidence, the revised Porto criteria and more recently the Paediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Classes Criteria have identified several atypical UC paediatric phenotypes, including upper gastrointestinal (UGI) involvement.[[1]] As a matter of fact, UGI tract involvement is no longer used to distinguish Crohn's Disease (CD) from UC as can be seen in both entities. [Extracted from the article]