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BackgroundDigital imaging of dermatological patients is a novel approach to remote assessment and has recently become more relevant since telehealth and remote decentralized clinical trials are gaining ground. ObjectiveWe aimed to investigate whether photographs taken by a smartphone are of adequate quality to allow severity assessments to be made and to explore the usefulness of an established atopic dermatitis severity assessment instrument on photograph evaluation. MethodsDuring scheduled visits in a previously published study, the investigating doctor evaluated the severity of atopic dermatitis using the Scoring AD (SCORAD) index and took photographs of the most representative lesions (target lesions) with both a smartphone and a digital single-lens reflex camera (DSLR). The photographs were then assessed by 5 dermatologists using the intensity items of the SCORAD (iSCORAD), which consists of erythema, oedema/papulation, excoriations, lichenification, oozing/crusts, and dryness (scale 0-3, maximum score 18). The mean iSCORAD of the photographs was calculated and compared with in-person assessments using Pearson correlation and Bland-Altman plots. Intraclass correlation coefficients were used for interrater reliability. ResultsA total of 942 photographs from 95 patients were assessed. The iSCORAD based on smartphone photographs correlated strongly with the evaluations performed in person (iSCORAD: r=0.78, P

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), a condition which is chronic and characterized by immune imbalance, colitis exacerbation and intestinal inflammation. The gut microbiota mainly responsible for progression and development of IBD, influencing IBD susceptibility, intestinal inflammation and immune dysregulation. Dysbiosis, characterized by an imbalance in the gut microbial composition, is observed in IBD patients, with a decrease in beneficial bacteria from the Firmicutes phylum and an increase in pathogenic bacteria from the Proteobacteria phylum. Additionally, alterations in the gut mycobiome and virome have been implicated in IBD, impacting bacterial-host interactions and bacterial functions. Dietary patterns, such as Mediterranean and vegetarian diets, have shown promising effects in IBD management. These diets, rich in fruits, olive oil, whole grains, fish oil and vegetables, provide essential nutrients and support a healthy gut microbiota, which help in preventing dysbiosis and its associated pathogenesis. Probiotic supplementation has demonstrated efficacy in restoring gut microbiota balance and improving symptoms in IBD patients. Specific probiotic strains have been found to modulate the intestinal barrier, immune function and inflammation, offering potential therapeutic benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Urinary incontinence has a significant and substantial impact on physical, psychological, social, and sexual health-related quality of life of a woman. The impact of hysterectomy on urinary incontinence remains controversial. Aim of this study was to evaluate an association between hysterectomy and urinary incontinence in women aged 45 years and above. Methods: Women (aged 45- 70 years )with uteri(n=160) and without uteri(n=160) who enrolled in this cross sectional comparative study between October 2020 and April 2022, were included for analysis. Socio-demographic, gynaecological details and Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI)-6 questionnaire were used. Chi square test was used for analysis and p value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: Mean age of hysterectomy and non hysterectomy group was 51.3±6.21years and 54.4±5.23 years respectively. The prevalence of urinary incontinence in group A and Group B was found to be 44.4% and 41.9% respectively. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups with respect to prevalence of urinary incontinence (p value =0.652). Patients of post hysterectomy group had statistically significant higher urogenital distress inventory (UDI) scores (p=0.003). Conclusions: Hysterectomy is not associated with higher risk of urinary incontinence. However, post hysterectomy women face higher distress due to urinary symptoms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of technology and communication system paved way for the development of the internet of things (IoT). The IoT system generates diversified data and the quantity of the data is also huge. The IoT systems are developed to adhere to the situation and to make intelligent decisions in a specified time. Hence, the IoT system necessitates high processing and storage environment, which makes the effective response in a short‐duration. The data transmission across the mobile nodes and cloud service has made huge utilization of energy. The storage and energy consumption are considered as major issues in the IoT system whereas these issues will reflect in the performance of the IoT system. Initiation of edge computing into the IoT system permits the workload to be offloaded from the cloud providers, which is attained from the closer location of the source of data. This improves privacy, minimizes the saving time, and traffic. In this article, an Effective Energy usage and Data Compression Approach using Data Mining proposed for IoT data. The proposed approach is investigated by considering the driving behaviour and it achieves effective compression without influencing the quality of the data. The stress level of the driver is also identified with high accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endometrial sampling is a safe and effective diagnostic procedure in evaluation of abnormal uterine bleeding (AUB), infertility cases, and in studying response of endometrium to various therapies. This study was directed to analyze the clinico-radio-pathological spectrum of endometrial samples in these cases as well as to classify various lesions of endometrium. Methodology: A prospective cross-sectional study over 2-year duration was carried out in a tertiary care center, and a total of 153 endometrial samples received in the department of pathology, meeting inclusion criteria, were included. Clinical details were obtained from the patient case files. A systematic approach was followed to process the samples and checklist was used for reporting the endometrial biopsy. Results: Heavy menstrual bleeding (29.4%) was the most common clinical presentation in cases of AUB. Precursor lesions were the most common diagnosis on histopathology (23.7%), followed by normal physiological endometrium (21.7%). More than 50% of cases of infertility had no specific pathology in the endometrium. Conclusions: Owing to an underlying pathology, endometrium demonstrates varied patterns of disease spectrum. Each diagnostic modality has its own limitations and advantages. Hence, clinic-radio-pathological is essential for correctly diagnosing an endometrial pathology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]