OBSTRUCTED DEFECATION SYNDROME AND CHRONIC CONSTIPATION: CLINICAL AND SURGICAL ANALYSIS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPLICATIONS
Chronic constipation and Obstructed defecation Syndrome (ODS) represent a high-incidence pathological status that severely compromise of Quality of Life (QoL). Our multidisciplinary study is aimed to investigate how the resolution of ODS by surgical technique can improve long-term clinical symptoms and the state of physical and mental health and QoL, focusing on the dual interaction between psyche and intestine Chronic constipation and Obstructed Defectaion Syndrome represent a high-incidence pathological status that severely compromise of Quality of Life. Our multidisciplinary study is aimed to investigate how the resolution of ODS by surgical technique can improve long-term clinical sympt…
HEART MOBILE LEARNING
The widespread diffusion of mobile technologies in today’s society and the technological developments of recent years offers new opportunities for learning providing innovative techniques and tools in education. In this paper, we will introduce HeARt, an augmented reality mobile Learning system to support university medical students in their learning activities during an anatomy laboratory. Students usually use, in their daily anatomy laboratory, a physical human heart model to investigate and learn about heart anatomy. Even though these models are perfect education tools to observe details and touch "with hands" all the heart sections, they need a supplementary encyclopaedia to learn all h…
Mastoidectomy in surgical procedures to treat retraction pockets: a single-center experience and review of the literature
Abstract Purpose Retraction pocket (RP) is a common event affecting the middle ear when a negative pressure within it causes a retraction of a single part of the tympanic membrane (TM). Patients can be asymptomatic or can experience hearing loss, fullness feeling and/or ear discharge. RP can be stable or develop a cholesteatoma; aim of the study was to investigate if mastoidectomy may play a role in the surgical management of patients suffering from RP, both reporting our experience and discussing the existing literature. Methods Fifty-one patients affected by RP were referred for surgery and randomly divided into two groups. Patients of G1 group underwent tympanoplasty with mastoidectomy, …
Augmented Reality Gamification for Human Anatomy
This paper focuses on the use of Augmented Reality technologies in relation to the introduction of game design elements to support university medical students in their learning activities during a human anatomy laboratory. In particular, the solution we propose will provide educational contents visually connected to the physical organ, giving also the opportunity to handle a 3D physical model that is a perfect reproduction of a real human organ.
SURVEY ON THE DEMAND OF SICILIAN PHYSICIANS FOR A SPECIFIC TRAINING ON HUMAN CADAVERS AND ANIMALS
Currently, surgical training of physicians in Italy has limited possibilities.Surgical training can be performed on dissection of human bodies as well as in animal laboratories, but experience is very poor. We conducted a survey through an anonymous questionnaire in order to evaluate the opinions of post-graduate physicians on their need for experience training on both human and animal bodies during their medical studies. A total of 165 young Sicilian physicians responded to the survey. Only 14 of them (8.5%) declared they had specific training on a live animal, while 46 (27.9%) reported they already attended cadaver labs. Over 70% assigned the maximum score to the utility of such courses a…
Antitumoral activity of curcumin: an adjuvant therapeutic strategy
Curcumin, an active substance contained in an Indian spice called turmeric or curcuma, is well known for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. In recent times, it was taken into account and studied as an antitumoral molecule, by relying on its interference on several biological mechanisms, such as the inhibition of inflammatory mediators, the enhancement of detoxifying enzymes’ action and processes of cell growth and proliferation. Studies show how the high dosage of curcumin in vitro inhibits colorectal tumor cells, pancreatic tumor cells, lung cancer cells and glioblastoma’s cells, interfering in signaling pathways as Wnt/β-catenin, NF-kB and PI3K/Akt and leading to cell cycle…
Probiotics Can Cure Oral Aphthous-Like Ulcers in Inflammatory Bowel Disease Patients: A Review of the Literature and a Working Hypothesis
Dysbiosis has been associated with the onset of several chronic autoimmune or inflammatory pathologies (e.g., inflammatory bowel diseases—IBD), because of its primary role in the establishment of a chronic inflammatory process leading to tissue damage. Inflammatory bowel diseases can even involve areas far away from the gut, such as the extraintestinal manifestations involving the oral cavity with the onset of aphthous-like ulcers (ALU). Studies carried out on animal models have shown that intestinal dysbiosis may be related to the development of autoimmune diseases, even if the mechanisms involved are not yet well known. The aim of this paper is to verify the hypothesis that in inflammator…
A RARE CASE OF PERFORATED ILEAL DIVERTICULITIS IN A YOUNG MAN: A CASE REPORT AND LITERATURE REVIEW
Jejunoileal diverticulosis is a rare, often asymptomatic condition, consisting of acquired false diverticula. Diagnosis of ileal perforation is usually made incidentally or after complications, including obstruction, haemorrhage, and diverticulitis. A previously healthy 17-year-old man presented to the Emergency Department with diffuse abdominal pain and fever. CT scan showed air-fluid level in the RLQ and free intraperitoneal air and fluid. The patient underwent an urgent exploratory laparotomy with an intestinal resection and primary anastomosis. We report a rare case of ileal perforation, due to diverticular disease in a healthy young man, treated with an urgent surgery. Such an event re…