Introduction: Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) is the greatest pandemic in modern history. Laboratory test alterations have been described in COVID-19 patients, but differences with other pneumonias have been poorly investigated to date, especially in Caucasian populations. The aim of this study was to investigate differences and prognostic potential of routine blood tests in a series of Italian patients with COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 interstitial pneumonia. Methodology: Clinical data and routine laboratory tests of a consecutive series of 30 COVID-19 patients and 30 age and sex matched patients with non COVID-19 interstitial pneumonia have been retrospectively collected. Differences in laboratory tests between patients with COVID-19 and non COVID-19 pneumonias have been investigated, as well as differences between COVID-19 survivors and non survivors. Results: COVID-19 patients had lower white blood cells, monocytes, neutrophils, and higher platelet counts. In addition, COVID-19 patients showed higher mean platelet volume, lower C reactive protein concentrations, and higher De Ritis ratio. Combined blood cell indexes of systemic inflammation were significantly lower in COVID-19 patients. In further analysis of the COVID-19 group, the neutrophil count, neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR), derived NLR, systemic inflammation response index and De Ritis ratio, were significantly higher in non survivors than in survivors, while the number of platelets was significantly lower in non survivors. Conclusions: Our study showed several alterations in blood cell populations and indexes in patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in comparison with patients with non COVID-19 pneumonia. Some of these indexes showed promising prognostic abilities. Further studies are necessary to confirm these results.

(1) Background: Persistent olfactory (POD) and gustatory (PGD) dysfunctions are one of the most frequent symptoms of long-Coronavirus Disease 2019 but their effect on the quality of life (QoL) of patients is still largely unexplored. (2) Methods: An online survey was administered to individuals who reported to have had SARS-CoV-2 infection at least 6 months prior with persisting COVID-19 symptoms (using the COVID symptom index), including ratings of POD and PGD, and their physical (PCS) and mental (MCS) components of quality of life were assessed using the standardized short form 12 questionnaire (SF-12). (3) Results: Responses from 431 unique individuals were included in the analyses. The most frequent persistent symptoms were: fatigue (185 cases, 42.9%), olfactory dysfunction (127 cases, 29.5%), gustatory dysfunction (96 cases, 22.3%) and muscle pain (83 cases, 19.3%). Respondents who reported persisting muscle pain, joint pain, fatigue, headache, gastrointestinal disturbances, and dyspnea had significantly worse PCS. Those experiencing persistent fatigue and dyspnea also showed significantly lower MCS. Respondents reporting POD or PGD showed significantly worse QoL, but only pertaining to the MCS. Multiple regressions predicted MCS based on olfactory and marginally on gustatory ratings, but not PCS. Age significantly affected the prediction of PCS but not MCS, and gender and temporal distance from the COVID-19 diagnosis had no effect. (4) Conclusions: POD and PGD are frequent symptoms of the long-COVID-19 syndrome and significantly reduce QoL, specifically in the mental health component. This evidence should stimulate the establishment of appropriate infrastructure to support individuals with persistent CD, while research on effective therapies scales up.

Purpose. We evaluated the efficacy of arthrocentesis in the treatment of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disorders.Material and Methods. In this prospective clinical case series, 30 consecutive patients with TMJ disorders underwent arthrocentesis using saline and sodium hyaluronate injections. Outcome measures were TMJ pain, maximum mouth opening (MMO), joint noises, and anatomical changes in the TMJ architecture. Patients were evaluated using cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at the beginning of treatment and 60 days after the last arthrocentesis. Pretreatment and posttreatment clinical parameters were compared using paired and unpairedt-tests, and McNemar’s test was used to evaluate CBCT and MRI changes ().Results. At 1-year follow-up examinations, visual analogue scale scores indicated that pain was reduced significantly and mean postoperative MMO was increased significantly. CBCT findings showed no significant change, and MRI showed only slight reductions in inflammatory signs.Conclusions. Within the limitations of this study, we can conclude that arthrocentesis is a simple, minimally invasive procedure with a relatively low risk of complications and significant clinical benefits in patients with TMJ disorders. This trial is registered withNCT01903512.

Background: The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of early administration of oral corticosteroids (OC) or nasal corticosteroids (NC) as an add-on to olfactory training (OT) versus OT alone in patients with olfactory dysfunction (OD) related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Methods: Patients with a positive diagnosis of COVID-19 and OD were prospectively recruited from March 22 to December 15, 2020 from 4 European hospitals. Patients had confirmed OD on psychophysical testing. All patients undertook OT, with add-on 10 days of OC (group 1: OC + OT), or 1 month of NC (group 2: NC + OT) or olfactory training alone (group 3: OT). Olfactory evaluations (Sniffin’Sticks tests) were carried out at the time of inclusion, 1 and 2 months after the start of the therapeutic course. Results: A total of 152 hyposmic or anosmic patients completed the study. Group 1, 2 and 3 included 59, 22 and 71 patients, respectively and all patient groups were comparable regarding baseline Sniffin’Sticks tests. The median Sniffin’Sticks test values significantly improved from pre- to post-intervention in all groups. The increase of Sniffin’Sticks test values was higher in group 1 (OC + OT) compared with groups 2 and 3 (p < 0.001) at one month after treatment but did not remain so at 2 months. Groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively, presented parosmia in 20/71 (28.2%), 9/22 (40.9%) and 42/71 (59.2%) patients. This difference was statistically significant between group 1 and 3 (p < 0.001). There were no patients with a worsening of the disease or an increase of the severity of the COVID-19 symptoms. Conclusions: The use of OCs in patients with OD related to mild COVID-19 is generally well-tolerated without any case of deterioration of symptoms. OC is associated with greater improvement in psychophysical olfactory evaluations at 1-month post-treatment but there was no difference at 2 months. Parosmia may be reduced following treatment with OC and NC. On the basis of these preliminary results, it is possible to state that considering the 2 months efficacy of OC and NC with respect to the OT alone and the risk-benefit ratio, the benefit to start a specific treatment of COVID-19 related OD cannot be demonstrated and there is a need for a randomised controlled trial to assess this further.

This study evaluates the quality and readability of informed consent documents generated by AI platforms ChatGPT-4 and Bard Gemini Advanced compared to those written by a first-year oral surgery resident for common oral surgery procedures. The evaluation, conducted by 18 experienced oral and maxillofacial surgeons, assessed consents for accuracy, completeness, readability, and overall quality. ChatGPT-4 consistently outperformed both Bard and human-written consents. ChatGPT-4 consents had a median accuracy score of 4 [IQR 4-4], compared to Bard's 3 [IQR 3-4] and human's 4 [IQR 3-4]. Completeness scores were higher for ChatGPT-4 (4 [IQR 4-5]) than Bard (3 [IQR 3-4]) and human (4 [IQR 3-4]). Readability was also superior for ChatGPT-4, with a median score of 4 [IQR 4-5] compared to Bard and human consents, both at 4 [IQR 4-4] and 4 [IQR 3-4], respectively. The Gunning Fog Index for ChatGPT-4 was 17.2 [IQR 16.5-18.2], better than Bard's 23.1 [IQR 20.5-24.7] and the human consents' 20 [IQR 19.2-20.9]. Overall, ChatGPT-4's consents received the highest quality ratings, underscoring AI's potential in enhancing patient communication and the informed consent process. The study suggests AI can reduce misinformation risks and improve patient understanding, but continuous evaluation, oversight, and patient feedback integration are crucial to ensure the effectiveness and appropriateness of AI-generated content in clinical practice.