Background and Objectives: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has a profound impact on the central nervous system (CNS), contributing to cognitive impairment and depressive symptoms even in individuals receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (cART). This study aimed to investigate the associations between brain parenchymal volumes and neuropsychological outcomes, specifically focusing on cognitive function and depressive symptoms in HIV-positive males. Materials and Methods: A total of 48 male participants underwent cognitive assessment using the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), while depressive symptoms were evaluated in 35 participants using the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Volumetric brain analysis was conducted through automated imaging software, volBrain (Version 1.0, published on 23 November 2021), ensuring high consistency and accuracy. Statistical analyses included Pearson correlation to identify relationships between brain volumes and neuropsychological outcomes, emphasizing key regions like the basal forebrain and cingulate gyrus. Results: Significant trends were observed between basal forebrain volume and MMSE scores, emphasizing the role of this region in cognitive regulation. Additional correlations were found with the anterior and middle cingulate gyri, which are crucial for executive functioning and attentional control. Notably, smaller right basal forebrain volumes were associated with greater depressive symptom severity, suggesting the region’s specific involvement in mood regulation. These findings highlight the dual impact of HIV on cognitive and emotional health, with structural vulnerabilities in key brain regions playing a central role. Conclusions: This study underscores the selective vulnerability of certain brain regions, such as the basal forebrain and cingulate gyrus, to HIV-associated neurodegeneration. The results highlight the importance of integrating neuroimaging and neuropsychological assessments in routine clinical care for HIV-positive individuals. The study emphasizes the importance of early detection and targeted interventions to address neuropsychological challenges in this population, with a call for further research in larger and more diverse cohorts.

Background and Objectives: The use of a standard chest X-ray has become a routine diagnostic method in daily clinical practice for the evaluation of a wide range of lung diseases. During the COVID-19 pandemic, significant challenges occurred in achieving accurate diagnostics and selecting appropriate therapies for patients with different symptoms of diseases. The aim was to cross-correlate radiological findings and clinical data and to develop models to predict hospitalization status, while evaluating the prognostic importance of the different variables. Materials and Methods: A set of variables including Brixia score, and clinical data: gender, age, hypertension, and diabetes was used to explore their association with patient hospitalization. Four different machine learning (ML) methods (Decision Tree—DT, Logistic Regression—LR, Random Forest—RF and Support Vector Machine—SVM) were used for hospitalization outcome prediction. Results: SVM appeared to be with the highest AUC (0.851), with low sensitivity, while DT was the most balanced in the context of AUC, accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Brixia score appeared to be the most important predictor for hospitalization within the group of predictors (gender, age, hypertension and diabetes). Conclusions: All four ML models that used in this study provided “good” prediction capabilities (AUC > 0.8), with the exception of SVM that had low sensitivity, emphasizing Brixia score as the strongest predictor of hospitalization. Application of ML methods have considerable potential in various aspects of medical clinical practice and future studies could potentially indicate the importance of applying the ML model in more precise diagnosis, therapy and prognosis of the patient’s clinical condition.

AntecedentesLas variaciones anatómicas y las desviaciones de la morfometría esperada del surco intertubercular se asocian con la fisiología del tendón de la cabeza larga del bíceps braquial. Estas variaciones pueden afectar la biomecánica del tendón, lo que podría repercutir en la estabilidad de la articulación del hombro.ObjetivoEvaluar las características osteométricas del surco intertubercular, incluidas las dimensiones, ángulos y prominencias óseas, y comparar dichas variables según la lateralidad y el sexo.MétodosEl estudio descriptivo y transversal incluyó una muestra de 85 húmeros. El análisis morfométrico comprendió mediciones del ancho, la profundidad y la longitud del surco intertubercular; de las distancias entre sus paredes y los tubérculos mayor y menor; y el cálculo de ángulos. Las mediciones se obtuvieron con ImageJ (versión 150i). Además, se empleó un método no métrico para determinar el sexo, basado en la forma y la prominencia de las estructuras en el extremo distal del húmero.ResultadosLas distancias entre la cabeza y los tubérculos mayor y menor fueron estadísticamente significativamente mayores en los húmeros derechos. La longitud del labio lateral del surco fue mayor en los húmeros masculinos vs. los femeninos (114.2 mm vs. 108.7 mm). El ángulo de apertura del lado derecho fue mayor que el del lado izquierdo (78.7° vs. 74.4°). Se observaron espículas óseas en el tubérculo mayor en cuatro húmeros (4.7%) y en el tubérculo menor en siete húmeros (8.2%), y se identificaron crestas supratuberculares en un total de 10 húmeros (11.8%).ConclusionesLas dimensiones del surco intertubercular fueron mayores en los húmeros derechos. El análisis de los ángulos del surco intertubercular proporciona una descripción más precisa de su morfología.