Osteoporosis and Covid-19: Detected similarities in bone lacunar-level alterations via combined AI and advanced synchrotron testing.

While advanced imaging strategies have improved the diagnosis of bone-related pathologies, early signs of bone alterations remain difficult to detect. The Covid-19 pandemic has brought attention to the need for a better understanding of bone micro-scale toughening and weakening phenomena. This study used an artificial intelligence-based tool to automatically investigate and validate four clinical hypotheses by examining osteocyte lacunae on a large scale with synchrotron image-guided failure assessment. The findings indicate that trabecular bone features exhibit intrinsic variability related to external loading, micro-scale bone characteristics affect fracture initiation and propagation, osteoporosis signs can be detected at the micro-scale through changes in osteocyte lacunar features, and Covid-19 worsens micro-scale porosities in a statistically significant manner similar to the osteoporotic condition. Incorporating these findings with existing clinical and diagnostic tools could prevent micro-scale damages from progressing into critical fractures.

Real network and virtual network. Transformations and continuity in care for socially withdrawn adolescents during the Covid-19 pandemic

During the Covid-19 emergency, patients suffering from social withdrawal and complex psychopathologies remained in contact with their hospital's Child Neuropsychiatry Department through sessions and interviews conducted remotely. After also suffering an initial phase of shock themselves, the health professionals outlined roadmaps for reaching their patients and finding new ways of letting them know that they were there, by their side, in any case, despite everything. In parallel, collaboration with colleague psychotherapists working outside the hospital environment made it possible to keep on with their work in a network. During this time of health-care emergency, all the professionals involved in the network found themselves walking a tightrope amidst the storms of adolescence in situations of serious psychopathology made even more complex by the pandemic. They nevertheless trusted that mental growth can spring from an experience of turbulence that, if mirrored, understood and supported, can become transformative. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) (Italian) Durante 1'emergenza da Covid 19 pazienti sofferenti, con ritiro sociale e una psicopatologia complessa, restano in contatto con la Struttura di Neuropsichiatria Infantile ospedaliera attraverso le sedute e i colloqui da remoto. Dopo una prima fase di shock che attraversa anche gli operatori, si delineano sentieri per raggiungere i nostri pazienti e trovare nuovi modi per far sentire che siamo 11 accanto a loro, comunque, nonostante tutto. Parallelamente, la collaborazione con le colleghe psicoterapeute che lavorano in ambito extra-ospedaliero permette di tenere e mantenere il lavoro in rete. In questo tempo di emergenza sanitaria, tutti gli operatori coinvolti nella rete si sono trovati a camminare "sul filo", nella tempesta dell'adolescenza, in una situazione di grave psicopatologia, resa ancor piu complessa dalla pandemia, ma con la fiducia che la crescita mentale pud originare da una esperienza di turbolenza che, se rispecchiata, compresa e sostenuta, diviene trasformativa. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

No Child Should Be Left Behind by COVID-19: A Report about the COVID-19 Pandemic Experience in Children and Adolescents with Acute or Chronic Disease Treated at a Pediatric Referral Hospital in Italy.

BACKGROUND: The pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was undoubtedly a stressful experience for everyone. General opinion believed that children with acute or chronic illness could experience additional burden, but this is not confirmed. The aim of this study is to understand how children and adolescents already suffering from acute or chronic illness (e.g., cancer, cystic fibrosis, neuropsychiatric disorders) feel about the COVID-19 pandemic, and if the experience is significantly different between these children and children without illness. METHODS: Children and adolescents affected by acute or chronic illness (named the "fragile group") treated at the Regina Margherita Children Hospital in Italy, were enrolled in the study by filling a questionnaire about their pandemic experiences. Also, a group of children and adolescents without acute or chronic illness (named the "low-risk group") recruited in the emergency department of the hospital, participated in the study in order to compare experiences. RESULTS: The study group was composed of 166 children and adolescents (Median age = 12 yrs; 78% fragile group, 22% low-risk group). Participants experienced a general state of fear of the virus and of a potential infection for both themselves and their families, while feelings and thoughts that interfere with daily functioning were less frequent. The fragile group seems to be more resilient towards the pandemic situation than low-risk group and some differences on the basis of the type of illness were found in the fragile group. CONCLUSIONS: Dedicated psychosocial intervention must be proposed in order to support fragile children and adolescents' well-being during the pandemic, also on the basis of their clinical and mental history.