Executive functions in Alzheimer disease. A systematic review

Alzheimer's disease is a severe irreversible syndrome, characterized by a slow and progressive cognitive decline that interferes with the standard instrumental and essential functions of daily life. Promptly identifying the impairment of particular cognitive functions could be a fundamental condition to limit, through preventive or therapeutic interventions, the functional damages found in this degenerative dementia. This study aims to analyse, through a systematic review of the studies, the sensitivity of four experimental paradigms (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Task, Go/No-Go Task, and Flanker Task) considered as golden standard instruments for executive functions assessment in elderly subjects affected by Alzheimer dementia. This review was carried out according to the PRISMA method. Forty-five studies comparing the executive performance of patients with Alzheimer's dementia (diagnosed according to different classification criteria for dementia) and healthy elderly patients both over the age of sixty, were selected. For the research, PubMed, PsycINFO, PsycArticles databases were used. The study highlighted the importance of using standard protocols to evaluate executive dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease. The Stroop task allows discriminating better between healthy and pathological agin

Quality of life measures in Italian children with atopic dermatitis and their families

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The impact of atopic dermatitis (AD) on children's quality of life (QoL) in US and European countries is relatively well known, though rarely evaluated in the Italian population. Moreover, the association between child age and QoL has not been enough investigated, even though few studies detected a worse QoL in youngest AD children. The aim of the study was to evaluate the QoL in an Italian sample of atopic children and their families, also exploring a possible association with child age.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>60 AD children aged between 1-12 years and their mothers completed specific QoL questionnaires (IDQoL/CDLQI, DFI) and a clinician completed a measure of AD severity (SCORAD).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>AD severity (Objective SCORAD) significantly correlated with QoL measures. Severe AD children showed higher IDQoL/CDLQI and DFI scores compared to mild and moderate AD groups (<it>P </it>= 0.006 and <it>P </it>< 0.0005, respectively), but only DFI scores differed in these last two conditions (<it>P </it>= 0.014). DFI scores negatively correlated with children's age (<it>P </it>= 0.046), but did not differ when considering child age ranges. Multiple linear regression analyses revealed a significant association between Objective SCORAD and QoL measures.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A strong association between severe AD and poor QoL, both in children and mothers, was found in the Italian sample, in line with the international literature. Family's QoL scores were sensitively related to AD severity, more than the child's QoL, emphasising that the disease has a deep impact on the family. A significant association between age and QoL was only partially found and needs further investigation.</p

A Psychometric Study of the Perinatal Assessment of Maternal Affectivity (PAMA) for the Screening of Perinatal Affective Disorders in Mothers

Recently, empirical evidence from perinatal studies has led researchers to pay more attention to fathers. The need to evaluate male suffering led at first to using the same screening tools developed for mothers. However, these instruments present validity concerns with fathers, and today the need to assume a gender-based perspective is clear. The Perinatal Assessment of Paternal Affectivity (PAPA) is a self-reported questionnaire for the screening of a variety of psychological and behavioral dimensions related to affectivity as experienced by fathers during the perinatal period. In the present study, the psychometric properties of the maternal version of the scale (Perinatal Assessment of Maternal Affectivity; PAMA) were examined. The study, based on 225 mothers and their partners (n = 215), used a cross-sectional design with a single assessment at the third trimester of pregnancy. Results indicated a one-factor structure for a seven-item version of the PAMA, which showed adequate internal consistency reliability and was associated in the expected direction with other clinically relevant variables (depression, psychological distress, perceived stress and dyadic adjustment). The findings suggest the usefulness of developing gender sensitive screening tools for the detection of perinatal affective disorders

TiO2nanotubes in lithium-ion batteries

In this contribution we report on electrochemical approaches in TiO2 based electrodes synthesis. TiO2 nanotubes (NTs) were synthesized following a facile anodization of titanium sheets. Optimizing the experimental conditions two electrodes with NTs lengths of ∼10 μm (Long) and ∼2 μm (Short), were obtained. At the end of the anodization the amorphous TiO2 (a-TiO2) was thermally treated to promote the conversion in the anatase crystal phase (c-TiO2). Both the Long and Short NTs electrodes were tested for their applications as anodes in lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). A preliminary comparison was performed to evaluate the role of a-TiO2 and c-TiO2 phases. Here, Short a-TiO2 NTs exhibited a fast storage rate respect to Short c-TiO2. Comparing the NTs length, Long a-TiO2 electrodes exhibited the highest specific capacity, close to the theoretical value. Furthermore, all the electrodes tested showed an excellent capacity retention proceeding with Discharge/Charge cycles

Multi-Scored Sleep Databases: How to Exploit the Multiple-Labels in Automated Sleep Scoring.

STUDY OBJECTIVES Inter-scorer variability in scoring polysomnograms is a well-known problem. Most of the existing automated sleep scoring systems are trained using labels annotated by a single scorer, whose subjective evaluation is transferred to the model. When annotations from two or more scorers are available, the scoring models are usually trained on the scorer consensus. The averaged scorer's subjectivity is transferred into the model, losing information about the internal variability among different scorers. In this study, we aim to insert the multiple-knowledge of the different physicians into the training procedure. The goal is to optimize a model training, exploiting the full information that can be extracted from the consensus of a group of scorers. METHODS We train two lightweight deep learning based models on three different multi-scored databases. We exploit the label smoothing technique together with a soft-consensus (LSSC) distribution to insert the multiple-knowledge in the training procedure of the model. We introduce the averaged cosine similarity metric (ACS) to quantify the similarity between the hypnodensity-graph generated by the models with-LSSC and the hypnodensity-graph generated by the scorer consensus. RESULTS The performance of the models improves on all the databases when we train the models with our LSSC. We found an increase in ACS (up to 6.4%) between the hypnodensity-graph generated by the models trained with-LSSC and the hypnodensity-graph generated by the consensus. CONCLUSION Our approach definitely enables a model to better adapt to the consensus of the group of scorers. Future work will focus on further investigations on different scoring architectures and hopefully large-scale-heterogeneous multi-scored datasets

Analytical psychodrama with college students suffering from mental health problems: Preliminary outcomes

The aim of this work was to assess the therapeutic efficacy of analytical psychodrama groups for college students with psychological problems. Analytical psychodrama, as a form of group psychotherapy, is an integral part of the program of treatment of young adults in the Counselling Center of the University of Bologna, which provides a free service for its students, aimed at delivering psychological support. Thirty patients (22 females) from 20 to 26 years old (mean age 22.33, standard deviation±1.75), suffering from mental health problems, who completed one year of psychodrama, were assessed before and after group psychotherapy. The Italian validation of Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation – Outcome Measure was used as test-retest questionnaire for clinical outcome evaluation. The results demonstrated the efficacy of the treatment in terms of symptom decrease and improvement of patients’ well being. After the treatment (40 sessions, once a week), patients showed a statistically significant reduction in clinical outcomes scores compared with pre-treatment scores. Moreover, the analyses of Reliable and Clinical Significant Change index showed that about 30% of patients improved, and this improvement was reliable and/or clinically significant. Our preliminary findings revealed that analytical psychodrama is a suitable treatment for college students, as it actually reduces young adults’ symptoms. These results contribute to the topic of the validity of psychodrama interventions to encourage research regarding the specific psychotherapeutic effects of its method

Gastric cancer is the leading cause of death in Italian adult patients with common variable immunodeficiency

An increased prevalence of malignant lymphoma and of gastric cancer has been observed in large cohorts of patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), the most frequently symptomatic primary immunodeficiency. Surveillance strategies for cancers in CVID should be defined based on epidemiological data. Risks and mortality for cancers among 455 Italian patients with CVID were compared to cancer incidence data from the Italian Cancer Registry database. CVID patients showed an increased cancer incidence for all sites combined (Obs = 133, SIR = 2.4; 95%CI = 1.7\u20133.5), due to an excess of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (Obs = 33, SIR = 14.3; 95%CI = 8.4\u201322.6) and of gastric cancer (Obs = 25; SIR = 6.4; 95%CI = 3.2\u201312.5). CVID patients with gastric cancer and lymphoma had a worse survival in comparison to cancer-free CVID (HR: 4.8, 95%CI: 4.2\u201344.4 and HR: 4.2, 95%CI: 2.8\u201344.4). Similar to what observed in other series, CVID-associated lymphomas were more likely to be of B cell origin and often occurred at extra-nodal sites. We collected the largest case-series of gastric cancers in CVID subjects. In contrast to other reports, gastric cancer was the leading cause of death in CVID. Standardized mortality ratio indicated a 10.1-fold excess mortality among CVID patients with gastric cancer. CVID developed gastric cancer 15 years earlier than the normative population, but they had a similar overall survival. Only CVID diagnosed at early stage gastric cancer survived >24 months. Stomach histology from upper endoscopy performed before cancer onset showed areas of atrophic gastritis, intestinal metaplasia or dysplasia. CVID patients might progress rapidly to an advanced cancer stage as shown by patients developing a III-IV stage gastric cancer within 1 year from an endoscopy without signs of dysplasia. Based on high rate of mortality due to gastric cancer in Italian CVID patients, we hereby suggest a strategy aimed at early diagnosis, based on regular upper endoscopy and on Helicobacter pylori infection treatment, recommending an implementation of national guidelines

Depressive Symptoms in Fathers during the First Postpartum Year: The Influence of Severity of Preterm Birth, Parenting Stress and Partners' Depression

Although preterm birth constitutes a risk factor for postpartum depressive symptomatology, perinatal depression (PND) has not been investigated extensively in fathers of very low (VLBW) and extremely low birth weight (ELBW) infants. This study explored paternal depression levels at 3, 9, and 12 months of infant corrected age, investigating also the predictive role played by the severity of prematurity, maternal and paternal PND levels, and parenting stress. We recruited 153 fathers of 33 ELBW, 42 VLBW, and 78 full-term (FT) infants, respectively. Depression was investigated by the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and distress by the Parenting Stress Index-Short Form-PSI-SF (Total and subscales: Parental Distress, Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction, and Difficult Child). ELBW fathers showed a significant decrease (improvement) in EPDS, total PSI-SF, and Parental Distress mean scores after 3 months. Paternal EPDS scores at 12 months were significantly predicted by VLBW and FT infants' birth weight categories, fathers' EPDS scores at 3 and 9 months, Parent-Child Dysfunctional Interaction subscale at 3 months, and Difficult Child subscale at 9 months. This study strengthens the relevance of including early routine screening and parenting support for fathers in perinatal health services, with particular attention to fathers who might be more vulnerable to mental health difficulties due to severely preterm birth

Experimental protocol to investigate cortical, muscular and body representation alterations in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis

Background: Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) is the most common form of scoliosis. AIS is a three-dimensional morphological spinal deformity that affects approximately 1-3% of adolescents. Not all factors related to the etiology of AIS have yet been identified. Objective: The primary aim of this experimental protocol is to quantitatively investigate alterations in body representation in AIS, and to quantitatively and objectively track the changes in body sensorimotor representation due to treatment. Methods: Adolescent girls with a confirmed diagnosis of mild (Cobb angle: 10°-20°) or moderate (21°-35°) scoliosis as well as age and sex-matched controls will be recruited. Participants will be asked to perform a 6-min upright standing and two tasks-named target reaching and forearm bisection task. Eventually, subjects will fill in a self-report questionnaire and a computer-based test to assess body image. This evaluation will be repeated after 6 and 12 months of treatment (i.e., partial or full-time brace and physiotherapy corrective postural exercises). Results: We expect that theta brain rhythm in the central brain areas, alpha brain rhythm lateralization and body representation will change over time depending on treatment and scoliosis progression as a compensatory strategy to overcome a sensorimotor dysfunction. We also expect asymmetric activation of the trunk muscle during reaching tasks and decreased postural stability in AIS. Conclusions: Quantitatively assess the body representation at different time points during AIS treatment may provide new insights on the pathophysiology and etiology of scoliosis

Intrinsic and Extrinsic Modulators of the Epithelial to Mesenchymal Transition: Driving the Fate of Tumor Microenvironment

The epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is an evolutionarily conserved process. In cancer, EMT can activate biochemical changes in tumor cells that enable the destruction of the cellular polarity, leading to the acquisition of invasive capabilities. EMT regulation can be triggered by intrinsic and extrinsic signaling, allowing the tumor to adapt to the microenvironment demand in the different stages of tumor progression. In concomitance, tumor cells undergoing EMT actively interact with the surrounding tumor microenvironment (TME) constituted by cell components and extracellular matrix as well as cell secretome elements. As a result, the TME is in turn modulated by the EMT process toward an aggressive behavior. The current review presents the intrinsic and extrinsic modulators of EMT and their relationship with the TME, focusing on the non-cell-derived components, such as secreted metabolites, extracellular matrix, as well as extracellular vesicles. Moreover, we explore how these modulators can be suitable targets for anticancer therapy and personalized medicine