Andrea Suggi, Sotto il cielo della Luna. Fato e fortuna in Pietro Pomponazzi e Niccolò Machiavelli, Edizioni ETS, Pisa 2019 (Philosophica, 228), pp. 93.

Recensione al volume in oggetto, che si occupa del tema della fortuna nel Rinascimento italiano. La valutazione del libro è altamente positiva

Philosophus e philosophia in Pier Damiani: una nuova prospettiva per un antico problema

This article proposes an analysis of the use and value of the terms ‘philosophia’ and ‘philosophus’ in Peter Damian’s works. Despite a remarkable number of ‘negative’ occurrences, the two words are also used in a ‘positive’ sense, especially in the sermo VI, devoted to the figure of Saint Eleuchadius, a pagan philosopher who converted himself to the Christian truth and put his intellectual competencies at the service of the Church. Contradicting the standard image of Peter Damian as ‘anti-dialectician’, Eleuchadius’ case shows how the cardinal-bishop of Ostia could accept the idea of a Christian philosopher, following the Augustinian interpretation of the biblical “Gold of the Egyptians”

Impact of videoconferencing applications on mental health

Under the circumstances of the current COVID-19 pandemic, videoconferencing applications (apps) have come into the mainstream across the world. Owing to their easy availability and cost-effectiveness, they are used in personal as well as professional lives to communicate. They have been very helpful for students and professionals to ensure that their routine work did not halt when various countries imposed lockdown rules restricting travel, social gatherings and other measures that resulted in reduced in-person meetings. However, they have their own set of disadvantages, aptly called 'Zoom gloom/fatigue', named after a popular videoconferencing platform. Users are also noted to have anxiety while using these apps. Therefore, immediate attention is warranted to ensure cautious usage and to reduce the distress associated with videoconferencing apps while maintaining the obvious advantages that these methods have rapidly spread all over the world

IMPACT OF BIPOLAR DISORDER AND OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER COMORBIDITY ON NEUROCOGNITIVE PROFILE: A MINI-REVIEW

The comorbidity of bipolar disorder (BD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is widely known. The overall rate of association between BD and OCD is very high and varies, depending on the authors, from 11% to 18%, with peaks of 21% in primarily bipolar patients. Vice versa, about 60% of patients with OCD have a second psychiatric diagnosis, which in 23% of cases turns out to be BD. The differences between the BD patients with and without OCD were so numerous and important (e.g., different onset of mood episodes, history of suicide attempts, seasonality, rapid cycling and impulsivity) that the comorbidity between BD and OCD may represent a distinct form of BD, similar to cyclothymic BD for psychopathological features. However, the comorbidity does not seem to have any impact on cognitive performance, such as there is no specific difference between patients who first develop BD and then OCD or vice versa. Anyway, the detection of the neurocognitive profile of these patients at the time of the first clinical evaluation could have clinical implications also in the therapeutic and rehabilitative management of this type of patient. Indeed, it would be desirable to develop a new model of rehabilitation that is less differentiated for both BD and OCD or for their comorbidity, also to make cognitive rehabilitation faster and less expensive. The purpose of this mini-review is to update the knowledge currently available on the impact of BD and OCD comorbidity on neurocognitive profile

Effectiveness of integrated psychological therapy on clinical, neuropsychological, emotional and functionale outcome in schizoohrenia : a RCT study

Background: Cognitive impairment is considered a central feature of schizophrenia (SZ) and several rehabilitation treatments have been developed to try to improve cognitive deficits. Aims: The aim of the present study was to analyze the effectiveness of integrated psychological therapy (IPT) compared with a standard treatment (TAU) in two groups of patients with SZ, using a comprehensive testing battery of clinical, cognitive, social cognition and functional outcome domains. Methods: Forty-one patients with SZ were assigned to IPT or TAU groups in a randomized controlled trial (RCT). Psychopathological, neuropsychological, emotional and functional outcome variables were assessed at baseline and after 36\u2009weeks of treatment. Results: The IPT group showed significant improvements than the TAU group regarding clinical and functional outcome variables. Moreover, the IPT group improved significantly in the cognitive domains and emotional functioning. Finally, linear regression has highlighted that the improvement of cognitive variables depends on having done the IPT treatment. Conclusions: IPT seems to be effective in improving clinical, neuropsychological, emotional and functional outcome in chronic SZ inpatients. Further studies would be desirable to deepen the effectiveness of IPT in the field of the psychiatric rehabilitation pointing to the possibility of recovery from mental illness

Application of Support Vector Machine on fMRI Data as Biomarkers in Schizophrenia Diagnosis: A Systematic Review

Non-invasive measurements of brain function and structure as neuroimaging in patients with mental illnesses are useful and powerful tools for studying discriminatory biomarkers. To date, functional MRI (fMRI), structural MRI (sMRI) represent the most used techniques to provide multiple perspectives on brain function, structure, and their connectivity. Recently, there has been rising attention in using machine-learning (ML) techniques, pattern recognition methods, applied to neuroimaging data to characterize disease-related alterations in brain structure and function and to identify phenotypes, for example, for translation into clinical and early diagnosis. Our aim was to provide a systematic review according to the PRISMA statement of Support Vector Machine (SVM) techniques in making diagnostic discrimination between SCZ patients from healthy controls using neuroimaging data from functional MRI as input. We included studies using SVM as ML techniques with patients diagnosed with Schizophrenia. From an initial sample of 660 papers, at the end of the screening process, 22 articles were selected, and included in our review. This technique can be a valid, inexpensive, and non-invasive support to recognize and detect patients at an early stage, compared to any currently available assessment or clinical diagnostic methods in order to save crucial time. The higher accuracy of SVM models and the new integrated methods of ML techniques could play a decisive role to detect patients with SCZ or other major psychiatric disorders in the early stages of the disease or to potentially determine their neuroimaging risk factors in the near future