Present and future trajectories towards a possible valid and useful diagnosis of ADHD

To date, diagnosing Attention Defi cit Hyperactivity Disorder remains indeed one of the most controversial issues in contemporary psychiatry and behavioural sciences. Most of the conceptual problems regarding the validity of this diagnostic category arise from the heterogeneity of syndromal pictures and the high rate of comorbidity observed in subjects diagnosed with ADHD at all stages of the longitudinal course of the disorder. In this regard, DSM 5 increased complexity by allowing a diagnosis of comorbidity between ADHD and autism spectrum disorders while these two diagnoses were mutually exclusive in DSM-IV-TR

Trends in food consumption of university students

Los jóvenes universitarios necesitan consolidar buenos hábitos alimentarios basados en una adecuada selección de alimentos, los cuales constituyen un factor de fundamental importancia para mantener un buen estado de salud y prevenir enfermedades. Objetivo: Evaluar la ingesta de alimentos y el perfil de la dieta de estudiantes universitarios de Tucumán y su variación a través del tiempo. Analizar si cumplen las recomendaciones dietéticas actuales. Materiales y métodos: La recolección de datos se llevó a cabo durante los años 1998-1999 (G1) y 2012-2013 (G2); se realizó mediante una autoencuesta alimentaria y cuestionario de frecuencia de consumo de alimentos. Fue aplicada a 329 estudiantes universitarios seleccionados en forma aleatoria. El perfil alimentario se describió según la frecuencia de consumo habitual de los principales grupos de alimentos. Resultados: Los estudiantes resultaron 25,2% hombres y 74,8% mujeres, con edad promedio de 23±3 años. En general, en ambos grupos, la mayoría de los estudiantes presentó un IMC normal, sin embargo se destacó un elevado porcentaje de hombres con sobrepeso (18,2%) y obesidad (12,1%) y mujeres con bajo peso (11,6%). Según los grupos analizados y en función del sexo se observaron algunas diferencias estadísticamente significativas en la composición de macronutrientes de la dieta: en G1 fue mayor el consumo de carbohidratos en detrimento de proteínas y lípidos; se encontraron también diferencias en la ingesta de algunos micronutrientes, observándose mayor consumo de hierro y menor de vitaminas B1, B2, niacina y C en el G2. La dieta fue monótona para ambos grupos y con diferencias en el perfil de nutrientes que la conforman. La más notable fue el incremento gradual del consumo de productos azucarados, alimentos procesados, snacks y menor consumo de lácteos, pescados, frutas y vegetales en el G2. En ambos grupos, la adecuación de la ingesta alimentaria de la población estudiantil no cubrió las recomendaciones de hierro, calcio y vitamina A. Ante el perfil alimentario observado en la población universitaria, se advierte la necesidad de promover cambios para prevenir la aparición de obesidad y enfermedades cardiovasculares en la edad adulta; sería conveniente realizar mayor educación alimentario-nutricional.The university students need to consolidate good dietary habits based on an adequate selection of food, which is a factor of fundamental importance to maintain good health and prevent disease. Objective: To evaluate the food intake and diet profile of university students from Tucumán and its variation over time. Analyse if they accomplish current dietary recommendations. Material and method: Data collection was carried out during the years 1998-1999 (G1) and 2012-2013 (G2); was performed by a self-survey and food frequency questionnaire of food consumption. It was applied to 329 university students selected randomly. The dietary pattern was described by frequency of usual consumption of principal food groups. Results: Students were 25.2% male and 74.8% female, mean age 23 ± 3 years. In general, in both groups most of the students had a normal BMI, but had a high percentage of men with overweight (18.2%) and obesity (12.1%) and women with underweight (11.6%). According to the groups and sex analysis some significant statistically differences in macronutrient composition of the diet were observed: the G1 was higher carbohydrate intake than proteins and lipids; also differences in the intake of some micronutrients were found, with a higher intake of iron and less intake of vitamins B1, B2, niacin and C in G2. The diet was monotonous for both groups and with differences in the profile of nutrients. The most notable was the gradual increase consumption of sugary products, processed foods, snacks and decrease consumption of dairy, fish, fruits and vegetables in G2. In both groups, adequacy of dietary intake of the university students did not cover the recommendations of iron, calcium and vitamin A. Given the food profile observed in the student population, is warned the need to promote changes to prevent the development of obesity and cardiovascular disease in adulthood; it should be convenient to carrying out food and nutrition educationFil: de Piero Belmonte, Alexia Juliana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Bassett, Maria Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Rossi, Analia Mabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Samman, Norma Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas. Universidad Nacional de Tucumán. Instituto Superior de Investigaciones Biológicas; Argentin

Intrinsic generation time of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant: an observational study of household transmission

Background Starting from the final months of 2021, the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant expanded globally, swiftly replacing Delta, the variant that was dominant at the time. Many uncertainties remain about the epidemiology of Omicron; here, we aim to estimate its generation time.Methods We used a Bayesian approach to analyze 23,122 SARS-CoV-2 infected individuals clustered in 8903 households as determined from contact tracing operations in Reggio Emilia, Italy, throughout January 2022. We estimated the distribution of the intrinsic generation time (the time between the infection dates of an infector and its secondary cases in a fully susceptible population), realized household generation time, realized serial interval (time between symptom onset of an infector and its secondary cases), and contribution of pre-symptomatic transmission.Findings We estimated a mean intrinsic generation time of 6.84 days (95% credible intervals, CrI, 5.72-8.60), and a mean realized household generation time of 3.59 days (95%CrI: 3.55-3.60). The household serial interval was 2.38 days (95%CrI 2.30-2.47) with about 51% (95%CrI 45-56%) of infections caused by symptomatic individuals being generated before symptom onset.Interpretation These results indicate that the intrinsic generation time of the SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant might not have shortened as compared to previous estimates on ancestral lineages, Alpha and Delta, in the same geographic setting. Like for previous lineages, pre-symptomatic transmission appears to play a key role for Omicron transmission. Estimates in this study may be useful to design quarantine, isolation and contact tracing protocols and to support surveillance (e.g., for the accurate computation of reproduction numbers).Copyright (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

GEN-O-MA project: an Italian network studying clinical course and pathogenic pathways of moyamoya disease—study protocol and preliminary results

Background: GENetics of mOyaMoyA (GEN-O-MA) project is a multicenter observational study implemented in Italy aimed at creating a network of centers involved in moyamoya angiopathy (MA) care and research and at collecting a large series and bio-repository of MA patients, finally aimed at describing the disease phenotype and clinical course as well as at identifying biological or cellular markers for disease progression. The present paper resumes the most important study methodological issues and preliminary results. Methods: Nineteen centers are participating to the study. Patients with both bilateral and unilateral radiologically defined MA are included in the study. For each patient, detailed demographic and clinical as well as neuroimaging data are being collected. When available, biological samples (blood, DNA, CSF, middle cerebral artery samples) are being also collected for biological and cellular studies. Results: Ninety-eight patients (age of onset mean ± SD 35.5 ± 19.6 years; 68.4% females) have been collected so far. 65.3% of patients presented ischemic (50%) and haemorrhagic (15.3%) stroke. A higher female predominance concomitantly with a similar age of onset and clinical features to what was reported in previous studies on Western patients has been confirmed. Conclusion: An accurate and detailed clinical and neuroimaging classification represents the best strategy to provide the characterization of the disease phenotype and clinical course. The collection of a large number of biological samples will permit the identification of biological markers and genetic factors associated with the disease susceptibility in Italy

Estimation of the incubation period and generation time of SARS-CoV-2 Alpha and Delta variants from contact tracing data

: Quantitative information on epidemiological quantities such as the incubation period and generation time of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants is scarce. We analysed a dataset collected during contact tracing activities in the province of Reggio Emilia, Italy, throughout 2021. We determined the distributions of the incubation period for the Alpha and Delta variants using information on negative polymerase chain reaction tests and the date of last exposure from 282 symptomatic cases. We estimated the distributions of the intrinsic generation time using a Bayesian inference approach applied to 9724 SARS-CoV-2 cases clustered in 3545 households where at least one secondary case was recorded. We estimated a mean incubation period of 4.9 days (95% credible intervals, CrI, 4.4-5.4) for Alpha and 4.5 days (95% CrI 4.0-5.0) for Delta. The intrinsic generation time was estimated to have a mean of 7.12 days (95% CrI 6.27-8.44) for Alpha and of 6.52 days (95% CrI 5.54-8.43) for Delta. The household serial interval was 2.43 days (95% CrI 2.29-2.58) for Alpha and 2.74 days (95% CrI 2.62-2.88) for Delta, and the estimated proportion of pre-symptomatic transmission was 48-51% for both variants. These results indicate limited differences in the incubation period and intrinsic generation time of SARS-CoV-2 variants Alpha and Delta compared to ancestral lineages

Building the core of the Istat system of models for forecasting the Italian economy: MeMo-It

10noopenThis paper provides a description of Istat’s new Macroeconometric Model MeMo-It. This is the tool used by Istat to produce bi-annual medium-term forecasts of the Italian economy since May 2012. The key model’s features are illustrated and compared with other modeling approaches used in the literature. The paper describes the theoretical foundations of the model along with the set of equations and their estimation. It also presents an assessment of model’s performance by focusing on the key multipliers.openBacchini, Fabio; Brandimarte, Cristina; Crivelli, Piero; De Santis, Roberta; Fioramanti, Marco; Girardi, Alessandro; Golinelli, Roberto; Jona-Lasinio, Cecilia; Mancini, Massimo; Pappalardo, CarmineBacchini, Fabio; Brandimarte, Cristina; Crivelli, Piero; DE SANTIS, Roberta; Fioramanti, Marco; Girardi, Alessandro; Golinelli, Roberto; JONA-LASINIO, CECILIA SUSANNA; Mancini, Massimo; Pappalardo, Carmin

PMCA-based detection of prions in the olfactory mucosa of patients with Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease

Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) is a rare neurodegenerative disorder caused by the conformational conversion of the prion protein (PrPC) into an abnormally folded form, named prion (or PrPSc). The combination of the polymorphism at codon 129 of the PrP gene (coding either methionine or valine) with the biochemical feature of the proteinase-K resistant PrP (generating either PrPSc type 1 or 2) gives rise to different PrPSc strains, which cause variable phenotypes of sCJD. The definitive diagnosis of sCJD and its classification can be achieved only post-mortem after PrPSc identification and characterization in the brain. By exploiting the Real-Time Quaking-Induced Conversion (RT-QuIC) assay, traces of PrPSc were found in the olfactory mucosa (OM) of sCJD patients, thus demonstrating that PrPSc is not confined to the brain. Here, we have optimized another technique, named protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) for detecting PrPSc in OM samples of sCJD patients. OM samples were collected from 27 sCJD and 2 genetic CJD patients (E200K). Samples from 34 patients with other neurodegenerative disorders were included as controls. Brains were collected from 26 sCJD patients and 16 of them underwent OM collection. Brain and OM samples were subjected to PMCA using the brains of transgenic mice expressing human PrPC with methionine at codon 129 as reaction substrates. The amplified products were analyzed by Western blot after proteinase K digestion. Quantitative PMCA was performed to estimate PrPSc concentration in OM. PMCA enabled the detection of prions in OM samples with 79.3% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Except for a few cases, a predominant type 1 PrPSc was generated, regardless of the tissues analyzed. Notably, all amplified PrPSc were less resistant to PK compared to the original strain. In conclusion, although the optimized PMCA did not consent to recognize sCJD subtypes from the analysis of OM collected from living patients, it enabled us to estimate for the first time the amount of prions accumulating in this biological tissue. Further assay optimizations are needed to faithfully amplify peripheral prions whose recognition could lead to a better diagnosis and selection of patients for future clinical trials

Spoligotyping and Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Speed of spoligotyping could be a benefit in the clinical setting