Psychological components of chronic diseases: the link between defense mechanisms and alexithymia

The influence of psychological health in the etiology of chronic diseases is nowadays a central topic of scientific debates (Eikeseth et al., 2020; Martino et al., 2021a; Sardella et al., 2021). Patients coping with a chronic condition experience complex emotional distress that is frequently overlooked when medical care is considered (Gatchel, 2004; Turner Kelly, 2000)

Defensive responses to stressful life events associated with cancer diagnosis

Objectives: Stressful life events (SLEs) are common in patients who developed both physical and psychological syndromes. Research shown the role of psychological defense mechanisms in cancer progression and survival probability. The present study analyzed recent SLEs and defense mechanisms as characteristic of cancer patients and tested their role as potential predisposing factors to cancer development. Methods: This cross-sectional study enrolled 145 participants: 48 recently diagnosed cancer patients (CP), 43 recently diagnosed benign tumor patients (BT), and 54 healthy subjects (HC). Non-blinded raters assessed participants’ defense mechanisms using the Defense Mechanisms Rating Scales Q-sort version (DMRS-Q). Groups were compared on the presence of SLEs and on the maturity of defensive functioning. Significant associations between SLE and defense mechanisms as related to cancer diagnosis were explored. Results: Higher overall defensive functioning was associated with good physical conditions. Recent SLEs, higher use of neurotic defenses and lower use of obsessional defenses characterized cancer patients. CP showed higher use of suppression, repression, dissociation, rationalization and passive aggression and lower use of affiliation, sublimation, undoing, and devaluation of self-image as compared to controls. Hierarchical regression analysis showed that recent SLEs and defense mechanisms of suppression, repression, dissociation, displacement and omnipotence were associated with cancer diagnosis. Discussion: Recent SLEs and repressive defensive functioning characterized the CP’s defensive response to stress. Despite the relevance of present findings, this study shows several limitations. Prospective and longitudinal studies are needed to confirm these results and to investigate the potential role played by SLEs and defense mechanisms in cancer development

Lysine 63 ubiquitination is involved in the progression of tubular damage in diabetic nephropathy

The purpose of our study was to evaluate how hyperglycemia (HG)influences Lys63 protein ubiquitination and its involvement in tubular damage and fibrosis in diabetic nephropathy (DN). Gene and protein expression of UBE2v1, a ubiquitin-conjugating E2-enzyme variant that mediates Lys63-linked ubiquitination, and Lys63-ubiquitinated proteins increased in HK2 tubular cells under HG. Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization-time of flight/tandemmass spectrometry identified 30 Lys63-ubiquitinated proteins, mainly involved in cellular organization, such as β-actin, whose Lys63 ubiquitination increased under HG, leading to cytoskeleton disorganization. This effect was reversed by the inhibitor of the Ubc13/UBE2v1 complexNSC697923. Western blot analysis confirmed that UBE2v1 silencing in HK2 under HG, restored Lys63-β-actin ubiquitination levels tothebasal condition. Immunohistochemistry on patients with type 2diabetic (T2D) revealed an increase in UBE2v1-and Lys63-ubiquitinatedproteins, particularly in kidneys of patients with DN compared with control kidneys and other non diabetic renal diseases, such as membranous nephropathy. Increased Lys63 ubiquitination both in vivo in patients with DN and in vitro, correlated with a-SMA expression, whereas UBE2v1 silencing reduced HG-induced a-SMA protein levels, returning them to basal expression. In conclusion, UBE2v1- and Lys63-ubiquitinated proteins increase in vitro under HG, as well as in vivo in T2D, is augmented in patients with DN, and may affect cytoskeleton organization and influence epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition. This process may drive the progression of tubular damage and interstitial fibrosis in patients with DN

Epigenetic fingerprint in endometrial carcinogenesis: the hypothesis of a uterine field cancerization.

"Abstract. Transcriptional silencing by CpG island hypermethylation plays a critical role in endometrial carcinogenesis. In a collection of benign, premalignant and malignant endometrial lesions, a methylation profile of a complete gene panel, such steroid receptors (ERα, PR), DNA mismatch repair (hMLH1), tumor-suppressor genes (CDKN2A\/P16 and CDH1\/E-CADHERIN) and WNT pathway inhibitors (SFRP1, SFRP2, SFRP4, SFRP5) was investigated in order to demonstrate their pathogenetic role in endometrial lesions. Our results indicate that gene hypermethylation may be an early event in endometrial endometrioid tumorigenesis. Particularly, ERα, PR, hMLH1, CDKN2A\/P16, SFRP1, SFRP2 and SFRP5 revealed a promoter methylation status in endometrioid carcinoma, whereas SFRP4 showed demethylation in cancer. P53 immunostaining showed weak-focal protein expression level both in hyperplasic lesions and in endometrioid cancer. Non-endometrioid cancers showed very low levels of epigenetic methylations, but strong P53 protein positivity. Fisher exact test revealed a statistically significant association between hMLH1, CDKN2A\/P16 and SFRP1 genes methylation and endometrioid carcinomas and between hMLH1 gene methylation and peritumoral endometrium (p < 0.05). Our data confirm that the methylation profile of the peritumoral endometrium is different from the altered molecular background of benign endometrial polyps and hyperplasias. Therefore, our findings suggest that the methylation of hMLH1, CDKN2A\/P16 and SFRP1 may clearly distinguish between benign and malignant lesions. Finally, this study assessed that the use of an epigenetic fingerprint may improve the current diagnostic tools for a better clinical management of endometrial lesions.

Diagnosi e valutazione della personalit alleanza terapeutica e scambio clinico nella ricerca in psicoterapia

Questo contributo si propone di fornire una breve rassegna delle principali linee di ricerca seguite negli ultimi anni dal gruppo coordinato da Vittorio Lingiardi. Tra queste, ci soffermeremo in particolare su: a) valutazione e diagnosi della personalità con SWAP-200 e PDM (Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual); b) sviluppo e validazione di strumenti clinician-report per operazionalizare l'uso del PDM; c) valutazione dei meccanismi di difesa e degli stili difensivi mediante DMRS e sua versione Q sort; d) studio del processo e della relazione terapeutica (alleanza terapeutica, rotture e riparazioni dell'alleanza controtransfert); in particolare, in quest'area di ricerca, ci siamo impegnati nello sviluppo e validazione di nuovi strumenti per la valutazione dei processi di rottura e riparazione dell'alleanza (Collaborative Interaction Scale) e della qualità dell'attaccamento tra paziente e terapeuta (Patient-Therapist Attachment Q Sort); d) sviluppo della ricerca clinica e applicativa sui temi dell'identità di genere, dell'orientamento sessuale e dell'omofobia sociale e interiorizzata

Diagnosi e valutazione della personalit alleanza terapeutica e scambio clinico nella ricerca in psicoterapia

Questo contributo si propone di fornire una breve rassegna delle principali linee di ricerca seguite negli ultimi anni dal gruppo coordinato da Vittorio Lingiardi. Tra queste, ci soffermeremo in particolare su: a) valutazione e diagnosi della personalità con SWAP-200 e PDM (Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual); b) sviluppo e validazione di strumenti clinician-report per operazionalizare l'uso del PDM; c) valutazione dei meccanismi di difesa e degli stili difensivi mediante DMRS e sua versione Q sort; d) studio del processo e della relazione terapeutica (alleanza terapeutica, rotture e riparazioni dell'alleanza controtransfert); in particolare, in quest'area di ricerca, ci siamo impegnati nello sviluppo e validazione di nuovi strumenti per la valutazione dei processi di rottura e riparazione dell'alleanza (Collaborative Interaction Scale) e della qualità dell'attaccamento tra paziente e terapeuta (Patient-Therapist Attachment Q Sort); d) sviluppo della ricerca clinica e applicativa sui temi dell'identità di genere, dell'orientamento sessuale e dell'omofobia sociale e interiorizzata

Complex interplay between neutral and adaptive evolution shaped differential genomic background and disease susceptibility along the Italian peninsula

The Italian peninsula has long represented a natural hub for human migrations across the Mediterranean area, being involved in several prehistoric and historical population movements. Coupled with a patchy environmental landscape entailing different ecological/cultural selective pressures, this might have produced peculiar patterns of population structure and local adaptations responsible for heterogeneous genomic background of present-day Italians. To disentangle this complex scenario, genome-wide data from 780 Italian individuals were generated and set into the context of European/Mediterranean genomic diversity by comparison with genotypes from 50 populations. To maximize possibility of pinpointing functional genomic regions that have played adaptive roles during Italian natural history, our survey included also ∼250,000 exomic markers and ∼20,000 coding/regulatory variants with well-established clinical relevance. This enabled fine-grained dissection of Italian population structure through the identification of clusters of genetically homogeneous provinces and of genomic regions underlying their local adaptations. Description of such patterns disclosed crucial implications for understanding differential susceptibility to some inflammatory/autoimmune disorders, coronary artery disease and type 2 diabetes of diverse Italian subpopulations, suggesting the evolutionary causes that made some of them particularly exposed to the metabolic and immune challenges imposed by dietary and lifestyle shifts that involved western societies in the last centuries

Patient-reported impact of spondyloarthritis on work disability and working life: The ATLANTIS survey

44noopenopenRamonda, Roberta; Marchesoni, Antonio; Carletto, Antonio; Bianchi, Gerolamo; Cutolo, Maurizio; Ferraccioli, Gianfranco; Fusaro, Enrico; De Vita, Salvatore; Galeazzi, Mauro; Gerli, Roberto; Matucci-Cerinic, Marco; Minisola, Giovanni; Montecucco, Carlomaurizio; Pellerito, Raffaele; Salaffi, Fausto; Paolazzi, Giuseppe; Sarzi-Puttini, Piercarlo; Scarpa, Raffaele; Bagnato, Gianfilippo; Triolo, Giovanni; Valesini, Guido; Punzi, Leonardo; Olivieri, Ignazio; Ortolan, Augusta; Lorenzin, Mariagrazia; Frallonardo, Paola; Giollo, Alessandro; Locaputo, Antonella; Paolino, Sabrina; Simone, Davide; Quartuccio, Luca; Bartoloni, Elena; Luca, Rossella De; Bartoli, Francesca; Sensi, Felice; Caporali, Roberto; Carlo, Marco Di; Roberto, Bortolotti; Atzeni, Fabiola; Costa, Luisa; Ciccia, Francesco; Perrotta, Fabio; Gilio, Michele; ATLANTIS study groupRamonda, Roberta; Marchesoni, Antonio; Carletto, Antonio; Bianchi, Gerolamo; Cutolo, Maurizio; Ferraccioli, Gianfranco; Fusaro, Enrico; De Vita, Salvatore; Galeazzi, Mauro; Gerli, Roberto; Matucci-Cerinic, Marco; Minisola, Giovanni; Montecucco, Carlomaurizio; Pellerito, Raffaele; Salaffi, Fausto; Paolazzi, Giuseppe; Sarzi-Puttini, Piercarlo; Scarpa, Raffaele; Bagnato, Gianfilippo; Triolo, Giovanni; Valesini, Guido; Punzi, Leonardo; Olivieri, Ignazio; Ortolan, Augusta; Lorenzin, Mariagrazia; Frallonardo, Paola; Giollo, Alessandro; Locaputo, Antonella; Paolino, Sabrina; Simone, Davide; Quartuccio, Luca; Bartoloni, Elena; Luca, Rossella De; Bartoli, Francesca; Sensi, Felice; Caporali, Roberto; Carlo, Marco Di; Roberto, Bortolotti; Atzeni, Fabiola; Costa, Luisa; Ciccia, Francesco; Perrotta, Fabio; Gilio, Michele; ATLANTIS study, Grou