P076. Improving patient communication and management by the use of the "Headache Digest", a pilot study

The Headache Digest (HD) is a self-administered questionnaire consisting of 13 items with multiple choice responses constructed according to the ICHD-III beta diagnostic criteria. Seven questions concern headache features. The remaining items collect details regarding onset, clinical course, attack frequency, symptomatic drugs assumption and efficacy. A section is reserved for the doctor dealing with patient’s medical history. The ID-Migraine, a self-administered questionnaire, consisting of only 3 items, is a valid and reliable screening instrument for migraine and was validated in Italy, but it does not provide information concerning headache course HD and ID-Migraine were given to 68 consecutive new patients referring to the Bari Headache Center. Sixty-two patients received the diagnosis of migraine by the headache specialist. HD showed a sensitivity of 0.98 (95% CI 0.91-0.99) and a specificity of 0.66 (95% CI 0.3- 0.90). ID-Migraine showed a sensitivity of 0.75 (95% CI 0.63-0.84) and a specificity of 0.66 (95% CI 0.3-0.90). According to this pilot study, Headache Digest is more sensitive than ID-Migraine whereas both tools showed the same specificity

Effect of Placenta-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Conditioned Media on an LPS-Induced Mouse Model of Preeclampsia

We tested the pro-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory effects of human placenta-derived mesenchymal stromal cells (hPDMSCs)-derived conditioned media (CM) on a mouse model of preeclampsia (PE), a severe human pregnancy-related syndrome characterized by maternal hypertension, proteinuria, endothelial damage, inflammation, often associated with fetal growth restriction (FGR). At d11 of pregnancy, PE was induced in pregnant C57BL/6N mice by bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) intravenous injection. At d12, 300 μL of unconditioned media (control group) or 300 μL PDMSCs-CM (CM group) were injected. Maternal systolic blood pressure was measured from 9 to 18 days of pregnancy. Urine protein content were analyzed at days 12, 13, and 17 of pregnancy. At d19, mice were sacrificed. Number of fetuses, FGR, fetal reabsorption, and placental weight were evaluated. Placentae were analyzed for sFlt-1, IL-6, and TNF-α gene and protein expressions. No FGR and/or reabsorbed fetuses were delivered by PDMSCs-CM-treated PE mice, while five FGR fetuses were found in the control group accompanied by a lower placental weight. PDMSCs-CM injection significantly decreased maternal systolic blood pressure, proteinuria, sFlt-1, IL-6, and TNF-α levels in PE mice. Our data indicate that hPDMSCs-CM can reverse PE-like features during pregnancy, suggesting a therapeutic role for hPDMSCs for the treatment of preeclampsia

Principles of Integrated Cognitive Training for Executive Attention: Application to an Instrumental Skill

One effective cognitive treatment is the rehabilitation of working memory (WM) using an integrated approach that targets the “executive attention” system. Recent neuroscientific literature has revealed that treatment efficacy depends on the presence of various features, such as adaptivity, empathy, customization, avoidance of automatism and stereotypies, and alertness activation. Over the last two decades, an Integrated Cognitive Training (ICT) protocol has been proposed and developed; ICT takes the above-mentioned features and existing literature into account, and has been used to promote the development of reading skills. ICT has been employed in several clinical settings and involves stimulation of a specific deteriorated system (e.g., reading) and the improvement of executive attention components, thus also increasing working memory capacity. In this context, we present two experiments. In Experiment 1, participants diagnosed with dyslexia (aged between 8 and 14 years) underwent two ICT sessions a week, with home supplements, for a duration of 7 months. The participants showed a significant improvement in the reading speed of text, words, and non-words, and in the reading accuracy of text and non-words. In Experiment 2, we replicated Experiment 1, but included a comparison between two groups (experimental group vs. control group) of young participants with diagnosis of dyslexia. The experimental group was subjected to 18 ICT sessions twice a week and with home supplements, using the same protocol as in Experiment 1. The control group was entrusted to the protocol of compensatory tools and dispense/helping procedures provided by the scholastic Personalized Educational Plan. After training, the experimental group gained about 0.5 syllables per second in text reading, and a marked decrease in error rate. The control group showed no significant improvement in reading skills after the same period. Moreover, the improvement observed in the experimental group remained stable 4 months after ICT had ended. The results of these two experiments support the efficacy of the integrated ICT protocol in improving reading skills in children with dyslexia and its sustained effect

Comparative analysis of calcium sources in greenhouse 'Galia' muskmelon

Um experimento com a cultura de Melão (Cucumis melo L. var. reticulatus), do tipo Gália, híbrido Galileo foi conduzido sob cultivo protegido, em vasos, na Embrapa Hortaliças, em Brasília-DF, de setembro a dezembro de 2001. Foram avaliadas 5 formas de aplicação de cálcio (calagem, calagem mais fertirrigação com nitrato de cálcio, cálcio tamponado, cálcio quelatizado e cloreto de cálcio) além do tratamento controle, sem cálcio. O delineamento experimental foi de blocos ao acaso com seis tratamentos e seis repetições e parcelas com seis plantas. Não houve diferença estatística entre os tratamentos. No entanto, uma análise de contrastes mostrou um aumento de 26% em peso (kg m-2) e 21% em número de frutos comerciais resultante da aplicação de cálcio, indicando a importância da aplicação do nutriente em pré-plantio e/ou fertirrigação para solos com saturação de bases (V%) abaixo de 70%. Constatou-se aumento de 30% na produtividade e de 27% no número de frutos comerciais com o uso da fertirrigação. Houve aumento de 23% no número de frutos comerciais nos tratamentos com cálcio e com calagem (3,52 frutos m-2), em relação ao tratamento onde utilizou-se apenas calagem (2,87 frutos m-2). Não houve efeito dos tratamentos sobre os pesos médios dos frutos. Os tratamentos fertirrigados com nitrato de cálcio e cloreto de cálcio apresentaram maior eficiência econômica. Não houve efeito significativo dos tratamentos sobre a espessura, teores de sólidos solúveis totais (Brix), acidez total titulável (ATT) e relação Brix/ATT. Conclui-se que há a necessidade de aplicação de cálcio no meloeiro sob cultivo protegido para solos com saturação de base abaixo de 70% e que a calagem mais fertirrigação com cálcio foi mais efetiva do que só a calagem. O uso do nitrato ou do cloreto de cálcio em fertirrigação apresentou maior rentabilidade do que a calagem ou calagem mais fertirrigação com cálcio tamponado ou cálcio quelatizado.'Galia' muskmelons, Galileo hybrid, were grown at Embrapa Hortaliças in Brasilia, Brazil, in a greenhouse in pots, from September to December 2001. Five calcium treatments were evaluated (liming and liming plus fertigation with calcium nitrate, calcium buffered, calcium chelates and calcium chloride), besides the control without calcium (Ca). The experimental design was of randomized blocks with 6 treatments, 4 replications and 6 plants per plot. Overall calcium application increased marketable yield (kg m-2) by 26% and the number of fruits by 21%. These results indicated the need of Ca fertilization in soils with base saturation lower than 70%. Liming plus calcium fertigation increased yield and the number of marketable fruits by 30% and 27%, respectively. Thus, Ca fertigation was more effective than liming. Fertigation with calcium nitrate and calcium chloride presented the highest profitability. No effect was observed on the average fruit weight. No significant effects on treatments were obtained for pulp thickness, soluble solids content (Brix), total titratable acidity (TTA) and Brix/TTA ratio. In conclusion, Ca must be applied to greenhouse muskmelon for soils with base saturation lower than 70%. Liming plus Ca fertigation was more profitable than only liming. Fertigation of Ca-nitrate or Ca-chloride was more profitable than liming plus Ca treatments (liming and liming plus fertigation with Ca-buffered or Ca-chelates)

Psychological impact of Covid-19 pandemic on oncological patients: a survey in Northern Italy

The psychological impact of the Covid 19 pandemic on cancer patients, a population at higher risk of fatal consequences if infected, has been only rarely evaluated. This study was conducted at the Departments of Oncology of four hospitals located in the Verona area in Italy to investigate the psychological consequences of the pandemic on cancer patients under active anticancer treatments. A 13-item ad hoc questionnaire to evaluate the psychological status of patients before and during the pandemic was administered to 474 consecutive subjects in the time frame between April 27th and June 7th 2020. Among the 13 questions, 7 were considered appropriate to elaborate an Emotional Vulnerability Index (EVI) that allows to separate the population in two groups (low versus high emotional vulnerability) according to observed median values. During the emergency period, the feeling of high vulnerability was found in 246 patients (53%) and was significantly associated with the following clinical variables: female gender, being under chemotherapy treatment, age 64 65 years. Compared to the pre-pandemic phase, the feeling of vulnerability was increased in 41 patients (9%), remained stably high in 196 (42%) and, surprisingly, was reduced in 10 patients (2%). Overall, in a population characterized by an high level of emotional vulnerability the pandemic had a marginal impact and only a small proportion of patients reported an increase of their emotional vulnerability

Insektenvielfalt in der Schweiz: Bedeutung, Trends, Handlungsoptionen

Die Situation der Insekten in der Schweiz sei besorgniserregend, schreiben Forschende im ersten umfassenden Zustandsbericht «Insektenvielfalt in der Schweiz», publiziert vom Forum Biodiversität der Akademie der Naturwissenschaften Schweiz. Sie haben die verfügbaren Daten der Roten Listen, von Monitoringprogrammen und Studien analysiert. Demnach gingen Vielfalt und Grösse der Insektenbestände vor allem im Mittelland stark zurück, mittlerweile aber auch im Jura und in den Alpen. Um die teils dramatischen Entwicklungen zu stoppen, schlagen die Autorinnen und Autoren das wissenschaftlich basierte «12-Punkte-Programm Insekten» vor

Resistance to the impact of interruptions during multitasking by healthy adults and dysexecutive patients

Two experiments (one with healthy adult volunteers and the other with controls and dysexecutive patients) assessed the impact of interruptions on a novel test of multitasking. The test involved switching repeatedly between four tasks (block construction, bead threading, paper folding, alphabetical searching) over a 10 minute period. In Experiment 1, there were 4 groups of 20 healthy participants. One group attempted multitasking with no interruption, a second group was interrupted early in the test, a third group late in the test and a fourth group was interrupted both early and late. Interruption involved carrying out a fifth, unexpected task for a period of one minute before returning to the four main tasks. There was no difference in multitasking performance between the groups. In Experiment 2 the participants were seven dysexecutive patients and 14 age-matched controls. A repeated measures approach was employed to assess the impact of two interruptions (early and late) for both groups. Contrary to predictions, the patients as well as controls were resistant to the effects of interruptions, despite their clearly impaired multitasking performance. These results suggest that the ability to deal with interruptions may be separable from the ability to organise and execute multiple tasks within a limited time frame

Everolimus (EVE) and exemestane (EXE) in patients with advanced breast cancer aged 65 65 years: New lessons for clinical practice from the EVA study

BACKGROUND: The present analysis focuses on real-world data of Everolimus-Exemestane in advanced HR+ve, HER2-ve elderly breast cancer patients (aged 65 years) included in the EVA study, with unique findings in those aged 70 years. METHODS: Data are collected from clinical records and analysed according to age cut-off (< 65 years; 65 - 69 years and {greater than or equal to} 70 years). Relationship of analyzed variables with response were tested by mean of a Mantel-Haenszel chi square test. Time to event analysis was described by Kaplan Meier approach and association with baseline characteristics was analysed by stratified log-rank test and proportional hazard model. RESULTS: From July 2013 to December 2015, the EVA study enrolled overall 404 pts. 154 patients out of 404 (38,1%) were aged {greater than or equal to} 65 years, of whom 87 were {greater than or equal to} 70 years. Median duration of EVE treatment was 28.5 weeks (95% CI 19.0 - 33.8) in patients aged 65-69 years and 24,4 weeks (95% CI 19,2 - 33,2) in those aged {greater than or equal to} 70 years. Fewer patients aged 65 years received the highest EVE Dose-Intensity (>7.5 mg/day) in comparison to younger patients (49,6% vs. 66,8%). Grade 3-4 toxicities occurred to 55 patients (35,7%), mainly stomatitis (10,9%), rash (5,8%) and non-infectious pneumonitis (NIP) (3,6%). Some toxicities, such as weight loss and anaemia were peculiarly observed in patients aged {greater than or equal to} 70 years. Five treatment-related deaths were collected (3,2%). CONCLUSIONS: EVE-EXE combination remains one of the potential treatments in HR+ patients also for elderly ones