Executive functions and body weight at different ages: a preliminary study

Recently, researchers have focused their attention on the role of cognitive processes on eating habits and body weight changes. Few studies have examined the relationship between the first stages of overweight and executive functions (EFs), excluding obesity conditions. This study is aimed to detect the involvement of the EFs and their predictive role on body mass index (BMI) in a sample of healthy individuals from childhood to young adulthood with a cross-sectional design. One-hundred and sixty-six healthy students were recruited from different Italian public schools: 46 children (age range: 7–11), 50 adolescents (age range: 15–18), 70 young adults (age range: 19–30). BMI was used to evaluate body weight and different EFs tasks were used to assess the EFs domains of inhibition, updating and shifting. After adjusting BMI for age, a hierarchical multiple linear regression was carried out for each EFs task. Pearson’s r correlations were reported for each of the age subgroups. Motor disinhibition was associated with greater BMI in the overall sample. Higher BMI was related to poorer set-shifting in adolescence and poorer motor inhibition in young adulthood, but higher BMI was not associated with EFs in childhood. Differences in the development of EFs over time may influence weight changes over time through different responses to food and eating behavior

Antimicrobial activity and flow rate of newer and established root canal sealers

Endodontic sealers that possess both optimum flow ability and antimicrobial properties may theoretically assist in the elimination of microorganisms located in confined areas of the root canal system. The antimicrobial effects and the flow rate of the following sealers were investigated and compared: Kerr Pulp Canal Sealer EWT, Grossman's Sealer, ThermaSeal, Sealer 26, AH Plus, and Sealer Plus. The agar diffusion test was used to assess the antimicrobial activity of the sealers. In the flow assay, the sealers were placed between two glass slabs and a weight of 500 g was placed on the top of the glass. The diameters of the formed discs were recorded. All root canal sealers tested showed some antimicrobial activity against most of the microorganisms. There were no significant differences between the materials tested (p > 0.05). All root canal sealers also flowed under the conditions of this study. Statistical analysis of the results revealed that AH Plus and Kerr Pulp Canal Sealer EWT had flow values significantly superior to the other sealers tested (p > 0.05). Taken together, these findings suggest that these sealers have the potential to help in the microbial control in the root canal system

Effects of the coronavirus pandemic on mental health: a possible model of the direct and indirect impact of the pandemic on PTSD symptomatology COVID-19 related

The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on the worldwide population in the last year, affecting psychological well-being. Several studies defined that COVID-19 diagnosis, the fear of contagion, and the infection in loved ones directly affected psychological distress and PTSD symptomatology. However, no study underlined the mediation role of psychological aspects in this relation. This study aimed to assess the direct and indirect consequences of some common aspects of the COVID-19 spread on PTSD symptomatology due to the pandemic. According to this aim, we adopted a mediation analysis involving anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, general psychological well-being, and psychopathological symptomatology. Two thousand two hundred and nineteen-one respondents completed an online survey focused on the experience with the COVID-19 pandemic. Different questionnaires assessing sleep quality, anxiety, depression, psychological well-being, and general psychopathology were administered. COVID-19-PTSD was evaluated. A mediation analysis was conducted to estimate the possible direct and indirect effects of the considered variables COVID-19 related to PTSD symptoms. Statistical analysis evidenced a direct effect of the dimension ascribable to the pandemic (COVID-19 diagnosis, the fear of the contagion, and the diagnosis of COVID-19 in loved ones). Moreover, a total indirect effect of COVID-19 diagnosis and fear of contagion emerged. In particular, the fear of contagion was significantly mediated by psychological well-being, sleep disturbance, psychopathological symptomatology, and anxiety. Furthermore, the COVID-19 diagnosis was significantly mediated by general psychological well-being and psychopathological symptomatology. Although no significant general indirect effect of sleep quality was highlighted, sleep disturbance was reported as a possible mediator of the relationship between the diagnosis of COVID-19 in loved ones and PTSD symptomatology. This study confirmed the possible mediating role of some psychological aspects in the relationship between some aspects directly associated with the diffusion of the COVID-19 pandemic and the PTSD symptomatology, specifically referred to COVID-19 as a traumatic event. These findings should be adopted as a starting point for further studies aimed to develop psychological interventions to minimize the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic

Physical activity interventions have a moderate effect in increasing physical activity in university students-a meta-analysis

Introduction: The transition to college is associated with changes in physical activity. This meta-analysis aims to quantify the effect of interventions on increasing physical activity in healthy university students. Methods: We conducted a literature search (up to 2/3/2020) to identify randomized controlled trials with healthy undergraduate or graduate students enrolled in a college degree program. Moderator analyses were conducted to examine the effects of intervention modality delivery (delivered in-person or remotely) and the type of outcome measure (self-report or objective measures). Results: 18 publications were included. Interventions had a medium effect on physical activity (Cohen’s d = 0.52). Moderator analyses revealed no differences. Conclusion: Suggestions of how to improve the quality of physical activity intervention studies in college students are given. The moderate effect size of physical activity interventions in college students highlights the importance of developing and testing new interventions to promote physical activity in emerging adults. Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/07448481.2021.1998070

Coping styles in individuals with hypertension of varying severity

The strategies that people usually use to cope with stressful events, that is, their coping style, may affect blood pressure and cardiovascular functioning. Generally, hypertension is positively associated with emotion-oriented, maladaptive coping strategies and negatively related to task-focused coping styles, but no study has investigated the relationship between coping strategies and the severity of hypertension. This study aimed to assess whether the severity of cardiovascular disorders was associated with specific coping strategies. Participants were selected from the Policlinico Umberto I of the University of Rome "Sapienza." The sample was divided into five groups: (a) healthy people (n = 190); (b) people with untreated hypertension (n = 232); (c) people using antihypertensive medication (n = 158); (d) people using antihypertensive medication with uncontrolled hypertension (n = 179); and (e) people suffering from both hypertension and heart diseases (N = 192). Coping strategies were evaluated with the Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations. One-way ANCOVAs, considering Group as the independent variable and the coping strategies (task-focused, emotion-oriented and avoidance-oriented coping) as dependent variables, showed that individuals affected by both hypertension and heart diseases made less use of task-focused coping strategies than the other groups. These findings confirm the relationship between coping style and hypertension and highlight that patients with hypertension and heart diseases make less use of appropriate coping strategies

Deficit di elaborazione emotiva e salute cardiovascolare

I domini dell’emozione – neurofisiologico, motorio/espressivo e cognitivo – sono centrali per l’integrazione tra psiche e soma. La relazione, presente in letteratura, tra deficit di elaborazione dell’emozione (alessitimia) e reattività cardiaca potrebbe favorire nel tempo la patologia cardiovascolare. Lo studio si propone di valutare la relazione tra alessitimia e differenti gradi di patologia cardiovascolare.Hanno aderito allo studio un totale 717 persone (315 uomini, 402 donne) selezionati presso il Centro di Diagnosi e Cura dell’Ipertensione, del Policlinico Umberto I di Roma. I partecipanti sono stati divisi in 5 gruppi: gruppo di Controllo Sano (n=152); persone con ipertensione lieve non in terapia farmacologica (n=155); persone con ipertensione in terapia farmacologica (n=155); persone con ipertensione farmaco resistente (n=154); persone con ipertensione e disturbi cardiovascolari conclamati (n=101). Sono state condotte delle analisi della covarianza che hanno considerato come fattore indipendente i 5 gruppi, come variabili dipendenti le dimensioni dell’alessitimia e come covariate l’età e l’indice di massa corporea. Tutti i partecipanti hanno compilato la Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS20). I risultati hanno evidenziato un effetto nel fattore della TAS-20 Pensiero orientato all’esterno (F4,71=3.18; p=0.01). In particolare, le persone ipertese con disturbi cardiovascolari conclamati mostrano punteggi più alti rispetto ai gruppi d’ipertesi sia in terapia (p=0.03) sia non in terapia (p=0.0001), e anche rispetto al gruppo di controllo (p=0.006). Questo risultato sembrerebbe indicare che vivere le situazioni della vita senza un’attenzione ai propri vissuti emotivi (Pensiero orientato all’esterno) tenda a produrre una limitata modulazione corticale del SNA, favorendo i disturbi cardiovascolari

The cognitive consequences of the covid-19 pandemic on members of the general population in italy: a preliminary study on executive inhibition

The pandemic period which has characterized the last two years has been associated with increasingly worsening psychological conditions, and previous studies have reported severe levels of anxiety, mood disorder, and psychopathological alteration in the general population. In particular, worldwide populations have appeared to present post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Surprisingly, no studies have evaluated the effect of COVID-related PTSS on cognitive functioning. This study focused on the association between high levels of PTSS related to COVID-19 and alterations in executive functioning by considering executive inhibitions in populations not infected by the virus. Ninety respondents from the Italian population participated in the study. A higher percentage of PTSS was reported. Moreover, respondents with high post-traumatic symptomatology presented deficits in the inhibition of preponderant responses, demonstrating an executive deficit which could be expressed by a difficulty in controlling goal-directed actions. This was underlined by worse performances in elaborating incongruent stimuli in the Stroop task and no-go stimuli in the Go/No-Go task. This report presents preliminary findings underlining the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on cognitive functions. The results confirmed a persistently higher post-traumatic symptomatology related to the COVID-19 pandemic in the Italian population and highlighted an association with cognitive inhibition impairment

The broken heart: the role of life events in takotsubo syndrome

The onset of Takotsubo syndrome (TTS), also known as stress cardiomyopathy, is thought to be associated with some life events. This study focuses on clarifying life event characteristics and the role of triggers in the onset of TTS. Participants with TTS (n = 54) were compared to those with acute myocardial infarction (AMI; n = 52) and healthy individuals (n = 54). Using a modified version of the Interview for Recent Life Events, information about general life events perceived as stressful and triggers preceding the onset of a cardiac syndrome was collected. The assessment included the impact of these events as indicated by the participants and estimated by the interviewer; finally, the objective impact was considered. Although the number of events and the objective impact did not differ among the groups, patients with TTS reported a more negative perceived impact. Moreover, 61% of these patients objectively and subjectively reported a more stressful trigger before the onset of the disease (in the 24 h preceding the cardiac event) than those reported by patients with AMI. The dynamic between life events and individual responses could help differentiate TTS from other cardiovascular events, such as AMI. This study suggests that patients’ perception of some life events (whether triggers or general life events) could represent a possible marker of TTS