Motor skills in children with primary headache: A pilot case-control study

Background: Headache is the most common painful manifestation in the developmental age, often accompanied by severe disability such as scholastic absenteeism, low quality of academic performance and compromised emotional functioning. The aim of the study is to evaluate praxic abilities in a population of children without aural migraine. Materials and methods: The test population consists of 10 subjects without migraine without aura (MwA), (8 Males) (mean age 8.40, SD ± 1.17) and 11 healthy children (7 Males) (mean age 8.27; SD ± 1.10; p = 0.800). All subjects underwent evaluation of motor coordination skills through the Battery for Children Movement Assessment (M-ABC). Results: The two groups (10 MwA vs 11 Controls) were similar for age (8.40 ± 1.17 vs 8.27 ± 1.10; p = 0.800), sex (p = 0.730), and BMI (p = 0.204). The migraine subjects show an average worse performance than the Movement ABC; specifically, migraineurs show significantly higher total score values (31.00 ± 23.65 vs 4.72 ± 2.61; p = 0.001), manual dexterity (12.10 ± 11.20 vs 2.04 ± 2.65; p = 0.009) and balance (14.85 ± 10.08 vs. 1.04 ± 1.05; p <0.001). The mean percentile of migraine performance is significantly reduced compared to controls (9.00 ± 3.82 vs 51.00 ± 24.34, p <0.001) (Table 1). Conclusion: Migraine can alter many cognitive and executive functions such as motor skills in developmental age

Animals-assisted therapy: A brief review

In rehabilitative setting, the presence of animals can be considered as an important stimulus for verbal and social communication, and for mood regulation. Interaction with an animal is beneficial for children's development and numerous psychological tests have revealed that growing up with pets has a beneficial effect on children's self-esteem and self-confidence, can improve empathy, a sense of responsibility and cognitive development, as well as social status within the peer group

A brief review about anxiety and aggressive behavior in pediatric age

Anxiety can be considered a normal experience of the human being and as such also of the child. It manifests itself in different ways according to the level of development: in the smaller the child, the more anxiety is expressed with manifestations that involve the whole organism, becoming evident either with motor excitement or with physical discomfort. As the psychic apparatus is structured, anxiety is experienced as an inner phenomenon and is experienced as an unpleasant state. Fortunately, we are all a bit anxious, even if there are some people who are more, others less

Visuospatial skills in children affected by primary nocturnal enuresis: Rehabilitative proposals

The sphincterial control problems in childhood are very common, with relevant comorbidities (i.e.: difficulty in academic performance, sleep disturbances, minor neurological signs) involved in the complex process of maturation and learning, such as to cause a great deal of discomfort and related disorders in affected subjects. Enuresis is characterized by the involuntary urination in the absence of a physical disorder, socially unacceptable in places and at one stage of life where such control is acquired by the majority of subjects (about 5 years). The present study aims to evaluate the visuospatial skills in children affected by primary monosymptomatic nocturnal enuresis (PMNE). 31 PMNE children (16 males and 15 females) (mean age 10.87, SD ± 1.68) and 61 healthy children (32 males, 29 females) (mean age 11.03, SD ± 1.85, p = 0687) were evaluated for visuomotor skills with the Visual-Motor Integration Scale (VMI). PMNE subjects show a worse performance on average to VMI, especially in the total visual-motor integration test. This finding emphasizes the importance of a framework for global and more complex than is commonly implemented, across the border but framing the subject of enuretic symptoms in a more global perspective

Neuropsychomotricity in water: A new rehabilitative tool for neruodevelop-mental disorders

Neuropsychomotricity in water is a rehabilitative practice that avails itself just of the liquid element, as a mediator of relationships: in water yes they upset all dynamics, be they relational, of equilibrium, of movement and perception, due to the fact that proprioceptive sensations, created by bodily contact with water, they are different than those generated by contact with air

Eating and feeding disorders in pediatric age

Eating and feeding disorders are common in pediatric age and may be important to discover and recover the early symptoms in order to optimize the treatment and management

Psychopathological and psychodynamic hypotheses for pediatric stuttering

Stuttering is a common language alteration in pediatric age consisting in repetitions and blocks, which entail a break in the rhythm and melody of the speech. According to the WHO it is a disorder of the rhythm of the word, the subject knows precisely what he would like to say, but at the same time he is not able to say it. It is a great inconvenience for those affected, also because the slowing down of speaking is not about thought or cognitive skills

Nuclear and cytoplasmic expression of survivin in 67 surgically resected pancreatic cancer patients

Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive gastrointestinal cancer with less than 10% long-term survivors. The apoptotic pathway deregulation is a postulated mechanism of carcinogenesis of this tumour. The present study investigated the prognostic role of apoptosis and apoptosis-involved proteins in a series of surgically resected pancreatic cancer patients. All patients affected by pancreatic adenocarcinoma and treated with surgical resection from 1988 to 2003 were considered for the study. Patients' clinical data and pathological tumour features were recorded. Survivin and Cox-2 expression were evaluated by immunohistochemical staining. Apoptotic cells were identified using the TUNEL method. Tumour specimen of 67 resected patients was included in the study. By univariate analysis, survival was influenced by Survivin overexpression. The nuclear Survivin overexpression was associated with better prognosis (P=0.0009), while its cytoplasmic overexpression resulted a negative prognostic factor (P=0.0127). Also, the apoptotic index was a statistically significant prognostic factor in a univariate model (P=0.0142). By a multivariate Cox regression analysis, both the nuclear (P=0.002) and cytoplasmic (P=0.040) Survivin overexpression maintained the prognostic statistical value. This is the first study reporting a statistical significant prognostic relevance of nuclear and cytoplasmic Survivin overexpression in pancreatic cancer. In particular, patients with high nuclear Survivin staining showed a longer survival, whereas patients with high cytoplasmic Survivin staining had a shorter overall survival

A global experiment on motivating social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic

Finding communication strategies that effectively motivate social distancing continues to be a global public health priority during the COVID-19 pandemic. This cross-country, preregistered experiment (n = 25,718 from 89 countries) tested hypotheses concerning generalizable positive and negative outcomes of social distancing messages that promoted personal agency and reflective choices (i.e., an autonomy-supportive message) or were restrictive and shaming (i.e., a controlling message) compared with no message at all. Results partially supported experimental hypotheses in that the controlling message increased controlled motivation (a poorly internalized form of motivation relying on shame, guilt, and fear of social consequences) relative to no message. On the other hand, the autonomy-supportive message lowered feelings of defiance compared with the controlling message, but the controlling message did not differ from receiving no message at all. Unexpectedly, messages did not influence autonomous motivation (a highly internalized form of motivation relying on one’s core values) or behavioral intentions. Results supported hypothesized associations between people’s existing autonomous and controlled motivations and self-reported behavioral intentions to engage in social distancing. Controlled motivation was associated with more defiance and less long-term behavioral intention to engage in social distancing, whereas autonomous motivation was associated with less defiance and more short- and long-term intentions to social distance. Overall, this work highlights the potential harm of using shaming and pressuring language in public health communication, with implications for the current and future global health challenges