Transcranial electric stimulation as a neural interface to gain insight on human brain functions: current knowledge and future perspective

Abstract The use of brain stimulation approaches in social and affective science has greatly increased over the last two decades. The interest in social factors has grown along with technological advances in brain research. Transcranial electric stimulation (tES) is a research tool that allows scientists to establish contributory causality between brain functioning and social behaviour, therefore deepening our understanding of the social mind. Preliminary evidence is also starting to demonstrate that tES, either alone or in combination with pharmacological or behavioural interventions, can alleviate the symptomatology of individuals with affective or social cognition disorders. This review offers an overview of the application of tES in the field of social and affective neuroscience. We discuss the issues and challenges related to this application and suggest an avenue for future basic and translational research

Analgesia and/or anaesthesia during piglet castration – part II: practicability of farm protocols, resource efficiency and economic implications

Pain alleviation associated with castration of piglets is a debated welfare issue. This study compares practical aspects, resource efficiency and economic implications of two protocols involving both analgesia and anaesthesia compared to a control group: conventional castration without pain relief (CTRL); joint administration of azaperone and meloxicam (AZA-MEL), i.m.; procaine (PROC-MEL), s.c., and meloxicam, i.m. A total number of 356 male piglets (56 L), was involved. Labour, mortality during the lactation period and costs for procedures were analysed. The total amount of labour required for each single male piglet and the risk of recording at least one dead piglet during lactation in litters were significantly higher in AZA-MEL and PROC-MEL groups than in CTRL group (labour: 02:04 and 02:04 vs. 01:18 min, respectively, p <.001; mortality risk: (RR = 1.48; CI 95% = 1.02 12 2.16; p =.029). The cost estimated for the castration of each male piglet in CRTL group was 0.32 \u20ac, whereas was 3.14 \u20ac for AZA-MEL group and 3.30 \u20ac for PROC-MEL group. The results suggest that adopting analgesia and anaesthesia showed notable cost increases for farmers. This might be expected and justifiable when the management is improved to reach a higher standard quality, such as in the case of welfare-friendly surgical castration, but might be questionable when also considering the result of increased piglet mortality in the lactation period.HIGHLIGHTS To use meloxicam + azaperone or + procaine on farm during piglets castration, increases labour of workers by 76.8 and 56.5%, respectively. At the same time, also piglets mortality risk increases by 48% during lactation. Total costs for each male piglet castrated with meloxicam + azaperone or + procaine increased by 3.14 and 3.30 \u20ac, respectively

Embodying functionally relevant action sounds in patients with spinal cord injury

Growing evidence indicates that perceptual-motor codes may be associated with and influenced by actual bodily states. Following a spinal cord injury (SCI), for example, individuals exhibit reduced visual sensitivity to biological motion. However, a dearth of direct evidence exists about whether profound alterations in sensorimotor traffic between the body and brain influence audio-motor representations. We tested 20 wheelchair-bound individuals with lower skeletal-level SCI who were unable to feel and move their lower limbs, but have retained upper limb function. In a two-choice, matching-to-sample auditory discrimination task, the participants were asked to determine which of two action sounds matched a sample action sound presented previously. We tested aural discrimination ability using sounds that arose from wheelchair, upper limb, lower limb, and animal actions. Our results indicate that an inability to move the lower limbs did not lead to impairment in the discrimination of lower limb-related action sounds in SCI patients. Importantly, patients with SCI discriminated wheelchair sounds more quickly than individuals with comparable auditory experience (i.e. physical therapists) and inexperienced, able-bodied subjects. Audio-motor associations appear to be modified and enhanced to incorporate external salient tools that now represent extensions of their body schemas

Users' choice and change of allocated primary mental health professional in community-based mental health services: A scoping review

Background. The recovery model in mental health care emphasizes users\u2019 right to be involved in key decisions of their care, including choice of one\u2019s primary mental health professional (PMHP). Aims. The aim of this paper was to provide a scoping review of the literature on the topic of users\u2019 choice, request of change and preferences for the PMHP in community mental health services. Method. A search of Pubmed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science and PsycINFO for papers in English was performed. Additional relevant research articles were identified through authors\u2019 personal bibliography. Results. 2774 articles were screened and 38 papers were finally included. Four main aspects emerged: 1) the importance, for users, to be involved in the choice of their PMHP; 2) the importance, for users, of the continuity of care in the relationship with their PMHP; 3) factors of the user/PMHP dyad influencing users\u2019 preferences; 4) the effect of choice on treatments\u2019 outcomes. Conclusions. While it is generally agreed that it is important to consider users\u2019 preferences in choosing or requesting to change their PMHP, little research on this topic is available. PMHPs\u2019 and other stakeholders\u2019 views should also be explored in order to discuss ethical and practical issues

Determinants of Caregiver Burden in Early-Onset Dementia

Caregivers of patients with early-onset dementia (EOD) experience high levels of burden, which is known to be affected by caregivers’ psychological features as well as by patients’ and caregivers’ demographical and social variables. Although potential clinical, demographical, and social determinants have been separately examined, it is not known how they reciprocally interact. Methods: Ninety- two consecutive patient-caregiver dyads were recruited from the Cognitive Neurology Clinics of Modena, Northern Italy. Caregivers were asked to fill in questionnaires regarding their burden, psychological distress, and family economic status. Data were analyzed with multivariable regression models and then entered in a mediation model. Results: Caregiver burden was positively related to female caregiver sex, spousal relationship to the patient, severity of patient’s behavioral symptoms, diagnostic delay, and financial distress of the family. It was negatively related to disease duration, patient’s education, region of birth, caregiver age, number of caregiver’s days off work, number of offspring, and caregiver perception of patient’s quality of life. While the effect of caregiver age, diagnostic delay, and of proxies of family or social network directly impacted on caregiver’s burden, the effect of patient’s disease duration, being a wife caregiver, financial distress, and number of caregiver’s days off work was entirely mediated by the level of caregiver psychological distress. Conclusions: Both direct actions (such as increasing social networks and shortening diagnostic delay) and indirect actions aimed at reducing psychological distress (such as increasing the number of caregiver’s days off work and financial support) should be planned to reduce caregiver’s burden

Cardiovascular risk factors, anxiety symptoms and inflammation markers: Evidence of association from a cross-sectional study

Introduction Anxiety disorders and Cardiovascular (CV) diseases, among the most common disorders in Western World, are often comorbid. A chronic systemic inflammatory state might be a shared underlining pathophysiological mechanism. Aims To investigate the association between anxiety symptoms, CV risks factors and inflammatory markers in an outpatient sample. Methods Cross-sectional study. Inclusion criteria: outpatients aged ≥40 years, attending colonoscopy after positive faecal occult blood test, negative medical history for cancer. Collected data: blood pressure, glycaemia, lipid profile, waist circumference, BMI, PCR (C Reactive Protein), LPS (bacterial Lipopolysaccharide). Psychometric tests: HADS, TCI, IMSA, SF36. Statistical analysis performed with STATA13. Results Fifty four patients enrolled (27 males, 27 females). Sixteen patients (30.19%) were positive for anxiety symptoms. Thirty-three patients (61.11%) had hypertension, 14 (25.93%) hyperglycaemia and 64.81% were overweight, with frank obesity (BMI≥ 30) in 11 subjects (20.37%). Anxiety symptoms were associated with low hematic HDL values (OR = 0.01; P = 0.01) and high concentration of triglycerides (OR = 0.023; P = 0.02) at the multiple regression model. At the univariate logistic analysis, anxiety was associated with LPS (OR = 1.06; P = 0.04). Conclusions Further evidence over the epidemiological link between common mental disorders and CV diseases was collected, with possible hints on pathophysiology and causative mechanisms related to inflammation. The importance of screening for anxiety and depression in medical populations is confirmed. Suggestions on future availability of screening tools based on inflammatory-related indicators should be the focus of future research

Imaging-based indices combining disease severity and time from disease onset to predict COVID-19 mortality: A cohort study

Background: COVID-19 prognostic factors include age, sex, comorbidities, laboratory and imaging findings, and time from symptom onset to seeking care. Purpose: The study aim was to evaluate indices combining disease severity measures and time from disease onset to predict mortality of COVID-19 patients admitted to the emergency department (ED). Materials and methods: All consecutive COVID-19 patients who underwent both computed tomography (CT) and chest X-ray (CXR) at ED presentation between 27/02/2020 and 13/03/2020 were included. CT visual score of disease extension and CXR Radiographic Assessment of Lung Edema (RALE) score were collected. The CT- and CXR-based scores, C-reactive protein (CRP), and oxygen saturation levels (sO2) were separately combined with time from symptom onset to ED presentation to obtain severity/time indices. Multivariable regression age- and sex-adjusted models without and with severity/time indices were compared. For CXR-RALE, the models were tested in a validation cohort. Results: Of the 308 included patients, 55 (17.9%) died. In multivariable logistic age- and sex-adjusted models for death at 30 days, severity/time indices showed good discrimination ability, higher for imaging than for laboratory measures (AUCCT = 0.92, AUCCXR = 0.90, AUCCRP = 0.88, AUCsO2 = 0.88). AUCCXR was lower in the validation cohort (0.79). The models including severity/time indices performed slightly better than models including measures of disease severity not combined with time and those including the Charlson Comorbidity Index, except for CRP-based models. Conclusion: Time from symptom onset to ED admission is a strong prognostic factor and provides added value to the interpretation of imaging and laboratory findings at ED presentation

Atopic dermatitis

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common in ammatory skin disease, clinically characterized by recur- rent eczematous lesions and intense itching, leading to excoriations and susceptibility to cutaneous infections. Although it is considered a pediatric disorder, mainly starting in infancy, it is also very common in adults. Etiology of AD is complex and multifactorial: interaction between genetic susceptibility and environment, but also cutaneous barrier impairment, change in microbiome composition and innate and adaptive immune dysregulation are the main factors involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Originally, the disorder was considered mediated by an imbalance towards a T-helper 2 response and excessive IgE production to aller- gens, but now it is recognized as a lifelong disposition with variable clinical expressivity, where dysfunctions of the epidermal barrier, immune system and microbiome play a central role. AD leads to a substantial psycho- social burden on patients and their relatives and increases the risk of other allergic and non allergic disorders. e real economic impact of AD is di cult to measure due to the broad spectrum of disease severity and the multiple direct and indirect costs, but the overall medical expenses seem to be very high and similar to those of other diseases such as diabetes. Currently, a multiple therapeutic approach is aimed only at improving the skin state, reducing itching and keeping a stable condition. New safety and curative treatments may be devel- oped only after enhancing our understanding on the pathogenesis of AD and the heterogeneity of its clinical manifestations. (www.actabiomedica.it

Ecological footprint reduction recommendations for higher education Iistitutions

Obra editada por: Sara Moreno Pires, Federico Maria Pulselli, George Malandrakis, Sandra Caeiro e Alessandro GalliERASMUS+, KA203 2019-2022, Agreement No. 2019-1-ELO1-KA203-062941info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio