Diagnostic accuracy of the primary care screener for affective disorder (PC-SAD) in primary care

Background: Depression goes often unrecognised and untreated in non-psychiatric medical settings. Screening has recently gained acceptance as a first step towards improving depression recognition and management. The Primary Care Screener for Affective Disorders (PC-SAD) is a self-administered questionnaire to screen for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Dysthymic Disorder (Dys) which has a sophisticated scoring algorithm that confers several advantages. This study tested its performance against a ‘gold standard’ diagnostic interview in primary care. Methods: A total of 416 adults attending 13 urban general internal medicine primary care practices completed the PC-SAD. Of 409 who returned a valid PC-SAD, all those scoring positive (N=151) and a random sample (N=106) of those scoring negative were selected for a 3-month telephone follow-up assessment including the administration of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) by a psychiatrist who was masked to PC-SAD results. Results: Most selected patients (N=212) took part in the follow-up assessment. After adjustment for partial verification bias the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value for MDD were 90%, 83%, 51%, and 98%. For Dys, the corresponding figures were 78%, 79%, 8%, and 88%. Conclusions: While some study limitations suggest caution in interpreting our results, this study corroborated the diagnostic validity of the PC-SAD, although the low PPV may limit its usefulness with regard to Dys. Given its good psychometric properties and the short average administration time, the PC-SAD might be the screening instrument of choice in settings where the technology for computer automated scoring is available

The astrobiology primer: An outline of general knowledge - Version 1, 2006

Peer reviewe

Progetto della “mappa urbanistica della Val d’Agri"

The “urban map of the Val d’Agri” is a project of the LUPT Center of the Federico II University of Naples in collaboration with the Basilicata Region, the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Department of Territories and Sustainability of Catalonia and the University of Basilicata. The development of the urban map of the Val d’Agri constitutes the first Italian application of the Urban Map of Catalonia (MUC). The Catologna map represents a strategic tool of the Generalitat de Catalunya, or the administrative-institutional system for the Catalan government, aimed both at monitoring the territory and at the transparency of current urban information and at the implementation of territorial planning policies. Structured as a “dynamic” map of municipal planning as it is continuously updated - here the municipal urban planning and implementation plans of the whole region of Catalonia - has currently analyzed and returned the state of regional planning through the implementation of over 13.000 documents of municipal planning. Starting from the lack of soul of this model, we wanted to apply it to the strategic area of Val d’Agri in Basilicata, an area of particular attention for the delicate balance that must govern between economic development and environmental protection, being currently the most important Europe