Platelet rich fibrin (PRF) and its related products: biomolecular characterization of the liquid fibrinogen

Liquid fibrinogen is an injectable platelet concentrate rich in platelets, leukocytes, and fibrinogen obtained by blood centrifugation. The aim of this study was to analyze the release of different growth factors in the liquid fibrinogen at different times and to assess possible correlations between growth factors and cell counts. The concentration of transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1), platelet-derived growth factor-AB (PDGF-AB), platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB), bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2), fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) released by liquid fibrinogen were examined with ELISA at three time points (T0, time of collection; T7, 7 days; T14, 14 days). The cellular content of the liquid fibrinogen and whole blood was also calculated for each volunteer. A mean accumulation of platelets of almost 1.5-fold in liquid fibrinogen compared to whole blood samples was found. An increase of TGF-β1, PDGF-AB, FGF-2, and VEGF levels was detected at T7. At T14, the level of TGF-β1 returned to T0 level; PDGF-AB amount remained high; the levels of FGF-2 and VEGF decreased with respect to T7, but remained higher than the T0 levels; PDGF-BB was high at all time points; BMP-2 level was low and remained constant at all time points. TGF-β1, PDGF-AB, and PDGF-BB showed a correlation with platelet amount, whereas BMP-2, FGF-2, and VEGF showed a mild correlation with platelet amount. Due to the high concentration of platelets, liquid fibrinogen does contain important growth factors for the regeneration of both soft and hard tissue. The centrifugation protocol tested in this study provides a valid solution to stimulate wound healing in oral and periodontal surgery

Long-term services for the care and rehabilitation of people with severe acquired brain injury: a multicentre, cross-sectional study of 536 Italian families.

BACKGROUND: people with severe acquired brain injuries (ABIs) require complex, long-term multidisciplinary healthcare and social welfare programmes, and their families experience social and emotional consequences that profoundly condition their quality of life.OBJECTIVE: to investigate whether the possibility of gaining access to local rehabilitation and other services positively influences not only the quality of life of the patients, but also the quality of life of their families.METHODS: the sample consisted of 536 families of patients with severe ABIs. They were administered a specific 50-item questionnaire with a mix of multiple choice answers, dichotomous (yes/no) answers, or answers based on a Likert-type scale.RESULTS: the results suggest that the long-term services provided to patients are substantially, but the data concerning the patients’ social and working reintegration are discomforting. Furthermore, the families experience profound social discomfort related to their economic, emotional and caregiving burden regardless of the number and quality of the rehabilitation services activated, or the amount of welfare support received.CONCLUSIONS: post-severe ABI services provided at local level should include not only long-term rehabilitative and social support for the patients, but also long-term social and psychological support for their families

Monoaminergic and histaminergic strategies and treatments in brain diseases

The monoaminergic systems are the target of several drugs for the treatment of mood, motor and cognitive disorders as well as neurological conditions. In most cases, advances have occurred through serendipity, except for Parkinson's disease where the pathophysiology led almost immediately to the introduction of dopamine restoring agents. Extensive neuropharmacological studies first showed that the primary target of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and anxiolytic drugs were specific components of the monoaminergic systems. Later, some dramatic side effects associated with older medicines were shown to disappear with new chemical compounds targeting the origin of the therapeutic benefit more specifically. The increased knowledge regarding the function and interaction of the monoaminergic systems in the brain resulting from in vivo neurochemical and neurophysiological studies indicated new monoaminergic targets that could achieve the efficacy of the older medicines with fewer side-effects. Yet, this accumulated knowledge regarding monoamines did not produce valuable strategies for diseases where no monoaminergic drug has been shown to be effective. Here, we emphasize the new therapeutic and monoaminergic-based strategies for the treatment of psychiatric diseases. We will consider three main groups of diseases, based on the evidence of monoamines involvement (schizophrenia, depression, obesity), the identification of monoamines in the diseases processes (Parkinson's disease, addiction) and the prospect of the involvement of monoaminergic mechanisms (epilepsy, Alzheimer's disease, stroke). In most cases, the clinically available monoaminergic drugs induce widespread modifications of amine tone or excitability through neurobiological networks and exemplify the overlap between therapeutic approaches to psychiatric and neurological conditions. More recent developments that have resulted in improved drug specificity and responses will be discussed in this review.peer-reviewe

A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services

Progressive Unspecified Motor Speech Disorder: A Longitudinal Single Case Study of an Older Subject

Introduction: In a few cases, neurodegenerative diseases debut with a speech disorder whose differential diagnosis can be difficult. Case Report: We describe the case of a right-handed woman with a progressive speech impairment, which debuted when she was 80 years old. We report the results of neurological, neuropsychological, and imaging assessments with positron emission tomography (PET) over a period of nine years. Metabolic PET with 18F-FDG was performed at the age of 81 and repeated two years later due to the worsening of symptoms; amyloid PET with 18F-flutemetamol was performed at the age of 86. All PET results were quantitatively analyzed. A speech impairment remained the isolated neurological symptom for a long time, together with a mood disorder. Early FDG-PET showed hypometabolism in the left superior and inferior frontal areas, in the left superior temporal area, and in the right superior frontal area. Two years later, the hypometabolic area was more extensive. Amyloid PET was qualitatively and quantitatively normal. Nine years after the first symptoms, the speech production progressively worsened until complete anarthria, in association with writing impairment onset and signs of behavioral impairments. No signs of motor involvement were found. Conclusions: A progressive articulatory disorder without an evolution of motor disorders may be a distinct neurological degenerative entity, mainly affecting speech production for very a long time and with a specific early metabolic pattern in brain FDG-PET in the language production area. Monitoring patients with FDG-PET could predict the disease evolution years before a clinical deterioration

Riabilitazione dei disturbi del comportamento conseguenti a lesioni cerebrali

Un evento cerebrolesivo pu\uf2 determinare alterazioni del comportamento relazionale, della personalit\ue0 e, pi\uf9 in generale, della condotta sociale. Variabili quali la sede e la vastit\ue0 delle lesioni cerebrali, la personalit\ue0 premorbosa, la presenza in anamnesi di eventuali disturbi psichiatrici, i disordini cognitivi associati e fattori ambientali possono contribuire allo sviluppo dei disordini comportamentali ed emozionali. L\u2019insieme di questi fattori contribuisce alla grande variabilit\ue0 delle alterazioni comportamentali e psicologiche in questa popolazione di pazienti, che spesso subiscono importanti limitazioni dell\u2019attivit\ue0 e della partecipazione sociale. Le modificazioni del comportamento, infatti, rappresentano un ostacolo sia alla partecipazione ai programmi riabilitativi sia a un adeguato e soddisfacente reinserimento familiare, sociale, scolastico e lavorativo, essendo inficiata da questi disturbi soprattutto la qualit\ue0 dei rapporti interpersonali. Negli ultimi decenni la pratica neuroriabilitativa ha focalizzato sempre di pi\uf9 l\u2019attenzione sull\u2019importanza di applicare programmi specifici e individualizzati per i disordini comportamentali conseguenti a una cerebrolesione. Oggi \ue8 possibile usufruire di diversi approcci che prevedono un armonico intersecarsi di interventi farmacologici e comportamentali, cognitivi e psicoterapeutici che accompagnano il paziente e la sua famiglia per tutto l\u2019arco della presa in carico riabilitativa e nel follow-up. Nel presente capitolo, dopo una descrizione delle diverse possibili manifestazioni cliniche dei disordini comportamentali e dei loro correlati anatomo-funzionali, saranno descritti gli strumenti di valutazione, di inquadramento e di approfondimento, atti a individuare i fattori che contribuiscono al loro manifestarsi e al loro mantenersi nel tempo. Seguir\ue0 una descrizione delle principali metodiche per la riabilitazione dei disordini del comportamento e della evidenza della loro efficacia. L\u2019ultimo paragrafo sar\ue0 infine dedicato al trattamento farmacologico dei disturbi comportamentali