Genetics, lifestyles, evironment and longevity: a look in a complex phenomenon

In the last decades, the worldwide progressive ageing of population has had as a principal consequence to focus attention of researchers on the study of different variables that can help people to age well (1-6). The awareness that ageing is a complex phenomenon, that affects different aspects and dominions of life, has led researchers to analyze it from different points of view (physiological one, psychological one, sociological one and so on). From a functional and a physiological point of view, ageing could be seen as a complex process where something changes. The results of these changes can be a reduction of functional abilities, the quantity of these reduction can vary a lot (7). Nowadays there is a relative agreement between researchers in the findings that genetic and constitutional factors can control about 25%-30% of these changes and of the chance to age well, while other variables, mainly related to lifestyles, can control the remaining 70%-75 (8). What variables are related to these changes and what can be the real level of reduction of functional abilities is perhaps the consequences of the complex interaction between different variables, genetics or constitutional ones, on one side, and behavioral and environmental ones, on the other side. The study of this complex mechanism is the focus of recent studies, mainly aiming to derive specific models of intervention to promote well-being in people who are ageing. A field of specific interest is the study of genetic basis of longevity (6, 8-18). In this paper we will describe and analyze some recent findings in this field, also deriving from the experiences of long-lived people and centenarians (15) which can be a sort of “natural experiment” from which we could derive information about ageing and ageing well. Then, we will discuss some issues for future researches and for intervention

Dementia and major neurocognitive disorders: some lessons learned one century after the first Alois Alzheimer’s clinical notes

Over 100 years ago, Alois Alzheimer presented the clinical signs and symptoms of what has been later called “Alzheimer Dementia” in a young woman whose name was Augustine Deter [1,2,3]. Alois Alzheimer described Augustine’s clinical history until her early death in 1906, and he focused his attention on a variety of impairments in functional domains in different phases of the disorder (first memory impairments, then delusions of husband’s adultery and sleeping disorders, then impairments in other cognitive domains and on consciousness). Alois Alzheimer studied her brain and described some peculiar clinical and pathological findings [1,2,3]. The word “dementia” was used for the first time by Pinel in 1797 [1,2], but there have been clinical notes on this disorder since ancient times. Some years later, the Alois Alzheimer’s clinical description of Augustine and after the endorsement of Kraepelin, who used for the first time the terminology “Alzheimer disease” in his 8th edition of Handbook of Psychiatry, dementia received a great attention from clinicians and from researchers. “Alzheimer Dementia” is now the most frequent and also the most known dementia all over the world [1,2,3]. Recently, international diagnostic criteria proposed to modify the name “dementia” with the string “major neurocognitive disorder” (MNCD) [4] aiming to reduce the negative stigma associated with the previous name and with his original meaning from the Latin word “demens” (“without mind”) [1]. Since the study of Alzheimer, MNCD gained a great attention in clinical and research field, and nowadays it is considered a major public health priority, due to its prevalence and incidence all over the world: over 6% in people older than 65 years, with an increasing of prevalence each five years of age and with an even higher prevalence in developing countries [5]. In this editorial, we aim to highlight some lessons learned in this field and to discuss some open questions since the first description of Alzheimer

Telemedicine: Issues in the Analysis of Its Use in Elderly People and in People with Disabilities, According to the Perspective of the Clinical Psychology of Disability

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has led to a sudden increase in the speed of the digitization process, which has affected several areas of life (public administration, schools, universities, and healthcare, and extending to so-called "digital citizenship") [...]

Beliefs and attitudes among Italian high school students toward people with severe mental disorders

The negative attitudes surrounding mental disorders and their treatment are a major obstacle to the correct identification and treatment of emerging psychopathologies. The purpose of this study was to investigate mental health literacy in a large and representative sample of high school students in Italy, via a booklet containing several questionnaires delivered to 1032 teenagers. The items in the questionnaires probed knowledge about mental health and illness, stigmatization, stereotypes, behaviors, opinions, and attitudes. In general, the students had a reasonable knowledge of mental disorders and were able to distinguish these from somatic disorders. However, a large portion of the students nourished some misconceptions about mental disorders and was also rather skeptical about the effectiveness of treatment or the chance of recovery for people with severe mental disorders. Nevertheless, roughly half of the students reported being willing to provide help to someone with a mental disorder when in need. Poor mental health literacy is a major barrier to seeking help and receiving effective treatment. Young people are the ideal target of raising awareness and antistigma campaigns because they are at a higher risk for developing a psychopathology

Quick identification of the risk of psychosis: the Italian version of the prodromal questionnaire-brief

Background: Diagnosing people during the prodromal phase of an incipient psychosis can improve the chance of better outcome. In busy clinical settings, the ideal tool is a brief, easy-to-complete self-report questionnaire. Objective: To test the psychometric properties of the Italian version of one of the most used screening tools for the identification of the risk of psychosis, the Prodromal Questionnaire-Brief (PQ-B). Methods: Cross-sectional design. A convenience sample of college students was enrolled via snowball procedure (n=243; men: 45%). After understanding and signing the consent form, the participants received a booklet containing the following questionnaires: the 21-item Prodromal Questionnaire-Brief (PQ-B); the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), and the 74-item Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to assess the capacity of the PQ-B to identify individuals at risk of psychosis as independently defined based on the combination of GHQ-12 and SPQ thresholds. Results: The Italian version of the PQ-B revealed good internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and adequate convergent and divergent validity. The Youden method retrieved a cut-off = 7 for the PQ-B frequency score and a cut-off = 22 for the PQ-B distress score. Both PQ-B scores had a perfect (99%) negative predictive value. Conclusion: The PQ-B is a promising screening tool in two-stage protocols. The major advantage of the PQ-B is to exclude cases that are unlikely to be at risk of psychosis

Children with autism spectrum disorders and severe visual impairments: Some general principles for intervention according to the perspective of clinical psychology of disability

In the last decades, an increasing number of researchers addressed the relationship between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and severe visual impairment (SVI) (like blindness or very low visual acuity) and nowadays autism could be considered one of the most reported coexisting developmental disorders in children with blindness or other severe visual impairment. As ASD and SVI' signs and symptoms affect functioning and quality of life and different domains of functioning of children with this comorbidity, it is very important to support individuals and their families as soon as possible in the cycle of life and to promote specific interventions aimed to promote developmental potential of everyone with both ASD and VI, based on the unique balance between strengths, needs and abilities of everyone. Children and individuals with SVI and ASD and SVI are a very heterogeneous group, both about the areas of social interaction, communication, and behaviour, as well as about visual abilities and about all the other aspects of their neuropsychological and functional profiles that are influenced by their visual impairments itself, their ASD itself and the combination of them. In this paper, we aim to discuss some general principles useful to design and to develop specific interventions and to promote inclusion of children with ASD and SVI