Enhanced reactive inhibition in adolescents with non-suicidal self-injury disorder

AimTo investigate whether the core of the pathophysiology underlying non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) relates to poor impulse control due to impaired motor inhibition (i.e. the ability to inhibit a preplanned motor response).MethodWe conducted a case-control study to compare the proficiency of two domains of motor inhibition, that is, reactive and proactive inhibition, by giving the reaching arm version of the stop-signal task and a go-only task to 28 drug-naive adolescents with NSSI disorder (NSSID) (mean age [SD] 15 years 8 months [1 year 4 months]; three males and 25 females) and 28 typically developing adolescents (mean age 15 years 8 months [1 year 5 months]; three males and 25 females).ResultsReactive inhibition, as determined by the duration of the stop-signal reaction time, was enhanced in adolescents with NSSID compared to typically developing controls (194.2 [22.5 ms] vs 217.5 [17.3 ms], p < 0.001). By contrast, proactive inhibition was similar in both groups. Lastly, the level of impulsivity, assessed using the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11, did not differ between typically developing adolescents and adolescents with NSSID. However, adolescents with NSSID were more impulsive than controls in a subscale of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale.InterpretationNSSID is not driven by heightened motor impulsivity. Instead, adolescents with NSSID exhibited greater proficiency in reactive inhibition, a proxy for motor impulsivity. We suggest that the enhancement of reactive inhibition strengthens action control, allowing adolescents to suppress their self-protection instinct and perform NSSI behaviours

LE DROGHE D’ABUSO E L’EMERGENZA PSICOPATOLOGICA IN ADOLESCENZA

Come stanno crescendo le nuove generazioni "a distanza"? Quali paure e preoccupazioni hanno sviluppato e avranno i bambini e gli adolescenti a seguito della pandemia da Covid-19? La distanza fisica-affettiva-sociale che ripercussioni avrà a lungo termine? Cosa stiamo facendo per aiutarli e interrompere la strada che dal disagio psichico porta al disturbo psicopatologico? Gli studi della letteratura scientifica riportano dati allarmanti: quasi la metà dei bambini e adolescenti ha sviluppato durante la pandemia disturbi psicopatologici soprattutto di tipo ansioso e depressivo. In questa ottica le autrici hanno raccolto i contributi di diversi professionisti dell'infanzia e dell'adolescenza in modo da avere una fotografia aggiornata sullo stato attuale della loro salute psichica. Il libro percorre i luoghi di cura del disagio psichico e della malattia mentale dei bambini e degli adolescenti, dai servizi territoriali, agli ospedali di terzo livello, riportando anche nuovi modelli di intervento e strategie di prevenzione. A tal proposito grande valore riveste la Scuola che può ri-divenire primo luogo di rilevazione-prevenzione e cura del disagio psicologico di bambini e adolescenti

Trend in electronic cigarettes and smokeless tobacco in Italian adolescents, Global Youth Tobacco Smoke (GYTS), 2014, 2018

Introduction Main aim was to describe prevalence trends in Italy, 2014-2018 of tobacco cigarettes, electronic cigarettes (e-cig), smokeless tobacco (snuff, chewing tobacco, heated tobacco products), and to describe cigarettes and e-cig access from the Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). Methods GYTS is a nationally representative school-based, cross-sectional survey of students aged 13-15 years . GYTS has been carrying out in 61 countries worldwide and used a standard methodology. Ten items were selected in order to describe prevalence trends and access to tobacco cigarettes and e-cig. Results Ever and current tobacco use in Italy non-significantly decreased from 46.4% to 41.0%, and from 23.4% to 19.8%, respectively. Ever and current e-cig users significantly increased from 28.0% to 43.5%, and from 8.4% to 17.5%, respectively. Ever and current smokeless tobacco use in 2018 were 3.4% and 1.6%, respectively. In 2018, 68.0% and 76.0% of adolescents who were current cigarette smokers or e-cig users, respectively, reported retailers did not refuse to sell them cigarettes or e-cig because of their age; 19.7% and 15.3% of current smokers reported to buy cigarettes in stores, or in vending machines, respectively. Among current e-cig users, 10.2% reported to get e-cig from specialized shops. Conclusions From 2014 to 2018 current e-cig users doubled; in 2018, current smokeless tobacco users were 1.6%. Even though sale bans to minors were implemented in Italy for cigarettes and e-cig, about 2 out 3 tobacconists and managers of e-cig shops keep on selling their products to adolescents

Comparative evaluation of subtyping tools for surveillance of newly emerging HIV-1 strains

HIV-1 non-B subtypes/circulating recombinant forms (CRFs) are increasing worldwide. Since subtype identification can be clinically relevant, we assessed the added value in HIV-1 subtyping using updated molecular phylogeny (Mphy) and the performance of routinely used automated tools. Updated Mphy (2015 updated reference sequences), used as a gold standard, was performed to subtype 13,116 HIV-1 protease/reverse transcriptase sequences and then compared with previous Mphy (reference sequences until 2014) and with COMET, REGA, SCUEAL, and Stanford subtyping tools. Updated Mphy classified subtype B as the most prevalent (73.4%), followed by CRF02-AG (7.9%), C (4.6%), F1 (3.4%), A1 (2.2%), G (1.6%), CRF12-BF (1.2%), and other subtypes (5.7%). A 2.3% proportion of sequences were reassigned as different subtypes or CRFs because of misclassification by previous Mphy. Overall, the tool most concordant with updated Mphy was Stanford-v8.1 (95.4%), followed by COMET (93.8%), REGA-v3 (92.5%), Stanford-old (91.1%), and SCUEAL (85.9%). All the tools had a high sensitivity (\ue2\u89\ua598.0%) and specificity (\ue2\u89\ua595.7%) for subtype B. Regarding non-B subtypes, Stanford-v8.1 was the best tool for C, D, and F subtypes and for CRFs 01, 02, 06, 11, and 36 (sensitivity, \ue2\u89\ua592.6%; specificity, \ue2\u89\ua599.1%). A1 and G subtypes were better classified by COMET (92.3%) and REGA-v3 (98.6%), respectively. Our findings confirm Mphy as the gold standard for accurate HIV-1 subtyping, although Stanford-v8.1, occasionally combined with COMET or REGA-v3, represents an effective subtyping approach in clinical settings. Periodic updating of HIV-1 reference sequences is fundamental to improving subtype characterization in the context of an effective epidemiological surveillance of non-B strains