Effect of Dietary Supplements in Reducing Probability of Death for Uremic Crises in Dogs Affected by Chronic Kidney Disease (Masked RCCT)

Chitosan and alkalinizing agents can decrease morbidity and mortality in humans with chronic kidney disease (CKD). Whether this holds true in dog is not known. Objective of the study was to determine whether a commercial dietary supplement containing chitosan, phosphate binders, and alkalinizing agents (Renal), compared to placebo, reduces mortality rate due to uremic crises in dogs with spontaneous CKD, fed a renal diet (RD). A masked RCCT was performed including 31 azotemic dogs with spontaneous CKD. Dogs enrolled in the study were randomly allocated to receive RD plus placebo (group A; 15 dogs) or RD plus Renal (group B; 16 dogs). During a first 4-week period, all dogs were fed an RD and then randomized and clinically evaluated up to 44 weeks. The effects of dietary supplements on mortality rate due to uremic crises were assessed. At 44 weeks, compared to group A, dogs in group B had approximately 50% lower mortality rate due to uremic crises (P = 0.015). Dietary supplementation with chitosan, phosphate binders, and alkalinizing agents, along with an RD, is beneficial in reducing mortality rate in dogs with spontaneous CKD

Quality of life in Parkinson’s disease: Italian validation of the Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39-IT)

Translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the 39-item Parkinson’s Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39) to the Italian culture was performed by Oxford University Innovation in 2008, but this version has never been validated. Therefore, we performed the process of validation of the Italian version of the PDQ-39 (PDQ-39-IT) following the “Consensus-Based Standards for the Selection of Health Status Measurement Instruments” checklist. The translated PDQ-39-IT was tested with 104 patients diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease (PD) who were recruited between June and October 2017. The mean age of the participants was 65.7 ± 10.2 years, and the mean duration of symptoms was 7.4 ± 5.3 years. The internal consistency of the PDQ-39-IT was assessed by Cronbach’s alpha and ranged from 0.69 to 0.92. In an assessment of test-retest reliability in 35 of the 104 patients, the infraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) ranged from 0.85 to 0.96 for the various subitems of the PDQ-39-IT (all p < 0.01). Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient for the validity of the PDQ-39-IT and the Italian version of the 36-Item Short Form (SF-36) was − 0.50 (p < 0.01). The results show that the PDQ-39-IT is a reliable and valid tool to assess the impact of PD on functioning and well-being. Thus, the PDQ-39-IT can be used in clinical and research practice to assess this construct and to evaluate the overall effect of different treatments in Italian PD patients

Training methods and analysis of races of a top level Paralympic swimming athlete

Training methods for Paralympic swimmers must take into account different pathologies, competitions classes, athlete\u2019s individual circumstances and peculiar physical adaptation mechanisms, hence general guidelines cannot be found in literature. In this study we present a training program, implemented for the physical preparation of a top level Paralympic swimmer. The athlete under study, affected by infantile cerebral palsy within a clinical picture of a spastic tetraparesis, by the end of 2016 was holder of Italian, European, world and Paralympic titles in the 400-m freestyle competition, S6 class. The training macrocycle was structured in a 3-fold periodization (three mesocycles), in view of the preparation to three international competitions. The 4-month training mesocycles prior to each competition differed substantially in terms of mileage load, intensity and recovery times. The first mesocycle was characterized by a sizeable low-intensity mileage load, the second one was shifted to lower mileage load, carried out at middle-to-high intensity levels, the third one entailed increased effort intensity, counterbalanced by lower mileage load. In all cases, recovery times were balanced to obtain optimized performance through physical adaptation to training stimuli, keeping into account the physiopatological response. Tapering phases were adjusted to maximize performance at competition. As an assessment of the effectiveness of the training method, correspondence between chronometric and technical parameters in the three competitions and the respective mesocycle training programs was found. The results of the present study may support the development of training guidelines for athletes affected by upper motor neuron lesions

Influence of orbital character on the ground state electronic properties in the van Der Waals transition metal iodides VI3 and CrI3

This work was performed in the framework of the Nanoscience Foundry and Fine Analysis (NFFA-MUR Italy) facility and was supported by JST-CREST (No. JPMJCR18T1). A part of the computation in this work, using the VASP code (43) in the GGA approximation (44), was performed by using the facilities of the Supercomputer Center, the Institute for Solid State Physics, the University of Tokyo and MASAMUNE-IMR, Center for Computational Materials Science, Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University (Project No. 20K0045).Two-dimensional van der Waals magnetic semiconductors display emergent chemical and physical properties and hold promise for novel optical, electronic and magnetic “few-layers” functionalities. Transition-metal iodides such as CrI3 and VI3 are relevant for future electronic and spintronic applications; however, detailed experimental information on their ground state electronic properties is lacking often due to their challenging chemical environment. By combining X-ray electron spectroscopies and first-principles calculations, we report a complete determination of CrI3 and VI3 electronic ground states. We show that the transition metal-induced orbital filling drives the stabilization of distinct electronic phases: a wide bandgap in CrI3 and a Mott insulating state in VI3. Comparison of surface-sensitive (angular-resolved photoemission spectroscopy) and bulk-sensitive (X-ray absorption spectroscopy) measurements in VI3 reveals a surface-only V2+ oxidation state, suggesting that ground state electronic properties are strongly influenced by dimensionality effects. Our results have direct implications in band engineering and layer-dependent properties of two-dimensional systems.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Observation of termination-dependent topological connectivity in a magnetic Weyl Kagome lattice

The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement 897276. The authors gratefully acknowledge the Gauss Centre for Supercomputing e.V. (https://www.gauss-centre.eu) for funding this project by providing computing time on the GCS Supercomputer SuperMUC-NG at Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (https://www.lrz.de). The authors are grateful for funding support from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy through the Würzburg-Dresden Cluster of Excellence on Complexity and Topology in Quantum Matter ct.qmat (EXC 2147, Project 390858490), through FOR 5249-449872909 (Project P5), and through the Collaborative Research Center SFB 1170 ToCoTronics (Project 258499086). The authors greatly acknowledge the Diamond Light Source that supported the entire micro-ARPES experiment and corresponding costs. The Flatiron Institute is a division of the Simons Foundation. P.D.C.K. and C.B. gratefully acknowledge support from The Leverhulme Trust via Grant RL-2016-006.Engineering surfaces and interfaces of materials promises great potential in the field of heterostructures and quantum matter designers, with the opportunity to drive new many-body phases that are absent in the bulk compounds. Here, we focus on the magnetic Weyl kagome system Co3Sn2S2 and show how for the terminations of different samples the Weyl points connect differently, still preserving the bulk-boundary correspondence. Scanning tunneling microscopy has suggested such a scenario indirectly, and here, we probe the Fermiology of Co3Sn2S2 directly, by linking it to its real space surface distribution. By combining micro-ARPES and first-principles calculations, we measure the energy-momentum spectra and the Fermi surfaces of Co3Sn2S2 for different surface terminations and show the existence of topological features depending on the top-layer electronic environment. Our work helps to define a route for controlling bulk-derived topological properties by means of surface electrostatic potentials, offering a methodology for using Weyl kagome metals in responsive magnetic spintronics.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Off-label long acting injectable antipsychotics in real-world clinical practice: a cross-sectional analysis of prescriptive patterns from the STAR Network DEPOT study

Introduction Information on the off-label use of Long-Acting Injectable (LAI) antipsychotics in the real world is lacking. In this study, we aimed to identify the sociodemographic and clinical features of patients treated with on- vs off-label LAIs and predictors of off-label First- or Second-Generation Antipsychotic (FGA vs. SGA) LAI choice in everyday clinical practice. Method In a naturalistic national cohort of 449 patients who initiated LAI treatment in the STAR Network Depot Study, two groups were identified based on off- or on-label prescriptions. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to test several clinically relevant variables and identify those associated with the choice of FGA vs SGA prescription in the off-label group. Results SGA LAIs were more commonly prescribed in everyday practice, without significant differences in their on- and off-label use. Approximately 1 in 4 patients received an off-label prescription. In the off-label group, the most frequent diagnoses were bipolar disorder (67.5%) or any personality disorder (23.7%). FGA vs SGA LAI choice was significantly associated with BPRS thought disorder (OR = 1.22, CI95% 1.04 to 1.43, p = 0.015) and hostility/suspiciousness (OR = 0.83, CI95% 0.71 to 0.97, p = 0.017) dimensions. The likelihood of receiving an SGA LAI grew steadily with the increase of the BPRS thought disturbance score. Conversely, a preference towards prescribing an FGA was observed with higher scores at the BPRS hostility/suspiciousness subscale. Conclusion Our study is the first to identify predictors of FGA vs SGA choice in patients treated with off-label LAI antipsychotics. Demographic characteristics, i.e. age, sex, and substance/alcohol use co-morbidities did not appear to influence the choice towards FGAs or SGAs. Despite a lack of evidence, clinicians tend to favour FGA over SGA LAIs in bipolar or personality disorder patients with relevant hostility. Further research is needed to evaluate treatment adherence and clinical effectiveness of these prescriptive patterns

The Role of Attitudes Toward Medication and Treatment Adherence in the Clinical Response to LAIs: Findings From the STAR Network Depot Study

Background: Long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics are efficacious in managing psychotic symptoms in people affected by severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The present study aimed to investigate whether attitude toward treatment and treatment adherence represent predictors of symptoms changes over time. Methods: The STAR Network \u201cDepot Study\u201d was a naturalistic, multicenter, observational, prospective study that enrolled people initiating a LAI without restrictions on diagnosis, clinical severity or setting. Participants from 32 Italian centers were assessed at three time points: baseline, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up. Psychopathological symptoms, attitude toward medication and treatment adherence were measured using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI-10) and the Kemp's 7-point scale, respectively. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate whether attitude toward medication and treatment adherence independently predicted symptoms changes over time. Analyses were conducted on the overall sample and then stratified according to the baseline severity (BPRS &lt; 41 or BPRS 65 41). Results: We included 461 participants of which 276 were males. The majority of participants had received a primary diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (71.80%) and initiated a treatment with a second-generation LAI (69.63%). BPRS, DAI-10, and Kemp's scale scores improved over time. Six linear regressions\u2014conducted considering the outcome and predictors at baseline, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up independently\u2014showed that both DAI-10 and Kemp's scale negatively associated with BPRS scores at the three considered time points. Linear mixed-effects models conducted on the overall sample did not show any significant association between attitude toward medication or treatment adherence and changes in psychiatric symptoms over time. However, after stratification according to baseline severity, we found that both DAI-10 and Kemp's scale negatively predicted changes in BPRS scores at 12-month follow-up regardless of baseline severity. The association at 6-month follow-up was confirmed only in the group with moderate or severe symptoms at baseline. Conclusion: Our findings corroborate the importance of improving the quality of relationship between clinicians and patients. Shared decision making and thorough discussions about benefits and side effects may improve the outcome in patients with severe mental disorders

Templating effect of the substrate on the structure of Cu-phthalocyanine thin film

An experimental study of electronic properties, structure and morphology of Copper-phthalocyanine films deposited onto Al(100) and Au(110), as a function of thickness up to tens of nanometers, is presented. The monolayers grown on these two model substrates are already known to exhibit very different behavior for what concerns both the degree of interaction with the substrate and the formation of long range order; in this experiment, by means of low energy electron scattering and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS), remarkable differences are revealed also in the successive growth. Exploiting the link between the crystal structure and the lineshape of HOMOâLUMO transition in EELS spectrum, two different structural phases are identified, compatible with α and β phases, respectively in the case of the film grown on aluminum and on gold. Besides, the evolution of the specular reflection elastic peak indicates the formation of islands on the gold substrate and a more homogeneous growth on the aluminum one