Metacognition and headache: which Is the role in childhood and adolescence?

Headache, in particular migraine, is one of the most frequent neurological symptoms in children and adolescents and it affects about 60% of children and adolescents all over the world. Headache can affect several areas of child’s functioning, such as school, physical activities, peer, and family relationship. The global and severe burden of this disease requires a multidisciplinary strategy and an effective treatment addressed all of the patient’s needs and based on cutting-edge scientific research. In recent years, research has focused on cognitive factors specifically in functions called metacognitive processes. Metacognition can be defined as the knowledge, beliefs, and cognitive processes involved in monitoring, control, and assessment of cognition. Metacognition seems to be closely related to the ability of theory of mind, the ability to infer, and reason about the mental states of other people in order to predict and explain own behavior. Recent studies found a relationship between metacognitive skills and anxiety, depression, motivation, academic performance, human social interactions, and stress symptoms. This relationship is very interesting for headache treatment, because these factors are the most commonly reported triggers in this disorder and there is a high comorbidity with anxiety and depression in children and adolescents with headache. So, headache and these comorbidities, in particular anxiety and depression, may have in common persistent and maladaptive patterns of thinking which are related to maladaptive metacognitive beliefs. Further research should assess metacognitive processes of children and adolescents with headache in order to increase their ability to control their own cognitive processes and consequently monitor factors which may trigger the attacks

Headache and alexithymia in children and adolescents: what Is the connection?

Background: Headache is one of the most common complaints in children and adolescents and comorbidity rates are very high and the major associated diseases are depression, anxiety, atopic disorders, sleep, and behavioral disorders. In recent years, it has been highlighted that difficulties regulating emotions such as alexithymia have also been associated with diagnosis of somatization. Methods: We carried out a mini review analyzing the relation between alexithymia and primary headache (e.g., migraine and tension type headache) in children and adolescents by synthesizing the relevant studies in the literature on PubMed, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar. Search terms were "alexithymia" combined with the "primary headache," "migraine," "tension type headache," "children," and "adolescents." Results: All analyzed studies found higher levels of alexithymia in children and adolescents with headache than control groups but there are different opinions about the relationship between headache and alexithymia. For example, some studies suggest that the association between headache and alexithymia in children may be due to an incomplete development of emotive competency or a general immature cognitive development, instead other studies found a correlation between headache symptoms, insecure attachment, and alexithymia. There seems to be also differences between children with migraine compared to those with tension type headache (TTH). Conclusion: There are some studies on adults suffering from headache or migraine and alexithymia, but there is only a moderate amount of research on pediatric age with different opinions and theories about this relationship. Further studies on children and adolescents are necessary to effectively understand this relationship and to help children to reduce headache and improve emotional consciousness

Don't judge a book by its cover. factitious disorder imposed on children-report on 2 cases

Factitious Disorder Imposed on Another (FDIA), also known as Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy (MSbP) is a very serious form of child abuse. The perpetrator, usually the mother, invents symptoms or causes real ones in order to make her child appear sick. Usually this is due to a maladaptive disorder or to an excessive of attention-seeking on her part. We report here two new cases of FDIA. The first one is a 9-year-old boy with a history of convulsive episodes, reduced verbal production, mild psychomotor disorder and urological problems who underwent several invasive procedures and hospitalizations before a diagnosis of FDIA was made. The second is a 12 year-old girl with headache, abdominal pain, lipothymic episodes, seizures and a gait impairment, who was hospitalized in several hospitals before an FDIA was diagnosed

Root and crown tot of olive caused dy Phytophthora spp.

Phytophthora root and crown rot has been traditionally considered a minor disease of olive. However, in recent years it has been recognized as an emerging problem in several olive-growing countries such as Australia, Italy and Spain probably as a consequence of the expansion of plantings in new areas with heavy soils and the more intensive use of irrigation in both olive nurseries and commercial groves. The disease has been reported from most olive-growing countries and is caused by several soil -borne species of Phytophthora, including P. cinnamomi, P. citricola, P. cryptogea, P. drechsleri, P. gonapodyides, P. inundata, P. megasperma,P. nicotianae and P.palmivora. Diagnosis is currently based on the isolation and identification of isolates by both traditional and molecular methods. New molecular techniques are currently available that could be applied for both the identification of isolates and Phytophthora infections directly in host-tissues as well as insoil and water samples. A number of dedicated databases could improve the efficiency of these techniques. Moreover, DNA analysis has greatly contributed to phylogenetic studies of Phytophthora. Control of Phytophthora root and crown rot of olive is mainly based on preventive measures

First Report of Root and Basal Stem Rot Caused by Phytophthora cryptogea and P. inundata on Dwarf Banana in Italy

In Sicily (southern Italy) local cultivars of dwarf banana (Musa acuminata) are cultivated for edible fruit and as ornamental plants. During the summer of 2015, in an ornamental nursery of Aci San Filippo (Catania province), eastern Sicily, ten out of forty mature plants of dwarf banana grown in the field showed leaf chlorosis, wilt and sudden collapse of the entire plant associated with root and basal stem rot. Two Phytophthora species (overall 24 and 22 isolates, respectively) were consistently recovered directly from rotted roots and stems on BNPRA-HMI selective medium (Masago et al. 1977). Pure cultures of both species were obtained by single-hypha isolations. The first species formed slight petaloid colonies on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and slightly fluffy colonies on V-8 juice agar (V8A). It grew between 2 and 30°C, with an optimum of 25°C. On V8A discs flooded with non-sterile soil extract this species produced persistent, ovoid to obpyriform, non-papillate, internally proliferating sporangia (35 ..

Phytophthora root and collar rot of Paulownia, a new disease for Europe

Paulownia species are fast growing trees native to China, which are being grown in managed plantings in several European countries for the production of wood and biomasses. In 2018, wilting, stunting, leaf yellowing, and collapse, as a consequence of root and crown rot, were observed in around 40% of trees of a 2-year-old planting of Paulownia elongata × P. fortunei in Calabria (Southern Italy). Two species of Phytophthora were consistently recovered from roots, basal stem bark, and rhizosphere soil of symptomatic trees and were identified as Ph. nicotianae and Ph. palmivora on the basis of both morphological characteristics and phylogenetic analysis of rDNA ITS sequences. Koch’s postulates were fulfilled by reproducing the symptoms on potted paulownia saplings transplanted into infested soil or stem-inoculated by wounding. Both Phytophthora species were pathogenic and caused root rot and stem cankers. Even though P. palmivora was the only species recovered from roots of naturally infected plants, in pathogenicity tests through infested soil P. nicotianae was more virulent. This is the first report of Phytophthora root and crown rot of a Paulownia species in Europe. Strategies to prevent this emerging disease include the use of healthy nursery plants, choice of well-drained soils for new plantations, and proper irrigation management

A new approach in the monitoring of the phytosanitary conditions of forests: the case of oak and beech stands in the Sicilian Regional Parks

L'obiettivo del presente studio è stato quello di esaminare lo stato fitosanitario delle quercete e faggete dei tre Parchi Regionali Siciliani (Parco dell'Etna, Parco delle Madonie, Parco dei Nebrodi). Lo studio è stato condotto individuando delle aree di saggio, popolamenti forestali omogenei sotto l'aspetto floristico, ecologico e fitosanitario. Complessivamente sono state delimitate 81 aree di saggio, di cui 54 quercete e 27 faggete. La condizione fitosanitaria di ogni essenza arborea all'interno della rispettiva area di saggio è stata espressa con un indice numerico denominato “classe fitosanitaria” (PC). I popolamenti di quercia hanno mostrato un elevato grado di sofferenza, con alberi sintomatici nell’85% delle aree di saggio. I popolamenti di faggio hanno mostrato una situazione di maggiore stabilità, ad eccezione delle faggete del parco dei Nebrodi che apparivano molto degradate. Sul genere Quercus, sono stati osservati sintomi di infezioni di patogeni fungini comuni nelle foreste delle aree temperate e Mediterranee, quali Biscogniauxia mediterranea, Polyporus sp., Fistulina hepatica, Mycrosphaera alphitoides ed Armillaria sp., mentre su faggio sono state osservate infezioni di Biscogniauxia nummularia, Fomes fomentarius e Neonectria radicicola. Sono state altresì individuate 22 aree che vengono proposte come aree di saggio permanenti dello stato fitosanitario delle foreste nei tre parchi.The objective of this study was to investigate the health conditions of oak and beech stands in the three Regional Parks of Sicily (Etna, Madonie and Nebrodi). A total of 81 sampling areas were investigated, 54 in oak stands and 27 in beech stands. The phytosanitary conditions of each tree within the respective sampling area was expressed with a synthetic index namely phytosanitary class (PC). Oak stands showed severe symptoms of decline, with 85% of the sampling areas including symptomatic trees. In general, beech stands were in better condition, with the exception of Nebrodi Park, where trees showed severe symptoms of decline. On oak trees, infections of fungal pathogens were also observed, including Biscogniauxia mediterranea, Polyporus sp., Fistulina hepatica, Mycrosphaera alphitoides and Armillaria sp. By contrast, on beech trees Biscogniauxia nummularia, Fomes fomentarius and Neonectria radicicola were recognized. Furthermore, twenty-two permanent sampling areas were delimited with the aim of monitoring regularly the health conditions of forests in these three parks

Phytophthora × pelgrandis Causes Root and Collar Rot of Lavandula stoechas in Italy.

In 2007, Phytophthora isolates with atypical morphological and biological characteristics were found associated with root and collar rot of potted plants of Stoechas lavender (Lavandula stoechas) in an ornamental nursery in Italy. A polyphasic approach, including morphological and cultural observations, sequencing the ITS-rDNA region, the Pheca and the mitochondrial coxI genes, multiplex PCRs with primers specific for P. nicotianae or P. cactorum, as well as random amplified polymorphic DNA–polymerase chain reaction, was used to characterize these isolates. On the basis of morpho-cultural and molecular analyses, the isolates from Stoechas lavender were identified as Phytophthora × pelgrandis, a natural hybrid of P. nicotianae × P. cactorum previously reported in other European countries, the Americas, and Taiwan, as a pathogen of ornamentals and loquat plants. In pathogenicity tests using potted plants of Stoechas lavender, the P. × pelgrandis isolates, similarly to the parental species P. nicotianae, induced the symptoms observed on plants with natural infections and were reisolated only from artificially inoculated plants. Dispersal of P. × pelgrandis on this host could exacerbate the damage caused by Phytophthora root and collar rot, of which the main causal agent presently is P. nicotianae on lavender in Europe. Application of hygienic measures is important to reduce the proliferation and spread of the Phytophthora hybrids