Views of Mental Health Professionals on Positive Changes in Service Practices and Staff-User Relationships After One Year of Covid-19 Pandemic in Italy

Abstract This study explored views of mental health services (MHS) professionals regarding positive changes in service practices and organizations, and staff-user relationships after one year of COVID19 in Italy. Professionals from a community-oriented MHS completed online the Questionnaire on MHS Transformations during the COVID-19 pandemic, a 30-item tool developed by a participatory approach and validated. Of the 184 participants, 91.8% felt it was ‘‘true/definitely true’’ that during the pandemic they had informed users on procedures to reduce contagion risks, and 82.1% stated that they had increased telephone contact with users. Sixty-nine percent of professionals reported that staff revised treatment plans according to new needs of care and 78.6% stated that they had been able to mediate between user needs and safe working procedures. Moreover, 79.4% of respondents stated that they had rediscovered the importance of gestures and habits, and 65% that they had gained strength among colleagues to face fear. Fifty-four percent of participants admitted that they had discovered unexpected personal resources in users. Overall, 59.6% of participants stated that they found some positives in the COVID-19 experience. Perceived positive changes was greater among professionals from community facilities vs. those from hospital and residential facilities. In community-oriented MHS, the pandemic offered an opportunity to change practices and rethink the meaning of relationships between people. This data may be useful in generating a more balanced understanding of COVID-19’s impact on MHS and for MHS planning in the pandemic era

Mobile Daily Centre (Mdc) for Elder People with Cognitive Impairment: a Retrospective Observational Study

Introduction Trieste is a city characterized by a high mean age of the resident population, with 6,000 people with a cognitive impairment. Evidences show that is necessary to have a multidisciplinary approach, making alliances with the social network and families, while dealing with people with cognitive impairment. Because of this, the 3rd catchment district has developed a Mobile Daily Centre that aims to promote health, abilities and socialization giving the possibilities for these people to stay in a social context. Objectives Evaluating the impact of the Mobile Daily Centre on QoL of people with Cognitive Impairment. Aims Considering the rate of hospitalization and access to the first aid unit at the general hospital. Methods Retrospective Observational Study for the period between 01.01.2012 and 30.04.2014 on people in charge to the MDC. We have considered socio-demographic variables such as age, gender, care-givers; clinical variables such as psychopharmacotherapy and acetylcolinesterase-inhibitors drugs; rates of hospitalization, number of accesses to the first aid unit and of interventions of the MDC. Results in the period of the study 20 patients have been followed by the MDC; half of them had a psycho-pharmacological prescription. Very low rates of institutionalization have been detected. Conclusions MDC, in these small numbers, has shown to reduce the number of improper institutionalizations while guaranteeing to the elder people to maintain their abilities and socialization and to their care-givers periods of relief. Moreover, it promotes social inclusion and destigmatization. These results suggest that more territorial work and further studies should be done

Simultaneous management of the enophthalmos and sinus pathology in silent sinus syndrome: a report of three cases.

Silent sinus syndrome is a rare disorder affecting the maxillary sinus unilaterally, characterized by ipsilateral enophthalmos and hypoglobus. The treatment is surgical: the endoscopic approach represents the gold standard for the restoration of normal sinus aeration, but there is no consensus in the management of the enophthalmos. Most authors suggest a two stage procedure consisting of endoscopic sinus surgery initially and a delayed secondary operation for the restoration of the orbital floor. We present our experience with three cases treated with a single-stage procedure, focusing on the advantages of this one-step approach

CARD15/NOD2 mutations are not related to abdominal PFAPA.

Saulsbury et al emphasize the diagnostic challenge of periodic fevers in pediatrics by describing a case of PFAPA (Periodic Fever, Aphthous stomatitis, Pharyngitis, and Cervical Adenopathy) that was eventually diagnosed as TNFa Receptor-Associated Period Fever (TRAPS). PFAPA is a syndrome and not a specific disease and\u2014as pointed out previously\u2014some symptoms, for instance aphthous stomatitis, may not be present. Moreover, other symptoms are very common, for example abdominal pain, which is present in 60% of all cases. The importance of these symptoms warrants in many children the evaluation of different diagnoses, including other periodic fevers (hyper-IgD syndrome [HIDS], TRAPS) and even Crohn\u2019s disease. We recently described three cases of HIDS in which the disease onset was characterized by a PFAPA-like symptomatology and by severe abdominal complaints