Insula volumes in first-episode and chronic psychosis: A longitudinal MRI study

Background Alterations in insular grey matter (GM) volume has been consistently reported for affective and non-affective psychoses both in chronic and first-episode patients, ultimately suggesting that the insula might represent a good region to study in order to assess the longitudinal course of psychotic disorders. Therefore, in this longitudinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) study, we aimed at further investigating the key role of insular volumes in psychosis. Material and Methods 68 First-Episode Psychosis (FEP) patients, 68 patients with Schizophrenia (SCZ), 47 Bipolar Disorder (BD) patients, and 94 Healthy Controls (HC) were enrolled and underwent a 1.5 T MRI evaluation. A subsample of 99 subjects (10 HC, 23 BD, 29 SCZ, 37 FEP) was rescanned after 2,53 ± 1,68 years. The insular cortex was manually traced and then divided into an anterior and posterior portion. Group and correlation analyses were then performed both at baseline and at follow-up. Results At baseline, greater anterior and lower posterior insular GM volumes were observed in chronic patients. At follow-up, we found that FEP patients had a significant GM volume increase from baseline to follow-up, especially in the posterior insula whereas chronic patients showed a relative stability. Finally, significant negative correlations between illness severity and pharmacological treatment and insular GM volumes were observed in the whole group of psychotic patients. Conclusions The longitudinal assessment of both chronic and first-episode patients allowed us to detect a complex pattern of GM abnormalities in selective sub-portions of insular volumes, ultimately suggesting that this structure could represent a key biological marker of psychotic disorders

Altered syntactic abilities in first episode patients: An inner phenomenon characterizing psychosis

Background: Research has consistently shown that language abilities represent a core dimension of psychosis; however, to date, very little is known about syntactic comprehension performance in the early stages of psychosis. This study aims to compare the linguistic abilities involved in syntactic comprehension in a large group of First Episode Psychosis (FEP) patients and healthy controls (HCs). Methods: A multiple choice test of comprehension of syntax was administered to 218 FEP patients (166 non-affective FEP patients [FEP-NA] and 52 affective FEP patients [FEP-A]) and 106 HCs. All participants were asked to match a sentence they listen with one out of four vignettes on a pc screen. Only one vignette represents the stimulus target, while the others are grammatical or non-grammatical (visual) distractors. Both grammatical and non-grammatical errors and performance in different syntactic constructions were considered. Results: FEP committed greater number of errors in the majority of TCGB language domains compared to HCs. Moreover, FEP-NA patients committed significantly more non-grammatical (z = −3.2, p = 0.007), locative (z = −4.7, p < 0.001), passive-negative (z = −3.2, p = 0.02), and relative (z = −4.6, p < 0.001) errors compared to HCs as well as more passive-affirmative errors compared to both HCs (z = −4.3, p < 0.001) and FEP-A (z = 3.1, p = 0.04). Finally, we also found that both FEP-NA and FEP-A committed more grammatical (FEP-NA: z = −9.2, p < 0.001 and FEP-A: z = −4.4, p < 0.001), total (FEP-NA: z = −8.2, p < 0.001 and FEP-A: z = 3.9, p = 0.002), and active-negative (FEP-NA: z = −5.8, p < 0.001 and FEP-A: z = −3.5, p = 0.01) errors compared to HCs. Conclusions: This study shows that the access to syntactic structures is already impaired in FEP patients, especially in those with FEP-NA, ultimately suggesting that language impairments represent a core and inner feature of psychosis even at early stages

Prosody abilities in a large sample of affective and non-affective first episode psychosis patients

Objective: Prosody comprehension deficits have been reported in major psychoses. It is still not clear whether these deficits occur at early psychosis stages. The aims of our study were to investigate a) linguistic and emotional prosody comprehension abilities in First Episode Psychosis (FEP) patients compared to healthy controls (HC); b) performance differences between non-affective (FEP-NA) and affective (FEP-A) patients, and c) association between symptoms severity and prosodic features. Methods: A total of 208 FEP (156 FEP-NA and 52 FEP-A) patients and 77 HC were enrolled and assessed with the Italian version of the “Protocole Montréal d'Evaluation de la Communication” to evaluate linguistic and emotional prosody comprehension. Clinical variables were assessed with a comprehensive set of standardized measures. Results: FEP patients displayed significant linguistic and emotional prosody deficits compared to HC, with FEP-NA showing greater impairment than FEP-A. Also, significant correlations between symptom severity and prosodic features in FEP patients were found. Conclusions: Our results suggest that prosodic impairments occur at the onset of psychosis being more prominent in FEP-NA and in those with severe psychopathology. These findings further support the hypothesis that aprosodia is a core feature of psychosis

La strategia nazionale per la biodiversità in Italia

La conservazione della biodiversità e l’uso sostenibile delle risorse garantiscono il corretto funzionamento degli ecosistemi così come la fornitura dei loro servizi, che sono le basi essenziali della vita e dell’economia umane. La società moderna e l’economia sono, infatti, legate in modo sistemico all'uso delle risorse naturali e dei sistemi produttivi. In particolare, questa stretta dipendenza si manifesta con le attività agricole e forestali, oltre che con le attività collegate ai trasporti, al turismo e alla crescita urbana.I benefici diretti e indiretti della biodiversità si riflettono in servizi riguardanti i prodotti (cibo, principi farmaceutici, materie prime, acqua), la regolazione (controllo climatico, protezione dagli eventi estremi), il supporto (produzione di ossigeno, formazione del suolo) e gli interessi culturali (aumento delle conoscenze, valore estetico, relazioni sociali). Realizzare un bilancio ottimale tra tutela della biodiversità, valorizzazione delle risorse naturali e sviluppo economico significa perseguire l’obiettivo dello sviluppo sostenibile. Inoltre, la perdita di biodiversità e la riduzione dell’efficienza dei servizi ecosistemici hanno costi economici e sociali rilevanti non solo in relazione alla sostenibilità ambientale, ma anche ai tentativi in atto per ridurre la povertà, la fame e la malattia nel mondo. Grazie alle sue caratteristiche ambientali e storiche, l’Italia è un paese che contiene, a tutti i livelli di organizzazione biologica e territoriale, un elevato valore di biodiversità. In questo contesto, studi e attività di ricerca rappresentano il presupposto irrinunciabile per la sostenibilità ambientale di scelte e azioni future

Strategia Nazionale per la Biodiversità in Italia.

La proposta di Strategia Nazionale per la Biodiversità è stata elaborata a partire dal dibattito mondiale ed europeo sulla conservazione della biodiversità post-2010 e dagli impegni assunti con la Carta di Siracusa, facendo tesoro dell’esperienza maturata da questo Dicastero, attraverso i momenti di confronto e collaborazione con le amministrazioni centrali, con le amministrazioni regionali e locali, con gli enti di ricerca e le società scientifiche, con le organizzazioni non governative, con le associazioni di categoria e tutti i portatori di interesse. Il processo di condivisione intrapreso è essenziale affinché l’integrazione della biodiversità nelle politiche di settore trasformi in opportunità quelle che oggi sono viste come limitazioni: la coniugazione delle esigenze della conservazione con quelle dello sviluppo è la chiave per un nuovo approccio alla sostenibilità in cui diversità biologica, economica e culturale giocano un ruolo fondamentale e sinergico per lo sviluppo equilibrato del Paese

National Biodiversity Strategy in Italy

Biodiversity conservation and sustainable use guarantee the correct functioning of ecosystems as well as the provision of their services, which constituite the essential basis for human economy and life. The loss of biodiversity and the reduced efficiency of ecosystem-related services have high social and economic costs as regards not only environmental sustainability, but also attempts made to reduce poverty, hunger and disease throughout the world. Indeed, the direct and indirect benefits of biodiversity are reflected in services regarding supplies (food, pharmaceutical drugs, raw materials, water), regulation (climate control, protection against extreme events), support (oxygen production, soil formation) and cultural interest (increased knowledge, aesthetic value, social relations). Modern society and economy are strongly linked to natural resources and productive ecosystems use. In particular, this dependence is expressed through agriculture and forest activities. It is evident that this dependency is also linked to other human activities related to transports, tourism and urban growth. The achievement of the optimum balance between biodiversity conservation, natural resources valorization and economic development mean the pursuing of sustainable development

National Biodiversity Strategy in Italy

Biodiversity conservation and sustainable use guarantee the correct functioning of ecosystems as well as the provision of their services, which constituite the essential basis for human economy and life. The loss of biodiversity and the reduced efficiency of ecosystem-related services have high social and economic costs as regards not only environmental sustainability, but also attempts made to reduce poverty, hunger and disease throughout the world. Indeed, the direct and indirect benefits of biodiversity are reflected in services regarding supplies (food, pharmaceutical drugs, raw materials, water), regulation (climate control, protection against extreme events), support (oxygen production, soil formation) and cultural interest (increased knowledge, aesthetic value, social relations). Modern society and economy are strongly linked to natural resources and productive ecosystems use. In particular, this dependence is expressed through agriculture and forest activities. It is evident that this dependency is also linked to other human activities related to transports, tourism and urban growth. The achievement of the optimum balance between biodiversity conservation, natural resources valorization and economic development mean the pursuing of sustainable development

Scenario Biodiversità Italia (2000-2010)

L’Italia è un Paese che grazie alle sue caratteristiche fisiche, geografiche e storiche contiene, a tutti i li- velli, da quello genetico a quello ecosistemico e paesaggistico, un elevato valore di Biodiversità. Diversi studi su flora, fauna e vegetazione sono stati compiuti sul territorio nazionale dalle nostre Università ed Istituti di ricerca, raggiungendo nel corso degli anni livelli di eccellenza di valenza internazionale. Con questa consapevolezza, dalla fine degli anni ’90, la Direzione per la Protezione della Natura del Ministero dell’Ambiente ha intrapreso un percorso costante e lungimirante finalizzato alla sistematizzazione delle numerose fonti di dati che a vario titolo (accademico, agenziale, pubblico, privato, locale e centrale) esistevano sul territorio. Obiettivo di questo percorso è quello di conoscere, documentare e tutelare sia dal punto di vista quantitativo sia qualitativo il valore della Biodiversità italiana

Insula volumes in first-episode and chronic psychosis: A longitudinal MRI study

Background: Alterations in insular grey matter (GM) volume has been consistently reported for affective and non-affective psychoses both in chronic and first-episode patients, ultimately suggesting that the insula might represent a good region to study in order to assess the longitudinal course of psychotic disorders. Therefore, in this longitudinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) study, we aimed at further investigating the key role of insular volumes in psychosis. Material and Methods: 68 First-Episode Psychosis (FEP) patients, 68 patients with Schizophrenia (SCZ), 47 Bipolar Disorder (BD) patients, and 94 Healthy Controls (HC) were enrolled and underwent a 1.5 T MRI evaluation. A subsample of 99 subjects (10 HC, 23 BD, 29 SCZ, 37 FEP) was rescanned after 2,53 ± 1,68 years. The insular cortex was manually traced and then divided into an anterior and posterior portion. Group and correlation analyses were then performed both at baseline and at follow-up. Results: At baseline, greater anterior and lower posterior insular GM volumes were observed in chronic patients. At follow-up, we found that FEP patients had a significant GM volume increase from baseline to follow-up, especially in the posterior insula whereas chronic patients showed a relative stability. Finally, significant negative correlations between illness severity and pharmacological treatment and insular GM volumes were observed in the whole group of psychotic patients. Conclusions: The longitudinal assessment of both chronic and first-episode patients allowed us to detect a complex pattern of GM abnormalities in selective sub-portions of insular volumes, ultimately suggesting that this structure could represent a key biological marker of psychotic disorders