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1.
J Viral Hepat ; 31(5): 240-247, 2024 May.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-38385850

RESUMEN

Widespread screening for hepatitis C virus (HCV) is necessary for Canada to meet its HCV elimination goals by 2030. People who currently or previously injected drugs are at high risk for HCV. Opioid agonist therapy (OAT, such as methadone and buprenorphine) has been shown to help stabilize the lives of people who are opioid-dependent. The distribution of OAT in North America typically requires daily, weekly, or monthly clinic visits and presents an opportunity for engagement, screening and treatment for those at high-risk of HCV. In this study, HCV screening was conducted by staff at OAT clinics in Ontario from 2016 to 2020 and those with chronic infections were treated on-site with direct-acting antivirals. Point-of-care or dried blood spot (DBS) testing was used for antibodies, DBS or serum for HCV RNA and serum for HCV RNA at SVR12 (sustained virological response). Clinics screened 1954 people (mean age 40 years ±12, 63% male). Forty-five percent were antibody positive, of whom 64% were HCV RNA+. Eighty percent of those RNA+ set an appointment in which 99% attended. Ninety-six percent started treatment with 87% completing treatment. Sixty-eight percent of people who completed treatment submitted a sample for SVR12 testing of which 97% achieved a virological cure. Results suggest that HCV screening and treatment at OAT clinics is feasible, effective and warrants expansion. Data suggest strong treatment adherence due to high rates of SVR12 comparable with other OAT-based HCV treatment programs. The lack of SVR12 sampling could be addressed by either on-site phlebotomy or incentivizing SVR12 sampling.


Asunto(s)
Hepatitis C Crónica , Hepatitis C , Abuso de Sustancias por Vía Intravenosa , Humanos , Masculino , Adulto , Femenino , Hepacivirus/genética , Analgésicos Opioides/uso terapéutico , Antivirales , Ontario/epidemiología , Prevalencia , Hepatitis C Crónica/diagnóstico , Hepatitis C Crónica/tratamiento farmacológico , Hepatitis C Crónica/epidemiología , Hepatitis C/diagnóstico , Hepatitis C/tratamiento farmacológico , Hepatitis C/epidemiología , ARN , Abuso de Sustancias por Vía Intravenosa/complicaciones , Abuso de Sustancias por Vía Intravenosa/epidemiología , Abuso de Sustancias por Vía Intravenosa/tratamiento farmacológico
2.
Case Rep Pediatr ; 2022: 3793226, 2022.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35449525

RESUMEN

Charcot- Marie- Tooth (CMT) disease includes a group of clinically and genetically heterogeneous neuropathic disorders with an estimated frequency of 1 on 2.500 individuals. CMTs are differently classified according to the age of onset, type of inheritance, and type of inheritance plus clinical features. For these disorders, more than 100 genes have been implicated as causal factors, with mutations in the PMP22 being one of the most common. The demyelinating type (CMT1) affects more than 30% of the CMTs patients and manifests with motor and sensory dysfunctions of the peripheral nervous system mainly starting with slow progressive weakness of the lower extremities. We report here a 12 year- old boy presenting with typical features of CMT1 type, hearing impairment, and inguinal hernia who at the next-generation sequence analysis displayed a concomitant presence of two variants: the c.233 C>T p.Ser 78Leu of the MPZ gene (NM_000530.6) characterized as pathogenetic and the c.1403 G>A p.Arg 468His of the MFN2 gene (NM_014874.3) characterized as VUS. Concomitant variant mutations in CMTs have been uncommonly reported. The role of these gene mutations on the clinical expression and a literature review on this topic is discussed.

3.
J Frailty Aging ; 11(1): 59-66, 2022.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-35122092

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Studies increasingly suggest that chronic exposure to psychological stress can lead to health deterioration and accelerated ageing, thus possibly contributing to the development of frailty. Recent approaches based on the deficit accumulation model measure frailty on a continuous grading through the "Frailty Index" (FI), i.e. a macroscopic indicator of biological senescence and functional status. OBJECTIVES: The study aimed at testing the relationship of FI with caregiving, psychological stress, and psychological resilience. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study, with case-control and correlational analyses. PARTICIPANTS: Caregivers of patients with dementia (n=64), i.e. individuals a priori considered to be exposed to prolonged psychosocial stressors, and matched controls (n=64) were enrolled. MEASUREMENTS: The two groups were compared using a 38-item FI condensing biological, clinical, and functional assessments. Within caregivers, the association of FI with Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) was tested. RESULTS: Caregivers had higher FI than controls (F=8.308, p=0.005). FI was associated directly with PSS (r=0.660, p<0.001) and inversely with BRS (r=-0.637, p<0.001). Findings remained significant after adjusting for certain confounding variables, after excluding from the FI the conditions directly related to psychological stress, and when the analyses were performed separately among participants older and younger than 65 years. CONCLUSIONS: The results provide insight on the relationship of frailty with caregiving, psychological stress, and resilience, with potential implications for the clinical management of individuals exposed to chronic emotional strain.


Asunto(s)
Fragilidad , Resiliencia Psicológica , Cuidadores , Estudios Transversales , Humanos , Estrés Psicológico
5.
Eur Psychiatry ; 58: 45-53, 2019 05.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30818134

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Sleep alterations are frequent occurrence in Bipolar Disorder (BD), both in acute and interepisodic phases. Sleep alterations have been also described both long before BD onset, as aspecific risk syndromes, or as immediate prodromes of BD onset. The aim of the present study is to systematically review the relationship between sleep alterations anticipating for the full-blown onset of BD, both in general and according to specific polarities of onset. METHODS: A systematic literature research according to PRISMA statement and considering: 1. prospective studies about BD patients' offspring with sleep alterations who later developed BD. 2. prospective studies assessing patients with sleep disorders who later developed BD. 3. retrospective studies on BD patients where sleep alterations before BD onset of the disease were reported. RESULTS: A total of 16 studies were included in this review. Sleep disturbances may frequently appear 1 year before the onset of BD or more, often during childhood or adolescence. A decreased need for sleep may precede the onset of the illness, specially a manic episode, while insomnia appears to anticipate either a manic or a depressive episode. Hypersomnia seems to precede bipolar depressive episodes. CONCLUSIONS: Sleep alterations frequently appear long before the onset of BD, and appear to be related specifically to the polarity of the index episode. The detection and treatment of sleep alterations in special high risk populations may help achieving an earlier detection of the illness.


Asunto(s)
Trastorno Bipolar/epidemiología , Diagnóstico Precoz , Trastornos del Sueño-Vigilia/epidemiología , Adolescente , Adulto , Trastorno Bipolar/diagnóstico , Causalidad , Niño , Trastorno Depresivo/epidemiología , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Estudios Prospectivos , Estudios Retrospectivos , Factores de Riesgo , Trastornos del Sueño-Vigilia/diagnóstico
6.
Phys Med Biol ; 63(23): 235021, 2018 12 04.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30511662

RESUMEN

Texture analysis (TA) applied to CT imaging is an intensely studied topic and many studies suggested TA potential value in imaging characterisation for diagnostic purposes in different fields. However, often authors do not consider the reproducibility and the robustness versus variations in acquisition parameters; in this work, we wanted to explore the robustness of the TA features extracted from CT images. We scanned a commercial phantom (CIRS model 062M) containing plugs with nine different tissue equivalent electron densities using two different CT scanners of the same vendor and changing tube current (100 and 200 mA without modulation) and peak voltage (80 and 140 kVp). After the segmentation, we extracted TA features with LifeX and data were then statistically analysed using the generic estimate equations (GEE) method. Our results suggest that only seven out of 37 TA features extracted are not affected by variation in acquisition parameters considered in this study: GLRLM lgre, GLRLM srlge, GLRLM lrgle, GLZLM lze, GLZLM lgze, GLZLM szlge, GLZLM lzlge. Definitively, we highlighted the importance of a careful study of the dependence of TA parameters on acquisition modalities and analysis before their application in clinical studies.


Asunto(s)
Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos X/métodos , Algoritmos , Humanos , Fantasmas de Imagen , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , Tomógrafos Computarizados por Rayos X , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos X/instrumentación
7.
J Pediatr Urol ; 14(6): 577-583, 2018 12.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-30270102

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: To make surgical training more effective, a proven method is needed to provide feedback to residents on their surgeries. Residency programs may make up for limited training time in the operating room by improving feedback that trainees receive about cases. OBJECTIVE: The goals of this study were (1) to determine if an online tool to communicate feedback for attendings and trainees shows face validity and (2) to use an online tool to identify the most common feedback trainees receive after performing orchiopexy and hypospadias repair by survey. METHODS: In 2016, determining whether an online tool to provide pediatric urology trainees feedback after surgery shows face validity begun. The tool was launched at the authors' institutions. Then, attendings, fellows, and postgraduate year 4-5 trainees of 65 resident training programs were surveyed for their observations on preparing for and performing orchiopexy and hypospadias repair using the study tool to identify common feedback. RESULTS: The results of using the tool to provide feedback shows face validity are as follows: feedback was exchanged between attendings and trainees on orchiopexy (n = 28) and hypospadias (n = 22). Anecdotally, the tool was easy to use. The results of using the tool to identify the most common feedback trainees receive by survey are as follows: from a pool of 65 institutions, 37 attendings and 28 trainees were enrolled who made 219 observations. Most trainees prepare using undocumented online resources (17/28, 67%) instead of speaking with their attendings or cotrainees (11/28, 33%). For orchiopexy, most respondents reported that trainees need to improve skills for hernia ligation (observations: attending = 28/45, 62%; and trainee = 17/26, 65%) and strategies for hernia exposure (observations: attending = 17/27, 62%; and trainee = 7/12, 58%). For hypospadias, most respondents reported that trainees need to improve skills for neourethroplasty (observations: attending = 31/53, 58%; and trainee = 10/16, 62%) and strategies for repair choice (observations: attending = 15/22, 68%; and trainee = 12/18, 67%) (chi-squared, all P = NS). DISCUSSION: It was shown that both trainees and attendings agree on the areas of surgical strategy and execution which require improvement. With this study, it is also shown that the online feedback tool developed shows face validity in allowing attendings and trainees to communicate before and after surgery. CONCLUSIONS: The most common feedback pediatric urology trainees receive for routine pediatric urology surgery is identified. Online tools that emphasize remediations to address a trainee's specific feedback needs are to be built, so that they will be able to improve their skills at their next case.


Asunto(s)
Retroalimentación Formativa , Pediatría/educación , Procedimientos Quirúrgicos Urológicos Masculinos/educación , Urología/educación , Educación a Distancia , Educación Médica/normas , Humanos , Hipospadias/cirugía , Masculino , Orquidopexia/educación
8.
Acta Psychiatr Scand ; 138(3): 253-266, 2018 09.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29984409

RESUMEN

OBJECTIVE: The study aimed to explore premorbid academic and social functioning in patients with schizophrenia, and its associations with the severity of negative symptoms and neurocognitive impairment. METHOD: Premorbid adjustment (PA) in patients with schizophrenia was compared to early adjustment in unaffected first-degree relatives and healthy controls. Its associations with psychopathology, cognition, and real-life functioning were investigated. The associations of PA with primary negative symptoms and their two factors were explored. RESULTS: We found an impairment of academic and social PA in patients (P ≤ 0.000001) and an impairment of academic aspects of early adjustment in relatives (P ≤ 0.01). Patients with poor PA showed greater severity of negative symptoms (limited to avolition after excluding the effect of depression/parkinsonism), working memory, social cognition, and real-life functioning (P ≤ 0.01 to ≤0.000001). Worse academic and social PA were associated with greater severity of psychopathology, cognitive impairment, and real-life functioning impairment (P ≤ 0.000001). Regression analyses showed that worse PA in the academic domain was mainly associated to the impairment of working memory, whereas worse PA in the social domain to avolition (P ≤ 0.000001). CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that poor early adjustment may represent a marker of vulnerability to schizophrenia and highlight the need for preventive/early interventions based on psychosocial and/or cognitive programs.


Asunto(s)
Rendimiento Académico/psicología , Trastornos del Conocimiento/psicología , Disfunción Cognitiva/psicología , Esquizofrenia/diagnóstico , Rendimiento Académico/tendencias , Adulto , Anciano , Cognición/fisiología , Trastornos del Conocimiento/diagnóstico , Disfunción Cognitiva/diagnóstico , Depresión/epidemiología , Depresión/psicología , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Memoria a Corto Plazo/fisiología , Persona de Mediana Edad , Motivación , Escalas de Valoración Psiquiátrica/normas , Psicopatología , Esquizofrenia/epidemiología , Esquizofrenia/terapia , Psicología del Esquizofrénico , Índice de Severidad de la Enfermedad , Ajuste Social , Conducta Social
9.
Schizophr Res ; 201: 105-112, 2018 11.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-29898819

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: A general consensus has not yet been reached regarding the role of disorganization symptoms in real-world functioning in schizophrenia. METHODS: We used structural equations modeling (SEM) to analyze the direct and indirect associations between disorganization and real-world functioning assessed through the Specific Levels of Functioning Scale (SLOF) in 880 subjects with schizophrenia. RESULTS: We found that: 1) conceptual disorganization was directly and strongly connected with SLOF daily activities; difficulty in abstract thinking was associated with moderate strength to all SLOF domains, and poor attention was connected with SLOF work skills; 2) grandiosity was only related with poor work skills, and delusions were associated with poor functioning in all SLOF domains; interpersonal relationships were weakly indirectly influenced by hallucinatory behavior, delusions and unusual thought contents through the mediation of social cognition (SC); 3) among the negative symptoms, avolition had only direct links with SLOF work skills and SLOF activities; anhedonia had direct links with SLOF work skills and SLOF interpersonal and indirect link with SLOF work skills through functional capacity (FC); asociality with SLOF interpersonal; blunted affect had direct links with SLOF activities and indirect links with SLOF interpersonal relationships mediated by SC. Lastly, alogia had only indirect links mediated by SC, FC, and neurocognition (NC). CONCLUSIONS: Overall conceptual disorganization is the symptom that contributed more (both directly and indirectly) to the activities of community living in real-world. Thus, it should be considered as a treatment target in intervention programs for patients with schizophrenia.


Asunto(s)
Actividades Cotidianas , Psicología del Esquizofrénico , Adolescente , Adulto , Anciano , Estudios Transversales , Femenino , Humanos , Relaciones Interpersonales , Italia , Análisis de Clases Latentes , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Escalas de Valoración Psiquiátrica , Esquizofrenia/diagnóstico , Percepción Social , Habilidades Sociales , Adulto Joven
10.
Osteoporos Int ; 28(6): 1915-1923, 2017 06.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28243706

RESUMEN

This study deals with the role of texture analysis as a predictive factor of radiation-induced insufficiency fractures in patients undergoing pelvic radiation. INTRODUCTION: This study aims to assess the texture analysis (TA) of computed tomography (CT) simulation scans as a predictive factor of insufficiency fractures (IFs) in patients with pelvic malignancies undergoing radiation therapy (RT). METHODS: We performed an analysis of patients undergoing pelvic RT from January 2010 to December 2014, 24 of whom had developed pelvic bone IFs. We analyzed CT-simulation images using ImageJ macro software and selected two regions of interest (ROIs), which are L5 body and the femoral head. TA parameters included mean (m), standard deviation (SD), skewness (sk), kurtosis (k), entropy (e), and uniformity (u). The IFs patients were compared (1:2 ratio) with controlled patients who had not developed IFs and matched for sex, age, menopausal status, type of tumor, use of chemotherapy, and RT dose. A reliability test of intra- and inter-reader ROI TA reproducibility with the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) was performed. Univariate and multivariate analyses (logistic regression) were applied for TA parameters observed both in the IFs and the controlled groups. RESULTS: Inter- and intra-reader ROI TA was highly reproducible (ICC > 0.90). Significant TA parameters on paired t test included L5 m (p = 0.001), SD (p = 0.002), k (p = 0.006), e (p = 0.004), and u (p = 0.015) and femoral head m (p < 0.001) and SD (p = 0.001), whereas on logistic regression analysis, L5 e (p = 0.003) and u (p = 0.010) and femoral head m (p = 0.027), SD (p = 0.015), and sex (p = 0.044). CONCLUSIONS: In our experience, bone CT TA could be correlated to the risk of radiation-induced IFs. Studies on a large patient series and methodological refinements are warranted.


Asunto(s)
Fracturas por Estrés/etiología , Huesos Pélvicos/lesiones , Traumatismos por Radiación/etiología , Radioterapia de Alta Energía/efectos adversos , Adulto , Anciano , Anciano de 80 o más Años , Femenino , Cuello Femoral/diagnóstico por imagen , Fracturas por Estrés/diagnóstico por imagen , Humanos , Vértebras Lumbares/diagnóstico por imagen , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Variaciones Dependientes del Observador , Huesos Pélvicos/efectos de la radiación , Neoplasias Pélvicas/radioterapia , Valor Predictivo de las Pruebas , Traumatismos por Radiación/diagnóstico por imagen , Interpretación de Imagen Radiográfica Asistida por Computador/métodos , Dosificación Radioterapéutica , Radioterapia de Alta Energía/métodos , Medición de Riesgo/métodos , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos X/métodos
11.
Psychol Med ; 47(7): 1192-1203, 2017 May.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-28052777

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Functional decline among patients with mental illness is not unique to individuals with psychotic disorders. Despite this, research on early predictors of functional outcome mainly focused on individuals thought to have an 'at risk mental state' (ARMS) for psychosis. There is evidence suggesting that certain early vulnerability markers, such as neurological soft signs (NSS), may explain variability in functional outcomes independent of the level of psychosis risk and the traditional diagnostic classification. METHOD: Structural equation modeling was applied to baseline data from a prospective longitudinal study of 138 young individuals in treatment with secondary services for non-psychotic disorders. We evaluated theoretically based models of pathways to functional outcome starting from NSS. The intervening variables were established according to previous evidence and drawn from two general categories: cognition (neuro- and social-) and negative symptoms (expressive and experiential). RESULTS: A final trimmed model was a single path running from NSS to neurocognition to experiential negative symptoms to outcome. It could not be improved by adding or dropping connections that would change the single path to multiple paths. The indirect effect from NSS to outcome was significant. The validity of the model was independent of the ARMS status and the psychiatric diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provide evidence for a single pathway model in which the starting and intervening variables represent modifiable trans-diagnostic therapeutic targets to improve functional trajectories in young individuals with a recent-onset psychiatric diagnosis and different levels of psychosis risk.


Asunto(s)
Disfunción Cognitiva/fisiopatología , Trastornos Mentales/fisiopatología , Modelos Estadísticos , Trastornos del Movimiento/fisiopatología , Evaluación de Resultado en la Atención de Salud/estadística & datos numéricos , Trastornos Psicóticos/fisiopatología , Trastornos de la Sensación/fisiopatología , Percepción Social , Teoría de la Mente/fisiología , Adolescente , Adulto , Femenino , Humanos , Estudios Longitudinales , Masculino , Atención Secundaria de Salud , Adulto Joven
12.
Eur Psychiatry ; 40: 96-104, 2017 02.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-27992839

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Accuracy of risk algorithms for psychosis prediction in "at risk mental state" (ARMS) samples may differ according to the recruitment setting. Standardized criteria used to detect ARMS individuals may lack specificity if the recruitment setting is a secondary mental health service. The authors tested a modified strategy to predict psychosis conversion in this setting by using a systematic selection of trait-markers of the psychosis prodrome in a sample with a heterogeneous ARMS status. METHODS: 138 non-psychotic outpatients (aged 17-31) were consecutively recruited in secondary mental health services and followed-up for up to 3 years (mean follow-up time, 2.2 years; SD=0.9). Baseline ARMS status, clinical, demographic, cognitive, and neurological soft signs measures were collected. Cox regression was used to derive a risk index. RESULTS: 48% individuals met ARMS criteria (ARMS-Positive, ARMS+). Conversion rate to psychosis was 21% for the overall sample, 34% for ARMS+, and 9% for ARMS-Negative (ARMS-). The final predictor model with a positive predictive validity of 80% consisted of four variables: Disorder of Thought Content, visuospatial/constructional deficits, sensory-integration, and theory-of-mind abnormalities. Removing Disorder of Thought Content from the model only slightly modified the predictive accuracy (-6.2%), but increased the sensitivity (+9.5%). CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that in a secondary mental health setting the use of trait-markers of the psychosis prodrome may predict psychosis conversion with great accuracy despite the heterogeneity of the ARMS status. The use of the proposed predictive algorithm may enable a selective recruitment, potentially reducing duration of untreated psychosis and improving prognostic outcomes.


Asunto(s)
Servicios de Salud Mental , Salud Mental , Trastornos Psicóticos/psicología , Trastornos Psicóticos/terapia , Adolescente , Adulto , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Pronóstico , Riesgo , Medición de Riesgo , Adulto Joven
13.
Phys Med ; 32(12): 1712-1716, 2016 Dec.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-27524684

RESUMEN

INTRODUCTION: Many studies aimed at validating the application of Dual Energy Computed Tomography (DECT) in clinical practice where conventional CT is not exhaustive. An example is given by bone marrow oedema detection, in which DECT based on water/calcium (W/Ca) decomposition was applied. In this paper a new DECT approach, based on water/cortical bone (W/CB) decomposition, was investigated. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Eight patients suffering from marrow oedema were scanned with MRI and DECT. Two-materials density decomposition was performed in ROIs corresponding to normal bone marrow and oedema. These regions were drawn on DECT images using MRI informations. Both W/Ca and W/CB were considered as material basis. Scatter plots of W/Ca and W/CB concentrations were made for each ROI in order to evaluate if oedema could be distinguished from normal bone marrow. Thresholds were defined on the scatter plots in order to produce DECT images where oedema regions were highlighted through color maps. The agreement between these images and MR was scored by two expert radiologists. RESULTS: For all the patients, the best scores were obtained using W/CB density decomposition. CONCLUSIONS: In all cases, DECT color map images based on W/CB decomposition showed better agreement with MR in bone marrow oedema identification with respect to W/Ca decomposition. This result encourages further studies in order to evaluate if DECT based on W/CB decomposition could be an alternative technique to MR, which would be important when short scanning duration is relevant, as in the case of aged or traumatic patients.


Asunto(s)
Médula Ósea/diagnóstico por imagen , Hueso Cortical/diagnóstico por imagen , Hueso Cortical/metabolismo , Edema/diagnóstico por imagen , Edema/metabolismo , Tomografía Computarizada por Rayos X , Agua/metabolismo , Adulto , Anciano , Médula Ósea/metabolismo , Estudios de Factibilidad , Femenino , Humanos , Procesamiento de Imagen Asistido por Computador , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad
14.
J Affect Disord ; 198: 96-101, 2016 07 01.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-27015158

RESUMEN

OBJECTIVE: There is considerable uncertainty about whether depression screening programs in primary care may improve outcomes and what specific features of such programs may contribute to success. We tested the effectiveness of a program involving substantial commitment from local mental health services. METHODS: Prospective, randomised, patient- and evaluator-masked, parallel-group, controlled study. Participants were recruited in several urban primary care practices where they completed the PC-SAD screener and WHOQOL-Bref. Those who screened positive and did not report suicidal ideation (N=115) were randomised to an intervention group (communication of the result and offer of psychiatric evaluation and treatment free of charge; N=56) or a control group (no feedback on test result for 3 months; N=59). After 3 months, 100 patients agreed to a follow-up telephone interview including the administration of the PC-SAD5 and WHOQOL-Bref. RESULTS: Depression severity and quality of life improved significantly in both groups. Intent-to-treat analysis showed no effect of the intervention. As only 37% of patients randomised to the intervention group actually contacted the study outpatient clinic, we performed a per-protocol analysis to determine whether the intervention, if delivered as planned, had been effective. This analysis revealed a significant positive effect of the intervention on severity of depressive symptoms, and on response and remission rate. Complier average causal effect analysis yielded similar results. CONCLUSION: Due to the relatively small sample size, our findings should be regarded as preliminary and have limited generalizability. They suggest that there are considerable barriers on the part of many patients to the implementation of depression screening programs in primary care. While such programs can be effective, they should be designed based on the understanding of patients' perspectives.


Asunto(s)
Depresión/diagnóstico , Depresión/terapia , Diagnóstico Precoz , Atención Primaria de Salud , Método Doble Ciego , Femenino , Humanos , Masculino , Persona de Mediana Edad , Estudios Prospectivos , Calidad de Vida
15.
Phys Rev Lett ; 116(6): 066402, 2016 Feb 12.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-26919002

RESUMEN

We report on the engineering of a nondispersive (flat) energy band in a geometrically frustrated lattice of micropillar optical cavities. By taking advantage of the non-Hermitian nature of our system, we achieve bosonic condensation of exciton polaritons into the flat band. Because of the infinite effective mass in such a band, the condensate is highly sensitive to disorder and fragments into localized modes reflecting the elementary eigenstates produced by geometric frustration. This realization offers a novel approach to studying coherent phases of light and matter under the controlled interplay of frustration, interactions, and dissipation.

16.
Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci ; 18(22): 3354-67, 2014 Nov.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25491609

RESUMEN

OBJECTIVE: The cingulate cortex is a functionally heterogeneous region involved in diverse cognitive and emotional processes. It is a region of special interest to investigate the neurological substrate of schizophrenia. The aim of this paper is to review all the studies that investigated the relation between the cingulate cortex and two of the most important and little known areas of this disease: the psychotic onset and the negative symptoms. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Relevant literature was identified through a search in PubMed, Web of Science, and Cochrane database. Search terms included negative symptoms, cingulate cortex, cingulate gyrus, schizophrenia, PET, SPECT, MRI, fMRI, BOLD, deficit schizophrenia, early-onset schizophrenia, psychotic onset, psychosis. RESULTS: 9 studies evidenced a link between negative symptoms and hypoactivity of cingulate cortex, whereas 7 studies did not. A positive relationship between anterior cingulate cortex gray matter thinning and high risk for schizophrenia is well characterized in literature. CONCLUSIONS: In a large portion of patients hypoactivity of cingulate cortex underlie the presence of negative symptoms. In particular, ACC (anterior cingulated cortex) thinning seems to be related to the increasing social withdrawal that is characteristic of the psychosis prodrome. New therapies focused on the brain stimulation of the cingulate cortex could represent an important aid for patients with this kind of symptoms.


Asunto(s)
Giro del Cíngulo/metabolismo , Trastornos Psicóticos/diagnóstico , Trastornos Psicóticos/metabolismo , Esquizofrenia/diagnóstico , Esquizofrenia/metabolismo , Humanos , Imagen por Resonancia Magnética/métodos , Tomografía de Emisión de Positrones/métodos , Trastornos Psicóticos/psicología , Factores de Riesgo , Tomografía Computarizada de Emisión de Fotón Único/métodos
17.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-25614753

RESUMEN

Etiology of depressive disorders is still unknown. Several factors are involved in its pathophysiology such as neurotransmitters and neuroendocrine alterations, genetics, life events and their appraisal. Some of these components are strictly linked. Subjects with a family member affected by mood disorders are more prone to suffer from depressive disorders. It is also true that receiving feedbacks of indifference or neglect during childhood from one parent who suffer from depression may represent a factor of vulnerability. Indeed, reaction to a specific negative event may determine an increased allostasis which lead to a depressive episode. Thus, a psychological cause does not exclude a neurobiological cascade. Whereas in other cases recurrent depressive episodes appear in absence of any negative life event. This review provides a set of data regarding the current etiopathogenesis models of depression, with a particular attention to the neurobiological correlates and vulnerability factors.

18.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24155771

RESUMEN

BACKGROUND: Depression goes often unrecognised and untreated in non-psychiatric medical settings. Screening has recently gained acceptance as a first step towards improving depression recognition and management. The Primary Care Screener for Affective Disorders (PC-SAD) is a self-administered questionnaire to screen for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) and Dysthymic Disorder (Dys) which has a sophisticated scoring algorithm that confers several advantages. This study tested its performance against a 'gold standard' diagnostic interview in primary care. METHODS: A total of 416 adults attending 13 urban general internal medicine primary care practices completed the PC-SAD. Of 409 who returned a valid PC-SAD, all those scoring positive (N=151) and a random sample (N=106) of those scoring negative were selected for a 3-month telephone follow-up assessment including the administration of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) by a psychiatrist who was masked to PC-SAD results. RESULTS: Most selected patients (N=212) took part in the follow-up assessment. After adjustment for partial verification bias the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive value for MDD were 90%, 83%, 51%, and 98%. For Dys, the corresponding figures were 78%, 79%, 8%, and 88%. CONCLUSIONS: While some study limitations suggest caution in interpreting our results, this study corroborated the diagnostic validity of the PC-SAD, although the low PPV may limit its usefulness with regard to Dys. Given its good psychometric properties and the short average administration time, the PC-SAD might be the screening instrument of choice in settings where the technology for computer automated scoring is available.

19.
Med Hypotheses ; 81(6): 1146-50, 2013 Dec.
Artículo en Inglés | MEDLINE | ID: mdl-24134827

RESUMEN

In the last decades, the potential association between antidepressants and cancer risk has been increasingly investigated. Fundamental researches, performed on animal models and cell tumoral lines, have highlighted several biological mechanisms possibly supporting this association. Nevertheless, the epidemiological studies investigating the risk of cancer in patients receiving selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) have provided conflicting and inconclusive results. Therefore, the prescription of several antidepressants in oncologic patients still remains a matter of discussion. The aim of this review is to present and discuss available evidence concerning the association between the risk of breast and prostate cancer and the use of antidepressant medications. Thus, consistencies, differences, and contradictions of available data are reported. A special focus is addressed to amisulpiride, a widely prescribed drug still poorly investigated with regard to the risk of cancer occurrence and recurrence. Overall, there is no definitive evidence of increased risk of breast and prostate cancer among patients exposed to SSRIs and TCAs. The association between amisulpiride and cancer risk has been to date scarcely explored and considered in clinical settings. Nevertheless, the hyperprolactinemia frequently resulting from its adoption has been repeatedly associated, to increased cancer risk and poorer prognosis in cancer patients. Thus, the use of amisulpiride among cancer patients should be carefully considered.


Asunto(s)
Antidepresivos/efectos adversos , Neoplasias de la Mama/epidemiología , Depresión/tratamiento farmacológico , Neoplasias de la Próstata/epidemiología , Sulpirida/análogos & derivados , Amisulprida , Antidepresivos/uso terapéutico , Neoplasias de la Mama/inducido químicamente , Femenino , Humanos , Hiperprolactinemia/epidemiología , Hiperprolactinemia/metabolismo , Masculino , Neoplasias de la Próstata/inducido químicamente , Medición de Riesgo , Sulpirida/efectos adversos , Sulpirida/uso terapéutico
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