Active breaks: a strategy to counteract sedentary behaviors for Health Promoting Schools. A discussion on their implementation in Italy.

Abstract: School Active Breaks are short bouts of physical activity (5-15 minutes) conducted by appropriately trained teachers and delivered during or between curricular lessons. They are a good strategy to counteract sedentary behaviors, and a growing body of evidence shows that they can represent also a tool to promote and improve health, school wellbeing and academic achievements. On 19 February 2022, the Working Group on Movement Sciences for Health of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health organized an Awareness Day on the effectiveness, usefulness and feasibility of School Active Breaks, opened to teachers, educators, school leaders, pediatricians, personnel from Departments of Prevention and Public Health and Health Policy-makers. During the event, the testimonies about the experiences already carried out in Italy showed that School Active Breaks are an effective intervention that each school can easily include in its educational offer and apply in any context.

Sex dimorphism of weight and length at birth: evidence based on disorders of sex development.

BACKGROUND: Males have higher weight and length at birth than females. AIM: To verify the influence of the Y chromosome and the action of intrauterine androgens on weight and length at birth of children with Disorders of Sex Development (DSD). SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional and retrospective study. Patients with Turner syndrome (TS), complete (XX and XY), mixed (45,X/46,XY) and partial (XY) gonadal dysgenesis (GD), complete (CAIS) and partial (PAIS) androgen insensitivity syndromes and XX and XY congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) were included. Weight and length at birth were evaluated. RESULTS: Weight and length at birth were lower in TS and mixed GD when compared to XY and XX DSD cases. In turn, patients with increased androgen action (117 cases) had higher weight and length at birth when compared to those with absent (108 cases) and decreased (68 cases) production/action. In birthweight, there was a negative influence of the 45,X/46,XY karyotype and a positive influence of increased androgen and gestational age. In birth length, there was a negative influence of the 45,X and 45,X/46,XY karyotypes and also a positive influence of increased androgen and gestational age. CONCLUSIONS: The sex dimorphism of weight and length at birth could possibly be influenced by intrauterine androgenic action.

Ultrashort high energy electron bunches from tunable surface plasma waves driven with laser wavefront rotation.

We propose to use ultrahigh intensity laser pulses with wave-front rotation (WFR) to produce short, ultraintense surface plasma waves (SPW) on grating targets for electron acceleration. Combining a smart grating design with optimal WFR conditions identified through simple analytical modeling and particle-in-cell simulation allows us to decrease the SPW duration (down to a few optical cycles) and increase its peak amplitude. In the relativistic regime, for Iλ_{0}^{2}=3.4×10^{19}W/cm^{2}µm^{2}, such SPW are found to accelerate high charge (few 10 s of pC), high energy (up to 70 MeV), and ultrashort (few fs) electron bunches.

Oxygen-ozone therapy as adjuvant in the current emergency in SARS-COV-2 infection: a clinical study.

The aim of the multicentre study promoted by Nuova FIO is to evaluate the beneficial effects of the systemic Oxygen-Ozone (O2O3) therapy in patients suffering from SARS COV-2 disease in the early phases of the disease, before worsening, up to the need of tracheal intubation. The study is based on the rationale on that the systemic oxygen-ozone treatment could be effective, positively influencing the disease evolution and/or being able to mitigate the onset of the cytokine storm syndrome at least partially.

The proteasome as a druggable target with multiple therapeutic potentialities: Cutting and non-cutting edges.

Ubiquitin Proteasome System (UPS) is an adaptable and finely tuned system that sustains proteostasis network under a large variety of physiopathological conditions. Its dysregulation is often associated with the onset and progression of human diseases; hence, UPS modulation has emerged as a promising new avenue for the development of treatments of several relevant pathologies, such as cancer and neurodegeneration. The clinical interest in proteasome inhibition has considerably increased after the FDA approval in 2003 of bortezomib for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, which is now used in the front-line setting. Thereafter, two other proteasome inhibitors (carfilzomib and ixazomib), designed to overcome resistance to bortezomib, have been approved for treatment-experienced patients, and a variety of novel inhibitors are currently under preclinical and clinical investigation not only for haematological malignancies but also for solid tumours. However, since UPS collapse leads to toxic misfolded proteins accumulation, proteasome is attracting even more interest as a target for the care of neurodegenerative diseases, which are sustained by UPS impairment. Thus, conceptually, proteasome activation represents an innovative and largely unexplored target for drug development. According to a multidisciplinary approach, spanning from chemistry, biochemistry, molecular biology to pharmacology, this review will summarize the most recent available literature regarding different aspects of proteasome biology, focusing on structure, function and regulation of proteasome in physiological and pathological processes, mostly cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, connecting biochemical features and clinical studies of proteasome targeting drugs.

Exo-Ocean Exploration with Deep-Sea Sensor and Platform Technologies.

One of Saturn's largest moons, Enceladus, possesses a vast extraterrestrial ocean (i.e., exo-ocean) that is increasingly becoming the hotspot of future research initiatives dedicated to the exploration of putative life. Here, a new bio-exploration concept design for Enceladus' exo-ocean is proposed, focusing on the potential presence of organisms across a wide range of sizes (i.e., from uni- to multicellular and animal-like), according to state-of-the-art sensor and robotic platform technologies used in terrestrial deep-sea research. In particular, we focus on combined direct and indirect life-detection capabilities, based on optoacoustic imaging and passive acoustics, as well as molecular approaches. Such biologically oriented sampling can be accompanied by concomitant geochemical and oceanographic measurements to provide data relevant to exo-ocean exploration and understanding. Finally, we describe how this multidisciplinary monitoring approach is currently enabled in terrestrial oceans through cabled (fixed) observatories and their related mobile multiparametric platforms (i.e., Autonomous Underwater and Remotely Operated Vehicles, as well as crawlers, rovers, and biomimetic robots) and how their modified design can be used for exo-ocean exploration.

NdFeO3 as a new electrocatalytic material for the electrochemical monitoring of dopamine.

A new electrochemical sensor, based on NdFeO3 nanoparticles as electrocatalytic material, was proposed here for the detection of dopamine (DA). NdFeO3 nanoparticles were first synthesized by a simple thermal treatment method and subsequent annealing at high temperature (700 °C). The prepared electrocatalytic material has been characterized in detail by SEM-EDX, XRD, and Raman techniques. Characterization results display its sheet-like morphology, constituted by a porous network of very small orthorhombic NdFeO3 nanoparticles. NdFeO3 electrocatalytic material was then used to modify the working electrode of screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs). Electrochemical tests demonstrated that NdFeO3- modified screen-printed carbon electrode (NdFeO3/SPCE) exhibited a remarkable enhancement of the dopamine electrooxidation, compared to the bare SPCE one. The analytical performance of the developed sensor has been evaluated for the detection of this analyte by means of the square-wave voltammetry (SWV) technique. The modified electrode showed two linear concentration ranges, from 0.5 to 100 µM and 150 to 400 µM, respectively, a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.27 µM (at S/N = 3), and good reproducibility, stability, and selectivity. Additionally, we also report an attempt made to propose the modified sensor for the simultaneous detection of dopamine and uric acid (UA). The procedure was also applied for the determination of dopamine in spiked real samples. So, this paper reports for the first time the use of a modified NdFeO3 screen-printed electrode for developing an electrochemical sensor for the quantification of important biomolecules. Graphical abstract.

Patient similarity for precision medicine: A systematic review.

Evidence-based medicine is the most prevalent paradigm adopted by physicians. Clinical practice guidelines typically define a set of recommendations together with eligibility criteria that restrict their applicability to a specific group of patients. The ever-growing size and availability of health-related data is currently challenging the broad definitions of guideline-defined patient groups. Precision medicine leverages on genetic, phenotypic, or psychosocial characteristics to provide precise identification of patient subsets for treatment targeting. Defining a patient similarity measure is thus an essential step to allow stratification of patients into clinically-meaningful subgroups. The present review investigates the use of patient similarity as a tool to enable precision medicine. 279 articles were analyzed along four dimensions: data types considered, clinical domains of application, data analysis methods, and translational stage of findings. Cancer-related research employing molecular profiling and standard data analysis techniques such as clustering constitute the majority of the retrieved studies. Chronic and psychiatric diseases follow as the second most represented clinical domains. Interestingly, almost one quarter of the studies analyzed presented a novel methodology, with the most advanced employing data integration strategies and being portable to different clinical domains. Integration of such techniques into decision support systems constitutes and interesting trend for future research.

Patient similarity by joint matrix trifactorization to identify subgroups in acute myeloid leukemia.

OBJECTIVE: Computing patients' similarity is of great interest in precision oncology since it supports clustering and subgroup identification, eventually leading to tailored therapies. The availability of large amounts of biomedical data, characterized by large feature sets and sparse content, motivates the development of new methods to compute patient similarities able to fuse heterogeneous data sources with the available knowledge. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this work, we developed a data integration approach based on matrix trifactorization to compute patient similarities by integrating several sources of data and knowledge. We assess the accuracy of the proposed method: (1) on several synthetic data sets which similarity structures are affected by increasing levels of noise and data sparsity, and (2) on a real data set coming from an acute myeloid leukemia (AML) study. The results obtained are finally compared with the ones of traditional similarity calculation methods. RESULTS: In the analysis of the synthetic data set, where the ground truth is known, we measured the capability of reconstructing the correct clusters, while in the AML study we evaluated the Kaplan-Meier curves obtained with the different clusters and measured their statistical difference by means of the log-rank test. In presence of noise and sparse data, our data integration method outperform other techniques, both in the synthetic and in the AML data. DISCUSSION: In case of multiple heterogeneous data sources, a matrix trifactorization technique can successfully fuse all the information in a joint model. We demonstrated how this approach can be efficiently applied to discover meaningful patient similarities and therefore may be considered a reliable data driven strategy for the definition of new research hypothesis for precision oncology. CONCLUSION: The better performance of the proposed approach presents an advantage over previous methods to provide accurate patient similarities supporting precision medicine.

The role of "closed abdomen" hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) in the palliative treatment of neoplastic ascites from peritoneal carcinomatosis: report of a single-center experience.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to review the results of a single-center experience in the management of "closed abdomen" hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) using a sophisticated technical device (EXIPER®) in the palliative setting of neoplastic ascites from peritoneal carcinomatosis in patients with advanced cancer of different primary sites. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was an open, prospective, single-center, non-randomized study conducted at the Department of Medical Oncology 1, University of Cagliari, Italy, from May 2006 to October 2012. Fifteen patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis were treated with HIPEC: 5 males and 10 females (age range 51-82, median 62 years), for a total of 30 procedures (5 patients were treated more than once). Malignant ascites were from ovarian, uterine cervical, colorectal, gastric, malignant pleural mesothelioma, and unknown primary cancer. Main endpoints were increase of free interval between two consecutive procedures, progressive reduction of ascites volumes and improvement of quality of life assessed with ECOG performance status and EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire, and improvement of immunologic function. RESULTS: Twelve patients were completely evaluable while three patients were "lost" to follow-up. The treatment was well tolerated. The mean free interval between two consecutive drainages increased from 11.2 to 39.5 days. The mean ascites volume drained decreased from 7.8 to 1.8 l. ECOG PS improved in the majority of patients and EORTC QLQ-C30 scores in all patients as well as immunologic function. In September 2015, only one patient was still alive. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that good results may be achieved in terms of symptom palliation and improvement of quality of life in very advanced cancer patients with MA from PC. The treatment was generally well tolerated considering the limited treatment options available for these patients.

The prevalence and predictors of bipolar and borderline personality disorders comorbidity: Systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION: Data about the prevalence of borderline personality (BPD) and bipolar (BD) disorders comorbidity are scarce and the boundaries remain controversial. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis investigating the prevalence of BPD in BD and BD in people with BPD. METHODS: Two independent authors searched MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO and the Cochrane Library from inception till November 4, 2015. Articles reporting the prevalence of BPD and BD were included. A random effects meta-analysis and meta-regression were conducted. RESULTS: Overall, 42 papers were included: 28 considering BPD in BD and 14 considering BD in BPD. The trim and fill adjusted analysis demonstrated the prevalence of BPD among 5273 people with BD (39.94 ± 11.78 years, 44% males) was 21.6% (95% CI 17.0-27.1). Higher comorbid BPD in BD were noted in BD II participants (37.7%, 95% CI 21.9-56.6, studies=6) and North American studies (26.2%, 95% CI 18.7-35.3, studies=11). Meta regression established that a higher percentage of males and higher mean age significantly (p<0.05) predicted a lower prevalence of comorbid BPD in BD participants. The trim and fill adjusted prevalence of BD among 1814 people with BPD (32.22 ± 7.35 years, 21.5% male) was 18.5% (95% CI 12.7-26.1). LIMITATIONS: Paucity of longitudinal/control group studies and accurate treatment records. CONCLUSIONS: BPD-BD comorbidity is common, with approximately one in five people experiencing a comorbid diagnosis. Based on current diagnostic constructs, and a critical interpretation of results, both qualitative and quantitative syntheses of the evidence prompt out the relevance of differences rather similarities between BD and BPD.

Effect of cisplatin on proteasome activity.

Cisplatin is a widely used chemotherapy drug which exerts cytotoxic activity by affecting both nuclear and cytosolic pathways. Herewith, we report, for the first time, that cisplatin inhibits proteasome activity in vitro. Cisplatin induces a dose dependent inhibition of the three enzymatic activities of proteasome (i.e., the chymotrypsin-like activity, the trypsin-like activity and the caspase-like activity). Moreover, cisplatin administration to neuroblastoma cells brings about a fast loss of proteasome particle activity, which is followed by a de novo synthesis of proteasome. Lastly, we report that the simultaneous administration of lactacystin and cisplatin enhances the cytotoxicity of cisplatin alone. The overall bulk of data opens to an intriguing scenario, concerning the biological effects of cisplatin in the control of cellular life, which goes beyond the well established genotoxic effect.

The success of indirect restorations in posterior teeth: a systematic review of the literature.

AIM: Aim of the study was to evaluate the long-term reliability and effectiveness of inlays and onlays in ceramic and composite material, examining scientific studies published from 2004 to 2013. The results of this review were analyzed and compared with the important literature review proposed by Manhart in 2004. METHODS: With this review it was possible to analyze a total sample of 5858 Class I and II restorations, made in the posterior region: 5295 ceramic and 563 composite restorations in 2377 patients. Works were evaluated using USPHS, modified USPHS and CDA criteria after a mean observation period of 5.4 years (5.9 years for ceramic restorations, 2.6 for composite restorations). RESULTS: The arithmetic average of success was 94%, higher in ceramic restorations (94.9%) than composite materials (91.1%). The weighted average success rate was 95.3%, 92.8% for composite restorations and 96.3% for ceramic ones. The highest rates of success were found in ceramic restorations notwithstanding the longer observation period. CONCLUSION: Indirect restorations have a low failure rate and they prove to be an excellent choice in the treatment of both class I and II lesions. During the last 6 years, the parameters related to these restorations have improved, with a 4% increase of success.

Two Novel Mutations in the Thyroid Hormone Receptor ß in Patients with Resistance to Thyroid Hormone (RTH ß): Clinical, Biochemical, and Molecular Data.

The syndrome of resistance to thyroid hormone (RTH ß) is an inherited disorder characterized by variable tissue hyposensitivity to 3,5,30-L-triiodothyronine (T(3)), with persistent elevation of free-circulating T(3) (FT(3)) and free thyroxine (FT(4)) levels in association with nonsuppressed serum thyrotropin (TSH). Clinical presentation is variable and the molecular analysis of THRB gene provides a short cut diagnosis. Here, we describe 2 cases in which RTH ß was suspected on the basis of laboratory findings. The diagnosis was confirmed by direct THRB sequencing that revealed 2 novel mutations: the heterozygous p.Ala317Ser in subject 1 and the heterozygous p.Arg438Pro in subject 2. Both mutations were shown to be deleterious by SIFT, PolyPhen, and Align GV-GD predictive methods.

A benchmark for numerical scheme validation of airborne particle exposure in street canyons.

Measurements of particle concentrations and distributions in terms of number, surface area, and mass were performed simultaneously at eight sampling points within a symmetric street canyon of an Italian city. The aim was to obtain a useful benchmark for validation of wind tunnel experiments and numerical schemes: to this purpose, the influence of wind directions and speeds was considered. Particle number concentrations (PNCs) were higher on the leeward side than the windward side of the street canyon due to the wind vortex effect. Different vertical PNC profiles were observed between the two canyon sides depending on the wind direction and speed at roof level. A decrease in particle concentrations was observed with increasing rooftop wind speed, except for the coarse fraction indicating a possible particle resuspension due to the traffic and wind motion. This study confirms that particle concentration fields in urban street canyons are strongly influenced by traffic emissions and meteorological parameters, especially wind direction and speed.

Psychopathology, emotional aspects and psychological counselling in infertility: a review.

Over the years, infertility has been variably defined. Infertility affects approximately 80 million people from all parts of the world. An important area of discussion has been represented by the possible causal link between psychopathology and infertility. In the past, the prevalence of psychiatric problems among infertile couples was estimated to be 25-60%. The incidence of depression and anxiety in infertile couples is significantly high than in fertile controls and in the general population respectively. Infertility has been linked to obsessive-compulsive symptoms, psychoticism, substance abuse and eating disorders. Psychological impact of infertility is greater in women than in men. Additionally, authors found that infertile patients were more alexithymic than healthy controls. In relation to the different needs, different psychological therapeutic interventions may be indicated. Psychological counseling can provide valuable assistance in dealing with infertility treatments and their eventual failures.

Listeria monocytogenes brainstem infection (rhombencephalitis) mimicking ischemic stroke.

The frequency of Listeria monocytogenes (Lm) infection of the central nervous system is increasing. We report a patient recently treated with chemotherapeutic drugs for pulmonary adenocarcinoma who suddenly developed hemiparesis, was initially diagnosed with stroke, and was then found to be affected by Lm rhombencephalitis accompanied by a brain abscess. Lm meningoencephalitis mimicking ischemic stroke is rare but must be considered, especially in specific patients.

Treatment of resistant insomnia and major depression.

Daily rhythms regulate everiday life and sleep/wake alternation is the best expression of this. Disruptions in biological rhythms is strongly associated with mood disorders, often being the major feature of this, major depressive disorder first of all. Although stabilization of rhythms produced by treatments have important outcome on therapeutic efficacy, insomnia often remains an unresolved symptom when major depression has otherwise been successfully treated with antidepressant. We review scientific literature in order to better clarify how to better approach insomnia as a clinical aspect to investigate and to early treat while treating other psychiatric conditions, major depression in particular. Insomnia is associated with impaired quality of life. It can be resolved with adequate diagnosis and treatment: it should be considered a comorbid condition and should be early identificated and treated in a multidisciplinary way, so that the ideal of treatment for patients with treatment resistant insomnia in major depression is an integration of non-pharmacologic measures, along with judicious use of medication, often used as an adjunctive therapy.

[Phenelzine: legacy or current psychiatric practice?]. / Fenelzina: retaggio o attualità nella pratica psichiatrica?

Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAO-I) are the first drugs of antidepressant classes discovered. Phenelzine is a worldwide prescribed MAO-I, studied in a variety of mood and anxiety disorders. Purpose of the present paper is to critically review the results reported in the scientific international literature focusing on efficacy and safety of phenelzine in clinical psychiatric practice, in order to achieve a better understanding of the relationship between pharmacological data, therapeutic approach and side or adverse effects. We performed a careful PubMed (1980-2012) search on clinical pharmacology and clinical use of phenelzine in various psychiatric disorders. We reported our findings discussing separately clinical pharmacology data and systematic controlled, randomised and not randomised, clinical studies.