Personality disorders (PD) are described as enduring patterns of markedly deviant and pervasive inner experiences and behaviors, with onset in adolescence, which lead to severe distress or ...impairment. Patients suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD) display higher rates of comorbidity with personality disorders, often complicating the treatment, and worsening the outcomes. Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is the most common of PD and is frequently associated with MDD, with which shares several features. The most part of research agrees on the fact that comorbid BPD in MDD patients quite doubles the poor response to treatments. Moreover, no treatment strategy stands out currently to emerge as more effective in these cases, thus urging the call for the need of new approaches. Herein, we revise the current literature on BPD, its neurobiology and comorbidity with MDD, as well as the more recent treatment strategies used. Then, based on its pharmacology, we propose a possible role of trazodone as a valuable tool to approach comorbid BPD-MDD.
•The ongoing Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic has proven to be an important psychosocial stressor for mental illness.•Purpose of the present manuscript is to assess the frequency and ...characteristics of patients with First Episodes Psychosis (FEP) hospitalized in the first four months since lockdown in Milan.•Patients with FEP in 2020 were significantly older than patients in 2019.•Substances abuse was statistically significant lower in patients with FEP in 2020 than in 2019.
The ongoing Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID–19) pandemic appears to increase risk for mental illness, either directly due to inflammation caused by the virus or indirectly due to related psychosocial stress, resulting in the development of both anxious-depressive and psychotic symptoms. The purpose of the present study was to assess the frequency and characteristics of all patients with First Episodes Psychosis (FEP) without COVID-19 infection hospitalized in the first four months since lockdown in Milan.
We recruited sixty-two patients hospitalized between March 8 to July 8, 2020 versus those
first hospitalized in the same period in 2019. The two subgroups were compared for sociodemographic variables and clinical characteristics of the episodes. Patients with FEP in 2020 were significantly older than patients with FEP in 2021, and presented with significantly less substances abuse.
Interestingly, patients presenting with FEP in 2020 were significantly older than patients with FEP in 2019. These data are compatible with the greater vulnerability to stressful factors during the pandemic, as well as with the greater concern regarding a possible COVID-19 infection producing brain damage causing the FEP.
The precise knowledge of the neutrino flux composition and kinematics is one of the biggest challenges of long-baseline experiments such as T2K. Neutrinos are made by the in-flight decay of unstable ...hadrons produced by the interactions of 31GeV/c protons in a long graphite target. Mostly π+ (π−) are created, leading to the νμ(ν¯μ) enhanced flux. As kaons and muons are also produced, an irreducible background of electron (anti-)neutrino is also present. The main source of uncertainty in the flux prediction is driven by the lack of data on the proton-carbon interaction in this energy range. The measurements performed by the NA61/SHINE large-acceptance experiment at CERN are used by the T2K collaboration to improve the flux predictions. Two datasets have been taken: using a thin target to study the primary interaction, and a replica of the T2K target to account for the re-interactions. The recently released differential multiplicity distributions of π± along the replica target measured in NA61/SHINE will be presented. This dataset is now in the process of being used by T2K to further tune the flux prediction as 90% of the neutrinos will be directly constrained.
Autonomic nervous system activity is involved in body weight regulation. We assessed whether the body mass index (BMI) is related to the autonomic nervous system activity as assessed by heart rate ...variability (HRV). Twenty-five adult normotensive, euglycemic healthy males (M) and females (F) were studied (M/F=13/12). BMI was assessed in each individual. HRV was assessed and the domains of low frequencies (LF, index of the sympathetic modulation) and high frequencies (HF, index of the parasympathetic modulation) were measured. Data were statistically analyzed and are presented as mean+/-s.d. Mean BMI did not correlate with either HF or LF. It inversely related to HF (r=-0.50, P<0.01), whereas its relationship with LF was marginally significant (r=-0.39, P=0.05). The HF in individuals with BMI <20 kg/m2 was significantly higher from those measured in the remaining subjects (P<0.05). The results support the role of parasympathetic activity in influencing BMI through likely modulation of body weight.
Aims
The aim of this study was to evaluate the microbiological quality of commercially prepared ready‐to‐eat (RTE) sushi by enumerating aerobic mesophilic bacteria (AMB) and thermotolerant coliforms ...(TC) and detecting Escherichia coli and Salmonella ssp. An isolate was identified as E. coli O157:H7 which was evaluated for its virulence and antimicrobial resistance profiling as well as its ability to form biofilms on stainless steel.
Methods and Results
There were four sampling events in seven establishments, totalling 28 pools of sushi samples. Mean AMB counts ranged between 5·2 and 7·7 log CFU per gram. The enumeration of TC varied between 2·1 and 2·7 log MPN per gram. Salmonella ssp. were not detected, and one sample was positive for E. coli and was identified as E. coli O157:H7. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of E. coli O157:H7 in sushi samples in the world literature. This isolate presented virulence genes stx1, stx2, eae and hlyA. It was also susceptible to 14 antimicrobials tested and had the ability to form biofilms on stainless steel.
Conclusions
There is a need to improve the good hygiene practices adopted in establishments selling sushi in the city of Pelotas, Brazil. In addition, the isolated E. coli O157:H7 carries a range of important virulence genes being a potential risk to consumer health, as sushi is a RTE food. This isolate also presents biofilm formation ability, therefore, may trigger a constant source of contamination in the production line of this food.
Significance and Impact of the Study
The increase in the consumption of sushi worldwide attracts attention regarding the microbiological point of view, since it is a ready‐to‐eat food. To our knowledge, this was the first time that E. coli O157:H7 was identified in sushi samples.
The NEUT intranuclear cascade model is described and fit to a large body of π± -nucleus scattering data. Methods are developed to deal with deficiencies in the available historical data, and robust ...uncertainty estimates are produced. The results are compared to a variety of simulation packages and the data. This work provides a method for tuning final state interaction models, which are of particular interest to neutrino experiments that operate in the few-GeV energy region, and provides results which can be used directly by the T2K and Super-Kamiokande Collaborations, for whom NEUT is the primary simulation package.
The objective of this study was to determine the chemical composition as well as antioxidant, antibacterial, and cytotoxic properties of the essential oil of Mentha piperita L. (peppermint). Fifteen ...chemical constituents were identified in the essential oil, for a total of 99.99% of the compounds. The essential oil exhibited antimicrobial activity against two Gram-positive bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of essential oil of Mentha piperita L. for Staphylococcus aureus and Listeria monocytogenes was 1.84 μg/ml, whereas the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) values were 3.7 and 7.43 μg/ml, respectively. The oil displayed potent antioxidant activity inhibiting up to approximately73% of 2,2ʹ-azinothiobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS) radicals. In the cytotoxicity assay, the highest essential oil concentration (100 μg/ml) resulted in viability of approximately 90% human epidermal keratinocyte (HaCaT) cells. With respect to antitumor activity in C6 rat glioma cells, there was significant reduction in cell viability: 56-74% in 24 hr, and 71-77% in 48 hr. Data suggest that in presence of the essential oil of Mentha piperita L. antioxidant, antibacterial, antitumor and non-cytotoxic properties were noted.
Splanchnic vein thrombosis (SVT) is a potentially life-threatening complication of liver cirrhosis. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of a multi-disciplinary approach and early anticoagulation ...therapy (AT) on bleeding/thrombotic events, recanalization rates and outcome of cirrhotic patients with SVT.
This is a single-center, registry-based cohort study. Over 17 years, 149 SVT patients were enrolled and prospectively evaluated. Regarding cirrhotic-SVT, a pre-specified algorithm, guiding initial posology of AT and follow-up visits schedule, was performed. Major bleeding (MB), thrombotic events, functional liver scores and all cause-mortality were investigated. Efficacy of AT was evaluated by radiological imaging.
In cirrhotic-SVT, the incidence rate of MB was 8.4 per 100 patient-year (95% CI, 3.83-15.97), while the incidence rate of thrombosis was 5.6 per 100 patient-year (95% CI, 2.05-12.2). In incidental SVT treated with AT, MB incidence was 6.5 per 100 patient-year (95% CI: 2.8-12.82), while in symptomatic SVT was 2.2 per 100 patient-year (95% CI: 0.25-8.02). All thrombotic recurrences occurred in incidental SVT (7.7 per 100 patient-years; 95% CI, 3.71-14.26). Overall survival was significantly higher in patients who had at least a partial recanalization (p < 0.01) and partial/total recanalization was independently associated with improved MELD score at multivariate analysis (HR 2.62, 95% CI 1.1-6.47, p = 0.03).
In cirrhotic SVT patients, partial or total resolution of thrombosis ameliorates liver function and is associated with higher overall survival. A multidisciplinary approach together with radiological follow-up at pre-fixed time improves patient selection and monitoring.
A case of systemic infection due to
Saprochaete capitata
in a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia is described. A review of the literature was conducted to identify all reported cases of this ...infection described between 1977 and August 2013. One hundred and four cases (included the present one) were identified. The median age of the patients was 56 years and 56 % were males. Comorbidities included acute myeloid leukemia (52 %), acute lymphoid leukemia (22 %), other hematological malignancies (13 %) and non-hematological diseases (9 %). At the time of the infection, 82 % of the patients were neutropenic. In 75 % of the cases, the yeast was isolated from blood culture, in 25 % from other sterile sites. Empirical treatment was done in 36 % of the cases. Fifty-eight percent of the individual cases were treated with a combination or a sequential antifungal therapy. Amphotericin B was the antifungal drug most commonly used, followed by voriconazole and itraconazole. The overall crude mortality was 60 %.
Saprochaete capitata
causes life-threatening infections in neutropenic patients. This comprehensive literature review may help the clinician to optimize the management of this rare infection.