Timing detectors are a well-established part of High Energy Physics experimental instrumentation. The choice of sensors with fast (less than 10 ns) and precise (better than 100 ps) signals, together ...with radiation resistance considerations, are an essential part of the design of a timing detector. In this paper, the main characteristics that make single diamond crystal sensors ideal for timing applications will be described and an introduction to the design of fast front-end electronics will be given. Finally, two examples of diamond timing detectors used in High Energy Physics, the START detector of HADES and the TOTEM/CMS timing detector, will be discussed.
Abstract Most brain imaging studies have showed smaller hippocampal volume in adults with chronic PTSD; however, some other studies have not replicated this finding. Most of these investigations ...included subjects with other psychiatric comorbidities, such as major depression or alcohol abuse. The prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in PTSD is generally high and this makes it difficult, if not impossible, to disentangle the contribution of other disorders to hippocampal volume. Therefore, the main goal of the current study is to compare hippocampal volumes of healthy subjects and drug-naïve patients with PTSD caused by different types of mixed civilian traumas (i.e. car accident, physical abuse, sudden death of a family member, assault or robbery, natural disaster and traumatic abortion) and without comorbidity conditions. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure the hippocampi, total cerebrum, gray matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid volumes in 34 patients with single diagnosis of PTSD, and 34 case-matched non-PTSD comparison subjects. The patients with single diagnosis of PTSD had an 11.8% smaller left hippocampus ( p < 0.001) and an 8.7% smaller right hippocampus ( p = 0.003) than the healthy controls. The results were controlled for the total brain volume and for gray matter volumes. Subjects with PTSD also displayed lower overall gray matter volume ( p = 0.006). There were no significant correlations between hippocampal volumes and illness duration or severity of PTSD. The findings indicate the presence of smaller hippocampal volumes in drug-naïve patients with single diagnosis of PTSD, compared with healthy subjects.
Background The investigation of a wide set of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-related variables in both hemispheres might help to identify a pattern of cortical excitability changes in ...posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) patients, reflecting γ-amino-butiric acid (GABA)/glutamate balance and dysfunction, and to determine whether some of these variables are related to clinical features. Methods In 20 drug-naive PTSD patients without comorbidity and 16 matched healthy control subjects we tested bilaterally with standard TMS procedures: resting motor threshold (RMT) to single-pulse TMS (reflecting ion channel function), paired-pulse short-latency intracortical inhibition (SICI; mainly reflecting GABAA function) and intracortical facilitation (ICF; mainly reflecting glutamatergic function), single-pulse cortical silent period (CSP; mainly reflecting GABAB -ergic function), and paired-pulse short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI; reflecting cholinergic mechanisms and their presynaptic GABAA -mediated modulation). Results The PTSD patients showed widespread impairment of GABAA -ergic SICI, which was reversed toward facilitation in both hemispheres in one-half of the patients, marked increase of glutamatergic ICF in the right hemisphere, and right-sided impairment of SAI. Illness duration and avoidance symptoms but not anxiety correlated with right-lateralized dysfunctions of cortical excitability. Conclusions Although the neurobiological complexity of each TMS variable makes current results theoretical, the pattern of cortical excitability accompanying PTSD symptoms suggests a bilateral decrease of the GABAA -ergic function. This prevails in the right hemisphere, in association with a relative prevalence of the glutamatergic tone, a new finding that current neuroimaging investigations cannot provide due to the lack of reliable glutamate tracers. Results might help to disclose new pathophysiological aspects of PTSD symptoms, providing a rationale for future neuromodulatory strategies of treatment.
Our study aimed to evaluate the presence of antibodies related to gluten intolerance in patients with mood disorders. A total of 60 patients with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder or depressive ...disorder were recruited. Fourty-eight subjects randomly selected among unrelated family members were included as controls. Celiac disease-associated antibodies were assayed both in the patients and controls. Mean values of IgA/IgG anti-gliadin antibodies, IgA/IgG anti-deamidated gliadin peptide antibodies and IgA anti-transglutaminase (tTG) antibodies were not different between patients and controls. However, a significant difference was found for anti-tTG IgG antibodies. Even if both in controls and in patients the mean anti-tTG IgG value was below the cutoff, the estimates produced by the statistical model showed that each unit increase in the anti-tTG IgG antibody value corresponded to an approximately 5% increased chance of having a mood disorder. The patient group showed a more frequent presence of symptoms associated to non-celiac gluten sensitivity. However, as there was neither any correlation between antibody levels and gastrointestinal symptoms, nor with the intensity of the psychiatric symptoms, it may be conceivable that the increase in anti-tTG IgG antibodies is not disorder-related but possibly an outcome of the psychiatric disorder itself.
•Anti-tTG IgG antibodies seem to be the most characteristic antibody in mood disorders.•Autoimmune comorbidity is not responsible of higher levels of anti-tTG IgG antibodies in mood disorders.•High levels of anti-tTG IgG could be predisposing factor for psychiatric disorder.
A number of MRI studies have shown focal or diffuse cortical gray matter (GM) abnormalities in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, the results of these studies are unclear ...regarding the cortical regions involved in this condition, perhaps due to the heterogeneity of the PTSD population included or to the differences in the methodology used for the quantification of the brain structures. In this study, we assessed differences in cortical GM volumes between a selected group of 25 drug-naive PTSD patients with history of adulthood trauma and 25 matched non-traumatized controls. Analyses were performed by using two different automated methods: the structural image evaluation using normalization of atrophy (SIENAX) and the voxel-based morphometry (VBM), as we trusted that if these complementary techniques provided similar results, it would increase the confidence in the validity of the assessment. Results of SIENAX and VBM analyses similarly showed that cortical GM volume decreases in PTSD patients when compared to healthy controls, particularly in the frontal and occipital lobes. These decreases seem to correlate with clinical measures. Our findings suggest that in drug-naïve PTSD patients with a history of adulthood trauma, brain structural damage is diffuse, with a particular prevalence for the frontal and occipital lobes, and is clinically relevant.
Disturbi dell’umore e patologie glutine correlate Porcelli, Brunetta; Verdino, Valeria; Ferretti, Fabio ...
La rivista italiana della medicina di laboratorio,
03/2017, Volume:
13, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Riassunto
Premesse.
Una reazione immunologica verso il glutine è descritta in diversi disturbi psichiatrici e, tra questi, la schizofrenia è quella maggiormente studiata, mentre sono ancora esigui i ...lavori sull’eventuale associazione tra glutine e disturbi dell’umore. Obiettivo del nostro studio è stato valutare la presenza di un profilo anticorpale correlato all’intolleranza al glutine in soggetti con disturbo dell’umore.
Metodi.
Sono stati reclutati 60 pazienti con diagnosi di disturbo bipolare o disturbo depressivo clinicamente classificati secondo i criteri DSM-IV-TR. Come controlli sani, sono stati arruolati 48 soggetti, selezionati in modo casuale tra gli accompagnatori non consanguinei dei pazienti. Al gruppo dei pazienti sono state somministrate le seguenti scale di valutazione diagnostica e psicopatologica: (a)
Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview
(MINI), intervista clinica semistrutturata per la conferma diagnostica; (b)
Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression
(HAM-D) e
Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety
(HAM-A) per la valutazione della sintomatologia depressiva e ansiosa; (c)
Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale
(PANSS) e
Young Mania Rating Scale
per la valutazione dei sintomi psicotici e la gravità della sintomatologia maniacale. Al gruppo dei controlli è stata somministrata la
Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-Non Patients
(SCID-NP) per escludere la presenza di una qualsiasi diagnosi psichiatrica attuale o
lifetime
. Sia sui pazienti sia sui controlli sono stati determinati gli anticorpi caratteristici della malattia celiaca (MC) o suggestivi di sensibilità al glutine non celiaca (NGCS). In particolare sono stati analizzati gli anticorpi anti-gliadina nativa (AGA) di classe IgA e IgG, gli anticorpi anti-peptidi deamidati della gliadina (DGP) di classe IgA e IgG, gli anticorpi anti-transglutaminasi (tTG) di classe IgA e IgG e gli EMA IgA. Le determinazioni anticorpali sono state eseguite con i metodi immunoenzimatici (ELISA) e in immunofluorescenza indiretta (IFI) prodotti dall’azienda Eurospital (Trieste, Italia).
Risultati.
La maggior parte dei valori anticorpali di AGA IgA/IgG, DGP IgA/IgG e tTG IgA da noi indagati non risultava particolarmente differente tra il gruppo dei pazienti e quello dei controlli con l’eccezione dei soli anti-tTG IgG: nel gruppo dei pazienti il valore medio è pari a 16,3 ± 11,8, mentre nei sani equivale a 11,2 ± 10,0 (
p
<
0
,
007
). Analizzando i sottogruppi dei soggetti arruolati—pazienti con/senza comorbilità con altre patologie autoimmuni o infiammatorie, controlli con/senza comorbilità con altre patologie autoimmuni o infiammatorie—, i dati relativi a questo anticorpo evidenziano come, mentre nel gruppo dei soggetti con disturbo dell’umore il valore anticorpale medio sia abbastanza simile nei due sottogruppi dei pazienti, nel gruppo dei controlli gli anti-tTG IgG siano leggermente inferiori nel sottogruppo con comorbilità per patologia autoimmune o infiammatoria e significativamente più bassi nel sottogruppo senza comorbilità. I confronti
post-hoc
hanno evidenziato come l’unica differenza significativa sia quella tra il valore medio del gruppo dei pazienti senza comorbilità (16,6 ± 11,7) e quello dei gruppo dei controlli senza comorbilità (10,2 ± 8,8)
p
<
0
,
004
.
Conclusioni.
I soggetti con disturbo dell’umore non sembrano essere a maggiore rischio di malattia celiaca e di NGCS rispetto ai controlli. Nel nostro studio emerge inoltre la centralità degli anticorpi anti-tTG IgG, che sembrano essere gli anticorpi più caratteristici nei disturbi dell’umore. Tuttavia, sulla base dei risultati da noi ottenuti, sembra che l’aumento degli anticorpi anti-tTG IgG nei pazienti non sia dovuto alla presenza di una patologia autoimmune o infiammatoria e quindi non sia disturbo-correlato, ma rappresenti una sorta di fattore predisponente e/o eziopatogenetico per lo sviluppo di un disturbo psichiatrico, oppure un esito del disturbo psichiatrico stesso che agisce sul sistema immunitario e sulla linea dell’infiammazione.
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