The burden of narcolepsy with cataplexy: how disease history and clinical features influence socio-economic outcomes.

Objective: To investigate in narcolepsy with cataplexy (NC) patients of working age (18-65 years) the influence of age at onset, age at diagnosis and clinical features on socio-occupational conditions, disease-related economic burden, and quality of life.

Methods: One hundred consecutive patients underwent a semistructured interview on socio-occupational aspects, NC-related direct and indirect costs, and NC history. Questionnaires were used to evaluate excessive daytime sleepiness, cataplexy, depressive symptoms, and quality of life.

Microwave processing and ethanol-based fixation in forensic pathology: an addendum of further scanning electron microscope observations.

Scanning electron microscope microscopy on samples of tissue fixed with alcohol-based fixative and processed using a microwave device confirmed the validity of the fixation procedure. The details are clearer with respect to those obtainable with formalin fixatives. It was interesting to work on sections prepared for normal histologic processing because the metallization indispensable for scanning electron microscope occurred without difficulty.

Cancerous tissues in forensic genetic analysis.

Microsatellites or short tandem repeats (STRs) markers are important tools for mapping disease-causing genes by linkage, for performing investigations in forensic medicine, for population genetic studies and for studying genetic modifications in tumors. In forensic applications neoplastic tissues can be used as a source of genetic information for personal identification or paternity testing when no other specimen is available. Cancer tissues can show microsatellite instability (MSI) and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) also for the STRs used in the forensic field.

Medico-legal assessment of disability in narcolepsy: an interobserver reliability study.

Impairment because of narcolepsy strongly limits job performance, but there are no standard criteria to assess disability in people with narcolepsy and a scale of disease severity is still lacking. We explored: (1) the interobserver reliability among Italian Medical Commissions making disability and handicap benefit decisions for people with narcolepsy, searching for correlations between the recognized disability degree and patients' features; (2) the willingness to report patients to the driving licence authority and (3) possible sources of variance in judgement. Fifteen narcoleptic patients were examined by four Medical Commissions in simulated sessions.

Suboptimal awareness of radiologic dose among patients undergoing cardiac stress scintigraphy.

Objective: Patients undergoing radiologic and nuclear medicine examination often receive little, if any, information related to the radiologic dose and consequent potential long-term cancer risk. This "economical with the truth" communication may violate basic patients' rights. We assessed the information perceived by patients on the radiation dose exposure during nuclear medicine examinations.

Male haplotypes and haplogroups differences between urban (Rimini) and rural area (Valmarecchia) in Romagna region (North Italy).

The distribution of Y chromosomal haplotypes and haplogroups in two different population samples from the Romagna region (North Italy) was performed. One population sample was collected in the urban area of Rimini, an ancient port in Roman age and the other one in the near and geographically more isolated rural area of Valmarecchia. Fast and slow evolving markers have been studied to infer population history and to analyse the microgeographic heterogeneity of Y chromosome in a Northern Italian region.

Microwave processing and ethanol-based fixation in forensic pathology.

An ethanol-based fixative (FineFIX) has been used, together with rapid microwave-stimulated processing, in postmortem material, resulting in a rapid fixation and processing of the tissues with morphology, histochemical stains, and immunocytochemistry comparable to formalin-fixed material. Furthermore, this alternative fixation gives better DNA recovery in higher amounts if compared with DNA extracted from formalin-fixed tissue, particularly advantageous in forensic pathology.