The Use of Virtual Reality Interventions to Promote Positive Mental Health: Systematic Literature Review.

Background: A large body of research has documented the efficacy of psychological interventions integrated with virtual reality (VR) therapies in treating psychiatric disorders. However, the concept of positive mental health calls for a 2-fold approach in which both symptoms and positive functioning should be addressed by modern interventions.

Objective: This review aimed to summarize studies that applied VR therapies by embracing the positive mental health perspective.

Towards a Precision Medicine Approach Based on Machine Learning for Tailoring Medical Treatment in Alkaptonuria.

ApreciseKUre is a multi-purpose digital platform facilitating data collection, integration and analysis for patients affected by Alkaptonuria (AKU), an ultra-rare autosomal recessive genetic disease. It includes genetic, biochemical, histopathological, clinical, therapeutic resources and quality of life scores that can be shared among registered researchers and clinicians in order to create a Precision Medicine Ecosystem (PME). The combination of machine learning application to analyse and re-interpret data available in the ApreciseKUre shows the potential direct benefits to achieve patient stratification and the consequent tailoring of care and treatments to a specific subgroup of patients.

Safety and Efficacy of Reperfusion Therapies for Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients with Active Malignancy.

Background And Purpose: Epidemiological correlations between active malignancy (AM) and acute ischemic stroke (AIS) are well-established. However, the effect of reperfusion strategies, particularly mechanical thrombectomy (MT), has been barely investigated in patients with AIS and AM. We aim to evaluate safety and efficacy of reperfusion strategies in such patients.

Mechanical thrombectomy of acute ischemic stroke with a new intermediate aspiration catheter: preliminary results.

Background And Purpose: To report clinical and procedural outcomes of acute ischemic stroke patients after endovascular treatment with the new thromboaspiration catheter AXS Catalyst 6.

Methods: Patients with anterior and posterior circulation stroke were selected. Successful reperfusion defined as a Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction (TICI) score ≥2 b and 3-month functional independence defined as a modified Rankin Scale (mRS) ≤2 were the main efficacy outcomes.

Pretreatment predictors of malignant evolution in patients with ischemic stroke undergoing mechanical thrombectomy.

Background: Few data exist on malignant middle cerebral artery infarction (MMI) among patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) after endovascular treatment (ET). Numerous predictors of MMI evolution have been proposed, but a comprehensive research of patients undergoing ET has never been performed. Our purpose was to find a practical model to determine robust predictors of MMI in patients undergoing ET.

Efficacy and Safety of Mechanical Thrombectomy in Older Adults with Acute Ischemic Stoke.

Objectives: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of endovascular therapy in elderly adults treated for acute ischemic stroke.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Comprehensive Stroke Center, University of Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.

Endovascular Stroke Treatment of Acute Tandem Occlusion: A Single-Center Experience.

Purpose: To evaluate outcomes and prognostic factors in patients with acute ischemic stroke caused by tandem internal carotid artery/middle cerebral artery occlusion undergoing endovascular treatment.

Materials And Methods: Characteristics of consecutive patients with tandem occlusion (TO) were extracted from a prospective registry. Collateral vessel quality on pretreatment computed tomographic (CT) angiography was evaluated on a 4-point grading scale, and patients were dichotomized as having poor or good collateral flow.

Evidence of hydrogen sulfide involvement in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Objective: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a motor neuron disease whose pathophysiological deficits, causing impairment in motor function, are largely unknown. Here we propose that hydrogen sulfide (H2 S), as a glial-released inflammatory factor, contributes to ALS-mediated motor neuron death.

Methods: H2 S concentrations were analyzed in the cerebrospinal fluid of 37 sporadic ALS patients and 14 age- and gender-matched controls, in tissues of a familial ALS (fALS) mouse model, and in spinal cord culture media by means of a specific and innovative high-performance liquid chromatography method.

Ameliorating effects of aripiprazole on cognitive functions and depressive-like behavior in a genetic rat model of absence epilepsy and mild-depression comorbidity.

Aripiprazole (APZ) is regarded as a first-line atypical antipsychotic used for the treatment of first and multiple episodes of schizophrenia to improve positive- and negative-symptoms. Its therapeutic indications were extended to acute manic and mixed episodes associated with bipolar disorder. In addition, APZ was approved as an adjunct therapy for major depressive disorder in 2007.

Electrophysiological effects of trace amines on mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons.

Trace amines (TAs) are a class of endogenous compounds strictly related to classic monoamine neurotransmitters with regard to their structure, metabolism, and tissue distribution. Although the presence of TAs in mammalian brain has been recognized for decades, until recently they were considered to be by-products of amino acid metabolism or as "false" neurotransmitters. The discovery in 2001 of a new family of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), namely trace amines receptors, has re-ignited interest in TAs.

Venlafaxine-propafenone interaction resulting in hallucinations and psychomotor agitation.

Objective: To report a case of visual hallucinations and psychomotor agitation probably induced by an interaction between venlafaxine and propafenone.

Case Summary: An 85-year-old woman was admitted for evaluation of a mood disorder on March 20, 2006. Her general practitioner had prescribed sertraline for treatment, which had started about 6 months earlier.

Influence of levetiracetam on the anticonvulsant efficacy of conventional antiepileptic drugs against audiogenic seizures in DBA/2 mice.

Levetiracetam (LEV, [S]-alpha-ethyl-2-oxo-1-pyrrolidine acetamide) is a new antiepileptic that has been used as adjunctive therapy to treat patients with intractable epilepsy. Systemic administration of levetiracetam (2.5-30 mg/kg, intraperitoneally (i.