Gambling Disorder (GD) has been recently re-classified in the DSM-5 under the "substance-related and addictive disorders," in light of its genetic, endophenotypic, and phenotypic resemblances to substance dependence. Diminished control is a core defining concept of psychoactive substance dependence or addiction and has given rise to the concept of "behavioral" addictions, which are syndromes analogous to substance addiction, but with a behavioral focus other than ingestion of a psychoactive substance. The main symptom clusters are represented by loss of control, craving/withdrawal, and neglect of other areas of life, whereas in a Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) perspective, GD patients exhibit deficits in the domain of "Positive valence systems," particularly in the "Approach motivation" and "Reward learning" constructs, as well as in the "Cognitive systems," primarily in the "Cognitive control" construct.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNon-Invasive Brain Stimulation (NIBS) techniques and in particular, repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS), are developing beyond mere clinical application. Although originally purposed for the treatment of resistant neuropsychiatric disorders, NIBS is also contributing to a deeper understanding of psychiatric disorders. rTMS is also changing the model of the disorder itself, from "mental" to one of neural connectivity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has been recognized as mainly characterized by compulsivity rather than anxiety and, therefore, was removed from the anxiety disorders chapter and given its own in both the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) and the Beta Draft Version of the 11th revision of the World Health Organization (WHO) International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11). This revised clustering is based on increasing evidence of common affected neurocircuits between disorders, differently from previous classification systems based on interrater agreement. In this article, we focus on the classification of obsessive-compulsive and related disorders (OCRDs), examining the differences in approach adopted by these 2 nosological systems, with particular attention to the proposed changes in the forthcoming ICD-11.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the supplementary motor area has been shown to be effective in a subset of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) subjects, yet these results are still to be confirmed. This preliminary study compares the efficacy of augmentation with 1 Hz rTMS over the supplementary motor area and the usual augmentation treatment (TAU; treated as usual) with antipsychotics in a sample of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI)-refractory OCD patients.
Method: Fifty SSRI-refractory OCD patients consecutively admitted were studied: 25 were treated with a three-week trial of 1Hz, bilateral rTMS over the supplementary motor area and 25 with antipsychotic drugs.
Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are known as a core symptom of schizophrenia, but also occur in a number of other conditions, not least in neurodegenerative disorders such as dementia. In the last decades, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) emerged as a valuable therapeutic approach towards several neurological and psychiatric diseases, including AVHs. Herein we report a case of a seventy-six-years-old woman with vascular-degenerative brain disease, complaining of threatening AVHs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of a hypoxic pre-treatment (HPT) on improving tolerance to prolonged anoxia conditions in two contrasting Vitis species (V. riparia, anoxia tolerant; V. rupestris, anoxia sensitive) was evaluated.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAuxin (IAA) is versatile signalling molecule of plants, currently classified as plant hormone. But there are data suggesting that auxin is acting also as plant-specific morphogen, electric-responses inducing transmitter, and as general signalling molecule used for plant-bacteria communication. Our previous data revealed that auxin is associated with secretory endosomes and also highly enriched within cell walls of cells active in transcellular auxin transport.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMicroemulsion EKC (MEEKC) was used for the determination of ketorolac and its three impurities. The microemulsion system was optimized, for the first time in the literature, using a multivariate strategy involving a mixture design. A 13-run experimental plan covering an experimental domain defined by the components aqueous phase (10 mM borate buffer pH 9.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe effect of anoxia on the energy economy of root cells was studied by measuring heat production, ethanol and ATP production, K(+) fluxes and electrical activity in two Vitis species, V. riparia and V. rupestris, that differ in their tolerance to anoxia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAuxin (also known as indole-3-acetic acid, IAA) represents an ancient signaling molecule of plants that also exerts bioactive actions on yeast and animal cells. Importantly, IAA emerges as a new anticancer agent due to the ability of oxidatively activated IAA to selectively kill tumor cells. IAA acts as a pheromone-like molecule in brown algae, whereas the hormone concept of IAA dominates current plant biology.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGaseous transport through lenticels is widely accepted to be the main pathway for oxygen supply to the parenchymatous tissues of the wood. Circumstantial evidence exists that the oxygen required for respiration by these living cells can be obtained from the transpiration stream. However, there has been no functional confirmation of this role.
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