Sensors (Basel)
March 2023
Arduino is an open-source electronics platform based on cheap hardware and the easy-to-use software Integrated Development Environment (IDE). Nowadays, because of its open-source nature and its simple and accessible user experience, Arduino is ubiquitous and used among hobbyist and novice programmers for Do It Yourself (DIY) projects, especially in the Internet of Things (IoT) domain. Unfortunately, such diffusion comes with a price.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMinor blunt head trauma (MHT) represents a common reason for presentation to the pediatric emergency department (ED). Despite the low incidence of clinically important traumatic brain injuries (ciTBIs) following MHT, many children undergo computed tomography (CT), exposing them to the risk associated with ionizing radiation. The clinical predictions rules developed by the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN) for MHT are validated accurate tools to support decision-making about neuroimaging for these children to safely reduce CT scans.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFItaly was one of the first countries to be significantly affected by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, determining a unique scenario for Italian psychotherapists to consider changing the modality in which they deliver treatment. The present study aimed at studying which factors related to psychotherapists and their clinical practice had a major role in predicting two main outcomes: (1) the rate of interrupted treatments during lockdown and (2) psychotherapists' satisfaction with the telepsychotherapy modality. An online survey was administered to licensed psychotherapists ( = 306), who worked mainly as private practitioners, between April 5 and May 10, 2020 (i.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParkinson's disease (PD) is the second most frequent neurodegenerative disease worldwide and the availability of early biomarkers and novel biotargets represents an urgent medical need. The main pathogenetic hallmark of PD is the specific loss of nigral dopaminergic neurons, in which mitochondrial dysfunction plays a crucial role. Mitochondrial proteases are central to the maintenance of healthy mitochondria and they have recently emerged as drug targets.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThere are very few case series of patients with acute psychogenic memory loss (also known as dissociative/functional amnesia), and still fewer studies of outcome, or comparisons with neurological memory-disordered patients. Consequently, the literature on psychogenic amnesia is somewhat fragmented and offers little prognostic value for individual patients. In the present study, we reviewed the case records and neuropsychological findings in 53 psychogenic amnesia cases (ratio of 3:1, males:females), in comparison with 21 consecutively recruited neurological memory-disordered patients and 14 healthy control subjects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study was to examine the stability of the factor structure and psychometric properties of the Therapist Response Questionnaire (Betan, Heim, Zittel Conklin, & Westen, 2005; Zittel Conklin & Westen, 2003), a clinician report instrument able to measure the clinician's emotional reactions to the patient in psychotherapy. A national sample of psychiatrists and clinical psychologists (N = 332) of psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral orientation completed the Therapist Response Questionnaire, as well as the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (Westen & Shedler, 1999a, 1999b), to assess personality disorders and level of psychological functioning, regarding a patient currently in their care. They also administered the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (Derogatis, 1994) to the patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe aim of this study is to explore the relationship between level of personality organization and type of personality disorder as assessed with the categories in the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual (PDM; PDM Task Force, 2006) and the emotional responses of treating clinicians. We asked 148 Italian clinicians to assess 1 of their adult patients in treatment for personality disorders with the Psychodiagnostic Chart (PDC; Gordon & Bornstein, 2012) and the Personality Diagnostic Prototype (PDP; Gazzillo, Lingiardi, & Del Corno, 2012) and to complete the Therapist Response Questionnaire (TRQ; Betan, Heim, Zittel-Conklin, & Westen, 2005). The patients' level of overall personality pathology was positively associated with helpless and overwhelmed responses in clinicians and negatively associated with positive emotional responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Perineal stapled prolapse resection (PSP) for external rectal prolapse is a new surgical technique.
Methods: Between April 2009 and January 2011, 5 female patients (mean age, 67 years; range, 53-76) underwent PSP for full-thickness external rectal prolapse. Patients were placed in a slight Trendelenburg position to free the pouch of Douglas from any deep enterocele.
Introduction: Kennedy Axis V or K Axis acts is an alternative tool to the DSM-IVTR Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale, that many researchers describe as a scale with poor inter-rater reliability and clinical utility. Unlike the GAF scale, K Axis provides a multidimensional and multiaxial approach to measure personal, social and interpersonal functioning in psychiatric outpatients and inpatients. In this study, we examined K Axis's inter-raters reliability by using it with an Italian clinical population.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: Granular cell tumor was first described by Abrikossoff in 1926. Over the years several cases of this neoplasm have been reported, with a variety of localizations. We here report a case of perianal granular cell tumor and discuss its histogenesis and its relevance to clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Anal fissure is associated with hypertonia of the internal anal sphincter and pain. Lateral internal sphincterotomy, the most common treatment, may cause permanent injury to the anal sphincter, which can lead to fecal incontinence. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of topical glyceryl trinitrate (GTN) ointment in the treatment of anal fissure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: Anorectal dysfunction is routinely treated at the Center for Pelvic Floor Rehabilitation, San Giovanni University Hospital, Turin, Italy. Of a total of 147 patients treated between April 2007 and May 2008, 44 (30%) received pelvic floor rehabilitation following anorectal surgery. With this study we wanted to evaluate the response of patients with constipation and/or fecal incontinence to postsurgical pelvic floor rehabilitation designed to regain full or partial anorectal function and so improve their quality of life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)), a precursor of molecules involved in cell regulatory processes, is released in extra-cellular compartments after stress or inflammation.This study investigates the expression in the human cornea of CD38 and CD157, two NAD(+)-consuming ectoenzymes and surface receptors. The analysis in corneal epithelial and stromal cells was performed by means of multiple approaches, which included immunofluorescence, reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), Western blot, and confocal microscopy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The role of laparoscopic resection (LR) in the management of extraperitoneal rectal cancer still is unclear. This study aimed to compare perioperative and long-term results of laparoscopic and open resection (OR) for low and midrectal cancer.
Methods: A prospective nonrandomized trial comparing patients submitted to OR or LR for low and midrectal cancer at a single institution was conducted.
CD38, a nonlineage-restricted surface glycoprotein, is an ecto-enzyme (ADP ribosyl cyclase/cADPR hydrolase/EC 3.2.2.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA clinical case of Neuronal Intestinal Dysplasia (NID) is reported. This is an important pathology which is part of congenital alterations of bowel's innervation. This disease consists of two forms (A and B) which occur during different ages causing problems in intestinal motility with consequent various symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMany groups have examined of androgen the effects on normal and neoplastic colon tissues, but no clear picture has hitherto emerged. In particular, the presence and the function of the androgen receptor (AR) has only partially been investigated in the past. The present study reports analysis of expression of the AR gene as messenger RNA and as protein in surgical samples of neoplastic colon mucosa and of corresponding healthy surrounding tissue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Biol Regul Homeost Agents
December 1998
Human CD38 is a 45 kD ectoenzyme endowed with ADP-ribosyl cyclase and hydrolase activities. The molecule plays a central role in lymphocyte activation, proliferation and selectin-type adhesion with endothelial cells (HEC). A HEC surface molecule displaying all the features of a CD38L has been identified by means of a mAb (Moon-1), able to block CD38-mediated adhesion processes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGastrinoma is a rare neoplasia producing gastrina, the hormone responsible of the clinic manifestations related to Zollinger-Ellison syndrome. The localization of gastrinoma is pancreatic or extrapancreatic (usually in Stabile and Passaro triangle). We present a case report concerning an extra-pancreatic gastrinoma not localized in this area and included in a lymph node.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnn Ital Chir
September 1996
Hemorrhoidal disease is a common problem in a proctological ambulatory. Surgery is the best therapy for fourth degree hemorrhoids and the complication rate is 10-20%: postoperative urinary retention etiology is unknown but it may be caused by dysfunction of bladder muscles in response to pain and by an excessive perioperative somministration of fluids; delayed hemorrhage (i.e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMinerva Gastroenterol Dietol
September 1993
The authors consider the various causes of ascites and they also develop the concept of refractory ascites. They consider the various possibilities of medical and dietary therapy whose failure constitutes the basis for a surgical approach. In the latter case it is being considered the Peritoneo Venous Shunt (PVS) that employs different types of valves.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Authors report a case of rhabdomyosarcoma observed in a 17-year-old boy. They emphasize that this rare form has an extremely rapid evolution, and in this case was also in an unusual site and of abnormal size. The difficulty of an early diagnosis and the impossibility of radical surgery are also underlined.
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