Management and Treatment of Patients With Major Depressive Disorder and Chronic Diseases: A Multidisciplinary Approach.

In patients with physical chronic diseases, the prevalence of major depressive disorder (MDD) is approximately 2- to 3-fold higher than in the general population, and it can reach up to 20-40%. The comorbidity of MDD with chronic medical diseases is associated with poorer quality of life, increased medical symptom burden, poor adherence to self-care regimens, increased risk of functional impairment, morbidity, and mortality, and also higher medical costs. Despite this evidence, in routine practice, psychological issues and concerns are frequently inadequately managed.

A Review of the Emotional Aspects of Neuropathic Pain: From Comorbidity to Co-Pathogenesis.

Unlabelled: Neuropathic pain is characterized by both sensory and affective disturbances, supporting the notion that pain and mood disorders share common pathogenetic mechanisms. Moreover, biological and neuroimaging data show that common brain areas are involved in the modulation of painful and emotional experiences. Improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of neuroinflammation in regulation of affective behavior in neuropathic pain states is important for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.

Harm Avoidance and Self-Directedness Characterize Fibromyalgic Patients and the Symptom Severity.

Objective: Evidence in the literature suggests peculiar personality traits for fibromyalgic (FM) patients, and it has been suggested that personality characteristics may be involved in patients' different symptomatic events and responses to treatment. The aim of the study is to investigate the personality characteristics of Italian FM patients and to explore the possibility of clustering them considering both personality traits and clinical characteristics.

Design: The study used a cross-sectional methodology and involved a control group.

Disease-Induced Neuroinflammation and Depression.

Progression of major depression, a multifactorial disorder with a neuroinflammatory signature, seems to be associated with the disruption of body allostasis. High rates of comorbidity between depression and specific medical disorders, such as, stroke, chronic pain conditions, diabetes mellitus, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, have been extensively reported. In this review, we discuss how these medical disorders may predispose an individual to develop depression by examining the impact of these disorders on some hallmarks of neuroinflammation known to be impaired in depressed patients: altered permeability of the blood brain barrier, immune cells infiltration, activated microglia, increased cytokines production, and the role of inflammasomes.

Confirmatory factor analysis of the Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD-B) among Italian medical students.

Objective: A steady increase in the number of patients requiring end-of-life care has been observed during the last decades. The assessment of healthcare students' attitudes toward end-of-life care is an important step in their curriculum, as it provides information about their disposition to practice palliative medicine. The Frommelt Attitude Toward Care of the Dying Scale (FATCOD-B) was developed to detect such a disposition, but its psychometric properties are yet to be clearly defined.

Measurement properties and confirmatory factor analysis of the Jefferson Scale of Empathy in Italian medical students.

Medical educators agree that empathy is essential for physicians' professionalism and most studies on the patient-physician relationship demonstrate that this attitude has a key role in improving clinical outcomes. Literature findings show conflicting views in defining and measuring empathy. Nevertheless, the Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE) is a psychometric tool now widely used.

Attitudes of medical students toward the care of the dying in relation to personality traits: harm avoidance and self-directedness make a difference.

Caring for dying patients requires specific attitudes. Medical students often feel unprepared to cope with issues related to end-of-life care. Little is known about the relationships between personality and attitudes toward the dying; consequently, it is difficult for medical educators to devise training that is best suited to prepare students for practicing palliative medicine.