Subject-Specific and COM Acceleration-Enhanced Reflex Neuromuscular Model to Predict Ankle Responses in Perturbed Gait.

Subject-specific musculoskeletal models generate more accurate joint torque estimates from electromyography (EMG) inputs in relation to experimentally obtained torques. Similarly, reflex Neuromuscular Models (NMMs) that employ COM states in addition to musculotendon information generate muscle activations to musculoskeletal models that better predict ankle torques during perturbed gait. In this study, the reflex NMM of locomotion of one subject is identified by employing an EMG-calibrated musculoskeletal model in unperturbed and perturbed gait.

Effects of Direct-Acting Antiviral Agents on the Mental Health of Patients with Chronic Hepatitis C: A Prospective Observational Study.

In chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients, interferon-based treatments showed toxicity, limited efficacy, and psychiatric manifestations. Direct-acting antiviral (DAA) agents appeared safer, though it remains unclear if they may exacerbate or foster mood symptoms in drug-naïve CHC patients. We evaluated 62 CHC patients' mental status, before and 12 weeks after DAA therapy, by assessment scales and psychometric instruments.

Computational fluid dynamics of a novel perfusion strategy during hybrid thoracic aortic repair.

Background And Aim: To mitigate the risk of perioperative neurological complications during frozen elephant trunk procedures, we aimed to computationally evaluate the effects of direct cerebral perfusion strategy through a left carotid-subclavian bypass on hemodynamics in a patient-specific thoracic aorta model.

Methods: Between July 2016 and March 2019, 11 consecutive patients underwent frozen elephant trunk operation using the left carotid-subclavian bypass with a side graft anastomosis and right-axillary cannulation for systemic and brain perfusion. A multiscale model realized coupling three-dimensional computational fluid dynamics was developed and validated with in vivo data.

High-functioning autism spectrum disorder with fluent speech and late-onset epilepsy: an unusual presentation of Inv-Dup (15) syndrome.

Many neuropsychiatric phenotypes have been reported in association with rearrangements in the 15q11-q13 region. Clinical presentations can include hypotonia, developmental delay, severe/moderate intellectual disabilities, poor expressive language, difficult to treat epilepsy, and autism spectrum disorders. Here we report an additional case of a girl with inversion duplication on chromosome 15 (Inv-Dup 15) showing a peculiar and milder clinical phenotype, including atypical high-functioning autism disorder, late onset and drug-responsive epilepsy, and a relatively good language development .

Model and Application to Support the Coronary Artery Diseases (CAD): Development and Testing.

Cardiovascular diseases are among the main causes of morbidity, disability, and mortality. Most of them occur because of an atherosclerotic plaque developing within a coronary artery, which can cause a narrowing of the vessel lumen (coronary stenosis) or even break it. It is, therefore, useful to evaluate the role of the stress state of the endothelial layer of the arterial tissue, both for the maintenance of the blood circulation and for the implications in presence of a pathology that can lead to thromboembolic complications.

Different Blood Flow Models in Coronary Artery Diseases: Effects on hemodynamic parameters.

Coronary arteries are medium-small caliber vessels, in which low shear rate values are encountered, where non-Newtonian blood effects cannot be neglected. This work aims to study a comparison between Newtonian and non-Newtonian blood behaviors in a cohort offorty-eight 3D patient-specific stenotic vessels (right (RCA), left (LAD) and circumflex (LCX) coronary artery) at different grades of stenosis. Numerical simulation was carried out by means of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Analysis to investigate the blood velocity and distribution of the shear stress indices at different times of the cardiac cycle.

17q21.31 microdeletion syndrome: Description of a case further contributing to the delineation of Koolen-de Vries syndrome.

The widespread use of Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization (aCGH) technology has enabled the identification of several syndromes associated with copy number variants (CNVs) including the 17q21.31 microdeletion. The 17q21.

Impaired gait kinematics in type 1 Gaucher's Disease.

Type 1 Gaucher's disease (GD1) is traditionally regarded as "non-neurological". Spatiotemporal and kinematic analysis of gait was carried on thirteen GD1 patients and thirteen healthy controls. We identified a previously unknown subclinical reduction of amplitude of movements in GD1.

Analysis of the TCP genes expressed in the inflorescence of the orchid Orchis italica.

TCP proteins are plant-specific transcription factors involved in many different processes. Because of their involvement in a large number of developmental pathways, their roles have been investigated in various plant species. However, there are almost no studies of this transcription factor family in orchids.

Safety of Overnight Switch from Brand-Name to Generic Levetiracetam.

Background And Objective: Concerns that antiepileptic brand-to-generic interchange results in disruption of seizure control are widespread. The objective of this study was to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the brand-to-generic levetiracetam switch in patients with focal or generalized epilepsy.

Methods: A prospective study in patients with primary, cryptogenic or symptomatic epilepsy, who were taking branded levetiracetam and were switched to generic levetiracetam.

Perspectives on treatment options for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.

Introduction: Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy associated with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS) is a syndrome that is often refractory to drug treatment. The effects on specific syndromes are not currently available from the pre-marketing clinical development of new AEDs; this does not allow the prediction of whether new drugs will be more effective in the treatment of some patients.

Areas Covered: We have reviewed all the existing literature relevant to the understanding of a potential effectiveness in MTLE-HS patients for the latest AEDs, namely brivaracetam, eslicarbazepine, lacosamide, perampanel and retigabine also including the most relevant clinical data and a brief description of their pharmacological profile.

CHD2 variants are a risk factor for photosensitivity in epilepsy.

Photosensitivity is a heritable abnormal cortical response to flickering light, manifesting as particular electroencephalographic changes, with or without seizures. Photosensitivity is prominent in a very rare epileptic encephalopathy due to de novo CHD2 mutations, but is also seen in epileptic encephalopathies due to other gene mutations. We determined whether CHD2 variation underlies photosensitivity in common epilepsies, specific photosensitive epilepsies and individuals with photosensitivity without seizures.

Severe epilepsy in an adult with partial trisomy 18q.

Epilepsy is one of the most common presentations associated with chromosome aberrations. Detailed descriptions of some aberration-specific epileptic and electroencephalographic (EEG) phenotypes have been reported (i.e.

Seizures and EEG pattern in the 22q13.3 deletion syndrome: clinical report of six Italian cases.

Purpose: The 22q13.3 deletion syndrome, also known as Phelan-McDermid syndrome, is a rare genetic disorder characterized by hypotonia, severely impaired development of speech and language, autistic-like behaviour, and minor dysmorphic features. Neurologic problems may include seizures of different types, such as febrile, generalized tonic-clonic, focal, and absence seizures.

De novo transcriptome assembly from inflorescence of Orchis italica: analysis of coding and non-coding transcripts.

The floral transcriptome of Orchis italica, a wild orchid species, was obtained using Illumina RNA-seq technology and specific de novo assembly and analysis tools. More than 100 million raw reads were processed resulting in 132,565 assembled transcripts and 86,079 unigenes with an average length of 606 bp and N50 of 956 bp. Functional annotation assigned 38,984 of the unigenes to records present in the NCBI non-redundant protein database, 32,161 of them to Gene Ontology terms, 15,775 of them to Eukaryotic Orthologous Groups (KOG) and 7,143 of them to Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathways.

The analysis of the inflorescence miRNome of the orchid Orchis italica reveals a DEF-like MADS-box gene as a new miRNA target.

Plant microRNAs (miRNAs) are small, regulatory non-coding RNAs involved in a wide range of biological processes, from organ development to response to stimuli. In recent years, an increasing number of studies on model plant species have highlighted the evolutionary conservation of a high number of miRNA families and the existence of taxon-specific ones. However, few studies have examined miRNAs in non-model species such as orchids, which are characterized by highly diversified floral structures and pollination strategies.

The AP2-like gene OitaAP2 is alternatively spliced and differentially expressed in inflorescence and vegetative tissues of the orchid Orchis italica.

The AP2/ERF proteins are plant-specific transcription factors involved in multiple regulatory pathways, from plant organ development to response to various environmental stresses. One of the mechanisms that regulates the AP2-like genes involves the microRNA miR172, which controls their activity at the post-transcriptional level. Extensive studies on AP2-like genes are available in many different species; however, in orchids, one of the largest plant families, studies are restricted to a few species, all belonging to the Epidendroideae subfamily.

[Urban insecurity and fear of crime in people suffering from mental disorders: a study in 24 Mental Health Centers in Italy].

Aims: To assess in a sample of people with mental disorders: 1) fear of crime and perceived insecurity; 2) the association between fear of crime and insecurity; 3) the incidence of crimes.

Methods: Twenty-four Italian mental health centres have been invited to participate in the study from the network of the Early Career Psychiatrists' Committee of the Italian Psychiatric Association. In each participating centre, the first 20 patients consecutively accessing the mental health centre between February and April 2011 have been recruited.

Challenges for trainees in psychiatry and early career psychiatrists.

Psychiatry as a discipline will undergo major changes in the coming years. Although changes can be particularly stimulating and challenging from an intellectual, scientific and social viewpoint, the new generations of psychiatrists must be prepared to face these changes and deal with them appropriately. Paradigms which have represented the foundations of psychiatry in the last century now need a major revision.

Clinical dissection of early onset absence epilepsy in children and prognostic implications.

Purpose: To investigate whether patients with typical absence seizures (TAS) starting in the first 3 years of life, conformed to Panayiotopoulos's definition of childhood absence epilepsy (CAE), show different electroclinical course than those not fulfilling CAE criteria.

Methods: In this multicenter retrospective study, we choose a fixed duration follow-up of 36 months to examine the electroclinical course of epilepsy in all children with TAS starting before 3 years of age. The probands who fulfilled Panayiotopoulos's criteria for CAE were classified as having pure early onset absence epilepsy (P-EOAE), whereas those who did not as nonpure EOAE (NP-EOAE).

What is the current status of training and practice of early intervention in psychiatry? Results from a survey in 35 countries.

Aim: To assess: (i) trainees' educational needs on early intervention in psychiatry; (ii) their satisfaction and competence in early detection and management of patients with severe mental disorders; (iii) characteristics of training on prevention and on early intervention in psychiatry; and (iv) organizational and clinical differences of early intervention programmes and services in different countries.

Methods: Sixty early career psychiatrists, recruited from the early career psychiatrists' network of the World Psychiatric Association, were invited to participate in the survey. Respondents were asked to provide the collective input of their trainees' association rather than that of any individual officer or member.

Different electroclinical picture of generalized epilepsy in two families with 15q13.3 microdeletion.

15q.13.3 microdeletion has been described in a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders.