The association of compassion with dignity and symptoms in end-of-life cancer patients.

Objectives: Compassion is essential in palliative care; however, there is a lack of evidence of the association between this construct and patients' dignity-related distress. The present study aimed to investigate the association between end-of-life cancer patients' sense of dignity, the level of compassion of the healthcare professionals (HCPs) noticed and perceived by the patients, and levels of compassion that HCPs felt they had toward patients, investigating through specific attitudes and behaviors. Furthermore, the relationship between compassion and patients' physical and psychological symptoms, such as levels of anxiety and depression, was also investigated.

Demoralization Syndrome in End-Of-Life Cancer Patients: A Qualitative Study.

Objectives: In our previous study we analyzed the prevalence of demoralization in a sample of 235 end-of-life cancer patients using the Demoralization Scale (DS). The findings revealed that 50.2% of the participants reported experiencing a moderate level of demoralization.

A Case Report of Autoimmune Encephalitis after Anti-SARS-CoV-2 Vaccination: The Role of Cognitive Impairments in the Diagnostic Process.

Objective: Autoimmune encephalitis includes a heterogeneous group of rare and complex diseases, usually presenting with severe and disabling symptoms, such as behavioral changes, cognitive deficits, and seizures.

Method: This report presents the case of a 26-year-old man who was diagnosed with autoimmune encephalitis following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination (<40 days). Symptoms first appeared in February 2022 with a temporal seizure, associated with confusion and memory loss.

Is there a relationship between end-of-life cancer patients' dignity-related distress and caregivers' distress? An exploratory study.

Objectives: The mutual influence between end-of-life cancer patients and their family caregivers is widely endorsed. The present study aimed to explore the relationship between end-of-life cancer patients' dignity-related distress and the distress of their caregivers.

Method: A cross-sectional approach was used.

A Virtual Navigation Training Promotes the Remapping of Space in Allocentric Coordinates: Evidence From Behavioral and Neuroimaging Data.

Allocentric space representations demonstrated to be crucial to improve visuo-spatial skills, pivotal in every-day life activities and for the development and maintenance of other cognitive abilities, such as memory and reasoning. Here, we present a series of three different experiments: Experiment 1, Discovery sample (23 young male participants); Experiment 2, Neuroimaging and replicating sample (23 young male participants); and Experiment 3 (14 young male participants). In the experiments, we investigated whether virtual navigation stimulates the ability to form spatial allocentric representations.

Personality, Defense Mechanisms and Psychological Distress in Women with Fibromyalgia.

Background: Previous studies have shown that many personality traits are associated with fibromyalgia (FM), worsening both the quality of life and psychological distress of patients. Despite the high comorbidity of psychopathological disorders in this syndrome and their association with immature defense styles, few studies have examined the defense mechanisms used by FM patients. The main aim of our study was to investigate personality traits and defense mechanisms in FM patients compared to in a healthy control group (HC).

A subcortical network for implicit visuo-spatial attention: Implications for Parkinson's Disease.

Recent studies in humans and animal models suggest a primary role of the basal ganglia in the extraction of stimulus-value regularities, then exploited to orient attentional shift and build up sensorimotor memories. The tail of the caudate and the posterior putamen both receive early visual input from the superficial layers of the superior colliculus, thus forming a closed-loop. We portend that the functional value of this circuit is to manage the selection of visual stimuli in a rapid and automatic way, once sensory-motor associations are formed and stored in the posterior striatum.

Demoralization in End-of-Life Cancer Patients' Family Caregivers: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to evaluate the prevalence of demoralization in a sample of end-of-life cancer patients' family caregivers and investigate the association between demoralization and different factors, such as distress, hope, quality of life, and caregiver burden.

Methods: The study used a cross-sectional design and 142 participants were sampled. Family caregivers were included if they were caring for a cancer patient in palliative care with a limited life expectancy.

Traumatic experiences and somatoform dissociation in women with fibromyalgia.

Psychological factors like traumatic life events seem to affect the etiopathogenesis and the exacerbation of fibromyalgia (FM), a chronic widespread musculoskeletal pain syndrome. This Study investigated the prevalence of traumatic events, with a particular attention to the whole life span, and both psychoform and somatoform dissociation in patients with FM, compared with healthy controls (HC). In addition, the possible effects of traumatic events and dissociative experiences on FM symptoms have been analyzed.

Personality Traits and Sense of Dignity in End-of-Life Cancer Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Context: Patients' personality traits can play an important role in the end-of-life care process.

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between personality traits and dignity in cancer patients nearing death. In addition, the associations between personality traits and physical, psychological symptoms, and coping strategies during the end-of-life stage were explored.

Attachment style and parental bonding: Relationships with fibromyalgia and alexithymia.

Objectives: Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome, and alexithymia, which is a condition that is characterised by deficits in emotional self-awareness, is highly prevalent among individuals with FM. Insecure attachment styles and inadequate parental care appear to play an important role in the onset and maintenance of both alexithymia and chronic pain. Therefore, the present study aimed to examine the associations between attachment styles, parental bonding, and alexithymia among patients with FM and healthy controls (HC).

Role of the Cingulate Cortex in Dyskinesias-Reduced-Self-Awareness: An fMRI Study on Parkinson's Disease Patients.

The detection of dyskinesias-reduced-self-awareness (DRSA), in Parkinson's disease (PD), was previously associated to executive and metacognitive deficits mainly due to dopaminergic overstimulation of mesocorticolimbic circuits. Response-inhibition dysfunction is often observed in PD. Apart from being engaged in response-inhibition tasks, the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), is part of a functional system based on self-awareness and engaged across cognitive, affective and behavioural contexts.

Coping strategies and perceived social support in fibromyalgia syndrome: Relationship with alexithymia.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain syndrome characterized by high levels of psychological distress and alexithymia, a personality disposition affecting emotional self-awareness. The main aim of the present study was to investigate for the first time the relationship between alexithymia and coping strategies on the one hand, and alexithymia and perceived social support on the other, in a sample of FM patients. To reach this aim, 153 FM patients completed a battery of tests assessing coping strategies, perceived social support, alexithymia, psychological distress and pain intensity.

Psychosomatic syndromes in fibromyalgia.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence of psychosomatic symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) or rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: Seventy-six consecutive women with FM and 80 with RA without concomitant FM were assessed using the Diagnostic Criteria for Psychosomatic Research (DCPR) interview to evaluate the presence of psychosomatic syndromes. Beck Depression Inventory - II (BDI-II) and Form Y of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-Y) were administered in order to assess the symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Alexithymia and depression in patients with fibromyalgia: When the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

This study investigated the link between alexithymia and depressive symptoms in Fibromyalgia (FM). 181 FM women and 181 healthy controls (HC) were compared using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. A moderation analysis was performed to examine the moderation effect of the group (FM vs.

Evolutionary appearance of von Economo's neurons in the mammalian cerebral cortex.

von Economo's neurons (VENs) are large, spindle-shaped projection neurons in layer V of the frontoinsular (FI) cortex, and the anterior cingulate cortex. During human ontogenesis, the VENs can first be differentiated at late stages of gestation, and increase in number during the first eight postnatal months. VENs have been identified in humans, chimpanzee, bonobos, gorillas, orangutan and, more recently, in the macaque.

Differentiated forgetting rates of spatial knowledge in humans in the absence of repeated testing.

Spatial knowledge, necessary for efficient navigation, comprises route knowledge (memory of the landmarks along a route) and survey knowledge (map-like). Available data on the retention in humans of spatial knowledge show that this does not decline systematically over months or years. Here, two groups of participants elaborated route and survey knowledge during navigation in a complex virtual environment before performing route and survey tasks.