Predisposing Potential Risk Factors for Severe Anorexia Nervosa in Adolescents.

Background: Anorexia nervosa is a serious eating disorder that mainly affects children and adolescents. Most patients present with extreme body dissatisfaction and an obsessive focus on body weight and food. Anorexia nervosa is a complex and multifactorial condition characterised by biological, psychological, and social factors.

Early Naso-Gastric Feeding and Outcomes of Anorexia Nervosa Patients.

Nutritional rehabilitation with weight restoration is an important step in patients hospitalised for anorexia nervosa (AN). Naso-gastric feeding (NGF) should be considered when oral nutrition (OF) and oral nutritional supplementation (ONS) are insufficient. We evaluated the role of NGF on short- and long-term outcomes, considering weight gain, the length of hospitalisation (LOS) and the time to relapse.

Psychiatric comorbidities and dehydration are more common in children admitted to the emergency department for eating disorders in the COVID-19 era.

Purpose: Since the beginning of COVID-19 pandemic, social distancing and home confinement had a significant impact on children, especially on those with eating disorders (ED). The primary objective of this retrospective study was to describe and analyze the demographic and clinical profiles of children presenting with ED during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of clinical charts of patients with ED younger than 18 years who accessed the emergency department of the Bambino Gesù Children's Hospital, Rome, between March 2019 and March 2021.

Association of rs3027178 polymorphism in the circadian clock gene PER1 with susceptibility to Alzheimer's disease and longevity in an Italian population.

Many physiological processes in the human body follow a 24-h circadian rhythm controlled by the circadian clock system. Light, sensed by retina, is the predominant "zeitgeber" able to synchronize the circadian rhythms to the light-dark cycles. Circadian rhythm dysfunction and sleep disorders have been associated with aging and neurodegenerative diseases including mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Multicenter Study on Sleep and Circadian Alterations as Objective Markers of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease Reveals Sex Differences.

Background: Circadian and sleep disturbances are associated with increased risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). Wearable activity trackers could provide a new approach in diagnosis and prevention.

Objective: To evaluate sleep and circadian rhythm parameters, through wearable activity trackers, in MCI and AD patients as compared to controls, focusing on sex dissimilarities.

Cholinergic Markers and Cytokines in OSA Patients.

The role of inflammation and dysfunction of the cholinergic system in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has not exhaustively clarified. Thus, in this study, we explore the non-neuronal cholinergic system and the balance of T helper (Th) 17- and T regulatory (Treg)-related cytokines in OSA patients. The study includes 33 subjects with obstructive sleep apnea and 10 healthy controls (HC).

PAP use in mild cognitive impairment to delay progression to dementia.

Maestri M, Liguori C, Bonanni E, Guarnieri B. PAP use in mild cognitive impairment to delay progression to dementia. .

Sleep disorders and cognitive alterations in women.

Sleep disturbances are common among women from middle age onwards, into advanced age, and they are connected to menopause. The loss of ovarian hormones can alter cognition directly but probably also through sleep disturbances, which play an important role as a risk factor and a pathogenetic factor in dementia. Alzheimer's disease is common in older women.

Kitten Scanner reduces the use of sedation in pediatric MRI.

The use of sedation before a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan is a common practice to overcome motion artifacts and anxiety in children. However, this technique has its drawbacks. We retrospectively compared the number of children undergoing a brain MRI scan with or without sedation before and after the introduction of an educational training protocol using a toy scanner (the Philips Kitten Scanner) and we investigated the effectiveness of this training in relation to children's age and gender.

Sleep disorders in menopause: results from an Italian Multicentric Study.

Menopause in the female life cycle is a special period due to important hormonal, physical and psychological changes. Sleep disruption represents a common complaint for midlife and menopausal women, related to primary sleep disorders, including insomnia, sleep disordered breathing, restless legs syndrome (RLS), mood and anxiety disorder, other medical illness, hormonal-related vasomotor symptoms, and aging per se. Aims of our study were to evaluate the prevalence of sleep disorders in a sample of pre and post menopausal women, and to investigate the relationship between sleep and other medical disorders, and life habits.

Assessing neuro-motor recovery in a stroke survivor with high-resolution EEG, robotics and Virtual Reality.

One post-stroke patient underwent neuro-motor rehabilitation of one upper limb with a novel system combining a passive robotic device, Virtual Reality training applications and high resolution electroencephalography (HR-EEG). The outcome of the clinical tests and the evaluation of the kinematic parameters recorded with the robotic device concurred to highlight an improved motor recovery of the impaired limb despite the age of the patient, his compromised motor function, and the start of rehabilitation at the 3rd week post stroke. The time frequency and functional source analysis of the HR-EEG signals permitted to quantify the functional changes occurring in the brain in association with the rehabilitation motor tasks, and to highlight the recovery of the neuro-motor function.

Monitoring Neuro-Motor Recovery From Stroke With High-Resolution EEG, Robotics and Virtual Reality: A Proof of Concept.

A novel system for the neuro-motor rehabilitation of upper limbs was validated in three sub-acute post-stroke patients. The system permits synchronized cortical and kinematic measures by integrating high-resolution EEG, passive robotic device and Virtual Reality. The brain functional re-organization was monitored in association with motor patterns replicating activities of daily living (ADL).

Recommendations of the Sleep Study Group of the Italian Dementia Research Association (SINDem) on clinical assessment and management of sleep disorders in individuals with mild cognitive impairment and dementia: a clinical review.

Clinical assessment and management of sleep disturbances in patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia has important clinical and social implications. Poor sleep results in an increased risk of morbidities and mortality in demented patients and is a source of stress for caregivers. Sleep disturbances show high prevalence in mild cognitive impairment and dementia patients and they are often associated one to another in the same patient.

Prevalence of sleep disturbances in mild cognitive impairment and dementing disorders: a multicenter Italian clinical cross-sectional study on 431 patients.

Background/aims: Sleep disturbances are common in the elderly and in persons with cognitive decline. The aim of this study was to describe frequency and characteristics of insomnia, excessive daytime sleepiness, sleep-disordered breathing, REM behavior disorder and restless legs syndrome in a large cohort of persons with mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

Methods: 431 consecutive patients were enrolled in 10 Italian neurological centers: 204 had Alzheimer's disease, 138 mild cognitive impairment, 43 vascular dementia, 25 frontotemporal dementia and 21 Lewy body dementia or Parkinson's disease dementia.

Lack of implication for CALHM1 P86L common variation in Italian patients with early and late onset Alzheimer's disease.

A recent study identified a polymorphism (Pro86Leu) in the Calcium homeostasis modulator 1 (CALHM1) gene whose minor Leucine allele showed a higher frequency in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients compared to controls (29% in AD and 22% in controls). Further studies provided conflicting results in different ethnic groups. In order to assess the involvement of the CALHM1 genetic variant on the risk of developing AD, we analyzed the genotype and allele distributions of the Pro86Leu polymorphism in 758 Italian subjects.

Implication of GAB2 gene polymorphism in Italian patients with Alzheimer's disease.

A common polymorphism (rs2373115) in the GRB-associated binding protein 2 (GAB2) gene has been recently associated with the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) in 644 apolipoprotein E (ApoE) epsilon4 carriers. In order to assess the involvement of the GAB2 polymorphism in the risk of developing AD, we analyzed the genotype and allele distributions of the GAB2 rs2373115 polymorphism in 579 Italian subjects. Our results support a possible implication of GAB2 genetic variant in AD.

Multicenter case-control study on restless legs syndrome in multiple sclerosis: the REMS study.

Study Objectives: To verify the existence of a symptomatic form of restless legs syndrome (RLS) secondary to multiple sclerosis (MS) and to identify possible associated risk factors.

Design: Prospective, multicenter, case-control epidemiologic survey.

Settings: Twenty sleep centers certified by the Italian Association of Sleep Medicine.

Angiotensin converting enzyme insertion/deletion polymorphism in sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease and longevity.

A recent, large meta-analysis has reproposed the role of the angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism as a risk factor for Alzheimer's disease (AD). To further investigate the proposed association and to better clarify the role of ACE as a risk factor for AD, we analyzed the genotype and allele frequency distribution of ACE I/D and apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene polymorphisms in 235 Italian patients with sporadic AD, 153 with familial AD (FAD), 192 healthy controls and 111 centenarians. Patients with AD were consecutively gathered from among the outpatients from the Neurology Department at the University of Florence.

Cystatin C and apoe polymorphisms in Italian Alzheimer's disease.

Recent studies have reported a genetic association between the 73 G/A polymorphism within exon 1 of the cystatin C gene and Alzheimer's disease (AD) with conflicting results. To further investigate the proposed association and to clarify the role of CST3 as risk factor for AD, we analyzed the genotype and allele frequency distribution of CST3 G73A and apolipoprotein (ApoE) gene polymorphisms in 243 Italian patients with AD and 186 controls. Patients with AD were consecutively collected among the outpatients from the Neurology Department at the University of Florence.