Smartphone Addiction among Adolescents in Southern Italy and Correlation with Other Risky Behaviors.

Background: Addiction to smartphone is defined as the disability to cease using the device despite the physical, psychological, or social consequences. The diagnosis of this disorder is increasing exponentially among teenagers, even more so after Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. This study aims to analyze the risk of mobile phone addiction among teenagers in Italy and its relationship with other risk behaviors, such as drug consumption and emotional well-being, following the COVID-19 pandemic.

Identification of Benzodiazepine Use Based on Dried Blood Stains Analysis.

Biological matrices are typically used in forensic toxicological or pharmacological analysis: mainly blood, vitreous humor or urine. However, there are many cases in which crimes are a consequence of drug intoxication or drug abuse and they are not closed because over the months or years the samples become altered or decomposed. A dried blood stains test (DBS-MS) has recently been proposed to be used in drug toxicology when blood is found at a crime scene.

Cut-off value for β-trace protein (β-TP) as a rapid diagnostic of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak detection.

Objective: To find an adequate cut-off point for beta trace protein (β-TP) in nasal secretion (NS) and validate this diagnostic test with a large sample of patients. Likewise, we evaluated β-TP test efficacy to confirm the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leakage closure after treatment.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis with 207 samples from 162 patients with suspected CSF leakage received in the Hospital Universitario Virgen de la Arrixaca between 2010 and 2016.

Upregulation of Heat-Shock Protein (hsp)-27 in a Patient with Heterozygous SPG11 c.1951C>T and SYNJ1 c.2614G>T Mutations Causing Clinical Spastic Paraplegia.

We report a 49-year-old patient suffering from spastic paraplegia with a novel heterozygous mutation and analyzed the levels of heat shock proteins (hsp)-27, dopamine (DA), and its metabolites in their cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The hsp27 protein concentration in the patient's CSF was assayed by an ELISA kit, while DA levels and its metabolites in the CSF, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC), Cys-DA, and Cys-DOPA were measured by HPLC. Whole exome sequencing demonstrated SPG-11 c.

7-Nitroindazole reduces L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias in non-human Parkinsonian primate.

Nitric oxide (NO) plays a pivotal role in integrating dopamine transmission in the basal ganglia and has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Parkinson disease (PD). The objective of this study was to ascertain whether the NO synthase inhibitor, 7-nitroindazole (7-NI), is able to reduce L-DOPA-induced dyskinesias (LIDs) in a non-human primate model of PD chronically intoxicated with 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). Six Parkinsonian macaques were treated daily with L-DOPA for 3-4 months until they developed LIDs.