Patient Characteristics From Norway's First Heroin-Assisted Treatment Clinics.

Background: Heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) is an evidence-based treatment option for opioid use disorder (OUD), available in a limited number of countries. Norway implemented a 5-year HAT project in 2022, aiming to assess its effectiveness and its potential integration into the country's OUD treatment system. This study describes and compares patients' baseline characteristics from the Oslo and Bergen HAT clinics, providing a comprehensive picture of the unique population and the real-world application of HAT.

Predictors of retention in heroin-assisted treatment in Denmark 2010-2018 - A record-linkage study.

Introduction: While randomized-controlled trials have shown that heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) is superior to methadone maintenance alone in treatment of refractory clients, little is known about client factors associated with retention in HAT in routine care.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study assessed predictors of retention in first treatment episode among a consecutive cohort of clients admitted to HAT in Denmark from 2010 to 2018, who could be matched to the Danish population register and for whom a Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) was available at admission (N = 432). The study derived predictors from client self-reports at intake and administrative data available in national registers.

Evaluation of heroin-assisted treatment in Norway: protocol for a mixed methods study.

Background: Opioid agonist treatment (OAT) for patients with opioid use disorder (OUD) has a convincing evidence base, although variable retention rates suggest that it may not be beneficial for all. One of the options to include more patients is the introduction of heroin-assisted treatment (HAT), which involves the prescribing of pharmaceutical heroin in a clinical supervised setting. Clinical trials suggest that HAT positively affects illicit drug use, criminal behavior, quality of life, and health.

Who receives heroin-assisted treatment? A comparison of patients receiving opioid maintenance treatment in Denmark.

Background: Since 2010, heroin-assisted treatment (HAT) has been one of the treatment options available to people with opioid use disorder (OUD) in Denmark. This study aimed to characterize HAT patients at treatment start and compare their individual characteristics to those of patients entering traditional opioid maintenance treatment (OMT) with methadone or buprenorphine during the same period.

Methods: Patients who initiated HAT or OMT with methadone or buprenorphine in Denmark from 2010 to 2018 were included (n=6798).

Risk Profile of Patients with Spontaneous Cervical Artery Dissection.

Objective: Epidemiological data to characterize the individual risk profile of patients with spontaneous cervical artery dissection (sCeAD) are rather inconsistent.

Methods And Results: In the setting of the Italian Project on Stroke in Young Adults Cervical Artery Dissection (IPSYS CeAD), we compared the characteristics of 1,468 patients with sCeAD (mean age = 47.3 ± 11.

A novel estimate of biological aging by multiple fitness tests is associated with risk scores for age-related diseases.

Recent research highlights the need for a correct instrument for monitoring the individual health status, especially in the elderly. Different definitions of biological aging have been proposed, with a consistent positive association of physical activity and physical fitness with decelerated aging trajectories. The six-minute walking test is considered the current gold standard for estimating the individual fitness status in the elderly.

Reperfusion Treatments in Disabling Versus Nondisabling Mild Stroke due to Anterior Circulation Vessel Occlusion.

Background: The benefit of distinguishing between disabling versus nondisabling deficit in mild acute ischemic stroke due to endovascular thrombectomy-targetable vessel occlusion (EVT-tVO; including anterior circulation large and medium-vessel occlusion) is unknown. We compared safety and efficacy of acute reperfusion treatments in disabling versus nondisabling mild EVT-tVO.

Methods: From the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke-International Stroke Thrombolysis Register, we included consecutive acute ischemic stroke patients (2015-2021) treated within 4.

Structure of co-expression networks of species in response to human milk oligosaccharides.

Biological systems respond to environmental perturbations and a large diversity of compounds through gene interactions, and these genetic factors comprise complex networks. Experimental information from transcriptomic studies has allowed the identification of gene networks that contribute to our understanding of microbial adaptations. In this study, we analyzed the gene co-expression networks of three Bifidobacterium species in response to different types of human milk oligosaccharides (HMO) using weighted gene co-expression analysis (WGCNA).

Face emotional expressions influence interhemispheric inhibition.

The processing of face expressions is a key ability to perform social interactions. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the excitability of the hand primary motor cortex (M1) increases following the view of negative faces expressions. Interhemispheric interactions and sensory-motor integration are cortical processes involving M1, which are known to be modulated by emotional and social behaviors.

Adolescents' Psychoactive Substance Use During the First COVID-19 Lockdown: A Cross Sectional Study in Italy.

Background: Italy was one of the first European countries to be affected by Covid-19. Due to the severity of the pandemic, the Italian government imposed a nationwide lockdown which had a great impact on the population, especially adolescents. Distance-learning, moving restrictions and pandemic-related concerns, resulted in a particularly stressful situation.

Is oral antibiotic therapy as effective as intravenous treatment in bacterial osteomyelitis? A real-life experience.

Objective: Osteomyelitis is a relatively understudied disease with no standardized and evidence-based approach to treatment. We aimed to evaluate a cohort of patients with osteomyelitis, comparing the outcomes between intravenous (IV) and oral treatment.

Patients And Methods: We performed an observational retrospective study on osteomyelitis cases in adult patients seen for care between 2017 and 2019.

Antithrombotic therapy in the postacute phase of cervical artery dissection: the Italian Project on Stroke in Young Adults Cervical Artery Dissection.

Objective: To explore the impact of antithrombotic therapy discontinuation in the postacute phase of cervical artery dissection (CeAD) on the mid-term outcome of these patients.

Methods: In a cohort of consecutive patients with first-ever CeAD, enrolled in the setting of the multicentre Italian Project on Stroke in Young Adults Cervical Artery Dissection, we compared postacute (beyond 6 months since the index CeAD) outcomes between patients who discontinued antithrombotic therapy and patients who continued taking antithrombotic agents during follow-up. Primary outcome was a composite of ischaemic stroke and transient ischaemic attack.

Faces emotional expressions: from perceptive to motor areas in aged and young subjects.

The role of age in perception and production of facial expressions is still unclear. Therefore, this work compared, in aged and young subjects, the effects of passive viewing of faces expressing different emotions on perceptive brain regions, such as occipital and temporal cortical areas and on the primary motor cortex (M1) innervating lower face muscles. Seventeen young (24.

SPECT imaging of cerebral blood flow changes induced by acute trigeminal nerve stimulation in drug-resistant epilepsy. A pilot study.

Objective: To explore the cortical areas targeted by acute transcutaneous trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).

Methods: Ten patients with DRE underwent brain SPECT at baseline and immediately after a 20-minute TNS (0.25 ms; 120 Hz; 30 s ON and 30 s OFF) applied bilaterally to the infraorbital nerve.

Polycystic Ovarian Morphology in Normocyclic Non-hyperandrogenic Adolescents.

Objective: To understand whether polycystic ovarian morphology (PCOM) represents a transient phase, and whether an increased stroma could help to characterize the phenotype of the ovary in adolescence.

Methods: Cross-sectional population-based study on high-school students in Cagliari, Italy. The study population consisted of 257 normocyclic non-hyperandrogenic girls selected from a sample of 600 healthy volunteers recruited from 2012 to 2016.

Clinical Features of Patients With Cervical Artery Dissection and Fibromuscular Dysplasia.

Background And Purpose: Observational studies have suggested a link between fibromuscular dysplasia and spontaneous cervical artery dissection (sCeAD). However, whether patients with coexistence of the two conditions have distinctive clinical characteristics has not been extensively investigated.

Methods: In a cohort of consecutive patients with first-ever sCeAD, enrolled in the setting of the multicenter IPSYS CeAD study (Italian Project on Stroke in Young Adults Cervical Artery Dissection) between January 2000 and June 2019, we compared demographic and clinical characteristics, risk factor profile, vascular pathology, and midterm outcome of patients with coexistent cerebrovascular fibromuscular dysplasia (cFMD; cFMD+) with those of patients without cFMD (cFMD-).

Prevalence and predictors of atrial fibrillation in patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source: a real-life single-center retrospective study.

Introduction: Up to one-third of ischemic strokes remained cryptogenic despite extensive investigations. Atrial fibrillation may be detected in a significant proportion of patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source, particularly after the introduction of implantable loop recorder in clinical practice.

Methods: We retrospectively included all the consecutive patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source referred to our units in the period November 2013 to December 2018 and in which an implantable loop recorder was positioned within 6 months from stroke event.

Long-term outcome of cervical artery dissection : IPSYS CeAD: study protocol, rationale, and baseline data of an Italian multicenter research collaboration.

Long-term consequences of cervical artery dissection (CeAD), a major cause of ischemic stroke in young people, have been poorly investigated. The Italian Project on Stroke at Young Age - Cervical Artery Dissection (IPSYS CeAD) project is a multicenter, hospital-based, consecutively recruiting, observational, cohort study aimed to address clinically important questions about long-term outcome of CeAD patients, which are not covered by other large-scale registries. Patients with radiologically diagnosed CeAD were consecutively included in the registry.

Improving social function with real-world social-cognitive remediation in schizophrenia: Results from the RemedRugby quasi-experimental trial.

Background: Functional capacity (FC) has been identified as a key outcome to improve real-world functioning in schizophrenia. FC is influenced by cognitive impairments, negative symptoms, self-stigma and reduced physical activity (PA). Psychosocial interventions targeting FC are still under-developed.

Impact of Antiretroviral Therapy on the Risk of Recurrence in HIV-1 Infected Patients with Kaposi Sarcoma: A Multicenter Cohort Experience.

Kaposi sarcoma (KS) remains a relevant malignancy in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patients with a non-standardized management; despite past suggestions that ritonavir-boosted protease inhibitor (bPI)-based regimens could be preferable, no combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) regimen was demonstrated to outperform the others and the impact of new drugs, drug classes or paradigms was never investigated nor proven better than previous therapeutic regimes. In order to do this, we retrospectively collected data regarding HIV-infected patients with a diagnosis of KS last seen in six Italian centers after 1 January 2013. A total of 104 KS cases in 99 patients was analyzed for 945.

Vestibulo masseteric reflex and acoustic masseteric Reflex. Normative data and effects of age and gender.

Objective: To provide normative data for the Vestibulo-Masseteric Reflex (VMR) and Acoustic-Masseteric Reflex (AMR) in healthy subjects, stratified for age and gender.

Methods: A total of 82 healthy subjects (M:F 43:39, mean age 39.3 ± 18.

Anatomo-Physiologic Basis for Auricular Stimulation.

Stimulation of cranial nerves modulates central nervous system (CNS) activity via the extensive connections of their brainstem nuclei to higher-order structures. Clinical experience with vagus-nerve stimulation (VNS) demonstrates that it produces robust therapeutic effects, however, posing concerns related to its invasiveness and side-effects. Trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) has been recently proposed as a valid alternative to VNS.

Very low dose of flutamide in the treatment of hyperandrogenism.

Hyperandrogenism is a condition affecting 5-10% of adolescents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of very low dose of flutamide in the treatment of hyperandrogenism in adolescence. One hundred and fifty-eight patients, presenting severe acne and/or hirsutism, received 62.