In the last four decades, mental health services for people with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) have seen asylums replaced by a balanced model of Community Mental Healthcare (CMH). Innovative approaches and strategies in the field of CMH have been extensively researched. However, this research has been hampered by issues limiting their capacity to inform clinicians and policymakers.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The balance between neurotoxic and neuroprotective effects of kynurenine pathway (KP) components has been recently proposed as a key element in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD) and related mood episodes. This comprehensive overview explored the link of KP with symptom severity and other clinical features of BD.
Methods: We searched Medline, Embase, and PsycInfo electronic databases for studies assessing the association of peripheral and/or central concentrations of KP metabolites with putative clinical features, including symptom severity and other clinical domains in BD.
Background: Mood recurrences in bipolar disorder (BD) are often associated with poor treatment adherence. Despite long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) may favor treatment compliance, their use in BD is still poorly explored.
Methods: This mirror-image study investigated the effect of LAIs initiation on the number of emergency department (ED) visits and days of hospitalization, among individuals with BD from the mental health services of a large area of the Metropolitan City of Milan.
Objective: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder is a frequent comorbid condition in adults with bipolar disorder. We performed a meta-analysis aimed at assessing sociodemographic and clinical correlates of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in bipolar disorder.
Method: We searched main electronic databases up to June 2021.
Int J Environ Res Public Health
January 2022
The responsiveness of professionals working with children and families is of key importance for child maltreatment early identification. However, this might be undermined when multifaceted circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, reduce interdisciplinary educational activities. Thanks to technological developments, digital platforms seem promising in dealing with new challenges for professionals' training.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAttention Deficit-Hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may influence rates of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) among individuals suffering from Bipolar Disorder (BD). The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to estimate the strength and consistency of the potential association between ADHD and AUD in BD. We searched main electronic databases for studies indexed up to November 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic has had a severe psychosocial impact on healthcare workers (HCWs). This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed at evaluating the association between individual features and depressive symptoms reported by HCWs during the pandemic. We searched Medline, Embase, and PsycInfo up to 23 June 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To assess the variables associated with success of office hysteroscopy (OH) in pre-menopausal and post-menopausal women and to develop a clinical model for predicting the outcome of OH.
Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of consecutive patients ( = 3181) referred for an OH to a tertiary care university hospital between January 2018 and March 2020. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the variables for predicting the success of OH in all patients and in pre-menopausal and in post-menopausal patients separately.
: Readmissions of youths hospitalized for a severe mental disorder are common events and bear a remarkable human, social, and economic burden. The current study aimed at evaluating predictors of 1-year rehospitalization in a sample of adolescents and young adults with severe mental disorders. : Data for ≤25-year-old inpatients with a severe mental disorder and consecutively admitted between 1 January 2016 and 30 June 2019 were collected.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGrowing evidence suggests that a dysregulation of the kynurenine pathway (KP) occurs in bipolar disorder (BD). This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed at assessing the possible differences in peripheral blood levels of KP metabolites between individuals with BD and healthy controls. We searched Medline, Embase, and PsycInfo electronic databases for articles indexed up to February 2020.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFActa Obstet Gynecol Scand
November 2013
A decrease in HOXA10 gene expression in eutopic mid-secretory endometrium has been found in women with endometriosis-associated infertility. Promoter hypermethylation of HOXA10 is thought to be the leading mechanism for epigenetic gene regulation in patients with endometriosis. In our series we documented significantly higher HOXA10 promoter methylation levels in women with ovarian endometriomas than in healthy controls during the mid-luteal phase.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: The aim of this study was to evaluate possible procedure-related variations in the levels of cell-free fetal DNA (fDNA) in maternal plasma of women undergoing genetic amniocentesis.
Materials And Methods: Blood samples were collected at 16-18 weeks' gestation from 33 pregnant women attending the Fetal Medicine Unit for genetic amniocentesis. For each woman, two blood samples were obtained: the first immediately before amniocentesis and the second one 15 min after the procedure.
Myomectomy is one of the commonest gynaecological operations. Laparoscopic myomectomy has emerged over the last two decades as a possible alternative to the traditional laparotomy. Most studies have revealed that the laparoscopic procedure is at least as safe as the open procedure as to the rate of complications and may retain relevant advantages in terms of shorter admission and recovery times.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To investigate the correlation between maternal, obstetric and sample characteristics and the quality (i.e. yield of trophoblastic cells) of intrauterine lavage (IUL) samples.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of diagnosing common fetal chromosomal aneuploidies using quantitative fluorescent (QF)-PCR on transcervical cell (TCC) samples collected in the first trimester of pregnancy by means of intrauterine lavage (IUL).
Methods: A total of 181 TCC samples were retrieved from pregnant women between 5 and 12 weeks of gestation, immediately before elective termination of pregnancy, at which time corresponding placental tissue and maternal blood specimens were also obtained. Isolation of trophoblastic cells by micromanipulation was attempted in all TCC samples.
Background: Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is common and can have a substantial impact on fetal growth, birth weight, and morbidity. The American Diabetes Association recommends GDM testing with either a 3-h, 100-g glucose load (100 g) (criteria according to Am J Obstet Gynecol 1982;144:768-73) or a 2-h, 75-g glucose load (75g). We investigated the comparability of the 75 g and the 100g tests in the diagnosis of GDM.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCertain similarities between preeclampsia and insulin resistance syndrome suggest a possible link between the 2 diseases. The aim of our study was to evaluate 3 insulin sensitivity (IS) indexes (fasting homeostasis model assessment IS [ISHOMA], quantitative insulin sensitivity check index [ISQUICKI], and oral glucose IS [OGIS]) early and late in pregnancy in a large number of normotensive pregnant women with a normal glucose tolerance and to test the ability of these indexes to predict the risk of subsequent preeclampsia. In all, 829 pregnant women were tested with a 75-g, 2-hour oral glucose load in 2 periods of pregnancy: early (16 to 20 weeks) and late (26 to 30 weeks).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Matern Fetal Neonatal Med
October 2005
Transcervical cell (TCC) sampling is being investigated as a promising method for obtaining fetal cells for prenatal genetic diagnosis. The present case report describes the identification of fetal cells by both fluorescent in situ hybridisation (FISH) and quantitative fluorescent polymerase chain reaction (QF-PCR) analyses in a TCC sample collected by intrauterine lavage at 5 + 0 weeks. This finding underscores the possible relevance of TCC sampling for extremely early prenatal genetic diagnosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity of the combined use of micromanipulation and quantitative fluorescent (QF)-PCR assay for the identification of fetal elements in transcervical cell (TCC) samples collected in early pregnancy.
Methods: TCC samples were obtained by intrauterine lavage (IUL) in 113 pregnant women who were between 7 and 12 weeks pregnant before termination of pregnancy. All IUL samples were screened under an inverted microscope, at which time the isolation of fetal cells by micromanipulation was attempted.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the presence of fetal cells in transcervical cell (TCC) samples collected in the first trimester of pregnancy by two different procedures [mucus collection and intrauterine lavage (IUL)], performed consecutively in the same subjects scheduled for elective termination of pregnancy (TOP).
Methods: A total of 126 mucus/IUL sample pairs were retrieved from pregnant women immediately before TOP at a gestational age ranging from 7 to 12 weeks; at termination, samples of placental tissue were collected in all cases. All mucus samples were analysed by a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay and, in a subset of experiments involving 56 specimens, also by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) procedure.
Objective: To compare maternal glucose levels and neonatal outcome, achieved in women with gestational diabetes (GDM) receiving either regular insulin or insulin lispro, with those of a control group of non-diabetic pregnant women.
Study Design: We enrolled 49 pregnant women with GDM, randomly allocated to the treatment with either insulin lispro (n=25) or regular insulin (n=24), and 50 pregnant women with normal GCT, matched for age, parity, pre-pregnancy weight and BMI, who formed the control group. All the women were caucasian, non-obese, with a singleton pregnancy and delivered term live born infants.
Objective: To investigate the maternal demographic and metabolic factors contributing to the growth of fetal lean and fat body mass in women whose degree of glucose intolerance is less than that defining gestational diabetes in comparison with women with normal glucose metabolism.
Research Design And Methods: Longitudinal sonographic examinations of 66 singleton fetuses without anomalies of nonobese mothers with abnormal oral glucose challenge test (GCT) results and without gestational diabetes (group 1) were compared with those of 123 singleton fetuses without anomalies of nonobese mothers with normal GCT values (group 2). Lean body mass measurements included head circumference, femur length, mid-upper arm, and mid-thigh central areas.