Appropriateness of psychopharmacological therapies to psychiatric diagnoses in persons with autism spectrum disorder with or without intellectual disabilities: a cross-sectional analytic study.

Background: Observational studies highlighted high rates of psychotropic medication in persons with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) with or without intellectual disability, which seems to be associated with the management of problem behaviors more than co-occurrent psychiatric disorders. The purpose of the study is to investigate psychopharmacology use and diagnoses of co-occurrent psychiatric disorder (PD) in persons with ASD attending a public mental health service in Emilia Romagna, Italy.

Methods: The present study is a multicenter, cross-sectional study.

Profiling planning skills and cognitive flexibility of adults with autism spectrum disorders: Preliminary results from an exploratory service-based study.

Executive functions (EF) impairments have long been observed in children and youths with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Until very recently, little attention has been paid to examine EF profiles of adults with ASD. Given the importance of EF to cope with the demands of daily life and participate in society (e.

The Integrated and Disability Health Program of AUSL Bologna. The Alstom experience for employment access in high functioning autism spectrum disorders.

The Integrated and Disability Health Program (IDHP) of Bologna deals with the assessment and treatment of both young and adults with high and low functioning autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The IDHP and Alstom Ferroviaria SPA started a highly innovative project for the employment of young adults diagnosed with high functioning ASD. The project consisted of a six months' internship, for a total amount of 560 hours, and a renewal for another 6 months and involved a group of 5 young adults with high-functioning ASD, aged between 18 and 42 years, coming from Bologna or the suburbs.

Exploring the Use of a Humanoid Robot to Engage Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

We present a study aimed at exploring whether a humanoid robot may improve the effectiveness of educational interventions targeting children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Preliminary results with three preschool children with ASD indicate that interacting with a humanoid robot may facilitate engagement and goal achievement in educational activities.

Memory impairment in patients with late-onset major depression: the effect of antidepressant therapy.

Background: Cognitive deficits have been described in patients with major depression (MD), although many aspects remain unsettled.

Method: During an episode of MD and after remission we used tasks exploring attention, implicit, anterograde and retrograde memory to investigate 48 drug-free patients aged over 50 years without dementia, comparing them with 15 normal volunteer controls (NC). We also evaluated the effect of antidepressant therapy (ADT) with fluoxetine (F) or reboxetine (R) at baseline (T0) and six months later (T6).

Value of clinical data and neuropsychological measures in probable Alzheimer's disease.

We examined retrospectively 60 probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) outpatients, 30 with early onset (EOP) and 30 with late onset (LOP), divided into two groups on the basis of illness duration (within 2 years (P<2) and over 2 years (P>2)), compared with 60 normal controls (NC). We employed a battery of neuropsychological tests including the mini mental state examination (MMSE) and our brief mental deterioration battery (BMDB), computerized psychomotor performance tests and staging of functional impairment. EOP were worse than LOP in verbal fluency and in functional impairment, being better only in Rey's long-term verbal memory (RLT).