The Microbiome of the Built Environment: The Nexus for Urban Regeneration for the Cities of Tomorrow.

Built environments are, for most of us, our natural habitat. In the last 50 years, the built-up area has more than doubled, with a massive biodiversity loss. The undeniable benefits of a city providing all the basic needs to a growing population showed longer-term and less obvious costs to human health: autoimmune and non-communicable diseases, as well as antimicrobial resistance, have reached unprecedented and alarming levels.

It's a Long Way to the Tap: Microbiome and DNA-Based Omics at the Core of Drinking Water Quality.

Microbial communities interact with us and affect our health in ways that are only beginning to be understood. Microorganisms have been detected in every ecosystem on Earth, as well as in any built environment that has been investigated. Drinking water sources, drinking water treatment plants and distribution systems provide peculiar microbial ecological niches, dismantling the belief of the "biological simplicity" of drinking water.

Duration of untreated illness as a predictor of treatment response and clinical course in generalized anxiety disorder.

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to investigate the impact of the duration of untreated illness (DUI)-defined as the time elapsing between the onset of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and the first adequate pharmacologic treatment-on treatment response and clinical course in a sample of subjects with GAD.

Methods: One hundred patients with GAD, diagnosed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition-Text Revision criteria, were enrolled and their main demographic and clinical features collected. Patients were then treated with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or venlafaxine for 8 weeks in open-label conditions.

Intramuscular preparations of antipsychotics: uses and relevance in clinical practice.

Intramuscular formulations of antipsychotics can be sub-divided into two groups on the basis of their pharmacokinetic features: short-acting preparations and long-acting or depot preparations. Short-acting intramuscular formulations are used to manage acute psychotic episodes. On the other hand, long-acting compounds, also called "depot", are administered as antipsychotic maintenance treatment to ensure compliance and to eliminate bioavailability problems related to absorption and first pass metabolism.