The pharmacological management of gambling disorder: if, when, and how.

Introduction: Gambling disorder (GD) consists of a persistent, recurrent pattern of gambling that is associated with substantial distress or impairment. The etiology is multifactorial. GD frequently co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders and is often untreated.

Unraveling exercise addiction: the role of narcissism and self-esteem.

The aim of this study was to assess the risk of exercise addiction (EA) in fitness clubs and to identify possible factors in the development of the disorder. The Exercise Addiction Inventory (EAI), the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI), and the Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) were administered to a sample of 150 consecutive gym attenders recruited in fitness centers. Based on EAI total score, high EA risk group (HEA n = 51) and a low EA risk group (LEA n = 69) were identified.

Aripiprazole plus topiramate in opioid-dependent patients with schizoaffective disorder: an 8-week, open-label, uncontrolled, preliminary study.

Background: The aims of this study were to evaluate a combination of aripiprazole and topiramate in the treatment of opioid-dependent patients with schizoaffective disorder undergoing methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) and, further, to taper off patients from methadone treatment.

Methods: Twenty patients who met DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition) criteria for opioid dependence and schizoaffective disorder receiving MMT (80 mg/day) were given aripiprazole (10 mg/day) plus topiramate (up to 200 mg/day) for 8 weeks. A methadone dose reduction of 3 mg/day until suspension at week 4 was established.

Executive functions and basic symptoms in adolescent antisocial behavior: a cross-sectional study on an Italian sample of late-onset offenders.

Executive cognitive functions (ECFs) and other cognitive impairments, such as lower IQ and verbal deficits, have been associated with the pattern of antisocial and delinquent behavior starting in childhood (early-onset), but not with late-onset antisocial behavior. Beyond objective measures of ECF, basic symptoms are prodromal, subjectively experienced cognitive, perceptual, affective, and social disturbances, associated with a range of psychiatric disorders, mainly with psychosis. The goal of the present study was to examine ECF and basic symptoms in a sample of late-onset juvenile delinquents.

The relationship between personality and sexual motivation: an investigation based on Cloninger's model in nonclinical Italian subjects.

Background: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between personality and sexual motivation according to Cloninger's psychobiological model of the personality.

Methods: Three hundred and ten volunteers recruited among the students of the University of Messina, Italy, participated in the study. All subjects underwent a psychometric examination with the following instruments: Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and Sex and the Average Woman (or Man; SAWM).

Drugs and sexual behavior.

This study investigated the association between drugs and sexual behavior in a sample of polydrug substance abusers recruited from several Italian therapeutic communities; participants were 90 polydrug substance abusers (opiates, cocaine, amphetamine, inhalants, marijuana/sedatives or hallucinogens abusers) who were compared with 90 nonsubstance-abusing individuals. Sexual behavior was measured by the Italian version of the Sex and the Average Woman (or Man; SAWM), a questionnaire that assesses different kind of sexual attitudes. Results showed that drug-abusing individuals are particularly inclined to search for sexual intercourse and are open to different kinds of sexual experiences; however, they have difficulties in establishing committed and deep relationships with their partners, showing signs of inhibition, affective detachment or anger.

Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 or Steinert's disease.

Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1 (DM1) is the most common worldwide autosomal dominant muscular dystrophy due to polynucleotide [CTG]( n ) triplet expansion located on the 3'UTR of chromosome 19q13.3. A toxic gain-of-function of abnormally stored RNA in the nuclei of affected cells is assumed to be responsible for several clinical features of the disease.

Effect of aripiprazole augmentation of serotonin reuptake inhibitors or clomipramine in treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder: a double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Based on the evidence that aripiprazole added to serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs) or clomipramine in treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has reported promising results, the present 16-week, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial had the aim to explore the efficacy of aripiprazole add-on pharmacotherapy on clinical symptoms and cognitive functioning in a sample of treatment-resistant OCD patients receiving SRIs. After clinical and neurocognitive assessments, patients were randomly allocated to receive, in a double-blind design, 15 mg/d of aripiprazole or a placebo. A final sample of 30 patients completed the study.

Retrospective study on PET-SPECT imaging in a large cohort of myotonic dystrophy type 1 patients.

The aim was to study brain involvement in myotonic dystrophy type 1 by single photon emission tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET). 58 DM1 patients were subjected to SPECT; 17 to both SPECT and PET. SPECT patients were grouped as 'normally perfused' and 'abnormally perfused'; PET patients as 'normal performers' and 'abnormal performers'.

Brain involvement in myotonic dystrophies: neuroimaging and neuropsychological comparative study in DM1 and DM2.

The objective of this study was to determine the degree of brain involvement in a cohort of myotonic dystrophy type 1 and type 2 (DM1, DM2) patients by brain studies and functional tests and to compare the results of the two groups. DM1, DM2 are multisystemic disorders due to polynucleotide expansions. Previous studies on brain involvement by neuroimaging and functional methods have led to contradictory results.

Comparative transcriptional and biochemical studies in muscle of myotonic dystrophies (DM1 and DM2).

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) and myotonic dystrophy type 2 (proximal muscular myopaty/DM2) are caused by similar dynamic mutations at two distinct genetic loci. The two diseases also lead to similar phenotypes but different clinical severity. Dysregulation of alternative splicing has been suggested as the common pathogenic mechanism.

Muscle histopathology in upper motor neuron-dominant amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

The distinction between primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) still remains debated. Recently, PLS patients displaying lower motor neuron (LMN) signs have been defined as 'upper motor neuron (UMN)-dominant ALS', using 'clinically pure PLS' diagnosis to those with no LMN signs. To further characterize the LMN involvement in UMN-dominant ALS we investigated the presence and the extent of neurogenic abnormalities in the skeletal muscle of patients affected with a pyramidal syndrome consistent with UMN-dominant ALS.