Machine learning-based ability to classify psychosis and early stages of disease through parenting and attachment-related variables is associated with social cognition.

Background: Recent views posited that negative parenting and attachment insecurity can be considered as general environmental factors of vulnerability for psychosis, specifically for individuals diagnosed with psychosis (PSY). Furthermore, evidence highlighted a tight relationship between attachment style and social cognition abilities, a key PSY behavioral phenotype. The aim of this study is to generate a machine learning algorithm based on the perceived quality of parenting and attachment style-related features to discriminate between PSY and healthy controls (HC) and to investigate its ability to track PSY early stages and risk conditions, as well as its association with social cognition performance.

What is the impact of robotic rehabilitation on balance and gait outcomes in people with multiple sclerosis? A systematic review of randomized control trials.

Introduction: In recent years, robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) has been proposed as therapy for balance and gait dysfunctions in people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). Through this systematic review, we aimed to discuss the impact of RAGT on balance and gait outcomes. Furthermore, characteristics of the training in terms of robots used, participants characteristics, protocols and combined therapeutic approaches have been described.

The Oncologic Impact of Pancreatic Fistula After Distal Pancreatectomy for Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma of the Body and the Tail: A Multicenter Retrospective Cohort Analysis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the impact of clinically relevant postoperative pancreatic fistula (CR-POPF) on patient disease-specific survival and recurrence after curative distal pancreatectomy (DP) for pancreatic cancer.

Design: This was a retrospective case-control analysis.

Methods: We examined the data of adult patients with a diagnosis of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) of the body and tail of the pancreas undergoing curative DP, over a 10-year period in 12 European surgical departments, from a prospectively implemented database.

An Italian registry of chest pain patients in the emergency department: clinical predictors of acute coronary syndrome.

Background: The aim of this study was to describe the population of patients arriving in several Italian Emergency Departments (EDs) complaining of chest pain suggestive of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in order to evaluate the incidence of ACS in this cohort and the association between ACS and different clinical parameters and risk factors.

Methods: This is an observational prospective study, conducted from the 1st January to the 31st December 2014 in 11 EDs in Italy. Patients presenting to ED with chest pain, suggestive of ACS, were consecutively enrolled.

A Pattern of Cognitive Deficits Stratified for Genetic and Environmental Risk Reliably Classifies Patients With Schizophrenia From Healthy Control Subjects.

Background: Schizophrenia risk is associated with both genetic and environmental risk factors. Furthermore, cognitive abnormalities are established core characteristics of schizophrenia. We aim to assess whether a classification approach encompassing risk factors, cognition, and their associations can discriminate patients with schizophrenia (SCZs) from healthy control subjects (HCs).

Publisher Correction: Common brain disorders are associated with heritable patterns of apparent aging of the brain.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Tapering and discontinuation of thrombopoietin receptor agonists in immune thrombocytopenia: Real-world recommendations.

Thrombopoietin receptor agonists (TPO-RAs) are currently indicated for continuous treatment of chronic primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). However, there is growing evidence that TPO-RAs can also trigger sustained response in 10-30% of cases after treatment tapering and discontinuation. Therefore, at least for selected responding patients, it might be rational to plan TPO-RA interruption to exploit off-treatment response.

Intracranial Metastases from Prostate Carcinoma: Classification, Management, and Prognostication.

Background: Prostate carcinomas rarely metastasize to the central nervous system but, when they do, dural localizations are as common as and far more aggressive than intraparenchymal ones. Those metastases can be further classified according to their extension toward the subdural or extradural space and can frequently simulate other pathologic conditions including chronic subdural hematomas, abscess, and primary bone tumors. Beside the challenges of the preoperative differential diagnostic and complexity of surgical planning and operative excision, subdural metastases seem to carry a much poorer prognosis.

Common brain disorders are associated with heritable patterns of apparent aging of the brain.

Common risk factors for psychiatric and other brain disorders are likely to converge on biological pathways influencing the development and maintenance of brain structure and function across life. Using structural MRI data from 45,615 individuals aged 3-96 years, we demonstrate distinct patterns of apparent brain aging in several brain disorders and reveal genetic pleiotropy between apparent brain aging in healthy individuals and common brain disorders.

Subcutaneous Immunoglobulin Twenty Percent Every Two Weeks in Pediatric Patients with Primary Immunodeficiencies: Subcohort Analysis of the IBIS Study.

Subcutaneous immunoglobulin G (SCIG) may be a better option than intravenous immunoglobulin G (IVIG) for patients with primary immunodeficiencies (PID) due to reduced systemic and serious adverse reactions and easier administration. The Infusione Bimensile di Immunoglobuline Sottocute (IBIS) study investigated the effects of Hizentra, a 20%-concentrated SCIG, administered biweekly in patients with PID. This subanalysis aimed to evaluate clinical and laboratory outcomes in the IBIS pediatric subcohort.

The interaction between OXTR rs2268493 and perceived maternal care is associated with amygdala-dorsolateral prefrontal effective connectivity during explicit emotion processing.

Previous studies have indicated a link between socio-emotional processing and the oxytocin receptor. In this regard, a single nucleotide polymorphism in the oxytocin receptor coding gene (OXTR rs2268493) has been linked with lower social functioning, increased risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and with post-mortem OXTR mRNA expression levels. Indeed, the levels of expression of OXTR in brain regions involved in emotion processing are also associated with maternal care.

Intraoperative computed tomography, navigated ultrasound, 5-amino-levulinic acid fluorescence and neuromonitoring in brain tumor surgery: overtreatment or useful tool combination?

Background: Brain tumor surgery is routinely supported by several intraoperative techniques, such as fluorescence, brain mapping and neuronavigation, which are often used independently. Efficacy of navigation is limited by the brain-shift phenomenon, particularly in cases of large or deep-sited lesions. Intraoperative imaging was introduced also to update neuronavigation data, to try and solve the brain-shift phenomenon-related pitfalls and increase overall safety.

Thalamic connectivity measured with fMRI is associated with a polygenic index predicting thalamo-prefrontal gene co-expression.

The functional connectivity between thalamic medio-dorsal nucleus (MD) and cortical regions, especially the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), is implicated in attentional processing and is anomalous in schizophrenia, a brain disease associated with polygenic risk and attentional deficits. However, the molecular and genetic underpinnings of thalamic connectivity anomalies are unclear. Given that gene co-expression across brain areas promotes synchronous interregional activity, our aim was to investigate whether coordinated expression of genes relevant to schizophrenia in MD and DLPFC may reflect thalamic connectivity anomalies in an attention-related network including the DLPFC.

Intracranial Solitary Fibrous Tumors: A Heterogeneous Entity with an Uncertain Clinical Behavior.

Background: Intracranial solitary fibrous tumors (ISFTs) are rare mesenchymal neoplasms originating in the meninges and characterized by very different biologic and clinical behaviors. Benign histotypes, such as hemangiopericytomas, are now considered a cellular phenotypic variant of this heterogeneous group of rare spindle-cell tumors. Owing to their rarity and resemblance to other, more common brain tumors, ISFTs are often poorly recognized and remain a diagnostic challenge.

Test-retest reliability of task-based and resting-state blood oxygen level dependence and cerebral blood flow measures.

Despite their wide-spread use, only limited information is available on the comparative test-retest reliability of task-based functional and resting state magnetic resonance imaging measures of blood oxygen level dependence (tb-fMRI and rs-fMRI) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) using arterial spin labeling. This information is critical to designing properly powered longitudinal studies. Here we comprehensively quantified and compared the test-retest reliability and reproducibility performance of 8 commonly applied fMRI tasks, 6 rs-fMRI metrics and CBF in 30 healthy volunteers.

Progressive Decline in Gray and White Matter Integrity in Parkinson's Disease: An Analysis of Longitudinal Parkinson Progression Markers Initiative Diffusion Tensor Imaging Data.

Progressive neuronal loss in neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with progressive degeneration of associated white matter tracts as measured by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). These findings may have diagnostic and functional implications but their value in PD remains unknown. Here we analyzed longitudinal DTI data from Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative PD patients for changes over time relative to healthy control (HC) participants.

Transcriptomic context of is associated with prefrontal activity and behavior during working memory.

Dopamine D receptor (DR) signaling shapes prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during working memory (WM). Previous reports found higher WM performance associated with alleles linked to greater expression of the gene coding for DRs (). However, there is no evidence on the relationship between genetic modulation of expression in PFC and patterns of prefrontal activity during WM.

Prophylactic thyroidectomy in children with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2.

Background: In patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN2) syndrome, genetic testing offers early diagnosis, stratifies the risk of developing medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) and informs the timing of thyroidectomy. The efficacy of treatment, which depends on timely and safe surgery, is not well established.

Methods: This was a retrospective review of diagnostic and clinicopathological outcomes of prophylactic thyroidectomy in children with MEN2 between 1995 and 2013 in the UK.

A complex network approach reveals a pivotal substructure of genes linked to schizophrenia.

Research on brain disorders with a strong genetic component and complex heritability, such as schizophrenia, has led to the development of brain transcriptomics. This field seeks to gain a deeper understanding of gene expression, a key factor in exploring further research issues. Our study focused on how genes are associated amongst each other.

Correlation between endothelial dysfunction and myocardial damage in acute phase of Tako-Tsubo cardiomyopathy: brachial flow mediated dilation as a potential marker for assessment of patient with Tako-Tsubo.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) is characterized by transient systolic ventricular dysfunction. It is supposed to be caused by a cathecolaminergic wave which leads to myocardial stunning through a massive action on beta2-adrenoreceptor. Moreover, beta2-receptor hyperactivity negatively influences endothelial function.