Cultural contributions to adults' self-rated mental health problems and strengths: 7 culture clusters, 28 societies, 16 906 adults.

Background: It is unknown how much variation in adult mental health problems is associated with differences between societal/cultural groups, over and above differences between individuals.

Methods: To test these relative contributions, a consortium of indigenous researchers collected Adult Self-Report (ASR) ratings from 16 906 18- to 59-year-olds in 28 societies that represented seven culture clusters identified in the Global Leadership and Organizational Behavioral Effectiveness study (e.g.

Clinical and electroencephalographic features of epilepsy in patients with triple X syndrome: A case series.

Purpose: Triple X syndrome, is an often undiagnosed chromosomal abnormality with an incidence of 1/1000 females. Main associated disorders are urogenital malformations, premature ovarian failure or primary amenorrhea, gastrointestinal problems, psychiatric disorders and epilepsy. To date, triple X is not related to a specific epileptic syndrome.

Perampanel as first add-on antiseizure medication: Italian consensus clinical practice statements.

Background: When use of a single antiseizure medication (ASM) fails to induce seizure remission, add-on therapy is justified. Perampanel (PER) is approved in Europe as adjunctive therapy for focal, focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures and generalized tonic-clonic seizures. Aim of the study was to establish whether PER is suitable for first add-on use.

Epilepsy, electroclinical features, and long-term outcomes in Pitt-Hopkins syndrome due to pathogenic variants in the TCF4 gene.

Background And Purpose: Pitt-Hopkins syndrome (PTHS) is a rare neurodevelopmental disorder caused by deletions/variants in the TCF4 gene. Seizures may be present in up to half of the patients, leading to a more severe disease burden. This study aims to analyse the electroclinical phenotype, treatment options, and long-term outcomes of epilepsy in PTHS.

Selection of antiseizure medications for first add-on use: A consensus paper.

Introduction: When monotherapy used alone or sequentially fails to achieve seizure control, a trial of combination therapy may be considered.

Objective: To define optimal criteria to guide choice of an antiseizure medication (ASM) for use as first add-on.

Methods: A standardized Delphi procedure was applied to produce a list of consensus statements.

Single nucleotide polymorphisms to predict taxanes toxicities and effectiveness in cancer patients.

Taxanes are used in the treatment of several solid tumours. Adverse events (AEs) might be influenced by single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes encoding proteins responsible for pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic. In this prospective, monocentric, observational study we explored the effect of SNPs in the main genes involved in taxanes metabolism and transport, on toxicity and efficacy in 125 patients (pts) treated with paclitaxel, nab-paclitaxel, or docetaxel for neoplasms.

Therapeutic drug monitoring and pharmacogenetics of antipsychotics and antidepressants in real life settings: A 5-year single centre experience.

Objectives: Exposure and clinical response to CNS drugs are largely variable. AGNP guidelines suggest therapy individualisation with therapeutic drug monitoring of plasma concentrations and pharmacogenetic testing. We present the retrospective analysis of the last 5 years' data collected in real life settings as indirect evidence of the applications of the AGNP guidelines in the routine clinical management of psychiatric patients requiring pharmacologic treatments.

Language and the cerebellum.

During the past decades neuroanatomic, neuroimaging, and clinical studies have substantially changed the long-standing view of the role of the cerebellum as a sole coordinator of sensorimotor function. Currently, the cerebellum is considered to be crucially implicated in a variety of cognitive, affective, social, and behavioral processes as well. In this chapter we aim to summarize a number of critical insights from different research areas (neuroanatomy, functional neuroimaging, clinical practice) that provide evidence for a role of the cerebellum in motor speech and nonmotor language processing in both adults and children.

Clinical and genetic determinants of nevirapine plasma trough concentration.

Background: Only few data are available on the influence of CYP2B6 and CYP3A4/A5 polymorphisms on nevirapine plasma concentrations in the Caucasian population. Our aim was to assess the impact of CYP2B6 and CYP3A4/A5 polymorphisms on nevirapine plasma concentrations consecutively collected.

Methods: We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of all HIV-positive patients who were followed at the Infectious Diseases Unit, DIBIC Luigi Sacco, University of Milan between January 2000 and December 2015.

Nitric Oxide Generated by Tumor-Associated Macrophages Is Responsible for Cancer Resistance to Cisplatin and Correlated With Syntaxin 4 and Acid Sphingomyelinase Inhibition.

Tumor microenvironment is fundamental for cancer progression and chemoresistance. Among stromal cells tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) represent the largest population of infiltrating inflammatory cells in malignant tumors, promoting their growth, invasion, and immune evasion. M2-polarized TAMs are endowed with the nitric oxide (NO)-generating enzyme inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS).

Psychological and behavioural difficulties following severe TBI in adolescence: a comparison with a sample of peers with brain lesions of other origin and with a control group.

Objective: To describe behavioural and adjustment problems in a group of 57 adolescents with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) and compare them with a clinical group of peers with brain lesions of other origin (N = 33) and a control group of healthy adolescents (N = 48).

Methods: All subjects received an age-appropriate assessment, including the child behaviour checklist (CBCL) 4/18, the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) and the vineland adaptive behaviour scales (VABS).

Results: Compared with healthy peers, adolescents with TBI presented with more marked behavioural problems on most CBCL scales (Internalization and Externalization domains were both affected) and on the SDQ Hyperactivity and Peer problems scales.

Video modeling for the development of personal hygiene skills in youth with autism spectrum disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder mainly characterised by deficits in social communication as well as by narrow patterns of behaviour and interests (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), often accompanied by language, intellectual and sensory impairments. The severity of these impairments may lead to deficits in the development of daily living activities such as simple meal preparation and feeding, community skills (e.g.

An intracellular adrenomedullin system reduces IL-6 release via a NF-kB-mediated, cAMP-independent transcriptional mechanism in rat thymic epithelial cells.

Thymic epithelial cells (TECs) play a key role in the regulation of central immune tolerance by expressing autoantigens and eliminating self-reactive T cells. In a previous paper we reported that adrenomedullin (ADM) and its co-receptor protein RAMP2 are located intracellularly in newborn human thymic epithelial cells (TECs). This work has two main aims: (1) to examine the cellular localization of ADM and its receptor in TECs of adult Wistar rats to validate this animal model for the study of the ADM system and its function(s) in thymus; (2) to investigate the potential modulating effect of ADM on the NF-kB pathway, which is involved through the production of cytokines such as IL-6, in the maturation of T-lymphocytes and immunological tolerance.

Partial deletion of in a child with focal epilepsy.

We report on a child, aged 4 years, with borderline intelligence quotient, normal brain magnetic resonance imaging, and focal epilepsy. The polysomnographic electroencephalogram recording revealed asynchronous central spikes at both brain hemispheres resembling the features observed in focal idiopathic epileptic syndromes. Array comparative genomic hybridization analysis revealed a 32-kb partial deletion of the DEP domain-containing protein 5 () gene, involved in a wide spectrum of inherited focal epileptic syndromes.

EFHC1 variants in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: reanalysis according to NHGRI and ACMG guidelines for assigning disease causality.

Purpose: EFHC1 variants are the most common mutations in inherited myoclonic and grand mal clonic-tonic-clonic (CTC) convulsions of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). We reanalyzed 54 EFHC1 variants associated with epilepsy from 17 cohorts based on National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) guidelines for interpretation of sequence variants.

Methods: We calculated Bayesian LOD scores for variants in coinheritance, unconditional exact tests and odds ratios (OR) in case-control associations, allele frequencies in genome databases, and predictions for conservation/pathogenicity.

Characterization of premorbid functioning during childhood in patients with deficit vs. non-deficit schizophrenia and in their healthy siblings.

Impaired premorbid adjustment has been reported in patients with schizophrenia, generally in association with unfavorable aspects of the illness (e.g., poor outcome and severe negative symptoms).

Syndromes of Self-Reported Psychopathology for Ages 18-59 in 29 Societies.

This study tested the multi-society generalizability of an eight-syndrome assessment model derived from factor analyses of American adults' self-ratings of 120 behavioral, emotional, and social problems. The Adult Self-Report (ASR; Achenbach and Rescorla 2003) was completed by 17,152 18-59-year-olds in 29 societies. Confirmatory factor analyses tested the fit of self-ratings in each sample to the eight-syndrome model.

Comparison of the QMS Analyzer With HPLC-UV for the Quantification of Lamotrigine Concentrations in Human Plasma Samples.

Background: Recently, a turbidimetric immunoassay method has been developed for use in the form of a QMS lamotrigine (LTG) commercial immunoassay. This study was designed to evaluate the performance of this immunoassay using a validated high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) method as the reference.

Methods: The performance of QMS was initially tested using drug-free plasma spiked with different amounts of LTG and, subsequently, by analyzing 61 trough plasma samples from epileptic patients given the drug as part of their maintenance antiepileptic therapies.

LOCFAS-Assessed Evolution of Cognitive and Behavioral Functioning in a Sample of Pediatric Patients With Severe Acquired Brain Injury in the Postacute Phase.

We studied 86 patients with severe acquired brain injuries of different etiology, aged 0 to 18 years, in a condition of vegetative state or minimally conscious state. During neurorehabilitation, we administered the Level of Cognitive Functioning Assessment Scale every 2 weeks in order to describe and compare the progressive improvement in their cognitive-behavioral functioning and responsiveness in different etiologies. Patients with traumatic brain injury showed more favorable clinical outcomes.

Cognitive recovery after severe traumatic brain injury in children/adolescents and adults: similar positive outcome but different underlying pathways?

Primary Objective: Does younger age at the time of severe traumatic brain injury (STBI) protect from cognitive symptoms? To answer this question, the authors compared the neuropsychological profile of late school-age children/adolescents and young adult patients at mid- and long-term recovery periods (6 and 12 months post-STBI).

Methods And Procedures: Twenty-eight children/adolescents and 26 clinically matched adults were tested on measures of general intelligence, attention, executive functions, visuoperceptual, visuospatial and visuoconstructive abilities. Coma duration and the post-acute Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score were used as predictor variables in a series of regression analyses.

Effect of the serotonin transporter gene and of environment on the continuity of anxiety and depression traits throughout adolescence.

Aims. Many studies of various stress reactive phenotypes suggest that 5-HTTLPR short allele carriers (S-carriers) are characterised by the stable trait of negative affectivity that is converted to psychopathology only under conditions of stress. In this study, we examined the moderating role of the 5-HTTLPR on the relationship between two objective chronic risk factors, i.

Tenofovir-induced renal tubular dysfunction in vertically HIV-infected patients associated with polymorphisms in ABCC2, ABCC4 and ABCC10 genes.

Tenofovir disoproxyl fumarate is a known cause of kidney tubular dysfunction in HIV-infected patients. Recent studies reported significant association between specific allelic variants in ABCC2, ABCC4 and/or ABCC10 genes and the development of kidney tubular dysfunction in HIV-infected adults. We describe the first 2 cases of vertically HIV-infected patients affected by kidney tubular dysfunction associated with polymorphisms in the ABCC genes.

Potential benefits and limits of psychopharmacological therapies in pervasive developmental disorders.

The core symptoms of Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are impairment in reciprocal social interaction, communication, narrow interests, and stereotyped behaviour. These are frequently severe and persistent, although their severity may change over the course of life. Furthermore, the frequently associated symptoms of self-injury, aggressive behaviour, impulsivity, poor attention, anxiety, depression, and sleep disruption, can become a major source of additional distress and interference in functioning.