Measuring dispositional optimism in patients with chronic heart failure and their healthcare providers: the validity of the Life Orientation Test-Revised.

The Life Orientation Test-Revised (LOT-R) measures dispositional optimism (DO) - an individual difference promoting physical and psychological well-being in healthy adults (HAs) as well as in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and healthcare providers (HPs). Controversy has arisen regarding the dimensionality of the LOT-R. Whereas DO was originally defined as a one-dimensional construct, empirical evidence suggests two correlated factors in the LOT-R.

Death after 25C-NBOMe and 25H-NBOMe consumption.

A teenager male was found dead in a waterway after he was spotted jumping off into the water stream. The boy looked agitated and confused after a party with friends. At the gathering place, investigators seized packages of blotter papers.

Sphingosine Kinases and Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Receptors: Signaling and Actions in the Cardiovascular System.

The sphingosine kinases 1 and 2 (SphK1 and 2) catalyze the phosphorylation of the lipid, sphingosine, generating the signal transmitter, sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P). The activation of such kinases and the subsequent S1P generation and secretion in the blood serum of mammals represent a major checkpoint in many cellular signaling cascades. In fact, activating the SphK/S1P system is critical for cell motility and proliferation, cytoskeletal organization, cell growth, survival, and response to stress.

A single Markov-type kinetic model accounting for the macroscopic currents of all human voltage-gated sodium channel isoforms.

Modelling ionic channels represents a fundamental step towards developing biologically detailed neuron models. Until recently, the voltage-gated ion channels have been mainly modelled according to the formalism introduced by the seminal works of Hodgkin and Huxley (HH). However, following the continuing achievements in the biophysical and molecular comprehension of these pore-forming transmembrane proteins, the HH formalism turned out to carry limitations and inconsistencies in reproducing the ion-channels electrophysiological behaviour.

Cross-cultural adaptation, reproducibility and validation of the Italian version of the Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS).

The Patient and Observer Scar Assessment Scale (POSAS) is one of the most robust instruments to assess scar quality, but there is no Italian version, and no other competing instruments are available in Italian. The aim of this study was to translate and validate an Italian version of POSAS (POSAS-I). POSASv2.

Italian validation of the Belastungsfragebogen Parkinson kurzversion (BELA-P-k): a disease-specific questionnaire for evaluation of the subjective perception of quality of life in parkinson's disease.

Background: Quality of life (QoL) is the sense of well-being perceived by people. The improvement of parkinsonian patient's QoL is a crucial goal for clinicians involved in rehabilitative care. In order to provide an appropriate endpoint for the assessment of the effectiveness of rehabilitation treatments on QoL of patients with Parkinson's Disease (PD), in this study we have first translated and then validated the Belastungsfragebogen Parkinson kurzversion (BELA-P-k).

Loss of cutaneous large and small fibers in naive and l-dopa-treated PD patients.

Objective: To study small and large fiber pathology in drug-naive and l-dopa-treated patients affected by Parkinson disease (PD) in early phases, before the occurrence of neuropathic electrophysiologic abnormalities.

Methods: We enrolled 85 patients with idiopathic PD (male/female 49/36, age 61.3 ± 9.

β-Blockade Prevents Post-Ischemic Myocardial Decompensation Via βAR-Dependent Protective Sphingosine-1 Phosphate Signaling.

Background: Although β-blockers increase survival in patients with heart failure (HF), the mechanisms behind this protection are not fully understood, and not all patients with HF respond favorably to them. We recently showed that, in cardiomyocytes, a reciprocal down-regulation occurs between β-adrenergic receptors (ARs) and the cardioprotective sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor- (S1PR).

Objectives: The authors hypothesized that, in addition to salutary actions due to direct βAR-blockade, agents such as metoprolol (Meto) may improve post-myocardial infarction (MI) structural and functional outcomes via restored S1PR signaling, and sought to determine mechanisms accounting for this effect.

Antidiabetic Drugs in Alzheimer's Disease: Mechanisms of Action and Future Perspectives.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are two highly prevalent conditions in the elderly population and major public health burden. In the past decades, a pathophysiological link between DM and AD has emerged and central nervous system insulin resistance might play a significant role as a common mechanism; however, other factors such as inflammation and oxidative stress seem to contribute to the shared pathophysiological link. Both preclinical and clinical studies have evaluated the possible neuroprotective mechanisms of different classes of antidiabetic medications in AD, with some promising results.

Outer and inner tolerance limits: their usefulness for the construction of norms and the standardization of neuropsychological tests.

Objectives: After adjustment of scores for demographic variables, especially when test scales have an upper limit that causes a ceiling effect, the original score variability is deeply altered and the scale properties degenerate. We present a method for fixing normality thresholds on scores previously adjusted for demographic variables that overcomes these problems.

Methods: We suggest to fix norms using non-parametric tolerance limits.

Bronchial inflammation and bacterial load in stable COPD is associated with TLR4 overexpression.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and nucleotide-binding oligomerisation domain (NOD)-like receptors (NLRs) are two major forms of innate immune sensors but their role in the immunopathology of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is incompletely studied. Our objective here was to investigate TLR and NLR signalling pathways in the bronchial mucosa in stable COPD.Using immunohistochemistry, the expression levels of TLR2, TLR4, TLR9, NOD1, NOD2, CD14, myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MyD88), Toll-interleukin-1 receptor domain-containing adaptor protein (TIRAP), and the interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinases phospho-IRAK1 and IRAK4 were measured in the bronchial mucosa of subjects with stable COPD of different severity (n=34), control smokers (n=12) and nonsmokers (n=12).

The reduction of central sleep apnoea severity in the left lateral position is not due to an improvement in cardiac haemodynamics in patients with chronic heart failure.

Objective: The severity of central sleep apnoea (CSA), a common comorbidity in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and reduced ejection fraction, markedly decreases from the supine to the lateral sleeping position, with no difference between the left and right positions. The mechanisms responsible for this beneficial effect have not yet been elucidated.

Methods: We tested the hypothesis that CSA attenuation in the left lateral position is due, at least in part, to an improvement in cardiac haemodynamics.

Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing: Basics of Methodology and Measurements.

Cardiopulmonary exercise testing adds measurement of ventilation and volume of oxygen uptake and exhaled carbon dioxide to routine physiological and performance parameters obtainable from conventional exercise testing, furnishing an all-around vision of the systems involved in both oxygen transport from air to mitochondria and its use during exercise. Peculiarities of cardiopulmonary exercise testing methodology are the use of ramp protocols and calibration procedures for flow meters and gas analyzers. Among the several parameters provided by this technique, peak oxygen uptake, first and second ventilatory thresholds, respiratory exchange ratio, oxygen pulse, slope of ventilation divided by exhaled carbon dioxide relationship, exercise oscillatory ventilation, circulatory power, and partial pressure of end-tidal carbon dioxide are among the most relevant in the clinical setting.

Different Determinants of Ventilatory Inefficiency at Different Stages of Reduced Ejection Fraction Chronic Heart Failure Natural History.

Background: It is not known whether determinants of ventilation (VE)/volume of exhaled carbon dioxide (VCO) slope during incremental exercise may differ at different stages of reduced ejection fraction chronic heart failure natural history.

Methods And Results: VE/VCO slope was fitted up to lowest VE/VCO ratio, that is, a proxy of the VE/perfusion ratio devoid of nonmetabolic stimuli to ventilatory drive. VE/VCO slope tertiles were generated from our database (<27.

Focused and Sustained Attention Is Modified by a Goal-Based Rehabilitation in Parkinsonian Patients.

Rehabilitation for patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) is based on cognitive strategies that exploit attention. Parkinsonians exhibit impairments in divided attention and interference control. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of specific rehabilitation treatments based on attention suggests that other attentional functions are preserved.

Different estimation methods of spontaneous baroreflex sensitivity have different predictive value in heart failure patients.

Objective: Several methods have been developed so far to estimate cardiac baroreflex sensitivity (BRS) through the analysis of spontaneous fluctuations of systolic arterial pressure (SAP) and R-R interval. Their relative performance in predicting cardiac mortality in heart failure patients is not known. The aim of this study was to compare the prognostic value of a set of representative indexes of spontaneous BRS in these patients.

Orphan medicinal products in Europe and United States to cover needs of patients with rare diseases: an increased common effort is to be foreseen.

Background: In the European Union (EU) and United States (US), specific regulations have been released to provide incentives to develop and sell orphan medicinal products. We analysed the status of orphan drugs designated that not yet received a marketing authorisation or already marketed for patients affected by rare diseases in the EU and US up to December 2015. For each drug, the following data were extracted: designation date, active substance(s), orphan condition and indication, trade name, approved therapeutic indication, approved ages, genetic nature of disease and if affects children.

Illness denial questionnaire for patients and caregivers.

Purpose: Interest in assessing denial is still present, despite the criticisms concerning its definition and measurement. We tried to develop a questionnaire (Illness Denial Questionnaire, IDQ) assessing patients' and caregivers' denial in relation to their illness/disturbance.

Patients And Methods: After a preliminary study, a final version of 24 dichotomous items (true/false) was selected.

Curved Walking Rehabilitation with a Rotating Treadmill in Patients with Parkinson's Disease: A Proof of Concept.

Training subjects to step-in-place eyes open on a rotating platform while maintaining a fixed body orientation in space [podokinetic stimulation (PKS)] produces a posteffect consisting in inadvertent turning around while stepping-in-place eyes closed [podokinetic after-rotation (PKAR)]. Since the rationale for rehabilitation of curved walking in Parkinson's disease is not fully known, we tested the hypothesis that repeated PKS favors the production of curved walking in these patients, who are uneasy with turning, even when straight walking is little affected. Fifteen patients participated in 10 training sessions distributed in 3 weeks.

The EdUReP approach plus manual therapy for the management of insertional Achilles tendinopathy.

Insertional Achilles tendinopathy (IAT) is a challenging overuse disorder. The aim of this case report was to study the feasibility of a comprehensive rehabilitative approach according to the Education, Unloading, Reloading, and Prevention (EdUReP) framework combined with Instrument-Augmented Soft Tissue Mobilization (I-ASTM). An active 51-year-old man patient with chronic IAT was studied.