Pelvic floor rehabilitation for defecation disorders.

Pelvic floor rehabilitation is frequently recommended for defecation disorders, in both constipation and fecal incontinence. However, the lack of patient selection, together with the variety of rehabilitation methods and protocols, often jeopardize the results of this approach, causing difficulty in evaluating outcomes and addressing proper management, and above all, in obtaining scientific evidence for the efficacy of these methods for specific indications. The authors represent different gastroenterological and surgical scientific societies in Italy, and their aim was to identify the indications and agree on treatment protocols for pelvic floor rehabilitation of patients with defecation disorders.

Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty in phakic eyes: incision modification reducing cataract formation.

Aim: To evaluate the efficacy of a technical modification to reduce the incidence of traumatic cataract induced by Descemet stripping automated endothelial keratoplasty (DSAEK) performed in phakic eyes.

Methods: A retrospective cohort study. The records of all patients with a clear crystalline lens and endothelial failure that underwent modified DSAEK at our insitution were reviewed.

Microkeratome-Assisted Anterior Lamellar Keratoplasty for the Correction of High-Degree Postkeratoplasty Astigmatism.

Purpose: To describe the surgical technique and report the outcomes of patients treated with microkeratome-assisted anterior lamellar keratoplasty (MALK) for the correction of high-degree postkeratoplasty astigmatism.

Methods: Four eyes of 2 patients with extremely high (>10 D) and irregular [surface asymmetry index >1.0 D] post-penetrating keratoplasty astigmatism occurring after complete suture removal underwent MALK and were followed for at least 3 years after the procedure.

Case History Review of 2.467, Anal Fistulae Surgically Treated with, the Method of Arnous's French School.

Introduction: Considering the extensive experience developed in 28 years of medical practice in a specialist facility dedicated to proctological surgery and the treatment of 2.467 patients presenting with an anal fistula, the authors review problems associated with this disease from an aetiopathogenic, classifying, diagnostic, and therapeutic viewpoint.

Materials And Methods: The surgical treatment of Arnous's French School was adopted.

Is black always the opposite of white? An investigation on the comprehension of antonyms in people with schizophrenia and in healthy participants.

The present investigation sought to expand our understanding of the cognitive processes underlying the recognition of antonyms and to evaluate whether these processes differed in patients with schizophrenia and in healthy controls. Antonymy is the most robust of the lexico-semantic relations and is relevant to both the mental organization of the lexicon and the organization of coherent discourse, as attested by the resurgence of interest in antonymy in the linguistic and psychological domains. In contrast, the vast literature on semantic processing in schizophrenia almost ignored antonymy.

Is the comprehension of idiomatic sentences indeed impaired in paranoid Schizophrenia? A window into semantic processing deficits.

Schizophrenia patients have been reported to be more impaired in comprehending non-literal than literal language since early studies on proverbs. Preference for literal rather than figurative interpretations continues to be documented. The main aim of this study was to establish whether patients are indeed able to use combinatorial semantic processing to comprehend literal sentences and both combinatorial analysis, and retrieval of pre-stored meanings to comprehend idiomatic sentences.

Combined tissue excision and corneal tuck for the surgical treatment of extremely advanced pellucid marginal corneal degeneration.

Pellucid marginal corneal degeneration (PMCD) is managed surgically in the advanced stages of the disease, but extreme thinning extending over a very wide area in most of the corneal circumference represents a true surgical challenge that makes conventional approaches unsuitable. Here, we present the results of a new procedure (partial excision of the corneal ectasia and tuck of the residual thinned corneal lips left behind) performed in 3 eyes of 2 patients with extremely advanced PMCD, judged unsuitable for undergoing conventional surgical approaches. Preoperatively, uncorrected visual acuity was limited to the perception of hand motion in 1 eye, which presented with hydrops, and to finger counting at 1 m in the other 2 eyes.