Search results for "25"

DOES CANNABIS USE WORSEN PSYCHOTIC SYMPTOM PRESENTATION?

2017

Background: While the relationship between cannabis and psychosis is well established, there is a lack of studies into whether cannabis use is associated with a particular pattern of symptoms at psychosis onset. Moreover, there is much evidence that psychotic experiences are common in the healthy population, and again their relationship with exposure to cannabis has been scarcely studied. We hypothesized that psychopathology in first-episode psychosis patients (FEP), and psychotic experiences in controls, would be qualitatively and quantitatively affected by pattern of cannabis use. Methods: The Operational CRITeria (OPCRIT) system, the CAPE (Community Assessment of Psychic Experiences), an…

SOME OF THE INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN RISK TO DEVELOP PSYCHOSIS AMONG CANNABIS USERS CAN BE EXPLAINED BY WHERE THEY LIVE AND BY THEIR AGE AT FIRST USE

2018

Background Cannabis use remains the most widely used recreational drug worldwide. Following from several USA states legalisation policies, European countries are reconsidering their cannabis laws. While a significant amount of Epidemiological evidence has reported that cannabis use increases the risk of psychosis it is still unclear: 1) what underpins individual differences in developing a psychotic disorder following cannabis use; 2) if variations in availability of cannabis have affected rate of Psychotic disorders across Europe. Methods Using detailed data on lifetime pattern of cannabis use from the EUGEI first episode case-control study (N=2300) and the available Incidence rates of Psy…

PREMORBID ADJUSTMENT AND CANNABIS USE IN FIRST-EPISODE-PSYCHOSIS PATIENTS. A CROSS-EUROPEAN CASE-CONTROL STUDY

The harmful effects of cannabis use and possible neuropsychological impairment associated with its use are a contentious topic of debate in both research and public health,as is thefact that cannabis use has been repeatedly shown to be a risk factor for the development of psychosis. Surprisingly, three different meta-analyses on cognition and cannabis, among schizophrenic patients, found better cognitive performance in patients with a lifetime use of cannabis (Potvin, Joyal, Pelletier, & Stip, 2008; Rabin, Zakzanis, & George, 2011; Yücel et al., 2012). This counterintuitive finding, coupled with the fact that most psychotic patients suffer from cognitive impairment (Reichenberg et al., 2009…

Radioactive Beams for Image-Guided Particle Therapy: The BARB Experiment at GSI

2021

Several techniques are under development for image-guidance in particle therapy. Positron (β+) emission tomography (PET) is in use since many years, because accelerated ions generate positron-emitting isotopes by nuclear fragmentation in the human body. In heavy ion therapy, a major part of the PET signals is produced by β+-emitters generated via projectile fragmentation. A much higher intensity for the PET signal can be obtained using β+-radioactive beams directly for treatment. This idea has always been hampered by the low intensity of the secondary beams, produced by fragmentation of the primary, stable beams. With the intensity upgrade of the SIS-18 synchrotron and the isotopic separati…

STEM CELLS FOR TREATMENT OF CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASES: AN UMBRELLA REVIEW OF RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIALS

2021

AIMS:\ud \ud Stem cells are a promising therapy for various medical conditions. The literature regarding their adoption for the clinical care of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) is still conflicting. Therefore, our aim is to assess the strength and credibility of the evidence on clinical outcomes and application of stem cells derived from systematic reviews and meta-analyses of intervention studies in CVD.\ud \ud METHODS and RESULTS:\ud \ud Umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using placebo/no intervention as control group. For meta-analyses of RCTs, outcomes with a random-effect p-value< 0.05, the GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Ass…

Use of conservative therapy before and after surgery for carpal tunnel syndrome

2021

Abstract Background Conservative therapies are typically offered to individuals who experience mild or intermittent symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) or postoperatively to subjects who have undergone carpal tunnel release. Although long-term studies report mostly positive results for carpal tunnel release, knowledge on the need for conservative treatments following surgery is scarce. The aim of this retrospective cohort study was to examine the use of conservative therapies before and after carpal tunnel releasing surgery. Methods Of 528 patients who underwent carpal tunnel release surgery in the study hospital during the study period, 259 provided sufficiently completed questionnair…

Prognostic Impact of let-7e MicroRNA and Its Target Genes in Localized High-Risk Intestinal GIST: A Spanish Group for Research on Sarcoma (GEIS) Study

2020

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs that negatively regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level, and they have been described as being associated with tumor prognosis. Here, miRNA profiling was planned to explore new molecular prognostic biomarkers in localized intestinal high-risk GIST. Paraffin tumor blocks of 14 and 86 patients were used in the discovery and expansion sets, respectively. GeneChip miRNA v3.0 was employed to identify the miRNAs differentially expressed between relapsed and non-relapsed patient samples, which were validated in the expansion set, by qRT-PCR. RT2 Profiler PCR Array was used for the screening of let-7e targets. Expression levels were co…

Cultivation and biochemical characterization of isolated Sicilian microalgal species in salt and temperature stress conditions

2021

Abstract In the last years, the possibility to exploit autochthone microalgae in regional applications has been explored. The regional-based microalgal industry may bring several benefits, as autochthone microalgae are already adapted to the biotic and abiotic stresses of their environment. In this work, this concept was applied to Sicily, in which three microalgal strains were collected from the coastline. Monoalgal strains were then isolated and molecular characterization was performed for the species determination. Three of them, two strains of Chlorella and one of Dunaliella, were cultivated in lab-scale in four different conditions: Low Temperature-Low Salt (LT-LS), High-Temperature-Lo…

An electrochemical impedance and ac-electrogravimetry study of PNR films in aqueous salt media

2002

Electrochemical impedance spectra and ac-eletrogravimetry of poly(neutral red) films are studied in different aqueous media. The dependence of these experimental data on the nature of alkaline cation and monovalent anion present in the solution and on the pH is analysed. During the electrochemical processes, it is observed that all three species—the salt cation, the salt anion and the hydronium ion—participate to balance the electrical charge within the film. It is also possible to conclude that the participation of anions takes place faster than hydronium ions participation. Besides, the relative participation of these species is related to the pH of the solution. Keywords: Poly (neutral r…

Supercritical Assisted Atomization: Polyvinylpyrrolidone as Carrier for Drugs with Poor Solubility in Water

2013

Supercritical assisted atomization (SAA) is an efficient technique to produce microparticles and composite microspheres formed by polymers and pharmaceutical compounds. In this work polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) was proposed as carrier for pharmaceutical compounds that show a poor solubility in water medium. Indeed, this polymer is hydrosoluble and can be generally used to enhance the dissolution rate of hydrophobic compounds when finely dispersed in it. However, it is difficult to obtain coprecipitates with a uniform dispersion of the active molecule using other micronization techniques. The experiments were performed using ethanol as solvent; SAA plant was operated at 40°C and 76 bar in the …