Search

Background: Physical activity in the elderly is recommended by international guidelines to protect against cognitive decline and functional impairment. Objective: This Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was set up to verify whether medium-intensity physical activity in elderly people living in the community is effective in improving cognitive performance. Design: RCT with parallel and balanced large groups. Setting: Academic university hospital and Olympic gyms. Subjects: People aged 65 years old and older of both genders living at home holding a medical certificate for suitability in non-competitive physical activity. Methods: Participants were randomized to a 12-week, 3 sessions per week moderate physical activity program or to a control condition focused on cultural and recreational activities in groups of the same size and timing as the active intervention group. The active phase integrated a mixture of aerobic and anaerobic exercises, including drills of “life movements”, strength and balance. The primary outcome was: any change in Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R) and its subscales. Results: At the end of the trial, 52 people completed the active intervention, and 53 people completed the control condition. People in the active intervention improved on the ACE-R (ANOVA: F(1;102)=4.32, p=0.040), and also showed better performances on the memory (F(1;102)=5.40 p=0.022) and visual-space skills subscales of the ACE-R (F(1;102)=4.09 p=0.046). Conclusion: A moderate-intensity exercise administered for a relatively short period of 12 weeks is capable of improving cognitive performance in a sample of elderly people who live independently in their homes. Clinical Trials Registration No: NCT03858114

Background Aging is marked by a progressive rise in chronic diseases with an impact on social and healthcare costs. Physical activity (PA) may soothe the inconveniences related to chronic diseases, has positive effects on the quality of life and biological rhythms, and can prevent the decline in motor functions and the consequent falls, which are associated with early death and disability in older adults. Methods We randomized 120 over-65 males and females into groups of similar size and timing and will give each either moderate physical activity or cultural and recreational activities. Being younger than 65 years, inability to participate in physical activity for any medical reason, and involvement in a massive program of physical exercise are the exclusion criteria. The primary outcome measures are: quality of life, walking speed, and postural sway. Participants are tested at baseline, post-treatment, and 6-month (24 weeks) and 12-month (48 weeks) follow-ups. Discussion This study aims at improving the quality of life, wellness, and cognitive functioning in the elderly through a low-cost affordable program of moderate physical activity. Given the growing aging of the world population and the social and economic burden of disability in the elderly, our results might have a major impact on future practices. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03858114. Registered on 28 February 2019.

Additional file 1. See the SPIRIT 2013 checklist.

AIM To explore the prevalence of Aberrant Salience (AS, an alleged experiential feature of psychosis-proneness) in Italian young people and corroborate the transcultural validity of the Aberrant Salience Inventory (ASI). METHODS Young adults attending an Italian university (n = 649) underwent serial evaluations with the ASI together with psychometric proxies for help seeking General Health Questionnaire and attenuated positive and negative symptoms Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ). The distribution of ASI scores was explored with latent class analysis (LCA). RESULTS Reliability of the Italian version of the ASI (I-ASI) was acceptable for all subscales (ordinal alpha >.70). Concurrent validity was in the expected direction, with higher correlations with measures of attenuated positive symptoms vs negative symptoms of psychosis (Steigers' z test, P < .005 in all comparisons). LCA identified three classes, with 217 (33.4%) participants in the "high aberrant salience" class. Gender and age were not related to class membership. Compared to the baseline class, SPQ scores in the schizotypy range were more likely in the "high aberrant salience" class (OR = 39.1; 95%confidence interval: 5.30-288.1). CONCLUSION AS is a relatively common experience among Italian young people. The study also confirmed the validity of field-testing ASI as a tool for the real-world characterization of people with vulnerability to psychosis, such as symptomatic help seekers with clinical high-risk states.

Populations fleeing war have often suffered or have witnessed violence, persecution, and imprisonment; they are at high risk of exposure to traumas and consequently to manifesting psychopathologies, stress-related disorders, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Regarding the condition of refugees, factors inherent in the conditions of escaping, traveling, and reception in the host country can also aggravate the psychopathology linked to previous traumas, or even add new ones. The prevalence of PTSD in refugee camps in Africa varies from 15.8% in Ethiopia to 37.4% in Algeria. The presence of any severe mental disorder ranged from 17.5% in Ethiopian to 60.5% in Algerian refugees. In people of three Sub-Saharan refugee camps in postwar scenarios in Darfur Hamid and Musa, 54% of people were found positive at a screening test for PTSD and 70% positive in a screening test for general distress. The literature contains several studies on small cohorts in refugee camps suffering from disorders who had been subjected to specific treatments. However, studies on population samples or entire refugee populations repeated over time are infrequent. One of the studies, considered as a milestone in this field, shows in Bosnian refugees in Croatia that 45% of those who met the DSM-IV criteria for depression or PTSD presented these disorders 3 years later, and 16% of asymptomatic persons developed the disorders. A decrease in psychiatric symptoms at follow-up was shown 10 years later, but people suffering from PTSD showed an upward trend and the presence of PTSD was found associated with the unsuccessful extinction of traumatic memories. The few studies found in the literature do not clarify what social mechanisms may occur in the processes of recovery of hope, also because the different circumstances studied probably present specific variables that characterize each situation. However, the results of some studies, even on minors, appear to suggest that restoring a condition of safety and responding to primary needs is not always associated with an improvement in general and stress-related psychopathology. We had previously evaluated a sample of refugees of Tuareg ethnicity who were living in the Subgandé refugee camp in Burkina Faso. At that time (immediately after the crisis in Mali), refugees in the camp were faced with strong tensions and fear. There were no international organizations guaranteeing security and survival. These refugees had fled from Mali with very little information on those who had remained behind. Meanwhile, interventions by Islamic extremists meant that the political and military situation was not going well for the Tuaregs, who were fighting for independence. The majority of the Tuareg rebels were in fact engaged in the MLNA (Mouvement de Liberation de l’Azawar), the lay and losing party of the Malian rebels (1). At that time, around 60% of our sample had screened positive for the contemporary presence of both psychopathological stress-related symptoms (as positivity to Short Screening Scale for PTSD) and for the presence of general psychopathological symptoms and impairment linked to psychopathology [as positivity to the K6 screening scale], thus indicating severe mental distress and probable PTSD. Women aged 40 and older were found to be at higher risk of PTSD symptoms. Younger women (39 or younger) had higher frequencies of K6 positivity, but the distribution of people with both PTSD and K6 scales positivity was homogeneous by gender and age. During the 2-year period, many people had left the Subgandé camp and had been relocated to other camps where they appeared to be better supported. In this follow-up study 2 years later, we retraced a substantial portion of the first sample, but many were about to return to Mali. The aim of the follow-up is to ascertain the health status of those previously interviewed and those we were able to trace. We wanted to see whether the amended general conditions (e.g., protection provided by international organizations and the conclusion of negotiations) had contributed to changes in the levels of mental distress.

The purpose was to determine if brain damage in Wilson's disease (WD) is different in comorbid bipolar spectrum disorders (BDs), comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD) or without any mood disorders.An observational study was conducted on consecutive patients from a center for WD care. The study sample was divided by psychiatric assessment into WD without any mood disorders, WD with BDs and WD with MDD negative at Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ).Thirty-eight WD patients were recruited (53.2% females): 21 without mood disorders (55.2%), 9 with comorbid BDs (26.7%) and 8 with MDD without MDQ+ (21.1%). The BDs showed a higher frequency of brain damage, reaching statistically significant differences in the basal ganglia (P.001), in the overall brain (P.003) and at the limit in the white matter (P.05).In WD, comorbidity with BDs is associated with earlier evidence of brain damage, especially in the basal ganglia. The results confirm the importance of screening and early diagnosis of BDs in WD. Future follow-up studies on large samples are required to confirm if detection of BDs may be an early marker of brain damage and if a good therapeutic response in BDs may improve the prognosis of WD.

Background:Research literature suggests that burnout, depression, and a low mental quality of life (QOL) are common among health care workers. Economic crisis might have increased the burden of burnout, depression and low QOL in health care workers.Objectives:To identify depression risk, burnout levels, and quality of life in a sample of workers of an Italian university hospital.Method:Cross sectional study with comparison with two community surveys database results (n = 2000 and 1500, respectively). Overall, 522 workers accepted to take part in the study, representing a 78% response rate (out of 669 individuals).Results:The frequency of positivity at the screener for Major Depressive Disorder among health care workers was more than double than that in the standardized community sample (33.3% vs 14.1%, pi.e.those who do not have contact with patients), showed a statistically higher frequency of positivity for depressive episodes compared to the controls. Among the medical staff, the highest risk was found in the surgeon units, while the lowest one was in the laboratories. Surgeons also were those most exposed to high risk of burnout, as measured by the Maslach Burnout Inventory.Conclusion:Since burnout is linked to patient safety and quality of patient care, and contribute to medical errors, dedicated interventions aimed at reducing poor mental health and low quality of life in medical staff are indicated.

Aims Using data from a population survey in two communities in the region of Sardinia, Italy, we examined the association between illness definition and attribution of personal characteristics to people with alcoholism. Methods Quota samples, stratified by gender and age, were drawn from the general population (males: 48%; mean age 48 ± 18; range: 15–90). A fully-structured interview was conducted face-to-face with 404 respondents. The assessment of the public view of ‘alcoholics’ was measured by their reactions to stimulus words rated on bipolar scales, and defined with adjectives with opposite meanings at each end. Results 322 participants (80%) rated the ‘alcoholic’ as ‘ill’. The definition of the ‘alcoholic’ as being ill showed a statistically higher odd of stigma across all the dimensions of personal attributes. Conclusions The expectation that people adopting the illness model would tend to blame less those afflicted for their condition and, consequently, stigmatize them less, was not confirmed.