Search

This study investigated the relationship between severe childhood abuse and cognitive functions in first-episode psychosis patients and geographically-matched controls. Reports of any abuse were associated with lower scores in the executive function domain in the control group. However, in contrast with our hypothesis, no relationships were found amongst cases., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background: A number of studies have reported that patients with psychosis who use cannabis have better cognitive performance than those who do not. This is surprising as cannabis can impair cognition in healthy subjects. An obvious question is whether the better current performance of psychotic patients who have used cannabis is a reflection of their having a higher premorbid IQ than those psychotic patients who haven't used cannabis., Aim: In a sample of patients at their first episode of psychosis, we tested the hypothesis that patients who smoked cannabis would have a higher premorbid IQ than patients who did not., Methodology: 279 participants (119 patients and 160 healthy controls) were assessed in order to obtain current and premorbid IQ measures and detailed information on cannabis use. We examined the association between cannabis use and both premorbid and current IQ in patients and controls., Results: Patients who had ever smoked cannabis had significantly higher current (p<.001) and premorbid IQ (p=.004) compared to patients who had never used cannabis. This difference was not found among controls., Conclusions: These findings suggest that the better cognitive performance of patients with their first episode of psychosis who have used cannabis compared with those who haven't is due to the better premorbid IQ of the former., (© 2013.)

Research in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) produced inconsistent results in demonstrating an association between patients' symptom severity and their cognitive impairments. The process involved in volition aspects of behavioral syndromes can be extensively analyzed using specific tests developed in virtual environments, more suitable to manipulate rules and possible breaks of the normal task execution with different, confusing or stopping instructions. The study involved thirty participants (15 OCD patients and 15 controls) during task execution and the relative interferences. At this purpose, the virtual version of Multiple Errands Test was used. Virtual reality setting, with a higher ecological validity respect to a classic neuropsychological battery, allowed us to take into account deficits of volition and the relative dysexecutive functions associated with OCD patients. The proposed paradigm also allows the development of innovative prototypes of coevolving technologies based on new theories and models and deeper understanding of human behavior.

Cognitive difficulties are prevalent in people with diagnosis of schizophrenia and are associated with poor long-term functioning. In particular, memory, selective, divided and sustained attention and executive functions are altered by this disease. We used a Virtual Reality environment (developed via the NeuroVr2.0 software) for the rehabilitation of shifting, sustained attention and action planning functions using tasks reminiscent of daily life tasks. Test and retest showed significant differences in the assessed cognitive dimensions.

Introduction: Although childhood abuse is a recognised risk factor for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance misuse, its role in the aetiology of psychotic disorder remained controversial. This is in part because the putative effect of childhood trauma on psychosis has been mostly evaluated by small, cross sectional, uncontrolled studies that raised methodological issues., Methods: Papers concerning the association between childhood trauma and psychotic disorders (to November, 2011) were identified using a comprehensive search of PubMed, Psychinfo, and Scopus and analysing reference list of relevant papers. A narrative synthesis was used to summarise results., Results: An association between childhood abuse and psychotic symptoms was consistently reported by large cross sectional surveys with an effect ranging from 1.7 to 15. However, we cannot conclude that the relationship is causal as lack of longitudinal studies prevent us from fully excluding alternative explanations such as reverse causality. Gender, cannabis use, and depressive and post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms appear to moderate the effect of childhood trauma on psychotic disorders. However, specificity of childhood abuse in psychotic disorders and, particularly, in schizophrenia has not been demonstrated., Conclusion: Although the association between childhood abuse and psychosis has been replicated, the etiological role of such early adversity has yet to be fully clarified. So far none of the studies reported support the hypothesis that childhood abuse is either sufficient or necessary to develop a psychotic disorder. It seems likely that any effect of childhood abuse on schizophrenia needs to be understood in terms of genetic susceptibility and interaction with other environmental risk factors.

This study is aimed at evaluating Internet use in a psychiatric population. We used the UADI questionnaire to investigate the degree of addictive Internet use in our sample of patients affected by various psychiatric disorders. Several psychological and psychopathological variables related to internet use, have been assessed through the five dimensions of the UADI: dissociation (DIS), Impact on real life (IMP), Experimentation (EXP), Dependence (DEP), Escape (ESC).

Executive functions are often impaired in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). We used a Virtual Reality version of the Multiple Errand Test (VMET) - developed dusing the free NeuroVR software (http://www.neurovr.org) - to evaluate the executive functions in daily life in 10 OCD patients and 10 controls. It is performed in a shopping setting where there are items to be bought and information to be obtained. The execution time for the whole task was higher in patients with OCD compared to controls, suggesting that patients with OCD need more time in planning than controls. The same difference was found in the partial errors during the task. Furthermore, the mean rank for and for interpretation failures is higher for controls, while the values of divided attention and the of self correction seems to be lower in controls. We think that obsessive patients tend to work with greater diligence and observance of rules than controls. In conclusion, these results provide initial support for the feasibility of VMET as assessment tool of executive functions. Specifically, the significant correlation found between the VMET and the neuropsychological battery support the ecological validity of VMET as an instrument for the evaluation of executive functions in patients with OCD.

The present study is aimed at analyzing the process of building and programming robots as a metacognitive tool of mathematics. Quantitative data from a study performed on a sample of students attending an Italian secondary school are described. Results showed that robotics activities may be used as a new metacognitive environment allowing students to improve their attitude towards mathematics, and to increase their attitude to reflect on themselves and on their own learning, and their higher-level control components, such as forecasting, planning, monitoring and evaluation exercises and problems related to implementation.

Burn patients may suffer both physical and psychopathological consequences and their quality of life and the presence of psychopathological symptoms should be evaluated. The Burn Specific Health Scale - Brief (BHSH-B) is a tried and tested instrument for assessing burn patients' quality of life. The aim of this study is to propose the Italian translation of BSHS-B and presents the preliminary results of an exploratory study. The Italian version of the BSHS-B was administered to a sample group of 50 burn victims. Reliability was verified by Cronbach's alpha, and construct validity was evaluated through correlation with the Short Form 36 Health Survey Questionnaire (SF-36) and the Self-report Symptom Inventory - Revised (SCL-90). The entire scale and two out of three domains showed Cronbach's alpha values higher than 0.8. Significant correlations were identified between BSHS-B subscales and the SF-36 subscales Physical Pain and Social Activities. Several psychopathological SCL-90 subscales correlated with BSHS-B subscales Heat Sensitivity and Body Image. It was concluded that our translation of BSHS-B was reliable and showed good construct validity. The drawbacks of this study are the limited size of the sample and the wide variety of types of burn injuries.

The present paper is aimed at analyzing the process of building and programming robots as a metacognitive tool. Quantitative data and qualitative observations from a research performed in a sample of children attending an Italian primary school are described in this work. Results showed that robotics activities may be intended as a new metacognitive environment that allows children to monitor themselves and control their learning actions in an autonomous and self-centered way.

Objective: the aim of our study was to evaluate the role of stressful events, lifestyles and various socio-environmental factors in the beginning of ischemic cardiac diseases, together with cardiovascular factors., Materials and Methods: 64 patients with recent cardiac ischemia and 64 controls matched 1:1, according to their sex and age, have been evaluated. The study required the filling in of clinico-anamnestic reports and the evaluation of stressful events, using the Holmes Rahe scale., Results: in the 44% of the patients who had a heart ischemia, an emotional striking event occurred few days before, with a 28% incidence of work and family problems. The mean score of the Holmes Rahe Social Readjustment Rating Scale was statistically significantly higher among cases (p<0,05). The percentage of the subjects who experienced a stressful event during the last year was significantly higher among those with an ischemic event even though the heart disease factors were similar in the 2 groups of cases and controls., Conclusions: although the known heart risk factors predispose to ischemic event, our results suggest that stressful and emotional factors play a fundamental role in increasing the risk.

Our project is based on the study of Cybertherapy in the international sphere (USA, Northern Europe) and on the application of this discipline to the Italian psychiatric and psychological reality. CyberTherapy can be used as an "aim", referring to it as real and proper therapy, which lives on personalized paths created by a qualified staff, conceived as ludic, for recreational, psycoterapic, and educational purpose. Moreover, Cybertherapy can be used as a "mean" (and in this way we want to propose it) with the aim of making the user, who feels a psychiatric or a psychological uneasiness, to become closer to qualified staff; a considerable advantage of this discipline is to reduce to a minimum the initial embarrassment which is created between the specialist and the psychiatric patient, uneasiness stirred up and accentuated by the problem, which is unfortunately not resolved in the Italian sphere of the Stigma.

In recent decades, the rapid development of innovative Internet-based communication technologies created a new field of academic study among scholars. Particularly, the attention of researchers is focusing on new ways to form relationship-thought social web. Social Network sites constitute a new form of web communities, where people meet and share interests and activities. Due to exponential growth of these sites, an increasing number of scholars are beginning to study the emergent phenomena in order to identify any psychopathological risk related to use of social web, such as addiction. This article examines the recent literature about this issue.