Psychoemotional, cognitive, chronoendocrine, and immune responses to a survival performance in an African desert. Evidence for divergent effects.
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Adult↗
Biomedical subjects
A Meluzzi
Publications and source records attributed to A Meluzzi.
Determination of blood constituents reference values in broilers.
Eight hundred broilers were examined to define the reference values of nine blood constituents (total proteins, albumin, total and free cholesterol, triglycerides, aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), calcium, and phosphorus). The broilers, coming from 20 different commercial poultry operations, were equally divided into different groups according to age (21 and 45 days), strain (Arbor Acres and Hybro), sex, and sampling season (summer or winter). Age and sampling season were the variation sources that most influenced the values of the hematochemical variables examined. The interaction of age with strain influenced total proteins total and free cholesterol, triglycerides, and ALP. The interaction of age with sampling season influenced all hematochemical constituents except triglycerides. Reference limits defined by .975 and .025 fractiles were computed for each blood constituent according to the significance of different variation sources and their combinations. Reference limits defined herein could be used as indicators of metabolic and health conditions of a poultry farm.
Age Factors↗
[Stress and the psychological profile of the cancer patient].
The results of a retrospective study on the personality traits of a patient with cancer are reported. The research was carried out on a group of cancer patients and on 2 control groups, one consisting of carriers of chronic non-tumoral disease, the other of patients with acute accidental pathology. Statistical processing of the data obtained has permitted the detection of interesting personological details in the 3 groups studied.
Adult↗
[The physiognomic semeiotics of anxiety. A critical review].
This study analyses the physical and physiognomic semiotics characteristic of anxious persons which, together with other symptoms, lead to the diagnosis of the disorder caused by anxiety. The theories of several authors concerning physiognomy, an ancient science based on the assumption that an individual's character and personality traits may be distinguished from his physical form and appearance, are discussed. It is clear that the symptoms apparent in the behaviour and body of the anxious person, such as tremor, sweating, tachycardia and numerous other psychosomatic symptoms, form an important element of assessment in psychiatric diagnosis.
Anxiety↗
[Therapeutic treatment of drug dependence during hospital recovery].
The purpose of the research was to ascertain whether hospitalization makes it easier to treat heroin addiction and to what extent. Eighty-six subjects hospitalised in two Turin hospitals were considered. Two different therapeutic protocols were applied. Results obtained are discussed and some interpretation of resulting data are advanced.
Age Factors↗
[Hospital emergencies in drug addiction. Analysis and interpretation of data recorded at 3 DEAs of the Turin area].
The present research forms part of a wider research organised as part of an NRC sub-project on the psychotherapy of drug addiction. It aims to examine drug addiction services in order to assess the interrelations between these services, their ways of operating and the use drug addicts make of them. An attempt is also made to identify the response models offered by these structures and their relation to the specific demand by the drug addicted users, the aim being to show that the initial response has in itself a largely unexploited capacity to direct the requirements of the drug addicted patients.
Adolescent↗
[Services for prevention, cure and rehabilitation of drug addiction in the Vercelli and Novara provinces].
The drug addiction prevention and treatment services in the provinces of Vercelli and Novara are examined. The aim of the present work was to study an area in a transitional stage, where agricultural and industrial work and society is changing as are cultural values but where there is sufficient prosperity both to encourage the spread of drug addiction to permit the establishment of appropriate care. The local services for the prevention and cure of drug addiction and the rehabilitation of addicts were set up in 1978. The present work aims to assess the current situation and function of those services.
Health Surveys↗
[Relationship between type A behavior and the other risk factors in chronic disease].
The relationship between psychological features and coronary heart disease (CHD) have long been investigated. Type A behaviour consists of psychological, behavioral and cognitive features and represents an important risk factor for CHD. The present report is a review of the international literature on the subject. In particular we have taken into account the relationships among type A and other risk factors and the possible biological mechanisms through which type A behaviour may promote CHD.
Chronic Disease↗
[Medico-biological and psychopathologic aspects of substance dependence].
The paper examines the phenomenon of drug addiction from a bio-socio-pathological point of view. Neurophysiological advances in the field of drug addiction reveal the correlations between biology and behaviour, thus allowing the creation of numerous synergic strategies at different levels of intervention.
Drug Tolerance↗
[Emergency psychiatric services in Torino. Presentation of the activities].
The paper reports on the emergency psychiatric Unit (EPU) that has been instituted in Turin. A period of transformation in the philosophy of psychiatric departments, has led, among other things, to the approval of a regional law that can be considered as a local interpretation, of national legislation. The EPU is an experimental model that codifies the emergency level of intervention to stand alongside existing emergency medical facilities, including first-aid stations. The purpose of this first investigation is to examine the number and type of calls studying the data obtained so far is a fundamental stage in our understanding of the "emergency" phenomenon and in the construction of other levels of intervention aimed to optimise available resources.
Emergency Services, Psychiatric↗
[Custodianship or abandonment in psychiatry? The neo-contractual hypothesis].
In this report role, possibilities and limits of psychiatry have been taken into account. Starting from a historical analysis, the Authors advance some hypotheses. Psychiatry could possible play a mediation role between sociology and biology, providing every patients with a specific therapy.
Italy↗
[Time in depression].
Subjective estimation of time varies according to age, to physical state and to the activity we are occupied with. The relationship between time and major depression can be considered from two different point of view. From a clinical-psychological point of view normal subjects with major depression estimate time intervals differently. Future, past and present change their meaning in major depression. These alterations cause important consequences in the cognitive structure of subjects with major depression and therefore influence depressive symptoms. On the other hand also the "biological time" is altered in major depression. Subjects with major depression suffer from many chronobiological alterations. The relationship between these two aspects are considered in the present report.
Circadian Rhythm↗
[Psychoimmunology. I. Relationships between neuroendocrine and immune systems].
Recently a lot of studies have pointed to the relationships between the major homeostatic systems of the human body: the neuroendocrine system and the immune system. There is considerable evidence that they make up a psychoneuroendocrine immunologic network. In the present review the most interesting data concerning the relationships between the neuroendocrine system and the immune system are taken into account.
Humans↗
[Psychoimmunology. II. The neuroendocrine system and the immune system in autism and schizophrenia].
In this paper the Authors report on the immunologic alterations in two psychiatric disease: schizophrenia and infantile autism. While a lot of researches have been concluded on the immunologic alterations in schizophrenia, only a few data on infantile autism are available. Based on data from international literature the Authors advance some hypotheses on the role possibly played by the immune system in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia and infantile autism.
Autistic Disorder↗
[Clinical usefulness of dexamethasone test in depression].
The paper stresses the importance of the dexamethasone suppression test in the diagnosis of severe depression (major psychiatric disorders). For some decades researchers have been aware of the importance of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal gland axis in the physiological response to stress, and likewise the importance of possible correlations between emotional and biological factors in psychiatric disorders. Several studies have sustained that in major psychiatric disorders, and in particular in depression, not only is there a hypersecretion of cortisol, but also a resistance to the suppression of cortisol secretion which normally follows the injection of an exogenous steroid, for example dexamethasone. This laboratory test is therefore of value both for diagnostic purposes and for identifying severe depression from other morbid conditions; it may also be usefully employed for prognostic and therapeutic purposes.
Depressive Disorder↗
[The role of opioid antagonists in the treatment of obesity. Results of a clinical trial with naltrexone].
On the basis of literature data relative to the alteration of beta-endorphin tone in obese subjects, we conducted a clinical trial employing Naltrexone (a receptorial antagonist of endogen opioids) in order to evaluate its efficacy in increasing the compliance of these subjects on dietary treatment. The drug dosage was 50 mg/daily (100 mg/die). The clinical study was carried out following the double-blind crossover method for a period of 4 months in a group of 17 obese subjects who also underwent to psychodiagnostic interviews. Significant weight reduction was observed in the 9 patients who carried out the treatment by assuming Naltrexone (kg 4.00 +/- 3.97) rather than with placebo (kg 0.96 +/- 4.95). The drug was subjectively well tolerated and it did not alter the endocrine, metabolic, psychometric, and cardiovascular monitored parameters. The insulin secretion during OGTT did not show significant alterations. Our data emphasize the Naltrexone efficacy in improving the compliance of the obese subjects during dietary treatment.
Adult↗
[Psychometric evaluations in a group of obese patients].
Several reported cases point out significant alterations in the psychologic profile of obese subjects and the utility of a psychotherapeutic support to the dietetic or pharmacological therapy. Each patient underwent a psychodiagnostic interview and the following rating-scales were applied: QPF (Psychophysiological Test); STAI X-1 and X-2 (State and Trait Anxiety Inventory); Hamilton-D (Depression); ZUNG (Self-administered Depression Test); TSR (Reaction Schemes Test). We observed an increase in the answer of the blocked projection (in the 40% of subjects), of negation (26.6%), of guilt (13.3%), a decrease in the projection answer (33.3%), high scores of QPF (21%). The STAI, the Hamilton, and the Zung were altered in the 10% of the examined subjects. Our data emphasize the importance of an individual psychotherapeutic support in a subgroup of obese subjects.
Adult↗
[Clinico-nosographic considerations on the relation of depression and alcoholism in a population of 450 hospitalized alcoholics].
The presence of depressive symptomatology in alcoholics has frequently been encountered in clinical practice, but the relationship running between the two pathologies remains a subject for discussion. The methodological difficulty of this evaluation is seen in a major discordance of reported data. Against this background, a group of subjects hospitalized in a neuropsychiatric environment has been assessed for incidence of alcoholic and depressive pathologies and their possible correlations. Of 428 hospitalizations for alcoholism, 350 (82%) presented a depressive pathology. These patients were distinguished by DSM III into three groups [a) adaptation disturbance with depressed mood; b) dysthymic disturbance; c) atypical depression]. Within these groups, the incidence of prior stress-inducing psychosocial events was assessed according to the criterion of growing seriousness of DSM III. The results after statistical processing are discussed and compared with reported data.
Adult↗