Synthesising 30 years of clinical experience and scientific insight on affective temperaments in psychiatric disorders: State of the art.

The concept of affective temperament has been extensively discussed throughout the history of psychopathology and represents a cornerstone in the study of mood disorders. This review aims to trace the evolution of the concept of affective temperaments (ATs) from Kraepelin's seminal work to the present day. In the 1980s, Akiskal redefined Kraepelin's concept of affective temperaments (ATs) by integrating the five recognized ATs into the broader framework of the soft bipolar spectrum. This conceptualization viewed ATs as non-pathological predispositions underlying psychiatric disorders, particularly mood disorders. Epidemiological and clinical studies have validated the existence of the five ATs. Furthermore, evidence suggests that ATs may serve as precursors to various psychiatric disorders and influence clinical dimensions such as disease course, psychopathology, and treatment adherence. Additionally, ATs appear to play a significant role in moderating phenomena such as suicide risk and stress coping. Incorporating an evaluation of temperamental bases of disorders into the multidimensional psychiatric diagnostic process could enhance treatment optimization and prognosis estimation.

Management accounting use and financial performance in public health-care organisations: evidence from the Italian National Health Service.

Reforms of the public health-care sector have emphasised the role of management accounting (MA). However, there is little systematic evidence on its use and benefits. To fill this gap, we propose a contingency-based model which addresses three related issues, that is, whether: (i) MA use is influenced by contextual variables and MA design; (ii) top-management satisfaction with MA mediates the relationship between MA design and MA use; and (iii) financial performance is influenced by MA use. A questionnaire was mailed out to all Italian public health-care organisations. Structural equation modelling was performed to validate the research hypotheses. The response rate was 49%. Our findings suggest that: (i) cost-containment strategies encourage more sophisticated MA designs; (ii) MA use is directly and indirectly influenced by contingency, organisational, and behavioural variables; (iii) a weakly significant positive relationship exists between MA use and financial performance. These findings are relevant from the viewpoint of both top managers and policymakers. The former must make sure that MA is not only technically advanced, but also properly understood and appreciated by users. The latter need to be aware that MA may improve performance in ways and along dimensions that may not fully translate into better financial results.

Management of treatment resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder. Algorithms for pharmacotherapy.

Treatment resistant OCD subjects, defined as those patients who undergo an adequate trial of SRI (clomipramine or SSRI) and do not respond or show unsatisfactory results, account for 40-50% of all patients. Once the appropriateness of the trial has been assessed, several options exist for the clinicians. If clomipramine or citalopram have been used, an appropriate strategy consists in giving the same drug intravenously. Double-blind studies exist on the efficacy of clomipramine IV, while data are missing for citalopram. Another option that should be considered first, although data are scarce, is the addition of a cognitive behavioral therapy, when available, in the forms of exposure and response prevention. When such options are not suitable or available, augmentation of the ongoing SRI with another compound represents the preferable strategy. Double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have shown the efficacy of adding pindolol (7.5 mg/d), risperidone (2 mg/d) and olanzapine (5-10 mg/d). Other agents have been proposed, but data emerging from double-blind studies were negative or contradictory. Another option available is switching from CMI to SSRI, or vice versa, or from SSRI to SSRI. Data regarding such treatment strategy, however, are highly preliminary, based on a couple of open label reports and on studies performed in treatment resistant depression. An unresolved question is whether augmentation should be preferred to switching. No data exist in OCD; a practical approach would suggest augmentation first, considering that response should be obtained faster than by switching compound. When all the available and effective strategies prove uneffective, clinicians should consider switching the patient to other compounds in monotherapy, such as venlafaxine, sumatriptan, inositol, although research is strongly needed before conclusions on the efficacy of such compounds can be drawn.

New funding arrangements in the Italian National Health Service.

In the 1990s, the Italian National Health Service (INHS) experienced a major reform introducing regionalization, quasi-markets and managerialism. The combination of quasi-markets and regionalization has produced an interesting scenario: 21 Regional Governments designing their own organizational and funding models to achieve the desired combination of equity, efficiency, freedom of choice and cost containment. This paper reports the results of a research project carried out in 1998-99 to identify such models, verify their actual states of implementation and analyse the resulting incentives for individual health-care organizations. Overall, most Regions have designed their models according to the 'LHU-centred' template, under which most public hospitals remain under Local Health Unit (LHU) control, LHUs are funded by their Regions on a capitation basis and each LHU is expected to reimburse other LHUs, Independent INHS Hospitals (IHs) and accredited private providers for services supplied to its residents. Reimbursements are activity-based according to Regional fee schedules. The major exception is Lombardy, Italy's largest and wealthiest Region, which has formally opted for the 'purchaser-provider split' template, with LHUs acting mostly as purchasers while IHs and accredited private professionals and organizations act as providers. In practice, however, many Regions still show significant features of the traditional cost-reimbursement system.

Success rates and cost-effectiveness of antibiotic combinations for initial treatment of central-venous-line infections during total parenteral nutrition.

BACKGROUND: Central-venous-line infections can be successfully treated with appropriate antibiotics, thus avoiding the need for catheter removal. Based on our experience, vancomycin, gentamicin, piperacillin, ceftazidime, and amphotericin, alone or in combination, are usually administered, pending sensitivity results. This empirical list, however, has never been verified against actual sensitivity results nor has it been tested for cost or efficacy. METHODS: Medical records of inpatients on hyperalimentation over 1 year were reviewed. Success rate, therapy duration, and drug acquisition cost and charge were assessed for central-venous-line infections. Antibiotics then were paired and evaluated in terms of charge and efficacy against all microorganisms as determined by sensitivity results. RESULTS: In 500 inpatients receiving hyperalimentation for 9,698 patient-days, 8.4 central-venous-line infections/1,000 patient-days occurred. Staphylococcus non-aureus, Candida species, Enterococcus faecium, and Staphylococcus aureus predominantly were isolated. Of the infections, 51 (67%) were sensitive to one or more of the initial antibiotics. A 2-week course of antibiotics successfully treated 50 (66%) catheter infections without line removal. Appropriate initial therapy on average reduced treatment duration by 8 to 10 days and drug charges by $400 to $700. CONCLUSIONS: Amikacin-vancomycin appears to be the most cost-effective selection for presumed central-venous-line infections, pending sensitivity results, followed by valid alternatives. Lower failure rates are well worth the extra cost in pharmaceutical charges.

[The new financing system in the Italian National Health Service. Implications for internal medicine]. / Il nuovo sistema di finanziamento delle Aziende Sanitarie. Implicazioni per la medicina interna.

Since 1995, the Italian National Health Service has begun to fund its hospitals on a DRG basis. This paper presents the main features of the DRG system as well as its likely implications for general internal medicine. The first part describes the introduction of DRGs in the US. The first paragraphs summarize the features of the US health-care system and particularly its private nature with two major exceptions: Medicare and Medicaid. The development of the DRG system and its adoption by Medicare are then described. Finally, the main effects of Medicare's DRG system are underlined: shorter hospital stays, fewer hospital admissions, several diagnostic and surgical procedures shifted from the inpatient to the outpatient setting, and apparently no negative quality implications. The second part focuses on Italy, in general and with specific reference to general internal medicine. For general internal medicine, the new funding system has two major implications. First, it may lead to the creation of larger medical departments including both the current general internal medicine divisions and the various specialties. Second, even under the current organisational structure, divisions will be increasingly required to produce positive financial margins. In this respect, general internal medicine divisions seem to be in a favourable position, especially in terms of costs (both per-diem and per-admission).

[The coronoid-maxillary space in denture retention]. / Lo spazio coronoido-mascellare nella tenuta protetica.

The coronoid-maxillary space defines the distal maxillary rims, and it is usually tightened during mouth opening. It has been reported that its adequate filling or its overfilling is helpful in prosthesis retention. There are two types of individual anatomical variations, that can affect the size of this space. In fact, the coronoid process can be vertical or lateral. In the first case, the coronoid-maxillary space is reduced in oral opening, therefore the prosthesis edge must be thin. In the latter case, the space increases or does not vary during mouth opening, therefore the prosthesis must be thicker in order to obtain its adequate retention.

[T-Scan. Applied potential. Experimental verification]. / T-Scan. Potenzialità applicative. Verifica sperimentale.

The Authors have tried to underline the characteristics and limits of T-Scan so as to provide an aid for the reliable usage of the instrument and avoid possible erroneous interpretations of the given data.

[A new computerized method for quantitative occlusal analysis]. / Nuova metodica computerizzata per un'analisi occlusale quantitativa.

In this work the authors wanted to stress the importance of the occlusal analysis in the sphere of the dental clinic test considering the different methods. Moreover the characteristics of a new system computed for the remark of the occlusal contacts have been analysed with greater detail, debating advantages, limits and clinics applications.

[TMJ and radiographic methods. Comparative analysis]. / ATM e metodiche radiografiche. Analisi comparativa.

The Authors take into consideration the complex and troublesome subject of instrumental radiological analysis applicable as a diagnostic aid in TMJ pathology. They therefore analyse, starting from their own experiences and after revising the pertaining literature, the pros and cons of the several radiological methodologies, both traditional and recently discovered as CAT and nuclear magnetic resonance. They do not only underline the possibilities and limits of the above mentioned methodologies, but ever define precisely how instrumental diagnostic techniques cannot, individually or variously combined, provide a complete diagnostic and aetiological view of the pathologies of TMJ without clinic information.

[Therapy of multiple myeloma. Study of hospital patients: 81 cases in 16 years' observation]. / La terapia del mieloma multiplo. Studio di una casistica ospedaliera: 81 casi in 16 anni di osservazione.

The results achieved with different approaches of chemotherapy protocols applied to 81 patients affected by multiple mieloma and followed up for a duration of 16 years in the geographical area pertaining to the Saronno County Hospital are presented. All the patients are divided into sub-groups, according to the type of treatment they required while being monitored over the years. Each single sub-group is evaluated according to the following criteria: objective response to therapy; median survival rates; toxic effects due to drug exposure. The results are analyzed with reference to the most relevant literature on the matter. A comprehensive retrospective review of emerging data suggests an overlapping median survival--30 and 31 months--in patients given monochemotherapy as such as in those given polychemotherapy. Evidence is also made for a clearly meaningful increase of survival in treated patients compared with that of untreated ones. Median survival depends significantly on the initial stage of the disease. Both therapeutical effectiveness and toxicity are shown to be higher, in accordance with the current literature, in polychemotherapy which include vincristine--especially when a large tumor cell mass is pointed out--compared with therapy based on alkilating agents and prednisone.