Combination high-dose omega-3 fatty acids and high-dose cholecalciferol in new onset type 1 diabetes: a potential role in preservation of beta-cell mass.

Several studies have evaluated the role of inflammation in type 1 diabetes (T1D). The safety profile and anti-inflammatory properties of high dose omega-3 fatty acids combined with Vitamin D supplementation make this therapy a possible candidate for T1D intervention trials. Herein, we describe the case of a 14-year-old boy with new onset T1D treated with high dose Omega-3 and vitamin D3. By 12 months, peak C-peptide increased to 0.55 nmol/L (1.66 ng/mL) corresponding to a 20% increment from baseline and AUC C-peptide was slightly higher compared to 9 months (0.33 vs. 0.30 nmol/L/min) although remaining slightly lower than baseline. Combination high-dose Omega-3 fatty acids and high-dose vitamin D3 therapy was well tolerated and may have beneficial effects on beta-cell function. Randomized controlled trials could be of assistance to determine whether this therapy may result in the preservation of beta-cell function in patients with new onset T1D.

[Mammography and prevention of breast carcinoma. Epidemiological considerations concerning female population of a Rome district]. / Mammografia e prevenzione del carcinoma della mammella. Considerazioni epidemiologiche sulla popolazione femminile di un quartiere di Roma.

At the present time breast cancer represents the primary reason of death caused by cancer amongst the female population of the western countries. Since the actuation of primary prevention programmes results impossible, the aim that must be considered primary is to attain a diagnosis of such tumour as precociously as possible. This research proposes to value the inclination of the female population of a District in Rome, of different classes of age, to have a mammography test in a state of spontaneous screening, in view of a next institution of a structured program of secondary prevention in the area of reference. The results have been examined with relation to the age limits considered as optimum for a correct application of this diagnostic methodology, in line with technical and epidemiological considerations.

Personality disorders and psychiatric symptoms in psoriasis.

Two groups of psoriatic outpatients (ns = 192 and 119) were given, respectively, the Million Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-II and Foulds' Delusions-Symptoms-States Inventory. They were compared with dental (n = 192) and with general surgical (n = 190) patients. The psoriatic group presented clearly higher mean scores and frequencies on most of the personality disorder scales. On Foulds' inventory, psoriatic patients showed higher frequencies of neurotic and psychotic class allocations. A cluster analysis of personality scores provided evidence for 4 different personality clusters of patients with psoriasis: (a) Avoidant, Dependent, Schizoid, and Self-defeating (32.2%), (b) Compulsive, Narcissistic, and Aggressive (30.7%), (c) no personality disorder (18.2%), (d) Borderline, Paranoid, and Schizotypal, etc. (18.8%).

Perceptual strategies of isolation in obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

Recent findings have shown that the Defense Mechanism Test, a serial tachistoscopic technique developed inside the percept-genetic frame of reference, discriminates neurotics from normals, neurotics from schizophrenic outpatients, and subjects with histrionic personality disorder from controls. The present research addresses another major class of Axis II pathology, comparing on the Defense Mechanism Test a group with a psychometric diagnosis of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (n = 26) with a matched sample of noncompulsive controls. As predicted, several variants of isolation were significantly more characteristic of the compulsive group. Intellectualization, disappearance of the whole structure, whitening of the hero, and lack of recognition of the threat were the variants of isolation with the best discriminative properties. Codings of reaction formation were not linked with compulsive personality, which is congruent with the recent observation of their correspondence to the histrionic personality disorder. The findings are presented in the context of the percept-genetic literature on obsessive-compulsive defensive strategies.

Is alexithymia a non-neurotic personality dimension?

The basic hypothesis of the literature on alexithymia, i.e. that alexithymia has a higher prevalence in psychosomatic than in neurotic (and delusional) patients, was empirically tested by means of the well-validated Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS). Surprisingly, neurotic and delusional patients (N = 71) had significantly higher mean total scores on the TAS, compared with the psychosomatic group (N = 150); the normal control sample (N = 224) was, as predicted, the lowest scorer. This hierarchical distribution was confirmed for the first two factors of alexithymia: (1) difficulty in distinguishing between feelings and bodily sensations, and (2) difficulty in expressing feelings. The psychiatric group was, instead, the lowest scorer on the third factor (lack of fantasy life). A substantial cross-validation of the above findings was achieved by comparing on the TAS three subgroups of the normal sample (symptom-free, somatizing and 'neurotic' normal controls). The postulate of the non-neurotic nature of alexithymia, along with its many psychopathological and technical corollaries, is completely contradicted by the present findings.

The Defense Mechanism Test in nonpsychotic psychiatric outpatients and normal controls.

In the Defense Mechanism Test, stimuli representing a central figure threatened by a peripheral person are presented tachistoscopically, at increasing exposure times. The threat is assumed to trigger defense mechanisms that are expressed by several types of perceptual distortions. Given that to date no experimental study has validated the discriminative power of the Defense Mechanism Test between normal controls and clinical groups, 99 normal controls and 57 nonpsychotic psychiatric outpatients were given the test. Significantly more psychiatric patients than controls were coded for presence of each of the ten main defensive signs of the Defense Mechanism Test (with a peak significance for reaction formation). Ten codings or subcodings of defense which were particularly rare in the control sample were employed to discriminate between groups. This procedure correctly allocated 85.8% of the control subjects and 85.9% of the psychiatric patients. The present findings allow a preliminary distinction between codings of defense with questionable, moderate, or strong clinical significance, in the area of nonpsychotic psychopathology.

Separation-individuation, aggression and alexithymia in psoriasis.

A psychosomatic study of psoriasis was conducted in order to: 1) assess the level of extra- and intra-aggression (cf. the conflicting results in Matussek et al. (1) and Lyketsos et al. (2)); 2) point out the presence of alexithymia, i.e. impoverished fantasy life and inability to describe the emotions (cf. some negative results in Fava et al. (3)); and 3) explore the interactional variables, connected with the pathology of the separation-individuation process.

Genetic control of embryo formation in anther culture of diploid potatoes.

A diploid potato clone AH 78/8015.37a with androgenetic ability was crossed with a root-knot nematode resistant diploid clone 381320.23 which did not have this ability.Among 19 F1 progenies tested a wide range of continuous variability was found for androgenetic capability. Four F1 clones with different level of embryo formation capability were backcrossed to 381320.23 to produce 4 F1BC1 families to further clarify the genetic control of androgenetic capability.From the wide range of continuous variability for androgenetic ability observed, it can be inferred that this character is controlled by more than one major gene.The occurrence of plants with androgenetic ability derived from parents both lacking this character, indicated that the androgenetic ability is controlled by recessive genes or results from complementation of various factors singly present in the parents. The present results demonstrated that the androgenetic ability could be transferred through sexual crosses, making it possible to successfully apply anther culture to other useful genetic material lacking this ability.