Walsh Therkildsen (swingbus95)

Background Post-stroke depression (PSD) is one of the most common complications after stroke, which seriously affects patients' recovery outcome. Although vascular depression has been extensively studied, the relationship between cerebral artery stenosis and PSD has not been clarified so far. Methods Two hundred ninety-eight patients with ischemic stroke (72 women, 226 men) with computed tomography angiography (CTA) or magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) were included in this study. Cerebral artery stenosis ≥50% was used as the cut-off value. The DSM-V diagnostic criteria of PSD was met and the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) score over 7 at discharge and 3 months after stroke onset was regarded as the primary outcome. The χ2-test, Mann-Whitney U-test, and t-test were used to check for statistical significance. Results At discharge, Barthel index (p less then 0.001), left middle cerebral artery stenosis (p = 0.019), drinking history (p = 0.048), basilar artery stenosis (p = 0.037) were significantly associated with PSD. At 3 months after ischemic stroke onset, Barthel index (p = 0.011), left middle cerebral artery stenosis (p = 0.012), female gender (p = 0.001) were significantly associated with PSD. Conclusions The findings demonstrated that left middle cerebral artery and basilar artery stenosis are associated with PSD. It was suggested that cerebral artery stenosis was a risk factor of PSD and should be recognized and intervened early. Registration Number ChiCTR-ROC-17013993.Background Several scholars hypothesize that one of the most negative impacts of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis would concern the increase of prevalence and severity of both substances and behavioral addiction. Despite the general concerns about the increase of prevalence and severity of addictions related to the COVID-19 emergency, few data are still available. Thus, the main aim of this study was to investigate the association between COVID-19 related distress and (i) alcohol problems, (ii) social media addiction (SMA) symptoms, (iii) food addiction (FA) symptoms. Methods A national online-survey was carried out during the Italian lockdown (i.e., 9 March 2020-4 May 2020). In the current study, 1,519 participants (365 men and 1,154 women, mean age 28.49 ± 10.89 years) were included. The survey included socio-demographic related items (e.g., age, sex, residential regions, education level, civil status, tobacco use, etc.), as well as ad-hoc developed questions aimed to investigate COVID-19 related variables (e.g., isolation/quarantine, personal diagnosis to COVID-19, friends or relatives with COVID-19 diagnosis, etc.). Participants also completed the following self-report measures in order to investigate the psychological impact of COVID-19, alcohol problems, SMA symptoms, FA symptoms, and impulsivity. Results The psychological impact of COVID-19 was independently associated with alcohol problems (β = 0.058, p = 0.043), SMA symptoms (β = 0.259, p less then 0.001), and FA symptoms (β = 0.150, p less then 0.001). Conclusion Taken together, our results seem to confirm the general concerns about the negative impacts of the COVID-19 emergency on addictive behaviors, suggesting that this issue should be carefully monitored.Background Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (TS) is a chronic neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by motor and vocal tics. First-line treatments for tics are antipsychotics and tic-specific behavioral therapies. However, due to a lack of trained therapists and adverse events of antipsychotic medication many patients seek alternative treatment options including cannabis. Based on the favorable results obtained from case studies on different cannabis-based medicines as well as two small randomized controlled trials using delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), we hypothesize that the cannabis extract nabiximols can be regarded as a promising new and safe treatment strategy in TS. Objective To test in a d