Manifestazioni Cranio-facciali delle Neurofibromatosi

The term neurofibromatosis (NF) subsumes at least seven different genetic disorders associated by the presence of neurofibromas located in the skin, oral cavity, visceral and skeletal level. As NF1 (Von Recklinghausen disease), one of the most common genetic diseases, can have oral manifestations, dentists have to be aware about pathognomonic features. The thesis’ target is the literature’s review on the NF1 manifestations either systemic or cefalic area and these features’ research in a specimen of 30 patients NF1 affected. NF1 is manifested in the cefalic area locating either in the jaws (isolated neurofibromas, ipoplasia or bone structures absence) or soft tissues (fibromas and neurofibromas located in: cheeck, lips, oral mucosa, tongue, mouth’s floor, gingiva and palate). Frequently, NF1 patients are affected by dental anomalies of position, number and eruption, that determinates the possibility of orthopaedic-orthodontic problems. An increased prevalence of the caries risk and a possible pulpar involvement of neurofibromas is reported. Clinical and radiographical typical signs of the disease and specific indications for the differential diagnosis with other oral pathologies are described (cysts and odontogenic tumors, periapical lesions of endodontic origin and severe parodontitis). The importance of screening programs and periodical follow-ups (biannual dental visits from the age of four years, annual X-ray checks from the age of six) is supported by the high frequency of manifestations at hard and soft tissues level of the cefalic area and by the documented risk of malignant transformation.

Stato sanitario di Spigole (Dicentrarchus Labrax) ed Orate (Sparus Aurata) allevate in Grecia e in Italia in relazione alla presenza di agenti di Zoonosi ed Ectoparassiti patogeni

Le attività di ricerca della presente tesi di dottorato si sono focalizzata principalmente sulla parassitofauna dei pesci marini allevati in Grecia ed in Italia con particolare attenzione allo studio degli ectoparassiti di maggior rilievo sanitario in maricoltura ed alla ricerca di endoparassiti di potenziale interesse zoonosico, in particolare larve di nematodi Anisakidae del genere Anisakis. Nel corso del triennio sono stati sottoposti ad esami parassitologici 916 spigole (Dicentrarchus labrax) e 462 orate (Sparus aurata) prelevate presso diverse tipologie di allevamenti greci ed italiani. Per quanto concerne le spigole, la presenza di ectoparassiti è stata riscontrata nel 29,2% e nel 61,9% dei soggetti provenienti rispettivamente da impianti siti in Grecia ed in Italia, mentre le orate hanno presentato percentuali di positività rispettivamente del 87,5% e del 26,7%. Gli ectoparassiti dominanti sono risultati essere il monogeneo Diplectanum aequans nelle spigole ed il ciliato Cryptocaryon irritans e il monogeneo Furnestinia echeneis nelle orate, sebbene sia stato possibile studiare anche il coinvolgimento di altri ectoparassiti, quali il monogeneo Sparicotyle chrysophrii ed il dinoflagellato Amyloodinium ocellatum, nel determinismo di alcuni episodi morbosi. Le osservazioni istopatologiche hanno permesso di caratterizzare le lesioni causate dagli ectoparassiti a diverse intensità d’infestazione. Per quanto concerne la ricerca di parassiti zoonosici, con particolare riferimento agli stadi larvali di nematodi Anisakidae del genere Anisakis, si sono condotti esami parassitologici a livello di cavità viscerale e di muscolo laterale in tutti i soggetti provenienti da allevamenti in gabbia (626 soggetti, di cui 441 spigole e 185 orate). Tutti i soggetti esaminati sono risultati negativi, indicando come il rischio di infestazione da larve di nematodi anisakidi possa essere considerato trascurabile in spigole ed orate allevate in gabbia, come già dimostrato per il salmone atlantico (EFSA, 2010).

Functional and neural mechanisms of intertemporal choice

People are daily faced with intertemporal choice, i.e., choices differing in the timing of their consequences, frequently preferring smaller-sooner rewards over larger-delayed ones, reflecting temporal discounting of the value of future outcomes. This dissertation addresses two main goals. New evidence about the neural bases of intertemporal choice is provided. Following the disruption of either the medial orbitofrontal cortex or the insula, the willingness to wait for larger-delayed outcomes is affected in odd directions, suggesting the causal involvement of these areas in regulating the value computation of rewards available with different timings. These findings were also supported by a reported imaging study. Moreover, this dissertation provides new evidence about how temporal discounting can be modulated at a behavioral level through different manipulations, e.g., allowing individuals to think about the distant time, pairing rewards with aversive events, or changing their perceived spatial position. A relationship between intertemporal choice, moral judgements and aging is also discussed. All these findings link together to support a unitary neural model of temporal discounting according to which signals coming from several cortical (i.e., medial orbitofrontal cortex, insula) and subcortical regions (i.e., amygdala, ventral striatum) are integrated to represent the subjective value of both earlier and later rewards, under the top-down regulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The present findings also support the idea that the process of outcome evaluation is strictly related to the ability to pre-experience and envision future events through self-projection, the anticipation of visceral feelings associated with receiving rewards, and the psychological distance from rewards. Furthermore, taking into account the emotions and the state of arousal at the time of decision seems necessary to understand impulsivity associated with preferring smaller-sooner goods in place of larger-later goods.

Deficit in the Emotional Embodiment in Alexithymia

Alexithymia refers to difficulties in recognizing one’s own emotions and others emotions. Theories of emotional embodiment suggest that, in order to understand other peoples’ feelings, observers re-experience, or simulate, the relevant component (i.e. somatic, motor, visceral) of emotion’s expressed by others in one’s self. In this way, the emotions are “embodied”. Critically, to date, there are no studies investigating the ability of alexithymic individuals in embodying the emotions conveyed by faces. In the present dissertation different implicit paradigms and techniques falling within the field of affective neuroscience have been employed in order to test a possible deficit in the embodiment of emotions in alexithymia while subjects were requested to observe faces manifesting different expression: fear, disgust, happiness and neutral. The level of the perceptual encoding of emotional faces and the embodiment of emotions in the somato-sensory and sensory-motor system have been investigated. Moreover, non-communicative motor reaction to emotional stimuli (i.e. visceral reactions) and interoceptive abilities of alexithymic subjects have been explored. The present dissertation provided convergent evidences in support of a deficit in the processing of fearful expression in subjects with high alexithymic personality traits. Indeed, the pattern of fear induced changes in the perceptual encoding, in the somato-sensory and in the somato-motor system (both the communicative and non communicative one) is widely and consistently altered in alexithymia. This support the hypothesis of a diminished responses to fearful stimuli in alexithymia. In addition, the overall results on happiness and disgust, although preliminary, provided interesting results. Indeed, the results on happiness revealed a defective perceptual encoding, coupled with a slight difficulty (i.e. delayed responses) at the level of the communicative somato-motor system, and the emotion of disgust has been found to be abnormally embodied at the level of the somato-sensory system.

Presenza e diffusione della Leishmaniosi e dei suoi vettori in provincia di Rieti

Nel presente studio ci si è proposti di valutare la presenza e diffusione della leishmaniosi in una provincia dell’Italia centrale (Rieti) che, per caratteristiche ambientali (prevalentemente montuosa, clima freddo-secco) poco sembra prestarsi al ciclo della malattia. A questo scopo sono stati calcolati: i) sieroprevalenza grezza nella popolazione canina (2006-2013) e prevalenza media annuale ii) casi di leishmaniosi viscerale (LV) e cutanea (LC) (2000-2013). Catture di flebotomi sono state effettuate per due stagioni consecutive (2011-2012) per ogni sito sono stati registrati i dati climatici (temperatura, umidità etc.) ed altitudine. I flebotomi sono stati sottoposti a ricerca di Leishmania mediante PCR. La sieroprevalenza grezza per leishmania varia da 0 a 76,9% e la prevalenza media annuale non presenta un trend lineare. Sono stati registrati 6 casi di LV tutti in pazienti italiani tutti residenti in provincia di Rieti. I flebotomi sono stati rilevati in 5 dei 6 siti monitorati fino agli 800 m s.l.m., seppur con basse densità. Sono state identificate le seguenti specie: P. perniciosus (6,4 %), P. perfiliewi (1,8%), P. mascittii (0,1%) e S. minuta (91,7 %). E’ stata rilevata una correlazione statisticamente significativa (r=0,69, p<0,001) tra numero di flebotomi e temperatura giornaliera (Tmed°C) ed una correlazione negativa significativa (r= -0,51, p<0,05) con l’umidità relativa (Umed%). La ricerca di leishmania ha dato esito negativo in tutti i flebotomi analizzati. Questi rilievi suggeriscono l’endemia della leishmaniosi nella provincia di Rieti.