University of Chieti-Pescara

Background and Objectives Cannabis use is associated with psychotic disorder onset and exacerbation. This study examines how continued cannabis use affects depressive symptoms, psychotic symptoms, and suicidal behaviors following cannabis‐induced first‐episode psychosis (FEP). Methods Sixty‐five participants (aged 16–50 years) with FEP were recruited from psychiatric inpatient facilities in northern Italy. Participants were categorized into two groups: non‐cannabis users (NCU) and cannabis users (CU), based on substance use during the 9‐month follow‐up. Twenty‐one participants (32.3%) were lost to follow‐up, with a final sample of 44 subjects (NCU = 22, CU = 22). Assessments were conducted at baseline, 3 months, and 9 months using PANSS, CDSS, SSI, and GAF scales). Results CU exhibited persistently higher depression (CDSS) and suicidality (SSI) scores than NCU throughout follow‐up, with significant differences at both 3 months (CDSS: p = .000006; SSI: p < .001) and 9 months (CDSS: p = .0000001; SSI: p < .001). Positive psychotic symptoms improved in both groups, though CU showed slower recovery and higher relapse rates (59.9% vs. 18.8%). PANSS positive subscale scores remained significantly higher in CU at 3 months ( p = .001) and 9 months ( p < .0002). GAF scores improved significantly only in NCU ( p = .024 at 9 months). Discussion and Conclusions Continued cannabis use adversely affects depressive and psychotic symptoms and suicidality in FEP patients, while cannabis cessation is associated with improved clinical outcomes. Scientific Significance This study tracks depressive symptoms, suicidality, and psychotic manifestations in cannabis‐induced FEP, demonstrating that continued use is associated with treatment‐resistant depressive symptoms even when psychotic symptoms improve, highlighting the need for integrated clinical approaches.

High-grade glioma with pleomorphic and pseudopapillary features (HPAP) is a recently identified methylation cluster comprised of relatively circumscribed gliomas enriched for variants in TP53, RB1, NF1, NF2, BRAF and with a more favorable clinical outcome than IDH-wildtype glioblastoma. Here, we present two cases occurring in young adults, one of which occurred in the background of NF2-related schwannomatosis. Both cases demonstrated characteristic histologic features including ependymoma-like areas (Case #1) and an astroblastoma-like phenotype (Case #2), as well as archetypal pseudopapillary structures and pleomorphic tumor cells. High-grade features were present and pathogenic variants in RB1 and TP53 were detected. Cytogenetic analysis revealed aneuploidy involving multiple whole chromosomes, including copy neutral LOH in chromosome 13 (Case #1). Both cases were classified as “no match” using the Heidelberg Brain Tumor Classifier (v12.5 and 12.8). Results from a preliminary classification model (“Bethesda Classifier”) were consistent with HPAP. Confirmatory dimensionality reduction (t-SNE) showed clustering within (Case #2) or near (Case #1) the HPAP group. Patient #1 is currently receiving maintenance temozolomide following concomitant chemo-radiotherapy, 10 months post-surgery. Patient #2, treated with temozolomide, remains disease-free at 42 months. Our study highlights additional clinical and pathologic insights into this proposed tumor type and may suggest an association with NF2-related schwannomatosis and evolution from low-grade precursors. These observations support the consideration of HPAP as a distinct clinicopathological entity.

The present chapter situates within the burgeoning debate about the role of innovation in societal progress, particularly on the intricate and multifaceted relationship between workers and technology led by the digitalization of work. The digital area involves revisiting work and employment with job sectors using technology as the means for work, businesses, and organizations realizing ventures through technology. Moreover, digitalization is not only reimagining how work is performed (e.g., remote work, augmentation, advanced automation, collaborative robotics, machine learning, artificial intelligence, etc.) but also leading to revisiting workers’ relationships with work, organizations, and society. The disparate aspects of the digitalization of work echo the imperative for reflections on its definitions and implications. In parallel with the revisitation of work and employment in the digital era, the chapter revisits the role of human resources management. It proposes a series of reflections on what it means and what it takes to manage digital transformation. It does so by assuming a human-centric perspective that emphasizes the centrality of humans (workers) in digital transformation. Firstly, the chapter argues that the role of human resources in change management is the nexus between workers and organizations. It then discusses the role of leaders in driving this revolution and the role of organizational culture as a means for supporting workplace transformation. It concludes by reflecting on talent acquisition and workers’ training and education as fundamental processes to develop the required skills in the workforce.

If you are interested in this article, click at this eprint link to get one free online copy of our article: https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/WKATZNSIS4K4B49N3VMB/full?target=10.1080/24733938.2025.2501808 The published online article is now available at the following permanent link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/24733938.2025.2501808

North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW), the return flow component of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), is a major inter-hemispheric ocean water mass with strong climate effects but the evolution of its source components on million-year timescales is poorly known. Today, two major NADW components that flow southward over volcanic ridges to the east and west of Iceland are associated with distinct contourite drift systems that are forming off the coast of Greenland and on the eastern flank of the Reykjanes (mid-Atlantic) Ridge. Here we provide direct records of the early history of this drift sedimentation based on cores collected during International Ocean Discovery Programme (IODP) Expeditions 395C and 395. We find rapid acceleration of drift deposition linked to the eastern component of NADW, known as Iceland–Scotland Overflow Water at 3.6 million years ago (Ma). In contrast, the Denmark Strait Overflow Water feeding the western Eirik Drift has been persistent since the Late Miocene. These observations constrain the long-term evolution of the two NADW components, revealing their contrasting independent histories and allowing their links with climatic events such as Northern Hemisphere cooling at 3.6 Ma, to be assessed.

Purpose To explore macular pigment optical density (MPOD) dynamics in stage 2 and stage 3 epiretinal membranes (ERMs) and to evaluate its pre and postoperative modifications. Furthermore, the study assessed the potential of MPOD as a prognostic biomarker in ERM management. Methods A cohort of stage 2 (n=21) and 3 (n=20) ERM patients, matched for age and gender, underwent clinical evaluation at baseline and postoperative follow-up. Correlations between MPOD and optical coherence tomography parameters were analysed within each group. Results Postoperative MPOD levels significantly differed between stage 2 and 3 ERM patients (p=0.027). Changes in MPOD over time (ΔMPOD) were significantly greater in stage 3 compared with stage 2 participants (p=0.018). In stage 2, ΔMPOD correlated with changes in best-corrected visual acuity (ΔBCVA) (r=0.398, p=0.074) and demonstrated a strong correlation with changes in outer nuclear layer thickness (r=0.672, p<0.001). In stage 3, ΔMPOD exhibited a significant negative correlation with changes in central foveal thickness (r=−0.547, p=0.013) and a positive correlation with ΔBCVA (r=0.510, p=0.022). Conclusions MPOD exhibited stage-specific dynamics and significant postoperative changes. Correlation between ΔMPOD and ΔBCVA in both stages highlights its potential role as a prognostic functional biomarker.

Chronic migraine (CM) affects approximately 2% of the general population and is defined by the persistence of migraine symptoms for at least 15 days per month for at least 3 months. CM is often refractory to common drug treatments and is associated with a significant burden in functions of daily life during ictal phases, productivity loss, and direct costs. Modulation of pain is considered pivotal to reduce its impact and to improve the quality of life among patients with CM. In recent years, neuromodulation in CM has received growing attention; however, there remains no consensus regarding the effectiveness and safety of these procedures. Previous invasive methods such as occipital nerve neurolysis and interruption of the trigeminal dorsal root are not indicated due to high rates of relapsing pain and frequent procedural complications. Although emerging neuromodulation methods, both noninvasive, such as vagus nerve stimulation (VNS), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), remote electrical neuromodulation (REM), and invasive, such as deep brain stimulation (DBS), occipital nerve stimulation (ONS), and high-frequency 10-Hz spinal cord stimulation (HF-10 SNS) have demonstrated promising outcomes in early clinical trials, their use has yet to be integrated into routine clinical practice. In this review, study evidence and strength of recommendations are assessed by the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system. Other conditions such as therapeutic risk/benefit, direct and indirect costs, use of resources, and patient/clinician preferences are also evaluated.

Using EEG-hyperscanning, neuroscientists showed that non-verbal joint actions are associated with different patterns of interpersonal neural coupling (INC), influenced by factors such as the type of joint action investigated, the experimental task used, and the analytical approach employed. The present systematic scoping review aims to identify the categories of non-verbal joint actions investigated so far, the experimental tasks and INC measures used, and the related main findings to provide a comprehensive overview of the field. Thirty-nintharticles were included in this review. Most studies investigated cooperative and simultaneous joint actions performed with either similar or complementary actions, whereas competitive and turn-based joint actions are under-investigated. Tasks involve interactions mainly based on movement, music, or computer, with movement-based tasks being most relevant to social neuroscience. Several INC approaches were used, with graph theory and phase synchrony being the commonly used. The main findings are organized and discussed according to the analytical approaches used and, for each approach, into groups of joint action categories and tasks. By providing a structured classification of joint action types and highlighting the relationship between tasks and INC methods, this review offers a reference for designing future studies and refining methodological approaches in EEG-hyperscanning research on social interaction.

Purpose Technological evolution is radically changing medical learning models. We evaluated the learning outcomes of urological concepts using ChatGPT, traditional lecture and combined approach. Methods We conducted a randomized triple-blind study on 121 medical students with no previous formal curriculum in urology. Students were randomly divided into three study classes with different learning methods: ChatGPT, Lecture and ChatGPT + Lecture. The “adrenal glands” were randomly extracted as the subject of the lessons. Students were evaluated using a thirty-question test. Results The evaluation test median score was higher for students who underwent ChatGPT + Lecture compared with those who had only ChatGPT (10 vs. 12, p = 0.007). Such differences remained statistically significant also in multivariable models adjusting according to year of course, gender and previous ChatGPT experience (estimate: 2.6, p-value = 0.002). For most of the questions (about 70%), the proportion of students correctly answering was higher in the ChatGPT + Lecture learning groups than in the other groups. Conclusion ChatGPT loses its potential if used without a previous background. The limits of scientific reliability persist and a teacher-guided method is still essential. ChatGPT + traditional lecture gives more effective results than the single traditional lecture also allowing a better use of the chatbot.

Clinical research emphasizes the implementation of rigorous and reproducible study designs that rely on between-group matching or controlling for sources of biological variation such as subject’s sex and age. However, corrections for body size (i.e., height and weight) are mostly lacking in clinical neuroimaging designs. This study investigates the importance of body size parameters in their relationship with spinal cord (SC) and brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) metrics. Data were derived from a cosmopolitan population of 267 healthy human adults (age 30.1 ± 6.6 years old, 125 females). We show that body height correlates with brain gray matter (GM) volume, cortical GM volume, total cerebellar volume, brainstem volume, and cross-sectional area (CSA) of cervical SC white matter (CSA-WM; 0.44 ≤ r ≤ 0.62). Intracranial volume (ICV) correlates with body height (r = 0.46) and the brain volumes and CSA-WM (0.37 ≤ r ≤ 0.77). In comparison, age correlates with cortical GM volume, precentral GM volume, and cortical thickness (-0.21 ≥ r ≥ -0.27). Body weight correlates with magnetization transfer ratio in the SC WM, dorsal columns, and lateral corticospinal tracts (-0.20 ≥ r ≥ -0.23). Body weight further correlates with the mean diffusivity derived from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in SC WM (r = -0.20) and dorsal columns (-0.21), but only in males. CSA-WM correlates with brain volumes (0.39 ≤ r ≤ 0.64), and with precentral gyrus thickness and DTI-based fractional anisotropy in SC dorsal columns and SC lateral corticospinal tracts (-0.22 ≥ r ≥ -0.25). Linear mixture of age, sex, or sex and age, explained 2 ± 2%, 24 ± 10%, or 26 ± 10%, of data variance in brain volumetry and SC CSA. The amount of explained variance increased to 33 ± 11%, 41 ± 17%, or 46 ± 17%, when body height, ICV, or body height and ICV were added into the mixture model. In females, the explained variances halved suggesting another unidentified biological factor(s) determining females’ central nervous system (CNS) morphology. In conclusion, body size and ICV are significant biological variables. Along with sex and age, body size should therefore be included as a mandatory variable in the design of clinical neuroimaging studies examining SC and brain structure; and body size and ICV should be considered as covariates in statistical analyses. Normalization of different brain regions with ICV diminishes their correlations with body size, but simultaneously amplifies ICV-related variance (r = 0.72 ± 0.07) and suppresses volume variance of the different brain regions (r = 0.12 ± 0.19) in the normalized measurements.

Aims Four-dimensional flow cardiovascular MRI (4D flow CMR) has emerged as a promising technique for assessing aortic stenosis (AS). This study aimed to evaluate the agreement between 4D flow CMR and transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in estimating peak aortic valve (AV) velocities (V Peak ), grading AS severity and predicting AV intervention in a real-world setting. Methods Participants from the PREFER-CMR registry who had consecutive TTE and 4D flow CMR were included. AS severity was graded using established protocols using three echocardiographic parameters (V Peak , AV area and mean pressure gradient) and CMR-derived V Peak . Results The study recruited 30 patients (mean age 75.4 years, 67% male), with 17 undergoing AV intervention. Continuous wave Doppler (CWD) V Peak (3.4 vs 2.6 m/s, p=0.0025) and 4D flow V Peak (4.2 vs 2.7 m/s, p<0.0001) were significantly higher in patients going for AV intervention. V Peak by CWD was significantly lower to 4D flow with a bias of −0.5 (p=0.01) and a correlation of (R=0.55, p=0.002). The Cox-regression analysis reveals that 4D flow V Peak significantly predicts AV intervention (HR=2.51, p<0.01), while CWD V Peak (HR=0.54, p=0.76) shows no significant association; overall model fit is significant (χ²=9.5, p=0.02). Conclusion 4D flow CMR-derived V Peak assessment is superior to echocardiographic CWD assessment for predicting timing of AV intervention. Trial registration number NCT05114785 .

Task‐based diversity among corporate board members, based on specific functional attributes and experiences (age, tenure, and experience) can impact the firm according to both resource‐based view and agency theory. Following this, we explore the relationship between task‐based board diversity and corporate firm performance, analyzing a sample of 73 nonfinancial European sustainable firms over the period 2016–2020. Our findings reveal that the task‐based board diversity has a negative impact on firm performance. Furthermore, results show that corporate sustainability practices mediate the relationship between task‐based board diversity and firm performance. This counterintuitive effect may arise because diverse functional attributes can lead to frictions or misalignments in board decisions, especially when integrating sustainability practices, which complicates the strategy consensus needed for effective governance. These findings provide a nuanced understanding of the relationship between task‐based board diversity, corporate performance, and sustainability practices. Also, it highlights the inherent complexity and potential tensions in balancing these critical factors.

Monitoring physiological parameters such as respiratory rate (f $_{R}$ ) is essential for diagnosing and managing various pathological conditions. Thermal imaging offers a promising contactless alternative to traditional methods, which often rely on partially invasive sensors or obtrusive wearable systems. However, existing approaches for f $_{R}$ estimation from thermal signals typically require extensive pre-processing and manual or semi-automatic region-of-interest (ROI) tracking, limiting their practical applicability. This study proposes a deep learning-based method for estimating f $_{R}$ directly from thermal videos, eliminating the need for complex pre-processing and ROI tracking. A 3D Convolutional Neural Network (3D-CNN) is developed to operate on raw thermal video data. To address challenges related to small datasets, the model is trained using data augmentation and transfer learning from synthetic datasets. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves a validation $R^{2}$ score of approximately 0.61 on both pre-processed and raw thermal videos. By simplifying the workflow, this method holds promise for enhancing the feasibility of thermal imaging in real-world applications, such as remote healthcare and driver monitoring in automotive applications.

The present study examines the role of cultural factors in the perceptions of victims of sextortion (the abuse of power to obtain sexual benefits) by comparing participants from a culture of honor (Italy) and a culture of dignity (the U.K.) and by measuring individual-level honor endorsement. A sample of 452 participants were asked to read a fictitious scenario describing a woman target of sextortion. The research employed a 2 × 2 between-participants design: The victim was described either as caving into sextortion for familial reasons (i.e., for her sick child) versus for personal reasons and as exhibiting high versus low levels of sexual modesty. The results revealed that overall Italian participants felt stronger moral outrage towards the victim, perceived her as less moral, and attributed more blame to her than did British participants. Additionally, when the victim was described as caving into sextortion for personal reasons, both groups rated her as less moral compared to when she was described as doing so for familial reasons. Furthermore, participants found the victim marginally more blameworthy when she was described as adhering closely to feminine honor values. An exploratory moderation analysis indicated that stronger endorsement of feminine and family honor values was associated with increased blame towards the victim; these associations were more pronounced in the Italian than in the British sample. These findings underscore the potential role of cultural factors in the perception of sextortion victims and highlight the importance of developing culturally tailored awareness strategies to address victim blaming, especially in honor-oriented societies.

Objective To investigate the role of intrauterine transfusion (IUT) in affecting the outcome of the surviving twin showing sign of fetal anemia after a single intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) in monochorionic (MC) twin pregnancies. Methods PubMed, Medline and Embase databases were searched (2010–2024). The inclusion criteria were studies reporting the outcome of fetuses showing signs of fetal anemia, defined as the presence of the peak systolic velocity (PSV) of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) >1.5 MoM, after single IUFD receiving compared to those not receiving IUT. The outcomes observed were preterm birth (PTB) <34 and 28 weeks of gestation, either iatrogenic or spontaneous, co-twin intra-IUFD, co-twin neonatal death (NND), anomalies at pre- or post-natal brain imaging, abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome. Risk of bias of the included studies was assessed using the Risk Of Bias In Non-randomized Studies of Interventions (ROBINS-I) tool. The GRADE methodology was used to assess the quality of the body of retrieved evidence. Random effect meta-analyses of proportions were used to analyze the data. Results Six studies (78 twin pregnancies complicated by single IUFD showing signs of fetal anemia) were included in the systematic review. Assessment of risk of bias of observational studies according to the ROBINS-I tool is presented. Only one study reported a non-matched comparison between anemic fetuses undergoing compared to those not undergoing IUT, so we could not calculate the summary odd ratios, and we reported the results as pooled proportions. PTB occurred in 51.25% (95% CI 35.76–66.62) of cases < 34 weeks and in 17.99% (95% CI 5.84–34.91) < 28 weeks of gestation. Co-twin IUFD and NND were reported in 8.02% (95% CI 2.30–16.78) and 15.49% (95% CI 7.89–25.05), while abnormal findings at pre-or post-natal brain imaging in 20.30% (95% CI 11.61–30.69). Abnormal neurodevelopmental outcome was reported in 5.93% (95% CI 2.50–18.30). Conclusion There is a very low grade of evidence that IUT can affect the outcome of anemic fetuses after single IUFD in MC pregnancies. The findings how this systematic review, in view of the limitations of the included studies, highlighted the need for large multicenter studies sharing objective protocols of prenatal management and post-natal assessment of pregnancies complicated by single IUFD are needed to report whether IUT in the anemic fetus after single IUFD can prevent mortality and neuromorbidity.