42 research outputs found
Banaras jyotirliṅgas: constitution and transformations of a transposed divine group and its pilgrimage
No full textBanaras (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India) is renowned as one of the more notable pilgrimage destinations of India. The ways of approaching and investigating the sacred landscape and the religious practices of this city varied throughout times and are still a matter of discussion among scholars. The author firstly addresses this debate in order to re-conceptualize the need and intents of writing (still) about Banaras and its mainstream religious traditions. The contribution addresses one common pattern of Indian sacred geography, that is the spatial transposition of gods. The article, in fact, goes through the formation path of a transposed group of pan-Indian deities, namely the jyotirliṅgas, in a city which is presented by eulogistic literature as a universal tīrtha, where all sacred centres and gods dwell. Through the analysis of textual and visual material the author shows how these divine forms have been produced in the city’s territory throughout time and projected spatially in the various shrines and, eventually, in a procession. The pilgrimage circuit connected with the twelve local jyotirliṅgas is investigated as a recent and evolving practice of Banaras religious life and its currently deviating path is shown as something to be constantly rephrased and negotiated. Ritual transformations appear as challenged by the need to adapt and survive in a developing urban context, where sacred space is shared, contested and cyclically re-written
Impaired working memory and normal sustained attention in borderline personality disorder
No full textLazzaretti M, Morandotti N, Sala M, Isola M, Frangou S, De Vidovich G, Marraffini E, Gambini F, Barale F, Zappoli F, Caverzasi E, Brambilla P. Impaired working memory and normal sustained attention in borderline personality disorder. Objective: Although reports in the literature describe deficits in working memory in borderline personality disorder (BPD), the evidence is limited and inconsistent. The aim of this study was to evaluate further this cognitive dimension and its clinical correlates in BPD. Method: We compared the performance of 15 BPD patients to 1:1 matched healthy controls on verbal working memory as determined by the sequential letter N-back test and sustained attention as measured using the continuous performance test (CPT). Results: BPD patients performed significantly worse on the N-back test compared to healthy controls (p < 0.05), but not on the CPT. The N-back deficit was more pronounced and significant in the 3-back condition and inversely correlated with impulsivity. Conclusions: These results suggest the presence of working memory deficits in BPD that may be linked to greater impulsivity and sustained by impairment in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
Assessment e interventi terapeutici individualizzati per pazienti con disturbo borderline di personalità: l'esperienza del CIRDIP
No full textDepression after lung transplantation: causes and treatment
No full textDuring the postoperative course of lung transplantation, patients may experience depressive symptoms that negatively influence their ability to cope with the new organ, their adherence to rehabilitation and pharmacologic therapy, and their overall quality of life (QoL). To date, no review has explored the causes
of depression following transplantation or the efficacy and safety of therapeutic interventions in this patient group. We conducted a comprehensive 1966-2006 MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO search for studies of the causes and treatments of depression in
lung transplant recipients. We identified 25 studies of variable methodologic quality. Depression rates are high among candidates for lung transplantation. In the short term, after surgery depressive symptoms remain low with an improvement in QoL, whereas in the long term (>3 years), the decline of functional status is associated with a dramatic increase in such symptomatology.
Personality disorders, coping strategies, stressful life events, physical complications, corticosteroid medications, age, gender, and psychosocial support all play a central role in causing depressive states in lung transplant recipients. Serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and new-generation antidepressants (mirtazapine) represent the best therapeutic choices for this
group of patients. The risk of serious drug-drug interactions should be carefully monitored by experienced clinicians. Complementary therapies and psychoeducational intervention also help recipients to strengthen their coping strategies, offering further advantages after transplantation. Additional well-conducted randomized controlled trials are needed to
clarify the epidemiologic course of depression following
lung transplantation and to tailor effective pharmacologic
or psychological interventions accordingly
Combining clozapine with cariprazine: Two case reports highlighting potential drug-drug interaction
No full textELECTROPHYSIOLOGICAL CHANGES OF CARDIAC FUNCTION DURING ANTIDEPRESSANT TREATMENT
No full textSome antidepressant agents can cause electrophysiological changes of cardiac function leading to ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death. However, antidepressants have also protective effects on the heart through their capacity to modulate cardiac autonomic-mediated physiological responses. Heart rate variability and QTc length are two strictly linked parameters that allow us to appreciate the effects of different drugs on cardiac physiology. Heart rate variability reflects functioning of the autonomic nervous system and possibly also regulation by the limbic system. Autonomic regulation of cardiac activity influences also cardiac repolarization and QT length, both directly and via its effects on heart rate. In this review we present the methodologies adopted to study the effect of antidepressant drugs on QT length and heart rate variability and we summarize data on electrophysiological changes related to antidepressant treatment. Clinical implications for the choice of different antidepressants in different clinical populations are discussed
Cognitive memory control in borderline personality disorder patients
No full textBACKGROUND:
It has been demonstrated that the mechanism of cognitive memory control in humans is sustained by the hippocampus and prefrontal cortices, which have been found to be structurally and functionally abnormal in borderline personality disorder (BPD). We investigated whether the memory control mechanism is affected in BPD.
METHOD:
Nineteen Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-IV BPD patients and 19 matched healthy controls (HC) performed a specific think/no-think paradigm exploring the capacity of remembering and suppressing pair of words previously learned. After the think-no think phase, the second member of each word pair has to be remembered either when subjects are presented with the cue word showed at the beginning of the test (Same Probe Test; SPT) or when they are presented with an extra-list categorical word (Independent Probe Test; IPT). We evaluated the effect of suppression and of retrieval activity on later retention of words.
RESULTS:
Both on the SPT and on the IPT, HC showed the expected improvement of memory retrieval on to-be-remembered words, unlike BPD patients. On the SPT, HC, but not BPD patients, correctly recalled significantly more words among remembered words (RW) than among suppressed words (SW). Similarly to HC, subjects with BPD without a history of childhood abuse showed a significantly higher percentage of correctly recalled words among RW than among SW.
CONCLUSIONS:
The mechanism of active retrieval of memories and of improvement through repetition is impaired in BPD, particularly in those who experienced traumatic experiences. This impairment might play an important role, possibly resulting in the emergence of unwanted memories and dissociative symptoms
Association between low activity allele of cathecolamine-o-methyl-transferase (COMT) and borderline personality disorder in an Italian population
No full textThe objective of the present study was to test the association between Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and the cathecolamine-O-methyl-transferase (COMT) low-activity (Met158) single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). In this case-control study, DNA was obtained from venous blood of 19 BPD patients and 36 healthy subjects. COMT-Val158Met single-nucleotide polymorphism was genotyped by predesigned SNP assay. The COMT Met158 allele was over-represented in patients with BPD in comparison to normal subjects (68.4% vs 44.4%, respectively; Fisher exact test, p =.02). In terms of genotype, the Met158Met subjects were more frequent in patients versus controls (47.4% vs 22.2%, respectively), whereas the high-activity genotype Val158Val was under-represented (10.5% vs 33.3%, respectively). The allele encoding for the COMT with low enzymatic efficiency was found to be over-represented in BPD, possibly resulting in excessive synaptic dopaminergic activity and ultimately affecting externalizing behaviours, such as impulsivity and aggressiveness
