Context:It is unclear whether patients with asymptomatic primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) do better with parathyroidectomy (PTx) as compared with conservative medical management. Objective:The aim of the study was to evaluate the beneficial effect of PTx vs. conservative management in patients with mild asymptomatic PHPT. Design:We conducted a prospective, randomized study. Setting:The study took place at a referral center. Patients:We studied 50 patients who did not meet any guidelines for parathyroid surgery as recommended by the National Institutes of Health Consensus Development Conference on Asymptomatic PHPT.Intervention: Patients were randomly assigned to PTx or no PTx and were evaluated at 6 months and at 1 yr. Main Outcome Measures:We compared changes (percentage of basal) of lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) between the two groups at 1 yr. Results:The change in BMD at lumbar spine was greater after PTx (ϩ4.16 Ϯ 1.13 for PTx vs. Ϫ1.12 Ϯ 0.71 for no PTx; P ϭ 0.0002). The change in BMD at the total hip was also significantly greater in the PTx group (ϩ2.61 Ϯ 0.71 for PTx vs. Ϫ1.88 Ϯ 0.60 for no PTx; P ϭ 0.0001). There was no difference in BMD after 1 yr between both groups at the one-third radius site. In comparison with those who did not undergo surgery, the PTx subjects, after 1 yr, showed significant differences in four quality of life measures as determined by the 36-item short form health survey scale: bodily pain (P ϭ 0.001), general health (P ϭ 0.008), vitality (P ϭ 0.003), and mental health (P ϭ 0.017). Conclusions:In patients with mild asymptomatic PHPT, successful PTx is followed by an improvement in BMD and quality of life.

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The aims of this study were to identify the frequency of the risk factors for postpartum depression (PPD) listed in the Postpartum Depression Predictors Inventory-Revised (PDPI-R) during pregnancy and 1 month after delivery and to determine the predictive validity of the PDPI-R. The study used a prospective cohort design. Women completed the PDPI-R at the 3rd and the 8th months of pregnancy and at the 1st month after childbirth. Women were prospectively followed across three different time points during the postpartum using Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders to determine the presence of major or minor depression. The prenatal version of the PDPI-R administered at two different time points during pregnancy predicted accurately 72.6% and 78.2% of PPD and the full version administered at the 1st month after delivery predicted 83.4% of PPD. The cutoffs identified were 3.5 for the prenatal version and 5.5 for the full version. The PDPI-R is a useful and a valid screening tool for PPD.

The aim of this study was to assess suicidality in a non-clinical sample during the perinatal period and to report suicidality rates in women with major or minor depressive episode (MmD), assessed with the SCID, during the perinatal period. Women (1,066) were recruited at the third month of pregnancy and followed until the 12th month postpartum (N = 500). Suicidality was assessed with the MOODS-SR and with item 10 of the EPDS at different time-points during the perinatal period. The period prevalence of suicidality was 6.9% (95% CI: 6.0-7.8) during pregnancy and 4.3% (95% CI: 3.4-5.2) during postpartum, assessed with the MOODS-SR, and was 12.0% (95% CI: 10.8-13.2) during pregnancy and 8.6% (95% CI: 7.4-9.8) during the postpartum period, assessed with the EPDS. The prevalence of suicidality in women who had MmD during pregnancy was 26.4% and 34.1%, assessed with the MOODS-SR and the EPDS, respectively, while it was 18.4% (MOODS-SR) and 30.6% (EPDS) during the postpartum period. Clinicians should assess suicidality in women presenting with MmD during the whole perinatal period. Furthermore, suicidality should be assessed in women with a previous history of psychiatric disorder that reported a lifetime suicidal ideation.

Background-The observation that bipolar disorders frequently go unrecognized has prompted the development of screening instruments designed to improve the identification of bipolarity in clinical and non-clinical samples. Starting from a lifetime approach, researchers of the Spectrum Project developed the Mood Spectrum Self-Report (MOODS-SR) that assesses threshold-level manifestations of unipolar and bipolar mood psychopathology, but also atypical symptoms, behavioral traits and temperamental features. The aim of the present study is to examine the structure of mania/hypomania using 68 items of the MOODS-SR that explore cognitive, mood and energy/activity features associated with mania/hypomania.Methods-A data pool of 617 patients with bipolar disorders, recruited at Pittsburgh and Pisa, Italy was used for this purpose. Classical exploratory factor analysis, based on a tetrachoric matrix, was carried out on the 68 items, followed by an Item Response Theory (IRT)-based factor analytic approach.Results-Nine factors were initially identified, that include Psychomotor Activation, Creativity, Mixed Instability, Sociability/Extraversion, Spirituality/Mysticism/Psychoticism, Mixed Irritability, Inflated Self-esteem, Euphoria, Wastefulness/Recklessness, and account overall for 56.4% of the variance of items. In a subsequent IRT-based bi-factor analysis, only five of them (Psychomotor Activation, Mixed Instability, Spirituality/Mysticism/Psychoticism, Mixed Irritability, Euphoria) were retained.Conclusions-Our data confirm the central role of Psychomotor Activation in mania/ hypomania and support the definitions of pure manic (Psychomotor Activation and Euphoria) and mixed manic (Mixed Instability and Mixed Irritability) components, bearing the opportunity to identify patients with specific profiles for a better clinical and neurobiological definition.

Emotions are a complex phenomenon that entails a tricky problem regarding the measurement. To partially overcome this question, we assess emotions both using self‐report and measures commonly used in neuromarketing. This study assesses the accuracy of the recall after 4 months regarding two social advertising videos about female genital mutilation. Forty female participants were recruited. The skin conductance trend of the participants is different when viewing the two videos. The majority of participants (94.9%) reported that the two videos elicited different emotions (sadness for the first video and anger for the second one). Furthermore, according to arousal and valence model, these data are consistent with the literature that underlines the importance of psychophysiological indexes in measuring emotions and their associations with memory performances.

Objective The aim of the present study is evaluate the effectiveness of an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)based training protocol, in adjunct to token economy and previous parent training, in a sample of children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). By promoting the reduction of immediate responses to thoughts and feelings, we aimed to reduce the impulsive behaviour of children and to improve their self-regulation. Methods The protocol was centred on awareness of the present moment, defusion and acceptance of feelings and emotions. Behavioural (Conners' Parent Rating Scale-Revised: Long version, CPRS-R:L) and severity measures (Clinical Global Impression-Severity, CGI-S) were assessed before and after treatment in a clinical sample of 31 children aged 8-13 years. Results At the end of the ACT protocol, children showed significant improvement in global functioning and behavioural symptoms. There were significant improvements in the CPRS subscales Cognitive Problems (p = 0.005), Hyperactivity (p = 0.006), Perfectionism (p = 0.017), ADHD Index (p = 0.023), Global Index: Restless-Impulsive (p = 0.023), Global Index: Total (p = 0.036), DSM IV Inattentive (p = 0.029), DSM IV Hyperactive-Impulsive (p = 0.016), and DSM IV Total (p = 0.003). When controlling for the confounding effect of pharmacological therapy, comorbidities and socioeconomic status, treatment maintained a significant effect on the CPRS subscales Perfectionism (partial η 2 = 0.31, p < 0.01), Global Index: Restless-Impulsive (partial η 2 = 0.29, p < 0.01), Global Index: Total (partial η 2 = 0.31, p < 0.01), DSM IV Hyperactive-Impulsive (partial η 2 = 0.20, p = 0.02). Symptom severity as rated by CGI-S scores decreased in 74.2% of the children. Conclusions This preliminary work on an Acceptance and Commitment Therapy-based child training in children affected by ADHD resulted in significant improvements, measured by a rating scale specific for ADHD. Keywords ADHD • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy • Rehabilitation • Conners parent rating scale • Child training Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is a neurobehavioral disorder common in childhood, with symptoms including troubles in paying and maintaining attention, hyperactivity and impulsive behaviour. The