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Introduction: This study explored the possible mediating role of emotion dysregulation in the association between perfectionism and eating psychopathology symptoms. Method: One hundred forty‐two outpatients with eating disorders (EDs) were enrolled. Perfectionism, emotion dysregulation, ED psychopathology, anxious and depressive symptoms were assessed. Correlation, mediation and 95% bias corrected and accelerated (BCa CI) bootstrapped analyses were run. Results: Emotion dysregulation was found to mediate the association between concern over mistakes perfectionism and restraint (indirect effect: 0.093, BCa CI: 0.001–0.02, adjusted R2 = 0.3324, p < 0.001), shape concern (indirect effect: 0.0130, BCa CI: 0.004–0.03, adjusted R2 = p < 0.001) and weight concern (indirect effect: 0.0142, BCa CI: 0.004–0.03, adjusted R2 = 0.2986, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Among ED outpatients, emotion dysregulation may be involved in the association between concern over mistakes perfectionism and persistence of eating psychopathology symptoms. Emotion dysregulation could be considered as possible therapeutic target to reduce the persistence, and severity, of eating psychopathology symptoms among ED patients with concern over mistakes perfectionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Literature suggested that metacognitions are involved in eating problems and may be relevant to the understanding of Binge Eating Disorder (BED). The goal of the current studies was to develop the first self‐report instrument on metacognitions about binge eating. In Study 1, a community sample completed the Metacognitions about Binge Eating Questionnaire (MBEQ); an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was performed. In study 2, a community sample completed the MBEQ and measures assessing severity of binge eating, irrational food beliefs, anxiety, depression, impulsiveness. A Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was performed. Concurrent and incremental validity were assessed. In study 3, a clinical sample of participants with a diagnosis of BED completed the MBEQ and other measures. Bivariate correlational analysis and hierarchical linear regression were performed. Participants from the general population and participants with a diagnosis of BED were compared. EFA and CFA supported a two‐factor solution consisting of positive and negative metacognitions about binge eating. Concurrent and incremental validity were acceptable. The metacognitions factors correlated positively with anxiety, depression, irrational food beliefs, impulsiveness in the community sample, and anxiety, irrational food beliefs, impulsiveness in clinical sample. The metacognitions factors contributed to the prediction of BEDs symptoms, in community and clinical samples, over and above age, gender, impulsiveness, anxiety, depression, irrational food beliefs. The MBEQ possesses good psychometric properties and appears a reliable and valid measure of positive and negative metacognitions about binge eating. Metacognitions about binge eating could be a therapeutic target to reduce the severity of binge eating episodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlabelled: OBJECTIVES; To define the expression of "athlete's heart" in women by determining the alterations in cardiac dimensions associated with long-term intense conditioning in elite female athletes. DESIGN; Prospective cardiovascular assessment conducted from 1986 through 1993. Subjects were evaluated using 2-dimensional, M-mode, and Doppler echo-cardiographic studies.Setting: Institute of Sports Science, Italian National Olympic Committee, Rome, Italy.Participants: A total of 600 elite female athletes (mean age, 21 years; range, 12-49 years) who had participated in vigorous training (mean duration, 9 years; range, 2-32 years) and had competed in 27 sports, including 211 athletes at the international level and 389 at the national level. A control group consisted of 65 sedentary volunteer women (mean age, 23.7 years; range, 14-41 years) who were free of cardiovascular disease and who did not participate in regular athletic training.Main Outcome Measures: Left ventricular end-diastolic cavity dimension and wall thickness.Results: Athletes demonstrated larger left ventricular end-diastolic cavity dimension (mean +/- SD) (49 +/- 4 mm) and greater maximal wall thickness (8.2 +/- 0.9 mm) than controls (46 +/- 3 mm and 7.2 +/- 0.6 mm; P < .001). These dimensions were 6% and 14% larger in athletes. Among athletes, left ventricular cavity dimension was 40 mm to 66 mm, exceeded normal limits ( > 54 mm) in 47 women (8%), and was within the range consistent with primary dilated cardiomyopathy ( > or = 60 mm) in 4 athletes (1%). Training for endurance sports, such as cycling, cross-country skiing, and rowing had the greatest effect on cavity dimension. Left ventricular wall thickness was 6 mm to 12 mm in athletes and did not exceed normal limits or extend into the borderline gray zone with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in any subject. Compared with data from 738 previously studied male athletes, female athletes showed significantly smaller left ventricular cavity dimension (11% less; P < .001) and wall thickness (23% less; P < .001).Conclusions: Highly trained women athletes frequently demonstrate cardiac dimensional changes as an adaptation to physical training, although absolute left ventricular cavity size exceeding normal limits was evident in a minority (8%) of women athletes and was rarely (1% of athletes) within the range of dilated cardiomyopathy. Athletic training was not a stimulus for substantial increases in absolute left ventricular wall thickness, which was within normal limits for all women athletes. These findings suggest that the clinical differentiation of athlete's heart and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy appears to be a diagnostic dilemma that is limited to male athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Femoral artery pseudoaneurysm (FAP) is one of the most common vascular complications after cardiac and peripheral angiographic procedures. Ultrasound-guided thrombin injection is the standard procedure for the treatment of FAP. Complications such as thrombotic events with leg ischemia after thrombin leakage into the femoral artery or immunogenic consequences are rare. Our experience indicates the need for caution when treating FAP, as severe complications can occur after thrombin injection in a femoral pseudoaneurysm, leading to a fatal event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thiocolchicoside, a muscle relaxant agent with anti-inflammatory and analgesic actions, also is used topically for the treatment of muscular spasms and for rheumatologic, orthopedic, and traumatologic disorders. In this study, thiocolchicoside was formulated to use as foam to avoid contact with the afflicted area during the spreading phase. To enhance drug penetration, various enhancers were added to the base formulation. The tested enhancers were ethoxyethylendiglycol (Transcutol[sup ®]), highly purified phosphatidylcholine (Lipoid S20), capsaicin, propylene glycol dipelargonate (DPPG), and glycolysed ethoxylated glycerides (Labrafil M1944 CS). The transdermal absorption of the tested formulations containing enhancers, in comparison with base formulation, was evaluated in vitro through rat skin using standard Franz diffusion cells. Base formulation was found to have a higher permeation profile than the simple aqueous and hydroalcoholic solutions of the drug, meaning that the base formulation by itself enhances the drug permeation. Among the tested formulations, only the formulation containing DPPG/ethanol was found to be statistically different, showing an enhancement factor of 3.58. In the same experimental session, Muscoril[sup ®] ointment, the commercially available pharmaceutical product containing the same thiocolchicoside concentration (0.25%), also was tested. The formulation containing DPPG/ ethanol showed a 4.86 times increase of permeability constant in comparison with Muscoril[sup ®] ointment. The formulation containing DPPG/ethanol as an enhancer could be a good candidate for a new topical foam, considering its good characteristics of permeability and compliance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the changing earnings distribution in Poland from 1989 to 1996 is investigated using Gini coefficients, other economic inequality indicators and Generalized Lorenz Curves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The nature of histamine receptors in peripheral tissues is still controversial. However, evidence of heterogeneous classes of binding sites for [H]-mepyramine are reported in the literature. The aim of our study was, therefore, to investigate the nature of this heterogeneity by comparing [H]-mepyramine study was, therefore, to investigate the nature of this heterogeneity by comparing [H]-mepyramine binding in a central tissue (cerebellum) and in a peripheral tissue (lung) obtained from guinea pigs and to assess its dependence upon the temperature of incubation. The results revealed that the [H]-mepyramine interaction in both tissues is temperature-dependent. At 25°C, the interaction between [H]-mepyramine and the receptors was biphasic in the lung while only a single class of binding site was found in the cerebellum. At 0°C, [H]-mepyramine interacted with three binding sites in the lung and two in the cerebellum. The behaviour of the reference compounds (clemastine, promethazine and histamine) also supported this temperature-dependence. Moreover, two new compounds (DF 11062 and DF 11113), synthesized in our laboratories and endowed with antihistamine activity, can differentiate between the low affinity site seen at 25°C in the lung and that seen in the cerebellum at 0°C. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new series of 2-dialkylamino-alkylthio(oxy)-1-substituted benzimidazoles synthesized in our laboratories was found to have promising antihistaminic activity. The results of pharmacological screening (' in vitro': radioreceptor binding and isolated organs; ' in vivo': protection against mortality induced by histamine or by compound 48/80, passive cutaneous anaphylaxis, and prolongation of barbiturate-induced sleeping-time) gave clear-cut structure-activity relationships. This series of products has a general selectivity towards H1 receptors, weak antiallergic properties and negligible central effects. DF 10967 (1-ethoxyethyl-2-dimethyl-aminoethylthiobenzimidazole) was the most interesting compound, being very potent both ' in vitro' (Ki=3.2±0.8 n M) and ' in vivo' (ID 11 μg/kg, i.p. and 8μg/kg, i.p. against histamine- and 48/80-induced mortality), with no central effects. The last finding is probably due to poor penetration into the brain (as confirmed by ' in vivo' binding test with [H]-mepyramine) and to lack of interaction with other central receptors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and the prognostic value of ventricular late potentials in apparently healthy top-level athletes with ventricular arrhythmias, and the effect of physiological myocardial hypertrophy (athlete's heart) on the electrogenesis of the signal-averaged electrocardiogram (ECG). Two groups of asymptomatic athletes without underlying heart disease were studied: group A consisted of 35 athletes without arrhythmias and group B of 25 athletes with frequent and complex ventricu lar arrhythmias (ventricular ectopic beats >5000. 24 h−1 and ventricular couplets >15 . 24 h−1). Late potentials were present if athletes had significantly prolonged filtered QRS and low amplitude signal duration and low root mean square voltages at both 25–250 Hz and 40–250 Hz filters. While late potentials were absent in all normal athletes of group A, they were present in seven of 25 (28%) athletes with arrhythmias of group B (P<0·003 Ten of 25 athletes (five with and five without late potentials) of group B underwent programmed ventricular stimulation using a protocol comprising up to three extrastimuli. No episode of sustained ventricular tachycardia was induced. In four of five athletes with late potentials and in one of five without them, unsustained ventricular responses were induced. Echocardiographically determined left ventricular mass found in both groups of athletes did not influence the pathological result of the signal-averaged ECG parameters.This study shows the applicability of the signal-averaged ECG in identifying ventricular late potentials in a selected population of top-level athletes with frequent and complex ventricular arrhythmias and without overt heart disease; it also shows that the presence of late potentials is not influenced by left ventricular mass, even if extreme (>350 g), and it is correlated to a non-sustained ventricular response during an electrophysiological study. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), a genetic disorder due to an alteration in the paternally derived long arm of chromosome 15, is characterized by a complex clinical picture (short stature, obesity, hypogonadism) that seems to be referable to as a central hypothalamic/pituitary dysfunction. To determine whether there is any diminution in the anterior pituitary gland or other neuroradiological alterations, we retrospectively analysed 91 patients with PWS (42 females, 49 males; age range: 0.7-16.8 years) by cerebral magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Of these 91 patients, MRI analysis showed a reduction in pituitary height in 45 patients (49.4%), a complete absence of the posterior pituitary bright spot in six patients (6.6%) and other neuroradiological alterations in ten patients (11%). Altogether, neuroradiological alterations were present in 61 of the 91 (67%) patients. Our results indicate that neuroradiological alterations are more frequent in PWS patients than has been reported to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]