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Background: Physical activity in the elderly is recommended by international guidelines to protect against cognitive decline and functional impairment., Objective: This Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT) was set up to verify whether medium-intensity physical activity in elderly people living in the community is effective in improving cognitive performance., Design: RCT with parallel and balanced large groups., Setting: Academic university hospital and Olympic gyms., Subjects: People aged 65 years old and older of both genders living at home holding a medical certificate for suitability in non-competitive physical activity., Methods: Participants were randomized to a 12-week, 3 sessions per week moderate physical activity program or to a control condition focused on cultural and recreational activities in groups of the same size and timing as the active intervention group. The active phase integrated a mixture of aerobic and anaerobic exercises, including drills of "life movements", strength and balance. The primary outcome was: any change in Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination Revised (ACE-R) and its subscales., Results: At the end of the trial, 52 people completed the active intervention, and 53 people completed the control condition. People in the active intervention improved on the ACE-R (ANOVA: F(1;102)=4.32, p=0.040), and also showed better performances on the memory (F(1;102)=5.40 p=0.022) and visual-space skills subscales of the ACE-R (F(1;102)=4.09 p=0.046)., Conclusion: A moderate-intensity exercise administered for a relatively short period of 12 weeks is capable of improving cognitive performance in a sample of elderly people who live independently in their homes. Clinical Trials Registration No : NCT03858114., (© 2021 Carta et al.)

Background: The aim was to assess the effects of a training program inclusive of contact sports and counseling on school dropout, quality of life (QoL) and psychopathologic symptoms in the youth with a history of school dropout and psychopathic personality traits., Methods: The Experimental Group (EG) consisted of 32 subjects (male 90.6%; age 19.6±4.3 years); the Control Group (CG) consisted of an equal number matched for gender and age with the same psychological features. At the beginning of the experimental Training Program (T0), both cohorts were assessed by a diagnostic psychiatric interview (SCID ANTAS), the Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) to evaluate QoL, the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R) for the assessment of psychopathic traits, the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) to measure general psychopathology. At the end of the program (T1), the coorths were evaluated by SF-12 and SRQ., Results: Twenty-seven subjects in the EG (84.4%) completed the course and underwent the evaluation at T1. The SF-12 score significantly increased from T0 to T1 in both groups, albeit this was more evident in the EG than in the CG, owing to an interaction between time and group. SRQ score significantly decreased in the EG from T0 to T1, while in the CG it did not, although the interaction between time and group was not significant., Conclusion: The experimental training program was effective in improving QoL and countering school dropout in young citizens with psychopathic traits. Further studies are needed to clarify if such results are due to a relationship between the practical tasks approach including contact sports and an improvement in mentalization processes.

Background: The use of bibliometric analysis to assess scientific productivity and impact is particularly relevant for EU funding programs. The objective of the present study is to assess the impact on scientific literature by focusing specifically on the cost-effectiveness of FP7 and NHI projects in the fields of AA and QoL, respectively., Methods: Twenty projects were randomly selected from the CORDIS database in accordance with the following criteria: funded by the FP7; accepted from 1 st January 2007 to 31 st December 2012; concluded by 31 st August 2017;For each project selected, we determined: number of publications in Scopus and Google databases attributable to the project; number of papers published in Q1 quartile of the SCIMAGO rank; number of citations found in Scopus and Scholar Google; amount of funds allocated., Results: The study has confirmed the results of the previous one, namely that the number of publications and the number of citations per project on active ageing are similar in projects funded by the NHI in the United States and those funded by the FP7 in Europe. However, when it comes to cost-effectiveness, it results that European projects have a cost ten times higher than the Americans ones., Conclusion: Our study shows lower cost-effectiveness of FP7-European projects than the American-NIH on active aging. The results of this research, albeit with the limits already outlined, will have to be taken into consideration in the evaluative research of the future.