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Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD) is a rare, and therefore, poorly understood condition linked to hallucinogenic drugs consumption. The prevalence of this disorder is low; the condition is more often diagnosed in individuals with a history of previous psychological issues or substance misuse, but it can arise in anyone, even after a single exposure to triggering drugs. The aims of the present study are to review all the original studies about HPPD in order to evaluate the following: (1) the possible suggested etiologies; (2) the possible hallucinogens involved in HPPD induction; (3) the clinical features of both HPPD I and II; (4) the possible psychiatric comorbidities; and (5) the available and potential therapeutic strategies. We searched PubMed to identify original studies about psychedelics and Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder (HPPD). Our research yielded a total of 45 papers, which have been analyzed and tabled to provide readers with the most updated and comprehensive literature review about the clinical features and treatment options for HPPD.

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) metabolomic analysis was applied to investigate the differences within nineteen Sicilian Nocellara del Belice monovarietal extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs), grown in two zones that are different in altitude and soil composition. Several classes of endogenous olive oil metabolites were quantified through a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) three-experiment protocol coupled with a yet-developed data-processing called MARA-NMR (Multiple Assignment Recovered Analysis by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance). This method, taking around one-hour of experimental time per sample, faces the possible quantification of different class of compounds at different concentration ranges, which would require at least three alternative traditional methods. NMR results were compared with the data of traditional analytical methods to quantify free fatty acidity (FFA), fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs), and total phenol content. The presented NMR methodology is compared with traditional analytical practices, and its consistency is also tested through slightly different data treatment. Despite the rich literature about the NMR of EVOOs, the paper points out that there are still several advances potentially improving this general analysis and overcoming the other cumbersome and multi-device analytical strategies. Monovarietal EVOO’s composition is mainly affected by pedoclimatic conditions, in turn relying upon the nutritional properties, quality, and authenticity. Data collection, analysis, and statistical processing are discussed, touching on the important issues related to the climate changes in Sicily and to the specific influence of pedoclimatic conditions.

Social Indicators Research (SIR) year by year has consolidated its preeminent position in the debate concerning the study of all the aspects of quality of life . The need of a journal focused on the quantitative evaluation of social realities and phenomena dating back to the seventies, when a new branch of Social Science—called Social Indicators Research —came into the international scientific landscape. This paper aims at reviewing the whole collection of publications appeared on SIR from 1989 to 2018, providing a complete overview of the main factor that affected the journal in the last 30 years. The approach followed to analyse this extensive corpus of documents relies upon the theoretical framework of bibliometric studies.

The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of hormetic nutrition for enhancing stress resilience and overall human health have received much attention. Recently, the gut–brain axis has attracted prominent interest for preventing and therapeutically impacting neuropathologies and gastrointestinal diseases. Polyphenols and polyphenol-combined nanoparticles in synergy with probiotics have shown to improve gut bioavailability and blood–brain barrier (BBB) permeability, thus inhibiting the oxidative stress, metabolic dysfunction and inflammation linked to gut dysbiosis and ultimately the onset and progression of central nervous system (CNS) disorders. In accordance with hormesis, polyphenols display biphasic dose–response effects by activating at a low dose the Nrf2 pathway resulting in the upregulation of antioxidant vitagenes, as in the case of heme oxygenase-1 upregulated by hidrox® or curcumin and sirtuin-1 activated by resveratrol to inhibit reactive oxygen species (ROS) overproduction, microbiota dysfunction and neurotoxic damage. Importantly, modulation of the composition and function of the gut microbiota through polyphenols and/or probiotics enhances the abundance of beneficial bacteria and can prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease and other neurological disorders. Interestingly, dysregulation of the Nrf2 pathway in the gut and the brain can exacerbate selective susceptibility under neuroinflammatory conditions to CNS disorders due to the high vulnerability of vagal sensory neurons to oxidative stress. Herein, we aimed to discuss hormetic nutrients, including polyphenols and/or probiotics, targeting the Nrf2 pathway and vitagenes for the development of promising neuroprotective and therapeutic strategies to suppress oxidative stress, inflammation and microbiota deregulation, and consequently improve cognitive performance and brain health. In this review, we also explore interactions of the gut–brain axis based on sophisticated and cutting-edge technologies for novel anti-neuroinflammatory approaches and personalized nutritional therapies.

Thanks to its valuable nutritional value and captivating flavour, tahini, an oily paste made from sesame seeds, has recently become popular outside of Middle Eastern cuisine. However, alongside valuable and balanced levels of lipids, proteins, sterols, and minerals, this product may contain various contaminants, including toxic and potentially toxic elements. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the quality and safety of seven brands of commercial tahini. To this end, the proximate composition and the fatty acid and sterol profiles were determined. Moreover, the atherogenicity index (AI) and thrombogenicity index (TI) were also assessed. The elemental composition was screened, and the uptake percentage of each element was evaluated. The percentages of saturated (SFAs), mono- (MUFAs), and poly- (PUFAs) fatty acids fell within the following ranges, respectively: 15.44–17.14%, 37.93–43.36%, and 38.51–45.14%. The order of abundance of macro-elements for most samples was P > K > Ca > Mg > Na. Significant concentrations of essential trace elements were found in the tahini samples, including Zn, Fe, Mn, Cu and Se. As regards toxic elements, only one brand appears to exceed the maximum limits for Cd and Pb specified in the European Regulation. However, a low intake of most inorganic elements was obtained from the consumption of 1 g of tahini per day.

Introduction Anhedonia is a transdiagnostic psychopathological dimension, consisting in the impaired ability to experience pleasure. In order to further our understanding of its neural correlates and to explore its potential relevance as a predictor of treatment response, in this article we systematically reviewed studies involving anhedonia and neuromodulation interventions, across different disorders. Methods We included seven studies fulfilling inclusion/exclusion criteria and involving different measures of anticipatory and consummatory anhedonia, as well as different noninvasive brain stimulation interventions (transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation). Studies not exploring hedonic measures or not involving neuromodulation intervention were excluded. Results All the included studies entailed the use of rTMS protocols in one of the diverse prefrontal targets. The limited amount of studies and the heterogeneity of stimulation protocols did not allow to draw any conclusion with regard to the efficacy of rTMS in the treatment of transnosographic anhedonia. A potential for anhedonia in dissecting possible endophenotypes of different psychopathological conditions preliminarily emerged. Conclusions Anhedonia is an underexplored condition in neuromodulation trials. It may represent a valuable transdiagnostic dimension that requires further examination in order to discover new clinical predictors for treatment response.

By identifying endogenous molecules in brain extracellular fluid metabolomics can provide insight into the regulatory mechanisms and functions of sleep. Here we studied how the cortical metabolome changes during sleep, sleep deprivation and spontaneous wakefulness. Mice were implanted with electrodes for chronic sleep/wake recording and with microdialysis probes targeting prefrontal and primary motor cortex. Metabolites were measured using ultra performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry. Sleep/wake changes in metabolites were evaluated using partial least squares discriminant analysis, linear mixed effects model analysis of variance, and machine-learning algorithms. More than 30 known metabolites were reliably detected in most samples. When used by a logistic regression classifier, the profile of these metabolites across sleep, spontaneous wake, and enforced wake was sufficient to assign mice to their correct experimental group (pair-wise) in 80–100% of cases. Eleven of these metabolites showed significantly higher levels in awake than in sleeping mice. Some changes extend previous findings (glutamate, homovanillic acid, lactate, pyruvate, tryptophan, uridine), while others are novel (D-gluconate, N-acetyl-beta-alanine, N-acetylglutamine, orotate, succinate/methylmalonate). The upregulation of the de novo pyrimidine pathway, gluconate shunt and aerobic glycolysis may reflect a wake-dependent need to promote the synthesis of many essential components, from nucleic acids to synaptic membranes.

In adolescent and adult brains several molecular, electrophysiological, and ultrastructural measures of synaptic strength are higher after wake than after sleep [1, 2]. These results support the proposal that a core function of sleep is to renormalize the increase in synaptic strength associated with ongoing learning during wake, to reestablish cellular homeostasis and avoid runaway potentiation, synaptic saturation, and memory interference [2, 3]. Before adolescence however, when the brain is still growing and many new synapses are forming, sleep is widely believed to promote synapse formation and growth. To assess the role of sleep on synapses early in life, we studied 2-week-old mouse pups (both sexes) whose brain is still undergoing significant developmental changes, but in which sleep and wake are easy to recognize. In two strains (CD-1, YFP-H) we found that pups spend ~50% of the day asleep and show an immediate increase in total sleep duration after a few hours of enforced wake, indicative of sleep homeostasis. In YFP-H pups we then used serial block-face electron microscopy to examine whether the axon-spine interface (ASI), an ultrastructural marker of synaptic strength, changes between wake and sleep. We found that the ASI of cortical synapses (layer 2, motor cortex) was on average 33.9% smaller after sleep relative to after extended wake and the differences between conditions were consistent with multiplicative scaling. Thus, the need for sleep-dependent synaptic renormalization may apply also to the young, pre-weaned cerebral cortex, at least in the superficial layers of the primary motor area.

Although the EU is a major producer of honey, commercial production is often insufficient to meet market demand and, as a result, honey is often imported into the EU from extra-EU countries that lack regulatory standards for food safety and quality. Since honey is a matrix highly susceptible to contamination, monitoring the quality and safety of extra-EU honey is of significant importance to show potential safety gaps. Hence, aim of the study was to monitor the mineral profile of monofloral and multifloral honeys from different regions of North (provinces of Tiaret and Laghouat) and South Algeria (province of Tindouf). In almost all the samples, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cd and Pb were found at levels exceeding the limits set for honey by the Codex Alimentarius and European Regulation 915/2023. In addition, a PCA analysis pointed out that the analysis of the element profile was useful to discriminate Algerian honeys more on the basis of geographical than botanical origin. The dietary exposure assessment indicates that the investigated honeys can be safely consumed in quantities comparable to those considered in Europe (1.8 g/day) and North Africa (0.3 g/day). Hopefully, data from this study may solicit the Algerian government to set regulatory limits on inorganic elements in honey and align with other international standards, to create a harmonized network able to improve the safety of this food.

The chemical composition of honey greatly varies due to diverse factors. Among these, the floral and geographical origin affects not only its quality (i.e., nutritional compounds, including minerals) but also its safety (i.e., contaminants, including potentially toxic elements). Industrialized countries can assure high-quality and safe honey through stringent regulations (e.g., Codex Standard 12-1981 and EU Regulation 915/2023) and testing. However, developing countries still suffer from regulatory gaps and less advanced monitoring systems. The present study aims to (1) monitor inorganic elements in an array of Algerian honeys, (2) explore the variability of the element profile in relation to their botanical and geographical provenance, and (3) assess the potential toxicological risk to African and European humans from consuming them. The element profile of honey is affected by both its geographical origin and its floral source. Many honeys exceeded the maximum levels set by the Codex Alimentarius for Mg (97% of samples), Fe (42% of samples), Zn (36% of samples), Cu (17% of samples), and Cd (50% of samples) and by the EU Regulation for Pb (64% of the samples). However, due to the small daily consumption of honey, exposure levels to the regulated elements were below the reference values. Similarly, negligible non-carcinogenic health effects were highlighted for all honeys. Hopefully, this study will encourage the Algerian government to effectively support the beekeeping sector by strengthening monitoring programs and establishing an adequate regulatory framework for honey.