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Background: The definition of patients with special needs (SNs) is used in the literature to refer to individuals with mental and physical disorders for whom the usual perioperative pathways are not applicable due to lack of cooperation, regardless of age. Studies in the literature recognize the appropriateness of general anesthesia for performing day surgery dental care in this type of patient. Objectives: The main objective was to assess the possible incidence of difficult airway management, understood as difficulty ventilating and/or intubating the patient. A secondary objective was to highlight the influence of general anesthesia on patient outcomes by testing the incidence of perioperative complications. Methods: The present retrospective, single-center, observational study involved 41 uncooperative patients aged between 3 and 17 undergoing dental surgery under general anesthesia. Data relating to airway management and general anesthesia present in the medical records were analyzed. Results: Tracheal intubation was successfully completed in all of the patients considered, and in no case did the patient have to be woken up because of difficulty in airway management. No perioperative complications attributable to anesthesia were found in any patients. Conclusions: From the present experience, it can be concluded that general anesthesia is a suitable option for performing dental care in pediatric subjects with special needs, and that although the peculiar perioperative management of these patients might increase the risk of possible anesthesia-related side effects, no complications have been encountered in any case.

Background Olfactory dysfunction is a common symptom of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS), affecting approximately 60–80% of patients. This impairment significantly impacts patients' quality of life and increases the risk of hazardous events. Objective This study aims to summarize and analyze the epidemiology, risk factors, and pathogenesis of CRS-related olfactory dysfunction. It also describes subjective and objective methods for olfactory assessment and discusses the latest diagnostic and therapeutic approaches, while proposing future research directions. Methods A comprehensive literature review was conducted to analyze the pathophysiology, clinical characteristics, and treatment strategies for CRS-related olfactory dysfunction. This study compares different olfactory assessment tools, examines the role of inflammatory factors, and evaluates the effectiveness of various treatments. Results The pathogenesis of CRS-related olfactory dysfunction involves conductive factors, inflammatory processes, and olfactory bulb disuse atrophy. While surgical and pharmacological treatments are effective for some patients, the overall efficacy remains debatable. Traditional olfactory training emerges as a promising, non-invasive therapeutic approach with significant potential. Conclusions Olfactory dysfunction is a prevalent issue among CRS patients and is closely associated with type 2 inflammation. Future research should focus on understanding the dynamic changes in olfactory bulb volume and the functional transition of olfactory neuroepithelial stem cells. Although corticosteroid therapy is widely used, the optimal administration route requires further investigation, and the long-term efficacy of surgical treatment remains a topic of ongoing debate.

(1) Background: A new mental illness is attracting the attention of researchers and mental health professionals. Orthorexia nervosa (ON) is a possible new mental disorder, the main symptom of which is an obsessive and insecure focus on healthy foods and consequent compulsive behaviors. There is a common consensus among researchers that ON is considered partly overlapping with obsessive–compulsive disorders (OCDs). (2) Methods: MEDLINE and Scopus were searched for articles published in the last 10 years regarding the psychophysiological aspects of OCD and ON. Eight studies met the eligibility criteria. The inclusion criteria encompassed adults diagnosed with OCD and/or ON. However, only studies involving OCD patients were found. (3) Results: Some research groups have shown that OCD disorders can be considered among anxiety disorders because they are characterized by anxious hyper activation. Other research, however, has shown profiles characterized by low psychophysiological reactivity to stressful stimuli. Despite this, there seems to be a consensus on the poor inhibition abilities, even when activation is low, and the dissociation between cognitive and psychophysiological activation emerged. (4) Conclusions: However discordant, some points seem to bring the researchers to agreement. In fact, there is consensus on conducting a multidimensional assessment that can measure all of the aspects of suffering (cognition, emotion, and behavior) and highlight the poor body–mind integration. This clinical approach would make it possible to propose interventions aimed at treating some mental illnesses such as food obsession that can paradoxically impair the psychophysical balance. Nevertheless, the applied systematizing approach to existing studies on ON is very much needed for better understanding of the psychophysical nature of this new mental illness and its implications for prevention and treatment.

Objective The aim of this systematic review is to identify pain profiling parameters that are reliably different between patients with migraine and healthy controls, using Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) including Temporal Summation (TS), Conditioned Pain Modulation (CPM), and Corneal Confocal Microscopy (CCM). Methods A comprehensive literature search was conducted (up to 23 May 2024). The quality of the research was assessed using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) for non-randomized studies. Results Twenty-eight studies were included after screening. The QST studies indicate that migraine patients exhibit lower pressure pain thresholds (PPT), particularly in the trigeminal region. A previous meta-analysis reported lower heat pain thresholds (HPT). CPM studies suggest a (mild) inhibitory or absent response in migraine patients, not different from controls. High-frequency and chronic migraine patients may exhibit a facilitatory CPM response. With repeated executions of CPM, migraine patients display a diminishing CPM response, a phenomenon not observed in control subjects. CCM investigations in migraine patients revealed conflicting outcomes, likely as a result of small sample sizes and limited characterization of migraine features. Conclusion Pain profiling migraine patients varies due to sensory modality, applied methods, anatomical sites, and migraine features. Understanding pain profiling offers insights into migraine pathophysiology, requiring careful selection of parameters and differentiation among migraine subtypes.

Background: The research on orthorexia nervosa (ON) has thoroughly outlined the connection between it and various mental disorders, including obsessive-compulsive disorders and eating disorders, in addition to stress. However, research has not considered psychophysical stress and other measures of psychophysical health, such as adherence to the Mediterranean diet. Methods: This cross-sectional and case-control research involved 63 students from the University of Parma, aged between 18 and 49 years. The ORTO-15 questionnaire was utilized to categorize the entire sample into two groups: one without orthorexia (score > 35) and another with orthorexia (score < 35). All subjects were assessed with the Psychophysiological Stress Profile (PSP) and completed the Eating Disorder Inventory-3 (EDI-3) and the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R). In addition, they were interviewed using the PREDIMED questionnaire to assess adherence to the Mediterranean Diet, and their body mass index (BMI) was calculated. Results: Subjects with orthorexia represented 38.10% of the total sample and reported a higher BMI than controls, although the PREDIMED score did not show a difference in adherence to the Mediterranean diet. The EDI-3 highlighted emotional dysregulation and hypercontrol in students with orthorexia, and a dissociation between subjective and objective measures of stress emerged. Particularly, the psychophysiological parameters of skin conductance, heart rate, and heart rate variability showed greater reactivity to stressful stimuli, but no difference was noted in psychological symptoms. Conclusions: These findings confirmed the presence of alterations in eating behavior in people with orthorexia as well as a higher BMI. It was hypothesized that hypercontrol might favor the perception of psychological well-being at a subjective level, although inadequate management of stress emerged at an objective psychophysiological level. Further studies are needed to highlight the causality between ON, hypercontrol, diet, and psychophysical stress, given that students with orthorexia present a dysregulation of emotions associated with greater autonomic arousal.

Purpose This pilot study aimed to determine whether the Henkin olfactory test discriminates between the olfactory function of patients with olfactory loss and healthy individuals, and whether the Henkin test is correlated with a validated psychophysical olfactory test. Methods Participants underwent olfactory testing using the modified Henkin test (including detection [DT] and recognition [RT] thresholds, magnitude estimation [ME], and hedonic ratings [H], for four different odors) and the extended “Sniffin’ Sticks” test battery (odor detection, discrimination, identification). Results Forty-four individuals (28 women, aged 19–81 years, mean: 39 years) were included. Twenty-three were healthy (mean age: 38 years) and 21 had olfactory dysfunction (OD) (mean age: 40 years). OD patients had worse mean DT, lower composite RT, and lower ME ratings. Mean and individual odor H ratings were not significantly different between the groups. Most individuals were classified as hyposmic when using the prescribed classification by Henkin, with only very few satisfying the stringent criteria of anosmia and normosmia. Modified Henkin subtests were all positively correlated with each other and with the “Sniffin’ Sticks”, except for Unpleasant Mean H which was only correlated with Pleasant Mean H; and Pleasant mean H which was not correlated with mean DT scores. Conclusion The Henkin test is able to separate between OD patients and controls. However, modifications to the conduct of this test may be required. Studies that used this test should be carefully interpreted. Level of evidence 3.

Although sensory problems, including unusual tactile sensitivity, are heavily associated with autism, there is a dearth of rigorous psychophysical research. We compared tactile sensation in adults with autism to controls on the palm and forearm, the latter innervated by low-threshold unmyelinated afferents subserving a social/affiliative submodality of somatosensation. At both sites, the groups displayed similar thresholds for detecting light touch and innocuous sensations of warmth and cool, and provided similar hedonic ratings of the pleasantness of textures. In contrast, increased sensitivity to vibration was seen in the autism group on the forearm, along with increased sensitivity to thermal pain at both sites. These findings suggest normal perception along with certain areas of enhanced perception in autism, consistent with previous studies.

Nature-based activities have been linked to psychophysical restoration, but the role of individual baseline conditions in predicting recovery remains unclear. This study examined whether baseline stress levels and mental wellbeing influence psychophysical recovery after an immersive barefooting experience, and whether sociodemographic factors (sex and education) and access to green spaces moderate these effects. A convenience sample of 249 adults (58% female, mean age 45 years) voluntarily participated in a structured barefooting trail in two Italian parks and, after the activity, completed post-experience self-report questionnaires using validated scales (Perceived Stress Scale, Restorative Outcome Scale, and Warwick–Edinburgh Mental Wellbeing Scale). Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that higher baseline mental wellbeing significantly predicted greater psychophysical recovery, while short-term perceived stress did not. None of the tested interactions with sex, education level, or access to green space were significant. These results suggest that mental wellbeing, rather than recent stress, may be a key factor in maximizing restorative experiences in immersive nature-based activities, and that this effect appears consistent across sociodemographic and environmental contexts. While preliminary, these findings highlight the potential of barefoot walking and similar multisensory activities as low-cost strategies to maintain and enhance psychological wellbeing.

Impaired hearing is a frequent stressful experience in later life. However, not all individuals affected by hearing problems exhibit restrictions in mental or functional health; there may be psychosocial resources that buffer the detrimental impact of impaired hearing to some extent. We investigate whether positive self-perceptions of aging (SPA, i. e. perceptions of more ongoing development and perceptions of less physical and social losses) do in fact constitute a compensatory resource and moderate between-person and within-person associations of self-reported hearing problems with trajectories of mental and functional health. Our sample comprised n = 9,705 participants in the German Ageing Survey (mean age = 62.41 years, SD = 11.58, range 40-93 years) who were assessed up to five times between 2008 and 2021. Based on longitudinal multilevel regression models, controlling for socio-demographic variables, hearing aid use, and chronic diseases, we found that individuals with overall more hearing problems reported poorer mental health. Moreover, with regard to the within-person associations, on measurement occasions when individuals reported more hearing problems, their mental and functional health was poorer. The association of more hearing problems with poorer functional health was weaker among individuals with lower perceptions of physical loss at baseline (i.e., year 2008). Among chronologically older adults, the association of more hearing problems with poorer functional health was weaker for those with higher perceptions of ongoing development at baseline. Our findings suggest that SPA related to fewer physical losses and to more ongoing development may buffer the negative impact of hearing problems on functional health.

Backgorund Parents after Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) hospitalization of preterm infant may develop psychopathological symptoms. The aim of the study was to determine how parental stress and psychophysical wellbeing affect posttraumatic symptoms (PTTS) in parents during the first year after NICU discharge. Moreover, this study aimed to explore any gender-specific difference in psychological distress among mothers and fathers. Methods Prospective study design from September 2018 to September 2019. 20 pairs of parents of preterm infants admitted to a tertiary-level NICU were enrolled. Primary outcome was evaluation of PTTS in parents of preterm infants at one year after NICU discharge through Impact of Event Scale- Revised. Secondary outcomes were: impact of parental stress, psychophysical wellbeing, anxiety and depression respectively through Parental Stressor Scale: NICU, Short Form Health Survey-36(SF-36), Self-rating Anxiety Scale and Self-rating Depression Scale. Results Mothers experienced higher rates of PTTS than fathers across the first year after NICU discharge (55% vs 20%). Maternal avoidance symptoms were associated with perception of their own infant look. Emotional aspects linked to maternal role predicted 36,8% of their hyperarousal symptoms. Maternal PTTS severity was predicted by their social functioning. Paternal mental health was associated both with maternal and paternal intrusive symptoms.. Maternal stress was associated with paternal avoidance symptoms. Paternal mental health predicted their hyperarousal symptoms (40%) and PTSD severity (52%). Conclusions Parents who experienced NICU hospitalization of their own infant are at heightened risk to develop psychopathological symptoms. According to our initial hypothesis, investigating parental psychophysical wellbeing, through SF-36, originally provides a valuable support to detect parents at higher risk to develop posttraumatic outcomes across the first year after NICU discharge. In addition, paternal depression deserves to be taken into account since hospitalization as it could impact paternal PTSD development. Finally, these findings provide an initial evidence of gender-related patterns in PTSD development and psychological distress among mothers and fathers across the first year of their infant.