The quality of maternal-foetal bonding may independently predict the quality of maternal-infant attachment and post-partum depressive and anxiety symptoms. A comprehensive assessment of maternal risk factors for perinatal psychopathology during pregnancy should include the evaluation of antenatal attachment that could be modifiable by specific interventions promoting the quality of maternal bonding.

Agitated behavior constitutes up to 10% of emergency psychiatric interventions. Pharmacological tranquilization is often used as a valid treatment for agitation but a strong evidence base does not underpin it. Available literature shows different recommendations, supported by research data, theoretical considerations, or clinical experience. Rapid tranquilization (RT) is mainly based on parenteral drug treatment and the few existing guidelines on this topic, when suggesting the use of first generation antipsychotics and benzodiazepines, include drugs with questionable tolerability profile such as chlorpromazine, haloperidol, midazolam, and lorazepam. In order to systematically evaluate safety concerns related to the adoption of such guidelines, we reviewed them independently from principal diagnosis while examining tolerability data for suggested treatments. There is a growing evidence about safety profile of second generation antipsychotics for RT but further controlled studies providing definitive data in this area are urgently needed.

No abstract

Background Food addiction (FA) is a controversial concept, denoting the craving for certain foods. Given the little information available, the aim of this study was to evaluate the possible relationships between FA and full-blown and subthreshold psychopathology or eating behaviors in subjects consulting nutritional biologists. Materials and methods Three-hundred and fifty subjects completed the following self-questionnaires: Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), Structured Clinical Interview for Mood Spectrum, Self-Report, Lifetime Version (MOOD-SR-LT), Symptom Checklist-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), Structured Clinical Interview for Anorexic-Bulimic Spectrum, Self-Report, Lifetime Version (ABS-SR-LT). Results Most of the subjects were women (n = 278) and the remaining were 72 men. A large proportion of the subjects (77.1%) had a YFAS score <3 and 22.9% ≥3, with no difference between men and women. The YFAS scores ≥3 were significantly and positively related to the all ABS-SR-LT domains, as well as to three dimensions (Depression, Hypomania, Rhythmicity) of the MOOD-SR-LT, and some SCL-90-R domains (Sensitivity, Psychoticism, General Symptom Index and Positive Symptom). Conclusion Our data, while indicating that FA is related to different subthreshold psychopathological domains, in particular, with both depressive and manic symptoms, as well as with rhythmicity of mood spectrum, or with eating subthreshold symptoms, would suggest that it might be a dimension underlying different conditions or symptom clusters.

Barrett's esophagus (BE) is a metaplastic lesion that may result from long-lasting gastroesophageal reflux and it is an established precursor of esophageal adenocarcinoma. There are reports of an increased prevalence of BE, and eventually esophageal adenocarcinoma, in patients with eating disorders characterized by purging behaviors like those with bulimia nervosa (BN). Among patients with eating disorders, those affected by anorexia nervosa binging purging subtype (ANBP), are behaviorally very similar to those with BN, but to our knowledge there are no data in literature about BE in patients with ANBP. We present the case of a 37-year-old female with a 20-year history of ANBP in comorbidity with bipolar disorder, who developed a BE requiring multi-specialistic intervention.