Melatonin: From Neurobiology to Treatment

Melatonin, the major regulator of the sleep/wake cycle, also plays important physiological and pharmacological roles in the control of neuronal plasticity and neuroprotection. Accordingly, the secretion of this hormone reaches the maximal extent during brain development (childhood-adolescence) while it is greatly reduced during aging, a condition associated to altered sleep pattern and reduced neuronal plasticity. Altogether, these properties of melatonin have allowed us to demonstrate in both experimental models and clinical studies the great chronobiotic efficacy and sleep promoting effects of exogenous melatonin. Thus, the prolonged release formulation of melatonin, present as a drug in the pharmaceutical market, has been recently recommended for the treatment of insomnia in over 55 years old subjects.

Analysis of Predictive Factors for Moderate-Stage COVID-19 Outcome and Maximal Extent of Lung Injury

Background: As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) epidemic continues to spread, it is important to predict the clinical classification of COVID-19 and evaluate the progression of lung injury. Objectives: To investigate the predictive factors of the outcome of moderate-stage coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and maximal extent of lung injury. Patients and Methods: This study was a retrospective analysis of 97 patients with moderate-stage COVID-19 diagnosed in our hospital. We divided the patients into two groups according to disease progression: one group for moderate stage and another for both severe stage and critically severe stage COVID-19. We then analyzed the independent factors influencing changes in the course of the disease in moderate-stage patients using binary logistic regression. Next, we assessed the computed tomography (CT) score of maximal lung injury using follow-up images of the patients. We used multiple linear regression (MLR) to analyze the independent variables, and to predict the CT score of maximal lung injury in COVID-19 patients. Results: The results were obtained using multivariate logistic regression analysis, and the independent factors affecting clinical classification were baseline CT score (P = 0.008), high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) (P = 0.001), and diabetes (P = 0.04). MLR revealed that the factors predicting the extent of maximal lung injury in COVID-19 patients were age (P = 0.014), neutrophil percentage (P = 0.038), lymphocyte percentage (P = 0.031), hs-CRP (P = 0.010), and baseline CT score (P < 0.001). The optimal cut-off value of hs-CRP was 18.5, and the baseline CT score was 8.5. Conclusion: Age, baseline CT score, hs-CRP, neutrophil percentage, and lymphocyte percentage could predict the CT score of maximal lung injury, and hs-CRP > 18.5, baseline CT score ≥ 9, and diabetes were independent factors of severe/critically severe COVID-19.

Minimizers and Maximizers as Different Types of Polarity Items

This chapter examines the properties of minimizers and maximizers (i.e. minimal and maximal extent- or quantity-denoting expressions) in English, Catalan, and Spanish. Special emphasis is put on (i) establishing which type of polarity item these expressions align with, and (ii) identifying connections between them and other elements of the polarity landscape such as negative quantifiers and Negative Concord Items. It is shown that different minimizers and maximizers pattern with Affective Polarity Items, Negative Polarity Items, or Positive Polarity Items in the three studied languages, and that English minimizers behave similarly to negative quantifiers when negation is adjacent to them, while in Catalan and Spanish they behave like Negative Concord Items when headed by the particle ni ‘not even’. Vulgar (taboo word) minimizers, which have been argued to carry an incorporated zero numeral in the literature, are claimed to be lexically ambiguous between zero-incorporated structures and Affective Polarity Items.