SEM and TEM studies were performed to study the surface morpholog

SEM and TEM studies were performed to study the surface morphology. Results of these studies are shown in Figures ​Figures44 and ​and5,5, respectively. These results confirmed that particles have

smooth surface and spherical shape. Figure 4 SEM images of nanoparticles. Figure 5 TEM images of nanoparticles. Table 1 Particle Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical size, polydispersity, and entrapment efficiency of different batches of nanoparticles. Values are given as means ± SD (n = 3). One of the important goal of the present study was to achieve higher encapsulation of BSA in nanoparticles by employing minimal amounts of polymer (PLGA 85:15). Nanoparticles were prepared by employing two different ratios of protein: PLGA (1:5 and 1:10). BSA entrapment in nanoparticles was more than 65% in both cases (Table 1). This data clearly shows a significant entrapment of BSA in PLGA matrix. As the amount of PLGA was increased to prepare nanoparticles, entrapment of BSA in nanoparticles Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was enhanced as well. This could be attributed to enhanced hydrophobic interactions of BSA in HIP complex with PLGA polymer. Due to these hydrophobic interactions, partition of BSA (in HIP complex form) in the

polymeric matrix of PLGA was also significantly enhanced. The effect of HIP complexation and nanoparticle preparation on secondary structure Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of BSA was evaluated by CD spectra. Weak physical interactions such as electrostatic interactions, Ceritinib ALK hydrogen bonds, Van-der-waals forces, and hydrophobic Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical interactions stabilize secondary structure of the protein. During HIP complex formation, DS interacts extensively

with BSA which involves abovementioned forces. So, it is quite possible that DS has altered the native conMDV3100 formation of BSA. Similarly, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical during nanoparticle preparation, powder form of BSA-DS complex was sonicated in presence of organic solvents. These processes could possibly denature BSA. CD analysis was performed to understand the impact of these formulation factors on secondary structure of BSA. Freshly prepared BSA in 10mM Na2HPO4 solution was selected as control. Figure 6 depicts the CD spectra of standard BSA solution, BSA obtained from dissociation of HIP complex, and BSA released from both batches of nanoparticles. Results clearly show a significant overlap in peak shape throughout the region studied. This data also confirms that the secondary structure of BSA was not perturbed due to HIP complexation or treatment Brefeldin_A with organic solvent and sonication. Enhanced stability of BSA towards organic solvents and sonication may be explained by the following reasons. First, HIP complexation might have provided conformation stability and steric shielding to the BSA molecule. Moreover, with S/O/W emulsion method, the probability of protein denaturation has been significantly minimized compared to conventional method such as W/O/W emulsion method.

e “the right of individuals to make their own choices about how

e. “the right of individuals to make their own choices about how they should live and die” [9]. In order to understand if an implicit model of best practice in phase 3 palliative care does exist, we carried out a qualitative analysis of the statements on practice and ethics of palliative care expressed by the main health organizations to show which dimensions of end-of-life care are taken into consideration. Methods This qualitative study aims at investigating the notion of “best palliative care practice” arising from the official documents by the most representative

health organizations Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical committed to the definition of policies and guidelines for palliative and end-of-life care. The organizations and their documents were selected on the basis of the following three criteria: – The organization is representative (e.g. on an international or on a national level) of several associations or of professional Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical groups involved in health care. – The organization has produced documents on ethical, physical and psycho-social issues related to end-of-life care. – The documents analysed focus on the general practice of palliative

care, pain relief and the care of dying patients in general, or deal with more specific end-of-life issues, such as euthanasia, http://www.selleckchem.com/products/kpt-330.html assistance of patients in a permanent vegetative state, sedation at Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the end of life, and the use of nutrition and hydration, assisted suicide. The selection and analysis of the documents have been carried out in two phases: a first survey Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was completed in 2007; this first survey was updated in 2008 in order to find out recently published documents, as well as revisions of the documents included in the first survey. The procedure adopted for finding the documents combined two methods: – A retrieval of the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical directories of organizations available on the websites of the International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care (IAHPC Directory: http://www.hospicecare.com/yp/)

and of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC Directory: http://www.eapcnet.org/organisations/OffBodies&Ass.html), which allowed to identify several organizations that produced documents. – A document research on the web (Google search: “position statement” AND (“dying” OR “end of life care” OR “good death” OR “palliative care”)), by which it was possible to find out additional documents from a number of organizations that were not included in the directories of the IAHPC and of the EAPC. The documents Carfilzomib were classified as: a) Documents of palliative care institutions, or other medical or health institutions; b) Documents on end-of-life/terminality in general, or on a specific situation/need/symptom of end-of-life; c) Documents classifying themselves as “position statement” (in the title), or “others”. The documents were analysed through a framework of the components of end-of-life care which was developed on the basis of a literature search in a previous work [33].

No significant difference was seen between those who reported OCS

No significant difference was seen between those who reported OCS only before kinase inhibitor Belinostat clozapine versus after clozapine (p = 0.57). Equally, there was no significant difference between the number of patients who were prescribed an antidepressant in the year before and year after cohorts (p = 0.59), see Table 2. In 81% of patients the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical primary diagnosis for prescribing an antidepressant

was depression. In one patient the primary reason was to treat obsessions. One or more episodes of non-compliance of clozapine were reported in 17 patients (35%) in the year after starting clozapine. Table 1. Comparison of demographic and clinical characteristics of patients. Figure 2. Changes in obsessive compulsive symptoms (OCS)

during the year before and year Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical after starting clozapine (n = 49). Table 2. Primary outcome measures: history of OCS before and after clozapine. Obsessions or ruminations were the most frequent symptoms reported in comorbid individuals (Table 3). Details of the patients who developed de novo OCS are given in Table 4. In general, they were initiated on clozapine at an early age, received a moderate Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical dose of clozapine and developed OCS after many months of treatment. Table 3. Obsessive compulsive symptoms reported before and after clozapine initiation. Table 4. Details of patients who developed de novo OCS after starting clozapine. Discussion This study failed to Lapatinib establish a definitive link between clozapine and OCS. Although this appears to be at odds with previous literature, two of the largest (n = 59 and n = 142) single-centre

studies produced similar conclusions [Mukhopadhaya et al. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical 2009; Ghaemia et al. 1995]. Numerically, in our study, there were more reports of OCS in the year before clozapine was initiated than in the year after (24% versus 14%) and again this questions whether there is Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical a direct link between clozapine causing OCS or if OCS is simply a common, late comorbidity of schizophrenia. There are five previous retrospective chart reviews and these have varied in methodology and presentation making direct comparisons difficult. Two studies reported on patients recruited before 1995 when monitoring, dosing and experience of clozapine Dacomitinib were limited and under development [Ghaemia et al. 1995; Baker et al. 1992]. Baker and colleagues reviewed 49 clozapine-treated patients with schizophrenia and identified 5 (10.2%) with de novo OCS or worsening OCS [Baker et al. 1992]. This could be considered similar to our result of 3 patients out of 49 (6%) developing de novo OCS. Details of how they conducted the review were not published, but the mean dose of those experiencing de novo symptoms was 650 mg for a mean duration of 7 months on clozapine.

001) while in control EDs, eg Jorvi (p = 0 07), Puolarmetsä (p =

001) while in control EDs, eg. Jorvi (p = 0.07), Puolarmetsä (p = 0.65) or Myyrmäki (p = 0.52), showed no significant changes (Figure ​(Figure1).1). The implication of triage in selleck chemical Perifosine Peijas ED did not change the number of monthly Erlotinib HCl doctor visits in office hour public services in Vantaa or Espoo (mean; 16300-17000 visits/month, Figure ​Figure22). Figure 1 Effect of triage on doctor visits in

Peijas ED, and a comparison with EDs where triage was not applied. Data are shown before and after triage. Mean ± SE is shown. Figure 2 Effect of triage Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in Peijas ED on office-hour doctor visits in Vantaa, a comparison with control (Espoo). Data are shown before and after triage. Mean ± SE is shown. The patient chart system did not record the triage group of the patients automatically. Therefore only an individual hand-picked sample (March 2004) was available. According to this sample, 6,3% of the patients were triaged to group C, 22,4% to group D and 25.2% to group E. The biggest group contained the most acute patients (A-B) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and produced 46.2% of the visits. Doctor visits to the GPs of the private Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical sector in Vantaa increased one year after the beginning of the intervention by about 420 visits/month (at year 2005, RM-ANOVA F11,2 = 5,581, p < 0.05) while they increased by roughly 570 visits/month in the control city Espoo (at year 2005, RM-ANOVA

F11,2 = 11,695, p < 0.001, Figure ​Figure3).3). There was no change immediately after implementation of triage (year 2004) in either city. The proportional increase in the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical use of the private sector in the control city Espoo was roughly 15%, almost the same as it was in Vantaa (13%). Altogether, the number of monthly doctor visits in the private sector was higher in Espoo (mean ± SD; 4313 ± 562) than in Vantaa (3826 ± 466, P < 0.001, paired t-test). Figure 3 Effect of triage in Peijas ED (Vantaa) on visits to private

sector GPs, and a comparison with Espoo Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical (control). Data are shown before and after triage. Mean ± SE is shown. In the tertiary health care ED of Peijas hospital (HUCH) implementation of triage in primary health care of the same facility increased use by 125 visits/month immediately during Drug_discovery year 2004 (RM-ANOVA F11,2 = 22,675, p < 0.001) but the number of referrals to the tertiary health care did not increase until year 2005 (RM-ANOVA F11,2 = 4,129, p < 0.05, Figure ​Figure4).4). The increase was smaller in the number of referrals to tertiary health care ED (e.g. 50 referrals/month) than the increase in the number of visits (e.g. 125 visits/month) to the respective facility. Figure 4 Effect of triage on visits and referrals to tertiary health care in Peijas ED. Data are shown before and after triage. Mean ± SE is shown. Discussion The implementation of the ABCDE-triage system for assessing the patient acuity at Peijas combined ED reduced the number of patient visits to GPs of the ED by eight percent.

61 sel

61 Vigabatrine (2 mg/d) was given for 7 days to ten healthy volunteers in an open-label study after placebo-controlled

administration of CCK-4 and a second CCK-4 challenge followed after the treatment period.62 A marked and significant attenuation of CCK-4 Vandetanib cancer induced panic symptoms (as per API and PSS scores) and of anxiety was observed with vigabatrine. However, no placebo-controlled and double-blind study has followed so far and the effect of vigabatrine has not been investigated in the CCK-4 paradigm in panic patients. Current data on the clinical efficacy of vigabatrine in panic patients are still casuistic.63 Recently, the translocator protein (18 kD) ligand XBD173, which enhances GABAergic neurotransmission Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical via induction of neurosteroidogenesis, was tested in 71 healthy male volunteers who had shown a clear panic response to an initial CCK-4 challenge.64 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical In this double-blind study the subjects were randomized to 7 days of treatment with placebo, 10, 30, or 90 mg/day of XBD173 or 2 mg/d alprazolam as active control condition. A significant difference from placebo in the difference of the API ratings between the first and the second challenge (on Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical day 7) with CCK-4 was found for alprazolam and the highest dose of XBD173. inhibitor Bosutinib studies in panic patients with this compound are being awaited. Conclusions Despite ample exciting research efforts, we are still

far from having reliable information on model validity of experimental panic provocation paradigms in healthy man as tools to test novel anti-panic drugs. A few false-negative Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical or false-positive findings question the usefulness of this approach. Existing preliminary data need replication using exclusively double-blind, placebo-controlled designs. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Comparability of results is hampered by different psychometric methods applied. Especially for multicenter trials, standardization of the test environment and subjects’ instruction need

careful attention. Many findings were obtained with relatively small samples and few studies had included women. Rarely have dose-response aspects been investigated. Challenge studies with genetically precharacterized and homogenized samples are worth considering and may achieve clearer results.65 Another problem is that our growing understanding of the complex pathophysiology of panic suggests that there may be no unitary Anacetrapib model but possibly different phenocopies, leading to a similar pathophysiological phenomenon. Hopefully, further research will eventually lead us to more definite knowledge on which panicogens in healthy man are capable of predicting the usefulness of various anti-panic drugs for treatment in panic disorder.
This section will discuss extinction of conditioned fear and how it is mediated by a protein called the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor in the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex.

45 Depression in the elderly Major depression is a common neurops

45 Depression in the elderly Major depression is a common neuropsychiatric disease that afflicts elderly adults.46 For adults, research has found TMS to be efficacious in reducing depressive symptoms and was approved by the US FDA in 2008 for the treatment of MDD.The approved treatment consists of 6 weeks of 10 Hz rTMS sessions applied to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Since MDD is a prevalent condition among the elderly and its treatment within Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical this population can be challenging due to medication complications (eg, drug-drug interaction, medication sensitivity), TMS is being explored as an antidepressant strategy. However, a number

of studies have not found TMS to have similar beneficial effects in elderly patients as has been reported in younger adult populations. For instance, one open-label study Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical reported that 56% of young depressed patients responded to rTMS of the left prefrontal cortex, whereas only 23%

of elderly patients responded with the same treatment.47 Also, three randomized controlled clinical trials found no antidepressant benefit from rTMS in elderly patients,48-50 and a metanalysis of five clinical TMS trials (four randomized, double-blind, one open-label) found age to be a negative predictor of therapeutic benefit.51 These Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical findings have led some to conclude that rTMS was ineffective for the treatment of depression in the elderly.52 A more recent study also reported only modest antidepressant effects for rTMS in an elderly cohort.53 The null finding of rTMS in treating MDD in elderly Volasertib manufacturer adults may be related to the increased scalp-to-cortex distance in that population.47 This was Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical suggested because motor and prefrontal cortex atrophy occurs in elderly subjects.54 Atrophy inevitably increases scalp to cortical distance, likely resulting in the need Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical for a stronger stimulus intensity, since magnetic field strength than decreases exponentially as distance increases. Two subsequent studies that used structure MRI methods

found relationships between Batimastat the antidepressant effect of TMS and scalp-to-cortex distance.55,56 Nahas et al54 tested these ideas by adjusting the TMS dosage by the distance to prefrontal cortex in a group of older adults, which resulted in a higher rate of responders than in earlier studies. One way to compensate for the scalp-to-cortex distance to improve antidepressant benefit would be to use a more powerful stimulus, such as used in magnetic seizure therapy (see below). TMS and plasticity with aging As the depression research suggests, changes with aging may mediate the association between TMS stimulation and cortical activity, as cortical atrophy with aging can reduce the delivered dosage of magnetic stimulation.

1982; Desmedt et al 1983; Josiassen et al 1990; Bolton

1982; Desmedt et al. 1983; Josiassen et al. 1990; Bolton

and Staines 2011). Overall, attention influences both the P50 and P100 amplitudes, but modulatory changes may be related to differences in experimental paradigms used and/or read more psychological factors (Desmedt and Robertson 1977; Goff et al. 1977). Attentional modulation in Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical somatosensory cortex Studies investigating the effects of sustained tactile-spatial attention have shown that attention to task-relevant versus irrelevant spatial locations enhances processing of tactile stimuli and modulates somatosensory cortex (SI and SII) (Desmedt and Robertson 1977; Michie 1984; Michie et al. 1987). Several functional neuroimaging studies have found that sustained spatial attention to one hand versus the other during bilateral tactile stimulation enhances hemodynamic responses within contralateral SI and sensorimotor regions (Macaluso et al. 2000; Meador et al. 2002). A positron emission selleck bio tomography study reported that the anticipation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of tactile stimulation can increase activity in contralateral SI even in the absence of any stimuli (Roland 1981). Furthermore, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical EEG investigations comparing somatosensory ERPs elicited by tactile stimulation applied to the hands, have reported that attending to the location of tactile stimulation modulates both

early and late somatosensory ERPs (N80, P100, N140) with increased amplitudes for the attended versus unattended tactile location (Desmedt and Robertson 1977; Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Michie 1984; Michie et al. 1987; Garcia-Larrea et al. 1995). However, SI responses as early as 45–50 msec post stimulus onset have been reported using an attentional vigilance task (Zopf et al. 2004). Notably, a recent study using simultaneous Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical EEG and fMRI recordings found that sustained spatial attention during bilateral tactile stimulation (Braille) modulated early somatosensory ERPs (P50, N80, P100, and the long latency potential (LLP)) as well as increased BOLD signals in SI, SII, the inferior parietal lobe and frontal areas.

Correlation results showed that attentional modulation of SI was found to be positively correlated with attentional effects for the P50 and the LLP components (Schubert et al. 2006). The LLP component has multiple neural generators from broadly distributed locations, and is often seen as a sustained positivity Dacomitinib occurring approximately 200–500 msec post stimulus (Hämäläinen et al. 1990; Michie et al. 1987). The precise role of this later positivity remains unclear; however, several attention-based tactile ERP studies have implied that the LLP may share functional similarities to the P300 component, such that increases in the LLP amplitude is thought to reflect the amount of attentional resources devoted to a given task (Desmedt and Robertson 1977; Desmedt and Tomberg 1989; Michie et al. 1987).

They observed

They observed selleck that miR-150 levels were 3.2 fold lower in platelets of AF patients when compared

to non AF HF patients, and 1.5 fold lower in the respective AF serum samples in comparison to non AF HF. Moreover, the serum levels of (cell-free) miR-150 in AF patients were found to be correlated with platelet levels of miR-150. 184 Further investigation is required in order to assess if the markedly reduced miR-150 level in platelets and serum can be utilized as a prognostic marker for HF patients. In agreement with HF patient studies, a recent analysis of hypertension-induced HF in rats detected significantly increased plasma levels of miR-423-5p, -16,- 20b, -93, -106b, and -223. 133 The levels of these miRNAs were also measured during disease progression, at 2, 4, 6, 8 weeks after the high-salt diet onset in the salt-sensitive rats. Interestingly, some of the observed changes in miRNA expression paralleled disease progression. Specifically the levels of miR-106b and 93b showed significant upregulation at week 2 after diet onset, miR-20b at week 4, miR-19b at weeks 2 and 8, miR-423-5p at week 8 and miR-223 at weeks 6 and 8. 133 The same study also assessed the levels of miR-16, -20b, -93, -106b, -223, and miR-423-5p after treatment with ACE inhibitors or mir-208 inhibition, and reported attenuation of their

increase. These data suggest that the pattern of circulating miRNAs expression may be representative of distinct time points during HF progression, and as such they may be utilized in the prognostic setting. Additionally, early evidence indicates that circulating

miRNAs could also be used to monitor response to HF treatment. 133 MiRNA and novel therapeutic approaches for HF RNA interference as a therapeutic approach RNA interference (RNAi) technology has emerged as an effective method to manipulate gene expression. 137 Importantly, RNAi has been recently proposed as a novel therapeutic strategy for manipulating dysregulated gene expression in human disease, and the first clinical trials using RNAi therapeutics are highly promising. 138–140 The basic principle of RNAi is triggering Entinostat gene expression silencing by an 18–27 nucleotide long small RNA that identifies the target mRNA(s) via base pairing, with the most important classes of small RNAs utilized being miRNA and small interfering RNA (siRNA). 141 These two types of small RNAs have a similar course of action, but different biogenesis. MiRNAs originate from hairpin molecules containing ssRNAs (described in Section 1), whereas siRNAs originate from dsRNA which is in turn processed by Dicer and then directed to the target mRNA in the same manner as miRNA. In mammalian cells, two approaches are followed in order to achieve RNAi mediated gene silencing: the RNA- and the DNA-based approach.

Thus, electromyography equipment is usually interfaced with the T

Thus, electromyography equipment is usually interfaced with the TMS equipment and used to set the TMS pulse intensity to a sub-threshold value

that is a fixed percentage (e.g. 80%–90%) of the patient’s resting motor threshold (RMT). Typically this procedure is repeated before each TMS session. The RMT is defined as the minimum stimulation intensity that elicits a motor response to 5 of 10 TMS pulses. The RMT depends on various factors, including the integrity of motor pathways and the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical tonic level of excitability in the muscle, as well as individual scalp-to-cortex distance and effect of pharmacological treatment.17 After assessing the RMT and setting the intensity, rTMS is applied in bursts of stimuli (“trains”) using a specific frequency and inter-train interval. The number of pulses delivered is usually between 500 and 2,500, and frequencies between 5 Hz and 20 Hz are used. Coil design Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and orientation are also important. Early coils were simple circles. The later “figure-of-eight” coil uses two circular coils to induce a stronger and more focal magnetic field at their intersection. Other newer designs include the tilted double-coil

and the H-coil, which uses multiple loops to penetrate up to 8 cm or increase focality. Since the orientation Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of the magnetic field determines which neurons are affected, specific coil orientations are preferred when stimulating different brain regions. REVIEW OF THE STUDIES OF rTMS OF THE MOTOR CORTEX FOR CHRONIC PAIN Studies involving one single application of rTMS to the motor cortex have provided proof of concept for efficacy

against pain. Some involve experimental Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical induction of brief pains in healthy volunteers (reviewed in Mylius et al.18) or in patients with chronic pain. These studies were used to compare efficacy Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of different stimulation sites, specifically the primary and secondary motor selleck chemical cortices, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the primary and secondary somatosensory cortices, and the supplementary and premotor areas.18 As with epidural stimulation, stimulating the primary motor cortex generally provided the best pain relief. In contrast, depression is best treated by applying rTMS to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex—additional evidence of different anatomical Brefeldin_A substrates for NP and depression. The fact that motor but not sensory cortex stimulation relieves pain is not yet understood. Although TMS only directly affects the superficial cortex since the currents rapidly dissipate,19 the action potentials triggered propagate to influence distributed neural networks. Effects of motor cortex stimulation on chronic pain are thought to involve M1 projections to pain-modulating structures; perhaps among them are the medial thalamus, anterior cingulate/orbitofrontal cortices, and the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG).

The acquisition of efficient Nutritive Sucking (NS) skills is a f

The acquisition of efficient Nutritive Sucking (NS) skills is a fundamental and challenging milestone for newborns. It is essential during the first six months of life and it requires the complex coordination of three different processes: sucking, swallowing and breathing. The development of such precocious motor skills depends on intact brainstem pathways and cranial nerves. Hence, the the immaturity of the Central Nervous System (CNS) can affect oral motor functions [6] and/or cause the inability to successfully perform oral feeding [7�C10]. NS is one of the most precocious goal-directed action evident in a newborn’s movement repertoire, and it may provide an opportunity to investigate mechanisms of fine motor control in the neonate, as reported by Craig and Lee in [11]. For these reasons, sucking skills can provide valuable insights into the infant’s neurological status and its future development [12�C16]. Moreover, since sucking control involves similar oral motor structures to those required for coherent speech production, early sucking problems have also been suggested as predictors of significant delays in the emergence or development of speech-language skills [17,18].The importance of early sucking monitoring has been confirmed over the years, and the need for reliable instruments for neonatal sucking assessment is stressed in several works [2,4,15,19], even though no standardized instrumental assessment tools exist as yet. NS assessment is in fact part of the clinical evaluation, but this is not carried out objectively. With few objective criteria for the assessment of its progress in the hospital, and no organized home follow-up care, poor feeding skills may go undetected for too long. Notwithstanding the ongoing development of tools for the assessment of NS, there is not a common approach to this issue, thus causing problems of variability of the measurements, as highlighted by several authors [9,15,19]. Such heterogeneity represents one of the causes of the discrepant findings reported in literature, and a major challenge in applying them to clinical practice, as reported by Slattery et al. in 2012 [15]. The use of standard pre-discharge assessment tools may foster the development of common quantitative criteria useful to assist clinicians in planning clinical interventions. Such devices, or a simplified version of them, might be adopted also for patients’ follow-up, as remote monitoring of infants at home after discharge.Section 2 provides a detailed survey of the main quantities and indices measured and/or estimated to characterize sucking behavior skills and their development. Section 3 presents the main characteristics of the technological sensing solutions adopted to measure the previously identified quantities and indices.