The 'antisocial' person: an insight in to biology, classification and current evidence on treatment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This review analyses and summarises the recent advances in understanding the neurobiology of violence and empathy, taxonomical issues on defining personality disorders characterised by disregard for social norms, evidence for efficacy of different treatment modalities and ethical implications in defining 'at-risk' individuals for preventive interventions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>PubMed was searched with the keywords 'antisocial personality disorder', 'dissocial personality disorder' and 'psychopathy'. The search was limited to articles published in English over the last 10 years (1999 to 2009)</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Both diagnostic manuals used in modern psychiatry, the <it>Diagnostic and Statistical Manual </it>published by the American Psychiatric Association and the <it>International Classification of Diseases </it>published by the World Health Organization, identify a personality disorder sharing similar traits. It is termed antisocial personality disorder in the diagnostic and statistical manual and dissocial personality disorder in the <it>International Classification of Diseases</it>. However, some authors query the ability of the existing manuals to identify a special category termed 'psychopathy', which in their opinion deserves special attention. On treatment-related issues, many psychological and behavioural therapies have shown success rates ranging from 25% to 62% in different cohorts. Multisystemic therapy and cognitive behaviour therapy have been proven efficacious in many trials. There is no substantial evidence for the efficacy of pharmacological therapy. Currently, the emphasis is on early identification and prevention of antisocial behaviour despite the ethical implications of defining at-risk children.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Further research is needed in the areas of neuroendocrinological associations of violent behaviour, taxonomic existence of psychopathy and efficacy of treatment modalities.</p

The role of spectrophotometry in the diagnosis of melanoma

Background. Spectrophotometry (SPT) could represent a promising technique for the diagnosis of cutaneous melanoma (CM) at earlier stages of the disease. Starting from our experience, we further assessed the role of SPT in CM early detection. Methods. During a health campaign for malignant melanoma at National Cancer Institute of Naples, we identified a subset of 54 lesions to be addressed to surgical excision and histological examination. Before surgery, all patients were investigated by clinical and epiluminescence microscopy (ELM) screenings; selected lesions underwent spectrophotometer analysis. For SPT, we used a video spectrophotometer imaging system (Spectroshade® MHT S.p.A., Verona, Italy). Results. Among the 54 patients harbouring cutaneous pigmented lesions, we performed comparison between results from the SPT screening and the histological diagnoses as well as evaluation of both sensitivity and specificity in detecting CM using either SPT or conventional approaches. For all pigmented lesions, agreement between histology and SPT classification was 57.4%. The sensitivity and specificity of SPT in detecting melanoma were 66.6% and 76.2%, respectively. Conclusions. Although SPT is still considered as a valuable diagnostic tool for CM, its low accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity represent the main hamper for the introduction of such a methodology in clinical practice. Dermoscopy remains the best diagnostic tool for the preoperative diagnosis of pigmented skin lesions

Business strategies in geothermal energy market: A citizens-based perspective

The development of geothermal energy can be hindered by both technical and socio-economic issues. Technical issues are associated with the intrinsic characteristics of geothermal energy and the ways in which is exploited, whereas socio-economic ones arise from the interplay between companies and stakeholders, affected to some extent in the development of geothermal energy. In this contribution, we analysed possible determinants of the relationship between companies and citizens. On the one hand, citizens represent a key stakeholder for energy companies that want to develop a geothermal energy facility. On the other hand, they represent the potential end users of technology providers’ products. Accordingly, geothermal energy companies and technology providers are called upon to take action for involving citizens and overcome the related tensions with them. In particular, geothermal energy companies need to face social acceptance issues when developing geothermal energy facilities. In order to achieve a better understanding of these issues, we have analysed suitable strategies and practices from the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) perspective, which is becoming a common reference point for geothermal energy companies that need to manage stakeholders’ involvement. Technology providers, instead, aim at fostering the adoption of geothermal energy systems at building level. In order to investigate the related dynamics, in this chapter we present an analysis of the most popular promotion and risk sharing strategies and practices that are in place among geothermal players. Among such strategies and practices, two themes emerged as key blocks for citizens’ involvement: information and trust. By comparing CSR, promotion and risk sharing strategies and actions, we provide energy companies and technology providers with some suggestions to achieve local acceptance of geothermal facilities