Directional lithium hydride Compton profiles of 0.1% statistical accuracy

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Maternal alexithymia and attachment style: Which relationship with their children's headache features and psychological profile?

Introduction: A growing body of literature has shown an association between somatic symptoms and insecure "attachment style." In a recent study, we found a relationship between migraine severity, ambivalent attachment style, and psychological symptoms in children/adolescents. There is evidence that caregivers' attachment styles and their way of management/expression of emotions can influence children's psychological profile and pain expression. To date, data dealing with headache are scarce. Our aim was to study the role of maternal alexithymia and attachment style on their children's migraine severity, attachment style, and psychological profile. Materials and methods: We enrolled 84 consecutive patients suffering from migraine without aura (female: 45, male: 39; mean age 11.8 ± 2.4 years). According to headache frequency, children/adolescents were divided into two groups: (1) high frequency (patients reporting from weekly to daily attacks), and (2) low frequency (patients having ≤3 episodes per month). We divided headache attacks intensity into two groups (mild and severe pain). SAFA "Anxiety," "Depression," and "Somatization" scales were used to explore children's psychological profile. To evaluate attachment style, the semi-projective test SAT for patients and ASQ Questionnaire for mothers were employed. Maternal alexithymia traits were assessed by TAS-20. Results: We found a significant higher score in maternal alexithymia levels in children classified as "ambivalent," compared to those classified as "avoiding" (Total scale: p = 0.011). A positive correlation has been identified between mother's TAS-20 Total score and the children's SAFA-A Total score (p = 0.026). In particular, positive correlations were found between maternal alexithymia and children's "Separation anxiety" (p = 0.009) and "School anxiety" (p = 0.015) subscales. Maternal "Externally-oriented thinking" subscale correlated with children's school anxiety (p = 0.050). Moreover, we found a correlation between TAS-20 Total score and SAFA-D "Feeling of guilt" subscale (p = 0.014). Our data showed no relationship between TAS-20 and ASQ questionnaires and children's migraine intensity and frequency. Conclusion: Maternal alexithymia and attachment style have no impact on children's migraine severity. However, our results suggest that, although maternal alexithymic traits have no causative roles on children's migraine severity, they show a relationship with patients' attachment style and psychological symptoms, which in turn may impact on migraine severity

Evaluation of the prognostic value of liver stiffness in patients with hepatitis C virus treated with triple or dual antiviral therapy: A prospective pilot study

AIM: To evaluate the association between liver stiffness (LS) prior to the initiation of dual/triple therapy and viral response. METHODS: LS was measured in all patients before treatment was administered. The therapeutic approach was based on hepatic, virological, and immunological evaluations and considered the fact that patients with severe fibrosis (F3) or compensated cirrhosis (F4) in Child-Pugh class A are the primary candidates for triple therapy. In total, 65 hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients were treated with Peg-interferon/ribavirin (Peg-IFN/RBV); 24 patients were classified as genotypes 1/4 (36.92%), and 41 patients were classified as genotypes 2/3 (63.08%) (dual therapy). In addition, 20 HCV treatment-experienced genotype 1 patients were treated with PegIFN-RBV and boceprevir (triple therapy). Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used to compare the groups. RESULTS: LS significantly differed between dual therapy and triple therapy (P = 0.002). The mean LS value before dual therapy treatment was 8.61 ± 5.79 kPa and was significantly different between patients achieving a sustained virologic response (SVR) 24 weeks after therapy and those who did not (7.23 ± 5.18 kPa vs 11.72 ± 5.99 kPa, respectively, P = 0.0003). The relative risk of non-response to therapy was 4.45 (95%CI: 2.32-8.55). The attributable risk of non-response to therapy was 49%. The mean LS value before triple therapy treatment was 13.29 ± 8.57 kPa and was significantly different between patients achieving and not achieving SVR24 (9.41 ± 5.05 vs 19.11 ± 9.74, respectively; P = 0.008). The relative risk of non-response to therapy was 5.57% (95%CI: 1.50-20.65). The attributable risk of non-response to therapy (70%) was increased compared with dual therapy patients. Pre-treatment stiffness > 12 kPa was significantly associated with non-SVR (P < 0.025) in both groups. CONCLUSION: Pre-treatment liver stiffness may be useful for predicting the response to treatment in patients treated with either dual or triple anti-HCV therapy

Long-term effect of HCV eradication in patients with mixed cryoglobulinemia: A prospective, controlled, open-label, cohort study

Limited data are available about the efficacy of antiviral treatment in hepatitis C virus (HCV)-associated mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC), especially concerning the long-term effects of HCV eradication. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of MC on the virological response and the long-term effects of viral eradication on MC. We prospectively enrolled 424 HCV+ patients belonging to the following groups: MCS-HCV (121 patients with symptomatic MC); MC-HCV (132 patients with asymptomatic MC); HCV group (158 patients without MC). Peg-IFN+RBV treatment was administered according to standard protocols. Post-treatment follow-up ranged from 35 to 124 months (mean: 92.5 months). A significant difference was observed in the rate of sustained virological response (SVR) between HCV and both MC-HCV (p=0.009) and MC-HCV+MCS-HCV (p=0.014) groups. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified cryoglobulinemia as an independent prognostic factor of non-response. The clinical-immunological response in MCS-HCV correlated with the virological one. All patients with SVR also experienced a sustained clinical response, either complete or partial. In the majority of SVR patients all MCS symptoms persistently disappeared (36 patients, 57%); in only 2 (3%) did definite MCS persist. All virological non-responders were also clinical non-responders, in spite of a transient improvement in some cases. No evolution to lymphoma was observed. For the first time we have evaluated both the effects of IFN-based therapy on HCV patients with or without MC, and with or without symptoms, and the long-term effects of viral eradication on MC. MC was shown to be a negative prognostic factor of virological response. HCV clearance led to persistent resolution or improvement of MC syndrome, strongly suggesting the need for a next generation of highly effective antiviral drugs

Management of peritoneal carcinomatosis with cytoreductive surgery combined with intraperitoneal chemohyperthermia at a novel italian center

Background: Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) is a common manifestation of many gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies and is an advanced stage that is often associated with disseminated disease. Considerable progress has been made to achieve safe elimination of macroscopic disease using cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and more recently in combination with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) for the treatment of microscopic disease or disease with minimal volume. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of such procedures on the quality of life (QoL), the long-term benefit and the functional status of the treated patients. Patients and Methods: Data from patients who underwent CRS-HIPEC for peritoneal metastasis (PM) at our center from November 2016 to November 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. The drugs administered were mitomycin and cisplatin. Quality of life (QoL) was assessed using the Euroquol-5D-5L and National Comprehensive Cancer Network Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast Cancer Symptom Index v2 questionnaires before CRS-HIPEC, and 1, 3 and 6 months after were administered. Results: In our series, the survival efficacy of CRS plus HIPEC was confirmed in the treatment of primary and secondary peritoneal pathologies, particularly in ovarian cancer, although larger studies are needed to investigate its role in the pathology of gastric, colonic and rectal cancer. The QoL data were promising, with essentially stable values between the preoperative and the 1-month follow-up, but with incremental benefits from the second to the third month

Diferenciación de parámetros de calidad de soja según zona agroecológica de producción. Noviembre 2021

Objetivo específico de la línea, es cuantificar parámetros de calidad industrial del grano de soja (proteína y aceite) según zona agroecológica de producciónEEA BalcarceFil: Carpaneto, Bárbara Betina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina.Fil: Montoya, Marina Rosa. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina.Fil: Quiroz, Facundo José. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina.Fil: Erreguerena, Juan María. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina.Fil: Lanzavecchia, Luis Agustín. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; Argentina.Fil: Izquierdo, Natalia. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias; Argentina.Fil: Izquierdo, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina.Fil: Boldrini, Daniel. Cámara Arbitral de la Bolsa de Cereales; Argentina.Fil: Gavarrino, Gabriel. Cámara Arbitral de la Bolsa de Cereales; Argentina

Roadmap on thermoelectricity

The increasing energy demand and the ever more pressing need for clean technologies of energy conversion pose one of the most urgent and complicated issues of our age. Thermoelectricity, namely the direct conversion of waste heat into electricity, is a promising technique based on a long-standing physical phenomenon, which still has not fully developed its potential, mainly due to the low efficiency of the process. In order to improve the thermoelectric performance, a huge effort is being made by physicists, materials scientists and engineers, with the primary aims of better understanding the fundamental issues ruling the improvement of the thermoelectric figure of merit, and finally building the most efficient thermoelectric devices. In this Roadmap an overview is given about the most recent experimental and computational results obtained within the Italian research community on the optimization of composition and morphology of some thermoelectric materials, as well as on the design of thermoelectric and hybrid thermoelectric/photovoltaic devices

Search for new particles in events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum in proton-proton collisions at root s=13 TeV

A search is presented for new particles produced at the LHC in proton-proton collisions at root s = 13 TeV, using events with energetic jets and large missing transverse momentum. The analysis is based on a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 101 fb(-1), collected in 2017-2018 with the CMS detector. Machine learning techniques are used to define separate categories for events with narrow jets from initial-state radiation and events with large-radius jets consistent with a hadronic decay of a W or Z boson. A statistical combination is made with an earlier search based on a data sample of 36 fb(-1), collected in 2016. No significant excess of events is observed with respect to the standard model background expectation determined from control samples in data. The results are interpreted in terms of limits on the branching fraction of an invisible decay of the Higgs boson, as well as constraints on simplified models of dark matter, on first-generation scalar leptoquarks decaying to quarks and neutrinos, and on models with large extra dimensions. Several of the new limits, specifically for spin-1 dark matter mediators, pseudoscalar mediators, colored mediators, and leptoquarks, are the most restrictive to date.Peer reviewe

Probing effective field theory operators in the associated production of top quarks with a Z boson in multilepton final states at root s=13 TeV

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