What does the intention to be a volunteer for a student with autism predict? the role of cognitive brain types and emotion and behavior characteristics

The study was designed to verify which cognitive brain types and behaviors in classroom predicted the intention to volunteer to become a peer buddy for a student with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Five hundred and sixteen adolescents attending the first grade of public high schools were enrolled. Gender-related differences were discussed according to the empathizing-systemizing theory. As expected, empathy and prosocial behavior predicted volunteering in ASD intervention. We conclude that the selection of peers as intervention agents should require more informative sources. Clinical and research implications are discussedEste estudio se diseñó para verificar qué tipos de cerebro cognitivo y comportamientos en el aula predecían la intención de ofrecerse voluntario a acompañar a un alumno con trastorno del espectro autista (TEA). Se apuntaron 516 adolescentes de primer curso de enseñanza secundaria. Se abordaron las diferencias relativas al género de acuerdo a la teoría empatía-sistematización. Según lo esperado, la empatía y el comportamiento prosocial predecían la voluntariedad para intervenir en el TEA. Se concluye que la elección de compañeros como agentes de intervención necesitaría de más fuentes de información. Se comentan las implicaciones clínicas y de investigació

Beyond flight or fight: developmental changes in young children's coping with peer conflict

This research provides summarizes an observational study of children’s spontaneous reactions to peer initiated conflict. Drawing from sociolinguistics analyses of family disputes, we sought to isolate children’s styles of coping with peer provocations. More than 900 episodes of spontaneous conflict were observed in eight preschool groups of children from three to five years of age (78 girls and 72 boys). Reactions to physical attacks, object struggles, as well as verbal and disruptive conflict were coded in five categories: counter-attack, flight, emotional display, negotiate, and seek help. Theoretically driven cluster analyses of reactions to provocation revealed four distinct modes of coping: Fight, Flight, Standoff and Mediate. Differences in coping were systematically related to observer evaluations of individual differences in psychosocial adjustment, and to teacher reports on children’s conflict management. Findings support a developmental model with both quantitative and qualitative changes in reactions to peer conflic

Diventare ingegnere un gioco da ragazze

La mancanza di ragazze nelle facoltà tecnico-scientifiche ha un costo economico e sociale molto alto, questo è ormai un dato di fatto di cui sono consapevoli anche i governi. Alla Sapienza alcune donne hanno cercato di capire cosa c'è che non va e cosa si può fare per cambiar

Dalla realizzazione dello spazio europeo della ricerca allo sviluppo economico. Verso il superamento degli squilibri di genere: il caso dell’Università La Sapienza

La realizzazione dell’European Research Area (ERA) si basa su cinque priorità, interrelate e interdipendenti e che dovrebbero essere implementate in maniera sinergica sia a livello di Stati membri sia di singola istituzione in ciascun Paese. Per le singole università o centri di ricerca, le priorità richiedono l’allocazione dei fondi su base competitiva, trasparente e basata su peer-review internazionale, la pubblicizzazione delle open position a livello internazionale, l’accesso, lo sviluppo e il trasferimento di conoscenza attraverso strumenti digitali e l’implementazione di un Gender Equality Plan (GEP) di ateneo. Il lavoro richiama brevemente le interrelazioni esistenti tra superamento degli squilibri di genere e sviluppo economico. Delinea le caratteristiche di genere di Sapienza Università di Roma, il più grande ateneo d’Europa, che rappresenta circa il 7% del sistema universitario italiano, anche in relazione alle medie Europea e Italiana. Propone alcune misure per incrementare l'accesso delle ragazze alle facoltà scientifiche e tecnologiche e mitigare gli effetti della segregazione orizzontale. Presenta infine le principali misure di policy che potrebbero favorire l’implementazione dell’ERA, delineando un GEP adeguato a far convergere le strategie di un grande ateneo con quelle indicate dall’ERA, per generare occupazione e crescita in un Paese con ancora troppo bassi livelli di investimento in Ricerca e Sviluppo e senza slanci per il futuro, come dimostra il modesto obiettivo del 1.5% per il 2020 (Comunicazione della Commissione Europea COM 2014 339 del 10 giugno 2014)

Mutations in SLC25A22: hyperprolinaemia, vacuolated fibroblasts and presentation with developmental delay

Mutations in SLC25A22 are known to cause neonatal epileptic encephalopathy and migrating partial seizures in infancy. Using whole exome sequencing we identified four novel SLC25A22 mutations in six children from three families. Five patients presented clinical features similar to those in the literature including hypotonia, refractory neonatal‐onset seizures and developmental delay. However, the sixth patients presented atypically with isolated developmental delay, developing late‐onset (absence) seizures only at 7 years of age. Abnormal metabolite levels have not been documented in the nine patients described previously. One patient in our series was referred to the metabolic clinic because of persistent hyperprolinaemia and another three had raised plasma proline when tested. Analysis of the post‐prandial plasma amino acid response in one patient showed abnormally high concentrations of several amino acids. This suggested that, in the fed state, when amino acids are the preferred fuel for the liver, trans‐deamination of amino acids requires transportation of glutamate into liver mitochondria by SLC25A22 for deamination by glutamate dehydrogenase; SLC25A22 is an important mitochondrial glutamate transporter in liver as well as in brain. Electron microscopy of patient fibroblasts demonstrated widespread vacuolation containing neutral and phospho‐lipids as demonstrated by Oil Red O and Sudan Black tinctorial staining; this might be explained by impaired activity of the proline/pyrroline‐5‐carboxylate (P5C) shuttle if SLC25A22 transports pyrroline‐5‐carboxylate/glutamate‐γ‐semialdehyde as well as glutamate

Negative parental responses to coming out and family functioning in a sample of lesbian and gay young adults

Parental responses to youths' coming out (CO) are crucial to the subsequent adjustment of children and family. The present study investigated the negative parental reaction to the disclosure of same-sex attraction and the differences between maternal and paternal responses, as reported by their homosexual daughters and sons. Participants' perceptions of their parents' reactions (evaluated through the Perceived Parental Reactions Scale, PPRS), age at coming out, gender, parental political orientation, and religiosity involvement, the family functioning (assessed through the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales, FACES IV), were assessed in 164 Italian gay and lesbian young adults. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relation between family functioning and parental reaction to CO. The paired sample t-test was used to compare mothers and fathers' scores on the PPRS. Hierarchical multiple regression was conducted to analyze the relevance of each variable. No differences were found between mothers and fathers in their reaction to the disclosure. The analysis showed that a negative reaction to coming out was predicted by parents' right-wing political conservatism, strong religious beliefs, and higher scores in the scales Rigid and Enmeshed. Findings confirm that a negative parental reaction is the result of poor family resources to face a stressful situation and a strong belief in traditional values. These results have important implications in both clinical and social fields

Evaluating the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale in Italian Young Children: An Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling Approach

The study analyzed the factorial and concurrent validity of the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS) using an Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM) approach. Participants were 368 Italian children aged 3 to 6 (M = 4.60, SD = 0.98). The three-factor ESEM solution fit the data better than the classical confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) model and the measurement invariance of the scale was confirmed across sex and age (3-4 vs. 5-6 years) groups. The concurrent validity of the STRS was investigated within the ESEM approach using children’s social behaviors as validity criteria. Findings supported the goodness of ESEM over CFA and attested to the validity of the STRS to understanding the teacher-child relationship quality in young children

Epilepsy due to PNPO mutations: genotype, environment and treatment affect presentation and outcome

Mutations in PNPO are a known cause of neonatal onset seizures that are resistant to pyridoxine but responsive to pyridoxal phosphate (PLP). Mills etal. show that PNPO mutations can also cause neonatal onset seizures that respond to pyridoxine but worsen with PLP, as well as PLP-responsive infantile spasm

Optimizing Therapy to Prevent Avoidable Hospital Admissions in Multimorbid Older Adults (OPERAM): cluster randomised controlled trial.

OBJECTIVE To examine the effect of optimising drug treatment on drug related hospital admissions in older adults with multimorbidity and polypharmacy admitted to hospital. DESIGN Cluster randomised controlled trial. SETTING 110 clusters of inpatient wards within university based hospitals in four European countries (Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, and Republic of Ireland) defined by attending hospital doctors. PARTICIPANTS 2008 older adults (≥70 years) with multimorbidity (≥3 chronic conditions) and polypharmacy (≥5 drugs used long term). INTERVENTION Clinical staff clusters were randomised to usual care or a structured pharmacotherapy optimisation intervention performed at the individual level jointly by a doctor and a pharmacist, with the support of a clinical decision software system deploying the screening tool of older person's prescriptions and screening tool to alert to the right treatment (STOPP/START) criteria to identify potentially inappropriate prescribing. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE Primary outcome was first drug related hospital admission within 12 months. RESULTS 2008 older adults (median nine drugs) were randomised and enrolled in 54 intervention clusters (963 participants) and 56 control clusters (1045 participants) receiving usual care. In the intervention arm, 86.1% of participants (n=789) had inappropriate prescribing, with a mean of 2.75 (SD 2.24) STOPP/START recommendations for each participant. 62.2% (n=491) had ≥1 recommendation successfully implemented at two months, predominantly discontinuation of potentially inappropriate drugs. In the intervention group, 211 participants (21.9%) experienced a first drug related hospital admission compared with 234 (22.4%) in the control group. In the intention-to-treat analysis censored for death as competing event (n=375, 18.7%), the hazard ratio for first drug related hospital admission was 0.95 (95% confidence interval 0.77 to 1.17). In the per protocol analysis, the hazard ratio for a drug related hospital admission was 0.91 (0.69 to 1.19). The hazard ratio for first fall was 0.96 (0.79 to 1.15; 237 v 263 first falls) and for death was 0.90 (0.71 to 1.13; 172 v 203 deaths). CONCLUSIONS Inappropriate prescribing was common in older adults with multimorbidity and polypharmacy admitted to hospital and was reduced through an intervention to optimise pharmacotherapy, but without effect on drug related hospital admissions. Additional efforts are needed to identify pharmacotherapy optimisation interventions that reduce inappropriate prescribing and improve patient outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02986425