329 research outputs found
The admission experience survey italian version (I-AES). a factor analytic study on a sample of 156 acute psychiatric in-patients
Coercive treatments are often regarded as an inevitable and yet highly debated feature of psychiatric care. Perceived coercion is often reported by patients involuntarily committed as well as their voluntary counterparts. The Admission Experience Survey (AES) is a reliable tool for measuring perceived coercion in mental hospital admission. We developed the Italian AES (I-AES) through translation back-translation and administered it to 156 acutely hospitalized patients (48% women, 69% voluntarily committed) in two university hospitals in Rome (Policlinico Umberto I, Sant'Andrea Hospital). A principal component analysis (PCA) with equamax rotation was conducted. The I-AES showed good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.90); Guttmann split-half relia- bility coefficient was 0.90. AES total score significantly differed between voluntary and involuntary committed patients (5.08 ± 4.1 vs. 8.1 ± 4.9, p < .05). PCA disclosed a three-factor solution explaining 59.3 of the variance. Some discrepancies were found between the factor structure of the I-AES and the original version. I- AES total score was positively associated with numbers of previous involuntarily hospitalization (r = 0.20, p < .05) and psychiatric symptoms' severity (r = 0.22, p < .02). I-AES and its proposed new factor structure proved to be reliable to assess perceived coercion in mental hospital admission. Consequently, it may represent a helpful instrument for the study and reduction of patients' levels of perceived coercion
Cementless Total Hip Arthroplasty After an Iatrogenic Subtrochanteric Fracture due to Hardware Removal: A Case Report
Introduction: Total hip arthroplasty (THA) after proximal femoral fixation is a challenging procedure due to possible hardware-related complications. Case presentation: A 78-year-old female with hip osteoarthritis had a proximal femoral osteotomy fixed using a blade plate in the same femur 41 years ago. A two-step approach was planned. After a challenging hardware removal, an iatrogenic subtrochanteric fracture below the degenerated hip occurred after three months. THA with a tapered long stem was successfully performed with no need for additional osteosynthesis, and good results were seen two years later. Discussion: THAs in subtrochanteric fractures are technically demanding but feasible in selected cases. Hardware removal before THA implantation may carry important risks, and the surgical team should be prepared to perform arthroplasty in case of complications. Conclusion: THA in a subtrochanteric fracture below hip osteoarthritis is a feasible option in selected cases
Postnatal development of subterranean habits in tuco-tucos Ctenomys talarum (Rodentia, Caviomorpha, Ctenomyidae)
Postnatal development of subterranean habits was investigated in Los Talas’ tuco-tuco Ctenomys talarum, a subterranean caviomorph rodent endemic from South America. Since in this species, some key morpho-functional traits related to scratch-digging behaviour—a form of underground progression—are already present during early ontogeny and develop progressively, we predicted that this behaviour expresses early during postanatal development and its performance enhances gradually from pups to adults. The process of acquisition of different behaviours associated to the construction of a burrow system was recorded in 11 individuals, each one coming from different litters, inside a terrarium filled with natural soil. We found that scratch-digging and burrowing behaviours expressed early during postnatal development, particularly, during lactancy. The digging of a “true burrow” clearly preceded the dispersal age, with a high inter-individual variability, from 18 (lactancy) to 47 (post-weaning) postnatal days. Pups could lose the soil using their foreclaws and remove the accumulated substrate using their hindfeet as adults do. During lactancy individuals could construct a simple burrow to shelter, and first burrow construction occurred in the absence of either a burrowing demonstrator or an early subterranean environment (a natal burrow). However, certain features of the complex burrow system that characterize this species, such as lateral branches and nest chamber, just appeared after weaning. The time elapsed until animals started to dig and the time dedicated to underground activities varied with age, decreasing and increasing, respectively. In sum, our results show that—in C. talarum—immature digging behaviour gets expressed early during ontogeny, and develops progressively. The role of the early ability to build its own burrow and its possible function influencing the development of musculoskeletal traits and on efficiency for such conduct is discussed.Fil: EcheverrĂa, Alejandra Isabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Biondi, Laura Marina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Becerra, Federico. Institut Max Planck for Evolutionary Anthropology; Alemania. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; ArgentinaFil: Vassallo, Aldo Iván. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones CientĂficas y TĂ©cnicas. Centro CientĂfico TecnolĂłgico Conicet - Mar del Plata. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras. Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras; Argentin
Hierarchichal-segmented AO in order to attain wide field compensation in the visible on an 8m class telescope
We describe the preliminary optimized layout for a partially optimized
concept of an optical-8m class VLT-like 2x2 segmented camera where each channel
is assisted by an equivalent of an MCAO system where the ground layer
correction is commonly employed while the high altitude ones is performed in an
open-loop fashion. While we derive the basic relationships among the Field of
View and attainable correction with a pre-defined choice for the hardware, we
discuss sky coverage and wavefront sensing issues employing natural and
artificial references, involving the latest stateof-the-art in the development
of wavefront sensing. We show that a flexible approach allow for a compensated
Field of View that is variable and can be properly tuned matching the current
turbulence situation and the requirement in term of quality of the
compensation. A preliminary description of the overall optomechanical package
is given as well along with a rough estimates of the efforts required to
translates such a concept into reality.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, in AO4ELT5 Proceeding
On the possibility to trace frozen curd in buffalo mozzarella cheese
The manufacturing of Buffalo Mozzarella PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) cheese requires the exclusive use of fresh buffalo milk, which must be transformed into cheese within 60 hours after milking. The limited availability of buffalo milk and simultaneous increase in Mozzarella demand during the summer cause producers to use frozen intermediates (milk and/or curd) in the cheese-making process. These practices are not allowed. Few data are available in the literature about the effects of freezing on buffalo milk and curd. Recent studies demonstrated that the use of frozen buffalo milk can be detected in mozzarella cheese based on the increase in casein fragment Îł4-CN. This work aims to verify the possibility of tracing the presence of frozen curd in Buffalo Mozzarella PDO cheese. The electrophoresis technique was used to reveal the presence of Îł4-CN. Equivalent concentrations of this fragment were found in fresh and frozen curd that were stored for 9 months. Our results suggest that Îł4-CN cannot be used to discriminate fresh PDO Mozzarella and Mozzarella cheese produced from frozen curd. A second objective of the work was to evaluate the effects of freezing on curd lipids. In particular, the fatty acid and mono-diglyceride profiles were evaluated. Significant differences were found in the amounts of 1,2-Dipalmitin and 1,3-Diolein between fresh curd and curd that was stored for 9 months at freezing temperatures. Although some significant differences were found in the mono-diglyceride profiles, no objective marker that can distinguish between fresh and frozen products is currently availabl
Multiple Spatial Frequencies Pyramid WaveFront Sensing
A modification of the pyramid wavefront sensor is described. In this conceptually new class of devices, the perturbations are split at the level of the focal plane depending upon their spatial frequencies, and then measured separately. The aim of this approach is to increase the accuracy in the determination of some range of spatial frequency perturbations, or a certain classes of modes, disentangling them from the noise associated to the Poissonian fluctuations of the light coming from the perturbations outside of the range of interest or from the background in the pupil planes; the latter case specifically when the pyramid wavefront sensor is used with a large modulation. While the limits and the effectiveness of this approach should be further investigated, a number of variations on the concept are shown, including a generalization of the spatial filtering in the point-diffraction wavefront sensor. The simplest application, a generalization to the pyramid of the well-known spatially filtering in wavefront sensing, is showing promise as a significant limiting magnitude advance. Applications are further speculated in the area of extreme adaptive optics and when serving spectroscopic instrumentation where “light in the bucket” rather than Strehl performance is required
Ingot Laser Guide Stars Wavefront Sensing
We revisit one class of z-invariant WaveFront sensor where the LGS is fired
aside of the telescope aperture. In this way there is a spatial dependence on
the focal plane with respect to the height where the resonant scattering
occurs. We revise the basic parameters involving the geometry and we propose
various merit functions to define how much improvement can be attained by a
z-invariant approach. We show that refractive approaches are not viable and we
discuss several solutions involving reflective ones in what has been nicknamed
"ingot wavefront sensor" discussing the degrees of freedom required to keep
tracking and the basic recipe for the optical design.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, AO4ELT5 Conference Proceeding, 201
A Holographic Diffuser Generalised Optical Differentiation Wavefront Sensor
The wavefront sensors used today at the biggest World's telescopes have
either a high dynamic range or a high sensitivity, and they are subject to a
linear trade off between these two parameters. A new class of wavefront
sensors, the Generalised Optical Differentiation Wavefront Sensors, has been
devised, in a way not to undergo this linear trade off and to decouple the
dynamic range from the sensitivity. This new class of WFSs is based on the
light filtering in the focal plane from a dedicated amplitude filter, which is
a hybrid between a linear filter, whose physical dimension is related to the
dynamic range, and a step in the amplitude, whose size is related to the
sensitivity. We propose here a possible technical implementation of this kind
of WFS, making use of a simple holographic diffuser to diffract part of the
light in a ring shape around the pin of a pyramid wavefront sensor. In this
way, the undiffracted light reaches the pin of the pyramid, contributing to the
high sensitivity regime of the WFS, while the diffused light is giving a sort
of static modulation of the pyramid, allowing to have some signal even in high
turbulence conditions. The holographic diffuser zeroth order efficiency is
strictly related to the sensitivity of the WFS, while the diffusing angle of
the diffracted light gives the amount of modulation and thus the dynamic range.
By properly choosing these two parameters it is possible to build a WFS with
high sensitivity and high dynamic range in a static fashion. Introducing
dynamic parts in the setup allows to have a set of different diffuser that can
be alternated in front of the pyramid, if the change in the seeing conditions
requires it.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
on prefermentative maceration techniques statistical analysis of sensory descriptors in sangiovese wine
SummaryThe analysis of wine sensory descriptors is a fundamental step in the improvement of wine making, because the procedures are judged just before bottled wine is ready for consumption. Despite several contributions in the literature, traditional analysis of variance methods are not adequate to analyse sensory descriptors, because they are defined on ordinal scales. In this paper, we exploit cumulative link mixed models in a three-way full factorial design to assess the effect of prefermentative maceration, temperature and saignée on wine sensory descriptors. Using cumulative link mixed models, the bias introduced by assessors' judgement and the ordinal scale of sensory descriptors are taken into account. The results were the following: the application of prefermentative maceration techniques did not lead to an improvement in the sensory profile of wines after a year from bottling; wines treated with saignée showed greater intensity in olfactive descriptors; and higher fermentation temperatures resulted in wines that were generally more concentrated
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