Depressive symptom and oncological uncontrolled pain: assessment and evaluation in 562 patients

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FIRST ASSESSMENTS ON HERITAGE SCIENCE ORIENTED IMAGE-BASED MODELING USING LOW-COST MODIFIED AND MOBILE CAMERAS

Three-dimensional modeling of cultural heritage, especially concerning large scale studies, as for example, archaeometry, diagnostics and conservation intervention applications, which usually require high-resolution and multi-spectral analyses, necessitates the use of complicate and often expensive equipment. Recent developments regarding low-cost commercially available spectrally modified digital reflex cameras, smartphones with good quality image sensors, mobile thermal cameras in combination with automated or semi-automated photogrammetric software implementing Structure from Motion (SfM) and Multiview Stereo (MVS) algorithms constitute some cheaper and simpler alternatives. Although, the results of the integration of these types of sensors and techniques are often not evaluated as metric products. The presented research combines the above-mentioned instrumentation and software to implement and evaluate low-cost 3D modeling solutions on heritage science-oriented case studies, but also to perform some first assessments on the resulting models' metric properties, quality of texture and usefulness for further scientific investigations

Personality matters: relationship between personality characteristics, spirituality, demoralization, and perceived quality of life in a sample of end-of-life cancer patients

Purpose: Personality could be an interesting dimension to explore in end-of-life cancer patients, in order to investigate how personality affects quality of life. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the relationship among personality through the Big Five Inventory (BFI), spirituality, and demoralization and to explore their impact on their quality of life. Methods: A sample of 210 end-of-life Italian cancer patients were assessed with the BFI, the Demoralization Scale (DS), the Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Spiritual Well-Being (FACIT-SP-12), the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy Scale–General Measure (FACT-G), and the Karnofsky performance status. Results: Correlational analysis highlighted a significantly negative relationship between extraversion and agreeableness traits and all the demoralization dimensions. On the other side, neuroticism trait was significantly and positively correlated with the Demoralization Scale (p < 0.01). To understand the impact of these variables on quality of life (FACT-G), we performed a hierarchical multiple regression: in the final model, demoralization remained the strongest contributing factor (β = − 0.509, p < 0.001), followed by neuroticism (β = − 0.175, p < 0.001), spirituality (β = 0.163, p = 0.015), and Karnofsky index (β = 0.115, p = 0.012). Conclusion: Our data underlined how both the neuroticism trait and demoralization are correlated with a worst health status in terminal cancer patients, whereas spirituality is a protective factor. The study of personality may allow to better understand the inner patient’s experience and improve communication between patient and healthcare staff in order to build and apply better-tailored psychological treatment

Interprofessional Communication Team for Caregivers of Patients Hospitalized in the COVID-19 Wards: Results From an Italian Experience

Background: During the COVID-19 pandemic, emergency restrictions did not allow clinician family meetings and relatives' visits. In Molinette Hospital, a new communication model between healthcare providers and families of COVID-19 affected patients was developed by a team of physicians and psychologists. The study's aims were to investigate caregivers' distress and to analyse their satisfaction with the communications provided. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among caregivers of patients of Molinette Hospital COVID wards. Between April and June 2020, all caregivers were contacted 2 weeks after the patient's discharge/death to assess their satisfaction with the communications received through an online survey. Results: A total of 155 caregivers completed the survey. Caregivers' distress level was found to be higher in women than men (p = 0.048) and in caregivers whose relative died compared to the caregivers whose relative was discharged (p < 0.001). More than 85% of caregivers defined communication “excellent”/“very good”; being male was associated with higher satisfaction levels than women (β = −0.165, p = 0.046). Besides daily communication, 63 caregivers (40.6%) received additional support from a psychologist of the team. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study presenting, in an emergency, a new model of communication provided by a team of physicians and psychologists, and analyzing satisfaction with it. This model was highly appreciated by caregivers and it limited the discomfort caused by the restrictions on relatives' visits. It would be interesting to further evaluate the possibility of extending a communication model that includes doctors and psychologists in routine clinical practice

DNA minor-groove binders. Design, synthesis and biological evaluation of ligands structurally related to CC-1065, distamycin, and anthramycin

Abstract Many natural and synthetic anticancer agents with the ability to interact with DNA have been discovered, but most have little sequence-specificity and often exhibit severe toxicity to normal tissues. Thus, there has been considerable interest in molecular biology and human medicine to find small molecules that can alkylate the DNA in a sequence-specific manner and modify the function of nucleic acids irreversibly. Analogs of naturally occurring antitumor agents, such as distamycin A, which bind in the minor groove of DNA, represent a new class of anticancer compounds currently under investigation. Distamycin A has driven researchers' attention not only for its biological activity, but also for its nonintercalative binding to the minor groove of double-stranded B-DNA, where it forms a strong reversible complex preferentially at the nucleotide sequences consisting of 4-5 adjacent adenine-thymine (AT) base pairs. The pyrrole-amide skeleton of distamycin A has been also used as DNA sequence-selective vehicles for the delivery of alkylating functions to DNA targets, leading to a sharp increase of its cytotoxicity, in comparison to that, very weak, of distamycin itself. In the last few years, several hybrid compounds, in which derivatives of naturally occurring antitumor agents, such as anthramycin or the alkylating unit of the antibiotic CC-1065, have been tethered to distamycin frames. The DNA alkylating and cytotoxic activities against several tumor cell lines are reported and discussed in terms of their structural differences in relation to both the number of N-methyl pyrrole rings and the type of alkylating unit tethered to the oligopeptidic frame