117 research outputs found
Reducing the meta-emotional problem decreases physiological fear response during exposure in phobics
Anxiety disorders may not only be characterized by specific symptomatology (e.g.,
tachycardia) in response to the fearful stimulus (primary problem or first-level emotion)
but also by the tendency to negatively evaluate oneself for having those symptoms
(secondary problem or negative meta-emotion). An exploratory study was conducted
driven by the hypothesis that reducing the secondary or meta-emotional problem would
also diminish the fear response to the phobic stimulus. Thirty-three phobic participants
were exposed to the phobic target before and after undergoing a psychotherapeutic
intervention addressed to reduce the meta-emotional problem or a control condition.
The electrocardiogram was continuously recorded to derive heart rate (HR) and heart
rate variability (HRV) and affect ratings were obtained. Addressing the meta-emotional
problem had the effect of reducing the physiological but not the subjective symptoms
of anxiety after phobic exposure. Preliminary findings support the role of the metaemotional
problem in the maintenance of response to the fearful stimulus (primary
problem)
Molecular profile of sensitization in subjects with short occupational exposure to latex
Objectives: We examined the prevalence of latex allergy in subjects with occupational exposure to latex allergens for less than
5 years, determining the disease spectrum in symptomatic workers. We identified the most frequent molecular allergens by Immuno-
CAP (ICAP), correlating the findings with skin prick test (SPT) results. Material and Methods: Seven hundred twenty-three healthcare
students using latex gloves on a regular basis were invited to participate in a baseline questionnaire screening. An ICAP serum
test was performed only when a possible latex allergy was indicated by the questionnaire. Results: The total number of participants
responding to the baseline survey was 619. Glove-related symptoms were indicated by 4% (N = 25) of the students. The most
common symptom was contact dermatitis (N = 18, 72%). In 12 subjects, ICAP revealed a real sensitization to latex, with a recombinant
latex allergen profile showing a high frequency for rHev b 6.01 specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) (N = 9, 67%). In these
individuals, skin symptoms were more prevalent than other types (88%). Conclusions: The combined positivity for rHev b 6.01,
rHev 8 and rHev b 5 determined by ICAP identified 92% of latex-allergic subjects with short-term exposure to latex
A family of filters to search for frequency dependent gravitational wave stochastic backgrounds
We consider a three dimensional family of filters based on broken power law
spectra to search for gravitational wave stochastic backgrounds in the data
from Earth-based laser interferometers. We show that such templates produce the
necessary fitting factor for a wide class of cosmological backgrounds and
astrophysical foregrounds and that the total number of filters required to
search for those signals in the data from first generation laser
interferometers operating at the design sensitivity is fairly smallComment: 4 pages, 4 figures, uses iopart.cls, accepted for publications on
Classical and Quantum Gravity (Special Issue, Proceedings of Amaldi 2003
The impact of COVID-19 on Italian adolescents’ sleep and its association with psychological factors
Insomnia and circadian dysregulation during adolescence represent important risk factors for emotional and psychological problems. Recent studies have shown that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been linked to a high prevalence of behavioural sleep problems in the general population. This study aimed to provide two pictures of two different time points of the pandemic regarding the prevalence of sleep problems in adolescents and their association with psychological health variables. Two different independent large samples of Italian adolescents aged 13–17 years were recruited at two pandemic time points. A total of 1,146 adolescents at Time 1 (T1; April 2020) and 1,406 at Time 2 (T2; April 2021) took part in the study. Measures of insomnia symptoms, sleep hygiene, chronotype, psychological distress and emotion regulation were collected. Prevalence of insomnia was 12.13% at T1 and 23.19% at T2. Furthermore, high levels of poor sleep habits (late bedtime, poor sleep hygiene, use of electronic devices at bedtime) were also detected at both time points. Insomnia symptoms strongly correlated with poor sleep hygiene, higher psychological distress, and emotional suppression at both time points. Results highlighted an alarming picture for two large samples at two different time points of the pandemic that showed a potential negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, in both the first outbreak and in the later phase of the pandemic, on sleep habits, psychological distress and insomnia symptoms in adolescents. This strongly suggests the need for monitoring these variables and their interaction in the post-pandemic period and to develop and promote interventions for insomnia and circadian disturbances during adolescence
Black Hole Entropy from Loop Quantum Gravity
We argue that the statistical entropy relevant for the thermal interactions
of a black hole with its surroundings is (the logarithm of) the number of
quantum microstates of the hole which are distinguishable from the hole's
exterior, and which correspond to a given hole's macroscopic configuration. We
compute this number explicitly from first principles, for a Schwarzschild black
hole, using nonperturbative quantum gravity in the loop representation. We
obtain a black hole entropy proportional to the area, as in the
Bekenstein-Hawking formula.Comment: 5 pages, latex-revtex, no figure
Down and out in Italian towns: measuring the impact of economic downturns on crime
The paper investigates the effect of local economic conditions on crime. The study focuses on Italy’s local labor markets and analyzes the response of crime to the severe slump of 2007-2011. It shows that the downturn led to a significant increase in economic-related offenses that do not require particular criminal skills or tools (namely, thefts)
Effective Lagrangian for Quantum Black Holes
We discuss the most general effective Lagrangian obtained from the assumption
that the degrees of freedom to be quantized, in a black hole, are on the
horizon. The effective Lagrangian depends only on the induced metric and the
extrinsic curvature of the (fluctuating) horizon, and the possible operators
can be arranged in an expansion in powers of \mpl/M, where \mpl is the
Planck mass and the black hole mass. We perform a semiclassical expansion
of the action with a formalism which preserves general covariance explicitly.
Quantum fluctuations over the classical solutions are described by a single
scalar field living in the 2+1 dimensional world-volume swept by the horizon,
with a given coupling to the background geometry. We discuss the resulting
field theory and we compute the black hole entropy with our formalism.Comment: 24 pages, Latex, Nucl. Phys. B, to appea
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