Adapting to Cancer with Body, Mind, and Heart: Psychological,Psychophysiological Assessment and Management in Sample of Ovarian Cancer Survivors

Objective: Ovarian cancer survivors often develop severe psychological disorders and impairments in social, familial, and sexual functioning. They experience a withdrawal from intimate relationship, fear and body shame, and a condition of unrelenting distress. Heart rate variability (HRV) is a physiological parameter that, when reduced, is index of higher distress. The quantitative observational study aimed at understanding the relationship between psychological adjustment, distress, and quality of life. Methods: 44 women, consecutively recruited at the Oncological service of the Gynecological Dept., filled questionnaires investigating social support, body image, coping strategies and quality of life and recorded short-term HRV. Results: significant correlations appeared between: quality of life functioning scales and body image, perceived social support and coping strategies; perceived support from the significant other and HRV (r=339 p <05), role functioning and HRV (r=479 p<001). Simple regressions on HRV showed the effect of the significant other’s support (F=4.27 p<05) and of role functioning (F=9.810 p<001), while body image showed its effect on quality of life (F=4.18 p<05). Multiple regression on HRV showed the effect of body image (β=453), support from friends (β=-435) and avoidance (β=-391) while fatalism showed an effect on quality of life (β=364, p<05). Conclusion: Higher concerns on body image seem linked to a worsened day-to-day life. Reporting these concerns contributes to raise HRV, while better emotive disclosure reduces emotional distress. Social support positively influences quality of life and HRV. Fatalism facilitates cancer acceptance process. Proper emotive disclosure may have a positive impact on life quality

A comprehensive overview of radioguided surgery using gamma detection probe technology

The concept of radioguided surgery, which was first developed some 60 years ago, involves the use of a radiation detection probe system for the intraoperative detection of radionuclides. The use of gamma detection probe technology in radioguided surgery has tremendously expanded and has evolved into what is now considered an established discipline within the practice of surgery, revolutionizing the surgical management of many malignancies, including breast cancer, melanoma, and colorectal cancer, as well as the surgical management of parathyroid disease. The impact of radioguided surgery on the surgical management of cancer patients includes providing vital and real-time information to the surgeon regarding the location and extent of disease, as well as regarding the assessment of surgical resection margins. Additionally, it has allowed the surgeon to minimize the surgical invasiveness of many diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, while still maintaining maximum benefit to the cancer patient. In the current review, we have attempted to comprehensively evaluate the history, technical aspects, and clinical applications of radioguided surgery using gamma detection probe technology

Achievement of the planetary defense investigations of the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission

NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission was the first to demonstrate asteroid deflection, and the mission's Level 1 requirements guided its planetary defense investigations. Here, we summarize DART's achievement of those requirements. On 2022 September 26, the DART spacecraft impacted Dimorphos, the secondary member of the Didymos near-Earth asteroid binary system, demonstrating an autonomously navigated kinetic impact into an asteroid with limited prior knowledge for planetary defense. Months of subsequent Earth-based observations showed that the binary orbital period was changed by –33.24 minutes, with two independent analysis methods each reporting a 1σ uncertainty of 1.4 s. Dynamical models determined that the momentum enhancement factor, β, resulting from DART's kinetic impact test is between 2.4 and 4.9, depending on the mass of Dimorphos, which remains the largest source of uncertainty. Over five dozen telescopes across the globe and in space, along with the Light Italian CubeSat for Imaging of Asteroids, have contributed to DART's investigations. These combined investigations have addressed topics related to the ejecta, dynamics, impact event, and properties of both asteroids in the binary system. A year following DART's successful impact into Dimorphos, the mission has achieved its planetary defense requirements, although work to further understand DART's kinetic impact test and the Didymos system will continue. In particular, ESA's Hera mission is planned to perform extensive measurements in 2027 during its rendezvous with the Didymos–Dimorphos system, building on DART to advance our knowledge and continue the ongoing international collaboration for planetary defense