LABEC, the INFN ion beam laboratory of nuclear techniques for environment and cultural heritage

The LABEC laboratory, the INFN ion beam laboratory of nuclear techniques for environment and cultural heritage, located in the Scientific and Technological Campus of the University of Florence in Sesto Fiorentino, started its operational activities in 2004, after INFN decided in 2001 to provide our applied nuclear physics group with a large laboratory dedicated to applications of accelerator-related analytical techniques, based on a new 3 MV Tandetron accelerator. The new accelerator greatly improved the performance of existing Ion Beam Analysis (IBA) applications (for which we were using since the 1980s an old single-ended Van de Graaff accelerator) and in addition allowed to start a novel activity of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry (AMS), in particular for 14C dating. Switching between IBA and AMS operation became very easy and fast, which allowed us high flexibility in programming the activities, mainly focused on studies of cultural heritage and atmospheric aerosol composition, but including also applications to biology, geology, material science and forensics, ion implantation, tests of radiation damage to components, detector performance tests and low-energy nuclear physics. This paper describes the facilities presently available in the LABEC laboratory, their technical features and some success stories of recent applications

A multi-element psychosocial intervention for early psychosis (GET UP PIANO TRIAL) conducted in a catchment area of 10 million inhabitants: study protocol for a pragmatic cluster randomized controlled trial

Multi-element interventions for first-episode psychosis (FEP) are promising, but have mostly been conducted in non-epidemiologically representative samples, thereby raising the risk of underestimating the complexities involved in treating FEP in 'real-world' services

Contamination fear in OCD: the relation between guilt and disgust sensitivity

Introduction:Research has demonstrated the role of disgust sensitivity in contamination-related OCD, particularly in patients who are not afraid of specific threatening consequences which might follow becoming contaminated. The relation between the fear of guilt and obsessive-compulsive symptoms has also been supported: many patients are afraid of being responsible for harming themselves or someone else because of their own carelessness or negligence. It remains unclear whether these two pathways that lead to the genesis of OCD are independent or not. Our hypothesis is that disgust sensitivity is strongly related to guilt and that the preservation of a self-image of moral integrity may be underlying all forms of OCD. When OCD sufferers do have experiences that threaten this self-image, even if only imaginative, they feel extremely guilty, mentally contaminated and disgusted by themselves. The sense of moral dirt manifests itself with an increase in disgust sensitivity that triggers the onset of a consequent contamination fear. Method:More than 450 non-clinical subjects were asked to complete a battery of self-report questionnaires (Guilt Inventory, Disgust Scale Revised, Contamination subscale of Vancouver Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory-II). Structural equation modelling assessed the relationships among disgust sensitivity, guilt and contamination fears, controlling for depression. results:Even if preliminary results are still not available, we expect that guilt (moral dirt), disgust sensitivity and contamination fear will be strongly related, even when controlling for depressive symptoms. Otherwise, we expect that the model will support our hypothesis that disgust sensitivity has a mediating role between guilt, loss of a self-image of moral integrity and contamination fear. Discussion and Conclusion: The findings will be discussed in comparison to previous studies about the role of guilt and disgust sensitivity in contamination-related OCD and its implications in clinical setting