Le difficoltà emotive nello sviluppo: il caso dell’alessitimia e dell’autolesionismo. Dalla ricerca psicologica e neuroscientifica alla psicoterapia.

Riassunto: Lo scopo del lavoro è esaminare il contributo che la ricerca psicologica e neuroscientifica sulle difficoltà emotive nello sviluppo può offrire alla psicoterapia. Come situazioni esemplificative sono prese in esame l’alessitimia (incapacità di riconoscere ed esprimere le proprie emozioni) e le condotte autolesive in adolescenza, alla cui base ritroviamo alcune problematiche emotive. Infine, a partire dall’analisi effettuata vengono discusse alcune questioni aperte di carattere sia teorico sia metodologico.Parole chiave: Competenza emotiva; Alessitimia; Autolesionismo; Neuroscienza; Psicoterapia.  Emotional Developmental Disorders: The Case of Alexithymia and Self-harm. From Psychological and Neuroscientific Research to Psychotherapy Abstract: The paper examines the contribution that psychological and neuroscientific research on emotional developmental problems may offer for psychotherapy. Alexithymia – i.e. the inability to recognize and express one’s own emotions – and self-harm in adolescence are considered as examples of emotional problems. Starting from this analysis, we address some currently debated theoretical and methodological issues in psychotherapy.Keywords: Emotional Competence; Alexithymia; Self-Harm; Neuroscience; Psychotherapy

The Risk-Taking and Self-Harm Inventory for Adolescents: Validation of the Italian Version (RTSHIA-I)

The aim of the present paper is to establish the factorial validity and reliability of the Risk-Taking and Self-Harm Inventory for Adolescents (RTSHIA), proposed by Vrouva and colleagues in 2010, in an Italian sample. The RTSHIA measures both Risk-Taking and Self-Harm behavior in adolescents. We administered the scale to a total of 1292 Italian adolescents from 9th to 12th grade; to verify the validity of the scale, we also assessed emotion regulation and psychopathological traits. The exploratory factor analysis (EFA) (N = 638) and the confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (N = 660) confirmed the original two-factor structure of the RTSHIA (Risk-Taking and Self-Harm). The only differences in the Italian version of the RTSHIA (RTSHIA-I) were that one item was moved from the original Risk-Taking factor to the Italian Self-Harm factor, and another item that was not included in the original RTSHIA is now part of the Risk-Taking factor in the Italian version. The reliability of the RTSHIA-I is also confirmed, and both factors correlate with emotion regulation and externalizing/internalizing traits. Our results suggest that the RTSHIA-I is a useful tool for assessing Risk-Taking and Self-Harm behaviors in Italian adolescents, and the correlational patterns indicate that these behaviors may be related to difficulties in mentalization skills

The AGMA1 poly(amidoamine) inhibits the infectivity of herpes simplex virus in cell lines, in human cervicovaginal histocultures, and in vaginally infected mice

The development of topical microbicides is a valid approach to protect the genital mucosa from sexually transmitted infections that cannot be contained with effective vaccination, like HSV and HIV infections. A suitable target of microbicides is the interaction between viral proteins and cell surface heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs). AGMA1 is a prevailingly cationic agmatine-containing polyamidoamine polymer previously shown to inhibit HSPGs dependent viruses, including HSV-1, HSV-2, and HPV-16. The aim of this study was to elucidate the mechanism of action of AGMA1 against HSV infection and assess its antiviral efficacy and biocompatibility in preclinical models. The results show AGMA1 to be a non-toxic inhibitor of HSV infectivity in cell cultures and human cervicovaginal histocultures. Moreover, it significantly reduced the burden of infection of HSV-2 genital infection in mice. The investigation of the mechanism of action revealed that AGMA1 reduces cells susceptibility to virus infection by binding to cell surface HSPGs thereby preventing HSV attachment. This study indicates that AGMA1 is a promising candidate for the development of a topical microbicide to prevent sexually transmitted HSV infections

TSH Receptor and Thyroid-Specific Gene Expression in Human Skin

Experimental evidence suggests that in autoimmune thyroid diseases (AITDs) the skin is a target of autoantibodies against thyroid-specific antigens; however, the role of these autoantibodies in skin alterations remains unclear. To gain insight into the function of nominally thyroid-specific genes in skin, we analyzed the expression of thyroid-stimulating hormone–receptor (TSH-R), thyroglobulin (Tg), sodium iodide symporter (NIS), and thyroperoxidase (TPO) genes in normal human skin biopsies and cultured primary keratinocytes and dermal fibroblasts. The results revealed the presence of all the transcripts in skin biopsies. However, in keratinocytes and fibroblasts, only TSH-R messenger RNA was always detected. Western blot and immunohistochemical analyses of skin specimens confirmed the presence of TSH-R protein in keratinocytes and fibroblasts. Moreover, TSH treatment induced the proliferation of cultured keratinocytes and fibroblasts and increased keratinocyte intracellular cAMP. Finally, affinity-purified IgGs from serum of patients affected by Graves’ disease, but not by chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis, stimulated cAMP accumulation in cultured keratinocytes, as well as their proliferation. In conclusion, the expression of thyroid-specific genes in cultured keratinocytes and fibroblasts and the mitogenic effects of TSH and IgGs on these cells support the concept that autoantibodies against thyroid-specific antigens may contribute to cutaneous symptoms in AITDs.JID JOURNAL CLUB ARTICLE: For questions, answers, and open discussion about this article, please go to http://network.nature.com/group/jidclu

The Family Name as Socio-Cultural Feature and Genetic Metaphor: From Concepts to Methods

A recent workshop entitled The Family Name as Socio-Cultural Feature and Genetic Metaphor: From Concepts to Methods was held in Paris in December 2010, sponsored by the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) and by the journal Human Biology. This workshop was intended to foster a debate on questions related to the family names and to compare different multidisciplinary approaches involving geneticists, historians, geographers, sociologists and social anthropologists. This collective paper presents a collection of selected communications

Paediatric recurrent pericarditis: Appropriateness of the standard of care and response to IL1-blockade

Objective: To analyse, in a cohort of paediatric patients with recurrent pericarditis (RP) undergoing anti-IL-1 treatment: the agent and dosing used as first line treatment, the long-term efficacy of IL1-blockers, the percentage of patients achieving a drug-free remission, the presence of variables associated with drug-free remission. Study design: Data were collected from patients' charts. Annualized relapse rate (ARR) was used for evaluation of treatment efficacy, bivariate logistic regression analysis for variables associated with drug-free remisison. Results: 58 patients, treated between 2008 and 2018, were included in the study (mean follow-up 2.6 years). 14/56 patients non-responsive to first line drugs were under-dosed. 57 patients were treated with anakinra: the ARR before and during daily treatment was 3.05 and 0.28, respectively (p<0.0001); an increase to 0.83 was observed after the reduction/withdrawal of treatment (p<.0001). The switch from anakinra to canakinumab (5 patients) was associated to an increase of the ARR (0.49 vs 1.46), but without statistical significance (p=0.215). At last follow-up only 9/58 patients had withdrawn all treatments. With the limits of a retrospective study and the heterogeneity between the patients enrolled in the study, a shorter duration of treatment with anakinra was the only variable associated with drug-free remission. Conclusion: This study shows that most of the pediatric patients with RP needing IL-1 blockade received an inadequate treatment with first line agents. The effectiveness of anakinra is supported by this study, but few patients achieved drug free-remission. The different rate of response to anakinra and canakinumab may suggest a possible role of IL1α in the pathogenesis of RP

High Risk of Secondary Infections Following Thrombotic Complications in Patients With COVID-19

Background. This study’s primary aim was to evaluate the impact of thrombotic complications on the development of secondary infections. The secondary aim was to compare the etiology of secondary infections in patients with and without thrombotic complications. Methods. This was a cohort study (NCT04318366) of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients hospitalized at IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital between February 25 and June 30, 2020. Incidence rates (IRs) were calculated by univariable Poisson regression as the number of cases per 1000 person-days of follow-up (PDFU) with 95% confidence intervals. The cumulative incidence functions of secondary infections according to thrombotic complications were compared with Gray’s method accounting for competing risk of death. A multivariable Fine-Gray model was applied to assess factors associated with risk of secondary infections. Results. Overall, 109/904 patients had 176 secondary infections (IR, 10.0; 95% CI, 8.8–11.5; per 1000-PDFU). The IRs of secondary infections among patients with or without thrombotic complications were 15.0 (95% CI, 10.7–21.0) and 9.3 (95% CI, 7.9–11.0) per 1000-PDFU, respectively (P = .017). At multivariable analysis, thrombotic complications were associated with the development of secondary infections (subdistribution hazard ratio, 1.788; 95% CI, 1.018–3.140; P = .043). The etiology of secondary infections was similar in patients with and without thrombotic complications. Conclusions. In patients with COVID-19, thrombotic complications were associated with a high risk of secondary infections

Report from Working Group 3: Beyond the standard model physics at the HL-LHC and HE-LHC

This is the third out of five chapters of the final report [1] of the Workshop on Physics at HL-LHC, and perspectives on HE-LHC [2]. It is devoted to the study of the potential, in the search for Beyond the Standard Model (BSM) physics, of the High Luminosity (HL) phase of the LHC, defined as $3$ ab$^{-1}$ of data taken at a centre-of-mass energy of 14 TeV, and of a possible future upgrade, the High Energy (HE) LHC, defined as $15$ ab$^{-1}$ of data at a centre-of-mass energy of 27 TeV. We consider a large variety of new physics models, both in a simplified model fashion and in a more model-dependent one. A long list of contributions from the theory and experimental (ATLAS, CMS, LHCb) communities have been collected and merged together to give a complete, wide, and consistent view of future prospects for BSM physics at the considered colliders. On top of the usual standard candles, such as supersymmetric simplified models and resonances, considered for the evaluation of future collider potentials, this report contains results on dark matter and dark sectors, long lived particles, leptoquarks, sterile neutrinos, axion-like particles, heavy scalars, vector-like quarks, and more. Particular attention is placed, especially in the study of the HL-LHC prospects, to the detector upgrades, the assessment of the future systematic uncertainties, and new experimental techniques. The general conclusion is that the HL-LHC, on top of allowing to extend the present LHC mass and coupling reach by $20-50\%$ on most new physics scenarios, will also be able to constrain, and potentially discover, new physics that is presently unconstrained. Moreover, compared to the HL-LHC, the reach in most observables will, generally more than double at the HE-LHC, which may represent a good candidate future facility for a final test of TeV-scale new physics

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements