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

Maternal-foetal attachment independently predicts the quality of maternal-infant bonding and post-partum psychopathology

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of maternal antenatal attachment and post-partum psychopathology, maternal–infant bonding, while checking for antenatal psychopathology, for lifetime psychiatric diagnosis and for the known risk factors for peripartum depression. Methods: One hundred and six women recruited at the first month of pregnancy (T0) were evaluated with the structured interview for DSM-IV TR (SCID-I) to assess the presence of lifetime psychiatric diagnosis and with the Perinatal Depression Predictor Inventory-Revised (PDPI-R), the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS), and the State–Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI). At the sixth month of pregnancy (T1) and at the first month post-partum (T2), all patients were evaluated with the PDPI-R, the EPDS, the STAI, at T1, with the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (MAAS), and at T2 with the Maternal Postnatal Attachment Scale (MPAS). Results: Multivariate regression analyses showed that maternal–foetal attachment was the variable most significantly associated with postnatal symptoms of depression and anxiety and with quality of maternal-infant attachment. The logistic regression analyses showed that antenatal attachment may predict postnatal depressive and anxiety symptoms (respectively, OR: 0.83–IC [0.74 − 0.95], p =.005, OR: 0.88–IC [0.79 − 0.98], p =.02), and the quality of maternal postnatal attachment (OR: 1.17–IC [1.08 − 1.27], p &lt;.001), also after taking into account the known risk factors for perinatal depression, the sociodemographic variables and lifetime psychiatric diagnosis. Conclusion: The quality of maternal–foetal bonding may independently predict the quality of maternal–infant attachment and post-partum depressive and anxiety symptoms. A comprehensive assessment of maternal risk factors for perinatal psychopathology during pregnancy should include the evaluation of antenatal attachment that could be modifiable by specific interventions promoting the quality of maternal bonding

Non-Arrhenius Behavior of Secondary Relaxation in Supercooled Liquids

Dielectric relaxation spectroscopy (1 Hz - 20 GHz) has been performed on supercooled glass-formers from the temperature of glass transition (T_g) up to that of melting. Precise measurements particularly in the frequencies of MHz-order have revealed that the temperature dependences of secondary beta-relaxation times deviate from the Arrhenius relation in well above T_g. Consequently, our results indicate that the beta-process merges into the primary alpha-mode around the melting temperature, and not at the dynamical transition point T which is approximately equal to 1.2 T_g.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, revtex

High-performance versatile setup for simultaneous Brillouin-Raman micro-spectroscopy

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from American Physical Society via the DOI in this record.Brillouin and Raman scattering spectroscopy are established techniques for the nondestructive contactless and label-free readout of mechanical, chemical and structural properties of condensed matter. Brillouin-Raman investigations currently require separate measurements and a site-matched approach to obtain complementary information from a sample. Here we demonstrate a new concept of fully scanning multimodal micro-spectroscopy for simultaneous detection of Brillouin and Raman light scattering in an exceptionally wide spectral range, from fractions of GHz to hundreds of THz. It yields an unprecedented 150 dB contrast, which is especially important for the analysis of opaque or turbid media such as biomedical samples, and spatial resolution on a sub-cellular scale. We report the first applications of this new multimodal method to a range of systems, from a single cell to the fast reaction kinetics of a curing process, and the mechano-chemical mapping of highly scattering biological samples.S. Corezzi acknowledges financial support from MIUR-PRIN (Project No. 2012J8X57P). S. Caponi acknowledges support from PAT (Provincia Autonoma di Trento) (GP/PAT/2012) “Grandi Progetti 2012” Project “MaDEleNA.” P. S., A. M., M. P. acknowledge financial support from Centro Nazionale Trapianti (Project: “Studio di cellule per uso clinico umano, con particolare riferimento a modelli cellulari (liposomi) e linee cellulari in interazione con crioconservanti e con materiali biocompatibili”). L. C. and S. Caponi acknowledge financial support from Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche-Istituto Officina dei Materiali. F. P. acnowledges support from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (Grant No. EP/M028739/1 (F. P.)). The authors acknowledge Jacopo Scarponi for valuable help in setting up the hardware and software system for simultaneous Raman and BLS measurements

Waterborne Electrospinning of α-Lactalbumin Generates Tunable and Biocompatible Nanofibers for Drug Delivery

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from the American Chemical Society via the DOI in this recordProtein-based drug carriers are an interesting alternative to traditional polymeric drug delivery systems due to their intrinsic biocompatibility and biodegradability. Electrospinning of neat proteins holds advantages over electrospinning of protein mixtures, e.g., whey isolates, such as better control of the physicochemical and biological function of the resulting nanofiber-based system. In this study, we explore electrospinning of the isolated milk protein α-lactalbumin (ALA), which is a whey protein with important nutritional and pharmacological properties. Via waterborne electrospinning of ALA with a minimum amount of poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) as a cospininng polymer, nanofibers of high protein content were successfully produced (up to 84% (w/w)). We demonstrate the ability to produce ALA-based nanofibers with a high degree of tunability in terms of size, stability in water, and mechanical properties. The nanofibers displayed excellent biocompatibility in vitro as the viability of cultured TR146 human buccal epithelium and NIH 3T3 murine fibroblast cells was not influenced by exposure to ALA-based nanofibers. ALA-based nanofibers were loaded with up to 6% (w/w) ampicilin, and the nanofibers were capable of maintaining the activity of the antibiotic after electrospinning and cross-linking. Using such a property of the material, we demonstrate that ampicillin-loaded nanofibers successfully inhibit the growth of Gram-negative bacteria in vitro. Importantly, after treatment with ampicillin-loaded nanofibers, no bacterial regrowth was observed, which indicates that this treatment may clear eventual persisters to ampicillin. Finally, the structural properties of the native functional protein were maintained after release of ALA from the nanofibers. This promotes our platform, not only as a sustainable protein-based drug delivery system, but also as an innovative solid form of ALA for food and pharmaceutical applications.Villum FoundationDanish Council for Independent Research; Technology and ProductionRoyal SocietyMedical Research Council (MRC)Wellcome Trus

Carbon nanotubes allow capture of krypton, barium and lead for multichannel biological X-ray fluorescence imaging

The desire to study biology in situ has been aided by many imaging techniques. Among these, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) mapping permits observation of elemental distributions in a multichannel manner. However, XRF imaging is underused, in part, because of the difficulty in interpreting maps without an underlying cellular ‘blueprint’; this could be supplied using contrast agents. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be filled with a wide range of inorganic materials, and thus can be used as ‘contrast agents’ if biologically absent elements are encapsulated. Here we show that sealed single-walled CNTs filled with lead, barium and even krypton can be produced, and externally decorated with peptides to provide affinity for sub-cellular targets. The agents are able to highlight specific organelles in multiplexed XRF mapping, and are, in principle, a general and versatile tool for this, and other modes of biological imaging

Advanced Virgo Plus: Future Perspectives

While completing the commissioning phase to prepare the Virgo interferometer for the next joint Observation Run (O4), the Virgo collaboration is also finalizing the design of the next upgrades to the detector to be employed in the following Observation Run (O5). The major upgrade will concern decreasing the thermal noise limit, which will imply using very large test masses and increased laser beam size. But this will not be the only upgrade to be implemented in the break between the O4 and O5 observation runs to increase the Virgo detector strain sensitivity. The paper will cover the challenges linked to this upgrade and implications on the detector's reach and observational potential, reflecting the talk given at 12th Cosmic Ray International Seminar - CRIS 2022 held in September 2022 in Napoli

The Advanced Virgo+ status

The gravitational wave detector Advanced Virgo+ is currently in the commissioning phase in view of the fourth Observing Run (O4). The major upgrades with respect to the Advanced Virgo configuration are the implementation of an additional recycling cavity, the Signal Recycling cavity (SRC), at the output of the interferometer to broaden the sensitivity band and the Frequency Dependent Squeezing (FDS) to reduce quantum noise at all frequencies. The main difference of the Advanced Virgo + detector with respect to the LIGO detectors is the presence of marginally stable recycling cavities, with respect to the stable recycling cavities present in the LIGO detectors, which increases the difficulties in controlling the interferometer in presence of defects (both thermal and cold defects). This work will focus on the interferometer commissioning, highlighting the control challenges to maintain the detector in the working point which maximizes the sensitivity and the duty cycle for scientific data taking

Increasing the Astrophysical Reach of the Advanced Virgo Detector via the Application of Squeezed Vacuum States of Light

Current interferometric gravitational-wave detectors are limited by quantum noise over a wide range of their measurement bandwidth. One method to overcome the quantum limit is the injection of squeezed vacuum states of light into the interferometer’s dark port. Here, we report on the successful application of this quantum technology to improve the shot noise limited sensitivity of the Advanced Virgo gravitational-wave detector. A sensitivity enhancement of up to 3.2±0.1  dB beyond the shot noise limit is achieved. This nonclassical improvement corresponds to a 5%–8% increase of the binary neutron star horizon. The squeezing injection was fully automated and over the first 5 months of the third joint LIGO-Virgo observation run O3 squeezing was applied for more than 99% of the science time. During this period several gravitational-wave candidates have been recorded