Alexithymia, impulsiveness, and psychopathology in Nonsuicidal self-injured adolescents

Introduction: Nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) is a multifaceted phenomenon and a major health issue among adolescents. A better understanding of self-injury comorbidities is crucial to improve our ability to assess, treat, and prevent NSSI. Purpose: This study aimed at analyzing some of the psychobehavioral correlates of NSSI: psychological problems, alexithymia, impulsiveness, and sociorelational aspects. Patients and methods: This was a case-control study. The clinical sample (n=33) included adolescents attending our unit for NSSI and other issues; the controls (n=79) were high-school students. Data were collected using six questionnaires: Youth Self-Report, Barratt\u2019s Impulsiveness Scale, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, Children\u2019s Depression Inventory, Symptom Checklist-90-R, and Child Behavior Checklist. Results: Cases scored significantly higher in all questionnaires. Habitual self-injurers scored higher on impulsiveness and alexithymia. The gesture\u2019s repetition seems relevant to the global clinical picture: habitual self-injurers appear more likely to seek help from the sociosanitary services. We found a difference between the self-injurers\u2019 and their parents\u2019 awareness of the disorder. Conclusion: Habitual self-injurers show signs of having difficulty with assessing the consequences of their actions (nonplanning impulsiveness) and the inability to manage their feelings. Given the significantly higher scores found for cases than for controls on all the psychopathological scales, NSSI can be seen as a cross-category psychiatric disorder, supporting the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders decision to include it as a pathological entity in its own right

Flame pyrolysis synthesis of mixed oxides for glycerol steam reforming

Flame spray pyrolysis was used to produce nanosized Ni-based catalysts starting from different mixed oxides. LaNiO3 and CeNiO3 were used as base materials and the formulation was varied by mixing them or incorporating variable amounts of ZrO2 or SrO during the synthesis. The catalysts were tested for the steam reforming of glycerol. One of the key problems for this application is the resistance to deactivation by sintering and coking, which may be increased by (1) improving Ni dispersion through the production of a Ni-La or Ni-Ce mixed oxide precursor, and then reduced; (2) using an oxide as ZrO2, which established a strong interaction with Ni and possesses high thermal resistance; (3) decreasing the surface acidity of ZrO2 through a basic promoter/support, such as La2O3; and (4) adding a promoter/support with very high oxygen mobility such as CeO2. A further key feature is the use of a high temperature synthesis, such as flame spray pyrolysis, to improve the overall thermal resistance of the oxides. These strategies proved effective to obtain active and stable catalysts at least for 20 h on stream with very limited coke formation

Discovering indium as hydrogen production booster for a Cu/SiO2 catalyst in steam reforming of methanol

We report on the use of In as an effective H2 production promoter in a Cu/SiO2 catalyst for the steam reforming of methanol. To date, In promotion has been limited to noble metals because of its tendency to “bury” other metals thus compromising the catalytic activity. Here, we prepared a silica-supported Cu-In catalyst via a urea-assisted co-precipitation method that showed a higher H2 productivity compared to the monometallic catalyst and a remarkable H2/CO2 molar ratio of almost 3 at 220 °C. Through XPS, XRPD and HRTEM-EDX along with H2- and CO-TPR, H2O-TPD, and N2O titrations, supported by computational modeling, we attributed such superior performances to an easier H2O activation due to improved electronic properties of the Cu phase, that is, its lower oxidation state via electron density transfer from the InOx buffer phase as a 1D “necklace” structures crucially mediating the interaction of small Cu nanoparticles (2.6 nm) and silica

Effect of the support on Ni catalytic performance in glycerol steam reforming

In the last years, the use of hydrogen as new energy vector has been widely encouraged, because it is clean and carbon-free [1]. Nevertheless, an effective solution of environmental problems such as the greenhouse effect and the global warming, as well as the decrease of the dependence on fossil fuels, requires the use of renewable sources. In this context glycerol, the main by-product in biodiesel production, has emerged as a promising source of hydrogen, because of its high hydrogen content and renewability, safeness and non toxicity [2]. Several catalysts have been proposed for glycerol steam reforming. In this work we report the catalytic performances of Ni-based catalysts at two different reaction temperatures. Moreover, the effect of the support (i. e. TiO2, SBA-15 and ZrO2) on the selectivity to hydrogen was studied. TiO2 and ZrO2 were synthesized by a conventional precipitation method [3], whereas SBA15 was prepared through a template synthesis [4]. Catalysts were prepared by incipient wetness impregnation of the supports with an aqueous solution of the Ni precursor in order to obtain a 10 wt% Ni loading and they were finally calcined. The physico-chemical properties of the catalysts were determined by nitrogen physisorption analysis (BET), temperature programmed reduction (TPR) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HR-TEM). The activity tests were carried out in a fixed bed tubular quartz reactor at atmospheric pressure at two different temperatures (500°C and 650°C), after reduction of the samples in H2 flow for 1 hour at either 500 or 700°C respectively. A water/glycerol solution was fed (10 wt% solution of glycerol in water) at the constant flow rate of 0.06 mL/min. Data were collected up to 20 hours on each sample. The Ni/TiO2 sample exhibits negligible activity at 650°C because of the collapse of the support. Concerning Ni/SBA-15, our results indicate the insufficient hydrothermal resistance of the support, which leads to the progressive deactivation of the catalyst. However this support is able to stabilize the active phase in a rather efficient way, thus preventing Ni sintering. Ni/ZrO2 exhibits the best performances: a stable glycerol conversion of ~72% and a hydrogen yield of ~65% were obtained. This is due to the almost full preservation of the structure of the zirconia support even after 20 h in the SR conditions; moreover, also the dispersion of the Ni active phase remainedunchanged. The different behaviour of the three catalysts can be then ascribed (i) to the chemical, thermal and mechanical resistance of the support in the reaction conditions and (ii) to the intensity of the interactions between the support and the active phase, which affects in particular the stability of the Ni nanoparticles. Our results highlight the importance of the nature of the support, which plays a key role in designing the catalytic performance

The critical role of intragap states in the energy transfer from gold nanoparticles to TiO2

Cathodoluminescence spectroscopy is profitably exploited to study energy transfer mechanisms in Au and Pt/black TiO2 heterostructures. While Pt nanoparticles absorb light in the UV region, Au nanoparticles absorb light by surface plasmon resonance and interband transitions, both of them occurring in the visible region. The intra-bandgap states (oxygen vacancies) of black TiO2 play a key role in promoting both hot electron transfer and plasmonic resonant energy transfer from Au nanoparticles to the TiO2 semiconductor with a consequent photocatalytic H2 production increase. An innovative criterion is introduced for the design of plasmonic composites with increased efficiency under visible light

Influence of TiO2 electronic structure and strong metal-support interaction on plasmonic Au photocatalytic oxidations

Aiming at understanding how plasmonic reactions depend on important parameters such as metal loading and strong metal-support interaction (SMSI), we report the plasmonic photodegradation of formic acid (FA) under green LED irradiation employing three TiO2 supports (stoichiometric TiO2, N-doped TiO2, black TiO2) modified with Au nanoparticles (NPs) 3-6 nm in size. The rate of FA photo-oxidation follows different trends depending on Au loading for stoichiometric and doped Au/TiO2 materials. In the first case, the only contribution of hot electron transfer produces a volcano-shaped curve of photoreaction rates with increasing the Au loading. When TiO2 contains intra-bandgap states the photoactivity increases linearly with the Au NPs amount, thanks to the concomitant enhancement produced by hot electron transfer and plasmonic resonant energy transfer (PRET). The role of PRET is supported by Finite-Difference Time-Domain simulations, which show that the increase of both Au NPs inter-distance and of SMSI enhances the probability of charge carrier generation at the Au/TiO2 interface

Smoking cessation improves clinical outcome in severe mental disorders and is modulated by genetic variability at CHRNA5 gene

Smoking has been traditionally tolerated for patients with mental disorders due to its hypothesized self-medication function (Schroeder and Morris, 2010).[...

Avaliação da utilização de óleos essenciais de canela, orégano e eucalipto via água de bebida para frangos de corte.

Resumo: A restrição ao uso de antimicrobianos como promotores de crescimento na produção de frangos de corte vem se mostrando como um grande desafio. O uso de moléculas alternativas, que apresentam propriedades antimicrobianas, visa substituir estes fármacos. Os óleos essenciais são moléculas com grande potencial para substituir promotores de crescimento. Contudo objetivou-se avaliar o uso de óleos essenciais derivados de Eucalyptus globulus, Cinnamomum zeylanicus e Origanum vulgare via água de bebida para os frangos de corte. Foram utilizados 450 pintos machos da linhagem COBB, estes distribuídos por delineamento experimental, sendo composto por quatro tratamentos constituídos por seis repetições, com 15 animais em cada repetição. O experimento foi composto por: controle negativo, controle positivo (2ppm flavomicina via ração), óleo de canela + orégano (300 ml/1000L), e óleo de eucalipto (300 ml/1000L). Diferenças foram observadas no desempenho zootécnico (p0.05), assim como os parâmetros histomorfométricos intestinais (P>0,05). Conclui-se que os óleos essenciais foram capazes de substituir a flavomicina como promotor de crescimento, garantindo adequado desempenho zootécnico e sem afetar a saúde dos animais. Palavras-chave: Desempenho zootécnico; Óleos essenciais; Promotores de crescimento. Abstract: The restriction use of antimicrobials as growth promoters in the production of broiler chickens has proven to be a major challenge. The use of alternative molecules, which have antimicrobial properties, aims to replace these drugs. Essential oils are molecules with great potential to replace growth promoters. The objective of this trial was to evaluate the use of essential oils derived from Eucalyptus globulus, Cinnamomum zeylanicus and Origanum vulgare via drinking water for broiler chickens. 450 COBB male chicks were used, distributed by experimental design, consisting of four treatments consisting of six replicates, with 15 animals in each replicate. The experiment consisted of negative control, positive control (2ppm flavomycin via feed), cinnamon oil + oregano (300 ml/1000L), and eucalyptus oil (300 ml/1000L). Differences were observed in zootechnical performance (p0.05), as well as the intestinal histomorphometric parameters (P>0.05). It concluded that the essential oils were able to replace flavomycin as a growth promoter, ensuring adequate zootechnical performance and without affecting the animals' health. Keywords: Zootechnical performance; Essential oils; Growth promoters. Resumen: Restringir el uso de antimicrobianos como promotores del crecimiento en la producción de pollos de engorde ha demostrado ser un gran desafío. El uso de moléculas alternativas, que tienen propiedades antimicrobianas, tiene como objetivo reemplazar estos medicamentos. Los aceites esenciales son moléculas con gran potencial para reemplazar a los promotores del crecimiento. El objetivo de la presente investigación fue evaluar el uso de aceites esenciales derivados de Eucalyptus globulus, Cinnamomum zeylanicus y Origanum vulgare vía agua potable para pollos de engorde. Se utilizaron 450 pollos machos COBB, distribuidos en cuatro tratamientos, compuestos por seis repeticiones, con 15 animales en cada repetición. El experimento consistió en: control negativo, control positivo (2ppm de flavomicina vía pienso), aceite de canela + orégano (300 ml/1000L) y aceite de eucalipto (300 ml/1000L). Se observaron diferencias en el desempeño zootécnico (p 0.05), así como los parámetros histomorfométricos intestinales (P> 0.05). Se concluye que los aceites esenciales lograron reemplazar a la flavomicina como promotor del crecimiento, asegurando un adecuado desempeño zootécnico y sin afectar la salud de los animales. Palabras clave: Rendimiento zootécnico; Aceites esenciales; Promotores del crecimiento