Personality traits and disorders in childhood. Clinical evaluation and diagnosis

Objective: aim of the paper is to examine the controversial issue of personality traits and disorders in childhood. Method: a literature review of clinical and research data was performed, and a conceptual synthesis was proposed. Results: although there are still few longitudinal studies able to clarify the evolution of personality traits from childhood to adulthood, a growing number of studies confirmed emerging personality patterns in childhood and the need for early intervention and prevention. after a discussion of clinical and research data on continuity vs discontinuity in personality disorders, we propose a conceptual synthesis of emerging personality patterns in childhood, conjugating both top-down (theoretical) and bottom-up (research) perspectives. Conclusions: the literature review showed that a deeper understanding of personality and mental functioning in childhood is still required and that emerging personality patterns and disorders need specific assessment and empirical derived classication that takes into account the developmental perspectiv

Social policies for immigrants:between territorial differentiations and to welfare local

Relazione alla 13th Toulon-Verona- Conference Excellence in services- ICQSS - University of Coimbra, Portugal, settembre 2010

CPAP-Q Sort: personality, traits and disorders in childhood

Introduction: The controversy over the existence of personality disorders in childhood has continued due to the limitations of studies in this research area, to the reluctance to apply adult personality diagnoses to children and to the difficulty of the assessment. The aim of this work is the validation of the CPAP-Q (Child Personality Assessment Q-Sort; Fortunato, Speranza, Tanzilli, Lingiardi, 2018), a Q-Sort instrument able to assess the childhood personality. Methods: The validation procedure includes: 150 children (M=7,8; 70% male), from 4 to 11 years old evaluated by 150 clinicians. Children are in treatment from 2 to 12 months. The procedure includes other instruments: an ad-hoc questionnaire for information on the clinician, on the child and his/her family, CPNI (Coolidge, 2002), CBCL (Achenbach, 2001) and PDC-C (Malberg, Rosenberg & Malone, 2017). For the validation procedure, it was conducted the Q-Factor analysis to obtain Emerging Personality Patterns empirically derived. To evaluate the internal coherence of each Factor it was measured the Cronbach’s alpha. Then it was evaluated the correlation between the Q-Factor’s and the other instruments. Results: 8 factors emerged from the Q-Factor analysis (High Functioning, Inhibited/Withdrawn, Dysphoric/Anxious, Inhibited/Depressive, Obsessive, Borderline/Dysregulated, Borderline/Impulsive, Schizoid). The Cronbach’s alpha reached really good or excellent levels for each Q-Factors. The correlations highlight a good construct and criterion validity. Conclusions: Data define that it’s possible to evaluate the developmental pathways for emerging personality patterns in childhood and how these may lead to personality disorders in adolescence and adulthood. Preliminary data is promising and seems to confirm that the Q-Sort procedure is the best way to assess childhood personality and its elements

Appuniscë a parlesia? Uno studio sui posteggiatori napoletani e il loro gergo

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Heterotypic and homotypic continuity in psychopathology: a narrative review

Psychopathology is a process: it unfolds over time and involves several different factors. To extend our knowledge of such process, it is vital to understand the trajectories that lead to developing and maintaining a specific disorder. The construct of continuity appears very useful to this aim. It refers to the consistency, similarity, and predictability of behaviors or internal states across different developmental phases. This paper aims to present a narrative review of the literature on homotypic and heterotypic continuity of psychopathology across the lifespan. A detailed search of the published literature was conducted using the PsycINFO Record and Medline (PubMed) databases. Articles were included in the review based on the following criteria: (1) publication dates ranging from January 1970 to October 2022; and (2) articles being written in the English language. To ensure a thorough investigation, multiple combinations of keywords such as “continuity,” “psychopathology,” “infancy,” “childhood,” “adolescence,” “adulthood,” “homotypic,” and “heterotypic” were used. Articles were excluded if exclusively focused on epidemiologic data and if not specifically addressing the topic of psychopathology continuity. The literature yielded a total of 36 longitudinal studies and an additional 190 articles, spanning the research published between 1970 and 2022. Studies on continuity focus on the etiology of different forms of mental disorders and may represent a fundamental resource from both a theoretical and clinical perspective. Enhancing our understanding of the different trajectories beneath psychopathology may allow clinicians to implement more effective strategies, focusing both on prevention and intervention. Since literature highlights the importance of early detection of clinical signs of psychopathology, future research should focus more on infancy and pre-scholar age

Psychodiagnostic Chart–Child (PDC–C): a valid and clinically sensitive diagnostic tool for patient-tailored intervention planning

The reliable clinical-diagnostic evaluation of child patients is crucial. The present research sought to examine the validity of the Psychodiagnostic Chart – Child (PDC–C) in assessing children’s mental functioning and personality organization, according to the framework of the Psychodynamic Diagnostic Manual, Second Edition (PDM–2). A sample of 209 clinicians assessed 209 children (aged 4–11 years) who had been in their care between 2–12 months, using the PDC-C. Each clinician also completed a clinical questionnaire to provide demographic information, the Child Behavior Checklist to evaluate children’s behavioral problems and social competences, and the Childhood Personality Assessment Q-Sort measure to assess children’s emerging personality patterns. The findings suggest that the PDC–C is a valid diagnostic tool that takes into account children’s full range of functioning. Moreover, the measure has good sensitivity and appears clinically useful in differentiating between certain clinical populations according to psychological characteristics. The PDC–C could promote more accurate assessment during childhood and inform the development of individualized therapies. One of the advantages of the tool is its ability to capture individual variations in child functioning (illuminating strengths and psychological vulnerabilities), even within children in the same diagnostic group. Of note, additional research is needed to establish the utility of PDC–C ratings in predicting clinically relevant constructs and to monitor the processes and outcomes of interventions

Gestational choriocarcinoma with residual lung tumor after completing treatment: a case report

Introduction: Choriocarcinoma (CCA) is a malignant pregnancy-related tumor that originates from cytotrophoblast and syncytiotrophoblast cells without villi. CCA is the most metastatic form among gestational trophoblastic neoplasia and the diagnosis is often in advanted stage. Patient concerns: In this report, we present a rare case of CCA with lung metastasis after term pregnancy in a 41-year-old woman at 45 days after the birth of a healthy baby and discuss management of residual metastasis after completing treatment. Diagnosis: The diagnosis of CCA can be based on the following criteria: a human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) plateau for at least 4 values over 3 weeks, an hCG increase of 10% or greater for at least 3 values over 2 weeks, hCG persistence for 6 months or more after molar pregnancy evacuation, histopathologic diagnosis of choriocarcinoma and presence of metastatic disease. Intervention and outcomes: High risk patients must be treated with multiagent chemotherapy (EMA-CO schedule). The complete remission rates ranges from 69% to 86%. Conclusion: Residual lesions after chemotherapy are often the result of necrosis or fibrosis. In our clinical practice will avoid the risks deriving from excessive anticancer treatment in these patients, while favoring a strict follow-up strategy to monitor disease behavior in time

Thermal behavior and antibacterial studies of a carbonate Mg–Al-based layered double hydroxide (LDH) for in vivo uses

The goal of this work is to study the thermal behavior and the antibacterial properties of a MgAl-CO3 layered double hydroxide (LDH), which demonstrated high efficiency in removing chromium (VI) from contaminated industrial wastewater. The compound has been synthesized via co-precipitation route (direct method) followed by hydrothermal treatment, obtaining nanoscopic crystallites with a partially disordered (turbostratic) structure. After its synthesis, the compound was characterized by means of X-ray powder diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscope, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy and analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. On the other hand, with the view to check the drug delivery and surgical tools usage of MgAl-CO3, antibacterial tests, performed according to the Kirby–Bauer method, revealed the inability the growth of the pathogenic bacterial strains. Thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis revealed that evolution of water from the material occurs in two stages upon heating and a noticeable interaction takes place between water (in the vapor phase) and MgAl-CO3. Kinetic analysis of both steps provides almost constant values of activation energy, with the following average values in the range 0.1 < a < 0.9: E1 = (66 ± 9) kJ mol‒1; E2 = (106 ± 7) kJ mol‒1. Finally, prediction of reasonable reaction times extrapolated at 25 and 37 °C has been made from kinetic parameters of the first step, while almost unrealistic reaction time values were determined using the same procedure with kinetic parameters related to the second step

ZnAl-SO4 Layered Double Hydroxide and Allophane for Cr(VI), Cu(II) and Fe(III) Adsorption in Wastewater: Structure Comparison and Synergistic Effects

Owing to their structure, layered double hydroxides (LDHs) and allophane are nowadays considered as promising materials for application in different fields. The goal of this work is to compare the efficacy of allophane and ZnAl-SO4 LDH to remove, by adsorption, some cationic and anionic pollutants from industrial wastewater. Both compounds were synthesized via the coprecipitation route (direct method) followed by hydrothermal treatment, obtaining nanoscopic crystallites with a partially disordered turbostratic (ZnAl-SO4 LDH) or amorphous (allophane) structure. The characterization of the obtained compounds was performed by means of powder xray diffraction (PXRD), thermal gravimetry analysis (TGA), field emission scanning electron microscopy analysis (FESEM), and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The sorbents were tested using wastewater produced by a real metalworking plant and containing ionic species such as Cu(II), Fe(III) and Cr(VI), whose concentration was measured by means of inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). This investigation represents an alternative procedure with respect to standard protocols based on customarily made and artificially lab-produced wastewaters. Both sorbents and their combination proved to be efficient in Cr(VI) removal, irrespective of the presence of cations like Cu(II) and Fe(III). A synergistic effect was detected for Cu(II) adsorption in a mixed allophane/LDH sorbent, leading to a Cu(II) removal rate of 89.5%