From trauma to aggression: an empirical study on the relationship between interpersonal trauma, attachment styles and aggressive tendencies among adults

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between traumatic experiences, insecure attachment styles and psychiatric symptoms in adulthood. Self-report measures concerning trauma, attachment styles and psychopathology were administered to 59 adults (33.9% males, 66.1% females) ranging in age from 18 to 61 years old. Results showed that traumatic experiences were associated with insecure attachment styles and psychopathology, in particular concerning aggressive tendencies. Findings of the study suggest that the exploration of past experiences and current attachment relationships, in terms of interpersonal functioning, may be crucial for understanding aggressiveness

Performance of Fatty Liver Index in Identifying Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Population Studies. A Meta-Analysis

Background. Fatty liver index (FLI) is a non-invasive tool used to stratify the risk of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in population studies; whether it can be used to exclude or diagnose this disorder is unclear. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess the prevalence of NAFLD in each FLI class and the performance of FLI in detecting NAFLD. Methods. Four databases were searched until January 2021 (CRD42021231367). Original articles included were those reporting the performance of FLI and adopting ultrasound, computed tomography, or magnetic resonance as a reference standard. The numbers of subjects with NAFLD in FLI classes <30, 30–60, and 60, and the numbers of subjects classified as true/false positive/negative when adopting 30 and 60 as cut-offs were extracted. A random-effects model was used for pooling data. Results. Ten studies were included, evaluating 27,221 subjects without secondary causes of fatty liver disease. The prevalence of NAFLD in the three FLI classes was 14%, 42%, and 67%. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, likelihood ratio for positive results, likelihood ratio for negative results, and diagnostic odds ratio were 81%, 65%, 53%, 84%, 2.3, 0.3, and 7.8 for the lower cut-off and 44%, 90%, 67%, 76%, 4.3, 0.6, and 7.3 for the higher cut-off, respectively. A similar performance was generally found in studies adopting ultrasound versus other imaging modalities. Conclusions. FLI showed an adequate performance in stratifying the risk of NAFLD. However, it showed only weak evidence of a discriminatory performance in excluding or diagnosing this disorder

Coronary artery calcium score: we know where we are but not where we may be

Cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) has emerged as a cost-effective and time-saving technique for excluding coronary artery disease. One valuable tool obtained by CCTA is the coronary artery calcium (CAC) score. The use of CAC scoring has shown promise in risk assessment and stratification of cardiovascular disease. CAC scores can be complemented by plaque analysis to assess vulnerable plaque characteristics and further refine risk assessment. This paper aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the value of the CAC as a prognostic tool and its implications for patient risk assessment, treatment strategies and outcomes. CAC scoring has demonstrated superior ability in stratifying patients, especially asymptomatic individuals, compared to traditional risk factors and scoring systems. The main evidence suggests that individuals with a CAC score of 0 had a good long-term prognosis, while elevated CAC score is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Finally, the clinical power of CAC scoring and the develop of new models for risk stratification could be enhanced by machine learning algorithms

Trasformazioni sociali, affettivizzazione della sfera pubblica e ricerca di senso Social transformations, affectivization of the public sphere and search for meaning

Western societies are crossed by a plurality of critical phenomena. The perception is that of being grappled with an uncontrollable anthropological drift, which make us powerless, leading towards a point of no return. A constitutive character of such a drift is the enslaving of the public spheres to the affects (i.e. affectivization). Any public affair and discussion is less and less addressed in terms of functional criteria (i.e. in terms of optimization of utility in reason of objective data) and more and more as the trigger as well as the target of affective acting-out. Such a dynamics challenges all individuals and institutions that think that civilization and progress are a matter of the human efforts to enslave the affective exercise of the present moment to the capacity of the reason to draw futurables. Education – and higher education within it – is at the front line of this challenge, because it is up to it the effort of promoting the symbolic resources that enables people to succeed in the twofold task of valorizing subjectivity and enslaving its affective substance to aims of social and civic progress. The present paper intends to contribute to address such a challenge. To this end, it proposes an interpretation of the affectivization spreading the contemporary social landscape, based on current debate in cognitive sciences. On this grounds, the general idea that such a phenomenon is something different from and more than a mere epidemy of irrationality - as it is more or less implicitly treated by observers and analysts- is deepened. Following that, strategic and methodological implications for higher education are discussed. It is called for an extension of the function of higher education, in the direction of taking charge of the demand of symbolic resources required to address the uncertainty generated by the contemporary socio-institutional turmoil

Indirect ultrasound evaluation of left ventricular outflow tract diameter implications for heart failure and aortic stenosis severity assessment

Background Whereas dependency of left ventricular outflow tract diameter (LVOTD) from body surface area (BSA) has been established and a BSA-based LVOTD formula has been derived, the relationship between LVOTD and aortic root and LV dimensions has never been explored. This may have implications for evaluation of LV output in heart failure (HF) and aortic stenosis (AS) severity.Methods A cohort of 540 HF patients who underwent transthoracic echocardiography was divided in a derivation and validation subgroup. In the derivation subgroup (N = 340), independent determinants of LVOTD were analyzed to derive a regression equation, which was used for predicting LVOTD in the validation subgroup (N = 200) and compared with the BSA-derived formula.Results LVOTD determinants in the derivation subgroup were sinuses of Valsalva diameter (SVD, beta = 0.392, P < .001), BSA (beta = 0.229, P < .001), LV end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD, beta = 0.145, P = .001), and height (beta = 0.125, P = .037). The regression equation for predicting LVOTD with the aforementioned variables (LVOTD = 6.209 + [0.201 x SVD] + [1.802 x BSA] + [0.03 x LVEDD] + [0.025 x Height]) did not differ from (P = .937) and was highly correlated with measured LVOTD (R = 0.739, P < .001) in the validation group. Repeated analysis with LV end-diastolic volume instead of LVEDD and/or accounting for gender showed similar results, whereas BSA-derived LVOTD values were different from measured LVOTD (P < .001).Conclusion Aortic root and LV dimensions affect LVOTD independently from anthropometric data and are included in a new comprehensive equation for predicting LVOTD. This should improve evaluation of LV output in HF and severity of AS when direct LVOTD measurement is difficult or impossible

Indirect ultrasound evaluation of left ventricular outflow tract diameter implications for heart failure and aortic stenosis severity assessment

Background Whereas dependency of left ventricular outflow tract diameter (LVOTD) from body surface area (BSA) has been established and a BSA-based LVOTD formula has been derived, the relationship between LVOTD and aortic root and LV dimensions has never been explored. This may have implications for evaluation of LV output in heart failure (HF) and aortic stenosis (AS) severity.Methods A cohort of 540 HF patients who underwent transthoracic echocardiography was divided in a derivation and validation subgroup. In the derivation subgroup (N = 340), independent determinants of LVOTD were analyzed to derive a regression equation, which was used for predicting LVOTD in the validation subgroup (N = 200) and compared with the BSA-derived formula.Results LVOTD determinants in the derivation subgroup were sinuses of Valsalva diameter (SVD, beta = 0.392, P < .001), BSA (beta = 0.229, P < .001), LV end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD, beta = 0.145, P = .001), and height (beta = 0.125, P = .037). The regression equation for predicting LVOTD with the aforementioned variables (LVOTD = 6.209 + [0.201 x SVD] + [1.802 x BSA] + [0.03 x LVEDD] + [0.025 x Height]) did not differ from (P = .937) and was highly correlated with measured LVOTD (R = 0.739, P < .001) in the validation group. Repeated analysis with LV end-diastolic volume instead of LVEDD and/or accounting for gender showed similar results, whereas BSA-derived LVOTD values were different from measured LVOTD (P < .001).Conclusion Aortic root and LV dimensions affect LVOTD independently from anthropometric data and are included in a new comprehensive equation for predicting LVOTD. This should improve evaluation of LV output in HF and severity of AS when direct LVOTD measurement is difficult or impossible

Attachment, Social Value Orientation, Sensation Seeking, and Bullying in Early Adolescence

In this study, bullying is examined in light of the “prosocial security hypothesis”— i.e., the hypothesis that insecure attachment, with temperamental dispositions such as sensation seeking, may foster individualistic, competitive value orientations and problem behaviors. A group of 375 Italian students (53% female; Mean age = 12.58, SD = 1.08) completed anonymous questionnaires regarding attachment security, social values, sensation seeking, and bullying behaviors. Path analysis showed that attachment to mother was negatively associated with bullying of others, both directly and through the mediating role of conservative socially oriented values, while attachment to father was directly associated with victimization. Sensation seeking predicted bullying of others and victimization both directly and through the mediating role of conservative socially oriented values. Adolescents’ gender affected how attachment moderated the relationship between sensation seeking and problem behavior

The Affective Regulation of Uncertainty: The Semiotic Dimensionality Model (SDM)

This paper presents a novel psychological model of the socio-cognitive management of uncertainty, the semiotic dimensional model (SDM). The SDM claims that uncertainty increases the momentum of affect-laden meanings in meaning-making. This is so because affective meanings provide a simplified interpretation of the world that restores the experience of being able to make sense of the reality destabilized by uncertainty. Moreover, the SDM models the affective meanings in terms of low-dimensional mental phase space (MPS). Each dimension of the MPS detects a facet of the context. The lower the MPS dimensionality, the lower the number of facets of the context processed, therefore, the more simplified the meaning-making is. We attained the first empirical validation of the SDM in a sample of 120 Italian people. First, the SDM assumption that the low-dimensional MPS is the computational descriptor of affective meaning was tested. Second, an experimental study was designed in which uncertainty was manipulated so as to assess its effects on the dimensionality of participants’ MPS. It was hypothesized that uncertainty induces a decrease in the MPS dimensionality. Results were consistent with both hypotheses. Theoretical implications of the SDM and its relationship with other theories are discussed and future research direction outlined