Asymptotic Expansion for the Wave Function in a one-dimensional Model of Inelastic Interaction

We consider a two-body quantum system in dimension one composed by a test particle interacting with an harmonic oscillator placed at the position $a>0$. At time zero the test particle is concentrated around the position $R_0$ with average velocity $\pm v_0$ while the oscillator is in its ground state. In a suitable scaling limit, corresponding for the test particle to a semi-classical regime with small energy exchange with the oscillator, we give a complete asymptotic expansion of the wave function of the system in both cases $R_0 <a$ and $R_0 >a$.Comment: 23 page

Editorial – Musculoskeletal pain: Which role for tapentadol?

Chronic pain is defined as pain persisting after healing of an underlying pathology or as persisting pain in the absence of tissue damage. In the last decade, the understanding of mechanisms involved in chronic pain led to an improved approach to patient management, with the aim to reduce discomfort, improve quality of life (QoL) and enhance functional recovery. Chronic musculoskeletal pain, which is frequently encountered in clinical practice, can affect patients of all ages and is particularly common in older patients. Indeed, low back pain is the most frequent chronic pain condition worldwide, with a lifetime prevalence of &gt;70% in western countries1,2. Neck pain is also a common disabling disease, with a prevalence of 23%, and is associated with high costs for medical visits and physiotherapy. Both low back pain and neck pain involve nociceptive and neuropathic pain mechanism

A Quantum Model of Feshbach Resonances

We consider a quantum model of two-channel scattering to describe the mechanism of a Feshbach resonance. We perform a rigorous analysis in order to count and localize the energy resonances in the perturbative regime, i.e., for small inter-channel coupling, and in the non-perturbative one. We provide an expansion of the effective scattering length near the resonances, via a detailed study of an effective Lippmann-Schwinger equation with energy-dependent potential.Comment: 29 pages, pdfLaTe

Dealing With COVID-19 Patients: A Moderated Mediation Model of Exposure to Patients' Death and Mental Health of Italian Health Care Workers

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic is asking health care workers (HCWs) to meet extraordinary challenges. In turn, HCWs were experiencing tremendous psycho-social crisis as they have had to deal with unexpected emotional requirements (ERs) arising from caring for suffering and dying patients on a daily basis. In that context, recent studies have highlighted how HCWs working during the COVID-19 outbreak manifested extreme emotional and behavioral reactions that may have impacted their mental health, increasing the risk for developing post-traumatic stress symptoms. Purpose: The aim of the study was to investigate post-traumatic stress symptoms, such as intrusion symptoms, as a potential mediator of the link between ERs and crying at work, and whether rumination moderates the relationship between ERs and intrusion-based PTS symptoms among HCWs who have had to deal with patients dying from COVID-19. Methods: An online cross-sectional study design was performed. A total of 543 Italian HCWs (physicians and nurses) participated in the study. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. We used the SPSS version of bootstrap-based PROCESS macro for testing the moderated mediation model. Results: ERs had an indirect effect on crying at work through the mediating role of intrusion symptoms. Results from the moderated mediation model showed that rumination moderated the indirect effect of ERs on crying at work via intrusion symptoms, and this effect was significant only for high rumination. Furthermore, when we tested for an alternative model where rumination moderates the direct effect of ERs on crying at work, this moderation was not significant. Conclusions: As the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing, there is an urgent need for decision-makers to rapidly implement interventions aimed at offering timely psychological support to HCWs, especially in those contexts where the risk of emotional labor associated to patients dying from COVID-19 is higher

Concerns, Perceived Impact, Preparedness in Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Pandemic and Health Outcomes among Italian Physicians: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Health care workers (HCWs) are among the professionals at serious risk for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their mental health. In this sense, the next public health challenge globally will be to preserving healthy HCWs during this pandemic. Aim: The present study has the aim of investigating the relationship among concerns, perceived impact, preparedness for the COVID-19 pandemic and the mental health of Italian physicians. Methods: From March 29th to April 15th 2020, we conducted an online survey using snowball sampling techniques through Limesurvey platform. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple binary logistic regressions. Results: Multivariate analysis showed that the risk factors for perceived job stress were concerns about catching COVID-19 (OR = 3.18 [95% CI = 2.00-5.05] P &lt;.001), perceived impact on job demands (OR = 1.63 [95% CI = 1.05-2.52] P &lt;.05), perceived impact on job role (OR = 2.50 [95% CI = 1.60-3.90] P &lt;.001), and non-working concerns (OR = 1.86 [95% CI = 1.15-3.03] P &lt;.05). With respect to the risk factors for rumination about the pandemic emerged concerns about catching COVID-19 (OR 1.74, [95% CI = 1.12-2.71] P &lt;.05), perceived impact on job role (OR = 1.68 [95% CI = 1.12-2.52] P &lt;.05), and impact on personal life (OR = 2.04 [95% CI = 1.08-3.86] P &lt;.05). Finally, the risk factors for crying at work were perceived impact on job role (OR = 2.47, [95% CI = 1.20-5.09] P &lt;.05), rumination about the pandemic (OR = 3.027 [95% CI = 1.27-7.19] P &lt;.01), watching colleagues crying at work (OR = 3.82 [95% CI = 1.88-7.77] P &lt;.01), and perceived job stress (OR = 3.53 [95% CI = 1.24-10.07] P &lt;.05). Conclusion: In general, our results highlighted that being concerned about being infected/infecting other people, carrying out new and unusual tasks, and witnessing colleagues crying at work were important risk factors for physicians’ well-being. Additional data are necessary to advance understanding of these risk factors in a long-term perspective

Association between burnout and sense of coherence among speech and language therapists: an exploratory study in Italy

Background and aim: Job burnout has been recognized as a serious occupational hazard among professionals, such as health care professionals. The sense of coherence (SoC) is deemed to be a personal resource capable of reducing the impact of job stressors and, consequently, the experience of job burnout. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between SoC and job burnout among speech and language therapists. Materials and methods: A descriptive and cross-sectional analysis was carried out through an online self-reported questionnaire. A total of 217 Italian speech and language therapists were involved in the study. The Anova test, T-test and logistic regression were performed to study the association between SoC and job burnout. Results: The Anova test showed that job tenure was not associated to job burnout. The T-test showed that speech and language therapists having a low SoC exhibited significantly higher emotional exhaustion, higher cynicism, and lower professional efficacy (t=-7.190 d.f.=215 p&lt;.001) when compared to those having a high SoC. Finally, the odds ratio showed that low SoC was associated with high emotional exhaustion (OR=11.86; 95% CI=5.52-25.49; p&lt;0.05), low SoC was associated with high cynicism (OR=4.41, CI=2.50-7.80; p&lt;0.05), and low SoC was associated with low personal efficacy (OR=4.70; CI=2.59-8.52; p&lt;0.05). Conclusion: Our results are in line with previous studies which showed that SoC is a fundamental personal resource which may activate workers’ reaction to various stressors, thus reducing the experience of burnout. (www.actabiomedica.it

Worries, Preparedness, and Perceived Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Nurses' Mental Health

Background: In times of global public health emergency, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses stand at the front line, working in close contact with infected individuals. Being actively engaged in fighting against COVID-19 exposes nurses to a high risk of being infected but can also have a serious impact on their mental health, as they are faced with excessive workload and emotional burden in many front-line operating contexts. Purpose: The aim of the study is to analyze how risk factors such as perceived impact, preparedness to the pandemic, and worries were associated with mental health outcomes (crying, rumination and stress) in nurses. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was performed via an online questionnaire survey. Participants included 894 registered nurses from Italy. Participation was voluntary and anonymous. Multiple binary logistic regression was carried out to analyze the relationship between risk factors and health outcomes. Results: Increased job stress was related to higher levels of rumination about the pandemic (OR = 4.04, p &lt; 0.001), job demand (OR = 2.00, p &lt; 0.001), impact on job role (OR = 2.56, p &lt; 0.001), watching coworkers crying at work (OR = 1.50, p &lt; 0.05), non-work-related concerns (OR = 2.28, p &lt; 0.001), and fear of getting infected (OR = 2.05, p &lt; 0.001). Job stress (OR = 2.52, p &lt; 0.01), rumination (OR = 2.28, p &lt; 0.001), and watching colleagues crying (OR = 7.92, p &lt; 0.001) were associated with crying at work. Rumination was associated with caring for patients who died of COVID-19 (OR = 1.54, p &lt; 0.05), job demand (OR = 1.70, p &lt; 0.01), watching colleagues crying (OR = 1.81, p &lt; 0.001), non-work-related worries (OR = 1.57, p &lt; 0.05), and fear of getting infected (OR = 2.02, p &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: The psychological impact that this pandemic may cause in the medium/long term could be greater than the economical one. This is the main challenge that health organizations will have to face in the future. This study highlights that the perceived impact and worries about the pandemic affect nurses' mental health and can impact on their overall effectiveness during the pandemic. Measures to enhance nurses' protection and to lessen the risk of depressive symptoms and post-traumatic stress should be planned promptly