Alexithymia, emotional awareness and perceived dysfunctional parental behaviors in heroin dependents

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013The original publication is available at www.springerlink.com © Springer Science+Business MediaThe aim of this study was to analyse alexithymia and deficits in emotional awareness, in heroin addicts, and their relationship with perceptions of early parental interactions. The sample included 99 opiate dependent outpatients and 43 healthy controls. Assessment was performed using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale, the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale, the Inventory for Assessing Memories of Parental Rearing Behavior, the Mini-Mental State Examination and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Findings suggest parental representations, which were mostly characterized by emotional unavailability and a rejection interaction pattern, significantly related to alexithymia. Emotional awareness was associated with the number of years of drug use and methadone level. Negative affect was associated with alexithymia but not to emotional awareness. Regression analyses emphasized the influence of perceived dysfunctional parenting behaviors in alexithymia and difficulties in identifying feelings, particularly an interaction with paternal rejection, moderated by self-reported anxiety. These results are discussed addressing comprehensive issues of emotion regulation and treatment strategies in heroin dependence

Optical waveguiding in poled NLO polymers

For potential optoelectronic applications, new polymeric thin films containing nonlinear optical chromophores aligned by electric field poling for a χ(2) nonlinear optical response have been prepared and studied. Spectroscopic and optical waveguiding techniques, as well as second harmonic generation and electrooptic measurements, are being used to characterize these thin film materials. Here we optimize the chromophores in spectral response, nonlinearity, concentration and degree of alignment. Stability in the nonlinearity has been improved considerably by attaching the chromophores to crosslinked epoxy polymers. Some applications of these materials for electrooptic phase modulators will be presented

Effect of Transition Metal Oxide Cathodes on the Oxygen Evolution Reaction in Li–O₂ Batteries

Li–oxygen batteries could provide energy density that is up to five times greater than that of state-of-the-art Li-ion batteries. However, Li–oxygen cell rechargeability is limited by cathode passivation due to nonconductive discharge products. Despite efforts to efficiently oxidize these products, oxygen recovery remains poor at potentials where cell constituents are stable. Transition metal oxide (TMO) cathodes have shown low charging potentials, but a correspondence to improved oxygen evolution efficiency is debated. This is because the deposition of electrically insulating Li₂O₂ during the battery discharge could passivate the TMO surfaces and render them inactive for catalyzing oxygen evolution during charge. Contrary to this, we show that TMOs enable charging at low overpotentials without compromising the oxygen evolution efficiency. Charge potentials are lowered by 130–400 mV in batteries employing TMO-based cathodes compared to carbon-only cathodes. By a combination of current-sensing atomic force microscopy and differential electrochemical mass spectrometry, we show that Li₂O₂ has a greater propensity for deposition on carbon surfaces and only sparingly covers the RuO₂ surfaces. Our results suggest that chemically heterogeneous cathodes containing (1) surfaces that favor Li₂O₂ growth and (2) surfaces that are catalytically active but do not promote Li₂O₂ deposition can decrease charge overpotentials without decreasing oxygen evolution efficiency