Stereospecific ethylene-styrene block copolymerization with ansa-zirconocene-based catalyst

rac-[Methylene(3-tert-butyl-1-indenyl)(2)]ZrCl2 activated by MAC, employed as catalyst in the ethylene-styrene copolymerization, shows a peculiar behavior. Actually, it produces block copolymers, whereas the homogeneous catalytic systems known to copolymerize these monomers preferentially give rise to alternating sequences of ethylene and styrene. The polystyrene blocks are isotactic and show crystallinity, also when their average length is as short as 10 units. Some evidence suggests the primary styrene insertion into the metal-carbon bond of the growing chain: this unusual regiochemistry could account for the observed tendency to give homosequences

Clinical outcome of narrow diameter implants inserted into allografts

OBJECTIVE: Narrow diameter implants (NDI) (i.e. diamete

Metacognition as a predictor of improvements in personality disorders

Personality Disorders (PDs) are particularly hard to treat and treatment drop-out rates are high. Several authors have agreed that psychotherapy is more successful when it focuses on the core of personality pathology. For this reason, therapists dealing with PDs need to understand the psychopathological variables that characterize this pathology and exactly what contributes to maintaining psychopathological processes. Moreover, several authors have noted that one key problem that characterizes all PDs is an impairment in understanding mental states - here termed metacognition - which could also be responsible for therapy failures. Unfortunately, a limited number of studies have investigated the role of mentalization in the process of change during psychotherapy. In this paper, we assume that poor metacognition corresponds to a core element of the general pathology of personality, impacts a series of clinical variables, generates symptoms and interpersonal problems, and causes treatment to be slower and less effective. We explored whether changes in metacognition predicted an improvement among different psychopathological variables characterizing PDs; 193 outpatients were treated at the Third Center of Cognitive Psychotherapy in Rome, Italy, and followed a structured path tailored for the different psychopathological variables that emerged from a comprehensive psychodiagnostic assessment that considered patients' symptoms, metacognitive abilities, interpersonal relationships, personality psychopathology, and global functioning. The measurements were repeated after a year of treatment. The results showed that changes in metacognitive abilities predicted improvements in the analyzed variable

Face individual identity recognition: a potential endophenotype in autism

Funder: Autism Research TrustFunder: NIHR Biomedical Research CentreFunder: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care East of England at Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation TrustFunder: Sidney R. Baer, Jr. Foundation; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100001479Funder: National Science Foundation; doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100008982Funder: The Harvard Clinical and Translational Science CenterFunder: US-IT Fulbright CommissionAbstract: Background: Face individual identity recognition skill is heritable and independent of intellectual ability. Difficulties in face individual identity recognition are present in autistic individuals and their family members and are possibly linked to oxytocin polymorphisms in families with an autistic child. While it is reported that developmental prosopagnosia (i.e., impaired face identity recognition) occurs in 2–3% of the general population, no prosopagnosia prevalence estimate is available for autism. Furthermore, an autism within-group approach has not been reported towards characterizing impaired face memory and to investigate its possible links to social and communication difficulties. Methods: The present study estimated the prevalence of prosopagnosia in 80 autistic adults with no intellectual disability, investigated its cognitive characteristics and links to autism symptoms’ severity, personality traits, and mental state understanding from the eye region by using standardized tests and questionnaires. Results: More than one third of autistic participants showed prosopagnosia. Their face memory skill was not associated with their symptom’s severity, empathy, alexithymia, or general intelligence. Face identity recognition was instead linked to mental state recognition from the eye region only in autistic individuals who had prosopagnosia, and this relationship did not depend on participants’ basic face perception skills. Importantly, we found that autistic participants were not aware of their face memory skills. Limitations: We did not test an epidemiological sample, and additional work is necessary to establish whether these results generalize to the entire autism spectrum. Conclusions: Impaired face individual identity recognition meets the criteria to be a potential endophenotype in autism. In the future, testing for face memory could be used to stratify autistic individuals into genetically meaningful subgroups and be translatable to autism animal models

Understanding copy number variations through their genes: a molecular view on 16p11.2 deletion and duplication syndromes

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) include a broad spectrum of pathological conditions that affect >4% of children worldwide, share common features and present a variegated genetic origin. They include clinically defined diseases, such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), motor disorders such as Tics and Tourette’s syndromes, but also much more heterogeneous conditions like intellectual disability (ID) and epilepsy. Schizophrenia (SCZ) has also recently been proposed to belong to NDDs. Relatively common causes of NDDs are copy number variations (CNVs), characterised by the gain or the loss of a portion of a chromosome. In this review, we focus on deletions and duplications at the 16p11.2 chromosomal region, associated with NDDs, ID, ASD but also epilepsy and SCZ. Some of the core phenotypes presented by human carriers could be recapitulated in animal and cellular models, which also highlighted prominent neurophysiological and signalling alterations underpinning 16p11.2 CNVs-associated phenotypes. In this review, we also provide an overview of the genes within the 16p11.2 locus, including those with partially known or unknown function as well as non-coding RNAs. A particularly interesting interplay was observed between MVP and MAPK3 in modulating some of the pathological phenotypes associated with the 16p11.2 deletion. Elucidating their role in intracellular signalling and their functional links will be a key step to devise novel therapeutic strategies for 16p11.2 CNVs-related syndromes

A score system for complete cytoreduction in selected recurrent ovarian cancer patients undergoing secondary cytoreductive surgery: predictors- and nomogram-based analyses

Objective: To test the applicability of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Gyn\ue4kologische Onkologie (AGO) and Memorial Sloan Kettering (MSK) criteria in predicting complete cytoreduction (CC) in patients undergoing secondary cytoreductive surgery (SCS) for recurrent ovarian cancer (ROC). Methods: Data of consecutive patients undergoing SCS were reviewed. The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Gyn\ue4kologische Onkologie OVARian cancer study group (AGO-OVAR) and MSK criteria were retrospectively applied. Nomograms, based on AGO criteria, MSK criteria and both AGO and MSK criteria were built in order to assess the probability to achieve CC at SCS. Results: Overall, 194 patients met the inclusion criteria. CC was achieved in 161 (82.9%) patients. According to the AGO-OVAR criteria, we observed that CC was achieved in 87.0% of patients with positive AGO score. However, 45 out of 71 (63.4%) patients who did not fulfilled the AGO score had CC. Similarly, CC was achieved in 87.1%, 61.9% and 66.7% of patients for whom SCS was recommended, had to be considered and was not recommended, respectively. In order to evaluate the predictive value of the AGO-OVAR and MSK criteria we built 2 separate nomograms (c-index: 0.5900 and 0.5989, respectively) to test the probability to achieve CC at SCS. Additionally, we built a nomogram using both the aforementioned criteria (c-index: 0.5857). Conclusion: The AGO and MSK criteria help identifying patients deserving SCS. However, these criteria might be strict, thus prohibiting a beneficial treatment in patients who do not met these criteria. Further studies are needed to clarify factors predicting CC at SC

Principali test di stimolo e di inibizione per la patologia antero-ipofisaria: avvertenze per l'uso nella popolazione di età superiore ai 65 anni

SommarioLa fisiopatologia dell'invecchiamento non è ancora stata del tutto chiarita sebbene numerosi filoni di ricerca siano attivi in questo ambito in considerazione dell'aumento della vita media della popolazione generale. Il sistema endocrino riveste un ruolo critico in questo contesto in quanto, durante l'invecchiamento, avvengono importanti modifiche nel pattern secretorio dell'asse ipotalamo-ipofisi e nella sua sensibilità ai meccanismi di feedback. Risulta pertanto evidente come, nell'ambito della quotidiana pratica clinica, sia necessaria un'interpretazione critica dei principali test endocrinologi per lo studio delle patologie ipofisarie nella popolazione over 65, per la quale spesso non esistono cut-off età-specifici

Unearthed opium. Development of a UHPLC-MS/MS method for the determination of Papaver somniferum alkaloids in Daunian vessels

Introduction: The analysis of organic residue in ancient vessels to investigate early-age civilization habits is an important archeological application that needs advanced analytical methods. However, these procedures should meet inherent requisites such as low sampling invasiveness and high sensitivity for trace analysis. This study deals with the development of advanced analytical methods for the detection of opium alkaloids in ceramic vessels and its first application to the study of Daunian pots dating back to the VIII-IV sec BC.Methods: All the stages of the analytical procedure, from sampling to analysis, were carefully optimized. Concerning sampling, the traditional scraping approach was compared with a swabbing strategy which permitted minimizing sample encroachment. Extraction was based on pressurized liquid extraction or ultrasound-assisted liquid extraction, followed by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction, which allowed concentration enrichment. On the other hand, a UHPLC-MS/MS method was specifically developed and validated to obtain reliable data. Some Daunian pots, belonging to the Ceci-Macrini private archeological collection, were selected for sample withdrawal as their iconography could suggest opium usage.Results: Several of the analyzed samples resulted positive to thebaine and less frequently to morphine and codeine; furthermore, 70% of the analyzed items tested positive for at least one opium alkaloid. Positive findings were common to all the samples collected in the pots, suggesting that scraping and swabbing provided comparable results and validating this unusual sampling strategy. All samples were additionally analyzed by UHPLC-HRMS to further improve the confidence level of the identified compounds. The obtained results shed new light on the hypothesis of opium usage by the ancient Daunian civilization. Furthermore, this study provided suitable analytical tools for further investigations on the same topic, with a good level of confidence in the quality of the results