SUICIDAL PHENOMENON IN PANDEMIC TIMES .THE TRENTINO\u27S REALITY

Suicide is a major public health problem; according to the latest WHO data, it is among the top twenty causes of death in the world. After the sudden and unexpected spreading of a global pandemic in 2020, many mental health researchers have launched alarms about a possible suicide rates\u27 rise, due to the inevitable consequences of the ongoing social and health emergency. However, recent articles in scientific literature have disconfirmed this thesis. Trentino also seems not to deviate from this dynamic: preliminary data, collected in an unconventional, and not yet official way, have been able to show that in 2020 the suicide rate remained stable. The finding that excludes up to date such a rise in rates does not unfortunately provide any guarantee that the situation will remain constant over time, and that there cannot be significant differences regarding gender, ethnicity, religious faith, sexual orientation or social class in determining a different impact of the current crisis on the suicidal phenomenon. Further studies and insights into the processing of the data in our possession are needed. Difficulties and uncertainties connected to the covid-19, with which it is now clear that the community will have to "learn to live together", could also in the medium and long term constitute a prolonged stressgenerating element with a greater negative impact on the mental health of the population. It is essential, in light of the particular social and health situation we are experiencing, to carry out with even greater effectiveness, precision and continuity actions such as those promoted within the Invito alla Vita Project for the prevention of suicide, in order to guarantee the most effective prevention of this serious phenomenon. The psychological and social implications of the covid-19 pandemic will only be fully assessable in a few years, when the crisis will be effectively over. Only then we will be able to understand if the efforts put in place at a global level, and in particular in the province of Trento, have been effective in the managing of the suicidal phenomenon

SUICIDAL PHENOMENON IN PANDEMIC TIMES .THE TRENTINO\u27S REALITY

Suicide is a major public health problem; according to the latest WHO data, it is among the top twenty causes of death in the world. After the sudden and unexpected spreading of a global pandemic in 2020, many mental health researchers have launched alarms about a possible suicide rates\u27 rise, due to the inevitable consequences of the ongoing social and health emergency. However, recent articles in scientific literature have disconfirmed this thesis. Trentino also seems not to deviate from this dynamic: preliminary data, collected in an unconventional, and not yet official way, have been able to show that in 2020 the suicide rate remained stable. The finding that excludes up to date such a rise in rates does not unfortunately provide any guarantee that the situation will remain constant over time, and that there cannot be significant differences regarding gender, ethnicity, religious faith, sexual orientation or social class in determining a different impact of the current crisis on the suicidal phenomenon. Further studies and insights into the processing of the data in our possession are needed. Difficulties and uncertainties connected to the covid-19, with which it is now clear that the community will have to "learn to live together", could also in the medium and long term constitute a prolonged stressgenerating element with a greater negative impact on the mental health of the population. It is essential, in light of the particular social and health situation we are experiencing, to carry out with even greater effectiveness, precision and continuity actions such as those promoted within the Invito alla Vita Project for the prevention of suicide, in order to guarantee the most effective prevention of this serious phenomenon. The psychological and social implications of the covid-19 pandemic will only be fully assessable in a few years, when the crisis will be effectively over. Only then we will be able to understand if the efforts put in place at a global level, and in particular in the province of Trento, have been effective in the managing of the suicidal phenomenon

RISK ASSESSMENT OF MALICIOUS ATTACKS AGAINST POWER SYSTEMS

The new scenarios of malicious attack prompt for their deeper consideration and mainly when critical systems are at stake. In this framework, infrastructural systems, including power systems, represent a possible target due to the huge impact they can have on society. Malicious attacks are different in their nature from other more traditional cause of threats to power system, since they embed a strategic interaction between the attacker and the defender (characteristics that cannot be found in natural events or systemic failures). This difference has not been systematically analyzed by the existent literature. In this respect, new approaches and tools are needed. This paper presents a mixed-strategy game-theory model able to capture the strategic interactions between malicious agents that may be willing to attack power systems and the system operators, with its related bodies, that are in charge of defending them. At the game equilibrium, the different strategies of the two players, in terms of attacking/protecting the critical elements of the systems, can be obtained. The information about the attack probability to various elements can be used to assess the risk associated with each of them, and the efficiency of defense resource allocation is evidenced in terms of the corresponding risk. Reference defense plans related to the online defense action and the defense action with a time delay can be obtained according to their respective various time constraints. Moreover, risk sensitivity to the defense/attack-resource variation is also analyzed. The model is applied to a standard IEEE RTS-96 test system for illustrative purpose and, on the basis of that system, some peculiar aspects of the malicious attacks are pointed ou

SUICIDE AND ATTEMPTED SUICIDE: EPIDEMIOLOGICAL SURVEILLANCE AS A CRUCIAL MEANS OF A LOCAL SUICIDE PREVENTION PROJECT IN TRENTO’S PROVINCE

The World Health Organization identifies suicide among the top 10 causes of death in many countries with an overall mortality rate of 16 per 100,000 inhabitants. Furthermore suicide attempts present a frequency 4-10 times greater than the suicidal events, representing also one of the main risk factors to lead to recurrent attempts of suicide. In 2008 the Autonomous Province of Trento launched a suicide prevention pogram called "Invitation to Life" which includes various interventions intended to counter the phenomenon of suicide in the region. Actually the epidemiological research upon the phenomenon of suicide in Trentino region is one of the main pillars of the project: it represents a fundamental requirement to identify risk and protective factors in the population in order to adopt more specific and effective preventive strategies. This article aims to present methods and instruments for epidemiological monitoring of suicide and attempted suicide which are applied in Trentino and to describe results after seven years from the beginning of the local prevention program “Invitation to life”

Psychodynamics in diabetes. the relevance of deepening the symbolic in treatment adherence

No abstract availabl

Cortical Evoked Potentials in Children of Diabetic Mothers

Type 1 diabetic mothers' infants show a delay of visual evoked potential (VEP) significantly related to some parameters of poor metabolic control during pregnancy. In the present paper we analyzed the characteristics of VEPs and somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) recorded in 16 three-year-old type 1 diabetic mothers' children (DMC). Compared with controls (23 nondiabetic mothers' healthy matched children), DMC showed significantly delayed mean latency of VEP (P2) and SEP (P22). In 3 cases (19%), we found pathological responses (+3 SD from the mean value of controls) of VEPs and SEPs. At the age of 3 years, the offspring of type 1 diabetic mothers showed delay of cortical evoked responses in both visual and somatosensory systems

Exploring Cognitive States: Methods for Detecting Physiological Temporal Fingerprints

Cognitive state detection and its relationship to observable physiologically telemetry has been utilized for many human-machine and human-cybernetic applications. This paper aims at understanding and addressing if there are unique psychophysiological patterns over time, a physiological temporal fingerprint, that is associated with specific cognitive states. This preliminary work involves commercial airline pilots completing experimental benchmark task inductions of three cognitive states: 1) Channelized Attention (CA); 2) High Workload (HW); and 3) Low Workload (LW). We approach this objective by modeling these "fingerprints" through the use of Hidden Markov Models and Entropy analysis to evaluate if the transitions over time are complex or rhythmic/predictable by nature. Our results indicate that cognitive states do have unique complexity of physiological sequences that are statistically different from other cognitive states. More specifically, CA has a significantly higher temporal psychophysiological complexity than HW and LW in EEG and ECG telemetry signals. With regards to respiration telemetry, CA has a lower temporal psychophysiological complexity than HW and LW. Through our preliminary work, addressing this unique underpinning can inform whether these underlying dynamics can be utilized to understand how humans transition between cognitive states and for improved detection of cognitive states

Approaches to the Security Analysis of Power Systems: Defence Strategies Against Malicious Threats

This report is intended to provide a conceptual framework for assessing the security risk to power systems assets and operations related to malicious attacks. The problem is analysed with reference to all the actors involved and the possible targets. The specific nature of the malicious attacks is discussed and representations in terms of strategic interaction are proposed. Models based on Game Theory and Multi Agent Systems techniques specifically developed for the representation of malicious attacks against power systems are presented and illustrated with reference to applications to small-scale test systems.JRC.G.6-Sensors, radar technologies and cybersecurit

Tumor-associated and immunochemotherapy-dependent long-term alterations of the peripheral blood NK cell compartment in DLBCL patients

Natural Killer (NK) cells are a key component of tumor immunosurveillance and thus play an important role in rituximab-dependent killing of lymphoma cells via an antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC) mechanism. We evaluated the phenotypic and functional assets of peripheral blood NK cell subsets in 32 newly-diagnosed diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients and in 27 healthy controls. We further monitored long-term modifications of patient NK cells for up to 12 months after rituximab-based immunochemotherapy. At diagnosis, patients showed a higher percentage of CD56dim and CD16C NK cells, and a higher frequency of GrzBC cells in CD56dim, CD56bright, and CD16C NK cell subsets than healthy controls. Conversely, DLBCL NK cell killing and interferon g (IFNg) production capability were comparable to those derived from healthy subjects. Notably, NK cells from refractory/relapsed patients exhibited a lower “natural” cytotoxicity. A marked and prolonged therapy-induced reduction of both “natural” and CD16- dependent NK cytotoxic activities was accompanied by the down-modulation of CD16 and NKG2D activating receptors, particularly in the CD56dim subset. However, reduced NK cell killing was not associated with defective lytic granule content or IFNg production capability. This study firstly describes tumor-associated and therapy-induced alterations of the systemic NK cell compartment in DLBCL patients. As these alterations may negatively impact rituximab-based therapy efficacy, our work may provide useful information for improving immunochemotherapeutic strategies

Understanding care relationships in diabetes practice. A psychodynamic interview-based exploratory study

ObjectiveTo explore the subjective experience of physicians working in diabetic settings about their care relationships in order to find some unique clues contributing to physician professional health and capacity to manage patients' adherence.Research design and methodsAn interview-based exploratory study has been carried out involving 18 physicians (77.8% female) with at least 3 years of clinical practice in diabetes care. In-depth interviews about the emotional experience with patients with diabetes were conducted and audio recorded. Interviews transcripts were analyzed through a computer-based text analysis which allowed the identification of thematic domains (Cluster Analysis) and latent factors (Correspondence Analysis) viewed through a psychodynamic and constructivist lens.ResultsSix thematic domains emerged respectively referring to: Concern (8.43%), Control (14.42%), Ambivalence (22.08%), Devotion (22.49%), Guilt (19.29%) and Strive for Achievement (13.30%). Moreover, three latent dimensions were taken into account, which explained 69.20% of data variance: Affect Repression (28.50%), Tendency to Repair (22.70%) and Anxiety Pattern (18.00%).ConclusionsOverall, the results of the present study confirm the challenging nature of diabetes care. In particular, physicians ongoing effort to restore patients' psychological integrity in chronic condition constitute the most novel finding above all. In this regard, the need for emotional labor in physicians' education and training is suggested in order to both prevent burnout symptoms (e.g. depersonalization) and promote shared decision making in care relationships. However, findings should be treated as preliminary given the convenience nature of the sample and its reduced size