Hybrid UV-cured organic-inorganic IPNs

Hybrid organic-inorganic UV-cured coatings based on interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) were prepared starting by an equimolar methacrylate-epoxy UV-curable mixture (bisphenol-A-diglycidyl dimethacrylate/bisphenol-A- diglycidyl ether, abbreviated as BisGMA/BADGE), in the presence of tetrafunctional silane monomer tetrakis(methacryloyloxy-ethoxy)silane (TetMESi) as inorganic precursor. The photocuring kinetics of the BisGMA/BADGE IPN monomer mixture were strongly affected by the order of the cure of the individual components. Addition of TetMESi resulted in higher degrees of reaction. DMTA of the BisGMA/BADGE IPN suggest a two phase structure. The rubbery modulus of the hydrolysed BisGMA/BADGE/TetMESi systems increased as the level of TetMESi was raised in the formulation due primarily to the significant reinforcing effect of the nano-silica particles. TGA of the BisGMA/BADGE IPN showed three degradation stages with no residual char but the hydrolysed BisGMA/BADGE/TetMESi systems formed a carbonaceous silica char which increased in mass as the level of TetMESi was raised. The two phase morphology of the BisGMA/BADGE IPN was confirmed by FE-SEM analysis. For IPNs prepared with TetMESi, SiO 2 particles are evident in the FE-SEM image and have diameters in the nanometric size rang

In search of social support in the NICU: features, benefits and antecedents of parents' tendency to share with others the premature birth of their baby.

Objective: to investigate social sharing among 40 parents (20 couples) of hospitalized premature newborns, the social network of addressees with whom they shared their experience, the perceived benefits of this activity and the sources of individual differences. Methods: emotional reaction and attachment status were assessed within seven days and between 30 and 45 days from birth, respectively. At three months of infant's corrected age, parents completed a self-report assessing retrospectively their social sharing. Results: over 80% of the parents felt the need to share the event and actually did within one week; one's own partner was the most preferred addressee. The extent of father's social sharing was mainly related to the newborn's medical risk, while mother's to her own emotional reaction. Guilt and anger were found to lengthen the latency of sharing in mothers and fathers, respectively. Secure attachment status, compared to insecure ones, was found to be the most effective in promoting social sharing. Conclusions: These findings help to understand why parents differ from each other in their use of social support in the NICU; from a practical standpoint, they highlight important factors which require attention when implementing intervention program in the NICU directed to parents of premature newborns

Sexual offenders e legami d’attaccamento. Una ricerca su un campione italiano

Sexual offenders e legami d’attaccamento. Una ricerca su un campione italiano Ignazio Grattagliano , Alessandro Taurino Alessandro Costantini2Alessandra Latrofa2, Sonia Papagna2, Maria Terlizzi2 Michele Giovanni Laquale2, Rosalinda Cassibba2, Le osservazioni, le analisi e le valutazioni sui sexual offenders ipotizzano che il profilo e le caratteristiche di autori di reati così “particolari”, coinvolgano una serie diversificata di fattori eziologici. Una delle chiavi di lettura è quella che esplora il ruolo giocato dalle esperienze di attaccamento di questi sogetti.La nostra indagine ha avuto lo scopo di rilevare quale fosse la categoria di attaccamento prevalente in un gruppo di venti sexual offenders, condannati e ristretti in carceri italiane. La ricerca ha riguardato sia la dicotomia sicuro/insicuro, sia rispetto alle tre categorie F (free), Ds (dismissing), ed E (entangled), riportando l’eventuale presenza di stati mentali di tipo Unresolved. Sono state inoltre indagate in maniera descrittiva le esperienze infantili di tali soggetti in relazione alle figure significative di attaccamento. Il punto di forza di tale studio, sul piano metodologico, è stato l’utilizzo dell’Adult Attachment Interview. Se, infatti, molte indagini presenti in letteratura evidenziano l’uso di strumenti self-report o di questionari per la rilevazione delle esperienze di attaccamento dei soggetti coinvolti, nella nostra ricerca è stato utilizzato uno strumento standardizzato, la cui validità è ampiamente documentata e riconosciuta nell’ambito della ricerca clinico-psicologica e medico-psichiatrica

Sexual offenders: theoretical paradigms and etiological hypotheses

This paper highlights how the early interpersonal experiences can deeply influence the normal, pathological individual development or his criminal career. In particular, several studies analyzed the attachment style of subjects sent to prison for sexual crimes. Sexual offenders’ attachment is worthy of further investigation and in-depth analysis, as they are more and more often subjected to criminology attention and are socially relevant

Attachment models in incarcerated sex offenders: a Preliminary Italian Study using the Adult Attachment Interview

A group of sex offenders (clinical group: n = 19) was compared to a nonclinical sample matched by age, years of education, and gender (control group A: n = 19) to verify a higher incidence of insecure attachment models among sex offenders. In addition, we tested whether sex offenders were characterized by specific childhood experiences, compared to control adults (control group B: n = 19) with the same secure/insecure attachment classification. Results showed significant differences between offenders and control adults on both the AAI continuous score and the distribution of the two-way attachment classifications. Furthermore, sex offenders reported more intense experiences of rejection by the father figure and abuse in the family context during early childhood compared to not offenders subjects with the same attachment classification.L'obiettivo della ricerca è stato quello di verificare l'incidenza di un attaccamento insicuro di un gruppo di partecipanti sex offenders, focalizzando anche l'attenzione sulla presenza, in tale specifico gruppo, di specifiche esperienze nell'infanzia, attraverso il confronto un gruppo di controllo di adulti (non sex offenders) appaiati per età, genere, livello di istruzione e pattern di attaccamento. I risultati hanno dimostrato differenze significative tra sex offenders e gruppo di controllo rispetto sia ai punteggi continui dell'AAI sia alla distruzione delle classificazioni dell'attaccamento sicuro/insicuro. I sex offender manifestano inoltre esperienze più intense di rifiuto dalla figura paterna e abuso in famiglia se confrontati con i partecipanti del gruppo di controllo

Desirable cytolytic immune effector cell recruitment by interleukin-15 dendritic cells

Success of dendritic cell (DC) therapy in treating malignancies is depending on the DC capacity to attract immune effector cells, considering their reciprocal crosstalk is partially regulated by cell-contact-dependent mechanisms. Although critical for therapeutic efficacy, immune cell recruitment is a largely overlooked aspect regarding optimization of DC vaccination. In this paper we have made a head-to-head comparison of interleukin (IL)-15-cultured DCs and conventional IL-4-cultured DCs with regard to their proficiency in the recruitment of (innate) immune effector cells. Here, we demonstrate that IL-4 DCs are suboptimal in attracting effector lymphocytes, while IL15 DCs provide a favorable chemokine milieu for recruiting CD8(+) T cells, natural killer (NK) cells and gamma delta (γδ) T cells. Gene expression analysis revealed that IL-15 DCs exhibit a high expression of chemokines involved in antitumor immune effector cell attraction, while IL-4 DCs display a more immunoregulatory profile characterized by the expression of Th2 and regulatory T cell-attracting chemokines. This is confirmed by functional data indicating an enhanced recruitment of granzyme B(+) effector lymphocytes by IL-15 DCs, as compared to IL-4 DCs, and subsequent superior killing of tumor cells by the migrated lymphocytes. Elevated CCL4 gene expression in IL-15 DCs and lowered CCR5 expression on both migrated γδ T cells and NK cells, led to validation of increased CCL4 secretion by IL15 DCs. Moreover, neutralization of CCR5 prior to migration resulted in an important inhibition of γδ T cell and NK cell recruitment by IL-15 DCs. These findings further underscore the strong immunotherapeutic potential of IL-15 DCs

SAFETY OF INTRAVENOUS HIGH-DOSE DIPYRIDAMOLE ECHOCARDIOGRAPHY

Clinical data on 10,451 high-dose (up to 0.84 mg/kg over 10 minutes) dipyridamole-echocardiography tests (DET) performed in 9,122 patients were prospectively collected from 33 echocardiographic laboratories, each contributing >100 tests. All patients were studied for documented or suspected coronary artery disease (1,117 early [<18 days] after acute myocardial infarction and 293 had unstable angina). Significant side effects including major adverse reactions and minor but limiting side effects occurred in 113 patients (1.2%). Major adverse reactions occurred in 7 cases (0.07%). In 6 of these cases, adverse reactions were associated with echocardiographically assessed ischemia and included 1 prolonged cardiac asystole (complicated by acute myocardial infarction and coma, with death after 23 days), 1 short-lasting cardiac asystole, 2 myocardial infarctions, 1 pulmonary edema and 1 sustained ventricular tachycardia. In all 6 cases, the cardiologist-echocardiographer performing the study had a limited experience (<100 tests) with DET, and at off-line reading in 5 cases, the obvious echo-positivity preceded the onset of complications by 1 to 5 minutes. The only ischemia-independent major side effect was a short-lasting cardiac asystole that was reversed by aminophylline and atropine. Significant side effects associated with echocardiographically assessed ischemia occurred in 89 additional cases (21 with and 68 without concomitant echocardiographically assessed myocardial ischemia). The most frequent of these side effects was hypotension or bradycardia, or both, which occurred in 40 patients with negative and 6 with positive DET. In all cases, side effects promptly subsided after aminophylline. In 1,857 cases, the high dose was not given for echo-positivity before the eighth minute. In 60 cases, the full high dose was not given despite the echocardiographic negativity for limiting side effect, yielding an overall feasibility of high-dose DET of 99%. Aminophylline was routinely administered also at the end of negative tests. Noticeable side effects occurred in 17 cases. In 13 patients (7 with negative and 6 with positive DET) transient ST-segment elevation occurred 1 to 4 minutes after the onset of aminophylline infusion, accompanied by regional dyssynergy. All 13 patients had variant angina. Thus, high-dose DET is reasonably safe and well-tolerated, even early after acute myocardial infarction and in patients with unstable angina, when selectively used in patients in whom the lower dose did not induce either echocardiographic signs of ischemia or limiting side effects

Safety of intravenous high-dose dipyridamole echocardiography

Clinical data on 10,451 high-dose (up to 0.84 mg/kg over 10 minutes) dipyridamole-echocardiography tests (DET) performed in 9,122 patients were prospectively collected from 33 echocardiographic laboratories, each contributing greater than 100 tests. All patients were studied for documented or suspected coronary artery disease (1,117 early [less than 18 days] after acute myocardial infarction and 293 had unstable angina). Significant side effects including major adverse reactions and minor but limiting side effects occurred in 113 patients (1.2%). Major adverse reactions occurred in 7 cases (0.07%). In 6 of these cases, adverse reactions were associated with echocardiographically assessed ischemia and included 1 prolonged cardiac asystole (complicated by acute myocardial infarction and coma, with death after 23 days), 1 short-lasting cardiac asystole, 2 myocardial infarctions, 1 pulmonary edema and 1 sustained ventricular tachycardia. In all 6 cases, the cardiologist-echocardiographer performing the study had a limited experience (less than 100 tests) with DET, and at off-line reading in 5 cases, the obvious echo-positivity preceded the onset of complications by 1 to 5 minutes. The only ischemia-independent major side effect was a short-lasting cardiac asystole that was reversed by aminophylline and atropine. Significant side effects associated with echocardiographically assessed ischemia occurred in 89 additional cases (21 with and 68 without concomitant echocardiographically assessed myocardial ischemia). The most frequent of these side effects was hypotension or bradycardia, or both, which occurred in 40 patients with negative and 6 with positive DET. In all cases, side effects promptly subsided after aminophylline. In 1,857 cases, the high dose was not given for echo-positivity before the eighth minute.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS