How Do Personality and the Media Shape Perceived Risks and Benefits of E-cigarettes?

The use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) is one of the most common substance use behaviors among emerging adults. With 68 confirmed vaping-related deaths as of February 2018 and countless other cases of vaping-related lung disease and dysfunction, there is an urgent need to better understand emerging adults’ perceptions of ENDS products, and which emerging adults are more/less likely to perceive ENDS products as harmful. In the present study, I examined data from an online survey of seven colleges and universities across the US and from five focus groups conducted with college students. Specifically, I explored the perceived risks and benefits of vaping, including the effects of media coverage on students’ behavior, and whether ADHD symptoms and impulsivity were associated with different perceptions of e-cigarette risks and benefits. As hypothesized, students reported that media reports have affected their behaviors and perceptions on vaping and e-cigarette use, although students expressed confusion about chemical makeup and long-term effects of e-cigarettes. Also as hypothesized, there was an indirect effect of impulsivity on frequency of ENDS use and dependence through perceived benefits. ADHD symptoms, however, did not predict using ENDS to concentrate as hypothesized. Implications on these reports for finding effective intervention strategies will be discussed

Development and validation of analytical methods for therapeutic drug monitoring

2017 - 2018The U.S. Food and Drug Administration defines as Precision or Personalized Medicine (PM) an innovative therapeutic approach that tailors therapy and prevention on patients based on inter-individual variabilities in molecular or environmental features and in lifestyles. The major goals of PM are to maximize treatment efficacy and to reduce cost, toxicities and therapy failure rates by early identification of patients who might benefit or not of a specific treatment. In this scenario, therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) is an important laboratory tool for PM because of the possibility to measure several drugs and bioactive molecules in human biological matrices. TDM is based on the hypothesis that in the majority of drugs, there is a relationship between administered dose and circulating concentration of unbound fraction - and between this concentration and observed pharmacological effects. TDM is recommended for drugs with significant inter-individual pharmacokinetic variability and an established relationship between blood concentrations and clinical efficacy and/or toxicity. Moreover, TDM is also advisable in special populations such as pregnant women and children. To date, liquid chromatography and immunometric assay are still considered the standard for molecule measurement in biological fluids; however, in recent years, LC tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is gaining popularity because of the possibility of in-depth and multiplexed analysis with high selectivity and specificity. During this Ph.D. program, we developed several high performance LC (HPLC)- and LC-MS/MS-based approaches for TDM of different drugs measured in various types of body fluids and validated according to EMA and FDA guidelines. In particular, we focused on: 1) TDM of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) blood concentration, a drug with a wide therapeutic window. Our method was validated on a cohort of patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus treated with HCQ and blood concentrations were correlated to several clinical parameters, such quality of life. Moreover, TDM of HCQ was also used to monitor treatment adherence in those subjects. 2) TDM of a commonly used chemotherapeutic agent, the 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), which is known to have a narrow therapeutic window and a high toxicity 3) TDM of a new kinase inhibitor, Ruxolitinib, approved for the treatment of myeloproliferative hematologic disorders. 4) TDM of several drugs, such as caffeine and phenobarbital, in newborns who are at particular risk of uncorrected drug dosage. Due to the need to carry out analyses on very-small volume samples, we validated an analytical method using micro-sampling techniques such as the dried blood spot (DBS) sampling combined with LC-MS/MS analysis. [edited by author]XVII n.s. (XXXI ciclo

ARResT/Interrogate: an interactive immunoprofiler for IG/TR NGS data.

Abstract Motivation The study of immunoglobulins and T cell receptors using next-generation sequencing has finally allowed exploring immune repertoires and responses in their immense variability and complexity. Unsurprisingly, their analysis and interpretation is a highly convoluted task. Results We thus implemented ARResT/Interrogate, a web-based, interactive application. It can organize and filter large amounts of immunogenetic data by numerous criteria, calculate several relevant statistics, and present results in the form of multiple interconnected visualizations. Availability and Implementation ARResT/Interrogate is implemented primarily in R, and is freely available at http://bat.infspire.org/arrest/interrogate/ Supplementary information Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online

EFSA Panel on Biological Hazards (BIOHAZ) Panel; Scientific Opinion on the risk posed by pathogens in food of non-animal origin. Part 1 (outbreak data analysis and risk ranking of food/pathogen combinations)

Food of non-animal origin (FoNAO) is consumed in a variety of forms, and a major component of almost all meals. These food types have the potential to be associated with large outbreaks as seen in 2011 associated with VTEC O104. A comparison of the incidence of human cases linked to consumption of FoNAO and of food of animal origin (FoAO) was carried out to provide an indication of the proportionality between these two groups of foods. It was concluded that outbreak data reported as part of EU Zoonoses Monitoring is currently the only option for EU-wide comparative estimates. Using this data from 2007 to 2011, FoNAO were associated with 10% of the outbreaks, 26% of the cases, 35% of the hospitalisations and 46% of the deaths. If the data from the 2011VTEC O104 outbreak is excluded, FoNAO was associated with 10% of the outbreaks, 18% of cases, but only 8% of the hospitalisations and 5% of the deaths. From 2008 to 2011 there was an increase in the numbers of reported outbreaks, cases, hospitalisations and deaths associated with food of non-animal origin. In order to identify and rank specific food/pathogen combinations most often linked to human cases originating from FoNAO in the EU, a model was developed using seven criteria: strength of associations between food and pathogen based on the foodborne outbreak data from EU Zoonoses Monitoring (2007-11), incidence of illness, burden of disease, dose-response relationship, consumption, prevalence of contamination and pathogen growth potential during shelf life. Shortcomings in the approach using outbreak data were discussed. The top ranking food/pathogen combination was Salmonellaspp. and leafy greens eaten raw followed by (in equal rank) Salmonellaspp. and bulb and stem vegetables, Salmonellaspp. and tomatoes, Salmonellaspp. and melons, and pathogenic Escherichia coli and fresh pods, legumes or grain

En découdre avec la violence : La médiation scolaire par les pairs

Comment atténuer et prévenir la violence à l'école ? Ceux qui élaborent ou soutiennent des programmes de résolution pacifique des conflits ont tous cette conviction profonde que c'est dès l'école qu'il est possible d'acquérir d'autres comportements face aux litiges, face à la violence, face aux manifestations d'incivilité. C'est là que peut s'apprendre la citoyenneté. Cet ouvrage est le résultat de réflexions, de recherches et d'expériences pilote de médiation par les élèves menées en Suisse romande. Entre théories et pratiques, il répond à une réelle demande exprimée de la part d'enseignants, d'autorités scolaires, de parents d'élèves, et de divers milieux éducatifs : en découdre avec la violence. Il raconte une expérience qui dévoile ici ses racines théoriques et idéologiques. C'est une chronique. Et c'est un guide, permettant à ceux qui pourraient être intéressés par la médiation entre élèves de trouver inspiration au travers de quelques points de repères : non pas un mode d'emploi, non pas une méthode « clé en main » mais une invitation à être eux-mêmes créateurs dans leur propre contexte. C'est aussi un appel à la communication, à la citoyenneté et à la solidarité. L'expérience continue

Quatrième question : C’est bien beau… mais en pratique ?

Représentations et principes de la médiation La médiation en quelques tableaux La formation d’élèves médiateurs est une démarche progressive, une construction qui doit partir d’une sensibilisation à la résolution non violente de conflits. Avant de devenir acteur de médiation, donc de régulation sociale, il s’agit de réfléchir à la violence – entre vécus et représentations – à ses significations, aux causes et aux finalités, à l’attribution de responsabilités. Il s’agit d’approcher quelques co..

Première question : « Y a plus d’jeunesse ? »

Adolescence, « adulescence », violence Se démarquer pour grandir De tout temps, l’adolescent a manifesté ce besoin inéluctable de se démarquer (et de se marquer), puisque le démarquage autorise à grandir, et à profiler – parfois par inversion – son identité d’adulte. Cela n’est pas nouveau, en témoignent par exemple les Teddy Boys des années 1950, les Blousons noirs des années 1960, les utopies hippies des années 1970, ou le no futur des punks de la même période. ..