Heat shrink sleeves for MB/BacTtm Bottles

Organon Teknika Corporation markets a diagnostic test system that detects mycobacteria. The test media is sold in a tubing glass bottle which may break if dropped or weakened in shipment to the laboratory. Because mycobacteria is a very infectious airborne agent, there is concern in the marketplace that the potential for breakage of glass bottles places the laboratory technician and environment at risk. While tests are under way to identify a plastic bottle suitable for this application, Organon Teknika is pursuing the use of a heat shrink sleeve as an option to improve the safety of this product. This study addresses the feasibility of using a heat shrink sleeve as a safety mechanism by comparing bottles with sleeves to bottles without sleeves. While the PVC sleeve will not eliminate bottle breakage, tests have shown that this sleeve can reduce the likelihood of glass and liquid scatter in the case of bottle breakage. In light of these results, Organon Teknika has implemented the use of the heat shrink sleeve on the MB/BacT Process Bottles

DFS (Design Futures from Students) Toolbox

<p><strong>DFS (Design Futures from Students) Toolbox </strong></p><p>Designed by Denise de Spirito, Giuseppe Lotti e Gabriele Pontillo V1.0 from the "Design Futeres" of degree course <i>"Product, Interior, Communication and Eco-Social Design" </i></p><p>10/2023  </p><p> </p><p>Based on:  LFC Lean Futures Creation Toolkit by Futurice Ltd (Annina Antinranta, Annika Hamann, Paul Kaeppler, Simon Messmer, Mia Muurimäki, Ida Rainio, Rosie Trudgen), Marzo 2021.  https://futurice.com/lean-futures-creation-toolkit#service-contact-form </p&gt

Personality and attachment patterns in a clinical sample of adolescents at ultra-high risk for psychosis

The ultra-high risk (UHR) criteria were defined to identify young people at imminent risk of developing a first episode of psychosis. Identifying UHR individuals can help guide mental health practitioners in their treatment decision-making and adapt their interventions to the individual characteristics of patients in order to prevent the onset of psychosis. To date, only few studies have focused on personality features of the UHR patients’ population, using mostly self-report instruments despite their crucial limitations in this field. Moreover, very little research has examined the link between the risk for developing psychosis and insecure attachment. Notably, no empirical investigations have studied this relationship using the gold standard measure for attachment. This study aimed at examining with valid and reliable measures both personality features and attachment patterns in a clinical sample of UHR adolescents. Methods: 40 adolescent UHR outpatients were compared to 40 individuals who didn’t meet the ultra-high risk criteria. Each patient received a DSM personality diagnosis and was assessed using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) and Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS/SOPS), the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP-200-A), as well as the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Results: No differences between groups have been found when personality disorders were measured according to the DSM-IV-TR categories. However, UHR patients showed more impaired personality functioning and higher scores on two Q-factors of the SWAP-200: “inhibited/self- critical” and “emotionally dysregulated”. Finally, a higher degree of “cannot classify low- coherence” attachment patterns was found in UHR patients’ group. Conclusions: These primary findings seem to suggest the importance of taking into account the emotional dysregulation, social inhibition and disorganized attachment in treatment planning of UHR patients

Clinical assessment of personality and attachment patterns in adolescents at ultra high risk for psychosis

Introduction: “Ultra-high risk” (UHR) diagnostic criteria (Miller et al., 2003) pinpoint a combination of state (attenuated or brief intermittent positive psychotic symptoms) and trait (genetic risk with a deterioration in functioning) risk factors that identify youth and young adults at heightened and imminent risk of developing a first episode of psychosis. Identifying UHR individuals can help guide mental health practitioners in their treatment decision-making and adapt their interventions to the individual characteristics of patients in order to prevent the onset of psychosis. Nevertheless, UHR population is highly heterogeneous, displaying varying clinical conditions, including anxiety, depression and substance disorders. As this heterogeneity undermines both clinical research and the evaluation and treatment of patients, many mental health care providers ex- press concern with the current diagnostic practice, which does not enable efficacious therapeutic planning. In particular, according to epidemiological data, has been shown that about 40% of UHR patients receive at least one diagnosis of personality disorder. Although some common genetic and environmental diatheses underlie both schizotypal personality disorders and schizophrenia, some studies have shown the rates of schizotypal UHR patients to be relatively modest. In contrast, other studies have found a considerable prevalence of schizoid, borderline and avoidant personality traits/disorders among UHR patients (Shurze-Lutter et al., 2012). So far, only few studies have thus evaluated personality features in the UHR population, suggesting that the personality characteristics of such patients vary considerably. To our knowledge, these personality differences have never been systematically evaluated. Furthermore, there are evidences linking attachment adversity to psychosis, from the premorbid stages of the disorder to its clinical forms. To date, very little research has evaluated attachment patterns in UHR individuals. In each case, the researchers used exclusively self-report instruments and detected a high rate of insecure patterns (e.g., 93% in Quijada et al., 2015; and 95% in Russo et al., 2018). We consider a systematic investigation of the UHR population critical for improving our understanding of the different symptom patterns of UHR individuals and achieving more accurate diagnoses. We aim to conduct such an investigation by: (1) examining the full spectrum of person-specific psychopathology and its manifestation in patient personality structures, under the assumption that symptoms take different meanings and roles according to the larger context of patient personality functioning. (2) investigating attachment patterns using the gold standard measure for attachment. Methods: 40 adolescent UHR outpatients were compared to 40 individuals who didn’t meet the ultra-high risk criteria. The recruited patients’ treating clinicians were also involved and asked to provide basic demo- graphic and diagnostic data, and to complete clinician-report assessment tools. Each patient received a DSM personality diagnosis and was assessed using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). The Structured Interview for Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS/SOPS) has been administered to assess prodromal symptoms. According to the SIPS, UHR participants must meet one of three criteria: (1) increasing but attenuated positive symptoms; (2) a recent, brief psychotic episode that is too short in duration to meet diagnostic criteria for a psychosis disorder; or (3) a first-degree relative with psychosis, and recent functional decline. The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), a semi-structured interview used to assess individuals’ “state of mind” or internal working models with respect to attachment relationships, was administered to each patient. The AAI interviews have been audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and coded by two independent certified coders who were blind to all other study conditions. Childhood trauma has been coded from the verbatim transcripts of the AAI by two independent raters, according to the clinical version of the Complex-TQ, a questionnaire aimed to assess multi-dimensional features of childhood trauma. Finally, treating clinicians were supervised by the researchers for evaluate patients’ personality trait and disorders, according to the SWAP-200, a well- established and widely used psychometric procedure that provides a comprehensive assessment of personality and personality pathology. Results: No differences between groups have been found when personality disorders were measured according to the DSM-IV-TR categories. However, UHR patients showed more impaired personality functioning and higher scores on two Q-factors of the SWAP- 200: “inhibited/self-critical” and “emotionally dysregulated”. Finally, a higher degree of “cannot classify low-coherence” attachment pat- terns was found in UHR patients’ group. Conclusions: These primary findings seem to suggest the importance of taking into account the emotional dysregulation, social inhibition and disorganized attachment in treatment planning of UHR patients. To date, the intervention strategies available to significantly change the clinical course of UHR conditions have proven to be poorly effective in follow-ups longer than 12 months (Davies et al., 2018). Preliminary results this study seem to suggest that attachment-informed psychotherapy, tailored to the personality characteristics of patients, may be an effective preventive treatment for UHR patients

Consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on admissions to general hospital psychiatric wards in Italy: Reduced psychiatric hospitalizations and increased suicidality

Aims: The present investigation aimed at evaluating differences in psychiatric hospitalizations in Italy during and after the lockdown due to the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), compared to the same periods in 2018 and 2019. Methods: We obtained and analyzed anonymized data on psychiatric admissions (n = 4550) from 12 general hospital psychiatric wards (GHPWs) in different Italian regions (catchment area = 3.71 millions of inhabitants). Using a mixed-effects Poisson regression model, we compared admission characteristics across three periods: (a) March 1-June 30, 2018 and 2019; (b) March 1-April 30, 2020 (i.e., lockdown); and (c) May 1-June 30, 2020 (i.e., post-lockdown). Results: During the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a 41% reduction (IRR = 0.59; p 65 years) was observed in the lockdown (40%; IRR = 0.60; 95% CI: 0.44-0.82) and post-lockdown (28%; IRR = 0.72; 95% CI: 0.54-0.96) periods. Long-stay admissions (>14 days) increased (63%; IRR = 1.63; 95% CI: 1.32-2.02) during the lockdown and decreased by 39% thereafter (IRR = 0.61; 95% CI: 0.49-0.75). A significant 35% increase in patients reporting suicidal ideation was observed in the post-lockdown period, compared to the rate observed in the 2018 and 2019 control period (IRR = 1.35; 95% CI: 1.01-1.79). Conclusion: The COVID-19 lockdown was associated with changes in the number of psychiatric admissions, particularly for older patients and long-stay hospitalizations. Increased admission of patients reporting suicidal ideation in the post-lockdown period merits special attention. Further studies are required to gain insight into the observed phenomena

Proceedings Of The 23Rd Paediatric Rheumatology European Society Congress: Part Two

PubMe