Il mare che e... Un intervento psicosociale sui giovani autori di reato di Palermo

I progetti di intervento sui minori autori di reato possono creare un utile servizio ad un adeguato percorso rieducativo dei beneficiari, mirato ad una crescita personale e ad un incremento di responsabilit\ue0. Infatti le azioni proposte dai progetti non solo possono creare una rete tra istituzioni e privato-sociale atta a supportare l'intervento della giustizia minorile, ma hanno anche la capacit\ue0 di contribuire alla riduzione del rischio di recidiva e alla promozione del reinserimento sociale dei giovani coinvolti. Questi i presupposti per i quali due associazioni di volontariato e sportive del palermitano, con la supervisione dell'Universit\ue0 degli studi della citt\ue0, per l'estate 2015 hanno proposto all\u2019Istituto Penale per i Minorenni "Malaspina" un progetto avente come strumento lo snorkeling, escursione subacquea che si pratica in acque di bassa profondit\ue0, e come obiettivo quello di favorire l'integrazione sociale dei beneficiari (5 giovani) contrapponendosi alla discriminazione e, ancora, di incrementare nuove capacit\ue0 d'analisi dei processi di sfida e di confronto. Il mare, scenario del progetto, ha ulteriormente stimolato lo sviluppo e la consapevolezza sia delle potenzialit\ue0 del singolo sia delle opportunit\ue0 offerte dal territorio. L'esito positivo del progetto ha esortato alla sua conferma per gli anni successivi e al coinvolgimento di altre associazioni e di altri minori e giovani adulti dell'istituto. L'evento pubblico conclusivo, finalizzato alla conoscenza e alla diffusione dell'iniziativa, ha inoltre contribuito a sensibilizzare i presenti all' esperienza detentiva dei minori e dei giovani adulti ed esortato alla riflessione sul possibile cambiamento degli autori di reato

Delayed neonatal visual evoked potentials are associated to asymmetric growth pattern in twins

Objectives: To study the association between intrauterine growth and visual pathways maturation by neonatal visual evoked potentials (VEPs) in twins, in view of a possible prognostic role. Methods: Seventy-four twin neonates from 37 pregnancies were selected based on gestational age of more than 30 weeks and uneventful perinatal clinical course. Flash VEPs were recorded at the same postmenstrual age in each twin pair. The association between P2 latency and anthropometric variables at birth was analyzed by comparison within each twin pair and regarding each variable as ordered difference between the two twins. Results: Analysis of differences within each twin pair highlighted that inter-twin difference in P2 latency was significantly related to difference in ponderal index (PI) (p = 0.048). Expressing the difference in latency as a categorical binary variable, the correlation was significant for both difference in PI, (median difference = −0.36, 95% CI −0.54 to −0.14, p = 0.001) and difference in body mass index (BMI), (median difference = −1.06, 95% CI −1.74 to −0.29, p = 0.006). Conclusions: Lower values of PI and BMI differences are associated to delayed VEP latency in twin pairs. Significance: VEP latency suggests reduced myelination of visual pathways when difference in growth pattern occurs in twins

EUROMEDITERRANEAN BIOMEDICAL JOURNAL: THE RENEWED MANUSCRIPT LAYOUT AND WEB RENDERING FORESHADOW FURTHER JOURNAL IMPROVEMENT

In January 2006, a new journal, Capsula Eburnea, was born into the Italian scientific publishing scene with the initial goal of creating, at the same time, \u201can open scientific forum and a blog\u201d, based on the premise that \u201cin medicine, nothing should be considered stable, immutable or unsusceptible to critical review at any time, by any scientist\u201d. The Editorial Team progressively sought to improve the quality of the manuscripts published, introducing the requirement for all articles to be written in English, and changed the Journal\u2019s name to EuroMediterranean Biomedical Journal in 2012. Over the last five years, approximately 125 articles by young doctors (including original articles, reviews, commentaries, notes, and abstract books) have been published. The editorial board are confident that the new publishing layout and the renewed web-portal of the journal, introduced in this editorial, represent an essential upgrade after over 10 years of editorial activity, and that these improvements will be appreciated by our authors and, especially, our readers

Euromediterranean Biomedical Journal: the renewed journal of young doctors aims even higher.

In January 2006, a new journal, Capsula Eburnea, was born in the Italian scientific pub-lishing scene, with the initial goal of creating, at the same time, “an open scientific forum and a blog”. Until December 2009, the vast majority of manuscripts was still published in Italian, restricting the number of readers. From the end of 2009, the journal has undergone extensive changes, becoming indexed in the main scientific search engines (Scopus, Directory of Open Access Journal, Google Scholar, Ulrich Periodical Directory), and renewing its Editorial Team with a role reassign-ment and expanding the Editorial Board to up to 40 young doctors with proven scientific experience from 15 countries around the world, working as researchers, PhD students, senior medical staff, research fellows or doctors in specialist training. Finally, the journal has progressively encouraged the publication of articles in English, through an endorsed English translation service provided by native English speaking translators. This service became mandatory for all peer-reviewed articles accepted by the Journal in 2011. At the same time, the Editorial Board unanimously decreed to change the name of the journal into “Euromediterranean Biomedical Journal for young doctors (formerly: Capsula Eburnea)” from January 2012. Today, the journal is fully open access (including the archives of Capsula Eburnea) with the possibility to download articles for free, and the publication process involves a blind peer review of each article by at least two scientists. During its first two years of activity, the Euromediterranean Biomedical Journal (EMBJ) published 48 scientific articles (17 origi-nal articles, 14 reviews, 13 case report, two technical reports and two commentaries) and one edition of Conference Proceedings

POTENZIALI EVOCATI VISIVI DA FLASH IN GEMELLI IN EPOCA NEONATALE. CORRELAZIONI CON LA ADEGUATEZZA DEL PESO CON LA ETA' GESTAZIONALE (AGA VS SGA)

Neonati AGA, SGA, PE

Wind of change: Better air for microbial environmental control

Background: The COVID19 epidemic highlighted the importance of air in the transmission of pathogens. Air disinfection is one of the key points to reduce the risk of transmission both in the health sector and in public, civil and industrial environments. All bacteria and viruses tested to date can be inactivated by UV-C rays. Laboratory tested UV-C systems are increasingly popular and proposed as effective technologies for air purification; few studies have evaluated their performance in populated indoor environments. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the effectiveness of a UV-C disinfection system for air in a real working context. Methods: This experimental study was conducted between December 2020 and February 2021 in an office of the Department of Molecular and Developmental Medicine of the University of Siena, Italy. A pre-final version air purifier (Cleaning Air T12), capable of treating 210 m3/h of air, was first tested for its ability to filter particulates and reduce microbial air contamination in the absence of people. Subsequently, the experiments were conducted in the presence of 3–5 subjects who worked for several hours in an office. During the tests, microbiological samples of air were collected in real time, switching the system on and off periodically. Air samples were collected and incubated on Petri dishes at 36 ◦C and 22 ◦C. Statistical analysis was performed with Stata 16 software assuming a significance level of 95%. An interpolating model was identified to describe the dynamics of contamination reduction when the device operates. Results: Preliminary tests showed a significant 62.5% reduction in Colony-Forming Units (CFUs) with 36 ◦C incubation. Reductions in the particulate component were also observed. In the main test, comparison of CFU data, between the device-on phase (90 min) and the subsequent device-off phase (60 min), showed statistically significant increase (p = 0.001) of environmental contamination passing from a mean of 86.6 (65.8–107.4) to 171.1 (143.9–198.3) CFU/m3, that is a rise of about 100%. The interpolating model exhibited a good fit of CFU reduction trend with the device on. Conclusions: The system, which mainly uses UV-C lamps for disinfection, was able to significantly reduce envi- ronmental and human contamination in real time. Experimental tests have shown that as soon as the device is switched off, after at least half an hour of operation, the healthiness of the air decreases drastically within 10 minutes, bringing the airborne microbial contamination (induced by the presence of operators in the environ- ment) to levels even higher than 150% of the last value with the device on. Re-engineering strategies for system improvement were also discusse

Intrauterine growth pattern and birthweight discordance in twin pregnancies: a retrospective study

Background: Twins, compared to singletons, have an increased risk of perinatal mortality and morbidity, due mainly to a higher prevalence of preterm birth and low birthweight. Intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) is also common and can affect one or both fetuses. In some cases, however, one twin is much smaller than the other (growth discordance). Usually, high birthweight discordance is associated with increased perinatal morbidity. The aim of this study is to describe the epidemiological features of a population of twins at birth, with particular reference to the interpretation and clinical effects of birthweight discordance. Methods: We evaluated retrospectively the clinical features of 70 infants born from twin pregnancies and assessed birthweight discordance in 31 pregnancies where both twins were followed at our institution. Discordance was treated both as a continuous and a categorical variable, using a cutoff of 18%. Possible relationships between birthweight discordance and other variables, such as maternal age, gestational age, birthweight percentile, number of SGA newborns in the pair, Hematocrit (Ht) discordance and neonatal anemia, prevalence of malformations, neonatal morbidity and death, were analyzed. Results: In our cohort birthweight percentile decreased slightly with increasing gestational age. Birthweight discordance, on the contrary, increased slightly with the increase of gestational age. A high discordance is associated to the presence of one SGA twin, with the other AGA or LGA. In our population, all 6 pregnancies in which discordance exceeded 18% belonged to this category (one SGA twin). Ht discordance at birth is associated to the presence of neonatal anemia in a twin, but it is not significantly related to weight discordance. Finally, in our case history, weight discordance is not associated in any way with the prevalence of malformations, morbidity and mortality. Conclusions: Birthweight discordance is an important indicator of complications that act asymmetrically on the two fetuses, affecting intrauterine growth in one of them, and usually determining the birth of a SGA infant. Our case history shows a significant statistical association between pair discordance and IUGR in one of the twins, but we could not demonstrate any relationship between discordance and the prevalence of malformations, morbidity and mortality

Using musculoskeletal models to estimate in vivo total knee replacement kinematics and loads: effect of differences between models

Total knee replacement (TKR) is one of the most performed orthopedic surgeries to treat knee joint diseases in the elderly population. Although the survivorship of knee implants may extend beyond two decades, the poor outcome rate remains considerable. A recent computational approach used to better understand failure modes and improve TKR outcomes is based on the combination of musculoskeletal (MSK) and finite element models. This combined multiscale modeling approach is a promising strategy in the field of computational biomechanics; however, some critical aspects need to be investigated. In particular, the identification and quantification of the uncertainties related to the boundary conditions used as inputs to the finite element model due to a different definition of the MSK model are crucial. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate this problem, which is relevant for the model credibility assessment process. Three different generic MSK models available in the OpenSim platform were used to simulate gait, based on the experimental data from the fifth edition of the “Grand Challenge Competitions to Predict in vivo Knee Loads.” The outputs of the MSK analyses were compared in terms of relative kinematics of the knee implant components and joint reaction (JR) forces and moments acting on the tibial insert. Additionally, the estimated knee JRs were compared with those measured by the instrumented knee implant so that the “global goodness of fit” was quantified for each model. Our results indicated that the different kinematic definitions of the knee joint and the muscle model implemented in the different MSK models influenced both the motion and the load history of the artificial joint. This study demonstrates the importance of examining the influence of the model assumptions on the output results and represents the first step for future studies that will investigate how the uncertainties in the MSK models propagate on disease-specific finite element model results

Visuo-spatial attention deficit in children with reading difficulties

Although developmental reading disorders (developmental dyslexia) have been mainly associated with auditory-phonological deficits, recent longitudinal and training studies have shown a possible causal role of visuo-attentional skills in reading acquisition. Indeed, visuo-attentional mechanisms could be involved in the orthographic processing of the letter string and the graphemic parsing that precede the grapheme-to-phoneme mapping. Here, we used a simple paper-and-pencil task composed of three labyrinths to measure visuo-spatial attention in a large sample of primary school children (n = 398). In comparison to visual search tasks requiring visual working memory, our labyrinth task mainly measures distributed and focused visuo-spatial attention, also controlling for sensorimotor learning. Compared to typical readers (n = 340), children with reading difficulties (n = 58) showed clear visuo-spatial attention impairments that appear not linked to motor coordination and procedural learning skills implicated in this paper and pencil task. Since visual attention is dysfunctional in about 40% of the children with reading difficulties, an efficient reading remediation program should integrate both auditory-phonological and visuo-attentional interventions