11,205 research outputs found
Hospital environment as a reservoir for cross transmission. Cleaning and disinfection procedures
Background. Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) represent a serious problem for public health, as they increase the morbidity and mortality rates, present a relevant financial burden, and significantly contribute to the antimicrobial resistance. Methods. The aim of this review was to investigate the literature about HAIs, with particular reference to hospital environments and the role of cleaning and disinfection procedures. Hospital environments are an essential reservoir for HAIs cross transmission, and the application of appropriate procedures related to hand hygiene and disinfection/sterilization of surfaces and instruments remain key strategies for controlling HAIs. Results. Different procedures, based on the risk associated with the healthcare procedure, are recommended for hand hygiene: washing with soap and water, antiseptic rubbing with alcohol-based disinfectants, antiseptic and surgical hand washing. Environmental surfaces can be treated with different products, and the mostly used are chlorine-based and polyphenolic disinfectant. The reprocessing of instruments is related to their use according to the Spaulding's classification. In addition, scientific evidence demonstrated the great relevance of the "bundles" (small set of practices performed together) in controlling HAIs. Conclusions. Research agenda should include the improvement of well-known effective preventive procedures and the development of new bundles devoted to high-risk procedures and specific microorganisms
Using Stock-Flow Diagrams to Visualize Theranostic Approaches to Solid Tumors in Personalized Nanomedicine
Personalized nanomedicine has rapidly evolved over the past decade to tailor the diagnosis and treatment of several diseases to the individual characteristics of each patient. In oncology, iron oxide nano-biomaterials (NBMs) have become a promising biomedical product in targeted drug delivery as well as in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a contrast agent and magnetic hyperthermia. The combination of diagnosis and therapy in a single nano-enabled product (so-called theranostic agent) in the personalized nanomedicine has been investigated so far mostly in terms of local events, causes-effects, and mutual relationships. However, this approach could fail in capturing the overall complexity of a system, whereas systemic approaches can be used to study the organization of phenomena in terms of dynamic configurations, independent of the nature, type, or spatial and temporal scale of the elements of the system. In medicine, complex descriptions of diseases and their evolution are daily assessed in clinical settings, which can be thus considered as complex systems exhibiting self-organizing and non-linear features, to be investigated through the identification of dynamic feedback-driven behaviors. In this study, a Systems Thinking (ST) approach is proposed to represent the complexity of the theranostic modalities in the context of the personalized nanomedicine through the setting up of a stock-flow diagram. Specifically, the interconnections between the administration of magnetite NBMs for diagnosis and therapy of tumors are fully identified, emphasizing the role of the feedback loops. The presented approach has revealed its suitability for further application in the medical field. In particular, the obtained stock-flow diagram can be adapted for improving the future knowledge of complex systems in personalized nanomedicine as well as in other nanosafety areas
Review about comorbidities of behavioural disorders in children and adolescents: The focus on attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) present high comorbidity rate mainly for opposite-defiant disorders that are frequent among children, adolescents and adults affected by with attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), probably as result of common temperamental risk factors such as attention, distraction, impulsivity. ADHD tend to manifest in about 50% of individuals diagnosed as disruptive behavioral disorders
A spherical model with directional interactions: I. Static properties
We introduce a simple spherical model whose structural properties are similar
to the ones generated by models with directional interactions, by employing a
binary mixture of large and small hard spheres, with a square-well attraction
acting only between particles of different size. The small particles provide
the bonds between the large ones. With a proper choice of the interaction
parameters, as well as of the relative concentration of the two species, it is
possible to control the effective valence. Here we focus on a specific choice
of the parameters which favors tetrahedral ordering and study the equilibrium
static properties of the system in a large window of densities and
temperatures. Upon lowering the temperature we observe a progressive increase
in local order, accompanied by the formation of a four-coordinated network of
bonds. Three different density regions are observed: at low density the system
phase separates into a gas and a liquid phase; at intermediate densities a
network of fully bonded particles develops; at high densities -- due to the
competition between excluded volume and attractive interactions -- the system
forms a defective network. The very same behavior has been previously observed
in numerical studies of non-spherical models for molecular liquids, such as
water, and in models of patchy colloidal particles. Differently from these
models, theoretical treatments devised for spherical potentials, e.g. integral
equations and ideal mode coupling theory for the glass transition can be
applied in the present case, opening the way for a deeper understanding of the
thermodynamic and dynamic behavior of low valence molecules and particles.Comment: 11 pages, 11 figure
Behavioural disorders in children and adolescents: A conceptual review about the therapeutic alliance with family and school
Aim: In disruptive behavioral disorders, given the wide range of symptomatic manifestations and the complexity of the sociofamiliar contexts in which they develop, it is now proven that more visible and more stable results can be achieved over time through multimodal and multidimensional interventions. These are accomplished through the integration of psychotherapeutic interventions for the child and parents, counseling interventions for all the various practitioners who come into contact with the child in school, sports, and social settings, through the possibility of organizing multiple settings in patient can be followed by several health professionals such as child and adolescent neuropsychiatrist, neuropsychomotricist, occupation therapist, psychologist
Nonclassical Light in Interferometric Measurements
It is shown that the even and odd coherent light and other nonclassical
states of light like superposition of coherent states with different phases may
replace the squeezed light in interferometric gravitational wave detector to
increase its sensitivity. (Contribution to the Second Workshop on Harmonic
Oscillator, Cocoyoc, Mexico, March 1994)Comment: 8 pages,LATEX,preprint of Naples University,
INFN-NA-IV-94/30,DSF-T-94/3
Mars riometer system
A riometer (relative ionospheric opacity meter) measures
the intensity of cosmic radio noise at the surface of a planet.
When an electromagnetic wave passes through the
ionosphere collisions between charged particles (usually
electrons) and neutral gases remove energy from the wave.
By measuring the received signal intensity at the planet's
surface and comparing it to the expected value (the quietday
curve) a riometer can deduce the absorption
(attenuation) of the trans-ionospheric signal. Thus the
absorption measurements provide an indication of ionisation
changes occurring in the ionosphere.
To avoid the need for orbiting sounders riometers use the
cosmic noise background as a signal source. Earth-based
systems are not subject to the challenging power, volume
and mass restriction that would apply to a riometer for
Mars. Some Earth-based riometers utilise phased-array
antennas in order to provide an imaging capability.UnpublishedVienna - Austria3.9. Fisica della magnetosfera, ionosfera e meteorologia spazialeope
The behavioral parenting interventions (BPT) for support and mandatory integrative therapy for children and adolescents affected by disruptive behavioural disorders: A brief review
The behavioral parenting interventions (BPT), commonly abbreviated as parent training, is a program conducted by an expert with the specific purpose of improving or modifying parental practices in order to promote the child's well-being, increasing parenting skills in the daily management of the child, problem solving and reducing the level of parenting and family stress. BPT presents many positive effects on children or adolescents affected by neurodevelopmental disorder such as ADHD, autism and cognitive dysfunction but BPT appears to improve also other proximal outcomes such as parenting competence and parenting stress
TDP-43 regulates drosophila neuromuscular junctions growth by modulating futsch/MAP1B levels and synaptic microtubules organization
TDP-43 is an evolutionarily conserved RNA binding protein recently associated with the pathogenesis of different neurological diseases. At the moment, neither its physiological role in vivo nor the mechanisms that may lead to neurodegeneration are well known. Previously, we have shown that TDP-43 mutant flies presented locomotive alterations and structural defects at the neuromuscular junctions. We have now investigated the functional mechanism leading to these phenotypes by screening several factors known to be important for synaptic growth or bouton formation. As a result we found that alterations in the organization of synaptic microtubules correlate with reduced protein levels in the microtubule associated protein futsch/MAP1B. Moreover, we observed that TDP-43 physically interacts with futsch mRNA and that its RNA binding capacity is required to prevent futsch down regulation and synaptic defects. © 2011 Godena et al
Chemical abundances and radial velocities in the extremely metal-poor galaxy DDO 68
We present chemical abundances and radial velocities of six HII regions in
the extremely metal-poor star-forming dwarf galaxy DDO 68. They are derived
from deep spectra in the wavelength range 3500 - 10,000 {\AA}, acquired with
the Multi Object Double Spectrograph (MODS) at the Large Binocular Telescope
(LBT). In the three regions where the [O III]4363 {\AA} line was
detected, we inferred the abundance of He, N, O, Ne, Ar, and S through the
"direct" method. We also derived the oxygen abundances of all the six regions
adopting indirect method calibrations. We confirm that DDO 68 is an extremely
metal-poor galaxy, and a strong outlier in the luminosity - metallicity
relation defined by star-forming galaxies. With the direct-method we find
indeed an oxygen abundance of 12+log(O/H)=7.140.07 in the northernmost
region of the galaxy and, although with large uncertainties, an even lower
12+log(O/H)=6.960.09 in the "tail". This is, at face value, the most
metal-poor direct abundance detection of any galaxy known. We derive a radial
oxygen gradient of -0.060.03 dex/kpc (or -0.30 dex ) with the
direct method, and a steeper gradient of -0.120.03 dex/kpc (or -0.59 dex
) from the indirect method. For the -element to oxygen
ratios we obtain values in agreement with those found in other metal-poor
star-forming dwarfs. For nitrogen, instead, we infer much higher values,
leading to log(N/O), at variance with the suggested existence of a
tight plateau at in extremely metal poor dwarfs. The derived helium mass
fraction ranges from Y=0.2400.005 to Y=0.250.02, compatible with
standard big bang nucleosynthesis. Finally, we measured HII region radial
velocities in the range 479522 km/s from the tail to the head of the
"comet", consistent with the rotation derived in the HI.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
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