Cognitive functioning, clinical profile and life events in young adults addicted to drugs. Does being a girl make a difference?

Objective: Gender features play a fundamental role as risk factors in drug addiction, entailing differences in vulnerability, onset, drug use and clinical trajectories. Even if increasing empirical evidence has attested that drug abuse in emerging adulthood is associated with cognitive impairments, personality disorders and psychological distress, limited research has analyzed these aspects from a gender perspective. The present research focuses on gender differences in youths (18–24 years of age) diagnosed with substance use disorders (SUDs), in order to detect possible differences between females and males as regards their neuropsychological functioning, clinical profiles and past life experiences. Method: Neuropsychological functioning (neuropsychological battery Esame Neuropsicologico Breve-2), the severity of the symptomatology (Symptom Checklist-90-Revised), personality profile and disorders (Shedler Westen Assessment Procedure-200) and life history were assessed in two groups of young adults with SUDs, 20 males and 20 females (mean age = 21 years, SD = 2.2). Participants were recruited in a therapeutic community in Venice, Italy. Results: Girls showed less cognitive impairment but higher psychological distress with respect to boys; between the two groups, no differences emerged regarding the personality profiles. The girls’ life histories presented more experiences of abuse and maltreatment; they also moved more quickly from substance use to dependence. Boys, instead, were more involved in criminal activity. Conclusions: Given our results, it seems that gender differences manifest early, at emerging adulthood. Consequently, a gender-oriented treatment for drug addiction should be offered even at an early age, focusing on early adverse experiences and their potential traumatic effect on girls. By contrast, young men seem to rely on compromised cognitive functions, which require a specific treatment approach, since they constitute a crucial factor for individual adjustment and treatment outcomes. Results should be interpreted relative to some limitations (such as the small sample size and the preliminary and cross-sectional nature of the research), and future studies are require

First deep underground observation of rotational signals from an earthquake at teleseismic distance using a large ring laser gyroscope

Recent advances in large ring laser gyroscopes (RLG) technologies opened the possibility to observe rotations of the ground with sensitivities up to $10^{-11}$ $\frac{rad}{s}$ over the frequency band of seismological interest (0.01-1Hz), thus opening the way to a new geophysical discipline, i.e. rotational seismology. A measure of rotations in seismology is of fundamental interest for (a) the determination of all the six degrees of freedom that characterize a rigid body motion, and (b) the quantitative estimate of the rotational motions contaminating ground translation measurements obtained from standard seismometers. Within this framework, this paper presents and describes GINGERino, a new large observatory-class RLG located in Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS), one national laboratories of the INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare). We also report unprecedented observations and analyses of the roto-translational signals from a tele-seismic event observed in such a deep underground environment

Seeded excitation avalanches in off-resonantly driven Rydberg gases

We report an experimental investigation of the facilitated excitation dynamics in off-resonantly driven Rydberg gases by separating the initial off-resonant excitation phase from the facilitation phase, in which successive facilitation events lead to excitation avalanches. We achieve this by creating a controlled number of initial seed excitations. Greater insight into the avalanche mechanism is obtained from an analysis of the full counting distributions. We also present simple mathematical models and numerical simulations of the excitation avalanches that agree well with our experimental results.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Parents with binge eating disorders: Which are the influences on adult-child feeding interactions and on the child’s behavioral/emotional functioning?

Feeding during the first years of life represents one of the main domains of adult-child interactions and plays a crucial role in children’s later development. It has been suggested that some kinds of adult psychopathology are more likely to compromise early feeding exchanges. This is the case of parental Binge Eating Disorder (BED) which has resulted to be associated with poor parent–infant interactions during feeding and with children’s emotional and behavioral problems during infancy. The present study aimed to investigate, through a longitudinal research design, the influence of maternal and paternal BED diagnosis on parent–infant feeding interactions and on later children’s behavioral/emotional functioning. The study involved 408 families divided into four groups, according to the presence or absence of BED diagnosis in the parents: Group 1 included families with both parents diagnosed with BED, Group 2 and 3 included families with one parent diagnosed with BED, Group 0 was a healthy control. The assessment took place at two different points, when the children were respectively 18 (T1) and 36 months (T2). Feeding interactions were assessed through the Scale for the Assessment of Feeding Interactions (SVIA) while the children’s behavioral/emotional functioning was evaluated through the Child Behavior Check-List (CBCL). When compared to healthy controls, the groups with one or both parents diagnosed with BED showed higher scores on the SVIA and on the CBCL internalizing and externalizing scales, suggesting more difficulties in adult–child feeding interactions and in the children’s behavioral/emotional functioning. Maternal and paternal BED diagnosis resulted to have a direct effect on feeding interactions and an indirect effect on behavioral/emotional difficulties at 36 months, mediated by the quality of feeding exchanges, both at 18 and 36 months. Moreover the influence of maternal and paternal BED diagnosis resulted to assume a different weight over time. The presence of BED diagnosis in one or both parents appears to affect negatively the quality of adult–infant feeding exchanges and children’s behavioral/emotional functioning over time, thus affecting later child development. These results appear particularly important since they can help to understand more in depth the influence of parental BED diagnosis on child development and on family functioning

Computational docking of antibody-antigen complexes, opportunities and pitfalls illustrated by influenza hemagglutinin

Antibodies play an increasingly important role in both basic research and the pharmaceutical industry. Since their efficiency depends, in ultimate analysis, on their atomic interactions with an antigen, studying such interactions is important to understand how they function and, in the long run, to design new molecules with desired properties. Computational docking, the process of predicting the conformation of a complex from its separated components, is emerging as a fast and affordable technique for the structural characterization of antibody-antigen complexes. In this manuscript, we first describe the different computational strategies for the modeling of antibodies and docking of their complexes, and then predict the binding of two antibodies to the stalk region of influenza hemagglutinin, an important pharmaceutical target. The purpose is two-fold: on a general note, we want to illustrate the advantages and pitfalls of computational docking with a practical example, using different approaches and comparing the results to known experimental structures. On a more specific note, we want to assess if docking can be successful in characterizing the binding to the same influenza epitope of other antibodies with unknown structure, which has practical relevance for pharmaceutical and biological research. The paper clearly shows that some of the computational docking predictions can be very accurate, but the algorithm often fails to discriminate them from inaccurate solutions. It is of paramount importance, therefore, to use rapidly obtained experimental data to validate the computational results

The use of digital technologies, impulsivity and psychopathological symptoms in adolescence

Abstract: Background and aims: Past research on the associations between psychopathological symptoms and technological-based addictions, i.e., Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) and Social Media Addiction (SMA), showed contradictory results in adolescents and adult populations. The present study investigated correlations between adolescents’ psychopathological risks and impulsivity, IGD and SMA. Methods: A sample of 656 participants (338 males; Mage = 16.32 years) was divided into three age groups (early, mid-, and late adolescence) and completed a battery of scales comprising the (i) Internet Gaming Disorder Scale–Short Form, (ii) Bergen Social Media Addiction Scale, (iii) Barratt Impulsiveness Scale for Adolescents, and (iv) Symptom Checklist-90-R. Results: The significance of the correlations was not corroborated in the basic tables. Significant associations appeared only in the adolescent subgroups, sometimes for bivariate and sometimes for partial correlations and with different patterns of associations between males and females. Moreover, both technological addictions were correlated with impulsiveness in bivariate and partial correlations. Discussion and conclusions: Following a developmentally-oriented approach to determine the patterns of associations between technological behavioral addictions and psychopathology in the specific sub-phases of early-, mid- and late-adolescence, this exploratory research showed how these associations might change depending on the developmental phase and gender of the individual. Future research is needed to provide empirical evidence of specific emotional–psychopathological correlations

Rational modification of estrogen receptor by combination of computational and experimental analysis

In this manuscript, we modulate the binding properties of estrogen receptor protein by rationally modifying the amino acid composition of its ligand binding domain. By combining sequence alignment and structural analysis of known ER-ligand complexes with computational analysis, we were able to predict ER mutants with altered binding properties. These predictions were experimentally confirmed by producing single point variants with up to an order of magnitude increased binding affinity towards some estrogen disrupting chemicals and reaching an IC50 value of 2 nM for the 17α−Ethinylestradiol ligand. Due to increased affinity and stability, utilizing such mutated ERs instead of the wild type ER as bio-recognition element would be beneficial in an assay or biosensor.JRC.I-Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (Ispra

First deep underground observation of rotational signals from an earthquake at teleseismic distance using a large ring laser gyroscope

Recent advances in large ring laser gyroscopes (RLG) technologies opened the possibility to observe rotations of the ground with sensitivities up to 10 11 rad/sec over the frequency band of seismological interest (0.01-1Hz), thus opening the way to a new geophysical discipline, i.e. rotational seismology. A measure of rotations in seismology is of fundamental interest for (a) the determination of all the six degrees of freedom that characterize a rigid body’s motion, and (b) the quantitative estimate of the rotational motions contaminating ground translation measurements obtained from standard seismometers. Within this framework, this paper presents and describes GINGERino, a new large observatory-class RLG located in Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS), one national laboratories of the INFN (Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare). We also report unprecedented observations and analyses of the roto-translational signals from a tele-seismic event observed in such a deep underground environment

Caregiver burden on sexual intimacy and marital satisfaction

SUMMARY Objective: This study investigates affective and sexual dimensions in partners involved as caregivers of Alzheimer dementia (AD) subjects. A negative correlation between burden of the caregiver and sexual-affective quality of life was assumed. Design and methods: Hundred participants with AD partner (33 male, 67 female), aged between 55 and 85 years were recruited and data were collected from the Caregiver Burden Inventory scale and a semi-structured interview that included demographic information, medical history, relationship and sexual satisfaction, and current sexual function. AD group was compared with a control group (CG) (N ¼ 100) matched for age, sex, education and marital status on measures of the semi-structured interview. Data were analysed using frequency count, univariate analysis (chi-squared and ANOVA) and bivariate correlation. Results: The findings revealed that mean burden level was 31.59 (SD 19.51). A difference between experimental and CGs was found for sexual and affective marital satisfaction (p < 0.05). The same variables showed a rather negative correlation with total burden levels (r ¼ )0.374, p < 0.001; r ¼ )0.448, p < 0.001). What's known Alzheimer dementia and the global impairment of intellectual function, as well as its physiological correlates, have strong influence on the quality of life with the consequent need of assistance which could determine a high burden level in the caregiver. The attendant cognitive changes that occur in the Alzheimer patient present many, often conflicting, challenges to a couple's sexual functioning 2,

The degree of arm elevation impacts the endurance and cardiopulmonary adaptations of COPDpatients performing upper-limb exercise: A cross-over study

In Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), upper limb exercise is widely recommended. However, how the degree of shoulder flexion may influence the exercise response is unknown