Arbeidsglede hos sosialarbeidere i rusfeltet : en kvalitativ studie i sosialarbeideres fortellinger og erfaringer for å opprettholde arbeidsglede i et utfordrende fagfelt

Bakgrunn: Forskning på rusfeltet viser at forekomsten av psykiske plager hos behandlere er høy, og at de er mer utsatt for utbrenthet enn andre i menneskerelaterte eller behandlingsyrker. Forskningsspørsmålet i denne undersøkelsen er derfor: ”Hvilke mestringsstrategier har sosialarbeidere i rusfeltet for å opprettholde arbeidsglede og hva kan vi lære av dem?” Dette for dels å undersøke hva behandlerne selv oppgir som grunnlag for opprettholdelse av arbeidsglede, og dels kartlegge mulige tiltak som kan fremme arbeidsglede hos denne gruppen. Design: Kvalitativ intervjuundersøkelse av fire sosialarbeidere med lang arbeidserfaring i fagfeltet. Det ble utformet en tematisk intervjuguide med spørsmål om arbeidsglede, kall, livskraft, egenomsorg, verdier og mening, samt forslag til tiltak for arbeidsgiver for opprettholdelse av jobbengasjement. Intervjuene ble tatt opp som lydfil, transkribert og analysert ved å trekke ut meningsbærende enheter, kodet og delt inn i kategorier ut ifra teori. Funn: Informantene oppgav viktige faktorer for mestring: at de hadde kunnskap til å håndtere arbeidet sitt, at de fant det meningsfullt, og at de mestret arbeidets kompleksitet. De oppgav også at de ikke lenger så etter en konvensjonell logikk i klientenes livsprosjekt, men tolererte og undret seg sammen med klientene i form av en felles forståelse av eksistens, og at dette gjorde arbeidet spennende, givende og meningsfullt. Konklusjon: Det som opprettholder arbeidsgleden hos informantene i denne undersøkelsen er at de har kommet frem til en forståelse for at klientens problem ikke kan takles med konvensjonell logikk. Informantene gav uttrykk for at de opprettholder arbeidsglede ved å ha innsikt om at dette er individer med de samme eksistensielle utfordringer som dem selv, men med en egen indre logikk for deres egne livsprosjekt. Ledelse og veiledning er de viktigste måtene å fremme arbeidsglede, og veiledningen bør spesielt rette oppmerksomheten mot et eksistensielt perspektiv i forståelsen av ”vanskelige” klienters atferd. Endelig kan et intervju utformet med åpne spørsmål, hovedsakelig vinklet mot de positive aspektene av arbeidet være et verktøy man som leder vil kunne bruke for å fremme arbeidsglede, som del av en inspirerende lederstil.Background: Research in the field of drug abuse shows that the prevalence of mental health problems in professionals in this field is high, and that they are more prone to burnout than professionals in other people-related fields such as nursing or teaching. The research question in this study is therefore: ”What coping strategies do social workers working with drug abusers use to maintain zest for work and what can we learn from them?” This is in order to investigate what the social workers themselves feel is the means of maintaining zest for work, and to map out possible interventions that may promote zest for work in this group. Design: Qualitative interviews of four social workers with a long work experience in the field of drug abuse treatment, and who had zest for work. An interview guide with questions about zest for work, calling, vitality, self-care, values and meaning, and suggestions for employers regarding promoting of zest for work was used. The interviews were recorded electronically, transcribed and analysed by extracting meaning-bearing units, coded and categorised with basis in theory. Findings: The informants described important factors for coping: that they had knowledge enough to do their jobs, that they found it meaningful, and that they mastered the complexity of the work. They also stated that they no longer searched for a conventional logic in their clients’ life projects, but tolerated and together with the clients wondered at their behaviour in a joint understanding of existence, and that this made their work exciting, rewarding and meaningful. Conclusion: What maintains zest for work in the informants in this study is that they have reached an understanding that the client’s problems cannot be solved by conventional logic. The informants conveyed that the maintain zest for work by realizing that the clients are individuals with the same existential conflicts as themselves, but with an inner logic of their own regarding their life projects. Management and supervision are the most important instruments for promoting zest for work, and the supervision should be geared specifically towards an existential perspective in understanding the behaviour of ”difficult” clients. Finally, an interview designed with open-ended questions, regarding mainle the positive aspects of work, may be a tool a leader can use to promote zest for work as part of an inspirational management style.Master i psykisk helsearbei

ESPRESSIONE'DEI'MICRORNA'MIR221'E'MIR222' NEL'CARCINOMA'EPATOCELLULARE' SIGNIFICATO'CLINICO'E'PROGNOSTICO

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a primary cancer of the liver with high incidence and mortality. It is managed with a multidisciplinary approach depending on the stage of disease with a combination of surgical resection, liver transplant, loco-regional therapies and chemotherapy. Several diagnostic and prognostic tools have been investigated to improve outcomes, including biological marker, radiological and histopathological features, but at present there is no univocal consensus on their efficacy. In the era of genomics and molecular medicine, the role of microRNAs is being studied in HCC with the aim to identify a signature of specific microRNAs selectively expressed in HCC to use as diagnostic and prognostic markers as well as possible therapeutic targets. MicroRNA miR-221 and miR-222 may be upregulated in over 80% of HCCs. The aim of this study was to assess miR-221 and miR-222 expression in paired hepatic tumoral and non-tumoral tissues of patients undergoing liver resection for HCC. Primary outcome was the presence of significant upregulation in the tumoral tissue compared to the matched non-tumoral tissue. Secondary outcomes were the correlation of miR-221 and miR-222 expression with clinical variables and survival. Methods: Eligible patients undergoing liver resection for HCC at National Cancer Institute (Milan) were prospectively included in the study. Paired tumoral and non-tumoral hepatic tissues were sampled intraoperatively, fresh-frozen and analyzed for miR-221 and miR-222 expression. Clinical, pathological and survival data were prospectively recorded. Upregulation was deemed significant with a tumoral/non-tumoral ratio >1. Kaplan-Meier curves were used to assess survival. Prognostic efficacy of miR-222 ratio was evaluated by receiver operating curve (ROC) analysis. Results: Between January 2012 and September 2015, 56 patients were enrolled. Six patients were BCLC 0, 35 BCLC A, 12 BCLC B and 3 BCLC C. MiR-221 and miR-222 were upregulated in 59% and 52% of cases, respectively. Upregulation was significantly correlated with a more advanced grade of differentiation (p=0.0012) whilst there was no correlation with AFP, microvascular invasion, BCLC stage and number of nodules. At univariate analysis, age, male gender, miR-221 and miR-222 ratios were associated with worse recurrence free survival (RFS). Independent predictors of worse RFS at multivariable analysis were male gender and miR-222 ratio. ROC analysis showed that miR-222 had a good performance in predicting the risk of recurrence at two years from resection (area under the curve 0.74; 95% CI 0.57 \u2013 0.87; p=0.005) with an optimal cut-off of > 1.16 (Youden index J = 0.61). Median RFS for patients with miR-222 ratio 641.16 and >1.16 were 45.7 versus 12.3 months (p=0.0003). This difference was confirmed also in a subgroup analysis according to BCLC stage. Conclusions: In our series, miR-221 and miR-222 were upregulated in more than half of patients undergoing liver resection for HCC. Independently from the BCLC stage, patients showing upregulation had a significantly worse RFS. A miR-222 ratio >1.16 was the optimal cut-off to predict an increased risk of recurrence at two years from resection. This may be of use as a prognostic marker for HCC and further studies on a larger scale are needed to confirm its efficacy

Proceedings of the EuBIC Winter School 2019

The 2019 European Bioinformatics Community (EuBIC) Winter School was held from January 15th to January 18th 2019 in Zakopane, Poland. This year’s meeting was the third of its kind and gathered international researchers in the field of (computational) proteomics to discuss (mainly) challenges in proteomics quantification and data independent acquisition (DIA). Here, we present an overview of the scientific program of the 2019 EuBIC Winter School. Furthermore, we can already give a small outlook to the upcoming EuBIC 2020 Developer’s Meeting

Skadereduksjonsarbeid blant stoffbrukere : En studie av J-Kie Cards; en metode for å formidle kunnskap til stoffbrukere

I 2003 begynte en del av virksomhetene til Rusmiddeletaten i Oslo å dele ut små informasjonskort, kalt J-Kie Cards til stoffbrukere sammen med rent injeksjonsutstyr. Ideen til J-Kie Cards oppsto i København. Der var det den frivillige organisasjonen Gadejuristen som sto for tiltaket. Denne masteroppgaven springer ut av en interesse for hvordan sosialarbeidere kan drive skadereduserende informasjonsarbeid blant stoffbrukere. Dette har ledet ut i problemstillingen: om og eventuelt i hvilken grad J-Kie Cards øker kunnskapsnivået blant stoffbrukere som har mottatt kortene. I oppgaven er teori om skadereduksjon viet stor plass fordi dette er det teoretiske rammeverket for J-Kie Cards og fordi teorien danner grunnlaget for drøftelser av funnene. Skadereduksjon sammenliknes med sosialt arbeid med empowerment-tilnærminger. Drøftelser av funnene tar også utgangspunkt i teori om informasjon. Studien av J-Kie Cardstiltaket har foregått i perioden august 2005 til august 2006. Undersøkelsen er gjort gjennom intervjuer med stoffbrukere som bor i ulike typer av botilbud drevet av Rusmiddeletaten i Oslo. Jeg har brukt intervjuer med standardiserte spørreskjemaer for å undersøke problemstillingen. Intervjuene har styrket studien gjennom at man har fått høy svarprosent og deltakelse fra brukerne, noe som har styrket studiens validitet. For å studere en eventuell økning av kunnskap i brukergruppen har jeg brukt et tidsintervalldesign og dermed belyst hvordan det kan drives skadereduserende informasjonsarbeid blant stoffbrukere når det gjelder stoffbruk, helse, rettigheter og andre temaer. Studien viser at når J-Kie Cards distribueres over tid, så kan det skapes økt interesse for helse i brukergruppen, og det kan føre til økt kunnskapsnivå på flere områder. Med bakgrunn i teorien jeg presenterer, drøfter jeg hva denne økningen i kunnskapsnivå kan skyldes.In 2003, the City of Oslo Department of Drug-related Issues started giving out small information cards, called J-Kie Cards to illicit drug users together with clean syringes and injecting needles. The idea of J-Kie Cards came from Copenhagen. There it was initiated by the voluntary organisation Gadejuristen. This Master thesis was born out of an interest in how social workers can give harm reducing information to drug users. This has led to the question: “Do J-Kie Cards raise the knowledge level among drug users who have received them, and if so, to what extent?” Much space has been given to harm reduction theory, as this is the theoretical framework for the JKie Cards and the theory gives the basis for discussion of the findings. Harm reduction is compared to social work with an empowerment approach. The discussion of the findings also takes into account theory on information. The study of the J-Kie Cards project has been performed in the period from August 2005 to August 2006. It has been conducted by interviewing illicit drug users living in facilities provided by the City of Oslo Department of Drug-related Issues. I have used interviews with standardised questionnaires for the investigation. The interviews have strengthened the study by providing a high response level and degree of participation by the drug users. This has increased the validity of the study. I have used a time interval design to investigate the increase in knowledge level in the drug user group. Thus, I have shown how harm reducing information concerning drug use, health issues, social rights, etc can be distributed to drug users. The study shows that when J-Kie Cards are distributed over time this may create an increased interest in health in the user group and that this can lead to a raised level of knowledge in several areas. Using theory, I discuss possible explanations for the increase in knowledge.Master i sosialt arbei

Meta‐analysis of laparoscopic transcystic versus transcholedochal common bile duct exploration for choledocholithiasis

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Monitoring dynamics in bacterial competition by Imaging Mass Spectrometry

Microbial competition is a mechanism that occurs when two or more microbial species compete for ecological niches to support their survival and growth (Hibbing et al. 2010). Different factors can contribute to the outcome of microbial competition, such as molecules exchanged between the competing organisms for the regulation of cell densities and the initial spatial configuration of the microbe–microbe interaction. Specifically, production of compounds that kill or limit the growth of competing strains or species can promote niche monopolization (Gonzalez et al. 2011). The released compounds include secondary metabolite antibiotics, bacterial peptides or low-molecular-mass organic compounds. In that sense, it is very important to develop tools that could capture metabolic interactions between two or more bacterial populations. Imaging Mass Spectrometry (IMS) enables the visualization of both spatial and temporal production of a huge number of metabolites from a single bacterial species and can observe the effects of multiple microbial signals in an interspecies interaction without using tags or labels (Yang et al. 2009). This technique has the potential to be used for identification of novel metabolites and peptides that were previously undetected by other analytical methods. In this work, a combination of IMS and LC-MS/MS was used to study the competition between Listeria monocytogenes (LM) and Lactococcus lactis (LAC) to investigate the metabolic profile of each bacterium in the interacting microbial colonies. IMS analysis revealed several interesting compounds during interaction of microbial colonies. At least six compounds are uniquely expressed during the interaction between LM and LAC. These results could be useful to setup new molecular strategies in the control of bacterial species for a better food safety

Gut–brain axis and neurodegeneration : State-of-the-art of meta-omics sciences for microbiota characterization

Recent advances in the field of meta-omics sciences and related bioinformatics tools have allowed a comprehensive investigation of human-associated microbiota and its contribution to achieving and maintaining the homeostatic balance. Bioactive compounds from the microbial community harboring the human gut are involved in a finely tuned network of interconnections with the host, orchestrating a wide variety of physiological processes. These includes the bidirectional crosstalk between the central nervous system, the enteric nervous system, and the gastrointestinal tract (i.e., gut\u2013brain axis). The increasing accumulation of evidence suggest a pivotal role of the composition and activity of the gut microbiota in neurodegeneration. In the present review we aim to provide an overview of the state-of-the-art of meta-omics sciences including metagenomics for the study of microbial genomes and taxa strains, metatranscriptomics for gene expression, metaproteomics and metabolomics to identify and/or quantify microbial proteins and metabolites, respectively. The potential and limitations of each discipline were highlighted, as well as the advantages of an integrated approach (multi-omics) to predict microbial functions and molecular mechanisms related to human diseases. Particular emphasis is given to the latest results obtained with these approaches in an attempt to elucidate the link between the gut microbiota and the most common neurodegenerative diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer\u2019s disease (AD), Parkinson\u2019s disease (PD), and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)

Comparative computational analysis of SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein epitopes in taxonomically related coronaviruses

Several research lines are currently ongoing to address the multitude of facets of the pandemic COVID-19. In line with the One-Health concept, extending the target of the studies to the animals which humans are continuously interacting with may favor a better understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 biology and pathogenetic mechanisms; thus, helping to adopt the most suitable containment measures. The last two decades have already faced severe manifestations of the coronavirus infection in both humans and animals, thus, circulating epitopes from previous outbreaks might confer partial protection from SARS-CoV-2 infections. In the present study, we provide an in-silico survey of the major nucleocapsid protein epitopes and compare them with the homologues of taxonomically-related coronaviruses with tropism for animal species that are closely inter-related with the human beings population all over the world. Protein sequence alignment provides evidence of high sequence homology for some of the investigated proteins. Moreover, structural epitope mapping by homology modelling revealed a potential immunogenic value also for specific sequences scoring a lower identity with SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid proteins. These evidence provide a molecular structural rationale for a potential role in conferring protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection and identifying potential candidates for the development of diagnostic tools and prophylactic-oriented strategies

Monosegment ALPPS hepatectomy preserving segment 4 for colorectal liver metastases : literature review and our experience

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

PM10 and PM2.5 Qualitative Source Apportionment Using Selective Wind Direction Sampling in a Port-Industrial Area in Civitavecchia, Italy

The possibility to discriminate between different emission sources and between natural and anthropogenic contributions is a key issue for planning efficient air pollution reduction and mitigation strategies. Moreover, the knowledge of the particulate matter (PM) chemical composition for the different size fractions is recognized as increasingly important, in particular with respect to health effects of exposed population. This study is focused on the characterization of PM10 and PM2.5 main sources located in the Civitavecchia harbor-industrial area (Central Italy), namely a large coal-fired power plant, a natural gas power plant, the harbor area, the vehicular traffic (due to both the local traffic and the highway crossing the area) and small industrial activities. The approach was based on PM10/PM2.5 samples monthly collected for one year and a further relative chemical characterization of organic and inorganic fractions. Wind-select sensors, allowing a selective PM10 and PM2.5 sampling downwind to specific emission sources, were used for the overall sampling. This methodology manages to explain specific emission patterns and to assess the concentration levels of the micro pollutants emitted by local sources and particularly toxic for health. A descriptive statistical analysis of data was performed, also verifying the occurrence of legislative threshold exceedances. Moreover, in order to highlight the contribution of specific sources, the differences in the measured micro pollutants concentrations between wind directions, PM size fractions and sampling sites have been investigated, as well as the seasonal trends of pollutants concentrations. These results allow to highlight that the applied methodology represents a valid support in source apportionment studies