Suture granuloma masquerading as primary ovarian malignancy: a case report

Suture granuloma is an uncommon surgical complication comprising of foreign body granulomatous tissue reaction against the suture material. We present a case of ovarian suture granulomas in a 28-year-old female who was clinico-radiologically misdiagnosed as ovarian carcinoma. She presented with intermittent pelvic pain, on and off low-grade fever and menstrual irregularities for 6 months and had undergone laparoscopic tubectomy two years back. Ultrasonographic findings were suspicious of left ovarian malignancy. CA-125 levels were elevated (115 U/mL). Left oophoro-salpingectomy was performed and histopathological examination revealed multiple suture-related granulomas

Do personality traits and self-regulatory processes affect decision-making tendencies?

Objective: This research attempted to clarify the role played by personality traits and self-regulated motivation in affecting decision-making tendencies. Method: Study 1 (n = 209) examined whether the Big Five personality traits predict minimising, maximising, and satisficing tendencies; Study 2 (n = 460) tested the mediating role of self-regulatory orientations in the relationship between personality traits and decision-making tendencies by performing structural equation modelling with latent variables. Results: Conscientiousness emerged as the strongest positive predictor of maximising, whereas openness to experience, conscientiousness, and agreeableness emerged as negative predictors of satisficing. As for the mediational model, both locomotion and assessment played a role in mediating the relationships between the personality traits and decision-making tendencies. Conclusions: This research provided interesting insights into the underlying motivations and strategies that lead individuals to maximise, satisfice, or minimise

Validation of the Internet Gaming Disorder Scale - Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) in an Italian-speaking sample

Background and aims: The inclusion of Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) in Section III of the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders has increased the interest of researchers in the development of new standardized psychometric tools for the assessment of such a disorder. To date, the nine-item Internet Gaming Disorder Scale - Short-Form (IGDS9-SF) has only been validated in English, Portuguese, and Slovenian languages. Therefore, the aim of this investigation was to examine the psychometric properties of the IGDS9-SF in an Italian-speaking sample. Methods: A total of 757 participants were recruited to the present study. Confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group analyses were applied to assess the construct validity. Reliability analyses comprised the average variance extracted, the standard error of measurement, and the factor determinacy coefficient. Convergent and criterion validities were established through the associations with other related constructs. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to determine an empirical cut-off point. Results: Findings confirmed the singlefactor structure of the instrument, its measurement invariance at the configural level, and the convergent and criterion validities. Satisfactory levels of reliability and a cut-off point of 21 were obtained. Discussion and conclusions: The present study provides validity evidence for the use of the Italian version of the IGDS9-SF and may foster research into gaming addiction in the Italian context

Sportspersonship in martial arts.

Studies on psychological outcomes related to individual differences have increased showing contradictory results, especially in martial arts. The difficulty to provide conclusive evidence for the psychological outcomes of martial arts practice and to determine if and to what extent martial arts trainings explain the above mentioned effects needs a more in-depth analysis of those dispositional aspects which can impact adaptive behaviors in terms of sportspersonship. Since no studies on sportspersonship and goal orientations has been carried out in the specific context of martial arts, the current research aimed at examining the role of goal orientations and trait aggressiveness as predictors of sportspersonship. A cross-sectional study was conducted. 389 Italian martial artists (Mage = 29.60, SD = 9.22) completed a questionnaire composed of four sections: a socio-anagraphic section, the Multidimensional Sportspersonship Orientations Scale, the Task and Ego Orientation in Sport Questionnaire, and the Aggression Questionnaire. Descriptive and casual analyses were applied to data. The expected hypotheses were generally confirmed. Results suggested that ego orientation and trait aggressiveness negatively predicted sportspersonship, whereas task orientation positively predicted a sportspersonship attitude. In sum, this research contributed to a better identification of the dispositional factors which prevent antisocial behaviors, especially in the context of martial arts

Decisional procrastination in academic settings: The role of metacognitions and learning strategies

Nowadays, university students suffer from a broad range of problems, such as educational underachievement or the inability to control themselves, that lead to procrastination as a consequence. The present research aimed at analyzing the determinants of decisional procrastination among undergraduate students and at assessing a path model in which self regulated learning strategies mediated the relationship between metacognitive beliefs about procrastination and decisional procrastination. 273 students from Southern Italy filled out a questionnaire composed by: the socio-demographic section, the Metacognitive Beliefs About Procrastination Questionnaire, the procrastination subscale of the Melbourne Decision Making Questionnaire, and the Anxiety, the Time Management, and the Information Processing subscales of the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory. Results showed that the relationship between negative and positive metacognitive beliefs about procrastination and decisional procrastination was mediated only by time management and anxiety. Such findings underlined the crucial role played by learning strategies in predicting the tendency to delay decisional situations and in mediating the relationship between metacognitive beliefs about procrastination and decisional procrastination

Errors in the arterial blood pressure measurement

ntroduction The artefacts affecting arterial wave morphology may compromise recorded values of arterial blood pressure (ABP) and can lead to therapeutic errors. The aim of this study is to evaluate the errors between invasive and noninvasive arterial pressure values, the incidence of artefacts due to an inadequate dynamic response of the transducer-tubing system, and their detection by the ICU staff. Methods Seventy-five consecutive patients (50 male, mean age 55 ± 18) admitted to the ICU for heterogeneous pathologies were enrolled. Inclusion criteria were: the presence of an intra-arterial catheter (IAC) for invasive blood pressure monitoring, and age >18 years. Pregnancy was excluded. At admission and every time the IAC was replaced we acquired invasive systolic, diastolic, and medium arterial pressure values (I-SP, I-DP, I-MP) during hemodynamic stability (variations of mean arterial pressure <10%); at the same time, noninvasive systolic and diastolic arterial pressure values (Ni-SP, Ni-DP) were measured with a sphygmomanometer at the same arm of the IAC. Noninvasive medium arterial pressure (Ni-MP) was calculated as follows: (SP + 2DP) / 3. At every time of the study, before ABP value acquisition, medical and nursing staff answered a questionnaire on the reliability of the arterial waveform. The staff could perform the fast flush test if considered appropriate. However, the fast flush test was executed by the main investigator at the end of questionnaire in all patients. Bland–Altman analysis was performed. Results We compared 130 pairs of Ni-SP, Ni-DP and Ni-MP and I-SP, I-DP and I-MP. The mean bias between Ni-SP and I-SP was –11 mmHg (limit of agreement (LoA) –43.6 to 21.4 mmHg). The mean bias between Ni-DP and I-DP and between Ni-MP and I-MP was 6.1 mmHg (LoA –15.5 to 27.7 mmHg) and 0.37 mmHg (LoA –21.0 to 21.7 mmHg), respectively. We performed the fast flush test 130 times; an inadequate dynamic response of the transducer-tubing system was observed 55 times: in 45 cases the arterial signal was underdumped and in 10 cases was overdumped. The arterial dumping was correctly detected by the medical staff in 95% of cases, by nursing staff and postgraduates in 35% of cases. Conclusion The bias between invasive and noninvasive ABP measure can be relevant and mislead in the therapeutic management. These errors can be avoided by identifying the artefacts that affect arterial signal and so the ICU staff must pay attention to the recognition of arterial dumping in critically ill patients

New Constraints on Macroscopic Dark Matter Using Radar Meteor Detectors

We show that dark-matter candidates with large masses and large nuclear interaction cross sections are detectable with terrestrial radar systems. We develop our results in close comparison to successful radar searches for tiny meteoroids, aggregates of ordinary matter. The path of a meteoroid (or suitable dark-matter particle) through the atmosphere produces ionization deposits that reflect incident radio waves. We calculate the equivalent radar echoing area or `radar cross section' for dark matter. By comparing the expected number of dark-matter-induced echoes with observations, we set new limits in the plane of dark-matter mass and cross section, complementary to pre-existing cosmological limits. Our results are valuable because (A) they open a new detection technique for which the reach can be greatly improved and (B) in case of a detection, the radar technique provides differential sensitivity to the mass and cross section, unlike cosmological probes.Comment: Main text 14 pages and 11 figures, Appendix 2 pages and 3 figure

Evaluation of different test-day milk recording protocols by wood’s model application for the estimation of dairy goat milk and milk constituent yield

Goats have important social and economic roles in many countries because of their ability to survive and be productive in marginal areas. The overarching aim of this study was to compare the application of Wood’s model to different test-day milk recording protocols for estimation of total milk, fat, and protein yield in dairy goats. A total of 465 goats were used (Garganica, 78; Girgentana, 81; Jonica, 76; Maltese, 77; Red Mediterranean, 76; Saanen, 77). Milk yield was recorded every 15 days throughout lactation of 210 days, for a total of 14 collection days, during both morning and afternoon milking sessions. Milk samples were collected and analyzed for protein and fat. The fat-corrected milk was standardized at 35g fat/kg of milk. Wood models showed high R2 values, and thus good fitting, in all the considered breeds. Wood model applied to first, second, fourth, and sixth month recordings (C) and ICAR estimation showed total milk yield very close to Wood’s model applied to all 14 recordings (A) (p &gt; 0.38). Differently, Wood’s model applied to the first, second, third, and fourth month recording (B) estimation showed great differences (p &lt; 0.01). This could be applied for farms that had the necessity to synchronize flock groups for kidding in order to produce kid meat. In farms that apply the estrus induction and/or synchronization for kidding, it would be possible to perform only four test-day milk recordings and to apply the Wood’s model on them in order to obtain the estimation of total milk, fat, and protein yield during lactation for animals inscribed, or to be inscribed, to the genealogical book

Global observations of 2 day wave coupling to the diurnal tide in a high‐altitude forecast‐assimilation system

We examine wave components in a high-altitude forecast-assimilation system that arise from nonlinear interaction between the diurnal tide and the westward traveling quasi 2 day wave. The process yields a westward traveling “sum” wave with zonal wave number 4 and a period of 16 h, and an eastward traveling “difference” wave with zonal wave number 2 and a period of 2 days. While the eastward 2 day wave has been reported in satellite temperatures, the westward 16 h wave lies outside the Nyquist limits of resolution of twice daily local time satellite sampling. Hourly output from a high-altitude forecast-assimilation model is used to diagnose the nonlinear quadriad. A steady state primitive equation model forced by tide-2 day wave advection is used to intepret the nonlinear wave products. The westward 16 h wave maximizes in the midlatitude winter mesosphere and behaves like an inertia-gravity wave. The nonlinearly generated component of the eastward 2 day wave maximizes at high latitudes in the lower thermosphere, and only weakly penetrates to low latitudes. The 16 h and the eastward 2 day waves are of comparable amplitude and alias to the same apparent frequency when viewed from a satellite perspective

Finite Temperature Time-Dependent Effective Theory for the Phase Field in two-dimensional d-wave Neutral Superconductor

We derive finite temperature time-dependent effective actions for the phase of the pairing field, which are appropriate for a 2D electron system with both non-retarded d- and s-wave attraction. As for s-wave pairing the d-wave effective action contains terms with Landau damping, but their structure appears to be different from the s-wave case due to the fact that the Landau damping is determined by the quasiparticle group velocity v_{g}, which for d-wave pairing does not have the same direction as the non-interacting Fermi velocity v_{F}. We show that for d-wave pairing the Landau term has a linear low temperature dependence and in contrast to the s-wave case are important for all finite temperatures. A possible experimental observation of the phase excitations is discussed.Comment: 23 pages, RevTeX4, 10 EPS figures; final version to appear in PR