Deconstructing Sexual Shame: Implications for Clinical Counselors and Counselor Educators

Although clients often seek treatment for sexuality-related concerns, counselors may lack the competence, comfort, and skills to adequately address these issues. Counselors may address these treatment barriers by developing a sex-affirming counseling framework. The following article outlines the importance of deconstructing sexual shame within clinical counseling settings and provides specific strategies to enhance the sexual empowerment of clients

Recommendation Systems in Libraries: an Application with Heterogeneous Data Sources

The Reading[&]Machine project exploits the support of digitalization to increase the attractiveness of libraries and improve the users’ experience. The project implements an application that helps the users in their decision-making process, providing recommendation system (RecSys)-generated lists of books the users might be interested in, and showing them through an interactive Virtual Reality (VR)-based Graphical User Interface (GUI). In this paper, we focus on the design and testing of the recommendation system, employing data about all users’ loans over the past 9 years from the network of libraries located in Turin, Italy. In addition, we use data collected by the Anobii online social community of readers, who share their feedback and additional information about books they read. Armed with this heterogeneous data, we build and evaluate Content Based (CB) and Collaborative Filtering (CF) approaches. Our results show that the CF outperforms the CB approach, improving by up to 47% the relevant recommendations provided to a reader. However, the performance of the CB approach is heavily dependent on the number of books the reader has already read, and it can work even better than CF for users with a large history. Finally, our evaluations highlight that the performances of both approaches are significantly improved if the system integrates and leverages the information from the Anobii dataset, which allows us to include more user readings (for CF) and richer book metadata (for CB)

Strelitzia nicolai (Strelitziaceae), new host plant for Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Coleoptera Curculionidae) in Sicily.

The Red Palm Weevil Rhynchophorus ferrugineus (Olivier, 1790) (Coleoptera Curculionidae), is con- sidered the main palm pest in the Mediterranean basin. This species is native to Southeastern Asia and is now widely spread throughout Oceania, Africa, Europe and the Caribbean (MURPHY & BRISCOE, 1999; EPPO, 2008, 2012; CHEBBI et al., 2011; RODA et al., 2011). Moreover, in North America the pest was found in California, where it is now considered eradicated (CDFA, 2010; IPPC, 2015). In Italy the first registered sightings were on nursery palms in Tuscany (SACCHETTI et al., 2005, 2006) and on ornamental palms in urban areas in Sicily (LONGO & TAMBURINO, 2005; LO VERDE & MASSA, 2007). Afterwards, the pest colonized all the Italian Regions in which palms were present, including many small islets such as Lampedusa and Linosa (pers. obs). The species was seen to be invasive and very difficult to control, due to its adaptability to devel- op on several palm species, to its concealed living habits and to its lack of natural enemies in the newly colonized regions. The Red Palm Weevil has been reported to attack more than 20 species of palms, which are listed in the 2010/467/EU Commission Decision regarding susceptible plants and the measures to be taken when the species is detected. In Italy almost 40,000 palms had been infested and killed as of February 2010 (almost 20,000 in Sicily, LO VERDE et al., 2011), mostly Phoenix canariensis H. Wildpret, 1882, a species native to the Canary Islands. This palm species is widely present in Sicily both in private gardens and public green areas (BAZAN et al., 2005; BARBERA & ROMANO, 2009). Moreover, in Sicily the Red Palm Weevil has been found in urban gardens on several other Are- caceae: Phoenix dactylifera L., Washingtonia spp., Chamaerops humilis L., Syagrus romanzoffiana (Cham.) Glassman, Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill., Howea forsteriana (F. Muell.) Becc., and Livis- tona chinensis (Jacq.) R. Br. ex Mart. (LONGO & COLAZZA, 2009), and most recently its presence was also recorded on Chamaerops humilis in natural conditions (GIOVINO et al., 2012)

Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty with tonsillectomy in the treatment of severe OSAS

Objective: To establish the efficacy of uvulopalatopharyngoplasty with tonsillectomy for treating selected patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome Methodology: Retrospective study of patients who underwent clinical/instrumental evaluation and surgical treatment. Setting: University ENT division with a tertiary snoring referral center Participants: Twenty-two patients with normal body mass index affected by severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome- Main outcome measures: Pre and post operative cardiopulmonary monitoring during sleep, daytime sleepiness evaluation, post treatment complication recording. Results: Complete response to therapy was obtained in 78% of patients. Four patients had relief of symptoms but retained apnea-hypopnea index scores greater than 5 Conclusions: Uvulopalatopharyngoplasty associated with tonsillectomy can be employed safely to treat patients with normal body mass index who suffer from severe obstructive sleep apne

Magnetic resonance imaging in the assessment of brain involvement in alcoholic and nonalcoholic Wernicke's encephalopathy

To present the typical and atypical magnetic resonance (MR) imaging findings of alcoholic and non-alcoholic Wernicke's encephalopathy

Il primo OBS/H italiano per il monitoraggio e lo studio di faglie e vulcani sottomarini

L’Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV) ha testato con successo, nel luglio 2006, il primo Ocean Bottom Seismometer with Hydrophone (OBS/H) italiano (Fig. 1). Lo strumento, interamente progettato e realizzato all’Osservatorio di Gibilmanna del Centro Nazionale Terremoti, dopo aver superato i test in laboratorio, in camera iperbarica a 600 bar ed in mare a 3412 m di profondità, è stato deposto per 9 giorni (12-21/07/’06) sulla spianata sommitale del vulcano sottomarino Marsili a 790 m di profondità (Fig. 2) ed ha registrato 835 eventi tra cui un telesisma, 8 eventi regionali e circa 800 eventi vulcanici

Implant-Based Breast Reconstruction after Risk-Reducing Mastectomy in BRCA Mutation Carriers: A Single-Center Retrospective Study

Women with BRCA gene mutations have a higher lifetime risk of developing breast cancer. Furthermore, cancer is usually diagnosed at a younger age compared to the wild-type counterpart. Strategies for risk management include intensive surveillance or risk-reducing mastectomy. The latter provides a significant reduction of the risk of developing breast cancer, simultaneously ensuring a natural breast appearance due to the preservation of the skin envelope and the nipple-areola complex. Implant-based breast reconstruction is the most common technique after risk-reducing surgery and can be achieved with either a submuscular or a prepectoral approach, in one or multiple stages. This study analyzes the outcomes of the different reconstructive techniques through a retrospective review on 46 breasts of a consecutive, single-center case series. Data analysis was carried out with EpiInfo version 7.2. Results of this study show no significant differences in postoperative complications between two-stage tissue expander/implant reconstruction and direct-to-implant (DTI) reconstruction, with DTI having superior aesthetic outcomes, especially in the prepectoral subgroup. In our experience, the DTI prepectoral approach has proven to be a safe and less time-consuming alternative to the submuscular two-stage technique, providing a pleasant reconstructed breast and overcoming the drawbacks of subpectoral implant placement

Historical suitability and sustainability of sicani mountains landscape (western Sicily): An integrated approach of phytosociology and archaeobotany

Since 2015, the ongoing project "Harvesting Memories" has been focused on long-term landscape dynamics in Sicani Mountains (Western Sicily). Archaeological excavations in the case study site of Contrada Castro (Corleone) have investigated a settlement which was mainly occupied during the Early Middle Ages (late 8th-11th century AD). This paper aims to understand the historical suitability and sustainability of this area analysing the correlation between the current dynamics of plant communities and the historical use of woods detected by the archaeobotanical record. An integrated approach between phytosociology and archaeobotany has been applied. The vegetation series of the study area has been used as a model to understand the ecological meaning and spatial distribution of archaeobotanical data on charcoals from the Medieval layers of the Contrada Castro site. The intersection between the frequency data of the archaeobotanical record and the phytosociological analysis have confirmed the maintenance of the same plant communities during the last millennium due to the sustainable exploitation of wood resources. An integrated comparison between the structure and composition of current phytocoenoses with archaeobotanical data allowed us to confirm that this landscape is High Nature Value (HNV) farmland and to interpret the historical vegetation dynamics linked to the activities and economy of a rural community

The Harvesting Memories Project: Historical ecology and landscape changes of the Sicani Mountains in Sicily

The Harvesting Memories project aims to investigate the historical landscape dynamics in an inner area of the Sicani Mountains district in Western Sicily (Contrada Castro, Corleone-Palermo). The interdisciplinary approach of the project allowed us to combine and integrate methods from different disciplines such as historical ecology, landscape archaeology, archaeobotany and GIS-based spatial analysis. In this paper some results have been summarized. The comparison between land mosaic change during the last 60 years, the relationship between site catchment area and land suitability and the correlation between archaeobotanical and phytosociological data. This approach underlined the relevance of the historical ecology for understanding landscape trajectories and planning strategy of suitable development of rural areas