Developing the MTO Formalism

We review the simple linear muffin-tin orbital method in the atomic-spheres approximation and a tight-binding representation (TB-LMTO-ASA method), and show how it can be generalized to an accurate and robust Nth order muffin-tin orbital (NMTO) method without increasing the size of the basis set and without complicating the formalism. On the contrary, downfolding is now more efficient and the formalism is simpler and closer to that of screened multiple-scattering theory. The NMTO method allows one to solve the single-electron Schroedinger equation for a MT-potential -in which the MT-wells may overlap- using basis sets which are arbitrarily minimal. The substantial increase in accuracy over the LMTO-ASA method is achieved by substitution of the energy-dependent partial waves by so-called kinked partial waves, which have tails attached to them, and by using these kinked partial waves at N+1 arbitrary energies to construct the set of NMTOs. For N=1 and the two energies chosen infinitesimally close, the NMTOs are simply the 3rd-generation LMTOs. Increasing N, widens the energy window, inside which accurate results are obtained, and increases the range of the orbitals, but it does not increase the size of the basis set and therefore does not change the number of bands obtained. The price for reducing the size of the basis set through downfolding, is a reduction in the number of bands accounted for and -unless N is increased- a narrowing of the energy window inside which these bands are accurate. A method for obtaining orthonormal NMTO sets is given and several applications are presented.Comment: 85 pages, Latex2e, Springer style, to be published in: Lecture notes in Physics, edited by H. Dreysse, (Springer Verlag

Design and advancement status of the Beam Expander Testing X-ray facility (BEaTriX)

The BEaTriX (Beam Expander Testing X-ray facility) project is an X-ray apparatus under construction at INAF/OAB to generate a broad (200 x 60 mm2), uniform and low-divergent X-ray beam within a small lab (6 x 15 m2). BEaTriX will consist of an X-ray source in the focus a grazing incidence paraboloidal mirror to obtain a parallel beam, followed by a crystal monochromation system and by an asymmetrically-cut diffracting crystal to perform the beam expansion to the desired size. Once completed, BEaTriX will be used to directly perform the quality control of focusing modules of large X-ray optics such as those for the ATHENA X-ray observatory, based on either Silicon Pore Optics (baseline) or Slumped Glass Optics (alternative), and will thereby enable a direct quality control of angular resolution and effective area on a number of mirror modules in a short time, in full X-ray illumination and without being affected by the finite distance of the X-ray source. However, since the individual mirror modules for ATHENA will have an optical quality of 3-4 arcsec HEW or better, BEaTriX is required to produce a broad beam with divergence below 1-2 arcsec, and sufficient flux to quickly characterize the PSF of the module without being significantly affected by statistical uncertainties. Therefore, the optical components of BEaTriX have to be selected and/or manufactured with excellent optical properties in order to guarantee the final performance of the system. In this paper we report the final design of the facility and a detailed performance simulation.Comment: Accepted paper, pre-print version. The finally published manuscript can be downloaded from http://dx.doi.org/10.1117/12.223895

Third-Generation TB-LMTO

We describe the screened Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (KKR) method and the third-generation linear muffin-tin orbital (LMTO) method for solving the single-particle Schroedinger equation for a MT potential. The simple and popular formalism which previously resulted from the atomic-spheres approximation (ASA) now holds in general, that is, it includes downfolding and the combined correction. Downfolding to few-orbital, possibly short-ranged, low-energy, and possibly orthonormal Hamiltonians now works exceedingly well, as is demonstrated for a high-temperature superconductor. First-principles sp3 and sp3d5 TB Hamiltonians for the valence and lowest conduction bands of silicon are derived. Finally, we prove that the new method treats overlap of the potential wells correctly to leading order and we demonstrate how this can be exploited to get rid of the empty spheres in the diamond structure.Comment: latex2e, 32 printed pages, Postscript figs, to be published in: Tight-Binding Approach to Computational Materials Science, MRS Symposia Proceedings No. 491 (MRS, Pittsburgh, 1998

The LH/hCG Axis in Endometrial Cancer: A New Target in the Treatment of Recurrent or Metastatic Disease

Endometrial cancer (EC) is a hormone-dependent cancer that currently represents the most frequent malignancy of the female reproductive tract. The involvement of steroid hormones in EC etiology and progression has been reported. More recently, gonadotropins, and, in particular LH/hCG, are emerging as novel regulators of tumor progression. In the present review, we discuss the role of the LH/hCG axis (i.e. LH/hCG and its receptors, LH/hCG-R) in both gonadal and nongonadal tissues, in physiological and neoplastic conditions. In cancer cells, LH/hCG mainly controls cell proliferation and apoptosis. In particular, in EC LH/hCG improves cell invasiveness, through a mechanism which involves the LH/hCG-R, which in turn activate protein kinase A and modulate integrin adhesion receptors. Indeed, the LH/hCG-R mRNA is expressed in primary ECs and this expression correlates with LH/hCG-induced cell invasiveness in vitro. These results lead to hypothesize that recurrent and metastatic ECs, which express LH/hCG-R, could benefit from therapies aimed at decreasing LH levels, through Gn-RH analogues. Hence, the LH/hCG axis could represent a prognostic factor and a new therapeutic target in EC

Stigma and discrimination (Sad) at the time of the sars-cov-2 pandemic

Infectious disease control is a crucial public health issue. Although it is important to urgently perform public health measures in order to reduce the risk of spread, it could end up stigmatizing entire groups of people rather than offering control measures based on sound scientific principles. This “us” versus “them” dynamic is common in stigmatization, in general, and indicates a way in which disease stigma can be viewed as a proxy for other types of fears, especially xenophobia and general fear of outsiders. The pandemic risk associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection led us to consider, among other related issues, how stigma and discrimination remain serious barriers to care for people suspected of being infected, even more if they are assisting professions, such as health workers, employed in emergency response. The purpose of this review is to evaluate and promote the importance of psychological aspects of the stigma and social discrimination (SAD) in pandemic realities and, more specifically, nowadays, in the context of SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. Just as it happened with HIV, HCV, tuberculosis, and Zika, stigma and discrimination undermine the social fabric compromising the ethics and principles of civilization to which each individual in entitled. Recognizing disease stigma history can give us insight into how, exactly, stigmatizing attitudes are formed, and how they are disbanded. Instead of simply blaming the ignorance of people espousing stigmatizing attitudes about certain diseases, we should try to understand precisely how these attitudes are formed so that we can intervene in their dissemination. We should also look at history to see what sorts of interventions against stigma may have worked in the past. Ongoing research into stigma should evaluate what has worked in the past, as above-mentioned, providing us with some clues as to what might work in the current pandemic emergency, to reduce devastating discrimination that keeps people from getting the care they need. We propose a systematic and historical review, in order to create a scientific and solid base for the following SAD analysis. The aim is to propose a coping strategy to face stigma and discrimination (SAD) related to SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, borrowing coping strategy tools and solutions from other common contagious diseases. Furthermore, our study observes how knowledge, education level, and socioeconomic status (SES) can influence perception of SARS-CoV-2/ COVID-19 risk in a digital world, based on previous research, best practices, and evidence-based research

Distress and job satisfaction after robbery assaults: a longitudinal study

Background: External/intrusive violence at work can result in psychological distress and can be an important risk to employee health and safety. However, the vast majority of workplace violence studies have employed cross-sectional and correlational research, designed to examine immediate reactions after being assaulted at work. Aims: To explore whether exposure to robbery as a traumatic event may contribute to the onset of typical symptoms of psychological distress (anxiety depression, dysphoria and loss of confidence) and job dissatisfaction over time. Methods: We collected data by using a two-wave panel design, in which employees working the days of bank robberies, in an Italian bank, filled in a questionnaire between 48 h and 1 week after the robbery (T1) and 2 months after the robbery (T2). We performed structural equation models to evaluate the fit of different models to our data. Results: There were 513 participants at T1 (58% women) and 175 (34%) participants at T2 (62% women). There was a simultaneous association in which psychological distress leads to job dissatisfaction both following robbery and 2 months later. Conclusions: Our findings support a synchronous effects model and suggest that interventions after suffering physical assaults, apart from helping employees to recover their health, should consider restoring their trust and confidence in the organization. This study contributes to understanding the dynamic relationships between a robbery at work and its outcomes over time, by addressing several methodological deficiencies in previous longitudinal studies.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

Patterns of CT lung injury and toxicity after stereotactic radiotherapy delivered with helical tomotherapy in early stage medically inoperable NSCLC

To evaluate toxicity and patterns of radiologic lung injury on CT images after hypofractionated image-guided stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) delivered with helical tomotherapy (HT) in medically early stage inoperable non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC)

Migrant workers and psychological health: A systematic review

Migrant workers show an increase in the incidence of serious, psychotic, anxiety, and post-traumatic disorders due to a series of socio-environmental variables, such as loss of social status, discrimination, and separations from the family. The purpose is to elaborate a systematic review and highlight the prevailing psychological pathologies of these workers and categories most at risk. Our research included articles published from 2009 to 2019 on the major databases (Pub Med, Cochrane Library, and Scopus) using a combination of some keywords. The online search indicated 1.228 references. Using inclusion and exclusion criteria, we analyzed 127 articles, in particular 12 reviews and 115 original articles. Principal emerging disorders from the research are depressive syndrome (poor concentration at work, feeling down, or anger and somatization), anxiety, alcohol or substance abuse, and poor sleep quality. This causes low life conditions, which is also due to marginalization from the social context and strenuous work; in fact, migrant workers may suffer verbal or physical abuse, and they are often employed in dangerous, unhealthy jobs. It is therefore essential to increase the role of occupational medicine and promote wellbeing for this vulnerable job categor

The JDCS model and blue-collar bullying: Decent working conditions for a healthy environment

Violence in the workplace and its health consequences still represent one of the main obstacles to obtaining decent working conditions. In particular, blue-collar workers run a greater risk of experiencing episodes of violence, also because of a lack of autonomy and fewer social interactions. According to the work environment hypothesis, factors such as high workload, lack of social support and lack of job control represent the antecedents of workplace bullying. Following the job demand-control-support model (JDCS), violence can be the symptom of a high-strain environment. Moreover, it is still unclear if workplace bullying can mediate the effects of work-related stress on workers’ health outcomes. The aim of the present study is to analyse the relationship between the components of the JDCS and the health of the workers considering workplace bullying as a mediating variable. By a cross sectional study design, we tested the following theoretical hypotheses: first, JDCS components (conceptualized as stress) are supposed to significantly predict the level of workers’ health. Second, workplace bullying is supposed to mediate the relationship between the JDCS components and the level of health. The sample consists of 400 blue-collars from three different Italian companies. Work-related stress, health outcomes and workplace bullying were measured by specific self-administered questionnaires and the relationships between the variables of interest were tested through a structural equation model (SEM) analysis. The results showed that while the direct relationship between the components of the JDCS and the level of psychological health is weaker (standardized path coefficients SPC = 0.21), the partial mediation hypothesis shows that workplace bullying mediate the relationship between JDCS components and health outcomes (χ2/df ratio = 2.70; path from stress to workplace bullying SPC = 0.78; path from workplace bullying to general health SPC = 0.51; p = 0.01). The JDCS components (workload, lack of control, lack of support) are useful predictors for workplace bullying. On the other hand, bullying plays a mediating role between the stress experienced and the health consequences. The present study adds new insights into the relationship between violence seen as a form of social behavioural strain and the psychological health of workers. The theoretical and practical implications are discussed. Future research on blue-collars could use longitudinal designs in order to analyse the relationship between social environment, job design and strain reactions