Contributo alla validazione della versione italiana della scala del Social Support di Susan Harter

Scopo del presente lavoro è proporre una versione italiana della Social Support Scale for adolescents di Susan Harter (1985) e di testarne le proprietà psicometriche. La scala permette di valutare il grado di supporto sociale percepito dal soggetto e la considerazione che sente di riceve da parte di altri significativi. La versione italiana è stata somministrata, in fase di pre-test, a 80 soggetti. I rilievi emersi hanno condotto ad alcuni adattamenti; la versione così ottenuta è stata somministrata ad un campione di 1203 soggetti (11-18 anni). Le analisi statistiche hanno consentito di verificare la consistenza interna e la struttura fattoriale della scala. Tali analisi hanno confermato l’attendibilità e la validità della versione italiana rispetto allo strumento originario. È stato inoltre realizzato un modello di Equazioni Strutturali, al fine di verificare la presenza di una struttura fattoriale sovrapponibile a quella originaria proposta dalla Harter. I rilievi emersi sembrano indicare che anche la versione italiana della scala proposta rappresenta un utile strumento per la comprensione e lo studio del supporto che l’adolescente percepisce di ricevere da parte di altri significativi. SUMMARY. In this paper we aim to propose an Italian version of the Social Support Scale for adolescents of Susan Harter (1985) and to explore its psychometric properties. The Social Support Scale allows to estimate the subject degree of perceived social support and the consideration from significant others. The Italian version was administered, in pre-test phase to 80 subjects. The results lead to some adaptations and this version was administered to a sample of 1203 subjects (11-18 years). The statistical analyses verified the internal consistency and the factorial structure of the Italian version with respect to the structure of the original scale. It was performed a Structural Equations modelling, to assess the properties of factorial structure. These results seem to indicate proposed Italian version of Social Support Scale can be a useful instrument to study the support that the adolescent perceives to receive from significant others

Confronto tra sutura con antibatterico vs sutura standard nella prevenzione delle infezioni del sito chirurgico

RIASSUNTOLe infezioni del sito chirurgico rappresentano ancora oggi un problema aperto, con prolungamento dei tempi di degenza e relativo aumento dei costi sanitari ed assicurativi. La recente letteratura evidenzia come il triclosan® possa essere utilizzato con sicurezza per ridurre l'incidenza di infezioni. In questo studio vengono confrontati due gruppi di pazienti sottoposti in regime di elezione a chirurgia "pulita". Il follow up, condotto trenta giorni dopo l'intervento chirurgico attraverso intervista telefonica, come da protocollo del Sistema Nazionale di sorveglianza delle infezioni del sito chirurgico, ha mostrato migliori outcomes, anche se non statisticamente significativi, in termini di prevenzione del sito chirurgico, utilizzando le suture con antibatterico rispetto a quelle standard.Parole chiave: infezioni del sito chirurgico, sicurezza, gestione del rischioComparison between antibacterial coated suture vs standard suture to prevent the surgical site infectionsABSTRACTThe surgical site infections (SSI) still represent an issue, which causes prolonged hospital staying, major costs for both healthcare system and professional insurance. Recent studies enlighten that using the antibacterial agent triclosan® leads to decrease infections rates. In this observational study we compared two groups of patients undergoing scheduled the so called clean surgery. The absence of SSI was assessed in all patients, 30 days later the surgery, through a telephone interview as indicated by the National Group for SSI surveillance protocol. The use of antibacterial sutures shows to be successful in preventing the SSI in comparison to standard sutures, even if results are not statistically significant.Keywords: surgical site infections, safety management, risk managemen

Duplications at 19q13.33 in patients with neurodevelopmental disorders

Objective After the recent publication of the first patients with disease-associated missense variants in the GRIN2D gene, we evaluate the effect of copy number variants (CNVs) overlapping this gene toward the presentation of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Methods We exploredClinVar (number ofCNVs = 50,794) andDECIPHER (number ofCNVs = 28,085) clinical databases of genomic variations for patients with copy number changes overlapping the GRIN2D gene at the 19q13.33 locus and evaluated their respective phenotype alongside their frequency, gene content, and expression, with publicly available reference databases. Results We identified 11 patients with microduplications at the 19q13.33 locus. The majority of CNVs arose de novo, and comparable CNVs are not present in control databases. All patients were reported to have NDDs and dysmorphic features as the most common clinical phenotype (N = 8/11), followed by seizures (N = 6/11) and intellectual disability (N = 5/11). All duplications shared a consensus region of 405 kb overlapping 13 genes. After screening for duplication tolerance in control populations, positive gene brain expression, and gene dosage sensitivity analysis, we highlight 4 genes for future evaluation: CARD8, C19orf68, KDELR1, and GRIN2D, which are promising candidates for disease causality. Furthermore, investigation of the literature especially supports GRIN2D as the best candidate gene. Conclusions Our study presents dup19q13.33 as a novel duplication syndrome locus associated with NDDs. CARD8, C19orf68, KDELR1, and GRIN2D are promising candidates for functional follow-up.Peer reviewe

Serum resistin levels in children with primary snoring.

Primary Snoring (PS) has been positioned at the milder end of the Sleep-Disordered Breathing severity continuum characterized by snoring and it is usually underestimated. PS is defined as snoring without apnea, frequent arousals, or gas exchange abnormalities and recent studies demonstrated that children with PS have increased blood pressure and reduced arterial distensibility. The association between adipokines and SDB has been recently investigated, though most of the studies were focused on OSAS where intermittent hypoxia characterizing the disease may lead to an inflammatory cascade and to the release of several adipokines, contributing to oxidative stress. Resistin, initially described as an adipokine increasing insulin resistance, has been recently identified as a novel important member of the cytokine family involved in the regulation of inflammation. The aim of our study was to investigate circulating resistin levels in normal weight children with PS. Sixty-five children of normal weight aged between 4 and 14 years of age were selected for habitual snoring. Children with positive polysomnography were excluded from the study. Serum resistin levels were detected in all children with PS. Thirty-three healthy non-snorer children with similar age, sex and BMI were selected as a control group. A significantly higher level of resistin was observed in patients with PS compared to the control group (4.67±1.91 ng/ml vs 3.98±1.58 ng/ml; p<0.01). Patients with inconclusive pulse oximetry showed significantly higher resistin levels than those with negative recordings (5.29±1.91 ng/ml vs 4.20±1.93 ng/ ml; p<0.008). Moreover, there was a significant increasing trend between sieric adipokine level and the frequency of snoring (p<0.006). Our results suggest that systemic inflammation and oxidative stress may also play a significant role in the pathophysiology of PS

Storia della Lancia. Impresa Tecnologie Mercati 1906-1969

- Indice #9- Premessa e riconoscimento #12- La fabbrica e il territorio urbano #151- Tecnologia e organizzazione produttiva alla Lancia (1906-1969) #207- Cinquant'anni di relazioni industriali alla Lancia (1919-1969) #263- La Lancia come fenomeno tecnico #303- Le corse della Lancia #333- Lancia, 60 anni di prodotto le automobili e i veicoli industriali #34

Sector BPO: el escenario de los call centers en Barranquilla

During the end of the first decade and the beginning of the second decade of the 21st century, the implementation of call centers, more popularly known as Call Centers, has had a great impact in the city of Barranquilla. In spite of being a practice whose origin goes back to the beginning of the 60s -globally speaking-, and that had a considerable impact at the time in the global scope, it is its peak in this period that has had the greatest impact within the territory barranquillero, working as a response to those companies that seek to take advantage to achieve greater efficiency in their work and have more emphasis on outsourced services performed by BPOs (Business ProcessOutsourcing) within the respective Call Center.Durante finales de la primera década e inicios de la segunda década del siglo XXI, la implementación de los centros de llamada, más popularmente conocidos como Call Centers, ha tenido un gran impacto en la ciudad de Barranquilla. A pesar de ser una práctica cuyo origen se remonta a inicios de los años 60 -mundialmente hablando-, y que tuvo un impacto considerable en su momento en el ámbito global, es su auge en este período el que ha tenido mayor impacto dentro del territorio barranquillero, funcionando como una respuesta a aquellas compañías que buscan tomar ventajas para lograr mayor eficiencia en sus labores y tener más énfasis en los servicios tercerizados que realizan las BPOs (Business ProcessOutsourcing) dentro del respectivo Call Center

Standardization of canine meningioma grading: Validation of new guidelines for reproducible histopathologic criteria.

Canine meningiomas are currently graded using the human grading system. Recently published guidelines have adapted the human grading system for use in dogs. The goal of this study was to validate the new guidelines for canine meningiomas. To evaluate the inter-observer agreement, 5 veterinary surgical pathologists graded 158 canine meningiomas following the human grading system alone or with the new guidelines. The inter-observer agreement for histologic grade and each of the grading criteria (mitotic grade, invasion, spontaneous necrosis, macronucleoli, small cells, hypercellularity, pattern loss and anaplasia) was evaluated using the Fleiss kappa index. The diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) was assessed by comparing the diagnoses obtained with the 2 grading systems with a consensus grade (considered the reference classification). The consensus histologic grade was obtained by agreement between 4 experienced veterinary neuropathologists following the guidelines. Compared with the human grading alone, the canine-specific guidelines increased the inter-observer agreement for: histologic grade (κ = 0.52); invasion (κ = 0.67); necrosis (κ = 0.62); small cells (κ = 0.36); pattern loss (κ = 0.49) and anaplasia (κ = 0.55). Mitotic grade agreement remained substantial (κ = 0.63). The guidelines improved the sensitivity in identifying grade 1 (95.6%) and the specificity in identifying grade 2 (96.2%) meningiomas. In conclusion, the new grading guidelines for canine meningiomas are associated with an overall improvement in the inter-observer agreement and higher diagnostic accuracy in diagnosing grade 1 and grade 2 meningiomas

Standardization of canine meningioma grading: Validation of new guidelines for reproducible histopathologic criteria

Canine meningiomas are currently graded using the human grading system. Recently published guidelines have adapted the human grading system for use in dogs. The goal of this study was to validate the new guidelines for canine meningiomas. To evaluate the inter‐observer agreement, 5 veterinary surgical pathologists graded 158 canine meningiomas following the human grading system alone or with the new guidelines. The inter‐observer agreement for histologic grade and each of the grading criteria (mitotic grade, invasion, spontaneous necrosis, macronucleoli, small cells, hypercellularity, pattern loss and anaplasia) was evaluated using the Fleiss kappa index. The diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity and specificity) was assessed by comparing the diagnoses obtained with the 2 grading systems with a consensus grade (considered the reference classification). The consensus histologic grade was obtained by agreement between 4 experienced veterinary neuropathologists following the guidelines. Compared with the human grading alone, the canine‐specific guidelines increased the inter‐observer agreement for: histologic grade (κ = 0.52); invasion (κ = 0.67); necrosis (κ = 0.62); small cells (κ = 0.36); pattern loss (κ = 0.49) and anaplasia (κ = 0.55). Mitotic grade agreement remained substantial (κ = 0.63). The guidelines improved the sensitivity in identifying grade 1 (95.6%) and the specificity in identifying grade 2 (96.2%) meningiomas. In conclusion, the new grading guidelines for canine meningiomas are associated with an overall improvement in the inter‐observer agreement and higher diagnostic accuracy in diagnosing grade 1 and grade 2 meningiomas

Study of radiation damage and substrate resistivity effects from beam test of silicon microstrip detectors using LHC readout electronics

We present the beam test results of single-sided silicon microstrip detectors, with different substrate resistivities. The effects of radiation damage are studied for a detector irradiated to a fluence of 2.4 multiplied by 10**1**4 n/cm**2. The detectors are read out with the APV6 chip, which is compatible with the 40 MHz LHC clock. The performance of different detectors and readout modes are studied in terms of signal-to-noise ratio and efficiency