What are you sexting? Parental practices, sexting attitudes and behaviors among Italian adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Sexting has recently emerged as a public health and social issue. The present study had two aims: a) to preliminarily test adolescent gender differences on parental practices regarding adolescent online life, parental monitoring, adolescent attitude towards sexting and sexting behaviors; b) to separately test for male and female adolescents a conceptual model in which sexting behaviors are explained by the parental practices and monitoring, with the mediation of adolescent negative attitude towards sexting. METHODS: Direct and indirect links between the variables in the model were investigated. The study was carried out with 541 participants. Participants were Italian adolescents (60% males; 40% females) aged 14 to 19 years (Mage = 16,19 years, SDage = 1,31). RESULTS: Results suggested that females sent more multimedia sexts, had a higher perception of risk associated with sexting and reported higher scores for both parental practices regarding adolescent online life and parental monitoring. Rules on Contents, Parental Knowledge, Adolescent Disclosure, and Parental Control resulted to be linked to both sexting attitudes and behaviors for male and female adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: Findings emphasize the important role that parents play in shaping attitudes and behaviors of both daughters and sons during adolescence.

Addendum to 'Efficacy of music therapy treatment based on cycles of sessions: a randomised controlled trial' (Raglio et al., 2010).

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to provide further detail about the results of a randomised controlled study published in this journal (Raglio et al., 2010, 14, 900-904), in which we assessed the efficacy of music therapy (MT) on the behavioural disturbances in people with moderate-severe dementia. METHODS: Sixty patients were randomly assigned to the experimental (MT and standard care) and control group (standard care only). The experimental group received three cycles of 12 MT sessions each, three times a week. Each cycle of treatment was followed by one month of washout period, while the standard care activities continued over time. RESULTS: The impact of the treatment (12 MT sessions) was reliable on NPI global scores, as the interaction Time by Group was significant (F(1,49) = 4.09, p = 0.049). After the end of the treatment the NPI global scores of the experimental and control groups tended to become similar, as both groups worsened (Time effect: F(1,48) = 4.67, p = 0.014) and the difference between them disappeared (F < 1). Interaction Time by Group was not significant. CONCLUSIONS: The study confirms that active MT determines a positive response and can amplify and strengthen the efficacy of therapeutic interventions towards people with dementia.

Olanzapine vs. risperidone in treating aggressive behaviours in adults with intellectual disability: a single blind study.

BACKGROUND: Aggressive behaviour represents a frequent symptom in people with intellectual disability (PWID). Despite uncertain evidence of effectiveness, the use of antipsychotics (APs) drugs to treat aggressive behaviour is very common. Antipsychotic medication of aggressivity in PWID has recently become one of the most debated issues in mental health and the need of further research is persistently stressed by most researchers. AIM: The present study was firstly aimed at evaluating the effectiveness (efficacy on target behaviour, safety and persistence on treatment) of new generation APs, in particular, olanzapine and risperidone in treating aggressive behaviour in PWID for who previous medication with first generation APs (FGAs) were not effective. METHODS: 62 subjects with intellectual disability underwent to a 2-arm, parallel group pragmatic trial of olanzapine and risperidone with balanced randomisation and blind assessment of outcome at 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 and 24 weeks after a switch (cross-tapering) from a 24-week treatment with FGAs. Aggressive behaviours were assessed by Overt Aggression Scale (OAS) and clinical outcome by Clinical Global Impression Scale. Side effects were assessed with Dosage Record and Treatment Emergent Symptoms Scale, other symptom-specific scales, laboratory and instrumental tests. RESULTS: Both risperidone and olanzapine resulted to be more effective than FGAs in reducing aggressive behaviour. Repeated-measures analysis of covariance revealed that treatment groups differed for cumulative number of aggressive episodes during the FGAs treatment, which was higher for olanzapine. CONCLUSION: Our findings seem to confirm that olanzapine and risperidone can be effective in reducing aggressive behaviour in PWID. Both compounds resulted to be well tolerated, with side effects similar to those encountered in other patient populations.

Efficacy of music therapy treatment based on cycles of sessions: a randomised controlled trial.

We undertook a randomised controlled trial to assess whether a music therapy (MT) scheme of administration, including three working cycles of one month spaced out by one month of no treatment, is effective to reduce behavioural disturbances in severely demented patients. Sixty persons with severe dementia (30 in the experimental and 30 in the control group) were enrolled. Baseline multidimensional assessment included demographics, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), Barthel Index and Neuropsychiatry Inventory (NPI) for all patients. All the patients of the experimental and control groups received standard care (educational and entertainment activities). In addition, the experimental group received three cycles of 12 active MT sessions each, three times a week. Each 30-min session included a group of three patients. Every cycle of treatment was followed by one month of wash-out. At the end of this study, MT treatment resulted to be more effective than standard care to reduce behavioural disorders. We observed a significant reduction over time in the NPI global scores in both groups (F(7,357) = 9.06, p < 0.001) and a significant difference between groups (F(1,51) = 4.84, p < 0.05) due to a higher reduction of behavioural disturbances in the experimental group at the end of the treatment (Cohen's d = 0.63). The analysis of single NPI items shows that delusions, agitation and apathy significantly improved in the experimental, but not in the control group. This study suggests the effectiveness of MT approach with working cycles in reducing behavioural disorders of severely demented patients.

Inheritance of R337H p53 gene mutation in children with sporadic adrenocortical tumor.

Adrenocortical tumors (ACTs) are frequent in Brazil. The mechanisms of adrenal tumorigenesis remain poorly established; the R337H germline mutation in the p53 gene has previously been associated with ACTs in Brazilian children. We investigated the frequency and inheritance of R337H p53 mutation as well as genotype and phenotype correlation in 21 children and 5 adult patients with ACTs. DNA was extracted from peripheral blood cells and/or tumor tissue for sequencing exon 10 of the p53 gene. Nine sets of parents of patients with p53 mutation were also submitted to mutational analysis. Virilization was the most common clinical sign in children with or without Cushing's syndrome. Two members of the adult group showed asymptomatic adrenal incidentalomas, two showed virilization, and one presented with Cushing's syndrome. Sixteen children with ACTs had peripheral blood available, and twelve of them (75%) showed the heterozygous R337H p53 gene mutation. The R337H mutation was found in fifteen samples of the nineteen tumor specimens available (78.9%). Among the nine sets of parents of the patients with R337H mutation, eight showed the same mutation with heterozygosity in one of the parents. None of the parents showed ACTs or any other neoplasia at the time of the study. Only one adult patient with an ACT revealed the same R337H p53 germline mutation. There was no association between the presence of germline or tissue R337H p53 mutation and malignancy at diagnosis. We confirmed the high frequency of R337H p53 mutation in Brazilian children with sporadic ACTs. The R337H p53 mutation was inherited from one of the parents of the patients, and there was no association between the presence of this mutation and tumor malignancy in children. The founder effect of R337H p53 mutation and the role of environmental mutagens contributing to the geographical clustering and high prevalence of ACTs in Brazilian children remain to be established.

A qualitative analysis of the mini mental state examination on Alzheimer's disease patients treated with cholinesterase inhibitors.

The improvement in cognitive performances due to cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEls) is not homogeneous among Alzheimer's disease (AD) subjects. Aim of this study is to evaluate whether a specific pattern of change in mini mental state examination (MMSE) could be observed in AD subjects after 9-month treatment with ChEls. From September 2000 to September 2002, 99 subjects enrolled in the CRONOS project. They have never been previously treated with ChEls. All of them completed both the 3- and the 9-month follow-up. The multidimensional assessment included MMSE, activity of daily living (ADL), instrumental activity of daily living (IADL), somatic health status, according to design of the CRONOSproject. The MMSE was analyzed both as a total score and disaggregated in 11 items. All subjects were divided in 2 groups according to the degree of change in MMSE total score from baseline to the 9th month. Subjects with a change 0 as responders (R). At start, no statistically significant differences were found between the 2 groups. MMSE score was significantly higher in the R group both at 3 (p < 0.0001) and 9 months (p < 0.0001), while functional status (ADL and IADL) was significantly lower in NR group at 9 months (p = 0.025; p =0.018, respectively). In MMSE qualitative analysis of 3-month, NR significantly worsened in temporal (p

Two-scale analysis of the SU(N) kondo model

We show how to resolve coherent low-energy features embedded in a broad high-energy background by use of a fully self-consistent calculation for composite particle operators. The method generalizes the formulation of Roth, which linearizes the dynamics of composite operators at any energy scale. Self-consistent equations are derived and analyzed in the case of the single-impurity SU(N) Kondo model.

Elderly injury: a profile of trauma experience in the Sunshine (Retirement) State.

OBJECTIVE: By using mandatory discharge data from a state agency, the records of 116,687 patients hospitalized for treatment of injury were evaluated to develop an epidemiologic and demographic profile of this population and to compare outcomes of patients treated in state-designated trauma centers (TC) with those treated in nontrauma centers (NTC). METHODS: Injury severity was calculated by using the International Classification Injury Severity Score methodology to compute individual diagnosis survival risk ratios from 698,187 reported diagnoses, and then by using these survival risk ratios to determine probability of survival for every patient. The population was then categorized by age, injury type, treatment facility designation, injury severity as indicated by probability of survival, and discharge disposition. Incidence of potentially preventable death was compared between TC and NTC, as was the effect on outcome of noninjury comorbidity. RESULTS: The average age of this population was 58 +/- 26 years with significant skew toward the elderly in NTC (mean age, 62 +/- 26 years). The most commonly encountered injuries likewise reflected the elderly nature of this population. Although 71.3% received care in NTC, the majority of severely injured were treated in TC. Potentially preventable mortality (>0.5) was significantly lower in TC. The effect of noninjury comorbidity on outcome was better managed by TC, both in terms of decreased mortality and in proportion of patients discharged home. CONCLUSION: These data demonstrate the unique characteristics of injury victims treated in the state of Florida and indicate that the developing trauma system is demonstrating productivity in terms of avoidance of preventable death, efficient management of noninjury comorbid problems, and more complete recovery as indicated by proportion of patients discharged to home.

Psychopathological disorders in a population of mentally retarded young adults.

Nosographic, clinical, therapeutic and psychosocial aspects of psychopathological disorders in 43 mentally retarded patients followed from 1988 to 1991 are presented. Mental problems in mentally retarded subjects are linked to mental illness but do not form a continuum with it. The prognosis is generally favourable. Great attention must be given to the psychosocial aspects as social integration is almost always at risk in the mentally retarded.

Action of uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation as chemotactic repellents of Bacillus subtilis.

Bacillus subtilis alternately swims smoothly and tumbles; when administered repellent it only tumbles, but later resumes normal swimming and tumbling. Repellents of B. subtilis include membrane-active agents like uncouplers of oxidative phosphorylation and local anaesthetics and have previously been found to act in a fundamentally different way compared with attractants. It has been suggested previously that uncouplers act as repellents as a result of their ability to depolarize the membrane and that depolarization might effect flagellar function by causing a flux of Ca2+ into the cell. However, we found that there is no correlation between membrane depolarization and chemotaxis and no detectable flux of Ca2+ following tactic stimulation by uncouplers. Experiments with analogues of the uncoupler pentachlorophenol, all of which are weaker acids than pentachlorophenol, indicated that the anionic form of the uncoupler is the potent form and we propose that it binds to a certain membrane protein to cause release into the cytoplasm of the substance (ion, metabolite or protein) that controls tumbling frequency. Adaptation is assumed to occur when this excess is removed by active transport or metabolism.

Chemotaxis towards sugars by Bacillus subtilis.

Many sugars and derivatives were tested in the capillary assay for their attraction of Bacillus subtilis. The major attractants were 2-deoxy-D-glucose, D-fructose, gentiobiose, D-glucose, maltose, D-mannitol, D-mannose, N-acetylglucosamine, alpha-methyl-D-glucoside, beta-methyl-D-glucoside, N-acetylmannosamine, alpha-methyl-D-mannoside, D-sorbitol, L-sorbose, sucrose, trehalose and D-xylose. Only glucose chemotaxis was completely constitutive. Competition experiments were carried out to determine the specificities of chemoreceptors. There were 25 instances of no influence of two sugars on each other's taxis, 92 instances of one sugar interfering non-reciprocally with chemotaxis towards another and 49 instances of two sugars reciprocally competing. However, in most of the last instances, other sugars were identified that interfered with chemotaxis towards one member of the pair but not the other. Thus, nearly all sugars and related compounds appear to be detected by their own chemoreceptors, but many secondary interactions exist.

Independence of proline chemotaxis and transport in Bacillus subtilis.

Values of KI for nine proline analogs as inhibitors of proline chemotaxis and of proline transport were determined. Two of them inhibited transport at substantially lower concentrations than chemotaxis; two at substantially higher concentrations. Moreover, mutants, believed to be in the component that binds proline, were isolated that showed a shift of KM for transport to higher concentrations, one as much as 40-fold. However, chemotaxis was virtually unaffected. Therefore, unlike galactose chemotaxis and transport in Escherichia coli, which share the galactose-binding protein, proline chemotaxis and transport in Bacillus subtilis are independent.

Amino acid chemoreceptors of Bacillus subtilis.

Specificities of chemoreceptors for the 20 common amino acids, toward which Bacillus subtilis shows chemotaxis, were assessed by competition ("jamming") experiments using a modification of the traditional capillary assay, called the "sensitivity capillary assay." Many amino acids were sensed by at least two chemoreceptors. All the highest affinity chemoreceptors for the amino acids were distinct, except glutamate and aspartate, which may share one chemoreceptor, and tyrosine, for which the data could not be collected due to low solubility. The data suggest the hypothesis that each amino acid-chemoreceptor complex binds to a different signaler (from each amino acid-chemoreceptor complex binds to a different signaler (from which signals travel to the flagella to modify behavior appropriately), and that many of the signalers can also bind other attractant-chemoreceptor complexes as antagonists (no signals to flagella).