[Coping and self-efficacy in occupational disability: an exploratory study]. / Coping e autoefficacia negli invalidi sul lavoro: una ricerca esplorativa.

The object of this task is to study the individual and contextual variables' influence on individual capacity to cope the work accident consequences. The instruments used are: Impact of Event Scale (IES), Coping Orientation to Problems Experienced (COPE) and General Self-Efficacy (GSE). Sample consisted of 112 subjects with a mean age of 53 years, divided between Lazio (48%) and Sicily (52%) e with degree of worker invalidity inclusive among 30% and 100%. The results showed the indicative effect of the contextual variable "region" on intrusive symptoms; the indicative effect of the individual variable "years spent by work-accident" on scales Active coping, Humour, and factor Coping problem oriented; the indicative effect of the individual variable "degree of worker invalidity" on scale Acceptance; the indicative effect of the contextual variable "concomitant job to the accident" on scale Focus on and venting emotions; the indicative effect of the individual variable "degree of education" on scales Planning, Behavioral disengagement, Mental disengagement and factor Coping problem oriented and the GSE total score. Our investigation underlines work accident as potentially traumatic event for its unpredictability characterises and it suggests a few of coping strategies which are used frequently by work invalid to cope the event. This research is a way to turn the attention on the health and to encourage a great conscience of the factors which influence the way according to which workers-invalid cope the event of accident.

Expression of SPANX proteins in normal prostatic tissue and in prostate cancer.

The sperm protein associated with the nucleus in the X chromosome (SPANX) gene family encode for proteins that are not only expressed in germ cells, but also in a number of tumors. In addition, SPANX genes map in an interval of the X chromosome (namely, Xq27), which has been found to be associated with familial prostate cancer by linkage analysis. The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate SPANX protein expression in normal prostate tissues and in prostate carcinoma. For this purpose, formalin-fixed and paraffin-embedded sections obtained from 15 normal (at autopsy) donors and 12 men with prostate cancer were analyzed by immunohistochemistry. About 40% of both normal and tumor prostate samples resulted SPANX positive. Signals were exclusively with the nucleus in normal prostate cells, whereas both nuclear and cytoplasmic positivity was observed in tumor cells. In conclusion, these findings showed that SPANX genes are expressed in both normal and tumor prostate gland, but the latter showed a peculiar cytoplasmic staining positivity. This suggests a possible association between SPANX over expression and prostate cancer development. Additional studies are needed to corroborate this hypothesis.