169,762 research outputs found
Personality Disorders and Personality Profiles in a Sample of Transgender Individuals Requesting Gender-Affirming Treatments
No full textThe study aims to explore the personality patterns of a group of transgender individuals who accessed an Italian gender clinic to undergo gender affirming treatments, by evaluating both dimensional personality domains proposed by the Alternative Model of Personality Disorders and categorical DSM-IV personality disorder (PD) diagnoses. Eighty-seven participants (40 transgender women and 47 transgender men) completed the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II personality disorders. Scores obtained were compared to those of the normative samples of cisgender women and men. Results indicated that transgender women scored lower than cisgender women on two main domains (Negative Affectivity and Psychoticism) and on seven facets. As for transgender men, lower scores than cisgender men were found on Antagonism and on five facets. Transgender men scored higher than cisgender men on Depressivity. Nearly 50% of participants showed at least one PD diagnosis, with no gender differences in prevalence. Borderline PD was the most frequent diagnosis in the overall sample. Self-report measures provide a less maladaptive profile of personality functioning than the clinician-based categorical assessment. Results are interpreted in the light of the Minority Stress Model and support the need for a multi-method assessment of personality in medicalized transgender people
Effects of pharmacological treatments on emotional tasks in borderline personality disorder: A review of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies
No full textBackground: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a common mental disorder characterized by instability in interpersonal relationships, impaired self-image, impulsivity and aggressive behaviors that often requires pharmacological treatments. Neuroimaging alterations have been extensively reported in BPD, especially in regions within the fronto-limbic system. Although medications can be an important confounding factor in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) studies, their role on brain function in BPD patients still remains uncertain. Therefore, this review aims to improve our understanding on the potential effect of the most commonly prescribed drugs for BPD on brain function during processing of emotional tasks. Methods: A search on PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science of fMRI studies exploring the effect of antipsychotics, antidepressants and mood stabilizers on brain activity during processing of emotional tasks on BPD was conducted. Results: Overall the studies showed small or no effect of pharmacological treatments on brain activity and connectivity in BPD patients during processing of emotional tasks. Limitations: The small sample size, the observational design, the elevated percentage of women, the concomitant use of psychostimulants, anticholinergics and opioids substitute treatments and the high rate of comorbidities limit the conclusion of this review. Conclusions: Pharmacological treatments seem to have minor role on brain activity/connectivity in BPD patients during emotional tasks, ultimately suggesting that in BPD patients brain deficits seem not be influenced by medications. This might be due to functional brain specificities of BPD and to the differences in pharmacological regimens and compliance to therapy between BPD and other common psychiatric disorders
Structural stigma and bisexual + people: Effects of the rejection of the Zan Bill in Italy on minority stress and mental health
No full textBisexual + people experience severe forms of structural stigma that are associated to negative mental health outcomes. In order to eradicate hate crimes against LGBTQIAPK + people, on the 4th of November 2020, the Italian deputy Alessandro Zan proposed a Bill entitled “Measures to prevent and combat discrimination and violence on grounds of sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability” (also known as “Zan Bill”). On October 27, 2021, the Italian Senate silenced the Bill. This study aimed to explore whether a worsening in mental health before and after the Zan Bill’s rejection occurred among bisexual + people. Data from 299 Italian bisexual + people after the Zan Bill’s rejection were compared with data on the same measures from 381 Italian bisexual + people before the Zan Bill’s rejection. We observed a worsening in the levels of discrimination, anticipated and internalized binegativity, resilience, anxiety, and depression after the rejection of the Zan Bill. Outness remained unchanged in the two groups. Results suggested that the rejection of the Zan Bill has had a strong effect on the well-being of Italian bisexual + people
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Disordini alimentari maschili e orientamento sessuale: disamina della teoria dell’oggettivazione sessuale
No full textIntroduzione: La letteratura segnala che gli uomini omosessuali
riportano livelli maggiori d’insoddisfazione corporea e disordini
alimentari (DA) rispetto alla controparte eterosessuale, e
comparabili con quelli riportati dalle donne. Secondo gli studiosi
questo è probabilmente dovuto al fatto che i gay e le donne
sono maggiormente predisposti ad auto-oggettivarsi, ovvero
a vedere i loro copri come oggetti sessuali al fine di attirare
l’attenzione di altri maschi e attrarli come potenziali partner.
Lo studio esamina la teoria dell’oggettivazione (TO) come un
framework idoneo per esplorare i potenziali meccanismi sottostanti
che portano i gay a riportare elevati livelli di DA.
Metodi: 313 maschi (51% eterosessuali; 49% gay; Metà=21.2)
hanno compilato una batteria di questionari finalizzata alla rilevazione
delle variabili di interesse.
Risultati: Per i gay l’interiorizzazione degli standard socioculturali
di bellezza conduce all’auto-oggettivazione, aumentando
così l’ansia sociale e la vergogna per l’aspetto, che a loro volta
sono collegate all’insorgenza di DA. Gli stessi risultati (seppur
più deboli) sono emersi tra gli eterosessuali. I gay hanno ottenuto
punteggi medi significativamente superiori in tutte le variabili
esaminate e comparabili con quelli ottenuti in un campione
italiano di donne. Differenze di orientamento sessuale sono
emerse anche nel ruolo di vergogna e ansia sociale come variabili
mediatrici.
Conclusioni: La TO rappresenta un framework teorico utile per
esaminare e comprendere le differenze di orientamento sessuale
rispetto ai DA maschili
Mitomycin C in highly myopic eyes - Author reply
No full textOphthalmology. 2005 Feb;112(2):208-18; discussion 219.
Mitomycin C modulation of corneal wound healing after photorefractive keratectomy in highly myopic eyes.
Gambato C, Ghirlando A, Moretto E, Busato F, Midena E.
SourceRefractive Surgery Service and Antimetabolite Therapy Research Unit, Department of Ophthalmology, University of Padova, Padova, Italy.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of topical mitomycin C in corneal wound healing (CWH) after photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) in highly myopic eyes.
DESIGN: Prospective, double-masked, randomized clinical trial.
PARTICIPANTS: Seventy-two eyes of 36 patients affected by high (>7 diopters) myopia.
METHODS: In each patient, one eye was randomly assigned to PRK with intraoperative topical 0.02% mitomycin C application, and the fellow eye was treated with a placebo. Postoperatively, mitomycin C-treated eyes received artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months), whereas the fellow eye was treated with fluorometholone sodium 2% and artificial tears (3 times daily, tapered in 3 months).
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA) and best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), contrast sensitivity, manifest refraction, and biomicroscopy. Contrast sensitivity was determined using the Pelli-Robson chart. Corneal confocal microscopy documented CWH.
RESULTS: Mean follow-up was 18 months (range, 12-36). No side effects or toxic effects were documented. At 12-month follow-up examination, UCVAs (logarithm of the minimum angle of resolution) were 0.4+/-0.48 and 0.5+/-0.53 (P = .03) in mitomycin C-treated eyes and corticosteroid-treated eyes, respectively. At 1 year, corneal haze developed in 20% of corticosteroid-treated eyes, versus 0% of mitomycin C-treated eyes. At 12, 24, and 36 months, corneal confocal microscopy showed activated keratocytes and extracellular matrix significantly more evident in untreated eyes (Ps = 0.004, 0.024, and 0.046, respectively).
CONCLUSION: Topical intraoperative application of 0.02% mitomycin C can reduce haze formation in highly myopic eyes undergoing PRK.
Comment in
Ophthalmology. 2006 Feb;113(2):357; author reply 357-8
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
No full textWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
Hepatitis C virus infection and thyroid autoimmune disorders: A model of interactions between the host and the environment
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