196,140 research outputs found
Psychological group support attenuates distress of waiting in couples scheduled for assisted reproduction
No full textThe aim of the study is to determine whether a cognitive-behavioral group treatment could lead to a decrease of psychological distress in couples waiting for assisted reproduction. Fifty consecutive couples included in the waiting list for IVF-ET or ICSI were randomly allocated either to receive Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment (CBT Group) or just waiting (Observation Group). The group is formed by 8-10 couples; 12 meetings are provided for a period of 4 months. Two psychometric test have been administered (Symptom Rating Test and Westbrook Coping Scales) at baseline and after 4 months. At baseline, females showed a higher level of SRT than males (F = 16.6 ± 14.1; M = 10.2 ± 9.0; p = 0.01). This became evident for anxiety (F = 5.6 ± 4.9; M = 3.3 ± 3.0, p = 0.004), somatization (F = 3.0 ± 2.5; M = 1.8 ± 2.1, p = 0.01) and feelings of inadequacy (F = 3.9 ± 3.7; M = 2.3 ± 2.7, p = 0.01). After 4 months in the males of Observation Group (from 2.3 ± 2.0 to 4.0 ± 2.8, p = 0.01) there was an increase of the level of anxiety. No other meaningful differences in other variables were found. In females of CBT Group a trend towards a significant decrease in the total value of psychological uneasiness (the SRT) (from 17.7 ± 13.7 to 14.1 ± 14.0, p = 0.07) was found. A long wait before the scheduled intervention of assisted reproduction increased anxiety levels, namely in male partners. CBT avoids such a 'waiting stress' and could be useful for stimulating discussion and awareness inside the couple. Shortening the waiting list and psychological support would be provided by infertility centres
Saillant F., Kilani M., Bideau F. G. (a cura di), Manifeste de Lausanne. Pour une anthropologie non hégémonique
No full textLa recensione discute criticamente la prospettiva fornita dagli autori sull'antropologia, intesa come comprensione profonda e diretta del mondo, coinvolgimento concreto e profondo all’interno del “mondo sensibile” (un’antropologia appunto engagée), capace “di prossimità” e vicinanza con gli attori sociali, di tradurre lingue e linguaggi diversi e, al tempo stesso, di decentrare lo sguardo e de-familiarizzarsi dalle proprie categorie di esperienza ordinaria del mondo. Un’antropologia non egemone vuole essere sia un’antropologia “consapevole degli egemonismi che l’hanno marcata a lungo”, cosciente della sua storia e decisa oggi a mobilitarsi tanto sul piano teorico quanto sul piano della ricerca di terreno, sia un’antropologia relazionale, dialogica, multilocale, attenta ai mutamenti globali e ai “luoghi di enunciazione dei particolarismi culturali” e dei loro saperi, alle pratiche e visioni condivise quanto ai conflitti, alle gerarchie e ai rapporti di forza che plasmano le relazioni sociali, politiche, economiche
Le politiche del riconoscimento nelle società multiculturali. Prospettive antropologiche
No full text.Il capitolo si propone di mettere in luce le specificità del contributo antropologico nell’analisi delle politiche del riconoscimento nelle società multiculturali. Riprendendo alcune prospettive nell’attuale dibattito, cercheremo di evidenziare come gli studi antropologici abbiano contribuito a problematizzare le astrazioni normative dominanti nelle teorie sociali e nel discorso pubblico, stimolando gli etnografi ad esplorare le pratiche effettive del riconoscimento e a gettare luce su un complesso di categorizzazioni relative alle ‘differenze” che tendono a normalizzare processi di esclusione nelle società multiculturali. In quest’ottica, forniamo nella seconda parte qualche esemplificazione etnografica per mostrare come la sensibilità euristica e problematizzante dell’antropologia possa declinarsi nell’analisi critica delle politiche del riconoscimento delle differenze. Assumendo il multiculturalismo come ambito di esplorazione empirica piuttosto che come categoria astratta e precostituita, volgeremo lo sguardo verso i dilemmi e le ambivalenze che possono entrare in gioco nella comprensione e gestione della diversità culturale, a livello dei servizi e delle istituzioni locali, per poi fare emergere le contraddizioni che i figli di migranti, impegnati nella costruzione quotidiana delle loro multiple appartenenze, sperimentano di fronte a concezioni rigide e formali di cittadinanz
The distribution-valued horocyclic Radon transform on trees
No full textChapman & Hall/CRC Research Notes in Mathematics, vol. 422; M. A. Picardello, ed
Down-hole geophysical characterization of middle-upper Quaternary sequences in the Apennine Foredeep, Mirabello, Italy
No full textThe 2012 earthquakes sequence stroke a wide area of the alluvial plain in the Emilia-Romagna Region and triggered a new research interest on the role of the subsurface stratigraphic architecture and petrophysical property distribution in the modulation of the local seismic effects. Few direct shear wave velocity VS data were however available below the depth of 50 m. The only available VS measurements were obtained from an anticline area, characterized by a reduced stratigraphic thickness and peculiar sedimentary facies, hardly representative of the majority of the alluvial plain
subsurface. The study provides the first VS profile available from middle-upper Quaternary successions deposited into a fast subsiding syncline area of the Apennine Foredeep Basin. The P-wave velocity VP and the S-wave velocity VS logs fill in the previous data gap on the geophysical parameters needed for the estimation of the local seismic response. Both VP and VS logs were continuously acquired to the depth of 265 m. The log records a velocity increase with depth, punctuated by sharp increases at some stratigraphic discordance surfaces. The value of 800 m/s that characterizes the “seismic bedrock”, as defined by the Italian building code [NTC 2008] was never reached at any depth. The investigated succession records a depositional evolution from deltaic-marine to alluvial plain conditions, punctuated by six glacio-eustatic depositional cycles, developed in Middle-Upper Quaternary times. The stratigraphic units described in the syncline log were correlated at a regional scale, with the thinner anticline succession of Mirandola. Correlatable units deposited into syncline and anticline areas reveal similar shear wave velocity values, supporting the regional extrapolation of the measured values
L'uso delle misure di microtremore per investigare le strutture tettoniche sepolte: il caso di studio dell'anticlinale di Mirandola
No full textL'anticlinale di Mirandola rappresenta una piega per propagazione di faglia sepolta che si è accresciuta nel Quaternario a seguito della attività sismogenica di un segmento cieco dell'Arco Ferrarese. L'ultima riattivazione si è verificata durante la sequenza sismica dell'Emilia del maggio 2012. In corrispondenza di tale struttura lo spessore dei depositi marini e continentali della avanfossa padana è particolarmente ridotto. Al fine di meglio definire la geometria superficiale di questa struttura tettonica, e quindi la sua recente attività, è stato studiato un intervallo di profondità, che è intermedio tra le osservazioni morfologiche superficiali e le informazioni ricavate dai profili sismici. In particolare, sono state effettuate numerose misure di sismica passiva (microtremori a stazione singola) per ottenere il rapporto spettrale tra le componenti orizzontali e quella verticale (HVSR). I risultati di un'analisi combinata della frequenza di picco e della sua ampiezza ben si accordano alle informazioni geologiche disponibili suggerendo che questa tecnica geofisica a basso costo può essere applicata con successo in altri settori di ampie piane alluvionali morfologicamente piatte per investigare potenziali strutture sismogeniche cieche e completamente sepolte.The Mirandola Anticline represents a buried fault-propagation fold which has been growing during Quaternary due to the seismogenic activity of a blind segment belonging to the broader Ferrara Arc. The last reactivation occurred during the May 2012 Emilia sequence. In correspondence with this structure the thickness of the marine and continental deposits of the Po Plain foredeep is particularly reduced. In order to better define the shallow geometry of this tectonic structure, and hence its recent activity, a depth range which is intermediate between the surficial morphological observations and seismic profiles information was investigated. In particular, numerous passive seismic measurements (single station microtremor) for obtaining the horizontal to vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) were carried out. For each site the amplitude of the peak value of the HVSR curve, A, and the corresponding frequency, f0 (commonly referred to as natural frequency), have been considered. The distribution of both parameters has been further elaborated by creating a colour-shaded map. The results of the geophysical campaign and the gridding clearly document the presence of areas characterized by resonance phenomena, locally very important ones, and allow to map their distribution. In particular a first map evidences the occurrence of a narrow zone (2.5-3.5 km-wide), trending ESE-WNW and characterized by A values of the HVSR curves greater than 2.5. Local maxima occur, from west to east, along the central sector. A similar pattern could be also observed in a second map, where the natural frequency f0 has been interpolated with the same procedure described above. In this case, the selected discriminant value is ca. 1 Hz and the gridding emphasizes an elongated ESE-WNW trending area characterized by natural frequencies up to 2.0 Hz. Assuming as a first approximation laterally uniform (or smoothly variable) seismic waves velocities within the uppermost sedimentary units, say the first 100150 m, the mapped distribution of the natural frequencies is certainly due to a strongly variable depth of the surface producing the resonance (i.e. characterized by an impedance contrast). The areas emphasized in the two maps basically coincide and are both characterized by marked gradients north and south and a progressive fading ESE-wards. Position and dimensions of the overlapping area as well as the corresponding values of the two mapped parameters are due to laterally changing impedance contrast associated with the variable stratigraphic succession developed during Pliocene-Quaternary on top of the Mirandola anticline.
In order to further constrain and validate the subsoil model here proposed, HVSR measurements were also carried out in correspondence of two boreholes cored by Regione Emilia-Romagna down to a depth of 101 and 127 m, respectively. Accordingly, at these two sites the detailed stratigraphic succession has been reconstructed showing the occurrence of the Pliocene top, the so called seismic pseudo-bedrock interface of the area (i.e. vs ≥ 600 m/s) at ca. 96 and 113 m, respectively. Moreover, at both sites a second borehole was drilled to perform a crosshole investigation for measuring the velocity distribution at depth. Based on a simplified inversion approach I succeeded to reproduce measured HVSR curves and particularly the major and meaningful peaks down to the bedrock interface separating the continental Middle Quaternary from the marine Early Quaternary-Late Pliocene deposits. The results of a combined analysis of the peak frequency and its amplitude nicely fit also the available geological information derived from boreholes and seismic
reflection profiles carried out for hydrocarbon purposes, suggesting that this low-cost geophysical technique could be successfully applied in other sectors of wide morphologically flat alluvial plains to investigate blind and completely buried potential seismogenic structures. One of the major results of the present reasearch consists in the reconstruction of the natural amplification distribution associated with, and caused by, the presence of impedance contrast in the subsoil. As above mentioned, this information has been obtained either in terms of frequency and amplitude of the HVSR. This study also shows how the systematic application of the HVSR method, a low-cost non-invasive geophysical technique, generating a relatively dense grid of measurements over a wide area and strictly following as a standard the well tested SESAME criteria, could allow to laterally correlate specific amplification peaks and hence to interpolate with confidence the same impedance contrast surface. According to the instrumentation used and the stratigraphic setting of the investigated area, such a surface that represents the real target of the whole procedure could be up to 150-200 m-deep. The capacity to model it in some detail could enable to map large-scale deformations, which are too subtle to be reconstructed on the basis of morphological analyses (due to the lack of cumulative effects) and generally too shallow to be taken into account during seismic reflection surveys devoted to hydrocarbon exploration. Finally, the application of the above procedure to the Mirandola case study allowed to emphasize the persisting and recent growth of a major fault-propagation anticline, where both the causative thrust and the associated fold are completely buried by the Middle-Upper Pleistocene to Holocene continental deposits (e.g. Martelli and Molinari 2008; Bonini et al. 2014). At this regard, the obtained results clearly and independently document the presence of a folded surface in the shallow Mirandola subsoil; the crest is oriented ESE-WNW with a culmination towards the west and a periclinal setting eastwards in perfect agreement with the deeper tectonic structure reconstructed on the basis of seismic reflection profiles. The results of this methodological approach are quite encouraging and could be easily applied to other morphologically flat regions affected by blind faulting and folding. Seismic amplification is influenced by the stiffness of the soil, and especially by the impedance contrast among shallow seismic units. Accordingly, maps of natural frequency are of utmost importance because they allow to recognize areas characterized by a high impedance contrast where a greater amplification in ground motion is expected to occur in case of seismic shaking. Indeed, if the amplified frequency at a site is close to that of a standing or planned building, a resonance effect may occur and therefore the risk for the building to suffer structural damage greatly increases (e.g. Mucciarelli et al. 2001; Castellaro et al. 2014). At this regard, amplification maps are crucial for urban planners in defining the height of buidings (viz. the number of floors) characterized by a resonance coincident with the natural one and enabling engineers to improve the antiseismic behaviour of new constructions or to retrofit old ones. Seismic amplification is in fact considered the first cause of damage and collapse during an earthquake (e.g. Mucciarelli et al. 2001; Gallipoli et al. 2004)
Eleutherococcus senticosus reduces cardiovascular stress response in healthy subjects: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial
No full textThe number of studies devoted to the scientific evaluation of phytotherapy is rapidly increasing since Western patients seem more oriented towards so-called ́alternative medicine ́. Bearing such arguments in mind we decided to address attention to Eleutherococcus senticosus, a root of the Ginseng family known for thousands of years in China as a remedy for psychological distress. Forty-five paid, healthy volunteers (20 males, 25 females) were recruited. Entry criteria were. good health, age 18-30 years, student and a Symptoms Rating Test score <10. At screening evaluation subjects were randomized to receive orally either placebo (PI group) or Eleutherococcus senticosus (Es group) for 30 days, in a double-blind design. Subjects were submitted to a stressful cognitive task, the Stroop Colour-Word test (Stroop CW), both before and after treatment. Stroop CW increased heart rate (HR) and systolic BP in every subject. In females there was a greater response than in males in terms of both systolic and diastolic BP. For both genders, the HR response to Stroop CW was reduced by Es treatment while no changes were found after Pl. In females, systolic BP was also reduced in Es group while it remained unchanged in PI group. This study demonstrated that treatment with Eleutherococcus senticosus is able to reduce cardiovascular responses to stress in healthy young volunteers, while placebo was ineffective. Eleutherococcus senticosus is confirmed to be helpful for stress adaptation. Copyrigh
Cognitive-behavioral treatment decreases cardiovascular and neuroendocrine reaction to stress in women waiting for assisted reproduction
No full textA higher cardiovascular vulnerability to stress is associated with a lower pregnancy rate during in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET) program. The present study was carried out to assess whether cognitive-behavioral treatment (CBT) program attenuates autonomic and neuroendocrine response to a stressful task in infertile women waiting for IVF-ET. Forty-five consecutive couples referred to our Department for assisted reproduction were enrolled. Mean duration of infertility was 3.1 years. Two-thirds of them already failed an IVF-ET attempt. Once included in the waiting list women were administered the Stroop colorword (CW). Systolic BP, heart rate (HR) and plasma cortisol were serially measured. Subjects showing a positive HR reaction were selected to receive CBT (12 group sessions over 16 weeks) while the remnants just waited, for the same period of time (observation group). After 17-19 weeks subjects were re-submitted to the Stroop CW. The HR response to Stroop CW was significantly reduced by CBT while it remained unchanged in the observation group. Similarly, systolic BP response was reduced after CBT whereas an increase occurred in the observation group. After CBT, a significant decrease in the reaction of plasma cortisol to Stroop CW took place whereas no changes were observed in the other subjects. The present findings indicate that CBT is useful for decreasing the level of distress in patients submitted to IVF-ET treatment
RANGE OF THE X-RAY TRANSFORM ON TREES
No full textThe X-ray transformation assigns to a function on a space the function induced on the geodesics by integration. We characterize the image of this transformation on trees (not necessarily homogeneous) in terms of algebraic and decay conditions. The case of finite support, or of finite trees, is obtained as a consequence. (C) 1994 Academic Press, Inc
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