Peer effects on compliance with extortive requests.

We conduct laboratory experiments to study peer effects on compliance with extortive requests. To this aim, we use an "extortion game" with multiple victims. In agreement with our hypothesis, our results show that when the information on peers' behavior is available, compliance with appropriative requests is triggered by conformism among victims rather than by punishment.

Motivating Cord Blood Donation with Information and Behavioral Nudges.

Umbilical cord blood is a source of hematopoietic stem cells essential to treat life-threatening diseases, such as leukemia and lymphoma. However, only a very small percentage of parents donate upon delivery. The decision to donate the cord blood occurs at a very specific time and when parents likely experience emotional, informational, and decisional overloads; these features of cord blood donation make it different from other pro-social activities.

Perceived legitimacy of normative expectations motivates compliance with social norms when nobody is watching.

Three main motivations can explain compliance with social norms: fear of peer punishment, the desire for others' esteem and the desire to meet others' expectations. Though all play a role, only the desire to meet others' expectations can sustain compliance when neither public nor private monitoring is possible. Theoretical models have shown that such desire can indeed sustain social norms, but empirical evidence is lacking.

Personality traits in chronic daily headache patients with and without psychiatric comorbidity: an observational study in a tertiary care headache center.

Background: Previous studies suggest that patients with Chronic Daily Headache (CDH) have higher levels of anxiety and depressive disorders than patients with episodic migraine or tension-type headache. However, no study has considered the presence of psychiatric comorbidity in the analysis of personality traits. The aim of this study is to investigate the prevalence of psychiatric comorbidity and specific personality traits in CDH patients, exploring if specific personality traits are associated to headache itself or to the psychiatric comorbidity associated with headache.

Metabolic side effects of second generation antipsychotic agents in antipsychotic-naïve patients: one-month prospective evaluation.

The present study investigated the effects of second generation antipsychotics (SGA) on the metabolism of 15 antipsychotic-naïve outpatients. Evaluations were performed at baseline and after 1 month of treatment. A significant increase in mean body mass index (BMI) and mean waist circumference was observed.

Metabolic risk factor profile associated with use of second generation antipsychotics: a cross sectional study in a Community Mental Health Centre.

Background: Second generation antipsychotics (SGA) have demonstrated several advantages over first generation antipsychotics (FGA) in terms of positive, negative, cognitive, and affective symptoms and a lower propensity for extrapyramidal side effects. Despite these undeniable advantages, SGA have been associated with causing and exacerbating metabolic disorders, such as obesity, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. This cross sectional study aimed to evaluate the metabolic risk factor profile associated with use of SGAs in comparison with non -treated control patients.