On the (lack of) association between theory of mind and executive functions: a study in a non-clinical adult sample.

We investigated in a sample of non-clinical adults the association between Theory of Mind (ToM) and Executive Functions (EFs), that is the set of skills that allow people to control and modulate lower-level cognitive processes in order to produce appropriate behaviour. To this aim, we assessed both affective (i.e.

From mitochondria to healthy aging: The role of branched-chain amino acids treatment: MATeR a randomized study.

Rationale: Malnutrition often affects elderly patients and significantly contributes to the reduction in healthy life expectancy, causing high morbidity and mortality. In particular, protein malnutrition is one of the determinants of frailty and sarcopenia in elderly people.

Methods: To investigate the role of amino acid supplementation in senior patients we performed an open-label randomized trial and administered a particular branched-chain amino acid enriched mixture (BCAAem) or provided diet advice in 155 elderly malnourished patients.

UAV Deployment Exercise for Mapping Purposes: Evaluation of Emergency Response Applications.

Exploiting the decrease of costs related to UAV technology, the humanitarian community started piloting the use of similar systems in humanitarian crises several years ago in different application fields, i.e., disaster mapping and information gathering, community capacity building, logistics and even transportation of goods.

Probing rotational and translational diffusion of nanodoublers in living cells on microsecond time scales.

Nonlinear microscopes have seen an increase in popularity in the life sciences due to their molecular and structural specificity, high resolution, large penetration depth, and volumetric imaging capability. Nonetheless, the inherently weak optical signals demand long exposure times for live cell imaging. Here, by modifying the optical layout and illumination parameters, we can follow the rotation and translation of noncentrosymetric crystalline particles, or nanodoublers, with 50 μs acquisition times in living cells.

Enhancement of second harmonic signal in nanofabricated cones.

Geometrical effects in optical nanostructures on nanoscale can lead to interesting phenomena such as inhibition of spontaneous emission,1,2 high-reflecting omnidirectional mirrors, structures that exhibit low-loss-waveguiding,3 and light confinement.4,5 Here, we demonstrate a similar concept of exploiting the geometrical effects on nanoscale through precisely fabricating lithium niobate (LiNbO3) nanocones arrays devices. We show a strong second harmonic generation (SHG) enhancement, shape and arrangement dependent, up to 4 times bigger than the bulk one.

Nonlinear optical response in single alkaline niobate nanowires.

We have synthesized and characterized three types of perovskite alkaline niobate nanowires: NaNbO(3), KNbO(3), and LiNbO(3) (XNbO(3)). All three types of nanowires exhibit strong nonlinear response. Confocal imaging has been employed to quantitatively compare the efficiency of synthesized nanowires to generate second harmonic signal and to show that LiNbO(3) nanowires exhibit the strongest nonlinear response.

[Intact whole bioactive parathormone: problems arising from comparing different methods].

Background: Parathyroid hormone (PTH) has important applications in the nephrological clinical practice. Because assays of Intact PTH (I-PTH) are liable to interferences by N-truncated fragments, a novel method for whole-(1-84) PTH has been proposed. This study is aimed at comparing the latter with some of the previous I-PTH assays.

Effects of mineral composition of drinking water on risk for stone formation and bone metabolism in idiopathic calcium nephrolithiasis.

1. To assess whether the mineral content of drinking water influences both risk of stone formation and bone metabolism in idiopathic calcium nephrolithiasis, 21 patients were switched from their usual home diets to a 10 mmol calcium, low-oxalate, protein-controlled diet, supplemented with 21 of three different types of mineral water. Drinking water added 1, 6 and 20 mmol of calcium and 0.