Theoretical Importance of PVP-Alginate Hydrogels Structure on Drug Release Kinetics.

Background: The new concepts of personalized and precision medicine require the design of more and more refined delivery systems. In this frame, hydrogels can play a very important role as they represent the best surrogate of soft living tissues for what concerns rheological properties. Thus, this paper focusses on a global theoretical approach able to describe how hydrogel polymeric networks can affect the release kinetics of drugs characterized by different sizes.

Impaired cortisol awakening response in eating disorder women with childhood trauma exposure: evidence for a dose-dependent effect of the traumatic load.

Background: Childhood trauma is a non specific risk factor for adult eating disorders (ED), and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis seems to mediate such a risk. Here we explored the impact of different types of childhood trauma and of traumatic load on the cortisol awakening response (CAR) of women with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN).

Methods: Saliva samples were collected at awakening and after 15, 30, 60 min to measure cortisol levels by 121 women (44 AN patients, 36 BN patients and 41 healthy women).

Embodiment Mediates the Relationship between Avoidant Attachment and Eating Disorder Psychopathology.

Objective: The overvaluation of body shape and weight of persons with eating disorders (EDs) is putatively explained by a disturbance in the way they experience their own body (embodiment). Moreover, attachment disorders seem to promote the use of body as source for self-definition. Therefore, we assessed the role of embodiment in the connection between attachment styles and ED psychopathology.

Neurocognitive individualized training versus social skills individualized training: a randomized trial in patients with schizophrenia.

Rehabilitation programs integrating cognitive remediation (CR) and psychosocial rehabilitation are often implemented as they seem to yield greater improvements in functional outcome than stand alone treatment approaches. Mechanisms underlying synergistic effects of combining CR with psychosocial interventions are not fully understood. Disentangling the relative contribution of each component of integrated programs might improve understanding of underlying mechanisms.

[Technopathic hearing loss and open fitting].

The purpose of this study is to value the advantage of open fitting ear-moulds in tecnopathic ipoacusies. The study was conducted on a sample of 70 tecnopathic ipoacusics with a hearing loss in the high wave frequencies (4000-8000 Hz) ammounting to at least 50 dB; 20 of which already using ear-moulds. To all of them was applied, for three weeks, an open fitting ear-mould.