Prevalence, Gender and Age Differences of Dating Aggression Among Italian Adolescents.

The present study represents an effort to expand and deepen the scant literature on Adolescent Dating Aggression (ADA) within the Italian context; adolescent dating aggression is a public health issue of interest due to its increasing frequency among adolescents. The prevalence of verbal-emotional and physical ADA was examined as well as gender and age differences in a sample of Italian adolescents. Participants included 436 adolescents (47.

Adolescent romantic relationships as a tug of war: The interplay of power imbalance and relationship duration in adolescent dating aggression.

The present study investigates the link between power imbalance within the romantic couple and psychological, relational and physical adolescent dating aggression (ADA) perpetration, considering also the role of relationship duration as an indicator of the developmental stage of the relationship. This is the first investigation into whom is perceived to have power in the relationship (the partner or the subject him/herself) by distinguishing between male and female adolescents. Participants were 805 Italian adolescents (36.

What are you sexting? Parental practices, sexting attitudes and behaviors among Italian adolescents.

Background: Sexting has recently emerged as a public health and social issue. The present study had two aims: a) to preliminarily test adolescent gender differences on parental practices regarding adolescent online life, parental monitoring, adolescent attitude towards sexting and sexting behaviors; b) to separately test for male and female adolescents a conceptual model in which sexting behaviors are explained by the parental practices and monitoring, with the mediation of adolescent negative attitude towards sexting.

Methods: Direct and indirect links between the variables in the model were investigated.

Adolescent dating violence perpetration, emotion dysregulation, and parenting styles.

A conceptual model was tested, separately for male and female adolescents, in which adolescent dating violence (ADV) perpetration toward a romantic partner is affected by the memories of authoritarian paternal and maternal parenting styles through the mediation of adolescents' emotion dysregulation. The sample consisted of 622 Italian adolescents (35.5% males; 64.

To Seek or Not to Seek Advice: Talking About Romantic Issues During Emerging Adulthood.

The aim of the study was to explore whether and how emerging adults talk about their romantic relationships with their close others, especially their parents and friends, also considering gender differences. Data were collected via eight single-sex focus groups conducted with 50 Italian emerging adults (aged 18-25), and were analyzed using thematic analysis. Two main themes emerged.

Childbirth Narratives of Women With Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms in the Postpartum Period.

Objective: To examine cognitive, emotional, and perceptual differences in the childbirth narratives of women with high levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) compared with women with low levels of PTSS in the postpartum period.

Design: A cross-sectional design. Participants were retrospectively assigned to the high or low PTSS group on the basis of their scores on the Perinatal Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Questionnaire (PPQ) administered at 1 week and 3 months after childbirth.

Premature birth: complexities and difficulties in building the mother-child relationship.

Aim: This paper aims to investigate if the dyadic interactive behaviours were influenced by parental stress and feelings both in preterm and full-term mother-child dyads.

Methods: 45 mothers (age = 35.29 ± 5.

Italian Adolescents and Emergency Contraception: A Focus Group Study.

Study Objective: Using a qualitative method, the purpose of this study was to: (1) obtain information directly from the adolescents on their attitudes and knowledge regarding emergency contraception; and (2) investigate the presence of differences between male and female participants' attitudes and knowledge.

Design And Participants: This study consisted of 24 single-sex focus groups with 160 adolescents (male = 46.3% (74 of 160); female = 53.

Tris-ureas as transmembrane anion transporters.

Nine tris-urea receptors (L(1)-L(9)) have been synthesised and shown to coordinate to a range of anionic guests both by (1)H NMR titration techniques and single crystal X-ray structural analysis. The compounds have been shown to be capable of mediating the exchange of chloride and nitrate and also chloride and bicarbonate across POPC or POPC : cholesterol 7 : 3 vesicle bilayer membranes at low transporter loadings. An interesting dependency of anion transport on the nature of the cation is evidence to suggest that a M(+)/Cl(-) cotransport process may also contribute to the release of chloride from the vesicles.

Adolescent Perceptions of Parenting Styles in Sweden, Italy and Greece: An Exploratory Study.

Comparative research on parenting styles among Nordic and Mediterranean countries is still missing, despite the increasing number of studies on parenting styles in adolescence. This study explores similarities and differences in adolescents' retrospective perceptions of parenting styles, for both parents, in Sweden, Italy and Greece, using the Parenting Styles and Dimensions Questionnaire. In particular, it examines the relation between parental role, adolescent gender, country of origin, SES and these perceptions.

Health workers' perceptions of Italian female adolescents: a qualitative study about sexuality, contraception, and caring practices in family health centers.

Our aim was to explore health workers' perceptions of providing sexuality and contraception care for female adolescents within family health centers. We interviewed 26 volunteer health workers and analyzed the interviews using thematic analysis. We identified three main themes: (a) "adolescents and sexuality," with the subthemes "initiation rite," "me like the others," and "just for fun"; (b) "adolescents and contraception," with the subthemes "omnipotent adolescents," "aware adolescents," and "women's responsibility"; and

Methods for Multiloop Identification of Visual and Neuromuscular Pilot Responses.

In this paper, identification methods are proposed to estimate the neuromuscular and visual responses of a multiloop pilot model. A conventional and widely used technique for simultaneous identification of the neuromuscular and visual systems makes use of cross-spectral density estimates. This paper shows that this technique requires a specific noninterference hypothesis, often implicitly assumed, that may be difficult to meet during actual experimental designs.

Anion complexation, transport and structural studies of a series of bis-methylurea compounds.

A new family of bis-methylureas () have been synthesised and their ability to bind anions both in solution and in the solid state and to transport them through lipid membrane have been studied. From the solid state studies it has emerged that various conformations can be adopted by the receptors allowing the isolation of complexes of different stoichiometries (from 1 : 1 to 1 : 3). The transport studies highlighted the possibility to use bis-methylureas to mediate Cl(-) transport across membranes.

A new family of bis-ureidic receptors for pyrophosphate optical sensing.

A new family of bis-ureidic receptors (L(1)-L(6)) has been synthesised. The binding properties of L(1)-L(6) towards different anions (acetate, benzoate, glutarate, malonate, dihydrogen phosphate, hydrogen pyrophosphate, triphosphate, AMP and ADP) have been studied by means of (1)H-NMR, UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopies and a remarkable affinity for HPpi(3-) has been observed in the case L(3) (in DMSO-d6 and DMSO-d6-5% H2O) which also acts as a fluorimetric chemosensor, even to the naked eye, for this anion. Theoretical calculations helped us explain the binding properties observed.

Feasibility of heart sounds measurements from an accelerometer within an ICD pulse generator.

Objective: The feasibility of detecting heart sounds (HS) from an accelerometer sensor enclosed within an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) pulse generator (PG) was explored in a noninvasive pilot study on heart failure (HF) patients with audible third HS (S3).

Methods: Accelerometer circuitry enhanced for HS was incorporated into non-functional ICDs. A study was conducted on 30 HF patients and 10 normal subjects without history of cardiac disease.

Results of the Prospective Minnesota Study of ECHO/TDI in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (PROMISE-CRT) study.

Background: Retrospective single-center studies have shown that measures of mechanical dyssynchrony before cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), or acute changes after CRT, predict response better than QRS duration. The Prospective Minnesota Study of Echocardiographic/TDI in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (PROMISE-CRT) study was a prospective multicenter study designed to determine whether acute (1 week) changes in mechanical dyssynchrony were associated with response to CRT.

Methods And Results: Nine Minnesota Heart Failure Consortium centers enrolled 71 patients with standard indications for CRT.

Ultrafiltration versus usual care for hospitalized patients with heart failure: the Relief for Acutely Fluid-Overloaded Patients With Decompensated Congestive Heart Failure (RAPID-CHF) trial.

Objectives: The purpose of this research was to assess the safety and efficacy of ultrafiltration (UF) in patients admitted with decompensated congestive heart failure (CHF).

Background: Ultrafiltration for CHF is usually reserved for patients with renal failure or those unresponsive to pharmacologic management. We performed a randomized trial of UF versus usual medical care using a simple UF device that does not require special monitoring or central intravenous access.

Chronic endothelin blockade in dogs with pacing-induced heart failure: possible modulation of sympathoexcitation.

Background: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a potent vasoconstrictor peptide elaborated by many cell types. Plasma ET-1 levels are significantly augmented in patients and experimental animals with heart failure. Enhanced levels of ET-1 may contribute to myocardial depression and alterations in sympathetic nerve activity in the setting of chronic heart failure.

Addition of angiotensin II receptor blockade to maximal angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition improves exercise capacity in patients with severe congestive heart failure.

Background: Incomplete suppression of the renin-angiotensin system during long-term ACE inhibition may contribute to symptomatic deterioration in patients with severe congestive heart failure (CHF). Combined angiotensin II type I (AT1) receptor blockade and ACE inhibition more completely suppresses the activated renin-angiotensin system than either intervention alone in sodium-depleted normal individuals. Whether AT1 receptor blockade with losartan improves exercise capacity in patients with severe CHF already treated with ACE inhibitors is unknown.

Usefulness of surveillance endomyocardial biopsy after pediatric cardiac transplantation.

Endomyocardial biopsy remains the 'gold standard' for the diagnosis of acute rejection after cardiac transplantation, but few guidelines exist to determine the indications for its use in pediatric cardiac transplant recipients. To determine the usefulness of surveillance endomyocardial biopsy, 176 biopsies were reviewed from 12 patients, aged 0.5-16 (average 9.