Conjugation Length Dependence of Intramolecular Singlet Fission in a Series of Regioregular Oligo 3-Alkyl(thienylene-vinylene)s.

Activated intramolecular singlet fission is known to occur in the conjugated polymer polythienylene-vinylene (P3TV). Instead, efficient intersystem crossing has been observed in a short 3-alkyl(thienylene-vinylene) dimer. Here, we investigate a series of oligomers covering the conjugation length gap between the dimer and polymer.

(η-Cyclooctatetraene)(η-fluorenyl)titanium: a processable molecular spin qubit with optimized control of the molecule-substrate interface.

Depositing single paramagnetic molecules on surfaces for sensing and quantum computing applications requires subtle topological control. To overcome issues that are often encountered with sandwich metal complexes, we exploit here the low symmetry architecture and suitable vaporability of mixed-sandwich [FluTi(cot)], Flu = fluorenyl, cot = cyclooctatetraene, to drive submonolayer coverage and select an adsorption configuration that preserves the spin of molecules deposited on Au(111). Electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy and quantum computation evidence a d ground state that protects the spin from phonon-induced relaxation.

Hippocampal atrophy and white matter lesions characteristics can predict evolution to dementia in patients with vascular mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Vascular mild cognitive impairment (VMCI) is a transitional condition that may evolve into Vascular Dementia(VaD). Hippocampal volume (HV) is suggested as an early marker for VaD, the role of white matter lesions (WMLs) in neurodegeneration remains debated.

Objectives: Evaluate HV and WMLs as predictive markers of VaD in VMCI patients by assessing: (i)baseline differences in HV and WMLs between converters to VaD and non-converters, (ii) predictive power of HV and WMLs for VaD, (iii) associations between HV, WMLs, and cognitive decline, (iv)the role of WMLs on HV.

Not too shy to point! Exploring the relationship between shyness and pointing in the second year.

Infants' use of pointing gestures to direct and share attention develops during the first 2 years of life. Shyness, defined as an approach-avoidance motivational conflict during social interactions, may influence infants' use of pointing. Recent research distinguished between positive (gaze and/or head aversions while smiling) and non-positive (gaze and/or head aversions without smiling) shyness, which are related to different social and cognitive skills.

Spin-Lattice Relaxation and Spin-Phonon Coupling of s Metal Ions at the Surface.

To use transition metal ions for spin-based applications, it is essential to understand fundamental contributions to electron spin relaxation in different ligand environments. For example, to serve as building blocks for a device, transition metal ion-based molecular qubits must be organized on surfaces and preserve long electron spin relaxation times, up to room temperature. Here we propose monovalent group 12 ions (Zn and Cd) as potential electronic metal qubits with an s ground state.

Evaluation of multiple-flows exhaled nitric oxide and its clinical significance in severe asthmatic patients treated with biologics: a prospective real-life study.

Background: Specific biomarkers, such as eosinophilia in peripheral blood or fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO), can guide us in the choice of biologic therapy, allowing a more personalized approach. Although there are multiple evidences in the literature about the role of FeNO as a predictor of response to different biologic treatments, there are no data on the relationship between FeNO changes and clinical response to the four biologic drugs currently in use.

Objective: To evaluate and to compare the expression of multiple-flows FeNO parameters in a cohort of patients with severe asthma (SA) before and during the treatment with biologics to evaluate the performance of these biomarkers in predicting the achievement of clinical remission.

The serum metabolomic profiles of atrial fibrillation patients treated with direct oral anticoagulants or vitamin K antagonists.

Aims: Long-term oral anticoagulation is the primary therapy for preventing ischemic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Different types of oral anticoagulant drugs can have specific effects on the metabolism of patients. Here we characterize, for the first time, the serum metabolomic and lipoproteomic profiles of AF patients treated with anticoagulants: vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) or direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs).

Prestroke Cognitive Impairment: Frequency and Association With Premorbid Neuropsychiatric, Functional, and Neuroimaging Features.

Background: Some patients with stroke have prestroke cognitive impairment (pre-SCI), but its etiology is not clear. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the frequency of pre-SCI and its association with premorbid neuropsychiatric, functional, and neuroimaging features.

Methods: Patients hospitalized in stroke unit with an informant who could complete IQCODE (Informant Questionnaire for Cognitive Decline in the Elderly) were included.

Dual Structure of a Vanadyl-Based Molecular Qubit Containing a Bis(β-diketonato) Ligand.

We designed [VO(bdhb)] (') as a new electronic qubit containing an oxovanadium(IV) ion ( = 1/2) embraced by a single bis(β-diketonato) ligand [Hbdhb = 1,3-bis(3,5-dioxo-1-hexyl)benzene]. The synthesis afforded three different crystal phases, all of which unexpectedly contain dimers with formula [(VO)(bdhb)] (). A trigonal form () with a honeycomb structure and 46% of solvent-accessible voids quantitatively transforms over time into a monoclinic solvatomorph and minor amounts of a triclinic solventless phase ().

Cognitive profile in cerebral small vessel disease: comparison between cerebral amyloid angiopathy and hypertension-related microangiopathy.

Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is recognized as a cause of cognitive impairment, but its cognitive profile needs to be characterized, also respect to hypertension-related microangiopathy (HA). We aimed at comparing difference or similarity of CAA and HA patients' cognitive profiles, and their associated factors. Participants underwent an extensive clinical, neuropsychological, and neuroimaging protocol.

The Luigi Sacco Hospital VAS-COG stroke care pathway: A five-year experience.

Background: Psycho-cognitive consequences are a frequent cause of disability in stroke survivors but are often underdiagnosed also because of lack of services dedicated to these aspects. We started assessing systematically cognitive and behavioral functions in acute stroke patients and to follow them up. Here, we report a retrospective analysis of the organization of the Sacco VAS-COG stroke care pathway and the refinements implemented during 5 years of activity.

Brain health assessment. An exploratory review of tools related to its cognitive dimension.

Background: Brain health is an evolving concept and relates to physical and mental health, social well-being, productivity, creativity. Brain health has several dimensions (cognitive, motor, functional, social, and emotional), and should be recognized as one top global priorities of health policies. The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of tools developed for assessing the cognitive dimension of brain health in the out-patient services.

Automated facial expression measurement in a longitudinal sample of 4- and 8-month-olds: Baby FaceReader 9 and manual coding of affective expressions.

Facial expressions are among the earliest behaviors infants use to express emotional states, and are crucial to preverbal social interaction. Manual coding of infant facial expressions, however, is laborious and poses limitations to replicability. Recent developments in computer vision have advanced automated facial expression analyses in adults, providing reproducible results at lower time investment.

Quantum spin coherence and electron spin distribution channels in vanadyl-containing lantern complexes.

We herein investigate the heterobimetallic lantern complexes [PtVO(SOCR)] as charge neutral electronic qubits based on vanadyl complexes ( = 1/2) with nuclear spin-free donor atoms. The derivatives with R = Me (1) and Ph (2) give highly resolved X-band EPR spectra in frozen CHCl/toluene solution, which evidence the usual hyperfine coupling with the V nucleus ( = 7/2) and an additional superhyperfine interaction with the = 1/2 nucleus of the Pt isotope (natural abundance 34%). DFT calculations ascribe the spin density delocalization on the Pt ion to a combination of π and pathways, with the former representing the predominant channel.

Predicting pointing from early socioemotional communication with mothers, fathers, and strangers through the lens of temperamental reactivity.

Socioemotional and referential communication are primary expressions of interpersonal engagement in infancy and beyond. Early socioemotional communication in dyadic interactions may form a foundation for triadic referential communication and gesture production, yet the role of temperament in moderating their association has not been examined. We investigated whether early socioemotional communication behaviors, and infant temperamental reactivity, were associated with later pointing production.

Co-Design of a Virtual Reality Multiplayer Adventure Game for Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder: Mixed Methods Study.

Background: Virtual reality (VR) adventure games can offer ideal technological solutions for training social skills in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), leveraging their support for multisensory and multiplayer interactions over distance, which may lower barriers to training access and increase user motivation. However, the design of VR-based game environments for social skills training is still understudied and deserves the deployment of an inclusive design approach to ensure its acceptability by target users.

Objective: We aimed to present the inclusive design process that we had followed to develop the Zentastic VR adventure game to foster social skills training in adolescents with ASD and to investigate its feasibility as a training environment for adolescents.

The Role of Extracellular Matrix and Inflammation in the Stratification of Bleeding and Thrombotic Risk of Atrial Fibrillation on Oral Anticoagulant Therapy: Insights from Strat-Af Study.

In anticoagulated atrial fibrillation (AF) patients, the validity of models recommended for the stratification of the risk ratio between benefits and hemorrhage risk is limited. We hypothesize that both circulating and neuroimaging-based markers might improve the prediction of bleeding and thrombotic risk in anticoagulated AF patients. The Strat-AF study is an observational, prospective, single-center study enrolling 170 patients with AF; recruited patients are evaluated by means of a comprehensive protocol, with clinical, cerebral magnetic resonance imaging and circulating biomarkers assessment.

Fractal dimension of the cortical gray matter outweighs other brain MRI features as a predictor of transition to dementia in patients with mild cognitive impairment and leukoaraiosis.

Background: The relative contribution of changes in the cerebral white matter (WM) and cortical gray matter (GM) to the transition to dementia in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is not yet established. In this longitudinal study, we aimed to analyze MRI features that may predict the transition to dementia in patients with MCI and T hyperintensities in the cerebral WM, also known as leukoaraiosis.

Methods: Sixty-four participants with MCI and moderate to severe leukoaraiosis underwent baseline MRI examinations and annual neuropsychological testing over a 2 year period.

A Heterometallic Porphyrin Dimer as a Potential Quantum Gate: Magneto-Structural Correlations and Spin Coherence Properties.

In the development of two-qubit quantum gates, precise control over the intramolecular spin-spin interaction between molecular spin units plays a pivotal role. A weak but measurable exchange coupling is especially important for achieving selective spin addressability that allows controlled manipulation of the computational basis states |00⟩ |01⟩ |10⟩ |11⟩ by microwave pulses. Here, we report the synthesis and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) study of a heterometallic meso-meso (m-m) singly-linked V O-Cu porphyrin dimer.

Reciprocal associations between beliefs about medicines, health locus of control and adherence to immunosuppressive medication in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant patients: Findings from the ADE-TRAM study.

Purpose: Patients undergoing allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) are required to strictly adhere to immunosuppressive medications to avoid rejection and infective complications. Since medication adherence is among the most important modifiable behaviors to achieve better outcomes, the aims of this study were to measure the baseline and longitudinal trends of medication adherence and investigate the psychological factors associated with medication adherence in allo-HSCT patients.

Methods: This was a single-center, longitudinal study of patients who underwent allo-HSCT to treat hematological malignancies at the University hospital of Florence (Italy).

Singlet-Triplet Energy Inversion in Carbon Nitride Photocatalysts.

Time-resolved EPR (TR-EPR) demonstrates the formation of well-defined spin triplet excitons in carbon nitride. This permits to experimentally probe the extent of the triplet wavefunction which delocalizes over several tri-s-triazine units. Analysis of the temperature dependence of the TR-EPR signal reveals the mobility of the triplet excitons.

Intelligence, cognition, and major neurocognitive disorders: From constructs to measures.

The study of intelligence's role in development of major neurocognitive disorders (MND) is influenced by the approaches used to conceptualize and measure these constructs. In the field of cognitive impairment, the use of single 'intelligence' tests is a common approach to estimate intelligence. Despite being a practical compromise between feasibility and constructs, variance of these tests is only partially explained by general intelligence, and some tools (e.

Challenges in the Direct Detection of Chirality-induced Spin Selectivity: Investigation of Foldamer-based Donor-acceptor Dyads.

Over the past two decades, the chirality-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect was reported in several experiments disclosing a unique connection between chirality and electron spin. Recent theoretical works highlighted time-resolved Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (trEPR) as a powerful tool to directly detect the spin polarization resulting from CISS. Here, we report a first attempt to detect CISS at the molecular level by linking the pyrene electron donor to the fullerene acceptor with chiral peptide bridges of different length and electric dipole moment.