L'anoressia nervosa prepuberale:caratteristiche cliniche all'esordio ed evoluzione.

OBIETTIVI: Scopo di questo lavoro di tesi è indagare le caratteristiche cliniche all’esordio è l’evoluzione dell’Anoressia Nervosa Prepuberale, dal momento che in letteratura sono ben pochi i lavori che trattano questo argomento. Non ci siamo limitati a descrivere un campione di soggetti anoressici in età prepuberale, ma abbiamo confrontato tutti i dati ottenuti in questo campione con quelli ottenuti in un campione di soggetti con stessa diagnosi di AN ma in età postpuberale. Il nostro obiettivo è quello di valutare se i soggetti prepuberi si presentano con un quadro più grave o meno e se hanno un’evoluzione più favorevole o meno rispetto ai soggetti più grandi. RISULTATI: Per quanto riguarda la diagnosi di DCA, nel gruppo delle prepuberi sono molto più frequenti le restrizioni dietetiche rispetto alle abbuffate e alle condotte di eliminazione (come il vomito e l’abuso di lassativi), che sono invece più tipiche delle postpuberi. Al follow-up c’è un netto miglioramento nel gruppo delle PreP: il 40% dei soggetti non presenta più alcun disturbo del comportamento alimentare. Nel gruppo PostP, invece, il miglioramento è meno evidente. Per quanto riguarda l’Asse I, nel gruppo PreP l’80,95% dei soggetti ha un Disturbo dell’Umore contro il 76,19% delle PostP. Tra i disturbi d’ansia il Disturbo d’Ansia Generalizzata è il più frequente in assoluto, ma più frequente nel gruppo PostP che nel gruppo PreP. Subito dopo, in ordine di frequenza, viene il Disturbo d’Ansia di Separazione, molto più frequente nelle PreP che nelle PostP. Gli altri Disturbi d’Ansia (Disturbo Ossessivo-Compulsivo e Fobia Sociale) sono rari sia nel gruppo PreP che nel gruppo PostP. Non ci sono differenze significative tra le caratteristiche del disturbo alimentare nei due gruppi (PreP e PostP). Per quanto riguarda i sintomi depressivi, l’unico dato che risulta statisticamente diverso nei due gruppi è quello relativo alle ideazioni suicidiarie: nel gruppo PreP nessun soggetto presenta ideazioni suicidiarie, mentre nel gruppo PostP 6 soggetti (28,6%) le presentano. Le condizioni psicopatologiche alla prima valutazione sono peggiori nel gruppo PreP rispetto a quelle del gruppo PostP. I nostri dati sembrano mettere in evidenza il gruppo PreP come più disturbato rispetto al PostP, con una maggiore tendenza a sottostimare la propria malattia non solo per quanto riguarda il comportamento anoressico ma anche la quota ansiosa e i sintomi depressivi. Nel gruppo PreP molti dei punteggi ottenuti ai questionari sono significativamente diversi al follow-up rispetto alla prima valutazione: questo dimostrerebbe un miglioramento marcato dell’assetto psicopatologico del gruppo PreP. Non si può dire lo stesso per le PostP: in questo gruppo, nonostante i punteggi siano in linea generale più bassi al follow-up, non ci sono differenze significative tra prima valutazione e follow-up. Per quanto riguarda le complicanze mediche, i risultati ottenuti nel nostro studio dimostrano, in generale, che non ci sono differenze statisticamente significative tra i due gruppi. Nel nostro studio abbiamo riscontrato un’unica correlazione positiva, e solo nelle PostP: quella tra BMI e Pressione Arteriosa. Per concludere, nel nostro campione non abbiamo individuato alcuna stagione di nascita significativamente più frequente delle altre

Behavioral modeling of integrated phase-change photonic devices for neuromorphic computing applications

The combination of phase-change materials and integrated photonics has led to the development of new forms of all-optical devices, including photonic memories, arithmetic and logic processors, and synaptic and neuronal mimics. Such devices can be readily fabricated into photonic integrated circuits, so potentially delivering large-scale all-optical arithmetic-logic units and neuromorphic processing chips. To facilitate in the design and optimization of such large-scale systems, and to aid in the understanding of device and system performance, fast yet accurate computer models are needed. Here, we describe the development of a behavioral modeling tool that meets such requirements, being capable of essentially instantaneous modeling of the write, erase, and readout performance of various integrated phase-change photonic devices, including those for synaptic and neuronal mimics

OPEN DATA IN HEALTH: how knowledge may generate trust

The JRC project on Trust in Digital Interactions (TRUDI) deals with the construction and renewal of confident and trusted relationships between institutions and citizens, addressed as a major and urgent issue to be solved. In this context the JRC is planning a Workshop on “Open Data in Health: how knowledge may generate trust” on November 18, 2014. The workshop aims to investigate some general issues surrounding Open Data in the EU normative perspective, reflect on institutional and civic imaginaries about Open Data, and identify more promising Open Data models to trigger new processes for trust between institutions and citizens in health matters.JRC.G.6-Digital Citizen Securit

Young Children (0-8) and Digital Technology - A qualitative study across Europe

It only takes witnessing a few interactions within modern western families to realize how much the experience of childhood has changed. The change comes from different winds blowing on today’s families’ time but certainly, the use of digital technologies peaks out and its impacts on childhood, education, learning and safety has been at question over the last years. Since a very early age, video watching and gaming on a variety of internet-connected devices are among children's favourite activities. Parents see digital technologies as positive and unavoidable, if not necessary, but at the same time, find managing their use challenging. They perceive digital technologies as something that needs to be carefully regulated and controlled. They would appreciate advice on fostering children’s online skills and safety. The document reports on results of a cross-national analysis building on data coming from 234 family interviews with both children and parents, carried out from September 2014 until April 2017 in 21 countries. It exposes the key findings regarding first children’s usage, perceptions of the digital technologies and their digital skills in the home context but also on parents’ perceptions, attitudes, and strategies. Beside the cross-national analysis, a dedicated section provides contextualized snapshots of the study results at national level. It then takes a close up on 38 families in seven countries in which researchers came for a second interview distant of one year in which they focused on monitoring change of context, children and parents’ perceptions, attitudes, and strategies over time. Conclusion reflect on the potential benefits, risks and consequences associated with their (online) interactions with digital technologies and provide recommendations to policymakers, industry, parents and carers.JRC.E.3-Cyber and Digital Citizens' Securit

Biometric Spoofing: A JRC Case Study in 3D Face Recognition

Based on newly available and affordable off-the-shelf 3D sensing, processing and printing technologies, the JRC has conducted a comprehensive study on the feasibility of spoofing 3D and 2.5D face recognition systems with low-cost self-manufactured models and presents in this report a systematic and rigorous evaluation of the real risk posed by such attacking approach which has been complemented by a test campaign. The work accomplished and presented in this report, covers theories, methodologies, state of the art techniques, evaluation databases and also aims at providing an outlook into the future of this extremely active field of research.JRC.G.6-Digital Citizen Securit

Engineering the catalytic batchwise synthesis of H2O2 from its elements

Hydrogen peroxide is a versatile oxidizing agent with several industrial applications. It is also one of “greenest”, since its oxidation by-product is only water. The global demand of the peroxide is increasing, due to its recent usage in new large scale oxidation processes, such as the epoxidation of propylene to propylene oxide and the synthesis of caprolactam. Nowadays most of the world production of H2O2 is carried out by the anthraquinone autoxidation process. Though very safe (H2 and O2 are never in direct contact), the costs related to the high energy consumption for the extraction and purification of the peroxide produced, together with the usage and periodic replacement of toxic and expensive solvents, stimulated the interest in new production paths. Among the several alternatives proposed, the most fascinating one is the direct synthesis (DS) from H2 and O2. It is a environmentally friendly process that would be economically profitable for an in-situ production, requiring lower investments and operating costs. During the last thirty years this system has been under intensive study both by industries as well as academia. However, it has not been commercialized yet, mainly because of poor selectivity and safety concerns. While most of the efforts on improving DS must address the catalyst, there are reaction engineering aspects that deserve attention. DS is frequently carried out in solvents other than water, both to improve H2 solubility and isolate the undesired product (H2O). Further, CO2 is used for safety, H2 solubility and H2O2 stability. However, the lack of information about the solubility of the reagents makes it difficult to develop a realistic kinetic description of the reactions involved in the DS process. Hence, the first step of the research presented herein dealt with solubility measurements, at temperatures in the range 268-288 K and pressures between 0.37 and 3.5 MPa. Measurements were focused on H2, i.e. the limiting reagent during the reaction. At all conditions investigated a linear relation between hydrogen partial pressure and concentration was observed. Increasing the temperature resulted in an enhanced H2 solubility at the same H2 partial pressure. At constant H2 fugacity, the presence of CO2 favored the dissolution of hydrogen in the liquid phase. Correlation and generalization of the measurements were provided through an EoS-based thermodynamic model for the estimation of H2 solubility at reaction conditions. A batch apparatus for the direct synthesis of hydrogen peroxide was developed, to carry out activity measurements on new catalysts and develop a quantitative model of the kinetics. Hydrogenation, disproportionation and direct synthesis reactions were studied on a commercial 5 wt.% Pd/C catalysts at temperatures in the range 258-313 K and pressure up to 2 MPa. Separate experiments were performed to highlight the role of each reaction. An enhanced H2O2 production was obtained adopting different H2 feeding policies, although selectivity did not exceeded 30%. A model of the gas bubbling, batch slurry reactor for H2O2 direct synthesis was developed. A sensitivity analysis on the mass transfer coefficients excluded any limitations occurring at experimental conditions. Comparable temperature dependence was observed for H2O production, hydrogenation and disproportionation (activation energies close to 45 kJ mol-1), while H2O2 synthesis had a much lower activation energy (close to 24 kJ mol-1), suggesting that a higher selectivity is achievable at low temperature. Disproportionation reaction had a very limited influence on the overall peroxide production rate, while hydrogenation was the most rapid side reaction. Water formation was significant, prevailing at higher temperatures. Following these results, Pd and PdAu catalysts supported on SBA15 were prepared and investigated for H2O2 direct synthesis. Catalysts were doped with bromine, a promoter in the H2O2 direct synthesis. Productivity and selectivity decreased when bromine was incorporated in the catalysts, suggesting a possible poisoning due to the grafting process. A synergetic effect between Pd and Au was observed both in presence and absence of bromopropylsilane grafting on the catalyst. Three modifiers of the SBA15 support (Al, CeO2 and Ti) were chosen to elucidate the influence of the surface properties on metal dispersion and catalytic performance. Higher productivity and selectivity were achieved incorporating Al into the SBA15 framework, whereas neither Ti nor CeO2 improved H2O2 yields. The enhanced performance observed for the PdAu/Al-SBA15 catalysts was attributed to the increased number of Brønsted acid sites. Supported catalysts were also synthesized depositing Pd on a highly acidic, macroporous PS-DVB resin (Lewtit K2621). Catalysts with active metal content in the range 0.3-5 wt.% were tested batchwise for the direct synthesis of H2O2. Preliminary H2O2 measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis revealed that the reduced form of Pd was more selective than PdO towards the peroxide. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images showed that smaller nanoclusters favored the production of H2O, likely due to their O-O bond breaking aptitud