Recent Advances in the Application of the Shell Model Monte Carlo Approach to Nuclei

The shell model Monte Carlo (SMMC) method is a powerful technique for calculating the statistical and collective properties of nuclei in the presence of correlations in model spaces that are many orders of magnitude larger than those that can be treated by conventional diagonalization methods. We review recent advances in the development and application of SMMC to mid-mass and heavy nuclei.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of the Eleventh International Spring Seminar on Nuclear Physic

Mindfulness-Oriented Professional Resilience (MOPR) Training to Reduce Compassion Fatigue in Healthcare Workers: A Pilot Study

Background/Objectives: Compassion Fatigue (CF) is a critical issue among healthcare professionals, exacerbated by exposure to trauma and chronic workplace stress. This pilot study evaluates the effectiveness of a Mindfulness-Oriented Professional Resilience (MOPR) program, a structured intervention designed to mitigate CF and enhance resilience in healthcare professionals. The program integrates mindfulness practices, arousal modulation techniques, and resilience-building strategies over six weekly sessions. Methods: A sample of 73 healthcare workers (mean age 48.6, SD = 9.42) participated in the study, and pre–post data were analyzed using repeated measures ANOVA. Results: Results indicated significant improvements in professional quality of life, with increased Compassion Satisfaction (p < 0.001) and reductions in Burnout (p = 0.003) and Secondary Traumatic Stress (p < 0.001). Mindfulness skills improved significantly across four dimensions—Observing, Describing, Acting with Awareness, and Non-reactivity—with p-values ranging from <0.01 to <0.001. Arousal modulation showed increased Optimal Arousal Zone scores (p < 0.001) and reduced maladaptive stress responses, including Fight/Flight, Freeze, and Feigned Death (p < 0.05). Psychological well-being improvements were observed, particularly in Self-Acceptance (p = 0.014) and Positive Relations (p = 0.041). Conclusions: These findings suggest that the MOPR program is a promising intervention for healthcare professionals, supporting resilience and reducing the psychological burden of caregiving. Future controlled studies should explore its long-term efficacy in diverse clinical settings and in larger samples

Mindfulness Through Storytelling for Mental Health of Primary School Children: Impact on Acceptability and Its Associations with Personality

Purpose: Acceptability of mindfulness-based programs (MBPs) in primary school settings seems to represent a critical factor influencing the intervention effects on children’s mental health. This study aims at assessing the acceptability of an MBP delivered through the technique of storytelling, as well as identifying which participants’ personality characteristics can influence it. Participants and Methods: Italian children in grades 3-to-5 (n = 147, 47.6% girls) participated in a 24-session MBP, which included 225 minutes of formal mindfulness practices and was delivered by the pupils’ school teachers. Children’s personality traits were assessed with the junior Temperament and Character Inventory (jTCI), while their subjective experiences and acceptability of the program were investigated using a survey containing open-ended and closed-ended questions. Results: Program acceptability was 2.9 ± 0.7 on a 0–4 scale. Higher jTCI scores of persistence, cooperativeness, and self-transcendence were related to higher ratings in liking the program, finding it useful and engaging themselves in it. Moreover, 57.8% of the children generalized the mindfulness practices in daily life and 93.9% of them declared they would recommend the program to their friends/parents. Five main themes emerged from children’s answers on what they learned: “help for difficulties (emotional, mental, and physical)”, “calm, relax, tranquility”, “resilience, positiveness, personal growth”, “self-exploration, interoception”, and “attention, concentration, and here-and-now”. Conclusion: Program acceptability was generally higher than in similar programs in the literature, and children reported personal gains in various areas related to psychological well-being. The study also suggests which children’s personality traits should be considered when proposing an MBP in order to improve its acceptability and utility

Predictive Factors of Anxiety, Depression, and Health-Related Quality of Life in Community-Dwelling and Institutionalized Elderly during the COVID-19 Pandemic

The COVID-19 health emergency and restrictive measures have increased psychological problems, particularly anxiety and depression, in the general population. However, little is known about mental health conditions and the possible risk and protective factors of specific population groups, such as institutionalized vs. community-dwelling elderly. We investigated the abovementioned aspects in a sample of 65–89-year-old people during the third wave of COVID-19 in Italy. We employed a sociodemographic survey and four questionnaires on health-related quality of life (SF-36), loneliness (UCLA), spirituality (FACIT-Sp), and anxiety/depression (HADS). Our findings suggest that the physical, psychological, and spiritual well-being of the elderly had not been seriously impaired by the events related to the pandemic, although most of the participants reported a worsening of their social life and a moderate/high fear of COVID-19. In regression analyses, these two latter aspects turned out to be predictors of higher anxiety, while spiritual well-being and the possibility to get out of the house/institution emerged as protective factors against anxiety and for preserving quality of life, respectively. Our findings help refine the picture of the condition of the elderly in the aftermath of the pandemic, giving some hints about how to continue supporting their well-being and quality of life

Temperament and Character Moderate the Effects of Mindfulness Training on Psychological and Professional Well-Being of School Teachers

Objectives: The study aimed to investigate the pre-to-post effects of mindfulness training on school teachers’ psychological and professional well-being, as well as to explore the moderating role of temperament and character on these effects. Method: An 8-week mindfulness-based intervention was delivered via internet-based group meetings to Italian teachers (n = 139), who were assessed within two weeks before and after the intervention with self-report measures of emotional distress (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale), interoceptive awareness (Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness), and professional efficacy (Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale), as well as with the Temperament and Character Inventory. A control group of teachers (n = 47) was tested with the same measures in two temporally-matched sessions. Results: Analysis of variance showed positive intervention effects on anxiety (medium effect size), on six of the eight dimensions of interoceptive awareness (medium-to-large effect size) and on two of the three scales of professional efficacy (small-to-medium effect size). Moderation analysis identified the following effects of temperament and character on outcomes: (1) reduced anxiety only for higher baseline reward dependence, or lower-to-middle baseline self-directedness; (2) improved interoceptive attention regulation specifically for middle-to-higher baseline persistence; (3) improved teacher efficacy for student engagement only for lower baseline self-transcendence. Conclusions: The study shows the positive effects of mindfulness training on teachers' psychological and professional well-being. It also highlights the importance of considering the impact of temperament and character dimensions on these effects, for example for developing effective mindfulness-based interventions for teachers. Future research should explore potential mechanisms of action underlying the observed effects and evaluate them in the long term. Preregistration: This study is not preregistered

Training for Mindfulness Teachers: Benefits for Mindfulness, Well-being, and Emotion Regulation

Objectives: This study examined the effects of a 9-month mindfulness teacher training (MTT) program on mindfulness skills, emotion regulation, and psychological well-being among future mindfulness instructors, compared to a control group. Method: Eighty-seven mindfulness instructors-in-training participated in the MTT program. The control group consisted of age- and gender-matched individuals. Mindfulness skills, emotion regulation, and psychological well-being were assessed at baseline, mid-intervention, and post-intervention using validated measures. Results: In comparison with the control group, participants in the MTT group showed significant improvements in most facets of mindfulness (i.e., observe, describe, non-react, and act with awareness). They also reported decreased rumination, as well as increased personal growth and purpose in life compared to the control group. However, there were no significant differences between the groups in other dimensions of emotion regulation or psychological well-being. Conclusions: This study provides preliminary evidence that mindfulness teacher trainings positively affect mindfulness skills, as well as specific aspects of psychological well-being (personal growth and purpose in life), and emotion regulation (rumination). Future research should investigate the long-term effects of these trainings and how instructors’ well-being relates to their teaching effectiveness. Preregistration: This study is not preregistered

Resting-state BOLD temporal variability of the default mode network predicts spontaneous mind wandering, which is negatively associated with mindfulness skills

Mind wandering (MW) encompasses both a deliberate and a spontaneous disengagement of attention from the immediate external environment to unrelated internal thoughts. Importantly, MW has been suggested to have an inverse relationship with mindfulness, a state of nonjudgmental awareness of present-moment experience. Although they are, respectively, associated with increased and decreased activity in the default mode network (DMN), the specific contributions of deliberate and spontaneous MW, and their relationships with mindfulness abilities and resting-state macro networks remain to be elucidated. Therefore, resting-state MRI scans from 76 participants were analyzed with group independent component analysis to decompose brain networks into independent macro-networks and to see which of them predicted specific aspects of spontaneous and deliberate MW or mindfulness traits. Our results show that temporal variability of the resting-state DMN predicts spontaneous MW, which in turn is negatively associated with the acting with awareness facet of mindfulness. This finding shows that the DMN is not directly associated with overall mindfulness, but rather demonstrates that there exists a close relationship between DMN and MW, and furthermore, that the involvement of mindfulness abilities in this dynamic may be secondary. In sum, our study contributes to a better understanding of the neural bases of spontaneous MW and its relationship with mindfulness. These results open up the possibility of intervening on specific aspects of our cognitive abilities: for example, our data suggest that training the mindfulness facet acting with awareness would allow lessening our tendency for MW at inopportune times

Extracting spectra in the shell model Monte Carlo method using imaginary-time correlation matrices

Conventional diagonalization methods to calculate nuclear energy levels in the framework of the configuration-interaction (CI) shell model approach are prohibited in very large model spaces. The shell model Monte Carlo (SMMC) is a powerful technique for calculating thermal and ground-state observables of nuclei in very large model spaces, but it is challenging to extract nuclear spectra in this approach. We present a novel method to extract low-lying energy levels for given values of a set of good quantum numbers such as spin and parity. The method is based on imaginary-time one-body density correlation matrices that satisfy asymptotically a generalized eigenvalue problem. We validate the method in a light nucleus that allows comparison with exact diagonalization results of the CI shell model Hamiltonian. The method is applicable to other finite-size quantum many-body systems that can be described within a CI shell model approach.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Characterisation of rectal amoxicillin (RAMOX) for the treatment of pneumonia in children

Access to medicines, including their availability and affordability, is a major public health challenge worldwide. This research aimed to characterise rectal formulations containing amoxicillin for the treatment of pneumonia in children under five, as an accessible alternative to existing formulations. Lipophilic Suppocire (S-NA15) and hydrophilic polyethylene glycol (PEG; 80% PEG 1500 and 20% PEG 4000, w/w) suppositories containing 250 mg amoxicillin were prepared. Hardness, apparent viscosity, uniformity of mass, uniformity of content, disintegration and dissolution time were determined. Irritation potential was screened using a slug mucosal assay and antibacterial efficacy against Staphylococcus aureus determined by isothermal microcalorimetry. Both lipophilic and hydrophilic formulations met the European Pharmacopoeia standards for suppositories when tested in vitro. They disintegrated within 30 min with rapid amoxicillin release profiles (98.6 ± 0.9%, 94.9 ± 1.2% over 30 min, respectively). Over-encapsulation of S-NA15 suppositories with hydroxypropyl methylcellulose shells slowed drug release and improved stability over 2 months. S-NA15 suppositories were classified as non-irritant and PEG suppositories only mildly irritant. Antibacterial efficacy of formulations was equivalent to amoxicillin alone. Both PEG and over-encapsulated S-NA15 rectal formulations developed in the present work have shown promise based on pre-clinical screening, and further development is justified to develop a product with commercial potential

Empathy and Occupational Health and Well-Being in Ecuadorian Physicians Working with COVID-19 Patients: A Mixed-Method Study

Approximately one out of ten COVID-19 cases in Ecuador was a physician. It has been reported that this situation has led to a serious detriment of physicians’ health and well-being. This study aimed to (i) identify predictors of emotional exhaustion, somatization, and work alienation in Ecuadorian physicians working with COVID-19 patients and (ii) explore the pandemic impact on doctor–patient relationships and on empathy. In 79 Ecuadorian physicians (45 women) who worked with COVID-19 patients, two separate multiple regression models explained the following: 73% of the variability of emotional exhaustion was based on somatization, work alienation, working sector, and passing through a symptomatic infection (p < 0.001), and 56% of the variability of somatization was based on gender and emotional exhaustion (p < 0.001), respectively. Furthermore, intention to leave the profession was more frequent among physicians with greater work alienation (p = 0.003). On the contrary, more empathic physicians never considered leaving their profession during the COVID-19 pandemic (p = 0.03). In physicians’ verbatim, cognitive empathy appeared associated to a positive change in doctor–patient relationships. On the contrary, having an overwhelming emotional empathy appeared associated to a negative change in doctor–patient relationships. These findings characterize differences in how physicians cope while working in the frontline of the pandemic