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Objective: To examine the relationship between an estimate of sleep-wake regulation derived from actigraphy and determine whether it would be sensitive to neurocognitive dysfunction associated with acquired brain injury (ABI) in a pediatric rehabilitation sample., Design: Cross-sectional design., Setting: Inpatient pediatric rehabilitation facility., Participants: A sample (N=43) of 31 males (72.1%) and 12 females (27.9%) admitted to a pediatric rehabilitation hospital wore an actigraph (wrist accelerometer) for 1 week. Participant ages ranged from 8 to 17 years (mean, 13.1y; SD, 2.7y)., Interventions: Not applicable., Main Outcome Measures: Raw actigraphy activity counts in 1-minute epochs were used to derive a rest-activity ratio over each 24-hour period; a 5-day average value was calculated for Monday through Friday. Brain injury status was derived through medical record review, resulting in the formation of 3 groups: traumatic brain injury (n=14), nontraumatic brain injury (n=16), and a non-ABI control group (n=13). Functional status was measured using FIM for children (WeeFIM) Cognitive and Motor scores extracted from the medical records., Results: Unadjusted models showed a significant main group effect for brain injury status (P=.012). Compared with controls, the rest-activity ratio was significantly lower in both the traumatic brain injury (P=.005), and nontraumatic brain injury (P=.023) groups. However, the main group effect was no longer significant in an adjusted model controlling for WeeFIM Cognitive and WeeFIM Motor scores at admission. In the context of the adjusted model, there was a significant relationship between the rest-activity ratio and WeeFIM Cognitive scores at admission., Conclusions: Individuals with lower functional status at admission, especially in the cognitive domain, had lower rest-activity ratios, suggesting poorer sleep-wake regulation. Similar to findings in adults with ABI, this ratio may have utility in tracking sleep-wake regulation in the pediatric rehabilitation setting. Future studies should investigate sensitivity to change over the course of recovery and responsiveness to clinical interventions to improve sleep., (Copyright © 2022 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

In the framework of the MICADO (Measurement and Instrumentation for Cleaning And Decommissioning Operations) European Union (EU) project, aimed at the full digitization of low- and intermediate-level radioactive waste management, a set of 32 solid state thermal neutron detectors named SiLiF has been built and characterized. MICADO encompasses a complete active and passive characterization of the radwaste drums with neutrons and gamma rays, followed by a longer-term monitoring phase. The SiLiF detectors are suitable for the monitoring of nuclear materials and can be used around radioactive waste drums possibly containing small quantities of actinides, as well as around spent fuel casks in interim storage or during transportation. Suitable polyethylene moderators can be exploited to better shape the detector response to the expected neutron spectrum, according to Monte Carlo simulations that were performed. These detectors were extensively tested with an AmBe neutron source, and the results show a quite uniform and reproducible behavior.

Objective: To examine the extent to which race/ethnicity, length of rehabilitation hospital stay (LOS), and payer source contribute to functional status following inpatient rehabilitation in children with acquired brain injury (ABI)., Design: Retrospective cohort study from a pediatric rehabilitation hospital including 485 individuals with ABI., Methods: Functional Independence Measure for Children (WeeFIM) scores were transformed into age-corrected Developmental Functional Quotients (DFQ) to examine the effects of race/ethnicity, LOS, and payer source (public insurance vs. private) on functional outcomes while controlling for year of admission, admission DFQ, time to rehabilitation, age, and brain injury aetiology., Results: Discharge DFQ scores tended to be lower for children with public insurance as well as those with longer LOS. There was no main effect of race/ethnicity, but a significant interaction effect for payer source×LOS ( p < .001) was found. Further breakdown of the interaction showed lower discharge DFQ scores for children with public insurance primarily when LOS exceeded 28 days ( p = .001)., Conclusion: Children with ABI who have both public insurance and LOS beyond 4 weeks tend to have poorer functional outcomes after inpatient rehabilitation. Because all children were receiving services at the same facility, payer source may be functioning as a proxy for other sociodemographic factors.

A cheap and efficient diagnostic system for beam monitoring has been recently developed at INFN-LNS in Catania. It consists of a high sensitivity CCD camera detecting the light produced by an ion beam hitting the surface of a scintillating screen and a frame grabber for image acquisition. A scintillating screen, developed at INFN-LNS and consisting of a 2 μm BaF2 layer evaporated on an aluminium plate, has been tested by using (20)Ne and (40)Ar beams in the keV energy range. The CAESAR ECR ion source has been used for investigating the influence of the frequency and magnetic field tuning effects, the impact of the microwave injected power, and of the focusing solenoids along the low energy beam transport on the beam shape and current. These tests will allow to better understand the interplay between the plasma and beam dynamics and, moreover, to improve the transport efficiency along the low energy beam line and the matching with the superconducting cyclotron, particularly relevant in view of the expected upgrade of the machine.

Aim: The aim of this study was to assess possible predictors of poor adherence in patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SD) or bipolar disorder (BD) and to evaluate the roles of attachment style and caregivers as predictive factors of adherence., Methods: The sample was composed of 178 voluntarily hospitalized inpatients: 89 diagnosed with BD (I, II), 89 with SD and other schizophrenia-spectrum disorders. All patients enrolled in the study were assessed for adherence, psychopathology, attachment style, presence of caregiver, subjective well-being during pharmacological treatment with neuroleptics, side effects following therapy, subjective attitude towards drugs, global functioning and quality of life., Results: In patients with SD, non-adherence was associated with the absence of a caregiver, fewer years of treatment, poor insight and attitude towards drugs and fearful dimensions of attachment. In patients with BD, poor insight, anxious and social avoidant temperament traits, together with a high sense of self efficacy, were related to non-adherence. Diagnosis, type of medication and side effects were not predictive factors of adherence in either group. Interestingly, some temperament traits and dimensions of attachment predict non-adherence, indicating differences between patients with SD and BD., Conclusion: Considering these predictors of non-adherence and assessing adherence at the time of admission for relapse could be useful to plan an early and tailored “treatment adherence”, along with other therapeutic strategies, for patients using these predictive factors. The role of caregiver proved particularly important in relation to the therapeutic alliance. Attachment style may play a key role in predicting adherence through the therapeutic alliance with both patients and caregivers.

Aim: This study evaluated adherence to treatment, quality of life and subjective well-being in patients with psychosis treated with long-acting injectable risperidone. Subjects enrolled were part of a larger study where patients were observed in an adherence to treatment program of the University of Rome Tor Vergata., Materials and Methods: A total of 27 nonadherent patients (21 men, six women; mean age: 36.1 years; range: 23-63 years) were enrolled. Maximum observational period was 30 months., Results: A total of 12 patients were under treatment for 30 months (44.44%) but only nine had a valid 30-month follow up, while the remaining three patients initially treated at our unit continued long-acting risperidone at their local centre. Reductions of monthly mean values of Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS) [repeated measures analysis of variance (rm-ANOVA): p < 0.0001] and Scale for Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) (p < 0.0001), increase of monthly mean values of Subjective Well-Being Under Neuroleptic Treatment Scale (SWN) (p < 0.0001) and Schizophrenia Quality of Life Scale (S-QoL) (p < 0.01) were observed. Significant differences with respect to SAPS baseline values from the sixth month, SANS baseline values from the seventh month, SWN baseline values from the eighth month, S-QoL baseline values from the eighteenth month were shown in post hoc tests. Reduction of SAPS mean values was associated with increase of SWN (p < 0.0001) and S-QoL (p < 0.0001) mean values as demonstrated by correlation analysis. The same inverse correlation was found between reduction of SANS mean values and increases of SWN (p < 0.0001) and S-QoL (p = 0.0001) mean values., Conclusions: Long-term treatment with long-acting risperidone may be associated with improvement to adherence to therapy and quality of life. Patients may show improvement in psychopathological symptoms, subjective well-being and quality of life.

This study examined the effects of maternal alcohol consumption and binge drinking during pregnancy on children's Draw-A-Person (DAP) scores. Participants were 1,533 5-year-olds from the Danish National Birth Cohort. Regression analyses revealed an adverse effect of nine or more drinks per week. A drop in mean DAP score of 6.26 (95 % CI: -12.24; -0.39) was observed in the fully adjusted model. A significant interaction between average weekly consumption and binge episodes also was observed. Findings suggest that prenatal exposure to moderate weekly doses of alcohol and binge drinking episodes are associated with lowered scores on the DAP., Competing Interests: none

A semiconductor detector coupled with a neutron converter is a good candidate for neutron detection, especially for its compactness and reliability if compared with other devices, such as (3)He tubes, even though its intrinsic efficiency is rather lower. In this paper we show a neutron detector design consisting of a 3 cm × 3 cm silicon pad detector coupled with one or two external (6)LiF layers, enriched in (6)Li at 95%, placed in contact with the Si active surfaces. This prototype, first characterized and tested at INFN Laboratori Nazionali del Sud and then at JRC Ispra, was successfully shown to detect thermal neutrons with the expected efficiency and an outstanding gamma rejection capability.

Background: Crohn's disease (CD) is a chronic intestinal disorder characterized by overproduction of inflammatory cytokines and recurrent abdominal pain. Recently, brain morphological abnormalities in the pain matrix were found in patients with chronic pain disorders including irritable bowel syndrome. To investigate potential structural brain changes associated with CD, we used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Furthermore, we tested whether in patients gray matter (GM) volumes correlated with disease duration., Methods: Eighteen CD patients in remission and 18 healthy controls underwent structural MRI. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) is a fully automated technique allowing identification of regional differences in the amount of GM enabling an objective analysis of the whole brain between groups of subjects. VBM was used for comparisons and correlation analysis., Key Results: With respect to controls, CD patients exhibited decreased GM volumes in portion of the frontal cortex and in the anterior midcingulate cortex. Disease duration was negatively correlated with GM volumes of several brain regions including neocortical and limbic areas., Conclusions & Inferences: Crohn's disease is associated with brain morphological changes in cortical and subcortical structures involved in nociception, emotional, and cognitive processes. Our findings provide new insight into the brain involvement in chronic inflammatory bowel disorders., (© 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)