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Biomedical subjects

E Molinari

Publications and source records attributed to E Molinari.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1998

Replicated factor analysis of the Italian Version of the Body Image Avoidance Questionnaire.

A multisample factor analysis identified two different solutions, a 3-factor solution from the high school sample of 439 subjects and a 4-factor solution from both the university sample of 200 subjects and an obese sample of 142 subjects. However, in the first sample Factor 1 included the same items which formed Factor 2 and Factor 4 in both the second and the third samples. This suggests that the structure of the questionnaire can be adequately described by four different factors. The analysis of the factor loading also indicated that six items should be removed (Items 2, 3, 10, 11, 17, 19) from the Italian version.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Factor structure of the Italian version of the Body Satisfaction Scale: a multisample analysis.

The paper describes the factorial structure of the Italian version of the Body Satisfaction Scale, a simple self-report questionnaire designed to assess satisfaction with 16 body parts. The results suggest that the structure of the questionnaire can be adequately represented by three different factors. Even if this solution is different from the one obtained in the original English samples, this interpretation was confirmed by a cross-validation on 806 subjects, a clinical sample and two normal samples. This result may be useful for the screening of subjects at risk for eating-disorders because it makes possible prediction of targeted areas of dissatisfaction which is not generally possible with other inventories. The analysis of the factor loadings also suggested that three items should be removed (teeth, eyes, and ears) from the Italian version.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1998

Experiential cognitive therapy: a VR based approach for the assessment and treatment of eating disorders.

Even if there has been significant progress in research on eating disorders, little empirical work has been done yet to specify the content of clinical guidelines and to validate their efficacy in treatment. In particular there are at least three themes that are somehow neglected by current guidelines: body experience disturbances, motivation for change and the integration between the different approaches used. This chapter details the characteristics of the Experiential Cognitive Therapy (ECT), an integrated approach ranging from cognitive-behavioral therapy to virtual reality (VR) sessions. In particular, using VR, ECT is able to address both body experience disturbances and motivation for change. In the chapter a description of all the phases of this approach are offered by using an actual clinical case: a 22-year old female anorectic patient.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Virtual reality and imaginative techniques in clinical psychology.

The great potential offered by Virtual Reality (VR) derives prevalently from the central role, in psychotherapy, occupied by the imagination and by memory. These two elements, which are fundamental in the life of every one of us, present absolute and relative limits to individual potential. Thanks to virtual experiences, it is possible to transcend these limits. The re-created world may at times be more vivid and real than the one that most subjects are able to describe through their own imagination and through their own memory. This chapter focuses on imaginative techniques to find new ways of applications in therapy. In particular the chapter analyses in which way VR can be used to improve the efficacy of current techniques. VR produces a change with respect to the traditional relationship between client and therapist. The new configuration of this relationship is based on the awareness of being more skilled in the difficult operations of recovery of past experiences, through the memory, and of foreseeing of future experiences, through the imagination. At the same time, the subject undergoing treatment perceives the advantage of being able to re-create and use a real experiential world within the walls of the clinical office of his own therapist.

Computer Simulation↗
PubMed1997

Psychopathology in obese subjects with and without binge-eating disorder and in bulimic subjects.

The present study was conducted with three groups of 15 subjects each, obese subjects diagnosed with Binge Eating Disorder, obese subjects without diagnosis of Binge Eating Disorder, and bulimic subjects. The aim was to compare the three groups on a battery of self-administered tests for psychodiagnostic screening. Analysis showed a clear pattern: patients with bulimia nervosa had higher pathological scores in the specific area of eating disorders than did obese patients, whereas patients with Binge Eating Disorder tended to score lower than patients with bulimia nervosa and higher than did the obese patients. This general pattern is very similar to the findings recently reported in the literature and suggests the adoption of a clinical approach which takes into account the different characteristics of the three groups.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

ABT-089 [2-methyl-3-(2-(S)-pyrrolidinylmethoxy)pyridine]: I. A potent and selective cholinergic channel modulator with neuroprotective properties.

Accumulating preclinical and clinical evidence data suggests that compounds that selectively activate neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) subtypes may have therapeutic utility for the treatment of several neurological disorders. In the present study, the in vitro pharmacological properties of the novel cholinergic channel modulator ABT-089 [2-methyl-3-(2-(S)-pyrrolidinylmethoxy)pyridine], are described. In radioligand binding studies, ABT-089 was shown to display selectivity toward the high-affinity (-)-cytisine binding site present on the alpha4beta2 nAChR subtype (Ki = 16 nM) relative to the [125I]alpha-bungarotoxin binding site present on the alpha7 (Ki > or = 10,000 nM) and alpha1beta1deltagamma (Ki > 1000 nM) nAChR subtypes. In cation flux and channel current studies, ABT-089 displayed a more complex profile than (-)-nicotine having agonist, partial agonist and inhibitory activities depending on the nAChR subtype with which it interacts. ABT-089 differentially stimulated neurotransmitter release. The compound displayed a similar potency and efficacy to (-)-nicotine to facilitate ACh release (ABT-089, EC50 = 3 microM; (-)-nicotine, EC50 = 1 microM), but was markedly less potent and less efficacious than (-)-nicotine to stimulate dopamine release (ABT-089, EC50 = 1.1 microM; (-)-nicotine, EC50 = 0.04 microM). Additionally, ABT-089 was neuroprotective against the excitotoxic insults elicited by exposure to glutamate in both rat cortical cell cultures (EC50 = 10 +/- 3 microM) and differentiated human IMR32 cells (EC50 = 3 +/- 2 microM). The differential full agonist/partial agonist profile of ABT-089, as compared with (-)-nicotine and ABT-418, illustrates the complexity of nAChR activation and the potential to target responses at subclasses of the neuronal and peripheral receptors.

Acetylcholine↗
PubMed1996

A-85380 [3-(2(S)-azetidinylmethoxy) pyridine]: in vitro pharmacological properties of a novel, high affinity alpha 4 beta 2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor ligand.

The in vitro pharmacological properties of a novel cholinergic channel ligand, A-85380 [3-(2(S)-azetidinylmethoxy)pyridine], were examined using tissue preparations that express different putative nAChR subtypes. In radioligand binding studies, A-85380 is shown to be a potent and selective ligand for the human alpha 4 beta 2 nAChR subtype (Ki = 0.05 + 0.01 nM) relative to the human alpha 7 (Ki = 148 +/- 13 nM) and the muscle alpha 1 beta 1 dg subtype expressed in Torpedo electroplax (Ki = 314 +/- 12 nM). The R-enantiomer of A-85380, A-159470, displays little enantioselectivity towards the alpha 4 beta 2 and alpha 1 beta 1 delta gamma subtypes but does not display 12-fold enantioselectivity towards the alpha 7 subtype (Ki = 1275 +/- 199 nM). (+)- and(-)-Epibatidine display similar potencies at the human human alpha 4 beta 2 (Ki = 0.04 +/- 0.02 nM and 0.07 +/- 0.02 nM, respectively), human alpha 7 (Ki = 16 +/- 2 nM and 22 +/- 3 nM, respectively) and muscle alpha 1 beta 1 delta gamma g (Ki = 2.5 +/- 0.9 nM and 5.7 +/- 1.0 nM, respectively) nAChRs. Functionally, A-85380 is a potent activator of cation efflux through the human alpha 4 beta 2 (EC50 = 0.7 +/- 0.1 microM) and ganglionic (EC50 = 0.8 +/- 0.09 microM) subtypes, effects that are attenuated by pretreatment with mecamylamine (10 microM). Further, A-85380 can activate (EC50 = 8.9 +/- 1.9 microM) currents through channels formed by injection of the human alpha 7 subunit into Xenopus oocytes, effects that are attenuated by pretreatment with the alpha 7 nAChR antagonist, methyllycaconitine (10 nM). In all cases, A-85380 is more potent than (-)-nicotine but less potent than (+/-)-epibatidine. In neurotransmitter release studies, A-85380 stimulates the release of dopamine with an EC 50 value of 0.003 +/- 0.001 microM which is equipotent to (+/-)-epibatidine, and 20-fold more potent than (-)-nicotine (EC50 = 0.04 +/- 0.009 microM). Thus, A-85380 displays a profile of robust activation of a number of nAChR subtypes with substantially less affinity for [125I] alpha-BgT sites than [3H](-)-cytisine sites, suggesting that it may serve as a more selective pharmacologic probe for the alpha 4 beta 2 subtype relative to the alpha 7 and alpha 1 beta 1 delta g nAChRs than (+/-)-epibatidine.

Animals↗
PubMed1996

Genetic and topological analyses of the bop promoter of Halobacterium halobium: stimulation by DNA supercoiling and non-B-DNA structure.

The bop gene of wild-type Halobacterium halobium NRC-1 is transcriptionally induced more than 20-fold under microaerobic conditions. bop transcription is inhibited by novobiocin, a DNA gyrase inhibitor, at concentrations subinhibitory for growth. The exposure of NRC-1 cultures to novobiocin concentrations inhibiting bop transcription was found to partially relax plasmid DNA supercoiling, indicating the requirement of high DNA supercoiling for bop transcription. Next, the bop promoter region was cloned on an H. halobium plasmid vector and introduced into NRC-1 and S9, a bop overproducer strain. The cloned promoter was active in both H. halobium strains, but at a higher level in the overproducer than in the wild type. Transcription from the bop promoter on the plasmid was found to be inhibited by novobiocin to a similar extent as was transcription from the chromosome. When the cloned promoter was introduced into S9 mutant strains with insertions in either of two putative regulatory genes, brp and bat, no transcription was detectable, indicating that these genes serve to activate transcription from the bop promoter in trans. Deletion analysis of the cloned bop promoter from a site approximately 480 bp upstream of bop showed that a 53-bp region 5' to the transcription start site is sufficient for transcription, but a 28-bp region is not. An 11-bp alternating purine-pyrimidine sequence within the functional promoter region, centered 23 bp 5' to the transcription start point, was found to display DNA supercoiling-dependent sensitivity to S1 nuclease and OsO4, which is consistent with a non-B-DNA conformation similar to that of left-handed Z-DNA and suggests the involvement of unusual DNA structure in supercoiling-stimulated bop gene transcription.

Bacteriorhodopsins↗
PubMed1996

Growth, growth hormone and cognitive functions.

The interactions among short stature, growth hormone (GH) and cognitive functions have been extensively studied so far. However, although it seems well established that short stature is associated with cognitive problems, little effort has been made to point out the presence of specific psychological effects related to the different forms of short stature. In 'short normal' children, the presence of a scholastic underachievement seems to suggest that short stature 'itself' might predispose these patients to some of their psychosocial difficulties. The higher incidence of academic failure, in presence of a normal intellectual functioning, has been attributed to environmental and psychosocial factors, including over-protective parents and low self-esteem resulting from the impact of short stature. These problems appear to be common also to other forms of short stature (such as Turner's syndrome) where, however, they are frequently associated with other specific deficits. The in vivo model which might allow, at least in part, better understanding of GH (per se)-dependent effects is represented by GH deficiency (GHD), in which, however, the specific role of GH on psychological functioning is frequently masked by the presence of associated hormonal deficiencies. Children with isolated GHD are reported to have specific educational deficits, in particular learning disability and attention-deficit disorders, which have been tentatively attributed to a compromised intellectual potential. The psychological effects of long-term GH treatment in children with GHD still remain controversial, with some retrospective studies describing a generally beneficial outcome. Since early experiences in school are closely related to success in adult life, the possible implications that GHD during childhood holds during adulthood have been recently considered. Although regional differences have been observed in subgroups of adults with GHD, it seems that these patients have normal cognitive functions and educational attainment, but are more likely to be unemployed (and unmarried) than members of the general population. In general, patients with GHD, who have been treated at centers where psychological counselling was an integral part of the treatment program, seem to be better adjusted in adult life. For these reasons, a multidisciplinary treatment approach could allow early detection of problems in academic achievement and psychosocial development in patients with short stature, being immediately able to provide the appropriate educational and counselling interventions.

Adult↗