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Biomedical subjects

E Molinari

Publications and source records attributed to E Molinari.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1995

Growth hormone treatment in adults with childhood onset growth hormone deficiency: effects on psychological capabilities.

The psychological aspects (personal traits, way of relating to the surrounding environment, perception of body image, degree of self-esteem) of eight adults with childhood onset growth hormone (GH) deficiency (GHD) were studied before and after 6 months of recombinant GH therapy. Each subject was evaluated using the following tests: the Bem Sex Role test, the non-verbal scales of the WAIS test for adults, the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Experiential-World Inventory, the Image-Marking Method and the Draw-a-Person test; a psychoneurophysiological profile was also evaluated in order to monitor, by means of four neurophysiological variables (muscular tension, galvanic resistance, skin temperature and heart rate), the reactions to specific and aspecific stress. Before treatment, adults with GHD tended to underestimate their body size by an average of 30%, with peaks of 47% for the head area; furthermore, they showed a low level of self-esteem, a closed attitude towards social relationships, a pessimistic attitude with a tendency towards depression and a strong sense of detachment from the outside world. After 6 months of GH treatment, patients presented an overall improvement in relation to intellectual tasks, accompanied by a lower level of stress during their performance. A clear improvement was also observed in terms of emotional control during specific and aspecific stress, which might contribute a positive effect on their interrelationships. As expected, the treatment was not able to reduce the subjects' highly distorted perception of body image, due to the fact that GH treatment, despite a clear amelioration of lean/fat body mass ratio, did not change their body proportions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Body image and social attitude in growth-hormone-deficient adults.

This study was done to evaluate the perception of body image and psychosocial attitudes in a sample of 8 male adult subjects with growth-hormone deficit before and after six months of therapy. Before treatment the subjects tended to underestimate body size and were characterized by low self-esteem, a closed attitude towards social relationships, a pessimistic attitude with a tendency towards depression, and a strong sense of detachment from the outside world. After the treatment, even if the subjects continued to underestimate body size, we observed an improvement in terms of emotional control and well-being, accompanied by lower scores on anxiety. An integration of a psychological support in the GH therapy could help the patients to overcome problems of bodily and social acceptance.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Self-others perception in a clinical sample of obese women.

The purpose of this research, using correspondence analysis on responses to semantic differential scores, was both to examine self-perception in a clinical sample of 120 obese women and to compare this with their attitudes toward obese, thin, and normal persons. Analyses allow us to conclude that, if obese women, as reported previously, consider obesity as a largely negative condition, they have an ambivalent attitude towards themselves. Even though they share the negative connotations socially attributed to obesity, emotionally these obese women not only tend not to recognize their "abnormality" but strongly desire it.

Adult↗
PubMed1995

Body-size estimation in anorexia nervosa.

The aim was to explore the body-image perception of a group of 20 hospitalised anorexic patients, aged 18 to 21 years, undergoing a period of treatment. The instrument used was the Askevold nonverbal perception test as modified by Allamani and colleagues in 1978 to assess perception of the dimensions of different parts of the body by exploiting the capacity to project them into space. The four parts were the head, the thoracic area, the abdominal area, and the pelvic area. Analysis of responses indicated that anorexic patients overestimated the abdominal and pelvic areas much more than the 20 members of the control group (50% vs 30%). The areas of the head and thorax were perceived almost in their real dimensions by the anorexic patients but were underestimated by the control group.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1995

[Alexithymia and psychopathology in a clinical sample of obese subjects].

The study examines the relationship between obesity and alexithymia, focusing on relations with the level of psychopathology. The Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS) was performed in 200 women (100 obese subjects and 100 normal weight individuals). In obese subjects TAS was accompanied by a series of tests including the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), Ipat Anxiety Scale (ASQ) and the Eating Attitude Test (EAT). The results obtained show that from a psychopathological point of view obesity cannot be considered a single phenomenon, and that it is possible to identify at least 3 groups with different psychopathological phenomenon as a whole, but it appears to be present, in association with other psychological traits, only on the subgroup (35% of the total) of subjects with borderline personalities.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Wild-type gas vesicle formation requires at least ten genes in the gvp gene cluster of Halobacterium halobium plasmid pNRC100.

To study the functions of the 13 gvp genes, gvpMLKJIHGFEDACN, on plasmid pNRC100 of Halobacterium halobium in gas vesicle formation, we carried out linker scanning mutagenesis of the gene cluster. We constructed a 24.5-kb Escherichia coli-H. halobium shuttle plasmid, pFL2, containing the gvp gene cluster and introduced a kanamycin resistance (kappa) cassette into each gene (except for gvpA). Transformation of H. halobium SD109, which had the entire gvp gene cluster deleted, with pFL2 and mutated pFL2 derivatives showed that while the unmutated gene cluster successfully programmed gas vesicle formation, derivatives with insertion of the kappa cassette in any of the gvp genes, except gvpM, did not lead to production of normal gas vesicles. Insertions in gvpL, -K, -J, -I, and -F resulted in a complete block in gas vesicle synthesis, while insertions in gvpH, -G, -E, -D, -C, and -N resulted in greatly reduced gas vesicle synthesis. In most cases, the block in gas vesicle synthesis did not result from polar effects, since similar results were obtained for derivatives of the insertion mutants in which most of the internal portion of the kappa cassette was deleted and only small (15 to 54-bp) insertions remained. The only exceptions were for gvpH and gvpD, where deletion of the internal portion of the kappa insertions resulted in phenotypic reversion. Electron microscopic analysis of the kappa mutants revealed that interruptions of gvpC and gvpN result in the formation of smaller gas vesicle than in the wild type, while interruptions of gvpF, -G, -H, -J, -K, and -L produce no discernible vesicle intermediates. These results indicate the gvpA, -C, and -N, which have the rightward transcriptional orientation, encode structural proteins, with gvpC and gvpN necessary for late stages of vesicle formation, and gvpL, -K, -J, -I, -H, -G, and -F, which have the leftward transcriptional orientation encode proteins involved in early steps in the assembly of gas vesicles.

DNA Transposable Elements↗
PubMed1994

Experience with psoriasis in a psychosomatic dermatology clinic.

We studied 179 psoriatic patients by semistructured colloquia and psychometric tests and determined their cutaneous psycho-neurophysiological profiles by biofeedback methods. The Paykel scale for stressful events showed that 72% of psoriatics had experienced significant stressful events about one month before the appearance of the psoriasis. The Zung test for anxiety and depression showed a high level of anxiety in the psoriatic patients. 64% of the patients who were treated by BFBtraining had a decrease in their PASI index for severity and the extent of the disease and also fewer recurrences at the one-year follow-up. The results of the World Experience Inventory indicated difficulties related to body image and to relationships with others. Psoriasis influenced the sexuality of the patients. It is always difficult when one is afflicted by ill health to enjoy life and the general scores of SWL (Satisfaction with Life), were significantly lower than those of a control group.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

[Anatomy of the development of the digestive tract and shape of the external body during the embryonic period of the goat (Capra hircus)].

The purpose of this work has been to establish the pattern of prenatal growth and normal development of the digestive tract and annex glands during goat embryonic stages. 21 embryos with ages ranging from 14 to 34 days (1.69 to 5.90 cm CR) as determined by registering the mating time, were obtained by cesarean section. This material was histologically processed to obtain complete serial sections of the stomatodaeum, foregut, midgut, hindgut and cloaca. In this work, it is chronologically described the morphogenesis and histogenesis of the mouth, hypophysis, pharynx and its derivatives, stomach, intestine, liver, pancreas and cloaca. The results obtained establish chronological comparisons with the development of the lamb and gives information on the unitary origin of the gastric compartments in ruminants.

Animals↗