Ricerc@Sapienza

Binge drinking during adolescence is influenced by peer pressure and group norms as risk factors. Conversely, drinking refusal self-efficacy is a protective factor. Thus, adolescents with impaired social skills could be more vulnerable to binge drinking. However, there is still little research on impaired social abilities, such as low empathy, in adolescent binge drinkers. This study aimed to investigate the moderating roles of empathic concerns and perspective-taking in the relationship between self-efficacy in resisting peer pressure to drink (SRPPD) and binge drinking.

Background: A large body of research has traced tobacco dependence among adolescents to a series of intrapersonal and interpersonal factors. However, there are remaining questions regarding the differences on these factors related to tobacco use. Objectives: We sought to investigate intrapersonal and interpersonal differences among adolescent nonsmokers, ex-smokers, and smokers. Methods: We used data from a 3-year project designed to investigate and address tobacco dependence among 1071 students (Mage = 15.76, SD = 1.52; girls = 51.54%) who were recruited from 11 high schools.

Purpose: Chronic exposure to stress may represent a risk factor for developing metabolic and eating disorders, mostly driven by the overconsumption of easily accessible energy-dense palatable food, although the mechanisms involved remain still unclear. In this study, we used an ethologically oriented murine model of chronic stress caused by chronic psychosocial defeat (CPD) to investigate the effects of unrestricted access to a palatable high fat diet (HFD) on food intake, body weight, energy homeostasis, and expression of different brain neuropeptides.

The Office of the Surgeon General recently produced its first Report on the consequences of alcohol and drug abuse on health, making several very laudable policy recommendations. The Report also emphasizes the importance of adequate funding for biomedical research, which is good news for both researchers and patients. However, the Report is marred by a biased viewpoint on the psychology and neurobiology of drug addiction.

In rats trained to self-administer methamphetamine, extinction responding in the presence of drug-associated contextual and discrete cues progressively increases after withdrawal (incubation of methamphetamine craving). The conditioning factors underlying this incubation are unknown. Here, we studied incubation of methamphetamine craving under different experimental conditions to identify factors contributing to this incubation. We also determined whether the rats' response to methamphetamine priming incubates after withdrawal.

Gellan nanohydrogel and phospholipid vesicles were combined to incorporate baicalin in new self-assembling core-shell gellantransfersomes obtained by an easy, scalable method. The vesicles were small in size (similar to 107 nm) and monodispersed (P.I.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Oxidative stress plays a pivotal role in inducing endothelial dysfunction and progression from simple fatty liver steatosis (FLD) to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Polyphenols could reduce oxidative stress and restore endothelial function by inhibiting the nicotinamide-adenine-dinucleotide-phosphate (NADPH) oxidase isoform Nox2. The aim of this study was to assess endothelial function and oxidative stress in a population affected by simple FLD and NASH.

Objective: This study aims to assess the efficacy and safety of Gelesis100, a novel, nonsystemic, superabsorbent hydrogel to treat overweight or obesity. Methods: The Gelesis Loss Of Weight (GLOW) study was a 24-week, multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in patients with BMI ≥ 27 and ≤ 40 kg/m 2 and fasting plasma glucose ≥ 90 and ≤ 145 mg/dL. The co-primary end points were placebo-adjusted weight loss (superiority and 3% margin super-superiority) and at least 35% of patients in the Gelesis100 group achieving ≥ 5% weight loss.

Proper evaluation of polyphenols intake at the population level is a necessary step in order to establish possible associations with health outcomes. Available data are limited, and so far no study has been performed in people with diabetes. The aim of this work was to document the intake of polyphenols and their major food sources in a cohort of people with type 2 diabetes and in socio-demographic subgroups.