Mental health of medical students belonging to sexual minorities: A focus on help-seeking behavior in an Italian multicenter survey

The aim was to examine social, university, health-related differences among heterosexual and Sexual Minority Medical students (SM-Meds), and explore predictors of help-seeking behavior (i.e., current psychological support and hypothetical university counseling use). A multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted in Italy (2018). Questionnaires included socio-demographic items and Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Chi-squared tests and multivariable regressions adjusted for BDI-II score were performed (sample size = 2513). SM-Meds were 13.9%. SM-Meds with depressive symptoms were 40.5%. Both considering overall and non-depressed students, SM-Meds exercised less and had worst relation…

Investigation on the stability of dispersion of zirconia nanoparticles prepared by microwave- hydrothermal synthesis

Difficulties in reproducing the performances of nanoparticles dispersions are obstructive for the progress of the nanotechnology. A plausible reason for this variability is the lack of the control of the stability as well as the dimensions of the nanoparticles in the dispersions. In this work we report results of investigations on the stability of zirconia nanoparticles in aqueous medium, monitoring nanoparticles sizes by means of Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). Nanocrystalline zirconia powders, prepared by microwave-hydrothermal synthesis, were determined to be 6-8 nm in size by TEM observations. By using DLS technique the as-prepared dispersions wit…

Study on the stability of dispertions of zirconia nanoparticles