Organic Molecule Bifunctionalized Polymeric Carbon Nitride for Enhanced Photocatalytic Hydrogen Peroxide Production

Modifying the polymeric carbon nitride (CN) with organic molecules is a promising strategy to enhance the photocatalytic activity. However, most previously reported works show that interchain embedding and edge grafting of the organic molecule can hardly be achieved simultaneously. Herein, we successfully synthesized organic molecule bifunctionalized CN (MBCN) through copolymerization of melon and sulfanilamide at a purposely elevated temperature of 550 °C. In MBCN, the edge grafted and interchain embedded benzene rings act as the electron-donating group and charge-transfer channel, respectively, rendering efficient photocatalytic H2 O2 production. The optimal MBCN exhibits a significantly improved non-sacrificial photocatalytic H2 O2 generation rate (54.0 μmol g-1  h-1 ) from pure water, which is 10.4 times that of pristine CN. Experimental and density functional theory (DFT) calculation results reveal that the enhanced H2 O2 production activity of MBCN is mainly attributed to the improved photogenerated charge separation/transfer and decreased formation energy barrier (▵G) from O2- to the intermediate 1,4-endoperoxide (⋅OOH). This work suggests that simultaneous formation of electron donating group and charge transfer channel via organic molecule bifunctionalization is a feasible strategy for boosting the photocatalytic activity of CN.

The pivotal role of defects in fabrication of polymeric carbon nitride homojunctions with enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen evolution

Fabrication of homojunctions is a cost-effective efficient way to enhance the photocatalytic performance of polymeric carbon nitride (CN), but the generation of defects upon synthesizing CN homojunctions and their roles in the homojunction fabrication were hardly reported. Herein, nitrogen-deficient CN homojunctions were simply synthesized by calcining dicyandiamide-loaded CN (prepared from urea and denoted as UCN) with dicyandiamide polymerizing into CN (denoted as DCN) and simultaneous formation of nitrogen vacancies in the surface of UCN. Fabrication of the nitrogen-deficient UCN (dUCN)/DCN homojunction depends on the nitrogen vacancy content in dUCN which can tune the energy band structure of dUCN from not matching to matching with that of DCN. The dUCN/DCN homojunction exhibits extended optical absorption and remarkably enhanced charge separation and photocatalytic H₂ evolution, compared with UCN and DCN. This work illustrates the pivotal role of defects in fabricating CN homojunctions and supplies a new facile way to synthesize nitrogen-deficient CN.

Sb-doped polymeric carbon nitride with charge-capture centers for efficient charge separation and photocatalytic performance in H2 evolution and environmental remediation

Sb-doped polymeric carbon nitride with charge-capture centers was firstly synthesized and exhibits prominently enhanced charge separation and photocatalytic performance.

Social adjustment in three cultures: data from families affected by chronic blood disorders. A sibling study

This study explores the rate of psychosocial dysfunction in affected and unaffected children from families with haemophilia or beta-thalassaemia, as part of a cross-sectional, multicentre study into the resilience of 115 families with blood disorders. Sociodemographic and developmental data were collected from the parents using a standardized and semi-structured interview format, and medical data were obtained from the clinician. The children's social functioning over the year prior to the assessment was assessed with The Social Adjustment Scale adapted for school-aged children. Children with beta-thalassaemia showed significantly higher rates of social dysfunction than their unaffected siblings or children with haemophilia and their siblings. Older children showed significantly higher social dysfunction at school. The high rate of social dysfunction in children with beta-thalassaemia compared with unaffected siblings is likely to have a basis in the negative experiences associated with their medical problems. In contrast, the therapeutic advances in haemophilia allows boys to lead an almost normal life. Overall, the rates of social dysfunction in families with both these disorders proved commoner than reported in population surveys, but with the unavailability of local population controls, caution needs to be exercised in the interpretation of this finding.

Psychopathology in children from families with blood disorders: a cross-national study

BACKGROUND

This study examines the prevalence of psychiatric disorders in affected and in unaffected siblings from families with haemophilia or beta-thalassaemia.

METHOD

Based on data derived from a cross-sectional and multi-centre study into the resilience of 115 families with blood disorders. Sociodemographic and developmental data were collected from the parent using a standardised and semi-structured interview, and medical data were elicited from the attending clinician. The children's psychopathology was assessed with the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (K-SADS).

RESULTS

Children with beta-thalassaemia were twice as likely to receive a diagnosis of psychiatric disorder and more likely to show a higher degree of impairment of general functioning than haemophilic boys or unaffected children from families with blood disorders. Clinical severity of haemophilia or beta-thalassaemia was not associated with significant differences in prevalence of child psychiatric disorders or impairment. Mothers' evaluation of their relationship with their child as 'less than easy' predicted psychopathology.

CONCLUSIONS

The high prevalence of psychopathology in children with beta-thalassaemia reported in this study suggests that specific blood disorders have differential impact on affected children. This difference may be related to medical therapy advances in haemophilia so that haemophilic boys can lead an almost normal life.

The training of the psychiatrist in relation to the new trends in psychiatry

One of the most important things to realize about modern Psychiatry is that many factors are involved in the pathogenesis and especially in the evolution of mental diseases. The results of epidemiological research and the development of different schools with separate specializations have shown the importance of extrasubjective factors such as family environment, social context, life events and life stressors, and therefore the need to find therapeutic strategies which are able to influence the different areas. From this wide spectrum arises the necessity for a functional integration of the different therapeutic areas in the operative context, also because of the nonhomogeneity and the frequent random choice of reference models by the operators and the mental health services. In this study we propose a training model which allows the achievement of this integration ability at an operative level, and which at the same time defines its limits.

Group therapy with elderly patients

In our research we try to suggest a type of group therapy for elderly patients to favor the communication process and to make the patient acquire an active role in the group. The group has an open structure with weekly sessions that last one hour and a half each. The group is conducted by therapists who coordinate the work, acting as stimulus and supporting the relationship between the patients. It is composed of 8 patients, some of whom have been inpatients of the department while others were sent by territorial social service. Age is not the only component for selection; above all, problems regarding loneliness, difficulties in interpersonal relationships and consequent loss of contact and interest in the other are considered.

Integrated psychotherapy in the project of the treatment of psychoses

We present a model of integrated psychotherapy of schizophrenia. When we do an integrated therapy with a patient, attention must always be directed to the calibration of the interventions which constitute the therapeutic compound. This kind of calibration has to be done by a therapist with an integrative function. Experience and competence are necessary conditions, but not sufficient ones for carrying out such a function; the therapist must have also the authority which is due not only to his hierarchic role, but which has to be empathically recognized by the other therapists and the patient. The theoretical reflection has been possible only by starting from a clinical experience (the case of a young woman who in the light of the nosographical categories was considered an 'impossible patient') which allowed us to translate the clinical language into a conceptual form.

Strategies of rehabilitation in the Day Hospital

A correct and fruitful rehabilitation strategy should consider the following points: (1) the achievement of a psychic equilibrium with a reduction of the psychopathological symptoms; (2) the evaluation of the psychological handicap; (3) a profile of the abilities of the subject that undergoes rehabilitation. You can easily achieve the first two points during hospitalization. The third point can be achieved through the study of the interaction of the subject with his or her environment. This study can be carried out in the Day Hospital where, through groups of psychotherapy, family counseling and various sociotherapeutic activities, it is possible to increase and improve the ability of the subject to relate with the others and to cope adequately with his or her environment. In this paper we present the philosophy and the therapeutic strategies of the Day Hospital of the Psychiatric Department of the University of Milan.

[Role of the family group in attempted suicide among the young]

Data from 1848 cases of attempted suicide on the files of the Milan University Emergency Psychiatry Ward and 990 suicides recorded by the Milan Legal Medicine Department in the period 1964-1969 were computerised on specially prepared cards, designed to permit objective study of acts of self-destruction in the light of the relations between the subject, his family, and the community. The results point to the importance of extra-subjective factors (loss of cohesion in the family, the way in which parents carry out their respective roles, various environmental factors) as motive forces in attempted suicide.