Life satisfaction is the degree to which a person positively evaluates the overall quality of life. The aim of the present study is to illustrate the levels of life satisfaction both in total and per domain and to investigate the relationship of EMS and EMS domains with life satisfaction in children living in residential care. Sixty six children (51,5% were girls) with mean age 12.9 ±2,4 participated in our study. Participants of our study were children and adolescents that were referred to the Day Center “The house of the Child” and lived in caring homes of “ the Smile of the Child”. The Greek version of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale and the Greek version of the Schema Questionnaire for Children were administered to children. Highest scores of life satisfaction were presented by satisfaction with friends and lowest by satisfaction with family contact. Life satisfaction was inversely predicted by EMS: a) Emotional Inhibition, b) Enmeshment, c) Vulnerability to Harm and d) Abandonment and by domains of EMS: a) Disconnection/Rejection and b) Overvigilance/Inhibition. Regarding life satisfaction, it was observed negative correlation with age and no gender differences were observed for life satisfaction and EMS. We suggest the extension of the study to broader samples including evaluations regarding psychopathology. Through the knowledge on cognitive processes and dysfunctional patterns, it is possible that the dynamic process of their consolidation will be better understood and more appropriate and developmentally oriented intervention will be created.

Background: Caspases (cysteine-aspartic proteases) represent a family of enzymes that critically influence cell homeostasis by being involved in inflammation and apoptosis mechanisms. Meningiomas demonstrate the most common intracranial primary central nervous system tumors in adults worldwide. Aim: Our purpose was to explore the role of caspase 8 expression in meningiomas’ pathological features. Materials and methods: A total of 50 meningioma cases were included in the study, comprising a broad spectrum of histopathological sub-types. An immunohistochemistry assay was applied on tissue microarray cores followed by digital image analysis. Results: Overexpression of caspase 8 protein was observed in 21/50 (42%) cases, whereas the rest of them (29/50, 58%) demonstrated moderate to low levels of the molecule. Caspase 8 overall expression was statistically significantly correlated to grade of the examined tumors and to mitotic index (p=0.001, p=0.002, respectively). Conclusions: Caspase 8 aberrant expression is observed in meningiomas associated with their differentiation grade and mitotic activity. Targeted therapeutic strategies focused on enhancing caspase 8 expression and also inducing the overall apoptotic activity should be a very promising approach in rationally handling sub-groups of meningioma patients.