912 research outputs found

    30th European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2023)

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    This is the abstract book of 30th European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2023

    International consensus statement on allergy and rhinology: Allergic rhinitis – 2023

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    Background In the 5 years that have passed since the publication of the 2018 International Consensus Statement on Allergy and Rhinology: Allergic Rhinitis (ICAR-Allergic Rhinitis 2018), the literature has expanded substantially. The ICAR-Allergic Rhinitis 2023 update presents 144 individual topics on allergic rhinitis (AR), expanded by over 40 topics from the 2018 document. Originally presented topics from 2018 have also been reviewed and updated. The executive summary highlights key evidence-based findings and recommendation from the full document. Methods ICAR-Allergic Rhinitis 2023 employed established evidence-based review with recommendation (EBRR) methodology to individually evaluate each topic. Stepwise iterative peer review and consensus was performed for each topic. The final document was then collated and includes the results of this work. Results ICAR-Allergic Rhinitis 2023 includes 10 major content areas and 144 individual topics related to AR. For a substantial proportion of topics included, an aggregate grade of evidence is presented, which is determined by collating the levels of evidence for each available study identified in the literature. For topics in which a diagnostic or therapeutic intervention is considered, a recommendation summary is presented, which considers the aggregate grade of evidence, benefit, harm, and cost. Conclusion The ICAR-Allergic Rhinitis 2023 update provides a comprehensive evaluation of AR and the currently available evidence. It is this evidence that contributes to our current knowledge base and recommendations for patient evaluation and treatment

    2022 Touro University System Faculty Publications

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    The 2022 edition of the Faculty Publications Book of the Touro University system. This bibliography contains the published works of affiliated authors during 2022, arranged by academic unit.https://touroscholar.touro.edu/facpubs/1012/thumbnail.jp

    Audiovisual speech perception in cochlear implant patients

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    Hearing with a cochlear implant (CI) is very different compared to a normal-hearing (NH) experience, as the CI can only provide limited auditory input. Nevertheless, the central auditory system is capable of learning how to interpret such limited auditory input such that it can extract meaningful information within a few months after implant switch-on. The capacity of the auditory cortex to adapt to new auditory stimuli is an example of intra-modal plasticity — changes within a sensory cortical region as a result of altered statistics of the respective sensory input. However, hearing deprivation before implantation and restoration of hearing capacities after implantation can also induce cross-modal plasticity — changes within a sensory cortical region as a result of altered statistics of a different sensory input. Thereby, a preserved cortical region can, for example, support a deprived cortical region, as in the case of CI users which have been shown to exhibit cross-modal visual-cortex activation for purely auditory stimuli. Before implantation, during the period of hearing deprivation, CI users typically rely on additional visual cues like lip-movements for understanding speech. Therefore, it has been suggested that CI users show a pronounced binding of the auditory and visual systems, which may allow them to integrate auditory and visual speech information more efficiently. The projects included in this thesis investigate auditory, and particularly audiovisual speech processing in CI users. Four event-related potential (ERP) studies approach the matter from different perspectives, each with a distinct focus. The first project investigates how audiovisually presented syllables are processed by CI users with bilateral hearing loss compared to NH controls. Previous ERP studies employing non-linguistic stimuli and studies using different neuroimaging techniques found distinct audiovisual interactions in CI users. However, the precise timecourse of cross-modal visual-cortex recruitment and enhanced audiovisual interaction for speech related stimuli is unknown. With our ERP study we fill this gap, and we present differences in the timecourse of audiovisual interactions as well as in cortical source configurations between CI users and NH controls. The second study focuses on auditory processing in single-sided deaf (SSD) CI users. SSD CI patients experience a maximally asymmetric hearing condition, as they have a CI on one ear and a contralateral NH ear. Despite the intact ear, several behavioural studies have demonstrated a variety of beneficial effects of restoring binaural hearing, but there are only few ERP studies which investigate auditory processing in SSD CI users. Our study investigates whether the side of implantation affects auditory processing and whether auditory processing via the NH ear of SSD CI users works similarly as in NH controls. Given the distinct hearing conditions of SSD CI users, the question arises whether there are any quantifiable differences between CI user with unilateral hearing loss and bilateral hearing loss. In general, ERP studies on SSD CI users are rather scarce, and there is no study on audiovisual processing in particular. Furthermore, there are no reports on lip-reading abilities of SSD CI users. To this end, in the third project we extend the first study by including SSD CI users as a third experimental group. The study discusses both differences and similarities between CI users with bilateral hearing loss and CI users with unilateral hearing loss as well as NH controls and provides — for the first time — insights into audiovisual interactions in SSD CI users. The fourth project investigates the influence of background noise on audiovisual interactions in CI users and whether a noise-reduction algorithm can modulate these interactions. It is known that in environments with competing background noise listeners generally rely more strongly on visual cues for understanding speech and that such situations are particularly difficult for CI users. As shown in previous auditory behavioural studies, the recently introduced noise-reduction algorithm "ForwardFocus" can be a useful aid in such cases. However, the questions whether employing the algorithm is beneficial in audiovisual conditions as well and whether using the algorithm has a measurable effect on cortical processing have not been investigated yet. In this ERP study, we address these questions with an auditory and audiovisual syllable discrimination task. Taken together, the projects included in this thesis contribute to a better understanding of auditory and especially audiovisual speech processing in CI users, revealing distinct processing strategies employed to overcome the limited input provided by a CI. The results have clinical implications, as they suggest that clinical hearing assessments, which are currently purely auditory, should be extended to audiovisual assessments. Furthermore, they imply that rehabilitation including audiovisual training methods may be beneficial for all CI user groups for quickly achieving the most effective CI implantation outcome

    Proceedings XXIII Congresso SIAMOC 2023

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    Il congresso annuale della Società Italiana di Analisi del Movimento in Clinica (SIAMOC), giunto quest’anno alla sua ventitreesima edizione, approda nuovamente a Roma. Il congresso SIAMOC, come ogni anno, è l’occasione per tutti i professionisti che operano nell’ambito dell’analisi del movimento di incontrarsi, presentare i risultati delle proprie ricerche e rimanere aggiornati sulle più recenti innovazioni riguardanti le procedure e le tecnologie per l’analisi del movimento nella pratica clinica. Il congresso SIAMOC 2023 di Roma si propone l’obiettivo di fornire ulteriore impulso ad una già eccellente attività di ricerca italiana nel settore dell’analisi del movimento e di conferirle ulteriore respiro ed impatto internazionale. Oltre ai qualificanti temi tradizionali che riguardano la ricerca di base e applicata in ambito clinico e sportivo, il congresso SIAMOC 2023 intende approfondire ulteriori tematiche di particolare interesse scientifico e di impatto sulla società. Tra questi temi anche quello dell’inserimento lavorativo di persone affette da disabilità anche grazie alla diffusione esponenziale in ambito clinico-occupazionale delle tecnologie robotiche collaborative e quello della protesica innovativa a supporto delle persone con amputazione. Verrà infine affrontato il tema dei nuovi algoritmi di intelligenza artificiale per l’ottimizzazione della classificazione in tempo reale dei pattern motori nei vari campi di applicazione

    Neonatal ECMO: be ready!:Navigating pharmacotherapy and vulnerability through training and monitoring

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    Expectations and Beliefs in Immersive Virtual Reality Environments: Managing of Body Perception

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    Real and Perceived Feet Orientation Under Fatiguing and Non-Fatiguing Conditions in an Immersive Virtual Reality Environment ABSTRACT Lower limbs position sense is a complex yet poorly understood mechanism, influenced by many factors. Hence, we investigated the position sense of lower limbs through feet orientation with the use of Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR). Participants had to indicate how they perceived the real 1050 orientation of their feet by orientating a virtual representation of the feet that was shown in an IVR 1051 scenario. We calculated the angle between the two virtual feet (α-VR) after a high-knee step-in-1052 place task. Simultaneously, we recorded the real angle between the two feet (α-R) (T1). Hence, we 1053 assessed if the acute fatigue impacted the position sense. The same procedure was repeated after 1054 inducing muscle fatigue (T2) and after 10 minutes from T2 (T3). Finally, we also recorded the time 1055 needed to confirm the perceived position before and after the acute fatigue protocol. Thirty healthy 1056 adults (27.5 ± 3.8: 57% female, 43% male) were immersed in an IVR scenario with a representation 1057 of two feet. We found a mean difference between α-VR and α-R of 20.89° [95% CI: 14.67°, 27.10°] 1058 in T1, 16.76° [9.57°, 23.94°] in T2, and 16.34° [10.00°, 22.68°] in T3. Participants spent 12.59, 17.50 1059 and 17.95 seconds confirming the perceived position of their feet at T1, T2, T3, respectively. 1060 Participants indicated their feet as forwarding parallel though divergent, showing a mismatch in the 1061 perceived position of feet. Fatigue seemed not to have an impact on position sense but delayed the 1062 time to accomplish this task.The Effect of Context on Eye-Height Estimation in Immersive Virtual Reality: a Cross-Sectional Study ABSTRACT Eye-height spatial perception provides a reference to scale the surrounding environment. It is the result of the integration of visual and postural information. When these stimuli are discordant, the perceived spatial parameters are distorted. Previous studies in immersive virtual reality (IVR) showed that spatial perception is influenced by the visual context of the environment. Hence, this study explored how manipulating the context in IVR affects individuals’ eye-height estimation. Two groups of twenty participants each were immersed in two different IVR environments, represented by a closed room (Wall - W) and an open field (No Wall - NW). Under these two different conditions, participants had to adjust their virtual perspective, estimating their eye height. We calculated the perceived visual offset as the difference between virtual and real eye height, to assess whether the scenarios and the presence of virtual shoes (Feet, No Feet) influenced participants’ estimates at three initial offsets (+100 cm, +0 cm, -100 cm). We found a mean difference between the visual 1679 offsets registered in those trials that started with 100 cm and 0 cm offsets (17.24 cm [8.78; 25.69]) 1680 and between 100 cm and -100 cm offsets (22.35 cm [15.65; 29.05]). Furthermore, a noticeable mean difference was found between the visual offsets recorded in group W, depending on the presence or absence of the virtual shoes (Feet VS No Feet: -6.12 [-10.29, -1.95]). These findings describe that different contexts influenced eye-height perception.Positive Expectations led to Motor Improvement: an Immersive Virtual Reality Pilot Study ABSTRACT This pilot study tested the feasibility of an experimental protocol that evaluated the effect of different positive expectations (verbal and visual-haptic) on anterior trunk flexion. Thirty-six participants were assigned to 3 groups (G0, G+ and G++) that received a sham manoeuvre while immersed in Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR). In G0, the manouvre was paired with by neutral verbal statement. In G+ and G++ the manouvre was paired with a positive verbal statement, but only G++ received a visual-haptic illusion. The illusion consisted of lifting a movable tile placed in front of the participants, using its height to raise the floor level in virtual reality. In this way, participants experienced the perception of touching the floor, through the tactile and the virtual visual afference. The distance between fingertips and the floor was measured before, immediately after, and after 5 minutes from the different manouvres. A major difference in anterior trunk flexion was found for G++ compared to the other groups, although it was only significant compared to G0. This result highlighted the feasibility of the present study for future research on people with mobility limitations (e.g., low back pain or kinesiophobia) and the potential role of a visual-haptic illusion in modifying the performance of trunk flexion

    Improving the use of analgesic medicines for low back pain

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    Analgesic medicines are commonly prescribed to adults with low back pain. Understanding the comparative effectiveness of these medicines is important to enhance clinical decision making, but this evidence is currently limited. Therefore, this thesis aimed to provide high-quality evidence to guide clinicians when choosing analgesic medicines for adults with low back pain. First, two barriers to comprehensive evidence synthesis were addressed. Chapter Two empirically examined the justification for rescaling pain intensity measures in meta-analysis. It found that rescaling pain intensity measures in meta-analyses of analgesic medicines for low back pain appears justified in most situations and suggested these findings should be replicated in other areas. Chapter Three investigated the potential for baseline imbalance in meta-analyses of randomised clinical trials examining the effects of exercise and medicines for blood pressure management. It found evidence of baseline imbalance and baseline heteogeneity area present and suggested that systematic reviewers consider examining baseline imbalance in future reviews. Next, three chapters adressed the core aim of thesis. Chapter Four protocolised a series of network meta-analyses to evaluate the comparative effectiveness and safety of analgesic medicines for adults with low back pain. Chapter Five evaulauted the comparativeness effectiveness of analgesic medicines for adults with acute low back pain, while Chapter Six evaluated the comparative effectiveness of analgesic medicines for adults with chronic low back pain. The findings from these chapters highlighted the low certainty in the differences between many different medicines that can be prescribed and presented key areas for future research. This program of work provides comprehensive evidence for the comparative effectiveness of analgesic medicines for adults with low back pain as well as improvements in several aspects of evidence synthesis methodology. The implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed

    International Academic Symposium of Social Science 2022

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    This conference proceedings gathers work and research presented at the International Academic Symposium of Social Science 2022 (IASSC2022) held on July 3, 2022, in Kota Bharu, Kelantan, Malaysia. The conference was jointly organized by the Faculty of Information Management of Universiti Teknologi MARA Kelantan Branch, Malaysia; University of Malaya, Malaysia; Universitas Pembangunan Nasional Veteran Jakarta, Indonesia; Universitas Ngudi Waluyo, Indonesia; Camarines Sur Polytechnic Colleges, Philippines; and UCSI University, Malaysia. Featuring experienced keynote speakers from Malaysia, Australia, and England, this proceeding provides an opportunity for researchers, postgraduate students, and industry practitioners to gain knowledge and understanding of advanced topics concerning digital transformations in the perspective of the social sciences and information systems, focusing on issues, challenges, impacts, and theoretical foundations. This conference proceedings will assist in shaping the future of the academy and industry by compiling state-of-the-art works and future trends in the digital transformation of the social sciences and the field of information systems. It is also considered an interactive platform that enables academicians, practitioners and students from various institutions and industries to collaborate
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