Stroke Gait Rehabilitation: A Comparison of End-Effector, Overground Exoskeleton, and Conventional Gait Training

Gait recovery is one of the main goals of post-stroke rehabilitation and Robot-Assisted Gait Training (RAGT) has shown positive outcomes. However, there is a lack of studies in the literature comparing the effects of different devices. This paper aims to study the effects, in terms of clinical and gait outcomes, of treadmill-based and overground RAGT, compared to conventional gait training in stroke subjects. The results showed a significant improvement of clinical outcomes in both robotic treatments and in conventional therapy. The performance of locomotor tasks was clinically significant in the robotic groups only. The spatio-temporal gait parameters did not reveal any significant difference. Results suggest future multicentre studies on a larger number of subjects

Dynamic causal modelling on infant fNIRS data: A validation study on a simultaneously recorded fNIRS-fMRI dataset

Tracking the connectivity of the developing brain from infancy through childhood is an area of increasing research interest, and fNIRS provides an ideal method for studying the infant brain as it is compact, safe and robust to motion. However, data analysis methods for fNIRS are still underdeveloped compared to those available for fMRI. Dynamic causal modelling (DCM) is an advanced connectivity technique developed for fMRI data, that aims to estimate the coupling between brain regions and how this might be modulated by changes in experimental conditions. DCM has recently been applied to adult fNIRS, but not to infants. The present paper provides a proof-of-principle for the application of this method to infant fNIRS data and a demonstration of the robustness of this method using a simultaneously recorded fMRI-fNIRS single case study, thereby allowing the use of this technique in future infant studies. fMRI and fNIRS were simultaneously recorded from a 6-month-old sleeping infant, who was presented with auditory stimuli in a block design. Both fMRI and fNIRS data were preprocessed using SPM, and analysed using a general linear model approach. The main challenges that adapting DCM for fNIRS infant data posed included: (i) the import of the structural image of the participant for spatial pre-processing, (ii) the spatial registration of the optodes on the structural image of the infant, (iii) calculation of an accurate 3-layer segmentation of the structural image, (iv) creation of a high-density mesh as well as (v) the estimation of the NIRS optical sensitivity functions. To assess our results, we compared the values obtained for variational Free Energy (F), Bayesian Model Selection (BMS) and Bayesian Model Average (BMA) with the same set of possible models applied to both the fMRI and fNIRS datasets. We found high correspondence in F, BMS, and BMA between fMRI and fNIRS data, therefore showing for the first time high reliability of DCM applied to infant fNIRS data. This work opens new avenues for future research on effective connectivity in infancy by contributing a data analysis pipeline and guidance for applying DCM to infant fNIRS data. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Association between Ability Emotional Intelligence and Left Insula during Social Judgment of Facial Emotions

The human ability of identifying, processing and regulating emotions from social stimuli is generally referred as Emotional Intelligence (EI). Within EI, Ability EI identifies a performance measure assessing individual skills at perceiving, using, understanding and managing emotions. Previous models suggest that a brain "somatic marker circuitry" (SMC) sustains emotional sub-processes included in EI. Three primary brain regions are included: the amygdala, the insula and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Here, our aim was to investigate the relationship between Ability EI scores and SMC activity during social judgment of emotional faces. Sixty-three healthy subjects completed a test measuring Ability EI and underwent fMRI during a social decision task (i.e. approach or avoid) about emotional faces with different facial expressions. Imaging data revealed that EI scores are associated with left insula activity during social judgment of emotional faces as a function of facial expression. Specifically, higher EI scores are associated with greater left insula activity during social judgment of fearful faces but also with lower activity of this region during social judgment of angry faces. These findings indicate that the association between Ability EI and the SMC activity during social behavior is region- and emotionspecific.Peer reviewe

Diagnostic Value of Endotracheal Aspirates Sonication on Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Microbiologic Diagnosis

Microorganisms are able to form biofilms within respiratory secretions. Methods to disaggregate such biofilms before utilizing standard, rapid, or high throughput diagnostic technologies may aid in pathogen detection during ventilator associated pneumonia (VAP) diagnosis. Our aim was to determine if sonication of endotracheal aspirates (ETA) would increase the sensitivity of qualitative, semi-quantitative, and quantitative bacterial cultures in an animal model of pneumonia caused by Pseudomonasaeruginosa or by methicillin resistant Staphylococcusaureus (MRSA). MATERIAL AND METHODS: P.aeruginosa or MRSA was instilled into the lungs or the oropharynx of pigs in order to induce severe VAP. Time point assessments for qualitative and quantitative bacterial cultures of ETA and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples were performed at 24, 48, and 72 h after bacterial instillation. In addition, at 72 h (autopsy), lung tissue was harvested to perform quantitative bacterial cultures. Each ETA sample was microbiologically processed with and without applying sonication for 5 min at 40 KHz before bacterial cultures. Sensitivity and specificity were determined using BAL as a gold-standard. Correlation with BAL and lung bacterial burden was also determined before and after sonication. Assessment of biofilm clusters and planktonic bacteria was performed through both optical microscopy utilizing Gram staining and Confocal Laser Scanning Microscopy utilizing the LIVE/DEAD®BacLight kit. RESULTS: 33 pigs were included, 27 and 6 from P.aeruginosa and MRSA pneumonia models, respectively. Overall, we obtained 85 ETA, 69 (81.2%) from P.aeruginosa and 16 (18.8%) from MRSA challenged pigs. Qualitative cultures did not significantly change after sonication, whereas quantitative ETA cultures did significantly increase bacterial counting. Indeed, sonication consistently increased bacterial burden in ETAs at 24, 48, and 72 h after bacterial challenge. Sonication also improved sensitivity of ETA quantitative cultures and maintained specificity at levels previously reported and accepted for VAP diagnosis. CONCLUSION: The use of sonication in ETA respiratory samples needs to be clinically validated since sonication could potentially improve pathogen detection before standard, rapid, or high throughput diagnostic methods used in routine microbial diagnostics

A global analysis of matches and mismatches between human genetic and linguistic histories

Human history is written in both our genes and our languages. The extent to which our biological and linguistic histories are congruent has been the subject of considerable debate, with clear examples of both matches and mismatches. To disentangle the patterns of demographic and cultural transmission, we need a global systematic assessment of matches and mismatches. Here, we assemble a genomic database (GeLaTo, or Genes and Languages Together) specifically curated to investigate genetic and linguistic diversity worldwide. We find that most populations in GeLaTo that speak languages of the same language family (i.e., that descend from the same ancestor language) are also genetically highly similar. However, we also identify nearly 20% mismatches in populations genetically close to linguistically unrelated groups. These mismatches, which occur within the time depth of known linguistic relatedness up to about 10,000 y, are scattered around the world, suggesting that they are a regular outcome in human history. Most mismatches result from populations shifting to the language of a neighboring population that is genetically different because of independent demographic histories. In line with the regularity of such shifts, we find that only half of the language families in GeLaTo are genetically more cohesive than expected under spatial autocorrelations. Moreover, the genetic and linguistic divergence times of population pairs match only rarely, with Indo-European standing out as the family with most matches in our sample. Together, our database and findings pave the way for systematically disentangling demographic and cultural history and for quantifying processes of shifts in language and social identities on a global scale

Fronto-temporoparietal connectivity and self-awareness in 18-month-olds: a resting state fNIRS study

How and when a concept of the 'self' emerges has been the topic of much interest in developmental psychology. Self-awareness has been proposed to emerge at around 18 months, when toddlers start to show evidence of physical self-recognition. However, to what extent physical self-recognition is a valid indicator of being able to think about oneself, is debated. Research in adult cognitive neuroscience has suggested that a common network of brain regions called Default Mode Network (DMN), including the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), is recruited when we are reflecting on the self. We hypothesized that if mirror self-recognition involves self-awareness, toddlers who exhibit mirror self-recognition might show increased functional connectivity between frontal and temporoparietal regions of the brain, relative to those toddlers who do not yet show mirror self-recognition. Using fNIRS, we collected resting-state data from 18 Recognizers and 22 Non-Recognizers at 18 months of age. We found significantly stronger fronto-temporoparietal connectivity in Recognizers compared to Non-Recognizers, a finding which might support the hypothesized relationship between mirror-self recognition and self-awareness in infancy. [Abstract copyright: Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Management of pericarditis

Pericarditis is an inflammatory syndrome involving pericardium, which is a double-walled sac consisting of two leaves, a serous visceral layer in contact with the myocardium (pericardium) and a parietal fibrous one, delimiting a cavity (pericardial cavity) containing pericardial fluid. Pericarditis may occur isolated or as a manifestation of a systemic disorder. Diagnosis and correct management of pericarditis can be difficult and its natural history is often characterized by a lot of relapses. Treatment of acute pericarditis should target the underlying etiology. The diagnosis is based on characteristic clinical findings, electrocardiogram, and echocardiography. The goals of treatment are relief of pain, resolution of inflammation (and, if present, pericardial effusion), and prevention of recurrence. Despite a significant impairment of the quality of life, pericarditis usually has good long-term outcomes

First report on two loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) nests in the Aeolian Archipelago (Southern Italy)

The Aeolian Archipelago (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy) hosts important foraging/overwintering habitats for Mediterranean loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta), although nesting sites have never been documented. This study reports the data of two nesting events occurred in summer 2019 at Stromboli and Lipari islands. A hatchling success of 20.69 % (18 hatchlings from 87 eggs) was recorded at Stromboli, while a complete hatchling unsuccess characterised the Lipari nest, where 111 eggs were deposited. Data acquired during the monitoring of the nests suggest that combined factors, mainly temperature, beach morphology, and sand composition, could be the causes for the low success of these nesting events