Google Images, climate change, and the disappearance of humans

In this contribution, we present a visual approach to study the development of the online representation of climate change. We collected ranked image lists over a twelve years timespan on Google Image Search, and analyzed them with a two-fold visualization: an image timeline of the top 5 images per year and an area bump chart showing the top 10 tags automatically detected by the computer vision algorithm in the larger dataset of the top 100 results per year. We can draw two main conclusions from these results. First, the artificial separation between climate change and humans identified in previous studies of climate change imagery is being perpetuated and reinforced on one of the most important digital locations for visual culture: Google Images. Second, that there is a notable homogeneity within the corpus of images, as well as stability over time

Optical Coherence Tomography Findings in a Case of Acute Multifocal Posterior Placoid Pigment Epitheliopathy (AMPPPE)

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Cognitive reserve index and functional and cognitive outcomes in severe acquired brain injury: A pilot study

Background: Many variables affect outcome after brain injury. Cognitive reserve (CR) is a subjective factor that reflects a set of personal characteristics and that differentiates individuals. It may influence an individual’s capacity to react to brain injury. Objective: To study the effects of cognitive reserve on functional and cognitive outcome at the end of rehabilitation, in patients with severe acquired brain injury (sABI), by means of the Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire (CRIq). Methods: We report a retrospective study of a continuous series of sABI patients on first admission to a rehabilitation center. Disability and cognitive outcomes were recorded. Results: In the 94 patients enrolled, the assessments after rehabilitation showed a significant gain measured with the disability Rating Scale for patients with a higher CR (CRIq≥ 85). A significant negative correlation was found: between CRIq scores and the interval elapsing before first access to neuropsychological assessment, between CRIq scores, especially level of education, and tests that measure the same domain (attention). Conclusions: Improvements in overall and cognitive disability emerged, but CR did not seem to substantially influence outcome in this sample of patients. This result may be partly due to the clinical severity of the population studied and the sample’s dimension, although quantitatively representative of the population

Age- and sex-related variations in platelet count in Italy: a proposal of reference ranges based on 40987 subjects' data

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Although several studies demonstrated that platelet count is higher in women, decreases with age, and is influenced by genetic background, most clinical laboratories still use the reference interval 150-400×10(9) platelets/L for all subjects. The present study was to identify age- and sex-specific reference intervals for platelet count. METHODS: We analysed electronic records of subjects enrolled in three population-based studies that investigated inhabitants of seven Italian areas including six geographic isolates. After exclusion of patients with malignancies, liver diseases, or inherited thrombocytopenias, which could affect platelet count, reference intervals were estimated from 40,987 subjects with the non parametric method computing the 2.5° and 97.5° percentiles. RESULTS: Platelet count was similar in men and women until the age of 14, but subsequently women had steadily more platelets than men. The number of platelets decreases quickly in childhood, stabilizes in adulthood, and further decreases in oldness. The final result of this phenomenon is that platelet count in old age was reduced by 35% in men and by 25% in women compared with early infancy. Based on these findings, we estimated reference intervals for platelet count ×10(9)/L in children (176-452), adult men (141-362), adult women (156-405), old men (122-350) and, old women (140-379). Moreover, we calculated an extended reference interval that takes into account the differences in platelet count observed in different geographic areas. CONCLUSIONS: The age-, sex-, and origin-related variability of platelet count is very wide, and the patient-adapted reference intervals we propose change the thresholds for diagnosing both thrombocytopenia and thrombocytosis in Italy

Fine-Grained Emotion Recognition Using Brain-Heart Interplay Measurements and eXplainable Convolutional Neural Networks

Emotion recognition from electro-physiological signals is an important research topic in multiple scientific domains. While a multimodal input may lead to additional information that increases emotion recognition performance, an optimal processing pipeline for such a vectorial input is yet undefined. Moreover, the algorithm performance often compromises between the ability to generalize over an emotional dimension and the explainability associated with its recognition accuracy. This study proposes a novel explainable artificial intelligence architecture for a 9-level valence recognition from electroencephalographic (EEG) and electrocardiographic (ECG) signals. Synchronous EEG-ECG information are combined to derive vectorial brain-heart interplay features, which are rearranged in a sparse matrix (image) and then classified through an explainable convolutional neural network. The proposed architecture is tested on the publicly available MAHNOB dataset also against the use of vectorial EEG input. Results, also expressed in terms of confusion matrices, outperform the current state of the art, especially in terms of recognition accuracy. In conclusion, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach embedding multimodal brain-heart dynamics in an explainable fashion

Benign and Suspicious Ovarian Masses—MR Imaging Criteria for Characterization: Pictorial Review

Ovarian masses present a special diagnostic challenge when imaging findings cannot be categorized into benign or malignant pathology. Ultrasonography (US), Computed Tomography (CT), and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are currently used to evaluate ovarian tumors. US is the first-line imaging investigation for suspected adnexal masses. Color Doppler US helps the diagnosis identifying vascularized components within the mass. CT is commonly performed in preoperative evaluation of a suspected ovarian malignancy, but it exposes patients to radiation. When US findings are nondiagnostic or equivocal, MRI can be a valuable problem solving tool, useful to give also surgical planning information. MRI is well known to provide accurate information about hemorrhage, fat, and collagen. It is able to identify different types of tissue contained in pelvic masses, distinguishing benign from malignant ovarian tumors. The knowledge of clinical syndromes and MRI features of these conditions is crucial in establishing an accurate diagnosis and determining appropriate treatment. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate MRI findings in neoplastic and non-neoplastic ovarian masses, which were assessed into three groups: cystic, solid, and solid/cystic lesions. MRI criteria for the correct diagnosis and characteristics for differentiating benign from malignant conditions are shown in this paper

Ultra-processed food consumption and its correlates among Italian children, adolescents and adults from the Italian Nutrition & Health Survey (INHES) cohort study

Objective: To assess ultra-processed food (UPF) consumption and its socio-demographic, psychosocial and behavioural correlates in a general population of Italian children, adolescents and adults. Design: Cross-sectional telephone-based survey Setting: Italy, 2010-2013. Participants: In total, 9078 participants (5-97 years) from the Italian Nutrition & Health Survey. Dietary intakes were collected by a 1-d 24-h dietary recall. UPF was defined by the NOVA classification and expressed as percentage of total energies. Results: Average energy intake from UPF (95 % CI) was 17·3 % (17·1 %, 17·6 %) among adults and 25·9 % (24·8 %, 27·0 %) in children/adolescents. Top sources of UPF were processed meats (32·5 %) and bread substitutes (16·7 %). Among adults, age (β = -3·10; 95 % CI (-4·40, -1·80) for >65 years v. 20-40 years; βs are dimensionless) and residing in Southern Italy (β = -0·73; 95 % CI (-1·32, -0·14) v. Northern) inversely associated with UPF. Screen view during meals was directly linked to UPF, as well as poor self-rated health (β = 5·32; 95 % CI (2·66, 7·99)), adverse life events (β = 2·33; 95 % CI (1·48, 3·18)) and low sleep quality (β = 2·34; 95 % CI (1·45, 3·23)). Boys consumed two-point percent more UPF of the total energy than girls (β = 2·01; 95 % CI (0·20, 3·82)). For all ages, a Mediterranean diet was inversely associated with UPF (β = -4·86; 95 % CI (-5·53, -4·20) for good v. poor adherence in adults and (β = -5·08; 95 % CI (-8·38, -1·77) for kids). Conclusions: UPF contributes a modest proportion of energy to the diets of Italian adults while being one-quarter of the total energies in children/adolescents. UPF was associated with several psychosocial factors and eating behaviours. Increased adherence to Mediterranean diet would possibly result in lower UPF consumption