Improving the Transparency of an Ethical Review Process: A Case Study

openTransparency has been presented by governments and federations as a key instrument in the exercise of power within a democracy, as it is reputed to foster trust and to promote informed decision-making. However, the disclosure of an overwhelming amount of information without true understanding can hardly be considered as an example of transparency. In the present study, we apply usable transparency principles to the ethical review process of the Human Inspired Technology (HIT) Research Centre by designing, developing and testing a new tool aimed at aiding researchers in their submission for an ethical review. An experimental design is used to test the tool (i.e., a revised application form equipped with glossary callouts which serve as guidelines throughout the process) on a small sample of researchers. Data seems to suggest higher scores in both usability and transparency for participants who are provided with glossary callouts, than for those who are not. Furthermore, it may be the case that glossary callouts are actually useful in saving time during the completion of the process. Although further investigation is needed, these findings provide a useful insight on the effectiveness of this intervention and on our understanding of usable transparency.Transparency has been presented by governments and federations as a key instrument in the exercise of power within a democracy, as it is reputed to foster trust and to promote informed decision-making. However, the disclosure of an overwhelming amount of information without true understanding can hardly be considered as an example of transparency. In the present study, we apply usable transparency principles to the ethical review process of the Human Inspired Technology (HIT) Research Centre by designing, developing and testing a new tool aimed at aiding researchers in their submission for an ethical review. An experimental design is used to test the tool (i.e., a revised application form equipped with glossary callouts which serve as guidelines throughout the process) on a small sample of researchers. Data seems to suggest higher scores in both usability and transparency for participants who are provided with glossary callouts, than for those who are not. Furthermore, it may be the case that glossary callouts are actually useful in saving time during the completion of the process. Although further investigation is needed, these findings provide a useful insight on the effectiveness of this intervention and on our understanding of usable transparency

Shaping memory consolidation via targeted memory reactivation during sleep

Recent studies have shown that the reactivation of specific memories during sleep can be modulated using external stimulation. Specifically, it has been reported that matching a sensory stimulus (e.g., odor or sound cue) with target information (e.g., pairs of words, pictures, and motor sequences) during wakefulness, and then presenting the cue alone during sleep, facilitates memory of the target information. Thus, presenting learned cues while asleep may reactivate related declarative, procedural, and emotional material, and facilitate the neurophysiological processes underpinning memory consolidation in humans. This paradigm, which has been named targeted memory reactivation, has been successfully used to improve visuospatial and verbal memories, strengthen motor skills, modify implicit social biases, and enhance fear extinction. However, these studies also show that results depend on the type of memory investigated, the task employed, the sensory cue used, and the specific sleep stage of stimulation. Here, we present a review of how memory consolidation may be shaped using noninvasive sensory stimulation during sleep

Bicameralismo e forma di governo parlamentare

L’idea di limitazione del potere, connotativa delle moderne esperienze di democrazia costituzionale, rende il bicameralismo l’organizzazione del Parlamento più idonea al sistema ordinamentale di checks and balances. Tuttavia, perché la seconda Camera possa svolgere un ruolo di effettiva utilità nel collaborare con la prima, occorre che il modello di bicameralismo si adatti al contesto istituzionale di attuazione. In questo senso, l’analisi del sistema bicamerale italiano e del suo rendimento nell’evoluzione della forma di governo parlamentare pare mettere in luce una necessità di adeguamento all’avvertita esigenza di una sede politica di raccordo tra centro e autonomie

In vitro biological characterization of innovative anticancer metal-based agents

Cancer is the second leading cause of death. Although it is already validated the use of techniques such as radiotherapy, immunotherapy and chemotherapy, in the last decade the medical community has focused on the research of less invasive drugs, through the identification of new anticancer agents, as well as by the design of an innovative system for the drug delivery, like the liposomes, that allow the protection of the active principle until the achievement of molecular target, reducing the toxic effects. Among the new anticancer agents currently in clinical trials, there are the ruthenium-based compounds, NAMI-A and KP1019. These have emerged as promising alternatives to platinum compounds (Cisplatin, Oxaliplatin, Carboplatin) that constitute still an important class of chemotherapeutics, whose limit is the high toxicity. Although ruthenium and platinum belong to the same chemical series, the ruthenium complexes showed anticancer and/or antimetastatic activity, associated with fewer side effects. The difference between the derivatives of ruthenium and platinum is probably due to their different pharmacodynamics that, if is well known for Cisplatin and its analogs, it is not yet completely clarified for the other metal complexes. Also, the chemical characteristics like the redox potential, the charges and the lipophilicity are very different among the various classes of metal-based compounds, reflecting their different biological effects. In this context, my Ph.D. aim was the validation of new metal-based agents for the cancer therapy; in particular I analyzed two different classes of compounds: - The ruthenium complex inspired to the drug NAMI-A, AziRu, prepared (designed and developed) by the Department of Chemical Sciences of the University Federico II, Naples (Prof. Luigi Paduano, Prof. Daniela Montesarchio). Its pharmacokinetic profile was improved by the inclusion in liposomes, which should provide, by a passive targeting, for the protection of AziRu and its delivery to cancer cells. - The C-N heterocyclic compounds Ruthenium-derived (RDC11) or Osmium-derived (ODC2, ODC16, ODC20), prepared (designed and developed) by the Department of Chemistry of University of Strasbourg (Prof. Michael Pfeffer). Therefore, my research had different focuses: first, the validation of a nanotechnological platform of metal-based compounds by evaluation of biocompatibility and cellular uptake of different types of liposomes, as innovative carriers for metal complexes. The second point was the analysis of cell death pathways induced by these compounds. Finally, the research evaluated the possible targets involved in the mechanism of action. In fact, even if these compounds are really largely characterized by biological investigations, their mechanism of action, that, as mentioned above, is also closely dependent on redox status and chemical ligands, needs further insights. This study was carried out in particular on the compounds of RDCs and ODCs families, during the period of my Ph.D. at INSERM (French Institute of Health and Medical Research) of Strasbourg (supervisor Dr. Christian Gaiddon); in particular, it concerned the evaluation of the epigenetic changes correlated with the activity of such compounds and the identification of their specific targets. All the results of this work are thus divided, according to the different chemical characteristics of the compounds, into four sections: - Ruthenium-based nanovectors: comparison between neutral and cationic liposomes - DOTAP-TothyCholRu: cholesterol improves the cellular uptake - de-LOS-POPC-TothyRu: an alternative liposome inspired to the bacterial wall - RDCs and ODCs: the role of epigenetic changes in their mechanism of actio

Spontaneous pupillary oscillations increase during mindfulness meditation

A significant body of literature has shown that pupil size varies with cognitive and perceptual states [1,2]. Furthermore, the pupil diameter oscillates spontaneously at low frequencies, sometimes referred to as pupillary hippus [3,4]. Oscillation amplitude varies with many neural factors, including arousal and cortical excitability. Here we show that pupillary oscillations are modulated by mindfulness meditation, increasing by 53% compared to pre- and post-meditation baselines. The effect occurs only in trained meditators and is specific for low frequencies (below 1 Hz), with delta frequencies (1–5 Hz) unchanged. The study suggests that pupil size may be a useful marker of the altered cortical state during meditation. Pomè et al. measured the diameter of the eye pupil in trained mindfulness meditators and found that slow spontaneous pupil oscillations are specifically enhanced during meditation, indicating that the pupils can betray the meditative state

Spontaneous pupillary oscillations increase during mindfulness meditation.

A significant body of literature has shown that pupil size varies with cognitive and perceptual states [1,2]. Furthermore, the pupil diameter oscillates spontaneously at low frequencies, sometimes referred to as pupillary hippus [3,4]. Oscillation amplitude varies with many neural factors, including arousal and cortical excitability. Here we show that pupillary oscillations are modulated by mindfulness meditation, increasing by 53% compared to pre- and post-meditation baselines. The effect occurs only in trained meditators and is specific for low frequencies (below 1 Hz), with delta frequencies (1-5 Hz) unchanged. The study suggests that pupil size may be a useful marker of the altered cortical state during meditation

A Multimodal Knowledge-Based Deep Learning Approach for MGMT Promoter Methylation Identification

Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is considered one of the most aggressive malignant tumors, characterized by a tremendously low survival rate. Despite alkylating chemotherapy being typically adopted to fight this tumor, it is known that O(6)-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT) enzyme repair abilities can antagonize the cytotoxic effects of alkylating agents, strongly limiting tumor cell destruction. However, it has been observed that MGMT promoter regions may be subject to methylation, a biological process preventing MGMT enzymes from removing the alkyl agents. As a consequence, the presence of the methylation process in GBM patients can be considered a predictive biomarker of response to therapy and a prognosis factor. Unfortunately, identifying signs of methylation is a non-trivial matter, often requiring expensive, time-consuming, and invasive procedures. In this work, we propose to face MGMT promoter methylation identification analyzing Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data using a Deep Learning (DL) based approach. In particular, we propose a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) operating on suspicious regions on the FLAIR series, pre-selected through an unsupervised Knowledge-Based filter leveraging both FLAIR and T1-weighted series. The experiments, run on two different publicly available datasets, show that the proposed approach can obtain results comparable to (and in some cases better than) the considered competitor approach while consisting of less than 0.29% of its parameters. Finally, we perform an eXplainable AI (XAI) analysis to take a little step further toward the clinical usability of a DL-based approach for MGMT promoter detection in brain MRI

Guilt, shame, and embarrassment: similar or different emotions? A comparison between Italians and Americans

Introduction: Guilt, shame, and embarrassment represent affective experiences with social implications and diverse self-relevant negative affect. While the distinction between these emotion terms has been extensively investigated, little is known about how they diverge and are related to each other and their crosscultural differences. Methods: Here, we used a community sample (N = 163) comprised of Americans and Italians and a scenario-based measure in which we asked participants to report the intensity of emotions that the story's main character would feel. The elements used to build the scenarios were based on a recent theoretical approach that proposes distinguishing cognitive, somatic, interoceptive, and behavioral ingredients to differentiate between these emotions. We hypothesized that these ingredients might effectively elicit the target emotions and that the main differences across these cultures would be associated with the emotion terms of shame/vergogna. Results: Our findings suggest that these defining elements are effective in evoking experiences of guilt, shame, and embarrassment. Moreover, we found that shame was equally elicited by the Shame and Guilt Scenarios only in the American sample, thus suggesting a proximity between shame and guilt in the American sample compared to the Italian's terms of vergogna and colpa. Discussion: These results suggest important implications for the psychology of moral emotions and highlight the importance of taking into account some cognitive factors, such as the quality of self-evaluation, the discrepancy between the actual self and the ideal self vs. the sense of perceived responsibility, and the different domains related to self-esteem

Effect of weather on temporal pain patterns in patients with temporomandibular disorders and migraine

Patients with masticatory muscle pain and migraine typically report that the intensity of pain fluctuates over time and is affected by weather changes. Weather variables, such as ambient temperature and humidity, may vary significantly depending on whether the individual is outdoor or indoor. It is, therefore, important to assess these variables at the individual level using portable monitors, during everyday life. This study aimed to determine and compare the temporal patterns of pain in individuals affected with facial and head pain and to investigate its relation with weather changes. Eleven patients (27·3 ± 7·4 years) with chronic masticatory muscle pain (MP) and twenty (33·1 ± 8·7 years) with migraine headache (MH) were asked to report their current pain level on a visual analogue scale (VAS) every hour over fourteen consecutive days. The VAS scores were collected using portable data-loggers, which were also used to record temperature, atmospheric pressure and relative humidity. VAS scores varied markedly over time in both groups. Pain VAS scores fluctuate less in the MP group than in the MH group, but their mean, minimum and maximum values were higher than those of migraine patients (all P < 0·05). Pain scores <2 cm were more common in the MH than in the MP group (P < 0·001). Perceived intensity of pain was negatively associated with atmospheric pressure in the MP group and positively associated with temperature and atmospheric in the MH group. Our results reveal that patients with masticatory muscle pain and patients with migraine present typical temporal pain patterns that are influenced in a different way by weather changes