Brivaracetam in treating epileptic encephalopathy and refractory focal epilepsies in patients under 14 years of age.

Objectives: To analyze the efficacy and safety of Brivaracetam in pediatric patients with epileptic encephalopathy or unresponsive focal epilepsy. Materials & Methods: This retrospective study was performed on 8 pediatric patients with EE or unresponsive focal epilepsy. Inclusion criteria: (1) 14 years or younger, (2) history of refractory epilepsy, (3) at least 1 month of continuous therapy with BRV, and (4) at least 6 months of follow-up. Exclusion criteria: (1) variation of concomitant antiepileptic drugs during the previous and/or subsequent 4 weeks of the introduction of BRV, (2) levetiracetam in therapy, (3) an epilepsy secondary to a progressive cerebral disease, tumor, or any other progressive neurodegenerative diseases, and (4) a status epilepticus in the month before screening or during the baseline period. The efficacy of BRV was defined as ≥50% of seizure frequency reduction at the end of the follow-up compared to baseline. Results: All patients showed ≥50% seizure frequency reduction, of which 37.5% were seizure-free, 25% had a frequency reduction of ≥75% and 37.5% ≥ 50%. All patients with an epilepsy onset >12 months and duration of the epilepsy ≤6 years were seizure-free. The maximum effect was achieved at 2 mg/kg/day. Focal seizures showed a better response than epileptic encephalopathy. A remarkably positive effect of the Brivaracetam in patients with encephalopathy related to status epilepticus during sleep was noted. No relevant adverse events were noted. Conclusion: Brivaracetam was an effective and well-tolerated treatment in pediatric patients with epileptic encephalopathy or unresponsive focal epilepsy, especially when the epilepsy onset was >12 months and the epilepsy duration ≤6 years. The overall effect was not dose dependent. Brivaracetam could have an indication in encephalopathy related to status epilepticus during sleep

Genotyping of Hepatitis E virus (Orthohepevirus A) spread in wild boars in the Marche region, Italy

Hepatitis E virus (HEV), now named Orthohepevirus A, belongs to the Orthohepevirus genus in the family Hepeviridae and is associated in humans with outbreaks and sporadic cases of acute hepatitis. The virus is considered endemic in many tropical and subtropical countries, but its distribution is probably global. In Europe, the number of autochthonous cases in humans is increasing. In Marche region (Italy) several cases have been recently found to be caused by genotype 3 [1], which is most frequently detected in Italy in raw and dry pork liver sausages [2]. The aim of this study was to study the presence of and to genotype HEV in wild boars in Marche region, Italy. Forty-five liver samples were collected from wild boars shot during the hunting seasons of 2018–2019 in six different municipalities in Marche region. A nested PCR protocol was used to amplify a specific part of the ORF2 [3]. Seventeen samples gave a PCR product of the expected size (348 bp) and were sequenced. The sequences were edited and aligned with representative sequences of all genotypes described so far [4]. The phylogenetic tree was inferred using the Maximum Likelihood method and the best-fitting nucleotide substitution model was Tamura-Nei with bootstrap values based on 1000 repetitions. A discrete Gamma distribution was used to model evolutionary rate differences among sites. The rate variation model allowed for some sites to be evolutionarily invariable. In all municipalities at least one animal was infected by HEV genotype 3. Three different HEV subtypes were found. HEV-3f was found in most samples, subtype 3e was found in 5 samples, and only one wild boar was infected by 3c subtype. In one municipality all three subtypes were found in wild boars shot in the same area. The results show that HEV genotype 3 is widely spread in wild boars. The subtypes detected in the present study have been already found in Italy both in pigs and in wild boars [4,5]. Although subtype 3f has been frequently associated to disease in humans in some European countries e.g., France and England, subtypes 3e and 3c are the most frequently reported in humans in Italy, while subtype 3c is rarely reported in Italian suids [5]. HEV-3c, HEV-3e, and HEV-3f have been reported not only in humans and suids (pigs and wild boar) but also in contaminated food items of pork and wild boar (references are reported in [5]). Considering that traditional food products are widely made with uncooked wild boar liver in the geographic area included in this study, studies on the impact of the maturing process on HEV infectivity are required. In addition, the role of wild boars in maintenance and recombination of HEV should be monitored, as well as their role in transmitting the virus to free-range pigs

Bovine coronavirus N gene detection and characterization in cattle: a preliminary study

Bovine coronavirus (BCoV) belongs to the genus Betacoronavirus and subgenus Embecovirus in the family Coronaviridae and causes respiratory and enteric disease in cattle. The genome is a single-stranded, positive-sense RNA of approximately 31 kb. Although most molecular phylogenetic analyses are based on the S gene, genetic variability has been found also in HE and in N genes. This preliminary work is part of a larger study aimed at analysing the genetic variability of BCoV detected in cattle recently acquired from different European countries. Nasal swab samples were collected from 66 cattle recently acquired from Northern Italy, France, Hungary, Romania, and Poland by 15 different farms. PCR methods were used to amplify and sequence the N gene [1]. Sequences were aligned with N gene sequences available in databases and the phylogenetic tree was inferred using the Maximum Likelihood method with Kimura 2-parameter as nucleotide substitution model. The rate variation among sites was modelled with a gamma distribution. The main sites of mutation were at positions T30041C, C30059T, C30071A, T30251C and G30257T in comparison with the sequence of the Mebus isolate (GenBank ID U00735.2). In addition, one sample showed synonymous mutations at positions C30056T and A30122T. The only non-synonymous mutation A30192C, corresponding to the substitution of an isoleucine with a leucine, was found in one strain from Northern Italy. Most samples showed the highest percentage of identity with the strain BCoV/FRA/EPI/Caen/2012/07 (GenBank ID KT318089.1) isolated in France in 2012 from cattle. A few samples showed the highest percentage of identity with the strain bcovizsm (GenBank ID MW074864.1) isolated in Southern Italy in 2020 from cattle [2]. Interestingly, one sample collected from cattle reared in Northern Italy showed the highest identity with bovine-like coronavirus detected in water buffalo in Southern Italy in 2007 (GenBank ID EU019216.1) [3] and then in dromedary in Morocco in 2016 (GenBank IDs MN514972.1 and MN514975.1) [4]. N protein plays an important role during virion assembly and in enhancing the efficiency of subgenomic viral RNA transcription as well as viral replication. The sequences obtained in this study showed some synonymous mutations rarely or not detected previously. The N gene is often the target of PCR diagnostic protocols thus monitoring of sequences of this gene is important to evaluate the conservation among sequences of viruses from different geographic regions. Further investigations will be aimed at sequencing other relevant and more variable genes. Particular attention will be paid to the sample showing high identity with bovine-like coronavirus previously detected in host different than cattle [3,4]

Linguistic Markers of Anorexia Nervosa: Preliminary Data from a Prospective Observational Study

Recent works indicated the potential relevance of Natural Language Processing techniques for the detection of clinical conditions. This paper tries to address the issue in the Eating Disorder domain, by exploiting “linguistic biomarkers” for Anorexia Nervosa (AN) detection in female teenagers. We hypothesize that (i) disturbances in self-perceived body image, black and white thinking and mood changes strongly associated with AN disorder can result in altered linguistic patterns; and (ii) these subtle modifications can be identified by means of NLP tools, acting as early proxy measures for the disorder. To this aim, we enrolled 51 participants (age range: 14-18): 17 girls with a clinical diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa and 34 normal weighted peers, matched by gender, age and educational level. Both the groups were asked to produce three written texts (around 10-15 lines long), i.e. two autobiographical narratives and a short description of a complex figure. A rich set of linguistic features was extracted from the text samples and the statistical significance in pinpointing the pathological process was measured. Our preliminary results show that subtle language disruptions, mainly at the lexical and syntactic level, can actually represent an early but reliable marker of the disease. However, an analysis on a bigger cohort with follow-up information, still ongoing, is needed to consolidate this assumption

Linguistic feature of anorexia nervosa: a prospective case–control pilot study

none10noPurpose Attention has recently been paid to Clinical Linguistics for the detection and support of clinical conditions. Many works have been published on the “linguistic profile” of various clinical populations, but very few papers have been devoted to linguistic changes in patients with eating disorders. Patients with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) share similar psychological features such as disturbances in self-perceived body image, inflexible and obsessive thinking and anxious or depressive traits. We hypothesize that these characteristics can result in altered linguistic patterns and be detected using the Natural Language Processing tools. Methods We enrolled 51 young participants from December 2019 to February 2020 (age range: 14–18): 17 girls with a clinical diagnosis of AN, and 34 normal-weighted peers, matched by gender, age and educational level. Participants in each group were asked to produce three written texts (around 10–15 lines long). A rich set of linguistic features was extracted from the text samples and the statistical significance in pinpointing the pathological process was measured. Results Comparison between the two groups showed several linguistics indexes as statistically significant, with syntactic reduction as the most relevant trait of AN productions. In particular, the following features emerge as statistically significant in distinguishing AN girls and their normal-weighted peers: the length of the sentences, the complexity of the noun phrase, and the global syntactic complexity. This peculiar pattern of linguistic erosion may be due to the severe metabolic impairment also affecting the central nervous system in AN. Conclusion These preliminary data showed the existence of linguistic parameters as probable linguistic markers of AN. However, the analysis of a bigger cohort, still ongoing, is needed to consolidate this assumption. Level of evidence III Evidence obtained from case–control analytic studies.noneVittoria Cuteri, Giulia Minori, Gloria Gagliardi, Fabio Tamburini, Elisabetta Malaspina, Paola Gualandi, Francesca Rossi, Milena Moscano, Valentina Francia, Antonia ParmeggianiVittoria Cuteri, Giulia Minori, Gloria Gagliardi, Fabio Tamburini, Elisabetta Malaspina, Paola Gualandi, Francesca Rossi, Milena Moscano, Valentina Francia, Antonia Parmeggian

Linguistic Markers of Anorexia Nervosa: Preliminary Data from a Prospective Observational Study

Recent works indicated the potential relevance of Natural Language Processing techniques for the detection of clinical conditions. This paper tries to address the issue in the Eating Disorder domain, by exploiting \u201clinguistic biomarkers\u201d for Anorexia Nervosa (AN) detection in female teenagers. We hypothesize that (i) disturbances in self-perceived body image, black and white thinking and mood changes strongly associated with AN disorder can result in altered linguistic patterns; and (ii) these subtle modifications can be identified by means of NLP tools, acting as early proxy measures for the disorder. To this aim, we enrolled 51 participants (age range: 14-18): 17 girls with a clinical diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa and 34 normal weighted peers, matched by gender, age and educational level. Both the groups were asked to produce three written texts (around 10-15 lines long), i.e. two autobiographical narratives and a short description of a complex figure. A rich set of linguistic features was extracted from the text samples and the statistical significance in pinpointing the pathological process was measured. Our preliminary results show that subtle language disruptions, mainly at the lexical and syntactic level, can actually represent an early but reliable marker of the disease. However, an analysis on a bigger cohort with follow-up information, still ongoing, is needed to consolidate this assumption

PMLAN

This corpus consists of written texts produced by 51 adolescents (14-18 years of age): 17 girls with a clinical diagnosis of Anorexia Nervosa, and 34 normal-weighted peers, matched for gender, age, educational level, and geographical origin. All participants were asked to produce three short texts (10-15 lines long): in the first task, the prompt was “How would you describe yourself? (Please, talk about your physical and personality traits, your hobbies, etc.)” (personal task). In the second, the prompt was “How do you usually spend time with your friends?” (neutral task). For the third task, participants were asked to describe a complex picture. The elicited responses were manually digitized by linguists, and the resulting corpus was subjected to PoS Tagging and Dependency Parsing (CoNLL format). Approval was granted by the Bioethics Committee of Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria di Bologna, Policlinico Sant’Orsola-Malpighi, Italy (prot. 683/2019/Oss/AOUBo). At the time of submission on CLARIN, this is an ongoing project. Due to the Italian privacy policy, raw data of the corpus (i.e., transcriptions and clinical information of the participants) is not available. Processed data (i.e., tables of lexical/syntactic values, with the name of the speakers masked through an alphanumeric acronym to ensure anonymity) are available from the contact person upon reasonable request