The Language of Dreams: Application of Linguistics-Based Approaches for the Automated Analysis of Dream Experiences

The study of dreams represents a crucial intersection between philosophical, psychological, neuroscientific, and clinical interests. Importantly, one of the main sources of insight into dreaming activity are the (oral or written) reports provided by dreamers upon awakening from their sleep. Classically, two main types of information are commonly extracted from dream reports: structural and semantic, content-related information. Extracted structural information is typically limited to the simple count of words or sentences in a report. Instead, content analysis usually relies on quantitative scores assigned by two or more (blind) human operators through the use of predefined coding systems. Within this review, we will show that methods borrowed from the field of linguistic analysis, such as graph analysis, dictionary-based content analysis, and distributional semantics approaches, could be used to complement and, in many cases, replace classical measures and scales for the quantitative structural and semantic assessment of dream reports. Importantly, these methods allow the direct (operator-independent) extraction of quantitative information from language data, hence enabling a fully objective and reproducible analysis of conscious experiences occurring during human sleep. Most importantly, these approaches can be partially or fully automatized and may thus be easily applied to the analysis of large datasets

Impact of Physical Activity on Cognitive Functions: A New Field for Research and Management of Cystic Fibrosis

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disease inherited by an autosomal recessive mechanism and characterized by a progressive and severe multi-organ failure. Mutations in Cystic Fibrosis Conductance Regulator (CFTR) protein cause duct obstructions from dense mucus secretions and chronic inflammation related to organ damage. The progression of the disease is characterized by a decline of lung function associated with metabolic disorders and malnutrition, musculoskeletal disorders and thoracic deformities, leading to a progressive decrement of the individual’s quality of life. The World Health Organization (WHO) qualifies Physical Activity (PA) as a structured activity produced by skeletal muscles’ movements that requires energy consumption. In the last decade, the number of studies on PA increased considerably, including those investigating the effects of exercise on cognitive and brain health and mental performance. PA is recommended in CF management guidelines, since it improves clinic outcomes, such as peripheral neuropathy, oxygen uptake peak, bone health, glycemic control and respiratory functions. Several studies regarding the positive effects of exercise in patients with Cystic Fibrosis were carried out, but the link between the effects of exercise and cognitive and brain health in CF remains unclear. Animal models showed that exercise might improve learning and memory through structural changes of brain architecture, and such a causal relationship can also be described in humans. Indeed, both morphological and environmental factors seem to be involved in exercise-induced neural plasticity. An increase of gray matter volume in specific areas is detectable as a consequence of regular training in humans. Neurobiological processes associated with brain function improvements include biochemical modifications, such as neuromodulator or neurohormone release, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) production and synaptic activity changes. From a functional point of view, PA also seems to be an environmental factor enhancing cognitive abilities, such as executive functions, memory and processing speed. This review describes the current state of research regarding the impacts of physical activity and exercise on cognitive functions, introducing a possible novel field of research for optimizing the management of Cystic Fibrosis

The cartography of dreams: application of computational linguistics to the study of sleep conscious experiences

The study of dreams represents a crucial intersection between philosophical, psychological, neuroscientific, and clinical interests. Since dreams are subjective experiences spontaneously generated by the brain when it is partially disconnected from the external environment and thus is let free to operate in an unconstrained manner, their study could reveal specific mental processes that are different from those occurring during wakefulness and might provide crucial insights into brain functioning, both in physiological and pathological conditions. Given the high cost of sleep and dream research in terms of human effort and funding, open science and the building of large- scale datasets and repositories will constitute a key for significant advances in the field. At the same time, the analysis of large datasets will require a methodological shift, from human-based assessments to more automated approaches. For instance, methods based on natural language processing (NLP) could replace manual scales and rating approaches for the assessment of dream content. Such a methodological shift could also have positive consequences concerning the reproducibility and reliability of scientific results. Based on the above premises, we created Somnieve, a multimodal, open-source database collecting dream reports along with demographic information and psychometric, cognitive, and electroencephalographic measures obtained from a representative sample of the healthy Italian adult population. In particular, participants were asked to wear an actigraph and to record a report of their last dream experience each morning upon awakening for 14 days. Moreover, they completed a battery of questionnaires and cognitive tests. The database currently includes 1324 dream reports obtained from 161 healthy adult individuals (66M, 18-65y). Beside presenting and describing the Somnieve database, this Thesis work exploited the database to investigate the individual determinants of physiological dream content and recall frequency. We relied on computational linguistics to test whether it might be possible to implement computational linguistics based tools to automatically and objectively code dream content and verify the existence of generalizable semantic patterns in dream narratives. Moreover, we evaluated the inter- and intra-individual factors affecting dream recall frequency. Present results highlight the potential benefits that large multimodal databases like Somnieve could bring for the field of dream research. It is our hope that this, and similar independent efforts by other laboratories, will contribute to improve reproducibility in dream research and identify the individual determinants of dream content and recall frequency in physiological conditions, as well as quantify their possible pathological alterations

Disturbi del linguaggio nella sclerosi multipla e dopo infarto ischemico perinatale: presentazione di due casi clinici

In questo testo viene presentato lo studio condotto su due pazienti seguiti nel reparto di riabilitazione neurocognitiva dell’ospedale Santa Chiara di Pisa. La prima paziente, SP, italofona di 17 anni, è affetta da sclerosi multipla e da un disturbo della coordinazione motoria degli arti superiori. Nella storia clinica di SP viene segnalato un disturbo specifico di apprendimento a carico della lingua scritta (dislessia e disortografia evolutive) e degli automatismi del calcolo, diagnosticato quando la paziente aveva 12 anni. Il secondo paziente, PR, italofono di 13 anni, è affetto da una paralisi cerebrale infantile, a tipo emiparesi spastica destra, causata da un infarto ischemico, avvenuto, in fase perinatale, nel territorio di irrorazione dei rami corticali posteriori dell’arteria perisilviana sinistra. Il decorso delle due patologie può determinare l’insorgenza di disturbi del linguaggio di varia natura, che possono inficiare differenti livelli di elaborazione linguistica. In questo lavoro, in particolare, è stata esaminata la portata delle due patologie sulle capacità di elaborazione dei tratti morfosintattici e semantici del linguaggio tramite il monitoraggio del comportamento linguistico dei due soggetti nel corso della terapia riabilitativa e attraverso la somministrazione di test standardizzati di valutazione del linguaggio. Se lo studio dei deficit linguistici causati dalla sclerosi multipla ha dovuto tenere conto della notevole variabilità che può caratterizzare il decorso cognitivo della patologia, segnalato dall’alternanza difficilmente prevedibile tra fasi di remissione e recidive, ai fini di un’analisi dettagliata del deterioramento linguistico seguente a un infarto ischemico perinatale è stato necessario prendere in considerazione la portata dei meccanismi di riorganizzazione corticale che possono caratterizzare l’evoluzione linguistica del paziente. Dall’analisi dei risultati sono state rilevate delle prestazioni deficitarie in compiti di denominazione di figure che suggerirebbero, in entrambi i casi, un deficit nell’elaborazione dei tratti semantici del linguaggio. Inoltre, diversamente rispetto a quanto riportato in letteratura riguardo alle difficoltà linguistiche riscontrabili nei soggetti affetti da tali patologie, in particolare in ambito semantico e morfosintattico, la sperimentazione ha evidenziato un deficit dei meccanismi di conversione sublessicale grafema-fonema, nel caso della paziente SP, e un disturbo della componente lessicale, nel caso del paziente PR. Diversamente, la verifica delle capacità di elaborazione dei tratti morfosintattici del linguaggio, condotta tramite la somministrazione dell’adattamento in lingua italiana di una serie di test sviluppati da Domenica Romagno e collaboratori per soggetti anglofoni adulti, mirati alla valutazione del processamento dell’interfaccia tra semantica e morfosintassi, non ha rilevato deficit in tal senso. Informazioni più precise in merito potranno essere ottenute tramite la somministrazione delle stesse prove a un campione sano della medesima età e del medesimo livello di scolarizzazione dei pazienti esaminati

Language processing in the brain: a new battery for investigating the morphosyntax/semantics interface

Language testing has been long recognized to hold a crucial role in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases [1]. However, screening batteries are seldomly developed by linguists, whose expertise could highlight fine-grained linguistic phenomena. In this study, we propose a new battery of interrelated linguistic tasks for Italian, to assess language processing in fronto-temporal dementia (FTD). FTD patients typically present with selective deficits at either semantic or morphosyntactic processing [1, 2, 3]. Accordingly, our resource aims at exploring the neurocognitive correlates of such dissociations at the morphosyntax/semantics interface by disentangling distinct kinds of semantic and morphosyntactic features [4]. The study is based on previous work on English by Romagno and collaborators [5-6], adapted to Italian. The battery is composed by 5 macro-categories (Morphosyntax/Semantics Interface, Bare Morphology and Syntax, Thematic Role Assignment, Production, Comprehension), which in turn consist of several targeted tasks. All stimuli were selected among the 1000 most frequent open-class items from [7] and balanced for length, familiarity, and frequency. We are currently collecting normative data on a sample of Italian speakers, pooled across homogeneous subgroups for age, gender, and education, to set a gold-standard. State-of-the-art statistical analyses (such as mixed-effect-modelling) will be performed on data both within and across sample. The final results of the project will be available in a few weeks. In sum, we propose a new resource to assess language abilities in FTD patients. Differently from other studies [8], our battery requires access to distinct interface properties, hence identifying types of neurocognitively distinguishable semantic and morphosyntactic deficits. Additionally, its structure also allows for studying language processing in physiological conditions, particularly the understanding of learning mechanisms. Methodologically, the battery is designed to be part of either behavioral or brain imaging studies. We expect that such a fine-grained resource will contribute to investigate different dimensions of language processing, on both formal and functional grounds. References 1. Breedin, S.D., Saffran, E.M. (1999). Sentence Processing in the Face of Semantic Loss: A Case Study. Journal of Experimental Psychology 128(4). 2. Lambon Ralph, M. A., et al. (2017). The neural and computational bases of semantic cognition. NatRevNeurosci, 18(1). 3. Gorno-Tempini, ML., et al. (2011). Classification of primary progressive aphasia and its variants. Neurology, 76(11). 4. VanValin, R.D., LaPolla, R.J. (1997), Syntax: Structure, Meaning, and Function, Cambridge, CUP. 5. Romagno, D. et al. (2010). Evidence from neuropsychology on verb features: The case of a patient with Semantic Dementia. Proceedings of Verb 2010, Interdisciplinary workshop on verbs. 6. Romagno, D. (2017). The neural architecture of the morphosyntax/semantics interface: a novel approach for testing language processing in fronto-temporal dementia. In Marotta, G., Strik-Lievers, F.(eds.) Strutture linguistiche e dati empirici in diacronia e sincronia, Pisa, PUP. 7. Baroni, M., et al. (2009). The WaCky wide web: a collection of very large linguistically processed web-crawled corpora. Language Resources and evaluation, 43(3). 8. Hutchinson, A. D., Mathias, J. L. (2007). Neuropsychological deficits in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: a meta-analytic review. JNNP, 78(9)

Extensive Molecular Analysis Suggested the Strong Genetic Heterogeneity of Idiopathic Chronic Pancreatitis

Abstract Genetic features of chronic pancreatitis (CP) have been investigated extensively, mainly by testing genes associated to the trypsinogen activation pathway. However, different molecular pathways involving other genes may be implicated in CP pathogenesis. A total of 80 patients with idiopathic chronic pancreatitis (ICP) were investigated using a Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) approach with a panel of 70 genes related to six different pancreatic pathways: premature activation of trypsinogen, modifier genes of cystic fibrosis phenotype, pancreatic secretion and ion homeostasis, calcium signaling and zymogen granules (ZG) exocytosis, autophagy and autoimmune pancreatitis-related genes. We detected mutations in 34 out of 70 genes examined; of the 80 patients, 64 (80.0%) were positive for mutations in one or more genes and 16 (20.0%) had no mutations. Mutations in CFTR were detected in 32 of the 80 patients (40.0%) and 22 of them exhibited at least one mutation in genes of other pancreatic pathways. Of the remaining 48 patients, 13/80 (16.3%) had mutations in genes involved in premature activation of trypsinogen and 19/80 (23.8%) had mutations only in genes of the other pathways: 38 (59.3%) of the 64 patients positive for mutations showed variants in two or more genes. Our data, although to be extended with functional analysis of novel mutations, suggest a high rate of genetic heterogeneity in CP and that trans-heterozygosity may predispose to the ICP phenotype

Genotype-phenotype correlation and functional studies in patients with cystic fibrosis bearing CFTR complex alleles

BACKGROUND: The effect of complex alleles in cystic fibrosis (CF) is poorly defined for the lack of functional studies. OBJECTIVES: To describe the genotype-phenotype correlation and the results of either in vitro and ex vivo studies performed on nasal epithelial cells (NEC) in a cohort of patients with CF carrying cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) complex alleles. METHODS: We studied 70 homozygous, compound heterozygous or heterozygous for CFTR mutations: p.[Arg74Trp;Val201Met;Asp1270Asn], n=8; p.[Ile148Thr;Ile1023_Val1024del], n=5; p.[Arg117Leu;Leu997Phe], n=6; c.[1210-34TG[12];1210-12T[5];2930C>T], n=3; p.[Arg74Trp;Asp1270Asn], n=4; p.Asp1270Asn, n=2; p.Ile148Thr, n=6; p.Leu997Phe, n=36. In 39 patients, we analysed the CFTR gating activity on NEC in comparison with patients with CF (n=8) and carriers (n=4). Finally, we analysed in vitro the p.[Arg74Trp;Val201Met;Asp1270Asn] complex allele. RESULTS: The p.[Ile148Thr;Ile1023_Val1024del] caused severe CF in five compound heterozygous with a class I-II mutation. Their CFTR activity on NEC was comparable with patients with two class I-II mutations (mean 7.3% vs 6.9%). The p.[Arg74Trp;Asp1270Asn] and the p.Asp1270Asn have scarce functional effects, while p.[Arg74Trp;Val201Met;Asp1270Asn] caused mild CF in four of five subjects carrying a class I-II mutation in trans, or CFTR-related disorders (CFTR-RD) in three having in trans a class IV-V mutation. The p.[Arg74Trp;Val201Met;Asp1270Asn] causes significantly (pT] and a class I-II mutation had mild CF or CFTR-RD (gating activity: 18.5-19.0%). CONCLUSIONS: The effect of complex alleles partially depends on the mutation in trans. Although larger studies are necessary, the CFTR activity on NEC is a rapid contributory tool to classify patients with CFTR dysfunction

DREAM: A Dream EEG and Mentation database

Dream studies using electroencephalographic (EEG) recordings are an integral paradigm in the investigation of neurocognitive processes of human sleep and consciousness. However, they are limited by the number of observations that can be collected per study, and substantial methodological and conceptual variability poses problems for the integration of results. To address these issues, we present the DREAM database—an expanding collection of standardized datasets on human sleep EEG combined with dream report data—with an initial release of 18 datasets, totaling 2297 data points. Each datum consists, at minimum, of sleep EEG (≥20 s, ≥100 Hz, ≥2 electrodes) up to the time of waking and a standardized dream report classification of the participant’s reported sleep experience. This database will provide access to a larger pool of data than any single research group can collect and increase the statistical power of studies focusing on the neural correlates of dreaming. As examples, we demonstrate analyses of dream reports and EEG at each sleep stage (N > 1400 epochs). The database will also provide useful criteria for methodological choices in future laboratory research on dreaming