The evaluative component in children’s narratives: Comparison of two intervention procedures

International audienceLes études sur le développement des compétences narratives utilisant une interaction focalisée sur les causes des événements ont montré des effets positifs sur le développement cognitif et linguistique des enfants, notamment pour ce qui concerne le discours de type ‘évaluatif’ (expression d’explications et des états mentaux des personnages d’une historie) . En partant de l’idée que l’interaction entre pairs et la motivation d’expliciter l’histoire à un interlocuteur plus jeune pourraient aider davantage l’enfant (Vygotskij, 1934), ce travail se propose de comparer la conversation sur les causes (CosCau) à l’interaction entre pairs (INTP) - chez des enfants de 6 à 8 ans. Pour ce faire, on a comparé les récits de l’histoire de la pierre sur le chemin (Veneziano et Hudelot, 2005) de deux groupes d’enfants exposés soit à procédure CosCau soit à la procédure INTP, où l’enfant interagit avec une marionnette représentant un enfant qui ne connait pas l’histoire. Les récits ont été récoltés avant et après l’intervention, ainsi qu’une semaine après afin de vérifier la stabilité et la généralisation des éventuels effets de l’intervention. Les résultats confirment l’efficacité de la procédure CosCau : les enfants progressent significativement après l’intervention, les progrès étant stables et généralisables une semaine après. Les enfants de la condition INTP présentent par contre une cohérence narrative moindre immédiatement après (peut-être due à un effet de ‘modeling’), qui s’améliore toutefois une semaine après. Ces résultats soulignent la nécessité d’approfondir la réflexion sur les effets seulement retardés de l’interaction mise en place ici entre enfants avec différents états de connaissance

Representing tools as hand movements: Early and somatotopic visuomotor transformations

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Towards the abandonment of surgical castration in pigs: How is immunocastration perceived by Italian consumers?

Immunocastration of pigs represents an alternative method to surgical castration, being more respectful of animal welfare. However, this new technology may not be accepted by consumers due to their perception of possible risks tied to the use of the product, thus representing a concern for the production sector. The study aimed at verifying the attitude of Italian consumers towards immunocastration and to assess whether their perception can be affected by science-based information on advantages and disadvantages of immunocastration. A total of 969 consumers (divided in three groups representative of the Italian population) were contacted and asked to complete an online questionnaire. Only technical (neutral) information on immunocastration was provided to the first group; the second and the third group received information on the advantages (+) and disadvantages (-) of the technique, shown in reverse order (+/- and -/+, respectively). The level of information did not affect consumers\u2019 perception of immunocastration. Overall, immunocastration is perceived in a predominantly positive manner (54.5%), with a relatively low level of risk perception (34.2%), and a good willingness to pay more for meat deriving from immunocastrated pigs (+18.7%)

ED-B-Containing Isoform of Fibronectin in Tumor Microenvironment of Thymomas:A Target for a Theragnostic Approach

Simple Summary The extra-domain B fibronectin (ED-B FN) is highly expressed in thymic epithelial tumors (TETs), as demonstrated by in vivo targeting using 131I-labeled L19 small immunoprotein (131I-L19-SIP) and immunohistochemistry with a predominant expression by stromal cells of a thymoma microenvironment rather than epithelial cells. Such high expression derived from the induction of stromal cells shifts FN production to the ED-B subtype. Our results suggest that Radretumab radioimmunotherapy (R-RIT) inefficacy is not related to low TET ED-B expression but to multifactorial aspects including patients' inherent characteristics, the pattern expression of the target, the biological characteristics of the tumor, and the format of the target agent, which contribute to the resistance of tumor cells to treatment. Aim: to exploit tissue-specific interactions among thymic epithelial tumor (TETs) cells and extra-domain B fibronectin (ED-B FN). Material and methods: The stromal pattern of ED-B FN expression was investigated through tumor specimen collection and molecular profiling in 11 patients with recurrent TETs enrolled in prospective theragnostic phase I/II trials with Radretumab, an ED-B FN specific recombinant human antibody. Radretumab radioimmunotherapy (R-RIT) was offered to patients who exhibited the target expression. Experiments included immunochemical analysis (ICH), cell cultures, immunophenotypic analysis, Western blot, slot-blot assay, and quantitative RT-PCR of two primary thymoma cultures we obtained from patients' samples and in the Ty82 cell line. Results: The in vivo scintigraphic demonstration of ED-B FN expression resulted in R-RIT eligibility in 8/11 patients, of which seven were treated. The best observed response was disease stabilization (n = 5/7) with a duration of 4.3 months (range 3-5 months). IHC data confirmed high ED-B FN expression in the peripherical microenvironment rather than in the center of the tumor, which was more abundant in B3 thymomas. Further, there was a predominant expression of ED-B FN by the stromal cells of the thymoma microenvironment rather than the epithelial cells. Conclusions: Our data support the hypothesis that thymomas induce stromal cells to shift FN production to the ED-B subtype, likely representing a favorable hallmark for tumor progression and metastasis. Collectively, results derived from clinical experience and molecular insights of the in vitro experiments suggested that R-RIT inefficacy is unlikely related to low target expression in TET, being the mechanism of R-RIT resistance eventually related to patients' susceptibility (i.e., inherent characteristics), the pattern expression of the target (i.e., at periphery), the biological characteristics of the tumor (i.e., aggressive and resistant phenotypes), and/or to format of the target agent (i.e., 131I-L19-SIP)

COVID-19 and risk of retraumatization in adults with a past exposure to potentially traumatic events: a cross-cultural exploration across Egypt, Germany, and Italy

Aims: This study aims to: (1) explore the links between past exposure to potentially traumatic events, fear of contracting COVID-19 and perceived stress; (2) investigate how the exposure to traumagenic experiences affects one's locus of control over their health; and (3) examine fear, stress reactions and differences in health locus of control across three different sociocultural contexts. Methods: A total of 524 adult participants were recruited from Egypt, Germany, and Italy through online channels. Self-reporting instruments were used to assess previous exposure to potentially traumatic events, PTSD symptoms, fear of COVID-19, perceived stress, and health locus of control. Results: Our findings highlight differences in reaction to COVID-19 in relation to past exposure to potentially traumatic events and country of residence, both of which may inform tailored community-based intervention practices. Conclusion: The impact of COVID-19 might be particularly disruptive for people who survived potentially traumatic experiences. Nevertheless, the mass mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic varies across different sociocultural contexts

Le tecnologie portatili a supporto del turismo infantile

Atti del VI congresso CKBG (Collaborative Knowledge Building Group

Vision of tongue movements bias auditory speech perception

Audiovisual speech perception is likely based on the association between auditory and visual information into stable audiovisual maps. Conflicting audiovisual inputs generate perceptual illusions such as the McGurk effect. Audiovisual mismatch effects could be either driven by the detection of violations in the standard audiovisual statistics or via the sensorimotor reconstruction of the distal articulatory event that generated the audiovisual ambiguity. In order to disambiguate between the two hypotheses we exploit the fact that the tongue is hidden to vision. For this reason, tongue movement encoding can solely be learned via speech production but not via others׳ speech perception alone. Here we asked participants to identify speech sounds while matching or mismatching visual representations of tongue movements which were shown. Vision of congruent tongue movements facilitated auditory speech identification with respect to incongruent trials. This result suggests that direct visual experience of an articulator movement is not necessary for the generation of audiovisual mismatch effects. Furthermore, we suggest that audiovisual integration in speech may benefit from speech production learning