Efficacy of a Training on Executive Functions in Potentiating Rehabilitation Effects in Stroke Patients

Cognitive impairment after a stroke has a direct impact on patients\u2019 disability. In particular, impairment of Executive Functions (EFs) interferes with re\u2010adaptation to daily life. The aim of this study was to explore whether adding a computer\u2010based training on EFs to an ordinary rehabilitation program, regardless of the specific brain damage and clinical impairment (motor, language, or cognitive), could improve rehabilitation outcomes in patients with stroke. An EF training was designed to have minimal motor and expressive language demands and to be applied to a wide range of clinical conditions. A total of 37 stroke patients were randomly assigned to two groups: a training group, which performed the EF training in addition to the ordinary rehabilitation program (treatment as usual), and a control group, which performed the ordinary rehabilitation exclusively. Both groups were assessed before and after the rehabilitation program on neuropsychological tests covering multiple cognitive domains, and on functional scales (Barthel index, Functional Independence Measure). The results showed that only patients who received the training improved their scores on the Attentional Matrices and Phonemic Fluency tests after the rehabilitation program. Moreover, they showed a greater functional improvement in the Barthel scale as well. These results suggest that combining an EF training with an ordinary rehabilitation program potentiates beneficial effects of the latter, especially in promoting independence in activities of daily living

Maternal alexithymia and attachment style: Which relationship with their children's headache features and psychological profile?

Introduction: A growing body of literature has shown an association between somatic symptoms and insecure "attachment style." In a recent study, we found a relationship between migraine severity, ambivalent attachment style, and psychological symptoms in children/adolescents. There is evidence that caregivers' attachment styles and their way of management/expression of emotions can influence children's psychological profile and pain expression. To date, data dealing with headache are scarce. Our aim was to study the role of maternal alexithymia and attachment style on their children's migraine severity, attachment style, and psychological profile. Materials and methods: We enrolled 84 consecutive patients suffering from migraine without aura (female: 45, male: 39; mean age 11.8 ± 2.4 years). According to headache frequency, children/adolescents were divided into two groups: (1) high frequency (patients reporting from weekly to daily attacks), and (2) low frequency (patients having ≤3 episodes per month). We divided headache attacks intensity into two groups (mild and severe pain). SAFA "Anxiety," "Depression," and "Somatization" scales were used to explore children's psychological profile. To evaluate attachment style, the semi-projective test SAT for patients and ASQ Questionnaire for mothers were employed. Maternal alexithymia traits were assessed by TAS-20. Results: We found a significant higher score in maternal alexithymia levels in children classified as "ambivalent," compared to those classified as "avoiding" (Total scale: p = 0.011). A positive correlation has been identified between mother's TAS-20 Total score and the children's SAFA-A Total score (p = 0.026). In particular, positive correlations were found between maternal alexithymia and children's "Separation anxiety" (p = 0.009) and "School anxiety" (p = 0.015) subscales. Maternal "Externally-oriented thinking" subscale correlated with children's school anxiety (p = 0.050). Moreover, we found a correlation between TAS-20 Total score and SAFA-D "Feeling of guilt" subscale (p = 0.014). Our data showed no relationship between TAS-20 and ASQ questionnaires and children's migraine intensity and frequency. Conclusion: Maternal alexithymia and attachment style have no impact on children's migraine severity. However, our results suggest that, although maternal alexithymic traits have no causative roles on children's migraine severity, they show a relationship with patients' attachment style and psychological symptoms, which in turn may impact on migraine severity

<i>Ailanthus altissima</i> mapping from multi-temporal very high resolution satellite images

This study presents the results of multi-seasonal WorldView-2 (WV-2) satellite images classification for the mapping of Ailanthus altissima (A. altissima), an invasive plant species thriving in a protected grassland area of Southern Italy. The technique used relied on a two-stage hybrid classification process: the first stage applied a knowledge-driven learning scheme to provide a land cover map (LC), including deciduous vegetation and other classes, without the need of reference training data; the second stage exploited a data-driven classification to: (i) discriminate pixels of the invasive species found within the deciduous vegetation layer of the LC map; (ii) determine the most favourable seasons for such recognition. In the second stage, when a traditional Maximum Likelihood classifier was used, the results obtained with multi-temporal July and October WV-2 images, showed an output Overall Accuracy (OA) value of ?91%. To increase such a value, first a low-pass median filtering was used with a resulting OA of 99.2%, then, a Support Vector Machine classifier was applied obtaining the best A. altissima User\u27s Accuracy (UA) and OA values of 82.47% and 97.96%, respectively, without any filtering. When instead of the full multi-spectral bands set some spectral vegetation indices computed from the same months were used the UA and OA values decreased. The findings reported suggest that multi-temporal, very high resolution satellite imagery can be effective for A. altissima mapping, especially when airborne hyperspectral data are unavailable. Since training data are required only in the second stage to discriminate A. altissima from other deciduous plants, the use of the first stage LC mapping as pre-filter can render the hybrid technique proposed cost and time effective. Multi-temporal VHR data and the hybrid system suggested may offer new opportunities for invasive plant monitoring and follow up of management decision

Collaborative Interlaboratory Studies for the Validation of ELISA Methods for the Detection of Allergenic Fining Agents Used in Wine According to the Criteria of OIV Resolution 427–2010 Modified by OIV–Comex 502–2012

The clarification or fining of wine removes undesired substances (mainly proteins, phenols, and tannins), which would roil the wine and cause bitterness and astringency. A common fining agent, egg white, can be directly added to wine through the inlet of a circulating pump, but more typically egg white comes as commercial preparation in powdered form (commercially named egg albumin). Skimmed milk or more frequently purified caseinates are used to remove bitterness and hardness of white wine and sherry. Both egg white and caseinates are fining agents with optimal enological properties, but their residues could represent a risk for subjects suffering from food allergy. The rules for allergen labeling were detailed in Directives 2003/89/EC, and Directive 2005/26/EC established a list of food ingredients provisionally excluded from labeling, that included wine fining agents. Extended till June 2012, wine labeling exemption can be now maintained only if (1) egg and milk derivatives are not used and cross-contamination is under control; and (2) wine clarified with such products is negative for the presence of residues using techniques with detection and quantification limits of 0.25 and 0.5 ppm, respectively. Analytical requirements were defined in the OIV resolution 427–2010 (OIV 2010) modified by OIV/COMEX 502–2012 (OIV 2012). On the basis of a previous experience, an interlaboratory collaborative trial was organized to validate a commercial ELISA kit designed to measure allergenic residues in red wine fined with egg white proteins. In the meantime, the performance of the commercial caseinate ELISA kit for white wine was rechecked according to the new limit of detection and limit of quantification values, recommended by OIV in 2012. The collaborative interlaboratory studies showed that both ELISA kits had good reproducibility, repeatability, and robustness in detecting residues of allergenic fining agents in wine, in good agreement with the requirements of the OIV resolution 427–2010 modified by OIV/COMEX 502–2012

Digital interaction: where are we going?

In the framework of the AVI 2018 Conference, the interuniversity center ECONA has organized a thematic workshop on "Digital Interaction: where are we going?". Six contributions from the ECONA members investigate different perspectives around this thematic

Tuning PFKFB3 Bisphosphatase Activity Through Allosteric Interference

The human inducible phospho-fructokinase bisphosphatase isoform 3, PFKFB3, is a crucial regulatory node in the cellular metabolism. The enzyme is an important modulator regulating the intracellular fructose-2,6-bisphosphate level. PFKFB3 is a bifunctional enzyme with an exceptionally high kinase to phosphatase ratio around 740:1. Its kinase activity can be directly inhibited by small molecules acting directly on the kinase active site. On the other hand, here we propose an innovative and indirect strategy for the modulation of PFKFB3 activity, achieved through allosteric bisphosphatase activation. A library of small peptides targeting an allosteric site was discovered and synthesized. The binding affinity was evaluated by microscale thermophoresis (MST). Furthermore, a LC-MS/MS analytical method for assessing the bisphosphatase activity of PFKFB3 was developed. The new method was applied for measuring the activation on bisphosphatase activity with the PFKFB3-binding peptides. The molecular mechanical connection between the newly discovered allosteric site to the bisphosphatase activity was also investigated using both experimental and computational methods

Bioelectronic recordings of cardiomyocytes with accumulation mode electrolyte gated organic field effect transistors

Versió postprint del document publicat a: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bios.2019.111844Organic electronic materials offer an untapped potential for novel tools for low-invasive electrophysiological recording and stimulation devices. Such materials combine semiconducting properties with tailored surface chemistry, elastic mechanical properties and chemical stability in water. In this work, we investigate solution processed Electrolyte Gated Organic Field Effect Transistors (EGOFETs) based on a small molecule semiconductor. We demonstrate that EGOFETs based on a blend of soluble organic semiconductor 2,8-Difluoro-5,11-bis(triethylsilylethynyl)anthradithiophene (diF-TES-ADT) combined with an insulating polymer show excellent sensitivity and long-term recording under electrophysiological applications. Our devices can stably record the extracellular potential of human pluripotent stem cell derived cardiomyocyte cells (hPSCs-CMs) for several weeks. In addition, cytotoxicity tests of pharmaceutical drugs, such as Norepinephrine and Verapamil was achieved with excellent sensitivity. This work demonstrates that organic transistors based on organic blends are excellent bioelectronics transducer for extracellular electrical recording of excitable cells and tissues thus providing a valid alternative to electrochemical transistors

Teledermoscopy in the Diagnosis of Melanocytic and Non-Melanocytic Skin Lesions: NurugoTM Derma Smartphone Microscope as a Possible New Tool in Daily Clinical Practice

Background: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, teledermoscopy has been increasingly used in the remote diagnosis of skin cancers. In a study conducted in 2020, we demonstrated a potential role of an inexpensive device (NurugoTM Derma) as a first triage to select the skin lesions that require a face-to-face consultation with dermatologists. Herein, we report the results of a novel study that aimed to better investigate the performance of NurugoTM. Objectives: (i) verify whether the NurugoTM can be a communication tool between the general practitioner (GP) and dermatologist in the first assessment of skin lesions, (ii) analyze the degree of diagnostic–therapeutic agreement between dermatologists, (iii) estimate the number of potentially serious diagnostic errors. Methods: One hundred and forty-four images of skin lesions were collected at the Dermatology Outpatient Clinic in Novara using a conventional dermatoscope (instrument F), the NurugoTM (instrument N), and the latter with the interposition of a laboratory slide (instrument V). The images were evaluated in-blind by four dermatologists, and each was asked to make a diagnosis and to specify a possible treatment. Results: Our data show that F gave higher agreement values for all dermatologists, concerning the real clinical diagnosis. Nevertheless, a medium/moderate agreement value was obtained also for N and V instruments and that can be considered encouraging and indicate that all examined tools can potentially be used for the first screening of skin lesions. The total amount of misclassified lesions was limited (especially with the V tool), with up to nine malignant lesions wrongly classified as benign. Conclusions: NurugoTM, with adequate training, can be used to build a specific support network between GP and dermatologist or between dermatologists. Furthermore, its use could be extended to the diagnosis and follow-up of other skin diseases, especially for frail patients in emergencies, such as the current pandemic context