Predire le abilità accademiche e il rendimento universitario. Una sfida possibile?

Il rapporto ISTAT 2009 su Università e Lavoro presenta i dati di mortalità studentesca sulle lauree triennali introdotte con la riforma dei cicli universitari (DM 509/1999). I risultati sembrano suggerire, nonostante una diminuzione dei ritiri nel passaggio dal primo al secondo anno, una percentuale sostanzialmente identica di matricole che riescono a raggiungere la Laurea. Sembrano, pertanto, ancora valide le considerazioni fatte nella seconda metà degli anni ’90 (si veda, a titolo di esempio, Giossi e Bertani, 1997), da una parte sulla necessità del numero programmato, dall’altra sui limiti delle prove di selezione nei diversi Atenei. Questi stessi problemi sono stati rilevati, con una precedente ricerca (Pinelli, Pelosi, Michelini, Tonarelli, 2009), anche nel Corso di Laurea Triennale della Facoltà di Psicologia di Parma, dove la valutazione della validità predittiva delle prove di selezione utilizzate non ha fornito risultati soddisfacenti, pur all’interno di un percorso accademico che evidenzia una sua coerenza interna. L’attenzione del presente contributo si è quindi spostata sull’indagine di costrutti alternativi, considerati importanti in letteratura ai fini dell’apprendimento, come personalità, autoefficacia nello studio, apprendimento superficiale, stress, coping e abilità di problem solving, con la finalità di indagare il rapporto tra la loro valutazione nel primo periodo successivo all’iscrizione e il rendimento accademico negli anni. Ad un campione complessivo di 867 matricole iscritte all’anno accademico 2008/2009 sono stati somministrati il Big Five Observer (BFO: Caprara, Barbaranelli e Borgogni, 1994), il Questionario sui Processi di Apprendimento (QPA: Poláček, 2005), il Problem Solving Inventory (PSI: Soresi, 1988), il Coping Inventory for Stressfull Situations (CISS-S-2: Endler e Parker, 1999), il Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ: Pintrich e De Groot, 1990) e la Measure du Stress Psychologique (MSP: Lemyre, Tessier e Fillion, 1990). Gli strumenti hanno mostrato una consistenza interna soddisfacente e una buona validità concorrente e discriminante. Sembrano, tuttavia, emergere dubbi sui costrutti indagati, che si dimostrano scarsamente predittivi rispetto al rendimento accademico del I anno

Neurodevelopmental disorders and development of project of life in a lifespan perspective: between habilitation and quality of life

AbstractFor some years, the term “project of life” has become widely used in the field of neurodevelopmentaldisorders, and, at the same time, it has begun to make its way in many socialand health planning documents. However, beyond its relatively widespread use, this termdoes not yet possess an adequate and shared frame of the main underlying decision-makingprocesses. In particular, there is a need to identify the crucial questions for orientingthe choice of goals within the adolescent transition, which represents the complex hingebetween childhood and adulthood. Moreover, adulthood, which is often completely devoidof culturally and socially shared references, is still critical precisely because of thelack of future direction prompts usually represented by the stages of development. In thiscase, the themes of quality of life functioning as a guiding compass appear pertinent andmuch more relevant. The present contribution is, therefore, an attempt to present, in aunitary manner, the decision-making processes and questions at the basis of a constructof “project of life” shared within the scientific and associative communities

A machine learning algorithm applied to trichoscopy for androgenic alopecia staging and severity assessment

Introduction: Androgenic alopecia (AGA) staging is still based on macroscopic scales, yet the introduction of trichoscopy is gradually bringing an important change, even though it remains an eye-based method. However, recently developed artificial intelligence-assisted programs can execute automated count of trichoscopic patterns. Nevertheless, to interpret data elaborated by these programs can be complex. Machine learning algorithms might represent an innovative solution. Among them, support vector machine (SVM) models are among the best methods for classification. Objectives: Our aim was to develop a SVM algorithm, based on three trichoscopic patterns, able to classify AGA patients and to calculate a severity index. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed trichoscopic images from 200 AGA patients using Trichoscale Pro® software, calculating the number of vellus hair, empty follicles and single hair follicular units. Then, we elaborated a SVM model, based on these three patterns and on sex, able to classify patients as affected by mild AGA or moderate-severe AGA, and able to calculate the probability of the classification being correct, expressed as percentage (from 50% to 100%). This probability estimate is higher in patients with more AGA trichoscopic patterns and, thus, it might serve as a severity index. Results: For training and test datasets, accuracy was 94.3% and 90.0% respectively, while the Area Under the Curve was 0.99 and 0.95 respectively. Conclusions: We believe our SVM model could be of great support for dermatologists in the management of AGA, especially in better assessing disease severity and, thus, in prescribing a more appropriate therapy

Stress and wellbeing among professionals working with people with neurodevelopmental disorders. Review and intervention perspectives

AbstractSupporting individuals with NDD is extremely demanding, with significant exposure tocritical contexts and events, and painful ongoing experiences. Stress and burnout conditionis a main concern with growing interest in research, despite the lack of consensus ontheoretical explanatory models and modification standards.The paper provides an up-to-date review of risk factors and involved processes, and presentsevidence-based procedures and protocols to implement effective preventive actionsaddressing both organizational and individual factors. The aim is to offer a global understandingof the subject and offer examples of practical plans to increase the impact onthe quality of life of clients and staff members

Peripheral Edema: Differential Diagnosis

Peripheral edemas can be generated by multiple causes, local and/or systemic. The difficulties in recognizing the exact nature of the edema and the cause that originates it often lead to erroneous considerations that determine an inappropriate therapeutic approach. In this chapter the various causes that generate peripheral edema are analyzed (systemic: cardiac diastolic dysfunction, kidney failure, liver failure, myxedema, from drugs, and idiopathic; and local: venous and/or lymphatic transport insufficiency). They are also described, according to the diagnosis made and the clinical and instrumental criteria to attain a correct and early diagnosis and to proceed to the most appropriate therapeutic measures (drugs, surgery, physical rehabilitative by means of manual and mechanical techniques) in individual cases

Early Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) improves the outcome in Heart Failure (HF) patients with Left Bundle Branch Block (LBBB)

Not available

Adverse skin reactions to personal protective equipment during COVID-19 pandemic in Italian health care workers

To avoid exposure to SARS-COV-2, healthcare professionals must use personal protective equipment (PPE). Their use has been related to a series of adverse effects; the most frequent adverse events were headache, dyspnoea, and pressure injuries. Skin adverse effects are very common, including contact dermatitis, itching, erythema, and acneiform eruptions. The objective of this study is to evaluate the skin problems caused by personal protection equipment (PPE) in health care workers (HCWs) and to individuate eventual risk factors. From May to June 2020 a retrospective observational multi-centric study conducted by an online survey sent by email, involving 10 hospital centers, was performed. We considered as independent variables gender and age, occupational group and sector, time of utilization, type and material of PPE. We tested 3 types of PPE: gloves, bonnet, and mask for different time of utilization (<1, 1-3, 3-6, >6 h). We performed a multiple logistic regression model to correlate them with skin adverse events occurrence. Among all the 1184 participants, 292 workers reported a dermatological pathology: 45 (15.41%) had psoriasis, 54 (18.49%) eczema, 38 (13.01%) acne, 48 (16.44%) seborrheic dermatitis, and 107 (36.64%) other. In our sample previous inflammatory dermatological conditions, female sex, prolonged use of PPE were significant risk factors for developing skin related adverse events considering all the PPE considered. The use of PPE is still mandatory in the hospital setting and skin adverse reactions still represent a global problem. Although data from Europe are limited, our study highlighted the importance of the problem of PPE skin reactions in a large sample of Italian healthcare professionals

Behavioral and neurophysiological effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in fronto-temporal dementia

Fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) is the clinical-diagnostic term that is now preferred to describe patients with a range of progressive dementia syndromes associated with focal atrophy of the frontal and anterior temporal cerebral regions. Currently available FTD medications have been used to control behavioral symptoms, even though they are ineffective in some patients, expensive and may induce adverse effects. Alternative therapeutic approaches are worth pursuing, such as non-invasive brain stimulation with transcranial direct current (tDCS). tDCS has been demonstrated to influence neuronal excitability and reported to enhance cognitive performance in dementia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether applying Anodal tDCS (2 mA intensity, 20 min) over the fronto-temporal cortex bilaterally in five consecutive daily sessions would improve cognitive performance and behavior symptoms in FTD patients, also considering the neuromodulatory effect of stimulation on cortical electrical activity measured through EEG. We recruited 13 patients with FTD and we tested the effect of Anodal and Sham (i.e., placebo) tDCS in two separate experimental sessions. In each session, at baseline (T0), after 5 consecutive days (T1), after 1 week (T2), and after 4 weeks (T3) from the end of the treatment, cognitive and behavioral functions were tested. EEG (21 electrodes, 10-20 international system) was recorded for 5 min with eyes closed at the same time points in nine patients. The present findings showed that Anodal tDCS applied bilaterally over the fronto-temporal cortex significantly improves (1) neuropsychiatric symptoms (as measured by the neuropsychiatric inventory, NPI) in FTD patients immediately after tDCS treatment, and (2) simple visual reaction times (sVRTs) up to 1 month after tDCS treatment. These cognitive improvements significantly correlate with the time course of the slow EEG oscillations (delta and theta bands) measured at the same time points. Even though further studies on larger samples are needed, these findings support the effectiveness of Anodal tDCS over the fronto-temporal regions in FTD on attentional processes that might be correlated to a normalized EEG low-frequency pattern

Analisi Del Bollettino Sismico Italiano A Seguito Del Terremoto Di Amatrice Mw 6.0 (24 Agosto 2016, Italia Centrale)

La sequenza sismica che ha seguito il terremoto di magnitudo momento MW= 6.0 di Amatrice del 24 agosto 2016 è la prima sequenza rilevante che avviene da quando, all’inizio del 2015, le modalità di analisi del Bollettino Sismico Italiano (BSI) sono state aggiornate (Nardi et al., 2015). Queste modalità prevedono la pubblicazione del BSI ogni quattro mesi, la revisione solo degli eventi con ML≥ 1.5, la revisione rapida degli eventi con ML≥ 3.5 e l’integrazione all’interno del BSI di tutte le stazioni i cui dati sono archiviati nello European Integrated Data Archive (EIDA). Quest’ultima procedura permette di integrare nel BSI anche le stazioni temporanee (Moretti et al., 2014) installate dal gruppo di emergenza SISMIKO (Sismiko working group, 2016), le cui registrazioni vengono archiviate, in tempi brevi, in EIDA (Mazza et al., 2012) insieme alle stazioni trasmesse in real-time. I quadrimestri del BSI 2015 e il primo del 2016 sono attualmente disponibili (http://cnt.rm.ingv.it/bsi) in formato QuakeML; tale formato contiene le localizzazioni con la stima degli errori, le magnitudo (MW, ML, Md), le letture delle fasi P ed S e i Time Domain Moment Tensor (TDMT). Sono stati inoltre sviluppati alcuni webservices (http://webservices.rm.ingv.it/ws_fdsn.php) per facilitare la lettura dei QuakeML e per rendere il bollettino fruibile alla comunità scientifica. Il terremoto di MW 6.0, avvenuto nella notte del 24 agosto 2016, alle ore 01:36 UTC, nell’area al confine tra l’Umbria, il Lazio, l’Abruzzo e le Marche, ha dato inizio a una sequenza sismica che al 23 settembre 2016 contava circa 11000 eventi.PublishedLecce, Italy4IT. Banche dat

Behavioral and Neurophysiological Effects of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) in Fronto-Temporal Dementia

Fronto-temporal dementia (FTD) is the clinical-diagnostic term that is now preferred to describe patients with a range of progressive dementia syndromes associated with focal atrophy of the frontal and anterior temporal cerebral regions. Currently available FTD medications have been used to control behavioral symptoms, even though they are ineffective in some patients, expensive and may induce adverse effects. Alternative therapeutic approaches are worth pursuing, such as non-invasive brain stimulation with transcranial direct current (tDCS). tDCS has been demonstrated to influence neuronal excitability and reported to enhance cognitive performance in dementia. The aim of this study was to investigate whether applying Anodal tDCS (2 mA intensity, 20 min) over the fronto-temporal cortex bilaterally in five consecutive daily sessions would improve cognitive performance and behavior symptoms in FTD patients, also considering the neuromodulatory effect of stimulation on cortical electrical activity measured through EEG. We recruited 13 patients with FTD and we tested the effect of Anodal and Sham (i.e., placebo) tDCS in two separate experimental sessions. In each session, at baseline (T0), after 5 consecutive days (T1), after 1 week (T2), and after 4 weeks (T3) from the end of the treatment, cognitive and behavioral functions were tested. EEG (21 electrodes, 10–20 international system) was recorded for 5 min with eyes closed at the same time points in nine patients. The present findings showed that Anodal tDCS applied bilaterally over the fronto-temporal cortex significantly improves (1) neuropsychiatric symptoms (as measured by the neuropsychiatric inventory, NPI) in FTD patients immediately after tDCS treatment, and (2) simple visual reaction times (sVRTs) up to 1 month after tDCS treatment. These cognitive improvements significantly correlate with the time course of the slow EEG oscillations (delta and theta bands) measured at the same time points. Even though further studies on larger samples are needed, these findings support the effectiveness of Anodal tDCS over the fronto-temporal regions in FTD on attentional processes that might be correlated to a normalized EEG low-frequency pattern