L’AGGETTIVO E L’AVVERBIO IN ITALIANO E IN CINESE: ANALISI CONTRASTIVA E PROPOSTE GLOTTODIDATTICHE

Il presente lavoro fornisce un’analisi contrastiva tra italiano e cinese in merito alle categorie grammaticali dell’aggettivo e dell’avverbio, al fine di individuare, da un lato, gli ostacoli che un apprendente sinofono può incontrare nello studio della lingua italiana, ed elaborare, dall’altro, strategie che rendano più efficace l’intervento didattico. La prima parte del contributo illustra sinteticamente la morfosintassi della lingua cinese, che si caratterizza per un maggior rigore e un maggior grado di prevedibilità rispetto alla frase italiana. La seconda parte è dedicata rispettivamente all’aggettivo e all’avverbio; del primo si analizzano la funzione predicativa e attributiva; del secondo i criteri con cui le due lingue classificano questa parte del discorso nonché la sua posizione nella frase, unica  e fissa nel caso del cinese, flessibile nel caso dell’italiano. Il filo conduttore che guida il presente lavoro è la convinzione che nell’insegnamento della grammatica a sinofoni siano necessarie spiegazioni esplicite, anche di quei tratti che solitamente sono impliciti nel sillabo.     Adjectives and adverbs in Italian and Chinese: contrastive analysis and glottodidactic reflections   This article provides a contrastive analysis between Italian and Chinese adjectives and adverbs, in order to identify, on the one hand, the obstacles that Chinese speakers face when learning Italian, and, on the other hand, which strategies are the most appropriate for effective teaching. It initially takes into account the Chinese morphosyntax, which is more rigorous and predictable than it is in Italian. The second part is devoted to adjectives and adverbs. We analyze the attributive and the predicative function of adjectives, and the criteria by which the two languages classify adverbs and their position in sentences, unique and fixed in Chinese, but more flexible in Italian. The main thread of the article highlights the necessity for explicit grammar teaching, including those aspects which are usually implicit in textbooks

Comparing virtual vs real faces expressing emotions in children with autism: An eye-tracking study

AbstractDifficulties in processing emotional facial expressions is considered a central characteristic of children with autism spectrum condition (ASC). In addition, there is a growing interest in the use of virtual avatars capable of expressing emotions as an intervention aimed at improving the social skills of these individuals. One potential use of avatars is that they could enhance facial recognition and guide attention. However, this aspect needs further investigation. The aim of our study is to assess differences in eye gaze processes in children with ASC when they see avatar faces expressing emotions compared to real faces. Eye-tracking methodology was used to compare the performance of children with ASC between avatar and real faces. A repeated-measures general linear model was adopted to understand which characteristics of the stimuli could influence the stimuli's fixation times. Survival analysis was performed to understand differences in exploration behaviour between avatar and real faces. Differences between emotion recognition accuracy and the number of fixations were evaluated through a paired t-test. Our results confirm that children with autism have higher capacities to process and recognize emotions when these are presented by avatar faces. Children with autism are more attracted to the mouth or the eyes depending on the stimulus type (avatar or real) and the emotion expressed by the stimulus. Also, they are more attracted to avatar faces expressing negative emotions (anger and sadness), and to real faces expressing surprise. Differences were not found regarding happiness. Finally, they show a higher degree of exploration of avatar faces. All these elements, such as interest in the avatar and reduced attention to the eyes, can offer important elements in planning an efficient intervention

An Innovative Approach to Development of Social Abilities in Individuals with Autism: A Pilot Study

Recent evidence suggests that individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) show a significant impairment in social abilities. There are no treatments that have demonstrated evidence of being effective at improving social skills and promoting independence. The transition to adulthood, which often involves loss of school support and child and adolescent mental health services, is a challenge in the rehabilitation field. Our pilot study is the first that describes a novel approach to involving young adults with ASD in metacognitive exercise focused on social cognition. In treatment proposed, participants with ASD help each other to create software aimed at improving children with ASD's understanding of emotions. Our results showed an qualitative and quantitative improvement of their cognitive empathic abilities, as witnessed by parents and of the post- treatment assessment. This pilot study highlights the importance to help individuals with ASD to fulfil their potential in areas of strength

Use of the Parents Preference Test in Child Custody Evaluations: Preliminary Development of Conforming Parenting Index

The Parents Preference Test (PPT) is a graphical test comprised of 24 easy to understand images of daily family life, which is widely used in forensic assessments of parenting skills. Nevertheless, the PPT lacks validity scales to detect participants’ attitudes toward the test; this is an important oversight, as the tendency to demonstrate faking-good parenting behaviors is common in child custody litigants. Study 1 aimed at identifying the differences in PPT responses between a normative/control group (N = 110) and a sample of parents undergoing a psychological evaluation of parenting ability (N = 99). Chi-square goodness of fit tests showed significant differences in answer preferences between groups in 11 vignettes (almost half of the total PPT items). Study 2 aimed at developing an index to detect faking-good behaviors. On the 11 vignettes in which significant differences in answer preferences were found in Study 1, the alternatives chosen with the highest frequency by the forensic group were added to an index called the “Conforming Parenting Index” (CPI). The area under the curve (AUC) of a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for a sample of 58 participants who completed the PPT under both standard and faking-good instructions demonstrated good classification accuracy (AUC= .813)

Register-based cumulative prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders during childhood and adolescence in Central Italy

Background: Studies have evaluated the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), focusing on different ages during childhood and adolescence. How cumulative prevalence increases before adulthood remains unclear.  Methods: We used data from the Autism Register of the Regional Reference Centre for Autism in L’Aquila, Central Italy, to retrieve information on individuals born in 2001–2012 with any of the inclusion diagnoses of ASD (DSM criteria) for the period 2001 to 2018. Cumulative prevalence on L’Aquila district population data was calculated as percentages for three-year age strata.  Results: All prevalence data were estimated at December 31st, 2018. The overall crude prevalence was 0.95% (352 cases over 36938 population). Cumulative prevalence was 1.19% among those born in 2001-2003 (15 to 17 years of follow up), 1.15% among those born in 2004-2006 (12 to 14 years of follow up), 1.04% among those born in 2007-2009 (9 to 11 years of follow up), 0.80% among those born in 2010-2012 (6 to 8 years of follow up), and 0.57% among those born in 2013-2015 (3 to 5 years of follow up). The proportion of ASD diagnoses until the age of 5 years, compared to the group diagnosed 6 to 8 years of age, showed a significant increasing trend over calendar time (53.6% for those born in 2001-2003, to 77.0% for those born in 2010-2012).  Conclusions: Cumulative prevalence by time period provides a better understanding of ASD occurrence than a point prevalence. We did not find any difference in frequency of diagnosis comparing age strata and year of birth, suggesting that frequencies of ASD diagnosis remained roughly constant from 2001 to 2015. Results show that cumulative prevalence of autism diagnosis does not substantially change over time; instead, diagnosis of ASD is more likely at earliest ages over time, although new cases of ASD are also detected at later ages.&nbsp

Bifid T waves in leads V2 and V3 in children: a normal variant

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>The T wave is rarely bifid, apart from patients with long QT syndrome or subjects treated with antiarrhythmic drugs. At times, a U wave partially superimposed upon the T wave is responsible for an apparently bifid T wave. Bifid T waves, in contrast, have been described in normal children in the past, but the phenomenon has not received any attention in recent years, to the extent that it is not mentioned in current textbooks of paediatric cardiology. Aim of the present study was to determine the incidence and clinical counterpart of bifid T waves in a paediatric population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We selected 604 consecutive children free from clinically detectable heart disease; subjects whose electrocardiogram showed a bifid T wave underwent a complete clinical and echocardiographic examination. In addition, the electrocardiograms of 110 consecutive adults have also been analyzed. A T wave was considered as bifid whenever it was notched, being the 2 peaks separated from each other by a notch with duration ≥ 0.02 sec and voltage ≥ 0.05 mV. Moreover, in 7 children with bifid T wave in lead V2 further precordial recordings were obtained: a small electrode was gradually moved from V1 to V3, and 4 additional leads were recorded: 2 between V1 an V2, and 2 between V2 and V3.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A bifid T wave was observed in 110 children (18,3%), with a relatively age-related incidence; the highest rate of bifid T waves (53%) occurred in the group of 5-year-old children. The bifid T wave was detected only in lead V2 in 51 cases (46,4%), only in lead V3 in 5 cases (4,6%), in both leads V2 and V3 in 50 cases (45,4%), and in leads other than V2 and V3 in 4 cases (3,6%). In the adult group, none of the examined electrocardiograms showed bifid T waves in any lead.</p> <p>In the bifid T wave paediatric population, the echocardiogram did not reveal any abnormality, apart from 3 subjects which had an asymptomatic mitral valve prolapse; a trivial mitral and/or tricuspid regurgitation detected by color Doppler, as well as a patent foramen ovale in infants, were not considered as abnormal findings. The QTc interval was normal in all of the subjects; the average QTc interval was not different in the bifid T wave population (402 ± 46 msec) with respect to the control group (407 ± 39 msec).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The incidence of bifid T waves in leads V2 and V3 in normal children is high, and awareness of this phenomenon avoids possible misinterpretations leading to a diagnosis of ECG abnormalities.</p

EGFR positive feedback loops and βeta Catenin driven miR-17-92 cluster converge to regulate EMT and drug resistance

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-targeted cancer drug represents a mile- stone in oncology. Nevertheless the responses are invariably limited by the emer- gence of secondary drug-resistance (Misale, Di Nicolantonio et al. 2014). We found that drug-treated ‘‘EGFR-addicted’’ cancer cells engage a positive feedback loop lead- ing to NF-KB/βCatenin axis activation (Lauriola, Enuka et al. 2014), consequently promoting cell survival and limiting overall drug response. Specifically, secondary activation of βCatenin drives the production of an oncogenic cluster of microRNAs 17-92 (Lauriola, Donghwa et al. 2015) implicated in EMT transformation and resist- ance in colon clones. Hence βCatenin and EGFR combination pharmacological inhi- bition overcome the colon spheres growth and enhance tumor regression. These findings suggest that inhibition of EGFR feedback loop along with NF-kB/βCatenin axis may increase the response to a broad spectrum of drugs that target pathways of oncogene addiction

Discrepancies between explicit and implicit evaluation of aesthetic perception ability in individuals with autism: a potential way to improve social functioning

Background: The capacity to evaluate beauty plays a crucial role in social behaviour and social relationships. It is known that some characteristics of beauty are important social cues that can induce stereotypes or promote different behavioural expectations. Another crucial capacity for success in social interactions is empathy, i.e. the ability to understand and share others\u2019 mental and emotional states. Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have an impairment of empathic ability. We showed in a previous study that empathy and aesthetic perception abilities closely related. Indeed, beauty can affect different aspects of empathic behaviour, and empathy can mediate the aesthetic perception in typically developing (TD) individuals. Thus, this study evaluates the ability of aesthetic perception in ASD individuals compared to TD individuals, using the Golden Beauty behavioural task adapted for eye-tracking in order to acquire both explicit and implicit evidences. In both groups, the relationship between empathic and aesthetic perception abilities was also evaluated. Methods: Ten ASD individuals (age \ub1 SD:20.7 \ub1 4.64) and ten TD individuals (age \ub1 SD:20.17 \ub1 0.98) participated in the study. Participants underwent empathy tasks and then the Golden Beauty task. To assess differences in the participants\u2019 performance, we carried out a repeated measures general linear model. Results: At the explicit level, our behavioural results show an impairment in aesthetic perception ability in ASD individuals. This inability could have relevance for their ability to experience pleasure during social interactions. However, at the implicit level (eye-tracking results), ASD individuals conserved a good ability to feel aesthetic pleasure during the Golden Beauty task, thus indicating a discrepancy between the explicit and implicit evaluation of the beauty task. Finally, beauty perception appears to be linked to empathy when neither of these capacities is compromised, as demonstrated in the TD group. In contrast, this link lacks in ASD individuals

Nusinersen Induces Disease-Severity-Specific Neurometabolic Effects in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Intrathecal delivery of Nusinersen-an antisense oligonucleotide that promotes survival motor neuron (SMN) protein induction-is an approved therapy for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). Here, we employed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to longitudinally characterize the unknown metabolic effects of Nusinersen in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of SMA patients across disease severity. Modulation of amino acid metabolism is a common denominator of biochemical changes induced by Nusinersen, with distinct downstream metabolic effects according to disease severity. In severe SMA1 patients, Nusinersen stimulates energy-related glucose metabolism. In intermediate SMA2 patients, Nusinersen effects are also related to energy homeostasis but involve ketone body and fatty acid biosynthesis. In milder SMA3 patients, Nusinersen mainly modulates amino acid metabolism. Moreover, Nusinersen modifies the CSF metabolome of a more severe clinical group towards the profile of untreated SMA patients with milder disease. These findings reveal disease severity-specific neurometabolic signatures of Nusinersen treatment, suggesting a selective modulation of peripheral organ metabolism by this CNS-directed therapy in severe SMA patients

Depressive Symptoms during Pregnancy. Prevalence and Correlates with Affective Temperaments and Psychosocial Factors

Pregnancy is a unique experience in women's life, requiring a great ability of adaptation and self-reorganization; vulnerable women may be at increased risk of developing depressive symptoms. This study aimed to examine the incidence of depressive symptomatology during pregnancy and to evaluate the role of affective temperament traits and psychosocial risk factors in predicting them. We recruited 193 pregnant women, collected data regarding sociodemographic, family and personal clinical variables, social support and stressful life events and administered the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), and the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego-Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A). In our sample, prevalence of depressive symptomatology was 41.45% and prevalence of depression was 9.85% (6.75% mild and 3.10% moderate depression). We have chosen a cutoff &gt;4 on PHQ-9 to identify mild depressive symptoms which may predict subsequent depression. Statistically significant differences between the two groups were found in the following factors: gestational age, occupation, partner, medical conditions, psychiatric disorders, family psychiatric history, stressful life events, and TEMPS-A mean scores. In our sample mean scores on all affective temperaments but the hyperthymic, were significantly lower in the control group. Only depressive and hyperthymic temperaments were found to be, respectively, risk and protective factors for depressive symptomatology. The current study confirms the high prevalence and complex aetiology of depressive symptomatology during pregnancy and suggests that affective temperament assessment seems to be a useful adjunctive instrument to predict depressive symptomatology during pregnancy and postpartum