Online assessment of negotiation skills through 3D role play simulation

The lack of standardised technological tools to assess psychological characteristics allows traditional tests to be still widely used, though these tests require double processing and expensive procedures. ENACT is both a serious game for a standardised assessment of the user negotiation skills and an Intelligent Tutoring System, which makes use of the data collected during the interaction in order to generate a tailored environment for the user to experience and improve their skills and be guided through learning

Fast 2-D soft X-ray imaging device based on micro pattern gas detector

Abstract An innovative fast system for X-ray imaging has been developed at ENEA Frascati (Italy) to be used as diagnostic of magnetic plasmas for thermonuclear fusion. It is based on a pinhole camera coupled to a Micro Pattern Gas Detector (MPGD) having a Gas Electron Multiplier (GEM) as amplifying stage. This detector (2.5 cm × 2.5 cm active area) is equipped with a 2-D read-out printed circuit board with 144 pixels (12 × 12), with an electronic channel for each pixel (charge conversion, shaping, discrimination and counting). Working in photon counting mode, in proportional regime, it is able to get X-ray images of the plasma in a selectable X-ray energy range, at very high photon fluxes (106 ph s - 1mm−2 all over the detector) and high framing rate (up to 100 kHz). It has very high dynamic range, high signal to noise ratio (statistical) and large flexibility in the optical configurations (magnification and views on the plasma). The system has been tested successfully on the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU), having central electron temperature of a few keV and density of 1020 m−3, during the summer 2001, with a one-dimensional perpendicular view of the plasma. In collaboration with ENEA, the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) and Princeton Plasma Physics (PPPL), this system has been set up and calibrated in the X-ray energy range 2–8 keV and it has been installed, with a two-dimensional tangential view, on the spherical tokamak NSTX at Princeton. Time resolved X-ray images of the NSTX plasma core have been obtained. Fast acquisitions, performed up to 50 kHz of framing rate, allow the study of the plasma evolution and its magneto-hydrodynamic instabilities, while with a slower sampling (a few kHz) the curvature of the magnetic surfaces can be measured. All these results reveal the good imaging properties of this device at high time resolution, despite of the low number of pixels, and the effectiveness of the fine controlled energy discrimination

Effects of oral citicoline in perimetric glaucoma defects

Abstract: Purpose: to study the neuroprotective effect of oral citicoline (CT) in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). Methods: this study recruits 110 patients with stage IV POAG and well-controlled intraocular pressure (IOP). Enrollees were randomly allocated in two groups: therapy group (TG) or control group (CG). Subjects in TG were treated with citicoline 500 mg / die for 4 months. The treatment period was followed by a wash-out phase of 2 months. At the end of the washout phase, subjects in TG resumed CT in the same fashion. Both groups were treated with pressurelowering medications. Each subject was evaluated with standard automated perimetry (SAP) at baseline, and then again 12, 24, and 36 months after enrollment. Results: TG showed a statistically significant improvement in MD values at 12 months (∆ = 21%) and T24 (∆ = 35%), and gradual improvements of the stage, up to the 3rd stage with localized defects after 36 months of therapy. Conversely, in CG, both the MD and PSD indices continued to deteriorate throughout the duration of the study. Conclusion: long-term daily treatment with citicoline might have a neuroprotective effect. Patients treated with oral citicoline showed an improvement in perimetric indices. Additional studies with larger samples and longer follow-ups are needed to confirm these results

X-VUV spectroscopic imaging with a micropattern gas detector

Abstract An innovative system which combines very fast 2D imaging capabilities with spectral resolution in the X-VUV range 0.2–8 keV has been developed at ENEA-Frascati (Italy) in collaboration with INFN-Pisa (Italy). It is based on a pinhole camera coupled to a micropattern gas detector having a gas electron multiplier as gas amplifying stage. This detector (2.5 cm×2.5 cm active area), equipped with a 2D read-out printed circuit board with 144 pixels in a square matrix geometry (12×12) has been adapted to work at low energy, as far as 0.2 keV, in various configurations. Spectra with different X-VUV laboratory sources, energy calibrations curves and detection efficiency are discussed for all the proposed configurations. Thanks to the high photon flux (10 6 ph/s mm 2 ) detected by this device, high time resolution can be obtained (framing rates up to 100 kHz). The full system has been tested on the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade in 2001 and on the National Spherical Tokamak eXperiments (NSTX) in 2002 as a possible diagnostic tool for magnetic fusion plasmas. Time-resolved 2D images are presented. These results open the way to a new X-VUV imaging technique, where the low definition (limited number of pixels) is highly compensated by the strongly enhanced contrast due to the fine and controlled energy discrimination and by the capability to get images in a selected energy range. The innovative combination of these two major characteristics, make this device a candidate for applications beyond the magnetic plasma physics field

Optical coherence tomography of retinal and choroidal layers in patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia treated with lipoprotein apheresis

PURPOSE: Detect and quantify morpho-functional alterations of the retina and choroid in patients affected by familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) treated with lipoprotein apheresis (LA) using optic coherence tomography (OCT) and optic coherence tomography-angriography (OCTA). DESIGN: Observational study. SUBJECTS: To be diagnosed: A group of 20 patients (40 eyes) being clinically and genetically diagnosed as FH and under treatment (FH-Group)", for at least 2 years, was compared to a control group of 20 healthy subjects (40 eyes), with a normal lipid profile and no ocular disease (CT-Group). METHODS: Participants were studied with the slit lamp, binocular indirect fundoscopy, OCT and OCTA. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Best corrected visual acuity (BVCA), spherical equivalent (SE), intraocular pressure (IOP), central macular thickness (CMT), choroidal thickness (CHT), retinal nerve fiber layer in four quadrants (RNFL (Superior = Sup; Inferior = Inf; Nasal = Nas Temporal = Temp), and the mean value across the four quadrants (RNFL G), foveal avascular zone (FAZ) and vascular density (VD). RESULTS: FH subjects had smaller RNFL superiorly (108 ± 19,38 μm OD/111 ± 16,56 μm OS FH-Group vs 127 ± 7,42 μm OD/129 ± 14,64 μm OS CT-Group; P < 0,001 for both OD and OS) and inferiorly (108 ± 23,58 μm OD/115 ± 17,33 μm OS FH-Group vs 128 ± 18,15 μm OD/133 ± 17,38 μm OS CT-Group; P = 0,002 OD; P = 0,001 OS). G RNFL was consequently smaller (93 ± 12,94 μm OD/94 ± 10,49 μm OS FH-Group vs 101 ± 9,01 μm OD/101 ± 10,20 μm OS CT-Group; P = 0,03 OD; P = 0,02 OS). FH subjects had a larger FAZ (0,31 ± 0,08 mm2 OD/0,33 ± 0,10 mm2 in OS FH-Group vs 0,21 ± 0,05 mm2 OD/0,21 ± 0,07 mm2 OS CT-Group; P < 0,001 OD; P = 0,002 OS). CONCLUSIONS: Early signs of retinal vessel damage in FH patients can be detected and quantified with OCT and OCTA

Polycapillary optics for soft X-ray imaging and tomography

Magnetic plasmas are extended volumetric sources of X-rays, and these emissions could reveal a lot of information about the processes occurring into the plasmas. Unfortunately, the constraints posed by these toroidal devices (high neutron flux, gamma and hard-X background, extremely high radiofrequency powers, high magnetic fields, optical limitations and so on) are very severe and limit strongly the possibility to install X-ray detectors directly into or close to the machine. Soft X-ray diagnostics are meant both as tomography and imaging. We started, therefore, to investigate the feasibility of using polycapillary optics for these purposes, in collaboration between Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN)- Frascati, Ente per le Nuove tecnologie, l’Energia e l’Ambiente (ENEA)-Frascati and the Commissariat de l’Energie Atomique (CEA)-Cadarache. The first tests were performed in order to characterize the polycapillary lenses (convergence, divergence, efficiency, spectral dispersion, etc.) for distances much larger than the optical focal length of the lenses, both for the detector and for the source. A silicon-based C-MOS imager (Medipix 2) has been used as a detector and the micro focus X-ray tubes as point-like sources. Results of these preliminary tests are presented, and the imaging capabilities of a polycapillary lens as well

Autonomic dysfunction is associated with disease progression and survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: a prospective longitudinal cohort study

Background: Among non-motor symptoms, autonomic disturbances have been described in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and reported as mild to moderate in up to 75% of patients. However, no study has systematically investigated autonomic symptoms as prognostic factors. Objectives: The main aim of this longitudinal study was to examine the association of autonomic dysfunction with disease progression and survival in ALS. Methods: We enrolled newly diagnosed ALS patients and a healthy control group (HC). Time from disease onset to disease milestone (King’s stage 4) and death were calculated to assess disease progression and survival. Autonomic symptoms were assessed by a dedicated questionnaire. Longitudinal evaluation of parasympathetic cardiovascular activity was performed by the heart rate variability (HRV). Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models on the risk of the disease milestone and death were used. A mixed-effect linear regression model was used to compare autonomic dysfunction with a HC group as well as its impairment over time. Results: A total of 102 patients and 41 HC were studied. ALS patients, compared with HC, complained of more autonomic symptoms, especially in bulbar onset patients. Autonomic symptoms occurred in 69 (68%) patients at diagnosis and progressed over time (post-6: p = 0.015 and post-12: p < 0.001). A higher autonomic symptom burden was an independent marker of faster development of King’s stage 4 (HR 1.05; 95% CI 1.00–1.11; p = 0.022); whereas, urinary complaints were independent factors of a shorter survival (HR 3.12; 95% CI 1.22–7.97; p = 0.018). Moreover, HRV in ALS patients was lower than in HC (p = 0.018) and further decreased over time (p = 0.003), implying a parasympathetic hypofunction that progressed over time. Conclusion: Autonomic symptoms occur in most of the ALS patients at diagnosis and progress over time, implying that autonomic dysfunction represents an intrinsic non-motor feature of the disease. A higher autonomic burden is a poor prognostic factor, associated with a more rapid development of disease milestones and shorter survival

Assessing children's interpersonal emotion regulation with virtual agents: The serious game Emodiscovery

publisher: Elsevier articletitle: Assessing children's interpersonal emotion regulation with virtual agents: The serious game Emodiscovery journaltitle: Computers & Education articlelink: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2018.04.005 content_type: article copyright: © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Sobre una nueva afección de los bovinos : Absceso caseoso a bacilo Bridré-Sivori

En un pequeño número de entre los miles de bovinos que se sacrifican en el frigorífico La Plata Coid Storage, hemos observado desde hace algunos meses, unos abcesos que por su aspecto podrían ser tomados a primera vista por focos de tuberculosis y aunque su situación y los caracteres del pus son diferentes de los focos supurados de esa enfermedad se han inutilizado algunas vísceras y aún cuartos enteros de animales bovinos, por creerse se trataba de tuberculosis. Teniendo la seguridad de que estos abcesos no eran debidos al bacilo de Koch, por el resultado negativo de los diversos exámenes que habíamos efectuado, quisimos investigar si se trataba de una supuración banal por estafilococos o estreptococos o si reconocían como causa la presencia de un agente específico como lo creíamos desde que observamos es tas lesiones.Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale