Social Cognition in Down Syndrome: Face Tuning in Face-Like Non-Face Images

Individuals with Down syndrome (DS) are widely believed to possess considerable socialization strengths. However, the findings on social cognition capabilities are controversial. In the present study, we investigated whether individuals with DS exhibit shortage in face tuning, one of the indispensable components of social cognition. For this purpose, we implemented a recently developed Face-n-Food paradigm with food-plate images composed of food ingredients such as fruits and vegetables. The key benefit of such face-like non-face images is that single elements do not facilitate face processing. In a spontaneous recognition task, 25 children with DS aged 9 to 18 years were presented with a set of Face-n-Food images bordering on the Giuseppe Arcimboldo style. The set of images was administered in a predetermined order from the least to most resembling a face. In DS individuals, thresholds for recognition of the Face-n-Food images as a face were drastically higher as compared not only with typically developing controls, but also with individuals with autistic spectrum disorders and Williams-Beuren syndrome. This outcome represents a significant step toward better conceptualization of the visual social world in DS and neurodevelopmental disorders in general

Pontine tegmental cap dysplasia: developmental and cognitive outcome in three adolescent patients

Pontine Tegmental Cap Dysplasia (PTCD) is a recently described, rare disorder characterized by a peculiar cerebellar and brainstem malformation. Nineteen patients have been reported to date, of which only one in the adolescent age, and data on the clinical, cognitive and behavioural outcome of this syndrome are scarce

Reusing heritage: activist planning for place-based regeneration processes

Book of proceedings: Annual AESOP Congress, Spaces of Dialog for Places of Dignity, Lisbon, 11-14th July, 2017The research aims at discussing the potential role of reusing abandoned built heritage as driver for place-based regeneration processes in inner areas. The study focuses on disused railway heritage in Italy because of its relevant size, the low percentage of effective initiatives, and its strategic position into the territory. In European context, successful initiatives show the considerable role of political agenda and economic programmes as well as shared interests among institutional subjects, associations, entrepreneurs and local communities to achieve common goals. In Italy, these necessary components are often lacking, especially in terms of strategic initiatives and dialogue between policy makers, activists and socio-economic stakeholders, although the National Railway Company (RFI) has promoted institutional initiatives in the last decades. In this field, could activist planning have a key role for regeneration processes by recycling unused heritage? Could activist planning contribute to new territorial metabolisms, especially in deprived and marginal areas? The Southern case of Campania Region has been selected taking into account that it is included among the regions that need support to promote development and reduce regional disparities in European countries, according to European Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund. In this region, on one hand, the potentiality of railway heritage has been recognised for its being an existent infrastructure network on the territory that could link cultural, historical and environmental resources; on the other hand, the crisis of 2008 has cut down investments addressing main of them to sustain market-led processes. This conflicting scenario has induced social reactions such as civic movements, new local associations and community-based initiatives that have a proactive role in carrying out bottom up planning initiatives. To discuss that, the researchers have selected a case study in the Campania Region – the historical Avellino-Rocchetta Sant’Antonio railway – to reflect on the process induced by activist planning in reusing railway heritage. Through the consultation of indirect sources, fieldwork sessions, interaction with local key actors of the selected case study, the research group aims at verifying if bottom-up reuse initiatives are able to trigger place-based regeneration processes, producing positive impacts in terms of social, economic and cultural dimension.Published versio

Proactive Risk Management and integrated knowledge for governance of urban systems: Urban Vulnerability in the case of Gran Santo Domingo

The paper is part of the final outcomes of the the EU research project “Estudio de la Amenaza Sísmica y Vulnerabilidad Física del Gran Santo Domingo”, as produced by the Italian partenership (Istituto di Ricerca su Innovazione e Servizi per lo Sviluppo, CNR-IRISS). The paper discusses the application of the multi-criteria approach to identify urban vulnerability with respect to seismic risk. Starting from the case study of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the Italian research team provided a GIS-based design approach aimed at managing vulnerability as whole (whether physical, morphological, or social, and functional). The study depiscts and tests a wide range of indicators aimed at mapping seiemic vulnerabilty at urban district scale, according to both the probability of seismic event (the Haiti earthquake of 2010), and the site-specific vulnerability of the city. The research has been carried out with the specialistic supports of the Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières -BRGM (Fr), and with the Istituto Geologico y Minero de Espana (IGME), who produced the seiemic micro-zoning mapping of the city. The GIS-based design approach, as well as the multi-criteria analysis made by the CNR research team, was here tested as innovative risk reduction planning method able at prevent and prepare to severe hazards

Visual intervention in early onset visual impairment: A review

Vision is a primary and motivating sense. Early visual experience derived from the external world is known to have an important impact on the development of central visual pathways, and not surprisingly, visual impairment constitutes a risk factor for overall development. In light of the role of vision in early brain development, infants and young children with visual impairment should be thus entitled to early and effective visual intervention programmes. In this review, we discuss early visual interventions in infants and young children with visual impairment, focusing on their contents and outcomes. We defined a PICO format to critically review different models with a particular focus on parent-mediated and therapist-mediated approaches. We consider protocols that involved direct manipulation or improvement of the infants' visual inputs or were based on behavioural strategies and communication towards infants with visual impairment. We also provide an overview of the effectiveness of these protocols. A total of nine intervention protocols were selected for the purposes of this review. Substantial agreement regarding the importance of promoting the enrichment of infant environments, and more specifically in the context of active play that engages the whole family, has been reported in most of the studies. However, there is no clear agreement on methodological aspects, including clinical population characteristics, outcome measures, length of treatment and follow-up programmes. Further high-quality, carefully designed and adequately reported studies are needed in order to improve the clinical efficacy of these approaches to treating infants with visual impairment