Transverse cervical megapophysis as an uncommon cause of torticollis

Congenital abnormalities of the spine are not uncommon in the general population and can be asymptomatic. Transverse megapophysis is a congenital anomaly manifested as an enlargement of the transverse processes, typically common in the lumbar vertebrae. Here, we describe a 4-month-old infant female with episodes of shooting pain and torticollis. At the beginning of the third month, the parents noticed she held her neck inclined towards the left side in a changeable way, and movement caused discomfort and crying. Muscular tonus, laboratory investigations, ECG and heart and transfontanellar ultrasound were normal. A cervical CT and MRI displayed at the C7 level a megapophysis transverse involving both sides. Treatment with no steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs twice a day and, after a few days, symptoms solved. At 8 months follow-up, neck maintains its natural position and no unmotivated pain has been noticed. Transverse C7 megapophysis presenting with torticollis is an example of a cause of severe pain in infancy, and it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of infantile torticollis. Keywords: Transverse cervical megapophysis, Torticollis, Bertolotti syndrom

Patterns of Italian high school and university students’ attitudes towards physics: an analysis based on semiotic-cultural perspective

The purpose of this study was to analyse Italian high school and university students’ attitudes towards physics using the Semiotic Cultural Psychological Theory (SCPT). In the SCPT framework, attitudes represent how individuals interpret their experience through the mediation of generalized meaning with which they are identified. A view-of-physics questionnaire was used as an instrument to collect data with 1603 high school and university students. Data were analysed through multiple correspondence analysis and cluster analysis. We identified four generalized meanings of physics: (a) interesting and important for society; (b) a quite interesting, but badly taught subject at school and not completely useful for society; (c) difficult to study and irrelevant for society; and (d) a fascinating and protective niche from society. The identified generalized meanings are significantly correlated to the choice to study physics at undergraduate level and to the choice of attending physics-related activities in high school. Implications for research are discussed

Il rilievo integrato del castello-recinto di Pesche (IS): conoscenza e strategie di valorizzazione di un insediamento fortificato in Molise

Perched on the slopes of San Marco Mount, in a perfect symbiosis of architecture and landscape, there is the small village of Pesche in the province of Isernia, which traces its origins back to the 5th-6th centuries, when the steep natural slope was chosen as the site for the construction of a safe village. On the top of the site, the ruins of the so-called Castrum Pesclarum emerge, evidence of a particular type of fortified structure in Molise, that of the castle-enclosure. Built as early as the Norman era to reinforce the defence and transformed over the following centuries due to damage caused by natural disasters and human actions, the small fortified citadel is haracterised by a perimeter marked by curtain walls that follow the natural slope, interspersed with towers, while its interior contains small rooms placed side by side and built using the typical limestone of the area. The present contribution intends to show the current state of conservation of the fortified citadel of Pesche, outlining the methodology followed in the study of the site, and then proposing a possible enhancement strategy. The work was conducted starting from an integrated instrumental survey, based on laser scanning and aerial digital photogrammetry with a drone, thus showing the efficiency of these systems not only at the single architectural scale, but also at the urban scale, even in complex sites such as that of Pesche. The combination of these two techniques has made it possible to obtain an accurate knowledge of a large part of the site, thus making it possible to propose design strategies for its conservation and enhancement

Actual and Perceived Level of Scientific English across Italian Physiotherapy Courses: A Cross-Sectional Study

The knowledge of the English language is fundamental for the application of evidence-based practice. Hence, this study explores, through an online survey, the (1) perceived and (2) actual level of Scientific English among Italian undergraduate (UGs) and postgraduate (PGs) physiotherapists. As for (1), the participants expressed their agreement with 10 statements regarding the attitude towards Scientific English through a 1–4 Likert-type scale, with consensus set at ≥70%. As for (2), an ad-hoc 10-point questionnaire was developed through a Delphi procedure, with a pass score set at ≥60%. The survey was completed by 421 participants (UG: 47%; PG: 53%). As for (1), consensus was achieved in both groups in 4 out of 10 statements, specifically the ones addressing the capability to fully understand a scientific paper and physiotherapy-specific language in English. As for (2), the mean score reached by both groups was below 60%. The participants who had studied or were studying at a university in southern Italy presented 2.56 [1.54; 4.24] times higher odds to fail the test. New strategies to bridge the gap in the knowledge of Scientific English in Italy should be developed, through the creation of a unique syllabus tailored to the needs of future physiotherapists

Circulating Levels of Cytokines and Their Endogenous Modulators in Patients With Mild to Severe Congestive Heart Failure Due to Coronary Artery Disease or Hypertension

AbstractObjectives. This study sought to determine the circulating levels of cytokines and their respective endogenous modulators in patients with congestive heart failure of variable severity.Background. Activation of immune elements localized in the heart or periphery, or both, may promote release of cytokines in patients with congestive heart failure. Although an increased circulating level of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and its soluble receptor type II (sTNF-RII) is well documented, less is known about other cytokines (i.e., interleukin-1-beta [IL-1-beta], interleukin-6 [IL-6] and interleukin-2 [IL-2] and their soluble receptor/receptor antagonists).Methods. Circulating levels of TNF-alpha and sTNF-RII, IL-1-beta, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1-Ra), IL-6, IL-6 soluble receptor (IL-6-sR), IL-2 and IL-2 soluble receptor-alpha were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits (Quantikine, R&D Systems) in 80 patients with congestive heart failure due to coronary artery disease or hypertension. The severity of their symptoms, which ranged from New York Heart Association functional class I to IV, was confirmed by measurement of peak oxygen consumption.Results. The percentage of patients with elevated levels of cytokines and their corresponding soluble receptor/receptor antagonists significantly increased with functional class. For TNF-alpha and IL-1-beta, the percentage of patients with elevated levels of soluble receptor/receptor antagonists was higher than that of patients with elevated levels of the cytokine itself. For IL-6, the percentage of patients with elevated levels of IL-6-sR tended to be lower than that of patients with elevated levels of IL-6. All but two patients had undetectable levels of IL-2, and all but seven had levels of IL-2-sR within a normal range.Conclusions. In patients with congestive heart failure, circulating levels of cytokines increased with the severity of symptoms. In these patients, circulating levels of sTNF-RII and IL-1-Ra are more sensitive markers of immune activation than are circulating levels of TNF-alpha and IL-1-beta, respectively. Levels of IL-2 and IL-2-sR are not elevated when congestive heart failure is due to coronary artery disease or hypertension

Potential for lager beer production from saccharomyces cerevisiae strains isolated from the vineyard environment

Saccharomyces pastorianus, genetic hybrids of Saccharomyces cerevisiae and the Saccharomyces eubayanus, is one of the most widely used lager yeasts in the brewing industry. In recent years, new strategies have been adopted and new lines of research have been outlined to create and expand the pool of lager brewing starters. The vineyard microbiome has received significant attention in the past few years due to many opportunities in terms of biotechnological applications in the winemaking processes. However, the characterization of S. cerevisiae strains isolated from winery environments as an approach to selecting starters for beer production has not been fully investigated, and little is currently available. Four wild cryotolerant S. cerevisiae strains isolated from vineyard environments were evaluated as potential starters for lager beer production at laboratory scale using a model beer wort (MBW). In all tests, the industrial lager brewing S. pastorianus Weihenstephan 34/70 was used as a reference strain. The results obtained, although preliminary, showed some good properties of these strains, such as antioxidant activity, flocculation capacity, efficient fermentation at 15◦C and low diacetyl production. Further studies will be carried out using these S. cerevisiae strains as starters for lager beer production on a pilot scale in order to verify the chemical and sensory characteristics of the beers produced

Biodiversity of Lactobacillus plantarum from traditional Italian wines

In this study, 23 samples of traditional wines produced in Southern Italy were subjected to microbiological analyses with the aim to identify and biotype the predominant species of lactic acid bacilli. For this purpose, a multiple approach, consisting in the application of both phenotypic (API 50CHL test) and biomolecular methods (polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis and 16S rRNA gene sequencing) was used. The results showed that Lactobacillus plantarum was the predominant species, whereas Lb. brevis was detected in lower amount. In detail, out of 80 isolates 58 were ascribable to Lb. plantarum and 22 to Lb. brevis. Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA-polymerase chain reaction was used to highlight intraspecific variability among Lb. plantarum strains. Interestingly, the cluster analysis evidenced a relationship between different biotypes of Lb. plantarum and their origin, in terms of wine variety. Data acquired in this work show the possibility to obtain several malolactic fermentation starter cultures, composed by different Lb. plantarum biotypes, for their proper use in winemaking processes which are distinctive for each wine

Learning to Prompt in the Classroom to Understand AI Limits: A pilot study

Artificial intelligence's progress holds great promise in assisting society in addressing pressing societal issues. In particular Large Language Models (LLM) and the derived chatbots, like ChatGPT, have highly improved the natural language processing capabilities of AI systems allowing them to process an unprecedented amount of unstructured data. The consequent hype has also backfired, raising negative sentiment even after novel AI methods' surprising contributions. One of the causes, but also an important issue per se, is the rising and misleading feeling of being able to access and process any form of knowledge to solve problems in any domain with no effort or previous expertise in AI or problem domain, disregarding current LLMs limits, such as hallucinations and reasoning limits. Acknowledging AI fallibility is crucial to address the impact of dogmatic overconfidence in possibly erroneous suggestions generated by LLMs. At the same time, it can reduce fear and other negative attitudes toward AI. AI literacy interventions are necessary that allow the public to understand such LLM limits and learn how to use them in a more effective manner, i.e. learning to "prompt". With this aim, a pilot educational intervention was performed in a high school with 30 students. It involved (i) presenting high-level concepts about intelligence, AI, and LLM, (ii) an initial naive practice with ChatGPT in a non-trivial task, and finally (iii) applying currently-accepted prompting strategies. Encouraging preliminary results have been collected such as students reporting a) high appreciation of the activity, b) improved quality of the interaction with the LLM during the educational activity, c) decreased negative sentiments toward AI, d) increased understanding of limitations and specifically We aim to study factors that impact AI acceptance and to refine and repeat this activity in more controlled settings.Comment: Submitted to AIXIA 2023 22nd International Conference of the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence 6 - 9 Nov, 2023, Rome, Ital

Relationship of white and gray matter abnormalities to clinical and genetic features in myotonic dystrophy type 1

AbstractBackgroundMyotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) represents a multisystemic disorder in which diffuse brain white and gray matter alterations related to clinical and genetic features have been described. We aimed to evaluate in the brain of adult patients with DM1 (i) white and gray matter differences, including cortical-subcortical gray matter volume and cortical thickness and (ii) their correlation with clinical disability, global neuropsychological performance and triplet expansion.MethodsWe included 24 adult genetically-confirmed DM1 patients (14 males; age: 38.5±11.8years) and 25 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (14 males; age: 38.5±11.3years) who underwent an identical brain MR protocol including high-resolution 3D T1-weighted, axial T2 FLAIR and DTI sequences. All patients underwent an extensive clinical and neuropsychological evaluation. Voxel-wise analyses of white matter, performed by using Tract Based Spatial Statistics, and of gray matter, with Voxel-based Morphometry and Cortical Thickness, were carried out in order to test for differences between patients with DM1 and healthy controls (p<0.05, corrected). The correlation between MRI measures and clinical-genetic features was also assessed.ResultsPatients with DM1 showed widespread abnormalities of all DTI parameters in the white matter, which were associated with reduced gray matter volume in all brain lobes and thinning in parieto-temporo-occipital cortices, albeit with less extensive cortical alterations when congenital cases were removed from the analyses. White matter alterations correlated with clinical disability, global cognitive performance and triplet expansions.ConclusionIn patients with DM1, the combined smaller overall gray matter volume and white matter alterations seem to be the main morpho-structural substrates of CNS involvement in this condition. The correlation of white matter differences with both clinical and genetic findings lends support to this notion